雾都孤儿英文原著开头精读
TREATS OF THE PLACE WHERE OLIVER TWIST WAS BORN AND OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES ATTENDING HIS BIRTH
> Among other public buildings in a certain town, which for many reasons it will be prudent to refrain from mentioning, and to which I will assign no fictitious name, there is one anciently common to most towns, great or small: to wit, a workhouse; and in this workhouse was born; on a day and date which I need not trouble myself to repeat, inasmuch as it can be of no possible consequence to the reader, in this stage of the business at all events; the item of mortality whose name is prefixed to the head of this chapter.
inasmuch as作为一个固定搭配，和because、since意思相近，表示因为。 这里Dickens称呼刚刚诞生的Oliver为the item of mortality, mortality表示死亡，死亡之物，这怎么说的过去呢？这里应译作“终将死亡之物”，暗含Oliver作为一个穷苦的孤儿，从出生起就不被当作生命，而是一个负担，一个麻烦，一个终将消失的“物体”。
> For a long time after it was ushered into this world of sorrow and trouble, by the parish surgeon, it remained a matter of considerable doubt whether the child would survive to bear any name at all; in which case it is somewhat more than probable that these memoirs would never have appeared; or, if they had, that being comprised within a couple of pages, they would have possessed the inestimable merit of being the most concise and faithful specimen of biography, extant in the literature of any age or country.
usher表示“引领”，it was ushered into…(by the parish surgeon)的意思是Oliver被（教区的大夫）引领进这个世界，这种说法得体文雅，和混乱的workhouse接生场面形成反差。这里另外一处妙语是：如果奥利弗一出生就夭折了，那这本关于他的“回忆录”(memoirs) 将会是“古今中外所有文学作品中最简洁、最真实的传记典范”。这实际上是绝妙的讽刺，悲惨的命运和早夭的危险居然可以被作为他人的消遣，再次强调了“非人感”。
段末讽刺的语段非常绕口，我们需要逐行拆解： …in which case it is somewhat more than probable that these memoirs would never have appeared; or, if they had, that being comprised within a couple of pages, they would have possessed the inestimable merit of being the most concise and faithful specimen of biography, extant in the literature of any age or country. in which case指的是Oliver早早夭折，作者在这里分了两种情况：
- it is somewhat more than probable that these memoirs would never have appeared
“more than probable”指的是非常有可能，somewhat表示稍微，连起来就是“这件事的可能性，比可能稍微多一点点”。整个从句表示“xxx是相当有可能的”，即这本回忆录相当有可能根本不会出现。
- or, if they had…they would have possessed the inestimable merit…
指如果这本回忆录出现了，那么它就会具有不可估量(inestimable)的优点, of being the most concise and faithful specimen of biography, 是最简洁最忠实的传记典范(specimen of biography)，因为它只有短短数页(being comprised within a couple of pages)，(却能概括Oliver短短的一生)。 通过这种复杂的长句和故作严肃的讽刺，狄更斯放大了这个新生儿处境的悲惨和生命的脆弱。
> Although I am not disposed to maintain that being born in a workhouse, is in itself the most fortunate and enviable circumstance that can possibly befall a human being, I do mean to say that in this particular instance, it was the best thing for Oliver Twist that could by possibility have occurred. The fact is, that there was considerable difficulty in inducing Oliver to take upon himself the office of respiration,—a troublesome practice, but one which custom has rendered necessary to our easy existence; and for some time he lay gasping on a little flock mattress, rather unequally poised between this world and the next: the balance being decidedly in favour of the latter. Now, if, during this brief period, Oliver had been surrounded by careful grandmothers, anxious aunts, experienced nurses, and doctors of profound wisdom, he would most inevitably and indubitably have been killed in no time. There being nobody by, however, but a pauper old woman, who was rendered rather misty by an unwonted allowance of beer; and a parish surgeon who did such matters by contract; Oliver and Nature fought out the point between them. The result was, that, after a few struggles, Oliver breathed, sneezed, and proceeded to advertise to the inmates of the workhouse the fact of a new burden having been imposed upon the parish, by setting up as loud a cry as could reasonably have been expected from a male infant who had not been possessed of that very useful appendage, a voice, for a much longer space of time than three minutes and a quarter.
…I am not disposed to maintain：我并不想主张 这里作者先声夺人，抛出一个荒谬的观点：being born in a workhouse, is in itself the most fortunate and enviable circumstance that can possibly befall a human being。然后，作者给出他的观点：in this particular instance, it was the best thing for Oliver Twist that could by possibility have occurred.这仍然不可思议，于是作者继续解释。
以后再写吧。