The moon was shining when we approached Pisa，and for a long time we could see，behind the wall，the leaning Tower，all awry in the uncertain light;

 

到达比萨时已是深夜。在好长的一段时间里，我们都能看到围墙后面的斜塔，在朦胧的月光中更加倾斜。

the shadowy original of the old pictures in school-books，setting forth The Wonders of the World.

这就是教科书中古老图片的阴影原形，正向世人展示着“世界奇迹”。

Like most things connected in their first associations with school-books and school-times，it was too small.

与很多教科书、学生时代初次相关联的书物-样，它太渺小了。

I felt it keenly. It was nothing like so high above the wall as I had hoped.

我对此的感受十分强烈，想像中的城堡能高出围墙许多，这与我的想象迥然不同。

It was another of the many deceptions practised by Mr.Harris，Bookseller，at the corner of St.Paul's Churchyard，London.

书商哈里斯先生在伦敦圣保罗教堂一角售书,这是他的另一个诡计。

HIS Tower was a fiction，but this was a reality-and，by comparison，a short reality.

他所说的斜塔是编造出来的，眼前的这个才是真实的。

Still，it looked very well，and very strange，and was quite as much out of the perpendicular as Harris had represented it to be. The quiet air of Pisa too;

而相比较而言，现实中的斜塔比虚构的还要矮一截。尽管如此，它看上去却很出色,很特别,倾斜的程度与哈里斯所说的完全一样。比萨也很安静；

the big guard-house at the gate，with only two little soldiers in it;the streets with scarcely any show of people in them;

门口的警卫室里只有两个小士兵在执勤；街上的行人很是罕见；

and the Arno，flowing quaintly through the centre of the town;were excellent.

亚诺河优雅地流过城镇中心…这-切都那么美好。

So，I bore no malice in my heart against Mr.Harris （remembering his good intentions），

我心里对哈里斯先生并无半点怨恨之意(只记得他的好意)，

but forgave him before dinner，and went out，full of confidence，to see the Tower next morning.

于是在晚饭前就原谅了他。然后第二天一早，又满怀信心地去看斜塔了。