Reference for Comments: 林紓譯《記惠思敏思德大寺》，夏濟安譯本

Translator: Cleo Xin

Source Book: 高級文學翻譯

On one of those sober [P1]   and rather melancholy [P2]   days, in the latter part of autumn [P3]  , when the shadows of morning and evening almost mingle together and throw a gloom over the decline of the year[P4]  , I passed several hours [P5]   [P6]   in rambling about [P7]   Westminster Abbey. There was something congenial to the season [P8]   in the mournful magnificence of the old pile[P9]  ; and as I passed its threshold it seemed like stepping back into the regions of antiquity [P10]   and losing myself among the shades of former ages[P11]  .

時值晚秋，晴明氣候夾雜些許憂傷，晨曦與夜傍陰影交疊，一年之昏也添了點點慘澹意味。我漫步西敏大寺，聊以消磨時光。晚秋光景，與西敏古刹的弔唁氛圍甚是相宜。踏入大寺，古色古韻迎面而來，身不由己，置身先賢偉岸身影之下。

I entered from the inner court of Westminster School, through a long, low, vaulted [P12]   passage that had an almost subterranean look, [P13]   being dimly lighted in one part by circular perforations in the massive walls [P14]  . Through this dark avenue I had a distant view of the cloisters, with the figure of an old verger in his black gown moving along their shadowy vaults, and seeming like a spectre from one of the neighbouring tombs. The approach to the abbey through these gloomy monastic remains prepares the mind for its solemn contemplation. The cloister still remains something of the quiet and seclusion of former days. The grey walls are discoloured by damps and crumbling with age; a coat of hoary moss has gathered over the inscriptions of the mural monuments and obscured the death’s [P15]   head and other funereal emblems. The sharp touches of the chisel are gone from the rich tracery of the arches [P16]  ; the roses [P17]   which adorned the key-stones have lost their leafy beauty; everything bears marks of the gradual dilapidations of time, which yet has something touching and pleasing [P18]   in its very decay.

余自西敏中學內廷入，廊徑悠長，地勢低窪，穹頂森森 [P19]  ，恍若陰羅。光圈穿高牆而入，光點散亂於徑，蕭索異常。於此陰暗之地遠望[P20]  道院，一年邁司事著黑袍，於穹窿下匆匆[P21]  而過，似鄰塚飄出之幽靈。蕭索寺院，徑通大寺，令人感慨萬千，思緒紛繁。道院仍存先時靜寂出世之感。灰牆色落，黴斑點點，同時光之喪亂[P22]  ；灰白[P23]  蘚衣群集壁上，逝者[P24]  頭像，葬飾他物[P25]  ，皆斑斕形銷。斧鑿刻痕已煙消雲散，不復著於拱頂富麗裝飾之上[P26]  ；增艷拱頂之玫瑰[P27]  ，繁茂風姿業已消亡。萬物皆受光陰摧枯拉朽之害，於此傾頹之中，且別有動人愉悅之處。

The sun was pouring down a yellow autumnal ray into the square of the cloisters; beaming upon a scanty plot of grass in the center, and lighting up an angle of the vaulted passage with a kind of dusky splendour. From between the arcades, the eye glanced up [P28]   to a bit of blue sky or a passing cloud and beheld the sun-gilt pinnacles of the abbey towering into the azure heaven.

燦黃秋光傾瀉而下，射入道院庭園之中，落於正中片草之上，灰暗光暈 [P29]  ，照亮廊徑一角。拱廊之間望去，一隙藍天，一絲飄雲[P30]  ，西敏大寺尖頂如鍍金一般[P31]  ，直衝[P32]  湛藍雲霄。