布鲁斯读信狄更斯致《泰晤士报》(3)
I have seen, habitually, some of the worst sources of general contamination and corruption in this country, and I think there are not many phases of London life that could surprise me.
我在这个国家已惯常看到普遍的糟污与腐败的根源,伦敦生活能我惊讶的事也不多见。
I am solemnly convinced that nothing that ingenuity could devise to be done in this city, in the same compass of time, could work such ruin as one public execution, and I stand astounded and appalled by the wickedness it exhibits.
我严肃地相信,在这座城市,在同一-个时代里,人们的聪明才智不应该用在这方面,我对这次行刑所展现的邪恶感到惊骇不已。
I do not believe that any community can prosper where such a scene of horror and demoralization as was enacted this morning outside Horsemonger Lane Gaol is presented at the very doors of good citizens, and is passed by, unknown or forgotten.
像今天早晨贩马商巷监狱外这般展现在普通良民家门口的恐怖堕落场景,如任其悄无声息地过去一我不认为这样的社会会走向繁荣。
And when in our prayers and thanksgivings for the season we are humbly expressing before God our desire to remove the moral evils of the land,
在我们祈祷与感恩时,我们在上帝面前谦卑地许愿,要消除这片土地上的道德罪孽。
I would ask your readers to consider whether it is not a time to think of this one, and to root it out.
我请求贵报的读者思考这次是否该审视这个问题,并将其根除。
I am your Servant.
先生,我是您忠实的读者。
Dickens
狄更斯敬上
译文来自网络,侵删