But the novel, like gossip, can also excite spurious sympathies and recoils, mechanical and deadening to the psyche. The novel can glorify the most corrupt feelings, so long as they are conventionally "pure". Then the novel, like gossip, becomes at last vicious, and, like gossip, all the more vicious because it is always ostensibly on the side of the angels. Mrs. Bolton's gossip was always on the side of the angels. "And he was such a bad fellow, and she was such a nice woman." Whereas, as Connie could see even from Mrs. Bolton's gossip, the woman had been merely a mealy-mouthed sort, and the man angrily honest. But angry honesty made a "bad man' of him, and mealy-mouthedness made a "nice woman' of her, in the vicious, conventional channelling of sympathy by Mrs. Bolton.

但小说也会引发虚假的同情和反应，让心灵变得呆板，活力尽失，这点跟闲言闲语无异。小说能将世间最低劣的情感吹捧得无比美好，只要传统观念给它们贴上“纯洁”的标签。跟风言风语一样，小说最终也堕入罪恶的深渊，跟风言风语一样，它永世无法自拔，因为表面上总是显得完美无缺。博尔顿太太就总是以道德评判者自居。“他是个坏家伙，而她却是位好女人。”然而，甚至通过博尔顿太太的闲话，康妮就能分辨出，那女人总是口不对心，而那男人反倒是嘴硬心软。但在传统道德的框范下，按照自己的同情心来衡量，博尔顿太太将嘴硬心软者斥为恶人，而把口不应心者视为好人。

For this reason, the gossip was humiliating. And for the same reason, most novels, especially popular ones, are humiliating too. The public responds now only to an appeal to its vices.

正因为此，蜚短流长本就是可耻的举动。同样因为此，大多数小说，尤其是那些时兴的作品，往往也是龌龊的。今时今日，只要能够迎合恶俗的兴趣，公众就会趋之若鹜。

Nevertheless, one got a new vision of Tevershall village from Mrs. Bolton's talk. A terrible, seething welter of ugly life it seemed: not at all the flat drabness it looked from outside. Clifford of course knew by sight most of the people mentioned, Connie knew only one or two. But it sounded really more like a Central African jungle than an English village.

尽管如此，从博尔顿太太的闲扯中，可以对特弗沙尔村有全新的认识。似乎丑陋的生活潜沸肆意奔腾翻涌，远非表面上看到的那样风平浪静。克利福德自然与其中绝大多数主人公曾经谋面，而康妮认识的却是寥寥。但这些事更像是发生在遥远的中非丛林，而不是大英帝国的村庄。

"I suppose you heard as Miss Allsopp was married last week! Would you ever! Miss Allsopp, old James' daughter, the boot-and-shoe Allsopp. You know they built a house up at Pye Croft. The old man died last year from a fall; eighty-three, he was, an' nimble as a lad. An' then he slipped on Bestwood Hill, on a slide as the lads 'ad made last winter, an' broke his thigh, and that finished him, poor old man, it did seem a shame. Well, he left all his money to Tattie: didn't leave the boys a penny. An' Tattie, I know, is five years—yes, she's fifty-three last autumn. And you know they were such Chapel people, my word! She taught Sunday school for thirty years, till her father died. And then she started carrying on with a fellow from Kinbrook, I don't know if you know him, an oldish fellow with a red nose, rather dandified, Willcock, as works in Harrison's woodyard. Well he's sixty-five, if he's a day, yet you'd have thought they were a pair of young turtle-doves, to see them, arm in arm, and kissing at the gate: yes, an' she sitting on his knee right in the bay window on Pye Croft Road, for anybody to see. And he's got sons over forty: only lost his wife two years ago. If old James Allsopp hasn't risen from his grave, it's because there is no rising: for he kept her that strict! Now they're married and gone to live down at Kinbrook, and they say she goes round in a dressing-gown from morning to night, a veritable sight. I'm sure it's awful, the way the old ones go on! Why they're a lot worse than the young, and a sight more disgusting. I lay it down to the pictures, myself. But you can't keep them away. I was always saying: go to a good instructive film, but do for goodness sake keep away from these melodramas and love films. Anyhow keep the children away! But there you are, grown-ups are worse than the children: and the old ones beat the band. Talk about morality! Nobody cares a thing. Folks does as they like, and much better off they are for it, I must say. But they're having to draw their horns in nowadays, now th' pits are working so bad, and they haven't got the money. And the grumbling they do, it's awful, especially the women. The men are so good and patient! What can they do, poor chaps! But the women, oh, they do carry on! They go and show off, giving contributions for a wedding present for Princess Mary, and then when they see all the grand things that's been given, they simply rave: who's she, any better than anybody else! Why doesn't Swan & Edgar give me one fur coat, instead of giving her six. I wish I'd kept my ten shillings! What's she going to give me, I should like to know? Here I can't get a new spring coat, my dad's working that bad, and she gets van-loads. It's time as poor folks had some money to spend, rich ones 'as 'ad it long enough. I want a new spring coat, I do, an' wheer am I going to get it? I say to them, be thankful you're well fed and well clothed, without all the new finery you want! And they fly back at me: "Why isn't Princess Mary thankful to go about in her old rags, then, an' have nothing! Folks like her get van-loads, an' I can't have a new spring coat. It's a damned shame. Princess! Bloomin' rot about Princess! It's munney as matters, an' cos she's got lots, they give her more! Nobody's givin' me any, an' I've as much right as anybody else. Don't talk to me about education. It's munney as matters. I want a new spring coat, I do, an' I shan't get it, cos there's no munney…That's all they care about, clothes. They think nothing of giving seven or eight guineas for a winter coat—colliers" daughters, mind you—and two guineas for a child's summer hat. And then they go to the Primitive Chapel in their two-guinea hat, girls as would have been proud of a three-and-sixpenny one in my day. I heard that at the Primitive Methodist anniversary this year, when they have a built-up platform for the Sunday School children, like a grandstand going almost up to th' ceiling, I heard Miss Thompson, who has the first class of girls in the Sunday School, say there'd be over a thousand pounds in new Sunday clothes sitting on that platform! And times are what they are! But you can't stop them. They're mad for clothes. And boys the same. The lads spend every penny on themselves, clothes, smoking, drinking in the Miners" Welfare, jaunting off to Sheffield two or three times a week. Why, it's another world. And they fear nothing, and they respect nothing, the young don't. The older men are that patient and good, really, they let the women take everything. And this is what it leads to. The women are positive demons. But the lads aren't like their dads. They're sacrificing nothing, they aren't: they're all for self. If you tell them they ought to be putting a bit by, for a home, they say: That'll keep, that will, I'm goin' t' enjoy myself while I can. Owt else'll keep! Oh, they're rough an' selfish, if you like. Everything falls on the older men, an' it's a bad outlook all round.” Clifford began to get a new idea of his own village. The place had always frightened him, but he had thought it more or less stable. Now—? "Is there much Socialism, Bolshevism, among the people?" he asked.

“我想，您准听说了，奥尔索普小姐上周出嫁的事。谁能想到呢！奥尔索普小姐，老鞋匠詹姆斯·奥尔索普的女儿。他们在派伊农场盖了栋房子。老人家去年摔死了，他虽然已经83岁高龄，但手脚却像小伙子那般利落。去年冬天，孩子们在贝斯特伍德山铺了条冰道，把老詹姆斯摔了个四脚朝天，大腿也折了，这要了他的命，可怜的老家伙，真是可惜呀。他把全部财产都留给了泰蒂，儿子们一毛钱也没得到。至于泰蒂，我可是了解的，比大我五年——去年秋天满53岁了。要知道，他们可都是虔诚的教徒。她在主日学校教书30年，直到父亲寿终正寝。那之后，她跟肯布鲁克来的某个家伙过从甚密，我不晓得您是否认识他，是个红鼻子老头，打扮得很是光鲜，名叫威尔科克，在哈里森木场干活。他得有65岁，或者更老些，可看到他俩勾肩搭背，甚至在大门口拥吻，准会觉得他们像对小情侣。真的，她坐在他腿上，通过正对着派伊农场公路的那扇凸窗，谁都可以看得清清楚楚。他几个儿子都40好几了，两年前刚刚丧妻。要是能的话，老詹姆斯·奥尔索普准会从坟墓里爬出来，他生前对女儿管教可严呢！现在，他俩结了婚，搬到肯布鲁克去了，据说她整天穿着睡衣四处闲逛，真是丢人现眼。一把年纪了，还不知廉耻，成何体统呀！为啥他们比年轻人更恶劣，更令人作呕呢。我认为都是电影惹的祸。可又不能不去看。我总在说，多看些具有教育意义的好影片，千万离剧情片和爱情片远些。无论如何也不能让孩子们看！但现实情况是，成年人比孩子更加不知自爱，老家伙的精力都过于充沛。说什么道德呀！没人在乎那玩意儿。没有道德的限制，人们大可以肆意妄为，我也只能这么说。不过，这阵子大伙儿都收敛许多，矿场不太景气，工人们都没钱挣。人人都怨声载道，尤其是婆娘们。男人们倒还好些，能忍耐得住。可他们还能怎么办呢，这些可怜的家伙！可妇女们可不理会，一个劲儿地瞎折腾！她们四处卖弄，还凑份子，给玛丽公主置办结婚礼物。后来，发现人家皇室的彩礼原来那么奢绮华贵，就都发起飙来：她算什么东西，哪里比俺们强呀！斯万·埃德加百货公司为何不送件貂皮大衣给俺，却要给她六件！真后悔当时掏了那十先令！俺倒想知道，她能回赠点什么？俺爹干活那么辛苦，俺连件新春装都买不起，而她的彩礼却车载斗量。穷百姓该搞些钱来花花了，富人们也享受得够可以了。俺想要件新春装，想得发疯，但上哪儿去弄呢？我劝她们，有饭充饥，有衣蔽体，就应该知足，那些光鲜亮丽的奢华衣装，要来也是无用！而她们则会反驳说：“要是公主穷困潦倒，终日破衣烂衫地四处晃，她难道会知足吗？她那样的贵族成车地收礼，而俺却连件春装都买不上。简直没天理呀。公主！腐朽堕落的公主！管用的还是钱，她的钱本就多得用不完，可人家还是不停给她送。俺跟别人有同样的权利，但就是没人给俺一个子儿。别扯什么教育。管用的还是钱。俺想要件新春装，想得要命，可就是搞不来，只是因为没有钱……她们心里只想着漂亮衣服。她们会花七八个畿尼买件大衣，连眼睛都不眨——要知道，她们可是穷矿工的女儿呀——给孩子买顶夏天戴的帽子，也要两个畿尼。然后，她们就会戴着那两畿尼买的帽子，去教堂礼拜，我年轻的时候，女孩们能花三先令六便士买顶帽子，就会恣得不行。听说今年循原会年会的时候，要给主日学校的孩子们搭个看台，几乎有天花板那么高。女一班的老师，汤普森小姐说，光是台子上学生们穿的新制服，就要花去1000多英镑！现在是什么光景呀！可就是无法阻止她们。这些婆娘都被衣装迷昏了头脑。男孩们也好不到哪里去。他们把所有钱都花在自己身上，买衣服，抽烟，在矿工之家狂饮，一个礼拜跑去谢菲尔德逛两三次。唉，世道变了。他们不知天高地厚，不懂思前虑后，现在的年轻人都是如此。而上年纪的男人们则更有耐心，又善解人意，乐得让婆娘们打理一切。而却换来这样的结果。女人们绝对是罪魁祸首。男孩们也赶不上父辈。他们从不愿付出，一心只为自己考虑。要是跟他们讲，应该攒点钱，将来好成家，他们便会说：那事儿又不着急，及时行乐最重要。这年头谁攒钱呀！噢，他们蛮不讲理，自私自利。什么事都要老一辈来承担，这样下去怎么能长久。”克利福德对本村的情况有了新的理解。虽然那地方常让他感到畏惧，但他曾认为村里基本还算稳定。可现在——？“村民里有社会主义者，或是布尔什维克吗？”他问。

"Oh!" said Mrs. Bolton, "you hear a few loud-mouthed ones. But they're mostly women who've got into debt. The men take no notice. I don't believe you'll ever turn our Tevershall men into reds. They're too decent for that. But the young ones blether sometimes. Not that they care for it really. They only want a bit of money in their pocket, to spend at the Welfare, or go gadding to Sheffield. That's all they care. When they've got no money, they'll listen to the reds spouting. But nobody believes in it, really.” "So you think there's no danger?” "Oh no! Not if trade was good, there wouldn't be. But if things were bad for a long spell, the young ones might go funny. I tell you, they're a selfish, spoilt lot. But I don't see how they'd ever do anything. They aren't ever serious about anything, except showing off on motor-bikes and dancing at the Palais-de-danse in Sheffield. You can't make them serious. The serious ones dress up in evening clothes and go off to the Pally to show off before a lot of girls and dance these new Charlestons and what not. I'm sure sometimes the bus'll be full of young fellows in evening suits, collier lads, off to the Pally: let alone those that have gone with their girls in motors or on motor-bikes. They don't give a serious thought to a thing—save Doncaster races, and the Derby: for they all of them bet on every race. And football! But even football's not what it was, not by a long chalk. It's too much like hard work, they say. No, they'd rather be off on motor-bikes to Sheffield or Nottingham, Saturday afternoons.” "But what do they do when they get there?" "Oh, hang around—and have tea in some fine tea-place like the Mikado—and go to the Pally or the pictures or the Empire, with some girl. The girls are as free as the lads. They do just what they like.” "And what do they do when they haven't the money for these things?” "They seem to get it, somehow. And they begin talking nasty then. But I don't see how you're going to get bolshevism, when all the lads want is just money to enjoy themselves, and the girls the same, with fine clothes: and they don't care about another thing. They haven't the brains to be socialists. They haven't enough seriousness to take anything really serious, and they never will have.” Connie thought, how extremely like all the rest of the classes the lower classes sounded. Just the same thing over again, Tevershall or Mayfair or Kensington. There was only one class nowadays: moneyboys. The moneyboy and the moneygirl, the only difference was how much you'd got, and how much you wanted.

“啊！”博尔顿夫人说，“倒是听到有小撮人叫嚣过。但多是负债的婆娘们。男人们不关心这些。我不相信特弗沙尔会遍地红色。他们都太本分，闹不起革命。但年轻人有时也会信口开河。但他们并非真想造反。他们只希望兜里有俩钱，能去矿工之家喝杯小酒，或者去谢菲尔德找点乐子。他们在乎的只是这些。没钱的时候，他们才会去听革命党高谈阔论。不过，没人真正相信那些。”“那么说，依你看，不会有暴乱发生？”“噢，不会！只要能够维持生计，就不会有人闹事。但如果矿场的情况总不见好转，年轻人们或许会骚动。我跟您说，他们都是些自私自利的家伙，从小就被惯坏了。但依我看，他们闹不出什么动静。他们做什么事都吊儿郎当，只知道骑着摩托车四处招摇，或者是去谢菲尔德的舞厅狂欢。谁也无法让他们正经起来。正经点的只晓得穿上晚礼服，跑去舞厅在姑娘面前瞎晃，大跳新式查尔斯顿舞什么的。我相信，总有一天，公交车上会挤满这些身着晚礼服的年轻人，矿工的儿子们，为的是赶去舞厅泡妞，更不用说那些开车或者骑摩托载女友去耍的小子们。他们从未认真考虑过任何事——除了唐卡斯特和德比的赛马会，他们从来不会错过下注的机会。当然还有足球！但就连足球也不如往日那般火爆，比以前差得太远。他们说踢球就像做苦工。不，每周六下午，他们更愿意骑着摩托，去谢菲尔德或者诺丁汉厮混。”“他们去那儿做什么呢？”“哦，消磨时光——去帝王茶社这样的高档地方喝茶——带着马子，去舞厅、电影院或者帝国剧院。女孩们跟男孩一样无所顾忌。她们想干啥就干啥。”“可没钱做这些的时候，他们怎么办呢？”“他们也能得过且过。不过会骂骂脏话。男孩们只想有钱享乐，女孩们则追求漂亮衣装，他们对其他事情都漠不关心，所以不会跟布尔什维克有啥关联。他们没那个头脑，成不了社会主义者。他们不会认真地对待任何事，也永远无法正经起来。”听到这里，康妮想，底层阶级跟其他阶层真是如出一辙。无论是特弗沙尔、梅费尔或者肯辛顿，都没啥两样。如今只存在一个阶级，那就是拜金主义者。拜金男和拜金女，唯一的差别是你拥有多少钱，想得到多少钱。

Under Mrs. Bolton's influence, Clifford began to take a new interest in the mines. He began to feel he belonged. A new sort of self-assertion came into him. After all, he was the real boss in Tevershall, he was really the pits. It was a new sense of power, something he had till now shrunk from with dread.

受到博尔顿太太的影响，克利福德对煤矿生出新的兴趣。他渐渐找到某种归属感。新的雄心壮志油然而生。他毕竟是特弗沙尔真正的主人，矿场的存亡与他息息相关。他重新体验到大权在握的感觉，而之前，他曾对此权柄望而生畏。

Tevershall pits were running thin. There were only two collieries: Tevershall itself, and New London. Tevershall had once been a famous mine, and had made famous money. But its best days were over. New London was never very rich, and in ordinary times just got along decently. But now times were bad, and it was pits like New London that got left.

特弗沙尔地区的矿坑产量日减。还在经营的煤矿仅剩两处，除特弗沙尔之外，还有新伦敦。特弗沙尔煤矿也曾远近闻名，收益颇丰。但其巅峰时代已经逝去。新伦敦则从未有过好景气，平时也只是勉强维持而已。如今，大环境如此糟糕，新伦敦这样的煤矿迟早要关门大吉。

"There's a lot of Tevershall men left and gone to Stacks Gate and Whiteover," said Mrs. Bolton. "You've not seen the new works at Stacks Gate, opened after the war, have you, Sir Clifford? Oh, you must go one day, they're something quite new: great big chemical works at the pit-head, doesn't look a bit like a colliery. They say they get more money out of the chemical by-products than out of the coal—I forget what it is. And the grand new houses for the men, fair mansions! Of course it's brought a lot of riff-raff from all over the country. But a lot of Tevershall men got on there, and doin' well, a lot better than our own men. They say Tevershall's done, finished: only a question of a few more years, and it'll have to shut down. And New London'll go first. My word, won't it be funny when there's no Tevershall pit working. It's bad enough during a strike, but my word, if it closes for good, it'll be like the end of the world. Even when I was a girl it was the best pit in the country, and a man counted himself lucky if he could on here. Oh, there's been some money made in Tevershall. And now the men say it's a sinking ship, and it's time they all got out. Doesn't it sound awful! But of course there's a lot as'll never go till they have to. They don't like these new fangled mines, such a depth, and all machinery to work them. Some of them simply dreads those iron men, as they call them, those machines for hewing the coal, where men always did it before. And they say it's wasteful as well. But what goes in waste is saved in wages, and a lot more. It seems soon there'll be no use for men on the face of the earth, it'll be all machines. But they say that's what folks said when they had to give up the old stocking frames. I can remember one or two. But my word, the more machines, the more people, that's what it looks like! They say you can't get the same chemicals out of Tevershall coal as you can out of Stacks Gate, and that's funny, they're not three miles apart. But they say so. But everybody says it's a shame something can't be started, to keep the men going a bit better, and employ the girls. All the girls traipsing off to Sheffield every day! My word, it would be something to talk about if Tevershall Collieries took a new lease of life, after everybody saying they're finished, and a sinking ship, and the men ought to leave them like rats leave a sinking ship. But folks talk so much, of course there was a boom during the war. When Sir Geoffrey made a trust of himself and got the money safe for ever, somehow. So they say! But they say even the masters and the owners don't get much out of it now. You can hardly believe it, can you! Why I always thought the pits would go on for ever and ever. Who'd have thought, when I was a girl! But New England's shut down, so is Colwick Wood: yes, it's fair haunting to go through that coppy and see Colwick Wood standing there deserted among the trees, and bushes growing up all over the pit-head, and the lines red rusty. It's like death itself, a dead colliery. Why, whatever should we do if Tevershall shut down—? It doesn't bear thinking of. Always that throng it's been, except at strikes, and even then the fan-wheels didn't stand, except when they fetched the ponies up. I'm sure it's a funny world, you don't know where you are from year to year, you really don't.” It was Mrs. Bolton's talk that really put a new fight into Clifford. His income, as she pointed out to him, was secure, from his father's trust, even though it was not large. The pits did not really concern him. It was the other world he wanted to capture, the world of literature and fame; the popular world, not the working world.

博尔顿太太说：“许多矿工都离开特弗沙尔，去斯塔克斯门以及怀特沃尔谋生。”“您没见过斯塔克斯门战后新建的矿场吧，克利福德爵士？噢，有空您可得去看看，崭新崭新的，矿坑旁边是硕大的化工车间，看上去根本不像煤矿。据说，他们那里仅靠化工副产品，赚的钱就比煤炭还多——我记不得那产品的名字。矿工宿舍也是全新的，漂亮得很！四面八方的穷光蛋们自然聚集到那里。许多特弗沙尔的矿工也去了，而且混得还有模有样，比在咱这里强得多。他们都说特弗沙尔完蛋了，没希望了，唯一的悬念是再过几年，它才会关张。步新伦敦的后尘。天呢，特弗沙尔煤矿要真的不复存在，那可不是儿戏。罢工期间已经够惨的，要是煤矿真的歇菜，那还不跟世界末日似的。我小的时候，这里可是全国最棒的煤矿，能在特弗沙尔混碗饭吃，那可是几世修来的福分。啊，特弗沙尔赚过很多钱呢。可现在，大家都说它像条行将沉没的轮船，是时候另寻生路了。听着就让人心寒！当然，不到万不得已，很多人还是都不愿离开。他们不喜欢新式煤矿，深不见底，而且都是机器在干活。有些人对这些铁家伙——他们这样称呼那些机器——心怀畏惧，这些挖煤的机器代替了以往的人力。他们还说那是种浪费。花在机器上的钱，总要从矿工的工资那里省回来，而且省得还不少。似乎很快世界上将不再需要人力，所有的活都由机器代劳。但当年老式织袜机被淘汰时，大家也曾有过相似的抱怨。我记得自己曾经见过一两台呢。但随着机器数量的增加，所需要的人力也在攀升，这才是真正的状况。他们都说特弗沙尔的煤炭提炼出的化工产品，无法跟斯塔克斯门相提并论，那可真是滑稽，两家煤矿相距不过三里地。但他们就是这种论调。但大家都在抱怨，说应该采取些措施，改善矿工的生存条件，再雇些女工，不然就太不像话了。所有的姑娘整天跑去谢菲尔德闲逛！哎呀，大家都说特弗沙尔煤矿将就此终结，应该像老鼠逃离沉船那样赶紧离开，如果能够让它起死回生，可真是件了不起的事情。到处都是风言风语。当然，大战期间，这里曾有过短暂的振兴。杰弗里爵士搞过某种资产信托，保证大家有稳定的收益。大家都是这么说的。但他们认为即使是老爷和东家们，现在从煤矿也拿不到什么钱。真是令人难以置信！我总以为煤矿会永永远远开下去。我年轻的时候，哪里想得到今天这幅图景！但新英格兰煤矿已经关门，科尔维克林的也一样。是啊，穿过树林，就能亲眼看到那骇人的惨状，煤矿被遗弃在树木丛生的荒野里。矿坑以及所有布满红锈的铁道上，全都杂草丛生。那景象就如同死亡一般可怖，一座废弃的煤矿。哦，如果特弗沙尔煤矿也歇业，我们该何去何从呢？真是想都不敢想。除了罢工的时候，特弗沙尔总是人声鼎沸，热火朝天。即使是罢工的日子，只要不彻底停产，风扇叶轮还是照样转着。这世界真是让人摸不着头脑，时光飞逝，谁也无法断定自己将身在何地。”博尔顿太太的话，让重新克利福德充满斗志。如她所言，拜父亲的信托资金所赐，他拥有稳定的经济来源，尽管数目不大。他从没将矿坑放在心上。他想要占据的是另一个世界，文学和名誉的世界。声望的世界，而非劳作的世界。

Now he realized the distinction between popular success and working success: the populace of pleasure and the populace of work. He, as a private individual, had been catering with his stories for the populace of pleasure. And he had caught on. But beneath the populace of pleasure lay the populace of work, grim, grimy, and rather terrible. They too had to have their providers. And it was a much grimmer business, providing for the populace of work, than for the populace of pleasure. While he was doing his stories, and 'getting on' in the world, Tevershall was going to the wall.

如今，他意识到要在两个世界获得成功，需要采取不同的方法，因为存在着享乐阶层及劳作阶层这两个不同的群体。他，作为个体，以自己的小说取悦着享乐阶层。他也因此声名鹊起。但在享乐阶层之下，还存在着劳作阶层，他们野蛮肮脏，却又令人生畏。供给者对他们而言，同样不可或缺。完成对劳作阶层的供给任务，远比为享乐阶层服务困难得多。他孜孜不倦地致力于自己的小说，在声望世界春风得意时，特弗沙尔却已经走投无路。

He realized now that the bitch-goddess of Success had two main appetites: one for flattery, adulation, stroking and tickling such as writers and artists gave her; but the other a grimmer appetite for meat and bones. And the meat and bones for the bitch-goddess were provided by the men who made money in industry.

他终于恍然大悟，成功这位堕落女神有两大嗜好：甜言蜜语，阿谀奉承，溜须拍马，这些由作家和艺术家来提供；而更为恐怖的是她对肉和骨头的渴望。负责为堕落女神供给肉和骨头的，是在工业领域淘金的人们。

Yes, there were two great groups of dogs wrangling for the bitch-goddess: the group of the flatterers, those who offered her amusement, stories, films, plays: and the other, much less showy, much more savage breed, those who gave her meat, the real substance of money. The well-groomed showy dogs of amusement wrangled and snarled among themselves for the favours of the bitch-goddess. But it was nothing to the silent fight-to-the-death that went on among the indispensables, the bone-bringers.

没错，两大群狗为赢得堕落女神的青睐，斗得不可开交。一群是谄媚者，他们献上小说、电影、戏剧等消遣元素。而另一群虽然低调许多，但更加野蛮粗暴，他们奉上的则是肉食——真正的金钱与财富。那群贡献娱乐元素的狗总是衣着光鲜，好出风头，他们彼此咆哮着，吼叫着，希望得到堕落女神的垂青。但他们跟那群提供肉和骨头的狗相比，简直不值一提，后者更加举足轻重，而他们暗中的较量更是生死攸关。

But under Mrs. Bolton's influence, Clifford was tempted to enter this other fight, to capture the bitch-goddess by brute means of industrial production. Somehow, he got his pecker up.

由于博尔顿太太的影响，克利福德渴望投身更为激烈的争斗中去，用工业生产的原始手段，来俘虏堕落女神的芳心。不知是何原因，他此番鼓足了勇气。

In one way, Mrs. Bolton made a man of him, as Connie never did. Connie kept him apart, and made him sensitive and conscious of himself and his own states. Mrs. Bolton made hint aware only of outside things. Inwardly he began to go soft as pulp. But outwardly he began to be effective.

从某种程度来讲，博尔顿将让克利福德塑造成真正的男子汉，而这是康妮从未企及的。康妮对他若即若离，让他变得极为敏感，对自己和自己的状态有清醒的认识。博尔顿太太则让他只管放眼外界。在内心深处，他变得软弱不堪。而从表面看来，他却显得斗志昂扬。

He even roused himself to go to the mines once more: and when he was there, he went down in a tub, and in a tub he was hauled out into the workings. Things he had learned before the war, and seemed utterly to have forgotten, now came back to him. He sat there, crippled, in a tub, with the underground manager showing him the seam with a powerful torch. And he said little. But his mind began to work.

他甚至振奋精神，重返矿场。他乘着矿车下到井底，被拖拽着审查过各个矿坑。大战爆发前，他熟知矿场的一切，而这些曾彻底被抛诸脑后，此刻却又再度回到原位。下肢瘫痪的他坐在矿车里，井下主管则用强力矿灯照亮矿层，便于他审视。他很少做声。但心里却开始盘算起什么。

He began to read again his technical works on the coal-mining industry, he studied the government reports, and he read with care the latest things on mining and the chemistry of coal and of shale which were written in German. Of course the most valuable discoveries were kept secret as far as possible. But once you started a sort of research in the field of coal-mining, a study of methods and means, a study of by-products and the chemical possibilities of coal, it was astounding the ingenuity and the almost uncanny cleverness of the modern technical mind, as if really the devil himself had lent fiend's wits to the technical scientists of industry. It was far more interesting than art, than literature, poor emotional half-witted stuff, was this technical science of industry. In this field, men were like gods, or demons, inspired to discoveries, and fighting to carry them out. In this activity, men were beyond any mental age calculable. But Clifford knew that when it did come to the emotional and human life, these self-made men were of a mental age of about thirteen, feeble boys. The discrepancy was enormous and appalling.

他重新开始阅读有关采煤业的技术著作，研究政府公报，留意着有关采矿、煤炭化学以及岩层化学的最新资料，这些资料均用德文写成。当然，科学家们会竭尽所能，保证其最具价值的成果不被泄露。一旦涉足采煤领域的研究，探索各种方式方法，钻研煤矿的副产品和其他可能出现的化学产品，准会因现代技术的精巧和绝妙而感到惊异，仿佛是魔鬼将自己的才智赋予了那些科学家们。与艺术、文学之类这些可怜兮兮、愚蠢透顶的情感伎俩相比，工业技术科学要有趣得多。在这一领域，人们像被神魔附体，一心追求新成果，并努力将其付诸实践。在科学活动中，人类的精神年龄无法估量。但克利福德深知，若论及情感和人类生活，这些天赋异禀的家伙们大概只有13岁左右，只是些尚未成熟的孩童。这样巨大的不协调确实令人震惊。

But let that be. Let man slide down to general idiocy in the emotional and 'human' mind, Clifford did not care. Let all that go hang. He was interested in the technicalities of modern coal-mining, and in pulling Tevershall out of the hole.

但随它去好了。任人类在情感及人性的领域滑进低能的深渊好了，克利福德毫不在乎。让这一切都见鬼去吧。他感兴趣的是现代采煤技术，还有如何重振特弗沙尔。

He went down to the pit day after day, he studied, he put the general manager, and the overhead manager, and the underground manager, and the engineers through a mill they had never dreamed of. Power! He felt a new sense of power flowing through him: power over all these men, over the hundreds and hundreds of colliers. He was finding out: and he was getting things into his grip.

他每天都亲下矿坑，不知疲倦地钻研着，对井上、井下和一般事务的经理和工程师们严加约束，其程度远远超出他们的想象。权力！他觉得新鲜的权力感流遍全身，所有管理阶层都须听命于他，成百上千的矿工都唯他马首是瞻。他慢慢发现，一切尽在自己的掌握之中。

And he seemed verily to be re-born. NOW life came into him! He had been gradually dying, with Connie, in the isolated private life of the artist and the conscious being. Now let all that go. Let it sleep. He simply felt life rush into him out of the coal, out of the pit. The very stale air of the colliery was better than oxygen to him. It gave him a sense of power, power. He was doing something: and he was going to do something. He was going to win, to win: not as he had won with his stories, mere publicity, amid a whole sapping of energy and malice. But a man's victory.

他似乎真的重获新生。如今，他又充满活力！以往，虽有康妮相伴，但艺术家和精神活动者所过的与世隔绝的生活，将他推向濒死的境地。现在，大可将这一切尽数抛开。跟那种生活诀别。他觉得生命力从煤炭、从矿坑中喷涌而出，注入自己的身体。对他而言，矿场陈腐的空气比氧气还要带劲儿。让他充分体验到大权在握的感觉。他此刻已经起步，将来势必有番大作为。他追求成功，渴望胜利。以小说在文学领域取得的成功，不过是哗众取宠，是对精神和意志的双重消耗。他需要的是男子汉般辉煌的胜利。

At first he thought the solution lay in electricity: convert the coal into electric power. Then a new idea came. The Germans invented a new locomotive engine with a self feeder, that did not need a fireman. And it was to be fed with a new fuel, that burnt in small quantities at a great heat, under peculiar conditions.

刚开始，解决之道在于发电，他认为可以将煤炭转化为电能。后来，他又萌发出新点子。德国人研制出某种新型机车，能够自供燃料，无需配备司炉工。它使用的新燃料，在特定的条件下，只需微量便可产生极大的热能。

The idea of a new concentrated fuel that burnt with a hard slowness at a fierce heat was what first attracted Clifford. There must be some sort of external stimulus of the burning of such fuel, not merely air supply. He began to experiment, and got a clever young fellow, who had proved brilliant in chemistry, to help him.

一种新型浓缩燃料，能够产生巨大的热能，且能持久使用，这个想法立刻吸引住克利福德。但此种燃料仅在空气中无法燃烧，必须借助某种外部催化剂。他开始投入实验，并得到某位聪颖青年的帮助，那人在化学领域颇有建树。

And he felt triumphant. He had at last got out of himself. He had fulfilled his life-long secret yearning to get out of himself. Art had not done it for him. Art had only made it worse. But now, now he had done it.

他嗅到成功的味道。他终于跳脱出过去的自我。实现了深藏心底的毕生愿望。艺术没能帮他实现这一愿望。反而将情况变得更糟。而现在，他总算完成夙愿。

He was not aware how much Mrs. Bolton was behind him. He did not know how much he depended on her. But for all that, it was evident that when he was with her his voice dropped to an easy rhythm of intimacy, almost a trifle vulgar.

他并未意识到博尔顿太太是多么强有力的后盾。他并不清楚自己是多么依赖她。但尽管如此，每当与她共处，他的语调会变得轻松而亲切，甚至有点粗俗，这一点显而易见。

With Connie, he was a little stiff. He felt he owed her everything, and he showed her the utmost respect and consideration, so long as she gave him mere outward respect. But it was obvious he had a secret dread of her. The new Achilles in hint had a heel, and in this heel the woman, the woman like Connie, his wife, could lame him fatally. He went in a certain half-subservient dread of her, and was extremely nice to her. But his voice was a little tense when he spoke to her, and he began to be silent whenever she was present.

而跟康妮在一起，他仍然稍显拘谨。他觉得亏欠妻子太多，只要她表面上仍旧尊重自己，他就会报以至高的敬意和体谅。但很明显，他心里依然惧她三分。重获新生的阿喀琉斯依然没有摆脱致命的弱点，而这个弱点就是康妮这样的女人，他的妻子可以轻而易举地将他驯服。他对她怀有敬畏之意，在她面前总是和颜悦色，对她极为温柔和善。但跟她交谈时，他的声音总是显得有些紧张，每当她出现，他就会选择收声。

Only when he was alone with Mrs. Bolton did he really feel a lord and a master, and his voice ran on with her almost as easily and garrulously as her own could run. And he let her shave him or sponge all his body as if he were a child, really as if he were a child.

只有单独跟博尔顿太太相处时，他才能找回当家做主的感觉，说话时也变得跟她一样轻松自如，絮絮叨叨。他让她为自己刮脸，或者用海绵擦拭全身，好像他仍身处孩提时代，仍身在襁褓之中。