(单词翻译:单击)
Had this mouth spoken, it would probably have said something like this:
如果这张嘴会说话，那么它可能会说些这个，
Do not be afraid, Pandora! What harm can there be in opening the box? Never mind that poor, simple Epimetheus!
不要害怕，潘多拉，打开箱子又会带来什么伤害呢？不要理会那个可怜简单的厄毗米修斯。
You are wiser than he, and have ten times as much spirit. Open the box, and see if you do not find something very pretty!
你比他聪明，你的灵气是他的十倍，打开盒子，看看能发现什么漂亮的事物！
The box, I had almost forgotten to say, was fastened not by a lock but by a very fine knot of gold cord.
我差点忘了说，这个盒子不是用锁封住的，而是一条非常漂亮的金色绳结。
There appeared to be no end to this knot, and no beginning. Never was a knot so cunningly twisted with so many ins and outs.
绳结似乎没有尽头，没有起始，从没见过如此巧妙编织的绳结。
And yet, by the very difficulty that there was in it, Pandora was the more tempted to examine the knot,
由于绳结的复杂性，潘多拉更加想要检查这个绳结，
and just see how it was made. Two or three times already she had stooped over the box and taken the knot between her thumb and forefinger,
看看它是如何制作而成的，她在盒子前踱步了两三次，并用拇指和食指拿住绳结，
but without trying to undo it. I really believe, said she to herself, that I begin to see how it was done.
她没有试图解开她，她对自己说我真的相信，我开始知道这个绳结是怎么实现的了。
Nay, perhaps I could tie it up again after undoing it. Even Epimetheus would not blame me for that.
而且，我或许能够在解开之后再将它捆起来，甚至厄毗米修斯也不会抱怨我。
I need not open the box, and should not, of course, without that foolish boy's consent, even if the knot were untied.
没有这个傻男孩的同意，我不应该打开盒子，即使这个绳结被解开了。
It might have been better for Pandora if she had had a little work to do so as not to be so constantly thinking of this one subject.
如果潘多拉有些别的事情要做，或许这对她是件好事，她就无需老想着这个盒子。
But children led so easy a life before any Troubles came into the world that they had a great deal too much leisure.
在麻烦到达这个世界之前，孩子们的生活很惬意，他们有大量闲暇时间。
They could not be forever playing at hide-and-seek among the flower-shrubs,
他们不能永远在花丛中捉迷藏，
or at blindman's buff with garlands over their eyes, or at whatever other games had been found out while Mother Earth was in her babyhood.
或者在蒙眼捉迷藏里，用花环挡住他们的眼睛，或是任何他们可以发现的游戏，当时地球妈妈还处在婴儿期。
When life is all sport, toil is the real play. There was nothing to do.
当生活只是享乐，辛勤劳动才是真正的游戏，没有事情可做。
A little sweeping and dusting about the cottage, I suppose, and the gathering of fresh flowers and arranging them in vases
对乡村别墅进行简单清扫，收集鲜花放在花瓶中，
and poor little Pandora's day's work was over. And then, for the rest of the day, there was always the box!
可怜的小潘多拉，她一天的工作结束了，剩下的时光将围绕盒子展开。
After all, I am not quite sure that the fascinating box was not a blessing to Pandora in its way.
客观而言，我不确定这个美丽的盒子不是对潘多拉的祝愿。
It supplied her with so many ideas to think of, and to talk about, whenever she had anybody who would listen to her!
无论何时有人想听她说话，盒子都会给她许多可以思考和谈论的话题。
