介绍:
谁又能逃过，日渐衰老的容颜?
One day, I was already old,
有一天，我已经老了
in the entrance of a public place a man came up to me.
在一处公共场所的大厅里，有一个男人向我走来。
He introduced himself and said:' I've known you for years.
他主动介绍自己，他对我说：“我认识你，
Every-one says you were beautiful when you were young,
永远记得你。那时候，你还很年轻，人人都说你美，
but I want to tell you I think you're more beautiful now than then.
现在，我是特为来告诉你，对我来说，我觉得现在你比年轻的时候更美，
Rather than your face as a young woman,
那时你是年轻女人，与你那时的面貌相比，
I prefer your face as it is now. Ravaged.'
我更爱你现在备受摧残的面容。
I often think of the image only I can see now,
这个形象，我是时常想到的，这个形象，只有我一个人能看到，
and of which I've never spoken.
这个形象，我却从来不曾说起。
It's always there, in the same silence, amazing.
它就在那里，在无声无息之中，永远使人为之惊叹。
It's the only image of my-self I like,
在所有的形象之中，只有它让我感到自悦自喜，
the only one in which I recognize myself, in which I delight.
只有在它那里，我才认识自己，感到心醉神迷。
Very early in my life it was too late.
太晚了，太晚了，在我这一生中，这未免来得太早，也过于匆匆。
It was already too late when I was eighteen.
才十八岁，就已经是太迟了。
Between eighteen and twenty-five my face took off in a new direction.
在十八岁和二十五岁之间，我原来的面貌早已不知去向。
I grew old at eighteen.
我在十八岁的时候就变老了。
I don't know if it's the same for everyone. I've never asked.
我不知道所有的人都这样，我从来不曾问过什么人。
But I believe I've heard of the way time can suddenly accelerate on people
好像有谁对我说讲过时间转瞬即逝，
when they're going through even the most youthful and highly esteemed stages of life.
在一生最年轻的岁月年华，那时间来去匆匆，有时会突然让你感到震惊。
My ageing was very sudden.
衰老的过程是冷酷无情的。
I saw it spread over my features one by one,
我眼看着衰老在我颜面上步步紧逼，一点点侵蚀，
changing the relationship between them,
我的面容各有关部位也发生了变化，
making the eyes larger, the expression sadder, the mouth more final,
两眼变得越来越大，目光变得凄切无神，嘴变得更加固定僵化，
leaving great creases in the forehead.
额上刻满了深深的裂痕。
But instead of being dismayed I watched this process
我倒并没有被这一切吓倒，
with the same sort of interest I might
相反，我注意看那衰老如何在我的颜面上肆虐践踏，
have taken in the reading of a book.
就好像我很有兴趣读一本书一样。
And I knew I was right,
我没有搞错，
that one day it would slow down and take its normal course.
我知道；我知道衰老有一天也会减缓下来，按它通常的步伐徐徐前进。
The people who knew me at seventeen, when I went to France,
在我十七岁回到法国时认识我的人，
were surprised when they saw me again two years later, at nineteen.
两年后在我十九岁又见到我，一定会大为惊奇。
And I've kept it ever since, the new face I had then.
这样的面貌，虽然已经成了新的模样，但我毕竟还是把它保持下来了。
It has been my face.
它毕竟曾经是我的面貌。
It's got older still, of course,
它已经变老了，肯定是老了，
but less, comparatively, than it would otherwise have done.
不过，比起它本来应该变成的样子，也没有变得老到那种地步。
It's scored with deep, dry wrinkles, the skin is cracked.
我的面容已经被深深的干枯的皱纹撕得四分五裂，
But my face hasn't collapsed, as some with fine features have done.
皮肤也支离破碎了，它不像某些娟秀纤细的容颜那样，从此便告毁去，
It's kept the same contours,
它原有轮廓依然存在，
but its substance has been laid waste. I have a face laid waste.
不过，实质已经被摧毁了。我的容颜是被摧毁了。
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