Disappointment 失望

亨利·詹姆斯(Henny James)

A gulf had opened between them over which they looked at each other with eyes that were on either side a declaration of the deception suffered. It was a strange opposition, of the like of which she had never dreamed — an opposition in which the vital principle of the one was a thing of contempt to the other. It was not her fault — she had practised no deception; she had only admired and believed. She had taken all the first steps in the purest confidence, and then she had suddenly found the infinite vista of a multiplied life to be a dark, narrow alley with a dead wall at the end. Instead of leading to the high places of happiness, from which the world would seem to lie below one, so that one could look down with a sense of exaltation and advantage, and judge and choose and pity, it led rather downward and earth-ward, into realms of restriction and depression where the sound of other lives, easier and freer, was heard as from above, and where it served to deepen the feeling of failure.

- deception [dɪˈsepʃn] n. 欺骗

- contempt [kənˈtempt] n. 轻视

- vista [ˈvɪstə] n. 远景，展望

a sense of exaltation 兴奋感

- deepen [ˈdiːpən] v. 加深

他们之间绽开一条鸿沟，彼此隔着鸿沟对视，带着一种眼神，仿佛哪一方都在宣布自己是受骗者。这是一种奇怪的敌对，是她从来梦想不到的那一类敌对，在这种敌对中，彼此把对方做人的主要原则加以蔑视。这不是她的过失——她没有玩过欺骗；她只有钦佩和信赖。她以最纯洁的自信，迈出过所有的第一步，而后她突然发现，自己对美好生活的无限憧憬，一下子变成昏暗狭窄的胡同，在尽头又被一堵墙堵死。她原以为两人之间的信赖，会把他们带入幸福快乐的至高境界，可以居高临下，兴高采烈，富有优越感地评头论足，挑三拣四，施舍同情。但万万没想到，美好的梦一落千丈，堕入俗世，进入处处受制、时时郁闷难当的境界。在那里，消闲自由的上层人士传来欢声笑语，足以加深她的失落感，使她大大失望。

亨利·詹姆斯(1843—1916)，美国作家，西方现代心理分析小说的开创人之一。他写的多半是关于“品德高尚”的富豪、小姐、阔少。其作品心理分析多，冗长烦琐，甚至晦涩，所以一度失去读者。后来针对颓废主义文学的兴起，一批新的批评家又把他抬出来，奉为“文学大师”，至今他对欧美文学界还有一定影响。