In the depths of every heart, there is a tomb and a dungeon, though the lights, the music, and revelry above may cause us to forget their existence, and the burried ones, or prisoners whom they hide. But sometimes, and oftenest at midnight, those dark receptacles are flung wide open. In an hour like this, when the mind has a passive sensibility, but no active strength; when the imagination is a mirror, imparting vividness to all ideas, without the power of selecting or controlling them; then pray that your griefs may slumber, and the brotherhood of remorse not break their chain.
--Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864), The Haunted Mind
在每個人的內心深處，都有一座墳墓和土牢，上面的燈光、音樂和喧囂狂歡，或許可以讓我們把它們忘掉，把墓中死者和牢中匿身的犯人都忘記。但有時候，多半在深夜裡，那些黑暗之處會猛然敞開。在這樣的時刻裡，內心沒有自主的力量，只能消極地感受；想像力栩栩如生地寫照出所有的想法，卻無法加以選擇或控制；於是你祈禱能夠停止憂愁，祈禱和憂愁相伴的懊悔不會掙脫而出。
--霍桑《神魂不安》
摘自英語文選菁華p57，寂天出版2005年四刷
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