英汉翻译作业（2）
There it was on the bureau, the letter — in sacred ink, on blessed paper—all over the city, people, if they listened, could hear the beating of George O'Kelly's heart. He read the commas, the blots, and the thumb-smudge on the margin — then he threw himself hopelessly upon his bed.
信，摊在写字台上——写信的墨水是圣洁的，用的信纸也是神圣的—整座城市的人们啊，只要侧耳细听，准能听到乔治·奥凯利的心房跳动声。
信上的每个标点、每个墨渍、以至空白处手指蹭脏的每个污痕，都读进了他的心里——看完，他绝望地扑倒在床上。
He was in a mess, one of those terrific messes which are ordinary incidents in the life of the poor, which follow poverty like birds of prey. The poor go under or go up or go wrong or even go on, somehow, in a way the poor have — but George O'Kelly was so new to poverty that had any one denied the uniqueness of his case he would have been astounded.
乔治陷入了困境——像他这样极为狼狈的处境原是穷人生活中常有的事，可以说如同魔影一样总是缠住穷人不放。
穷人嘛，不往上爬就完蛋，要不走上邪道，再就是用穷人所特有的办法混下去——不过，乔治尝到贫穷的滋味还不长；要是有人说他的境遇不过是小事一桩，他准会惊奇得说不出话来。
Less than two years ago he had been graduated with honors from The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and had taken a position with a firm of construction engineers in southern Tennessee. All his life he had thought in terms of tunnels and skyscrapers and great squat dams and tall, three-towered bridges, that were like dancers holding hands in a row, with heads as tall as cities and skirts of cable strand. It had seemed romantic to George O'Kelly to change the sweep of rivers and the shape of mountains so that life could flourish in the old bad lands of the world where it had never taken root before.
不到两年前，乔治以优异成绩毕业于麻省理工学院，在田纳西州南部的一家建筑工程公司谋得一个职位。
从小时候起，乔治想的就是隧道呀、摩天楼呀、巨大的平坝呀……有着3座塔墩的高桥呀——桥上的塔墩像是一排手拉手的舞蹈家，塔尖像都市的大楼一样高耸入云，钢缆又如同姑娘的长裙一般婀娜多姿。
乔治·奥凯利一直觉得，让江河改向、让高山让路、让世界上那些了无生机的不毛之地兴旺发达起来，这该有多么浪漫啊!
关键句子讲解
•There it was on the bureau, the letter — in sacred ink, on blessed paper
信，摊在写字台上——写信的墨水是圣洁的，用的信纸也是神圣的
•all over the city, people, if they listened, could hear the beating of George O'Kelly's heart.
整座城市的人们啊，只要侧耳细听，准能听到乔治·奥凯利的心房跳动声。
•He read the commas, the blots, and the thumb-smudge on the margin — then he threw himself hopelessly upon his bed.
信上的每个标点、每个墨渍、以至空白处手指蹭脏的每个污痕，都读进了他的心里——看完，他绝望地扑倒在床上。
•He was in a mess, one of those terrific messes which are ordinary incidents in the life of the poor, which follow poverty like birds of prey.
乔治陷入了困境——像他这样极为狼狈的处境原是穷人生活中常有的事，可以说如同魔影一样总是缠住穷人不放。
（真可谓越穷越见鬼。
？）
•The poor go under or go up or go wrong or even go on, somehow, in a way the poor have 穷人嘛，不往上爬就完蛋，要不走上邪道，再就是用穷人所特有的办法混下去
•but George O'Kelly was so new to poverty that had any one denied the uniqueness of his case he would have been astounded.
不过，乔治尝到贫穷的滋味还不长；要是有人说他的境遇不过是小事一桩，他准会惊奇得说不出话来。
•Less than two years ago he had been graduated with honors from The Massachusetts Institute of Technology
不到两年前，乔治以优异成绩毕业于麻省理工学院，
•and had taken a position with a firm of construction engineers in southern Tennessee.
在田纳西州南部的一家建筑工程公司谋得一个职位。
•All his life he had thought in terms of tunnels and skyscrapers and great squat dams and tall, three-towered bridges,
从小时候起，乔治想的就是隧道呀、摩天楼呀、巨大的平坝呀……有着3座塔墩的高桥呀
•that were like dancers holding hands in a row, with heads as tall as cities and skirts of cable strand.
桥上的塔墩像是一排手拉手的舞蹈家，塔尖像都市的大楼一样高耸入云，钢缆又如同姑娘的长裙一般婀娜多姿。
•It had seemed romantic to George O'Kelly to change the sweep of rivers and the shape of mountains so that life could flourish in the old bad lands of the world where it had never taken root before.
乔治·奥凯利一直觉得，让江河改向、让高山让路、让世界上那些了无生机的不毛之地兴旺发达起来，这该有多么浪漫啊!。