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It was a day in March.
这是阳春三月里的一天。
Never, never begin a story this way when you write one.
在你写作的时候，千万不要像我这样开始你的故事。
No opening could possibly be worse.
再没有比这更糟糕的开头了。
It is unimaginative, flat, dry and likely to consist of mere wind.
这样的开头缺乏想象力，平淡、枯燥，很可能只是一句废话。
But in this instance it is allowable.
不过，在此篇故事里，我这样做还是情有可原的。
For the following paragraph, which should have inaugurated the narrative,
因为，本该作为这篇故事开始的下面这段文，
is too wildly extravagant and preposterous to be flaunted in the face of the reader without preparation.
会让人觉得更不着边际，更荒诞，叫读者摸不着头脑。
Sarah was crying over her bill of fare.
莎拉正在望着她手中的菜单哭泣。
Think of a New York girl shedding tears on the menu card!
想象一下，一个纽约市的女孩竟会对着一份菜单淌眼泪！
To account for this you will be allowed to guess that the lobsters were all out, or that she had sworn ice-cream off during Lent,
你可能会猜想出各种理由，来对此做出解释。比如说是龙虾卖完了，或者是她刚发过誓要在四月斋期戒掉冰激凌，结果又后悔了，
or that she had ordered onions, or that she had just come from a Hackett matinee. And then, all these theories being wrong,
要不，是她点了洋葱，或是刚刚从哈吉特剧院看戏回来。紧接着，在知道你的所有这些猜测都是错误的时候，
you will please let the story proceed.
你就愿意听我把故事讲下去了。
The gentleman who announced that the world was an oyster which he with his sword would open made a larger hit than he deserved.
有位先生宣称，世界就像个牡蛎，他能用剑把它撬开。他这话说得未免有点儿太大言不惭了。
It is not difficult to open an oyster with a sword.
用刀剑撬开一个牡蛎并不难。
But did you ever notice any one try to open the terrestrial bivalve with a typewriter?
可是，你曾见过有人要用打字机来撬开世界这个牡蛎的吗？
Like to wait for a dozen raw opened that way?
有把一打生牡蛎用这样的方法撬开的吗？
Sarah had managed to pry apart the shells with her unhandy weapon far enough to nibble a wee bit at the cold and clammy world within.
莎拉就曾用她的这一笨拙的武器（打字机），成功地撬开了它（世界）的外壳，品尝了一下它里面冷冰冰、滑腻腻的味道。
She knew no more shorthand than if she had been a graduate in stenography just let slip upon the world by a business college.
莎拉还会一点儿速记，不过以她的水平，还远远比不上一个在商务学院里学这一专业的刚刚毕业的大学生。
So, not being able to stenog, she could not enter that bright galaxy of office talent.
所以，因为不具备这方面的能力，她不能加入到有优秀才能的白领人的行列。
She was a free-lance typewriter and canvassed for odd jobs of copying.
她是一个自由职业人，四处寻觅着做一些打字的零工。
