'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' said I.

我说，'一共只有四个小时，我是怎么也不会离开一步的。'

'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness nor business nor anything else.

邓肯·罗斯先生说，'不得以任何理由为借口，不管是有病、有事或其他理由都不行。

There you must stay, or you lose your billet.''And the work?'

你必须老老实实呆在那里，否则你就会丢掉你的位置。''干什么工作呢？'

'Is to copy out the Encyclopaedia Britannica. There is the first volume of it in that press.

'你的工作是抄写《大英百科全书》，这里有这个版本的第一卷。

You must find your own ink, pens, and blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair.

你要自备墨水、笔和吸墨纸。我们只提供给你这张桌子和这把椅子。

Will you be ready to-morrow?' 'Certainly,' I answered.

你明天能来上班吗？'我回答说，'当然可以。'

'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson,

'那么，杰贝兹·威尔逊先生，

and let me congratulate you once more on the important position which you have been fortunate enough to gain.'

再见，让我再一次祝贺你这么幸运地得到这个重要职位。'

He bowed me out of the room, and I went home with my assistant,

他向我鞠了个躬。我随即离开了那个房间，和我伙计一起回家去。

hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased at my own good fortune.

我为自己的好运气简直高兴得六神无主，不知所措了。

Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in low spirits again;

唔，我整天都在思量这件事。到晚上，我的情绪又消沉下来了，

for I had quite persuaded myself that the whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud,

因为我总觉得这件事一定是某种大片局或大诡计，

though what its object might be I could not imagine.

虽然我猜想不出它的目的是什么。

It seemed altogether past belief that anyone could make such a will,

看来说有人立下这样的遗嘱，

or that they would pay such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

或者给那么多的钱让人做象抄写《大英百科全书》这种简单的工作，简直都是不可思议的。

Vincent Spaulding did what he could to cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the whole thing.

文森特·斯波尔丁想尽一切办法来宽慰我。到就寝时，我已使自己从这整个事件中得出结论，

However, in the morning I determined to have a look at it anyhow,

不管怎样，我决定第二天早晨去看看究竟是怎么回事。

so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for Pope's Court.

我花一个便士买了一瓶墨水、一根羽毛笔、七张大页书写纸，然后动身到教皇院去。