In 1815, M. Charles-Francois-Bienvenu Myriel was Bishop of D–He was an old man of about seventy-five years of age; —
1815年，M. Charles-Francois-Bienvenu Myriel 是D市的主教– 他是一个大约75岁的老人； —

he had occupied the see of D—- since 1806.
他自1806年起担任D市主教职位。

Although this detail has no connection whatever with the real substance of what we are about to relate, it will not be superfluous, if merely for the sake of exactness in all points, to mention here the various rumors and remarks which had been in circulation about him from the very moment when he arrived in the diocese. —
尽管这个细节与我们即将叙述的真实主题无任何关联，但仅仅是出于准确性的考虑，提到从他抵达主教辖区的那一刻起流传的各种传言和评论，也并非多余。 —

True or false, that which is said of men often occupies as important a place in their lives, and above all in their destinies, as that which they do. —
人们说的无论是真是假，往往在他们的生活中占据着同样重要的位置，尤其是在他们的命运中。 —

M. Myriel was the son of a councillor of the Parliament of Aix; —
M. Myriel 是Aix议会的一位顾问的儿子； —

hence he belonged to the nobility of the bar. —
因此他属于律师贵族阶层。 —

It was said that his father, destining him to be the heir of his own post, had married him at a very early age, eighteen or twenty, in accordance with a custom which is rather widely prevalent in parliamentary families. —
有人说他的父亲打算让他继承他的职位，在他很小的时候，十八或二十岁就为他安排了婚姻，符合议会家族中普遍存在的一种风俗。 —

In spite of this marriage, however, it was said that Charles Myriel created a great deal of talk. —
尽管有这段婚姻，但有传言说Charles Myriel 引起了很多议论。 —

He was well formed, though rather short in stature, elegant, graceful, intelligent; —
他身形匀称，虽然身材略矮，优雅，机智； —

the whole of the first portion of his life had been devoted to the world and to gallantry.
他的一生的前半段几乎完全献给了世俗和风流。

The Revolution came; events succeeded each other with precipitation; —
法国大革命来临；事件接踵而至； —

the parliamentary families, decimated, pursued, hunted down, were dispersed. —
议会家族灭绝，追捕，遍地是逃亡者。 —

M. Charles Myriel emigrated to Italy at the very beginning of the Revolution. —
M. Charles Myriel 在革命初期就逃往意大利。 —

There his wife died of a malady of the chest, from which she had long suffered. He had no children. —
在那里，他的妻子因长期患有胸部疾病而去世。他们没有孩子。 —

What took place next in the fate of M. Myriel? —
M. Myriel接下来的命运发展如何？ —

The ruin of the French society of the olden days, the fall of his own family, the tragic spectacles of ‘93, which were, perhaps, even more alarming to the emigrants who viewed them from a distance, with the magnifying powers of terror,–did these cause the ideas of renunciation and solitude to germinate in him? —
法国旧日社会的瓦解，他自己家族的沦陷，或许在那些悲惨的93年场面中，对于远处观望、以恐惧放大的移民来说更加令人震惊–这些是导致他心生放弃和孤独观念的原因吗？ —

Was he, in the midst of these distractions, these affections which absorbed his life, suddenly smitten with one of those mysterious and terrible blows which sometimes overwhelm, by striking to his heart, a man whom public catastrophes would not shake, by striking at his existence and his fortune? —
在这些干扰和吞噬他生活的情感中，他是否突然受到了那种有时会让一个人在公共灾难下不动摇的神秘而可怕的打击，一种击中他的心灵、摧毁他的生命和财富的打击？ —

No one could have told: all that was known was, that when he returned from Italy he was a priest.
没有人能说得清楚：众所周知的只是，他从意大利归来后成为了一名神父。

In 1804, M. Myriel was the Cure of B– [Brignolles]. —
1804年，默里埃尔先生是B镇的牧师。 —

He was already advanced in years, and lived in a very retired manner.
他已经年事已高，并且生活十分隐居。

About the epoch of the coronation, some petty affair connected with his curacy–just what, is not precisely known–took him to Paris. Among other powerful persons to whom he went to solicit aid for his parishioners was M. le Cardinal Fesch.One day, when the Emperor had come to visit his uncle, the worthy Cure, who was waiting in the anteroom, found himself present when His Majesty passed. —
在加冕典礼时期，与他的牧区有关的一起琐碎事务–具体是什么，没有明确的记载–使他前往巴黎。在请求帮助为他的教区居民，他去拜访了一些有权势的人，其中包括费什枢机。有一天，当皇帝前来拜访他的叔叔时，这位值得尊敬的牧师在前厅等候时，发现自己与陛下擦肩而过。 —

Napoleon, on finding himself observed with a certain curiosity by this old man, turned round and said abruptly:–
当拿破仑发现这位老人怀着一种特定好奇的目光看着他时，他突然转身直言道：–

“Who is this good man who is staring at me?”
“这位老人是谁，用这样好奇的眼神盯着我？”

“Sire,” said M. Myriel, “you are looking at a good man, and I at a great man. —
“陛下”，默里埃尔先生说，“您看着一个好人，而我看着一个伟大的人。我们每个人都可以受益。” —

Each of us can profit by it.”
当天晚上，皇帝询问枢机这位牧师的名字，后来默里埃尔先生却惊讶地得知自己被任命为D村的主教。

That very evening, the Emperor asked the Cardinal the name of the Cure, and some time afterwards M. Myriel was utterly astonished to learn that he had been appointed Bishop of D—-
默里埃尔先生的早年生活的故事究竟有多少真实性呢？没有人知道。

What truth was there, after all, in the stories which were invented as to the early portion of M. Myriel’s life? No one knew.
革命前，了解默里埃尔家族的家庭寥寥无几。

Very few families had been acquainted with the Myriel family before the Revolution.
默里埃尔先生必须忍受在一个小镇里新人才会遇到的命运，那里有许多人喋喋不休地说话，而思考的头脑却很少。

M. Myriel had to undergo the fate of every newcomer in a little town, where there are many mouths which talk, and very few heads which think.
尽管他是一名主教，也因为他是一名主教，他不得不经历这一切。

He was obliged to undergo it although he was a bishop, and because he was a bishop. —
他不得不经历这一切，尽管他是一名主教。 —

But after all, the rumors with which his name was connected were rumors only,–noise, sayings, words; —
但毕竟，与他名字相关的传闻只不过是传闻，是噪音、言说、词语； —

less than words– palabres, as the energetic language of the South expresses it.
不到言语——就像南方的有力语言所表达的那样。

However that may be, after nine years of episcopal power and of residence in D—-, all the stories and subjects of conversation which engross petty towns and petty people at the outset had fallen into profound oblivion. —
不管怎样，在D镇主教任职和居住了九年之后，一开始这些小镇和小人物耗尽了的所有谣言和谈话话题都已经被深深遗忘。 —

No one would have dared to mention them; —
没有人会敢提起它们； —

no one would have dared to recall them.
没有人会敢回忆它们。

M. Myriel had arrived at D—- accompanied by an elderly spinster, Mademoiselle Baptistine, who was his sister, and ten years his junior.
Myriel主教带着一个年长的老处女Baptistine小姐来到D镇，她是他的妹妹，比他小十岁。

Their only domestic was a female servant of the same age as Mademoiselle Baptistine, and named Madame Magloire, who, after having been the servant of M. le Cure, now assumed the double title of maid to Mademoiselle and housekeeper to Monseigneur.
他们唯一的女佣是一位与Baptistine小姐同年龄的女仆，名叫Magloire太太，曾是M. le Cure的仆人，现在则兼任Baptistine小姐的女仆和Monseigneur的管家。

Mademoiselle Baptistine was a long, pale, thin, gentle creature; —
Baptistine小姐个子高又瘦，脸色苍白，性情温和； —

she realized the ideal expressed by the word “respectable”; —
她体现了“可敬”这个词所表达的理想； —

for it seems that a woman must needs be a mother in order to be venerable. —
因为似乎女人必须是一个母亲才能被尊敬。 —

She had never been pretty; her whole life, which had been nothing but a succession of holy deeds, had finally conferred upon her a sort of pallor and transparency; —
她从来没有过漂亮的外貌；她的一生，只不过是一连串的善行，最终使她具备了一种苍白和透明的特质； —

and as she advanced in years she had acquired what may be called the beauty of goodness. —
随着年龄的增长，她获得了可以称之为善美的美丽。 —

What had been leanness in her youth had become transparency in her maturity; and this diaphaneity allowed the angel to be seen.
青年时的消瘦在成熟后变成了透明；而这种透明性让天使能够被看到。

She was a soul rather than a virgin. Her person seemed made of a shadow; —
她更像是一个灵魂而不是一个处女。她的人似乎是由影子构成的； —

there was hardly sufficient body to provide for sex; a little matter enclosing a light; —
身体几乎不足以维持性别需求；一块包裹着光芒的细小物质； —

large eyes forever drooping;– a mere pretext for a soul’s remaining on the earth.
大眼睛永远垂着；– 只不过是灵魂留在这个地球上的一种借口。

Madame Magloire was a little, fat, white old woman, corpulent and bustling; —
马格洛夫夫人是一个又小又胖、白色的老太太，肥胖而忙碌； —

always out of breath,–in the first place, because of her activity, and in the next, because of her asthma.
永远喘不过气来，– 首先是因为她的活跃，其次是因为她的哮喘。

On his arrival, M. Myriel was installed in the episcopal palace with the honors required by the Imperial decrees, which class a bishop immediately after a major-general. —
麦里耶尔先生抵达时，按照帝国法令规定的礼仪被安置在主教宫内，将主教与一名少将平级。 —

The mayor and the president paid the first call on him, and he, in turn, paid the first call on the general and the prefect.
市长和议长第一个去拜访他，然后他又第一个去拜访将军和总督。

The installation over, the town waited to see its bishop at work.
安置工作完成后，城镇等待着看到他们的主教开始工作。