downwards, and the light fell on him, he had the silent, enduring beauty of a carved ivory Negro mask, with his rather full eyes, and the strong queerly-arched brows, the immobile, compressed mouth; that momentary but revealed immobility, an immobility, a timelessness which the Buddha aims at, and which Negroes express sometimes without ever aiming at it; something old, old, and acquiescent in the race! Aeons of acquiescence in race destiny, instead of our individual resistance. And then a swimming through, like rats in a dark river. Connie felt a sudden, strange leap of sympathy for him, a leap mingled with compassion, and tinged with repulsion, amounting almost to love. The outsider! The outsider! And they called him a bounder! How much more bounderish and assertive Clifford looked! How much stupider!

“不，我已跟仆人打过招呼，让他从土耳其……或者更靠近东方的国度，帮我寻觅一位佳偶。”康妮惊奇于这个取得非凡成就，却古怪忧郁的家伙。坊间传闻，仅在美国他就有5万英镑入账。有时康妮觉得他如此地英挺俊朗：当他侧过脸，或者垂下头，在光线的映照下，他的面孔呈现出宁静而持久的美感，像是戴着一副象牙精雕成的黑人面具。双眸炯炯有神，浓眉斜插入鬓，静止不动的嘴唇紧紧抿着；那短暂的瞬间，却揭示出佛陀所希冀的永恒，而黑人们常在不经意间流露出那种神情，是古老民族经年累月积淀而成的、默认的某种东西。那是黑人千百年来对自身种族命运的默认，与我们白人所倡导的个人反抗迥然不同。突然某种微妙的情感悄然流入康妮的意识之中，如同黑暗河道中潜游的老鼠。莫名的怜悯之意在康妮心中陡然升腾，混合着同情，掺杂着厌恶，汇聚成接近于男女之爱的奇异情感。被社会遗弃的倒霉蛋！被社会唾弃的可怜虫！还要背负下流胚的恶名！若论下流无耻，独断专行，克利福德与他相比，更是有过之而无不及。而且更加无知愚钝！

Michaelis knew at once he had made an impression on her. He turned his full, hazel, slightly prominent eyes on her in a look of pure detachment. He was estimating her, and the extent of the impression he had made. With the English nothing could save him from being the eternal outsider, not even love. Yet women sometimes fell for him...Englishwomen too.

米凯利斯很快就察觉到康妮对他的好感。他那双淡褐色、稍显凸出的大眼睛，始终以康妮为视线的焦点，但同时又摆出一副毫不在意的超然表情。他在揣摩着她的想法，猜测着自己在这位可人儿心中究竟占据何种位置。只要和英国佬共处，他就永难摆脱被边缘化的境地，就算是在爱情的领域也不例外。但女人们却时常为他而倾倒……就连英国女人也难以抗拒他的魅力。

He knew just where he was with Clifford. They were two alien dogs which would have liked to snarl at one another, but which smiled instead, perforce. But with the woman he was not quite so sure.

他深知自己与克利福德之间的关系。他们就是两个水火不容的卑鄙小人，本应彼此谩骂叫嚣，却因相