或者，更准确地说，

or what is closer to the truth,

当我欣赏着我假设自己已经购买了的东西时，

when I look at that of which I may regard myself as the imaginary possessor,

总是局限于那些能在平常时刻带给我愉悦的东西：

I fix upon what would give me pleasure in my average moments:

好奇之中的讥讽，比情绪的激动

the satire upon curiousity in which no more is discernible

更难以分辨；

than the intensity of the mood;

或者相反的情形——古老的事物，中世纪风格的帽盒，

or quite the opposite - the old thing, the medieval decorated hatbox,

上面画有猎犬，它的腰逐渐缩小，像沙漏的腰，

in which there are hounds with waists diminishing like the waist of the hourglass,

还有鹿，鸟和坐着的人们；

and deer and birds and seated people;

它可能只是一块镶木地板；文学中的文字自传，

it may be no more than a square of parquestry; the literal biography perhaps,

占据了羊皮纸似的领域；

in letters standing well apart upon a parchment-like expanse;

一支有六种不同蓝色的洋蓟*；三部分组成的鹬腿似的象形文字；

an artichoke in six varieties of blue; the snipe-legged hieroglyphic in three parts;

保护亚当墓穴的银栅栏，或者握着亚当手腕的米迦勒。

the silver fence protecting Adam"s grave, or Michael taking Adam by the wrist.

强调品质的智性因素，或者贬低某人的享乐，这太苛刻了。

Too stern an intellectual emphasis upon this quality or that detracts from one"s enjoyment.

别想缓和任何事物；被公认的成就并不容易被尊敬——

It must not wish to disarm anything; nor may the approved triumph easily be honored -

它显得伟大只是因为其他事物渺小。

that which is great because something else is small.

结果：无论它是什么，

It comes to this: of whatever sort it is,

它必须被“看透事物生命的尖锐眼神所照亮”；

it must be "Lit with piercing glances into the life of things";

它必须承认制造它的精神力量。

it must acknowledge the spiritual forces which have made it.