我想起了住在这儿的所有的人抱有的种种希望,他们对未来的美好憧憬,青年时代的火热的激情;也必然有人感到悔恨莫及,理想破灭,身心疲惫,无可奈何;有多少人在这儿尝到多少人生的喜怒哀乐,其中实际上包含了人类情感的整个范围,所以这间房本身似乎也奇怪地具有一种令人不安、难以捉摸的个性。我不明白为什么它使我想到一个女人站在十字路口,把一个手指头举到嘴唇边,回过头去招手示意。
All the hopes that had been cherished there, the bright visions of the future, the flaming passion of youth; the regrets, the disillusion, the weariness, the resignation; so much had been felt in that room, by so many, the whole gamut of human emotion, that it seemed strangely to have acquired a troubling and enigmatic personality of its own. I have no notion why, but it made me think of a woman at a crossroad with a finger on her lips, looking back and with her other hand beckoning.
——威廉·萨默塞特·毛姆William Somerset Maugham《寻欢作乐(Cakes and Ale)》
译者:叶尊