節錄《雙城記 A Tale of Two Cities》

 

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,

it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,

it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity,

it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness,

it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair,

we had everything before us, we had nothing before us,

we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way.

in short,

the period was so far like the present period,

that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received,

for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

 

那是最美好的時代，那是最糟糕的時代；

那是智慧的年頭，那是愚昧的年頭；

那是信仰的時期，那是懷疑的時期；

那是光明的季節，那是黑暗的季節；

那是希望的春天，那是失望的冬天；

我們全都在直奔天堂，我們全都在直奔相反的方向。

簡而言之，那時跟現在非常相像，

某些最喧囂的權威堅持要用形容詞的最高級來形容它。

說它好，是最高級的；說它不好，也是最高級的。

 

節錄《雙城記 A Tale of Two Cities》