Frankenstein

Letter 1

第一封信

To Mrs. Saville, England.

致英格兰的萨维尔夫人。

St. Petersburgh, Dec. 11th, 17—.

圣彼得堡，17—年12月11日。

You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencement of an enterprise

你听到这个消息会很高兴：一项事业开始时并没有遭遇任何灾难，

which you have regarded with such evil forebodings.

而你曾怀着那样不祥的预感看待这项事业。

I arrived here yesterday,

我昨天到达这里，

and my first task is to assure my dear sister of my welfare and increasing confidence in the success of my undertaking.

我的第一件事就是要让我亲爱的姐姐放心：我一切安好，并且对我这项事业的成功越来越有信心。

I am already far north of London, and as I walk in the streets of Petersburgh,

我已经在伦敦以北很远的地方了，当我走在彼得堡的街道上时，

I feel a cold northern breeze play upon my cheeks, which braces my nerves and fills me with delight.

我感到一阵寒冷的北风拂过我的脸颊，它振奋了我的精神，使我满心欢喜。

Do you understand this feeling?

你能理解这种感觉吗？

This breeze, which has travelled from the regions towards which I am advancing, gives me a foretaste of those icy climes.

这阵风从我正前往的那些地区吹来，让我预先尝到了那些冰冻地带的滋味。

Inspirited by this wind of promise, my daydreams become more fervent and vivid.

在这充满希望的风的鼓舞下，我的白日梦变得更加热烈、更加鲜明。

I try in vain to be persuaded that the pole is the seat of frost and desolation;

我徒劳地试图说服自己相信，极地是冰霜和荒凉之所在；

it ever presents itself to my imagination as the region of beauty and delight.

它在我的想象中始终呈现为美丽和欢乐的地方。

There, Margaret, the sun is for ever visible, its broad disk just skirting the horizon and diffusing a perpetual splendour.

在那里，玛格丽特，太阳永远看得见，它宽阔的圆盘恰好掠过地平线，散发着永恒的光辉。

There—for with your leave, my sister, I will put some trust in preceding navigators—

在那里——因为，姐姐，请允许我对以前的航海者们抱有几分信任——

there snow and frost are banished; and, sailing over a calm sea,

在那里，冰雪被驱散了；而且，航行在平静的海面上，

we may be wafted to a land surpassing in wonders and in beauty every region hitherto discovered on the habitable globe.

我们也许会被送到一片土地，那里的奇观和美景胜过人类可居住的地球上迄今发现的任何地区。

Its productions and features may be without example, as the phenomena of the heavenly bodies undoubtedly are in those undiscovered solitudes.

那里的物产和地貌也许是前所未有的，就像那些未被发现的荒僻之地中天体的现象无疑也是前所未有的一样。

What may not be expected in a country of eternal light?

在一个永远光明的国度里，有什么是不可以期待的呢？