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It is impossible to set down the innumerable crowd of thoughts that whirled through that great thoroughfare of the brain, the memory, in this night's time.
那天晚上，我心潮起伏，思绪万千，思前想后，实在一言难尽。
I ran over the whole history of my life in miniature, or by abridgment, as I may call it, to my coming to this island, and also of that part of my life since I came to this island.
我粗略回顾了自己的一生，回想起自己怎样流落荒岛，又怎样在这儿度过了二十四年的孤寂生活。
In my reflections upon the state of my case since I came on shore on this island, I was comparing the happy posture of my affairs in the first years of my habitation here, with the life of anxiety, fear, and care which I had lived in ever since I had seen the print of a foot in the sand.
我想到，来到岛上的最初几年，我怎样过着无忧无虑的快乐生活；后来，在沙滩上发现了人的脚印后，又怎样焦虑恐惧，过着忧心忡忡的生活。
Not that I did not believe the savages had frequented the island even all the while, and might have been several hundreds of them at times on shore there;
我也知道，多少年来，那些食人生番经常到岛上来，有时甚至成千上百登上岸来。
but I had never known it, and was incapable of any apprehensions about it; my satisfaction was perfect, though my danger was the same, and I was as happy in not knowing my danger as if I had never really been exposed to it.
但在此之前，我不知道这件事，当然也不会担惊受怕。那时，尽管有危险，但我不知道，所以也活得快活自在。我想，如果不知道有危险，就等于没有危险，生活就照样无忧无虑，十分幸福。
This furnished my thoughts with many very profitable reflections, and particularly this one: How infinitely good that Providence is, which has provided, in its government of mankind, such narrow bounds to his sight and knowledge of things;
由此，我悟出不少道理。造物主统治人类，把人类的认识和知识局限在狭隘的范围内，这正是造物主的英明之处。
and though he walks in the midst of so many thousand dangers, the sight of which, if discovered to him, would distract his mind and sink his spirits,
实际上，人类往往生活在种种危险之中，如果让人类发现这些危险，那一定会使人人心烦意乱，精神不振。
he is kept serene and calm, by having the events of things hid from his eyes, and knowing nothing of the dangers which surround him.
但造物主不让人类看清事实真相，他们全然不知四周的危险，这样，人们就过着泰然宁静的生活。
After these thoughts had for some time entertained me, I came to reflect seriously upon the real danger I had been in for so many years in this very island, and how I had walked about in the greatest security, and with all possible tranquillity,
我这样想了一段时间后，就开始认真思索这么多年来在这荒岛上所面临的危险。这种危险是实实在在的，可是，我过去却经常泰然自若地在岛上走来走去。
even when perhaps nothing but the brow of a hill, a great tree, or the casual approach of night, had been between me and the worst kind of destruction --
其实可能只是一座小山，一棵大树，或是夜幕正好降临，才使我免遭杀害，而且，将会以一种最残忍的方式杀害：
viz. that of falling into the hands of cannibals and savages, who would have seized on me with the same view as I would on a goat or turtle;
那就是落入吃人生番手里。如果落到他们手里，他们就会把我马上抓起来，就像我抓山羊或海鳖一样。
and have thought it no more crime to kill and devour me than I did of a pigeon or a curlew.
同时，在他们看来，把我杀死吃掉，也不是什么犯罪行为，就像把一只鸽子或鹬杀了吃掉在我看来也不是什么犯罪行为一样。
I would unjustly slander myself if I should say I was not sincerely thankful to my great Preserver,
我衷心感激伟大的救世主，如果我不承认我的感激之情，那我就不诚实了。
to whose singular protection I acknowledged, with great humanity, all these unknown deliverances were due, and without which I must inevitably have fallen into their merciless hands.
我必须恭恭敬敬地承认，我之所以在不知不觉中免于大难，完全是由于救世主的保佑，要是没有他的保佑，我早就遭野人毒手了。
When these thoughts were over, my head was for some time taken up in considering the nature of these wretched creatures, I mean the savages,
这些念头想过之后，我又想到了那些畜生的天性，那些食人生番的天性。
and how it came to pass in the world that the wise Governor of all things should give up any of His creatures to such inhumanity -- nay, to something so much below even brutality itself -- as to devour its own kind:
我想，主宰万物的上帝怎么会容忍自己所创造的生物堕落到这样毫无人性的地步，干出人吃人、禽兽不如的残酷行径。
but as this ended in some (at that time) fruitless speculations, it occurred to me to inquire what part of the world these wretches lived in?
我思来想去，最后还是不得其解。于是，我又想到另一些问题：这些畜生究竟住在什么地方？
how far off the coast was from whence they came? what they ventured over so far from home for? what kind of boats they had?
他们住的地方离海岸究竟有多远？他们老远从家里跑出来，究竟有什么目的？他们所乘的船，又是什么样子？
and why I might not order myself and my business so that I might be able to go over thither, as they were to come to me?
他们既然可以到我这边来，为什么我不可设法到他们那边去呢？
I never so much as troubled myself to consider what I should do with myself when I went thither; what would become of me if I fell into the hands of these savages; or how I should escape them if they attacked me;
可是，我从来没有考虑过一旦到了那里我该怎么办；万一落入野人手里结果会如何；万一他们追杀我，我又该怎样逃命。
no, nor so much as how it was possible for me to reach the coast, and not to be attacked by some or other of them, without any possibility of delivering myself:
不但如此，我甚至一点也没有考虑到，我一上大陆，那些食人生番必然会追杀我，不管他们来自什么部落，所以，我是绝无希望逃生的。
and if I should not fall into their hands, what I should do for provision, or whither I should bend my course: none of these thoughts, I say, so much as came in my way;
何况，即使不落到他们手里，我也没有东西吃，也不知道往哪里走。总之，所有这些，我都没有想过。
but my mind was wholly bent upon the notion of my passing over in my boat to the mainland.
当时，我只是一心一意想乘上小舟，渡过海峡到达对面的大陆上。
I looked upon my present condition as the most miserable that could possibly be; that I was not able to throw myself into anything but death, that could be called worse;
我认为，自己目前的处境是世界上最悲惨不过的了，除了死亡，任何其他不幸都比我目前的境况强。
