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Chapter One
第一章
In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice
我年纪还轻、阅历尚浅的时候，父亲教导过我一句话，
that I've been turning over in my mind ever since.
我至今还念念不忘。
“Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,”he told me,
他对我说：“每当你想要批评任何人的时候，
“just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had.”
你就记住，并不是这个世界上所有的人都有过你拥有的那些优越条件。”
He didn't say any more, but we've always been unusually communicative in a reserved way,
他没再说别的。但是，我们父子之间一向是无需言明也能知晓对方的意思，
and I understood that he meant a great deal than that.
因此我明白他的话背后是大有深意的。
In consequence, I'm inclined to reserve all judgments, a habit that has opened up many curious natures to me
久而久之，我就养成了不对任何人妄作评论的习惯，这个习惯既使得许多有怪僻的人肯跟我讲心里话，
and also made me the victim of not a few veteran bores.
也让我沦为不少唠唠叨叨惹人厌烦的人的受害者。
The abnormal mind is quick to detect and attach itself to this quality when it appears in a normal person,
当这个特点在正常的人身上出现时，心理不正常的人很快就会察觉到并且抓住不放。
and so it came about that in college I was unjustly accused of being a politician,
由于这个缘故，我上大学的时候就被不公正地指责为小政客，
because I was privy to the secret griefs of wild, unknown men.
因为我知晓了一些放荡的、不知名的人的伤心秘事。
Most of the confidences were unsought--
绝大多数的此类秘闻都不是我打听来的——
frequently I have feigned sleep, preoccupation, or a hostile levity
当我明白无误地察觉倾诉衷情的欲望像要在地平线上喷薄而出时，
when I realized by some unmistakable sign that an intimate revelation was quivering on the horizon;
我往往选择假装睡觉，假装心不在焉，或者装出不怀好意的轻佻态度；
for the intimate revelations of young men, or at least the terms in which they express them,
因为青年人倾诉的衷情，或者至少他们表达这些衷情所用的语言，
are usually plagiaristic and marred by obvious suppressions.
常常是剽窃性的，而且带有诸多的隐瞒。
Reserving judgments is a matter of infinite hope.
不妄加评论代表着有无限的可能，
I am still a little afraid of missing something if I forget that,
我现在仍然唯恐忘记父亲的告诫会错过些什么，
as my father snobbishly suggested, and I snobbishly repeat,
我父亲带着优越感暗示过的道理，我现在又带着优越感地践行着，
a sense of the fundamental decencies is parcelled out unequally at birth.
每个人一生下来，基本的道德感就是不同的。
And, after boasting this way of my tolerance, I come to the admission that it has a limit.
在对我的宽容自吹自擂之后，我也得承认宽容也要有个限度。
Conduct may be founded on the hard rock or the wet marshes,
人的行为可能建立在坚固的岩石上面，也可能建立在潮湿的沼泽之中，
but after a certain point I don't care what it's founded on.
但一旦超过了一定的限度，我就不管它是建立在什么上面的了。
