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I am arriving by degrees at my point, which is that the great issue facing writers both of journalism and of novels is that of determining, and then publishing, the truth. For the ultimate goal of both factual and fictional writing is the truth, however paradoxical that may sound. And truth is slippery, hard to establish. Mistakes, as in the Lloyd Webber case, can be made. And if truth can set you free, it can also land you in hot water. Fine as the word sounds, truth is all too often unpalatable, awkward, unorthodox. The armies of received ideas are marshaled against it. The legions of all those who stand to profit by useful untruths will march against it. Yet it must, if at all possible, be told.
我正逐渐地得出我的论点，也就是说，不论是新闻报道记者还是小说作家都面临着确定事实真相并将其公之于众的大事。因为对于纪实性和虚构性的写作来说，两者的最终目的都是揭露事实真相，不管真相听起来有多么的荒谬。然而真相并非唾手可得，而是难以确定的。像劳埃德·韦伯事件中那样的错误就可能会出现。而且如果真相能够令你免除痛苦，它也能令你陷入困境。尽管真相这个词听着顺耳，但总是时常令人感到不快和窘迫，或是离经叛道。传统观念会集结为大军讨伐它。能够从可利用的谎言中获益的人会成群结伙地向它发起攻击。但是只要有丁点儿的可能，真相就必须被讲出来。
But, it may be objected, can there really be any connection between the truth of the news and that of the world of the imagination? In the world of facts, a man is either an ostrich farmer or he is not. In fiction's universe, he may be fifteen contradictory things at once.
但是，真相可能会遭到拒绝，在新闻报道的事实与虚构世界的事实之间真的会有任何联系吗？在现实的世界里，某人要么是养殖鸵鸟的农场主，要么不是。在虚构世界里，他可能同时具有15种自相矛盾的身份。
Let me attempt an answer.
让我试着来回答一下吧。
The word "novel" derives from the Latin word for new; in French, nouvelles are both stories and news reports. A hundred years ago, people read novels, among other things, for information. From Dickens; Nicholas Nickleby, British readers got shocking information about poor schools like Dotheboys Hall, and such schools were subsequently abolished. Uncle Tom's Cabin, Huckleberry Finn and Moby-Dick are all, in this newsy sense, information-heavy.
“novel”一词源自拉丁语，意思是“新的”；在法语里，“nouvelles”一词既指故事又指新闻报道。100年前，人们通过阅读获取信息，小说就是各种读物之一。从狄更斯的《少爷返乡》中，英国读者了解到有关多希男童学堂的情况，像那样的穷人学校的状况是令人震惊的，后来这样的学校就被废止了。《汤姆叔叔的小屋》《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》《白鲸》从这种新闻意识而言都包含了大量的信息。
