"I beg your pardon," said the learned man; "it is an old habit with me.

“请原谅！”学者说，“这是一个老习惯，很不容易去掉。

You are perfectly right, and I shall remember it;but now you must tell me all you saw!"

——您是绝对正确的，我一定记住。不过现在请您把您所看到的一切都告诉我吧。”

"Everything!" said the shadow. "For I saw everything, and I know everything!"

“一切！”影子说，“因为我看到了一切，同时我知道一切。”

"How did it look in the furthest saloon?" asked the learned man.

“那个内房里的一切是个什么样儿的呢？”学者问。

"Was it there as in the fresh woods? Was it there as in a holy church?

“是像在一个空气新鲜的山林里吗？是像在一个神庙里吗？

Were the saloons like the starlit firmament when we stand on the high mountains?"

那些房间是像一个人站在高山上看到的满天星斗的高空吗？”

"Everything was there!" said the shadow.

“那儿一切都有，”影子说，

"I did not go quite in, I remained in the foremost room, in the twilight, but I stood there quite well;

“我没有完全走进里面去，只是站在阴暗的前房里，不过我在那儿的位置站得非常好。

I saw everything, and I know everything! I have been in the antechamber at the court of Poesy."

我看到一切，我知道一切。我曾经到前房诗之宫里去过。”

"But what did you see? Did all the gods of the olden times pass through the large saloons?

“不过您到底看到了什么呢？在那些大厅里面是不是有远古的神祗走过？

Did the old heroes combat there? Did sweet children play there, and relate their dreams?"

是不是有古代的英雄在那儿比武？是不是有美丽的孩子们在那儿嬉戏，在那儿讲他们所做过的梦？”

"I tell you I was there, and you can conceive that I saw everything there was to be seen.

“我告诉您，我到那儿去过，因此您懂得我在那儿看到了我所能看到的一切！

Had you come over there, you would not have been a man; but I became so!

如果您去过那儿，您不会成为另外一个人；但是我却成了一个人了！

And besides, I learned to know my inward nature, my innate qualities, the relationship I had with Poesy.

同时我还学到了如何理解我内在的天性，我的本质和我与诗的关系。

At the time I was with you, I thought not of that, but always—you know it well—when the sun rose, and when the sun went down, I became so strangely great;

是的，当我以前和您在一起的时候，我不曾想到过这些东西。不过您知道，在太阳上升或落下去的时候，我就变得分外地高大。

in the moonlight I was very near being more distinct than yourself;

在月光里面，我看起来比您更真实。

at that time, I did not understand my nature; it was revealed to me in the antechamber! I became a man!”

那时我不认识我内在的本质；我只有到了那个前房里才认出来。我变成一个人了！”

“I came out matured; but you were no longer in the warm lands; as a man I was ashamed to go as I did.

“我完全成形了。您已经不再在那些温暖的国度里。作为一个人，我就觉得以原来的形态出现是羞耻的：

I was in want of boots, of clothes, of the whole human varnish that makes a man perceptible.

我需要皮鞋、衣服和一个具体的人所应当有的各种修饰，

I took my way—I tell it to you,but you will not put it in any book

——我自己藏起来；是的，我把这都告诉您了，请您不要把它写进任何书里去。

—I took my way to the cake woman—I hid myself behind her;

我跑到卖糕饼女人的裙子下面去，在那里面藏起来。

the woman didn't think how much she concealed.

这个女人一点也不知道她藏着一件多么大的东西。

I went out first in the evening; I ran about the streets in the moonlight;

起初我只有在晚上才走出来，我在街上的月光下面走来走去。

I made myself long up the walls—it tickles the back so delightfully!

我在墙上伸得很长，这使得我背上发痒，怪舒服的啦！