ith their wives and families, he had lost all ambition to "get on'. There was a toughness, a curious rubbernecked toughness and unlivingness about the middle and upper classes, as he had known them, which just left him feeling cold and different from them.

他已经失去人生的目标。由于他做过几年军官，终日与其他军官、公务员及其眷属混在一起，已经失去进取之心。他发现中上阶层的人们个个残酷无情，凶残暴戾，毫无人性，他感到不寒而栗，觉得自己无法融入其中。

So, he had come back to his own class. To find there, what he had forgotten during his absence of years, a pettiness and a vulgarity of manner extremely distasteful. He admitted now at last, how important manner was. He admitted, also, how important it was even to PRETEND not to care about the halfpence and the small things of life. But among the common people there was no pretence. A penny more or less on the bacon was worse than a change in the Gospel. He could not stand it.

因此，他重新回归社会底层。想找回从军数载已经忘却的东西，卑微的身份以及粗俗到令人不齿的举止。他现在不得不承认，举止何其重要。他承认，装出对蝇头小利及生活琐事不屑一顾何其重要。但对劳苦大众而言，一切都是实实在在的。熏猪肉价格的些微变化，比修改福音书还要重要。对此，他简直无法忍受。