He spread the pictures before him, and again surveyed them alternately.
他把这些画摊在他面前，再次一张张细看着。
While he is so occupied, I will tell you, reader, what they are:
趁他看画的时候，读者，我要告诉你，那是些什么画。
and first, I must premise that they are nothing wonderful.
首先我得事先声明，它们并没有什么了不起。
The subjects had, indeed, risen vividly on my mind.
画的题材倒确实活脱脱地浮现在我脑海里。
As I saw them with the spiritual eye, before I attempted to embody them, they were striking.
我还没有想用画来表现时，它们就已在我心灵的目光下显得栩栩如生。
But my hand would not second my fancy, and in each case it had wrought out but a pale portrait of the thing I had conceived.
然而在落笔时，我的手却不听我想象的使唤，每次都只能给想象中的东西勾勒出一个苍白无力的图象来。
These pictures were in water-colours.
这些都是水彩画。
The first represented clouds low and livid, rolling over a swollen sea.
第一张画的是，低垂的铅色云块，在波涛汹涌的海面上翻滚。

All the distance was in eclipse, so, too, was the foreground, or rather, the nearest billows, for there was no land.
远处的一切黯然无光，画面的前景也是如此，或者不如说，靠得最近的波涛是这样，因为画中没高陆地。
One gleam of light lifted into relief a half-submerged mast,
—束微光把半沉的桅杆映照得轮廓分明，
on which sat a cormorant, dark and large, with wings flecked with foam.
桅杆上栖息着一只又黑又大的鸬鹚，翅膀上沾着斑驳的泡沫，
Its beak held a gold bracelet set with gems,
嘴里衔着一只镶嵌了宝石的金手镯，
that I had touched with as brilliant tints as my palette could yield,
我给手镯抹上了调色板所能调出的最明亮的色泽，
and as glittering distinctness as my pencil could impart.
以及我的铅笔所能勾划出的闪闪金光。
Sinking below the bird and mast, a drowned corpse glanced through the green water.
在鸟和桅杆下面的碧波里，隐约可见一具沉溺的尸体。
A fair arm was the only limb clearly visible, whence the bracelet had been washed or torn.
它身上唯一看得清清楚楚的肢体是一只美丽的胳膊，那手镯就是从这里被水冲走或是给鸟儿啄下来的。
The second picture contained for foreground only the dim peak of a hill, with grass and some leaves slanting as if by a breeze.
第二张画的前景只有一座朦胧的山峰，青草和树叶似乎被微风吹歪了。
Beyond and above spread an expanse of sky, dark blue as at twilight:
在远处和上方铺开了一片薄暮时分深蓝色的浩瀚天空。
rising into the sky was a woman's shape to the bust, portrayed in tints as dusk and soft as I could combine.
一个女人的半身形体高耸天际，色调被我尽力点染得柔和与暗淡。
The dim forehead was crowned with a star;
模糊的额头上点缀着一颗星星。
The lineaments below were seen as through the suffusion of vapour.
下面的脸部仿佛透现在雾气蒸腾之中。
The eyes shone dark and wild.
双目乌黑狂野、炯炯有神。
The hair streamed shadowy, like a beamless cloud torn by storm or by electric travail.
头发如阴影一般飘洒，仿佛是被风爆和闪电撕下的暗淡无光的云块。
On the neck lay a pale reflection like moonlight.
脖子上有一抹宛若月色的淡淡反光。
The same faint lustre touched the train of thin clouds from which rose and bowed this vision of the Evening Star.
一片片薄云也有着同样浅色的光泽，云端里升起了低着头的金星的幻象。