Now I never had, as the reader knows, either given any formal promise or entered into any engagement;

读者们明白，我从来没有作过一本正经的许诺，也没有跟谁订下过约定。

and this language was all much too hard and much too despotic for the occasion.

在这种场合，他的话说得太狠，太专横了。

I replied: --

我回答：

"There is no dishonour, no breach of promise, no desertion in the case.

“在这件事情上，并无耻辱可言，也不存在着失信和毁约。

I am not under the slightest obligation to go to India, especially with strangers.

我丝毫没有去印度的义务，尤其是同陌生人。

With you I would have ventured much, because I admire, confide in, and, as a sister, I love you;

同你，我愿意冒很大的险，因为我佩服你，信任你。作为一个妹妹，我爱你。

but I am convinced that, go when and with whom I would, I should not live long in that climate."

但我相信，不管什么时候去，跟谁去，在那种气候条件下我活不长久。”

"Ah! you are afraid of yourself,"

“呵，你怕你自己，”

he said, curling his lip.

他噘起嘴唇说。

"I am. God did not give me my life to throw away;

“我是害怕。上帝给了我生命不是让我虚掷的，

and to do as you wish me would, I begin to think, be almost equivalent to committing suicide.

而按你的意愿去做，我想无异于自杀。

Moreover, before I definitively resolve on quitting England,

况且，我在决心离开英国之前，

I will know for certain whether I cannot be of greater use by remaining in it than by leaving it."

还要确实弄明白，留在这儿是不是比离开更有价值。”

"What do you mean?"

“你这是什么意思？”

"It would be fruitless to attempt to explain;

“解释也是徒劳的，

but there is a point on which I have long endured painful doubt, and I can go nowhere till by some means that doubt is removed."

在这一点上我长期忍受着痛苦的疑虑，不通过某种办法来解除疑团，我什么地方也不能去。”

"I know where your heart turns and to what it clings.

“我知道你的心向着哪里，依恋着什么。

The interest you cherish is lawless and unconsecrated.

你所怀的兴趣是非法的，不神圣的。

Long since you ought to have crushed it: now you should blush to allude to it.

你早该将它抛弃了。这会儿你应当为提起它来而感到害臊。

You think of Mr. Rochester?"

你是不是想着罗切斯特先生？”

It was true. I confessed it by silence.

确实如此，我默认了。

"Are you going to seek Mr. Rochester?"

“你要去找罗切斯特先生吗？”

"I must find out what is become of him."

“我得弄清楚他怎么样了。”