《远大前程》佳句（二）

 I never saw him, for this happened five-and-twenty years ago (before you and I were, Handel), but I have heard my father mention that he was a showy-man, and the kind of man for the purpose. But that he was not to be, without ignorance or prejudice, mistaken for a gentleman, my father most strongly asseverates; because it is a principle of his that no man who was not a true gentleman at heart, ever was, since the world began, a true gentleman in manner. He says, no varnish can hide the grain of the wood; and that the more varnish you put on, the more the grain will express itself. - Chapter 21

我曾听我父亲说过，这个人生得挺好看，是个情场追逐的老手。如果不是无知和偏见，谁也不会错认他是个君子，因为他完全是个小人。我父亲斩钉截铁地认定他是个伪君子。我父亲有个信念：自从有人类社会以来，凡无君子之心的人，也不会有君子之外表。我父亲认为，清漆是盖不了木头的纹路的；你清漆上得愈多，木头的纹路也就愈清楚。