But to continue my story. The Angel was dead; what then remained? You may say that what remained was a simple and common object—a young woman in a bedroom with an inkpot. In other words, now that she had rid herself of falsehood, that young woman had only to be herself. Ah, but what is "herself”？ I mean, what is a woman? I assure you, I do not know. I do not believe that you know. I do not believe that anybody can know until she has expressed herself in all the arts and professions open to human skill. That indeed is one of the reasons why I have come here—out of respect for you, who are in process of showing us by your experiments what a woman is, who are in process of providing us, by your failures and successes, with that extremely important piece of information.
现在继续我的故事。天使死了，还有什么？你们也许认为余下的就是一个简单又普通的事：卧室里一个年轻姑娘和墨水瓶。换句话说，既然她已经摆脱虚假，那么这个年轻姑娘可以独善其身了。那么，什么是“自己”？我是说，什么是女人呢？我很确定地告诉大家，我不知道。我想你们也不知道。我相信，妇女只有在人类知识所涉及的全部艺术和专业领域中用创造形式表达自己的情感后，她们才能知道什么是妇女。这就是我今天来到这里的原因，是出于对你们的尊敬，因为你们正在用你们的经验告诉我们妇女是什么，并正在通过你们的成功与失败，为我们提供尤为重要的信息。
But to continue the story of my professional experiences. I made one pound ten and six by my first review; and I bought a Persian cat with the proceeds. Then I grew ambitious. A Persian cat is all very well, I said; but a Persian cat is not enough. I must have a motor car. And it was thus that I became a novelist—for it is a very strange thing that people will give you a motor car if you will tell them a story. It is a still stranger thing that there is nothing so delightful in the world as telling stories. It is far pleasanter than writing reviews of famous novels. And yet, if I am to obey your secretary and tell you my professional experiences as a novelist, I must tell you about a very strange experience that befell me as a novelist.
接着讲我的职业经历。我第一篇评论赚回了一英镑十先令六便士，我用那笔钱买了一只波斯猫。我变得雄心勃勃，我说，波斯猫很好，可一只波斯猫还不够，我一定要有辆汽车。这就是为什么我成了一个小说家。说来奇怪，你给人们讲故亊他们就会给你一辆汽车。更奇怪的是，世界上没有比讲故事更令人快乐的事。讲故事远比为一些著名小说写评论更有趣。下面，我听从你们秘书的建议，接着讲述我作为小说家的职业体验。我要告诉大家作为作家的一个极为奇特的体验。