How people feel when they are returning home from an absence, long or short, I did not know:
无论是短期还是长期外出回家的人是什么滋味，我并不知道，
I had never experienced the sensation.
因为我从来没有这种感受。
I had known what it was to come back to Gateshead when a child after a long walk,
但我知道，小时候走了很远的路后回到盖茨黑德府，
to be scolded for looking cold or gloomy;
因为显得怕冷或情绪低沉而挨骂是什么滋味；
and later, what it was to come back from church to Lowood,
后来，我也知道，从教堂里回到罗沃德，
to long for a plenteous meal and a good fire, and to be unable to get either.
渴望一顿丰盛的饭菜和熊熊的炉火，结果却两者都落空时，又是什么滋味。
Neither of these returnings was very pleasant or desirable:
那几次归途并不愉快，也不令人向往，
no magnet drew me to a given point, increasing in its strength of attraction the nearer I came.
因为没有一种磁力吸引我奔向目标，不是离得越近越具诱人的力量。
The return to Thornfield was yet to be tried.
这次返回桑菲尔德是什么滋味，还有待于体味。

My journey seemed tedious -- very tedious: fifty miles one day, a night spent at an inn; fifty miles the next day.
旅途似乎有些乏味--很乏味：白天走五十英里，晚上投宿于旅店。第二天又走五十英里。
During the first twelve hours I thought of Mrs. Reed in her last moments;
最初十二个小时，我想起了里德太太临终的时刻。
I saw her disfigured and discoloured face, and heard her strangely altered voice.
我看见了她变了形相、没有血色的脸，听见了她出奇地走了样的声调。
I mused on the funeral day, the coffin, the hearse, the black train of tenants and servants
我默默地忆起了出丧的日子，还有棺材、棂车、黑黑的一队佃户和佣人，
few was the number of relatives -- the gaping vault, the silent church, the solemn service.
亲戚参加的不多--张开的墓穴、寂静的教堂、庄严的仪式。
Then I thought of Eliza and Georgiana;
随后我想起了伊丽莎和乔治亚娜；
I beheld one the cynosure of a ball-room, the other the inmate of a convent cell;
我看见一个是舞场中的皇后，另一个是修道院陋室的居士。
and I dwelt on and analysed their separate peculiarities of person and character.
我继续思索着，分析了她们各自的个性和品格。
The evening arrival at the great town of -- scattered these thoughts;
傍晚时抵达某个大城镇，驱散了这些想法；
night gave them quite another turn: laid down on my traveller's bed, I left reminiscence for anticipation.
夜间，我的思绪转了向：我躺在这远游者的床榻上，撇开回忆，开始了对未来的向往。