🔊 It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way-in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

那是昌明的时代,那是衰微的时代；那是豁达的年月,那是褊狭的年月；那是信仰笃诚的时期,那是疑云重重的时期；那是阳光普照的季节,那是黑夜沉沉的季节；那是充满希望的春天,那是令人绝望的冬日；我们面前无所不有,我们面前一无所有；我们全都直奔上天而去,我们全都直奔相反的方向--简而言之,那个时代同眼下这个时代竟然如此惟妙惟肖,就连它那些最聒噪的权威人士都坚持要求,无论说它好也罢,说它坏也罢,都一定要用上最高级的形容词才行。

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epoch /ˈiːpɒk/

n. 时代,纪元；重要时期➕

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incredulity /ˌɪnkrəˈdjuːləti/

n. 怀疑,不相信➕

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superlative /suːˈpɜːlətɪv/

adj. 最高程度的,最好的；最高级的➕

🔊 There were a king with a large jaw and a queen with a plain face, on the throne of England; there were a king with a large jaw and a queen with a fair face, on the throne of France. In both countries it was clearer than crystal to the lords of the State preserves of loaves and fishes, that things in general were settled for ever.

在英格兰的王位上,坐着一位大下巴的国王和一位相貌平常的王后；在法国的王位上,坐着一位大下巴的国王和一位容貌姣好的王后。在这两个国家里,对那些坐享国家俸禄的贵族来说,万事都已一劳永逸地确定下来,这比水晶还要清楚。

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crystal /ˈkrɪstl/

n. 水晶；晶体；在这里用作比喻,表示'像水晶一样清澈、透明'➕

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preserves /prɪˈzɜːvz/

n. (复数). （某人或某群体的）专属领域,特权范围；原指禁猎区或蜜饯➕

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loaves and fishes /ləʊvz ənd ˈfɪʃɪz/

n. phrase. 物质利益,私利；尤指通过官职或权势获得的个人好处（源自圣经典故）➕

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settled /ˈsetld/

adj. (过去分词作形容词). 已确定的,固定的,稳定的；问题已解决的➕

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for ever /fɔːr ˈevə(r)/

adv. phrase. 永远,永久地（常写作 forever）➕

🔊 It was the year of Our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five. Spiritual revelations were conceded to England at that favoured period, as at this. Mrs. Southcott had recently attained her five-and-twentieth blessed birthday, of whom a prophetic private in the Life Guards had heralded the sublime appearance by announcing that arrangements were made for the swallowing up of London and Westminster. Even the Cock-lane ghost had been laid only a round dozen of years, after rapping out its messages, as the spirits of this very year last past (supernaturally deficient in originality) rapped out theirs. Mere messages in the earthly order of events had lately come to the English Crown and People, from a congress of British subjects in America: which, strange to relate, have proved more important to the human race than any communications yet received through any of the chickens of the Cock-lane brood.

那是公元一七七五年。在那个受眷顾的时代,正如现在一样,英格兰也享有灵性启示。索斯科特夫人刚刚满了她那二十五岁的福寿之期,近卫军里一个能预言的列兵曾宣告她的崇高降临,声称已安排好要吞噬伦敦和威斯敏斯特。甚至公鸡巷的鬼魂,也不过是刚在十二年前被驱散,发完它的神谕之后,正如过去这一年（超自然地缺乏原创性）的幽灵发完它们的神谕一样。近来,来自美洲英国臣民大会的一些纯粹尘世事件的消息传到了英国王室和人民那里:说来奇怪,这些消息对人类的重大意义,超过了通过公鸡巷那窝小鸡收到的任何通讯。

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Spiritual /ˈspɪrɪtʃuəl/

adj. 精神的,心灵的；宗教的➕

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revelations /ˌrevəˈleɪʃ(ə)nz/

n. 启示；被揭露的真相（常用复数）➕

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conceded /kənˈsiːdɪd/

v. （不情愿地）承认；让步,给予➕

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favoured /ˈfeɪvəd/

adj. 受到优待的,有利的；受喜爱的➕

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prophetic /prəˈfetɪk/

adj. 预言的,有先见之明的➕

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heralded /ˈherəldɪd/

v. 预示…的来临；宣布➕

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sublime /səˈblaɪm/

adj. 崇高的,壮丽的；卓越的➕

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swallowing up /ˈswɒləʊɪŋ ʌp/

phr. 吞没,吞噬；耗尽➕

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supernaturally /ˌsuːpəˈnætʃ(ə)rəli/

adv. 超自然地,神奇地➕

🔊 France, less favoured on the whole as to matters spiritual than her sister of the shield and trident, rolled with exceeding smoothness down hill, making paper money and spending it. Under the guidance of her Christian pastors, she entertained herself, besides, with such humane achievements as sentencing a youth to have his hands cut off, his tongue torn out with pincers, and his body burned alive, because he had not kneeled down in the rain to do honour to a dirty procession of monks which passed within his view, at a distance of some fifty or sixty yards. It is likely enough that, rooted in the woods of France and Norway, there were growing trees, when that sufferer was put to death, already marked by the Woodman, Fate, to come down and be sawn into boards, to make a certain movable framework with a sack and a knife in it, terrible in history. It is likely enough that in the rough outhouses of some tillers of the heavy lands adjacent to Paris, there were sheltered from the weather that very day, rude carts, bespattered with rustic mire, snuffed about by pigs, and roosted in by poultry, which the Farmer, Death, had already set apart to be his tumbrils of the Revolution. But that Woodman and that Farmer, though they work unceasingly, work silently, and no one heard them as they went about with muffled tread: the rather, forasmuch as to entertain any suspicion that they were awake, was to be atheistical and traitorous.

法国在灵性事务上总体不如她那持盾与三叉戟的姐妹受眷顾,正在一个劲地往山下滑,一边发行纸币,一边挥霍无度。在她的基督教牧师的指导下,她还以一些人道成就自娱,例如判处一个青年砍去双手、用钳子拔掉舌头并活活烧死,只因为他没有在雨中跪下向一支肮脏的僧侣队伍致敬,那队伍在他视野中经过,距离约五六十码。很可能,当那个受难者被处死时,在法国和挪威的森林里,已有树木被伐木工‘命运’标记,要砍下来锯成木板,制成某种可移动的框架,里面装着袋子和刀子,这在历史上是可怕的。很可能,在邻近巴黎的一些重土地耕农的简陋外屋里,就在那一天,粗糙的马车被遮蔽在风雨之外,沾满乡村泥泞,猪只嗅探,家禽栖息,这些马车已被农夫‘死亡’选定为他的革命死囚车。但那个伐木工和那个农夫,尽管不停工作,却悄无声息,无人听见他们蹑足而行:更甚的是,因为谁要是对此稍有怀疑,便是大逆不道,罪同叛国。

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exceeding /ɪkˈsiːdɪŋ/

adv. 非常,极其（古语或文学用语）➕

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pastors /ˈpɑːstəz/

n. 牧师（尤指基督教新教的）➕

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humane /hjuːˈmeɪn/

adj. 仁慈的,人道的；人文的➕

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pincers /ˈpɪnsəz/

n. 钳子,镊子（常用复数）➕

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movable /ˈmuːvəb(ə)l/

adj. 可移动的,活动的；动产的➕

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bespattered /bɪˈspætəd/

adj. 被溅污的,被弄脏的➕

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muffled /ˈmʌfld/

adj. （声音）低沉的,压抑的；被包裹住的➕

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atheistical /ˌeɪθiˈɪstɪk(ə)l/

adj. 无神论的；不信神的➕

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traitorous /ˈtreɪtərəs/

adj. 叛国的,背叛的；不忠的➕

🔊 In England, there was scarcely an amount of order and protection to justify much national boasting. Daring burglaries by armed men, and highway robberies, took place in the capital itself every night; families were publicly cautioned not to go out of town without removing their furniture to upholsterers’ warehouses for security; the highwayman in the dark was a City tradesman in the light, and, being recognised and challenged by his fellow-tradesman whom he stopped in his character of "the Captain," gallantly shot him through the head and rode away; the mail was waylaid by seven robbers, and the guard shot three dead, and then got shot dead himself by the other four, "in consequence of the failure of his ammunition:" after which the mail was robbed in peace; that magnificent potentate, the Lord Mayor of London, was made to stand and deliver on Turnham Green, by one highwayman, who despoiled the illustrious creature in sight of all his retinue; prisoners in London gaols fought battles with their turnkeys, and the majesty of the law fired blunderbusses in among them, loaded with rounds of shot and ball; thieves snipped off diamond crosses from the necks of noble lords at Court drawing-rooms; musketeers went into St. Giles’s, to search for contraband goods, and the mob fired on the musketeers, and the musketeers fired on the mob, and nobody thought any of these occurrences much out of the common way. In the midst of them, the hangman, ever busy and ever worse than useless, was in constant requisition; now, stringing up long rows of miscellaneous criminals; now, hanging a housebreaker on Saturday who had been taken on Tuesday; now, burning people in the hand at Newgate by the dozen, and now burning pamphlets at the door of Westminster Hall; to-day, taking the life of an atrocious murderer, and to-morrow of a wretched pilferer who had robbed a farmer’s boy of sixpence.

在英格兰,几乎没有足够的秩序和保护来为国家的自夸辩护。武装大胆的入室盗窃和公路抢劫每晚都在首都发生；家庭被公开警告,若不将家具搬到家具商仓库以确保安全,就不要出城；黑暗中的公路强盗在光天化日下是城里的商人,当他以‘船长’的身份拦下同行商人并被认出挑战时,英勇地一枪爆头后骑马离去；邮车被七名强盗伏击,警卫射杀了三人,然后自己因‘弹药耗尽’被另外四人射死；之后邮车被平静地抢劫；那位显赫的权贵,伦敦市长,在特纳姆格林被一名公路强盗逼令站住并交出财物,强盗在所有随从面前洗劫了这位尊贵人物；伦敦监狱的囚犯与狱卒战斗,法律的威严向他们发射霰弹枪,装填着弹丸和子弹；小偷在宫廷客厅里从贵族领主的脖子上剪下钻石十字架；火枪手进入圣贾尔斯区搜查违禁品,暴民向火枪手开火,火枪手向暴民开火,无人认为这些事件有何异常。在此期间,刽子手总是忙碌且比无用更糟,不断被征用；时而吊起长长一排杂七杂八的罪犯；时而在星期六吊死一个星期二被捕的入室窃贼；时而在新门监狱成批地烧灼人手,时而在威斯敏斯特厅门口焚烧小册子；今天处决一个凶残的谋杀犯,明天处决一个偷了农童六便士的可怜小偷。

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burglaries /ˈbɜːɡləriz/

n. 入室盗窃（罪）（burglary的复数）➕

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highway robberies /ˈhaɪweɪ ˈrɒbəriz/

phr. 拦路抢劫（事件）➕

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waylaid /ˌweɪˈleɪd/

v. 拦截,伏击（waylay的过去分词）➕

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potentate /ˈpəʊt(ə)nteɪt/

n. 统治者,君主；有权势的人➕

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despoiled /dɪˈspɔɪld/

v. 抢劫,掠夺（despoil的过去分词）➕

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retinue /ˈretɪnjuː/

n. （要人的）随行人员,扈从➕

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turnkeys /ˈtɜːnkiːz/

n. 狱卒,监狱看守（turnkey的复数）➕

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blunderbusses /ˈblʌndəbʌsɪz/

n. 大口径短枪（旧式前膛枪,blunderbuss的复数）➕

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contraband /ˈkɒntrəbænd/

n. 违禁品,走私货➕

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requisition /ˌrekwɪˈzɪʃ(ə)n/

n. 需要,征用；正式要求➕

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miscellaneous /ˌmɪsəˈleɪniəs/

adj. 各种各样的,混杂的➕

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housebreaker /ˈhaʊsˌbreɪkə(r)/

n. 入室盗贼,破门盗窃者➕

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pamphlets /ˈpæmfləts/

n. 小册子,宣传册（pamphlet的复数）➕

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atrocious /əˈtrəʊʃəs/

adj. 残暴的,凶恶的；糟透的➕

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pilferer /ˈpɪlfərə(r)/

n. 小偷,小偷小摸者➕

🔊 All these things, and a thousand like them, came to pass in and close upon the dear old year one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five. Environed by them, while the Woodman and the Farmer worked unheeded, those two of the large jaws, and those other two of the plain and the fair faces, trod with stir enough, and carried their divine rights with a high hand. Thus did the year one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five conduct their Greatnesses, and myriads of small creatures-the creatures of this chronicle among the rest-along the roads that lay before them.

所有这些事情,以及成千上万类似之事,都发生在那亲爱的老年份一七七五年及其前后。被这些事环绕着,当伐木工和农夫不为人知地工作时,那两位大下巴和那另外两位相貌平平与姣好面孔的人,却足够引人注目地行走着,并以高压手段行使他们的神授权利。就这样,一七七五年载着这些大人物,以及无数小人物--包括这部编年史中的角色--沿着摆在他们面前的道路前行。

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Environed /ɪnˈvaɪrənd/

v. 包围,环绕（environ的过去分词）➕

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unheeded /ʌnˈhiːdɪd/

adj. 被忽视的,未被注意的➕

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trod /trɒd/

v. 踩,踏；行走（tread的过去式）➕

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stir /stɜː(r)/

n. 骚动,轰动；搅动➕

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myriads /ˈmɪriədz/

n. 无数,极大数量➕

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chronicle /ˈkrɒnɪk(ə)l/

n. 编年史；记录➕

Chapter one: The Period (第一章:时代)