"He looks like you, don't you think?" she said to Bryan. They stood in front of a portrait of soldier who died in the first year of the twentieth century. It was the colour of his eyes and his hair. But Bryan did not answer her, did not agree with her. He was preoccupie with reading the caption. When she looked at the portrait again, she saw that she was mistaken. The strength in the eyes, the purpose, was something Bryan didn't have. They had strong faith in those days long ago.
“她看起来很像你,你不觉得吗?”她对布莱恩说。他们站在一个20世纪初期就死于战争的战士的塑像面前。战士眼睛和头发的颜色和布莱恩一样。但是布莱恩没有回应他。他正全神贯注地在阅读一个说明。当她再次看着那个塑像的时候,她觉得她错了。那个战士眼中的力量、目标,都是布莱恩所没有的。他们在过去,有着强大的信仰。
Biographies of explorers who were educated in Edinburgh; they knew what to take to Africa: doctors, courage, Christianity, commerce, civilization. They knew what they wanted to bring back: cotton-watered by the Blue Nile, the Zambezi River. She walked after Bryan, felt his concentration, his interest in what was before him and thought, "In photograph we would not look nice together."
在爱丁堡学习的一个探索家的个人简介,他们知道把什么带到非洲:医生、勇气、基督教精神、商贸、文化。他们知道他们要带回什么:由青尼罗河水和赞比西河水所灌溉的棉花。她走在布莱恩的身后,感到到它的专注以及他对眼前展品的兴趣。她想,“在照片里我们俩看上去不会相配的。”
She had come to this museum expecting sunlight and photographs of the Nile, something to relieve her homesickness: a comfort, a message. But the messages were not for her, not for anyone like her. A letter from West Africa, 1762, an employee to his employer in Scotland. An employee trading European goods for African curiosities.
她来参观博物馆原本期待着能看到阳光和尼罗河的照片,某种能够减轻她思乡之情的东西,一后,感觉到他的专注以及他对眼前展的兴趣。她想片,1762年,一封来自于西部非洲,一名雇佣者写给他苏格兰老板的信。这个雇佣者以苏格兰的物品来换得非洲人的好奇心。
It was difficult to make the natives understand my meaning, even by an interpreter, to being a thing so seldom asked of them but they have all undertaken to bring something and laughed heartily at me and said, I was a good man to love their country so much…
让当地人理解我的意思是很困难的,即使通过翻译,拿出一件东西,他们很少去问,但是他们却都知道带来一些东西交换,并发自内心地对我微笑着说,我是一个好人,我很爱他们的国家……
Love my country so much. She should not be here, there was nothing for her here. She wanted to see minarets, boats fragile on the Nile, people.
很爱我的国家。她不应该出现在这里,这里没有什么东西是为她准备的。她想要看宣礼塔、尼罗河上的船只,还有人。
"I know why they went away," said Bryan. "I understand why they travelled." At last he was talking. She had not seen him intense before. He spoke in a low "They had to get away, to leave here…"
“我知道他们为什么离开了,”布莱恩说。“我知道他们为什么要走。”最后他说道。她从未如此紧张地看着他。他用低沉的声音说话。“他们不得不走,不得不离开这里……”
To escape from the horrible weather… She was making fun of him. She wanted to put him down. The imperialists who had humiliated her history were heroes in his eyes.
“去逃离可怕的天气……”她和他开着玩笑。她想要贬低他。那些曾经羞辱过她的国家历史的人,现在在他的眼中是英雄。
He looked at her. "To escape…" he repeated.
他看着她。“去逃离……”他重复着。
"They went to benefit themselves," she said, "people go away because they benefit in some way.
“他们想要做对自己有利的事情,”她说,“那些人离开是因为他们想要在某些方面获利。
"I want to get away," he said.
“我想要去其他地方看看,”他说。