那是希望之春，也是失望之冬

文/查爾斯·狄更斯 繪/迷失嘟嘟

那是希望之春，也是失望之冬

It Was the Spring of Hope，It Was the Winter of Despair

文/查爾斯·狄更斯 繪/迷失嘟嘟

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 epoch①epoch 英 ［'i?p?k; 'ep?k］ 美 ［'?p?k］ n. ［地質］ 世；新紀元；新時代；時間上的一點of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity②incredulity 英 ［?nkr?'dju?l?t?］ 美 ［,?nkr?'dj?l?ti］ n. 懷疑；不輕信，不易相信, 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 to③go direct 直接；直銷方式eg. On this， as on other matters， I could go direct to. 你可以直接從倫敦到巴黎去。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 super lative④lative ［'leitiv］ n. 方向格 adj. 方向格的degree of comparison only.

Wonderf ul f act t o ref lect upon, that every human creature is constituted⑤constituted constitute 的過去分詞 constitute 英 ［'k?nst?tju?t］ 美 ［'kɑnst?tut］ vt. 組成，構成；建立；任命to be that profound secret and mystery to every other. A solemn⑥solemn 英 ［'s?l?m］ 美 ［'sɑl?m］ adj. 莊嚴的，嚴肅的；隆重的，鄭重的consideration, when enter a great city by night, that every one of those darkly clustered⑦clustered 英 ［'kl?st?d］ 美 ［'kl?st?d］ adj. 成群的；聚集成群的houses encloses its own secret; that every room in every one of them encloses its own secret; that every beating heart in the hundreds of thousands of breasts there, is, if some of its imaginings, a secret to the heart nearest it! Something of the awfulness, even of Death itself, is referable⑧referable ［r?'f??bl］ adj. 可歸因于……；可參考的；可交付的；可涉及的to this.

那是最美好的時代，那是最糟糕的時代；那是智慧的年頭，那是愚昧的年頭；那是信仰的時期，那是懷疑的時期；那是光明的季節，那是黑暗的季節；那是希望的春天，那是失望的冬天；我們全都在直奔天堂，我們全都在直奔相反的方向——簡而言之，那時跟現在非常相象，某些最喧囂的權威堅持要用形容詞的最高級來形容它。說它好，是最高級的；說它不好，也是最高級的。

每個人對別的人都是天生的奧秘和奇跡——此事細想起來確實有些玄妙。晚上在大城市里我總要鄭重其事地沉思，那些擠成一片一片的黑洞洞的房屋，每一幢都包含著它自己的秘密，每一幢的每一間也包含著它自己的秘密；那數以十萬計的胸膛中每一顆跳動的心所想象的即使對最靠近它的心也都是秘密！從此我們可以領悟到一些令人悚然的東西，甚至死亡本身。

——節選自《雙城記》