2 To create life

Chapter 2 To create life From his window, Victor Frankenstein had a fine view over the tiled roofs of Ingolstadt University. But he was too absorbed in his books to notice. Victor was studying science, hoping to uncover the secrets of the human body. He had always dreamed of making great discoveries. "The world is full of mysteries," he would say. "Who knows what powers we could master, if we only knew how?"

维克多·弗兰肯斯坦从窗户望出去，可以看到英戈尔施塔特大学的瓦片屋顶。 但他太专注于读书了，没有注意到。 维克多正在学习科学，希望能揭开人体的秘密。 他一直梦想有伟大的发现。 “这个世界充满了神秘，”他会说。 “谁知道我们能掌握什么力量，只要我们知道如何掌握？”

For two years, Victor devoted himself to his work. He went to every class, read every book, and spent hours in the university laboratories. He learned everything his tutors could teach, from how the blood circulates to the nature of the air we breathe. But there was one question they could not answer, and it tormented Victor. "What is the secret of life itself?" he demanded. And he began to take extra classes in anatomy, and to visit the dead and dying, to try to understand what separates life from death.

两年来，维克多全身心地投入到工作中。 他去上每一堂课，读每一本书，在大学的实验室里呆上几个小时。 他学会了他的导师能教的一切，从血液循环到我们呼吸的空气的本质。 但有一个问题他们无法回答，这使维克多十分苦恼。 “生命本身的秘密是什么？”他问道。 于是他开始选修解剖学的额外课程，去看望死去的人和濒死的人，试图理解生与死的区别。

One day, Victor came across an article by Galvani, an Italian scientist who had managed to animate a lifeless frog and make it jump, using the power of electricity. "Could I do the same?" he mused. "Galvani only triggered a brief spark of life and movement; but if I had enough power -say a lightning strike- could I actually create life? Could I make a living being?" And he began to plan a new experiment. Victor spent months making calculations, building equipment, mixing chemicals, doing tests... He set up a workshop in one of his rooms and barely left it, working feverishly, late into the night. He was so busy, he hardly wrote home or noticed the changing seasons. Letters piled up, unread, from his family and friends back home in Geneva- his father, his little brother, his best friend Henry and his sweetheart Elizabeth...

有一天，维克多看到了意大利科学家伽伐尼的一篇文章，他成功地利用电力让一只没有生命的青蛙动起来，让它跳起来。 “我也可以这样做吗？”他沉思着。 伽伐尼只是触发了生命和运动的短暂火花；但如果我有足够的能量——比如说雷击——我真的能创造生命吗？ 我能谋生吗？”于是他开始计划一个新的实验。 维克多花了几个月的时间进行计算、建造设备、混合化学品、做测试…… 他在自己的一个房间里开了一个工作室，几乎不离开，狂热地工作到深夜。 他太忙了，几乎没有给家里写信，也没有注意到季节的变化。 他在日内瓦的家人和朋友写给他的信堆积如山，没有读过——他的父亲、他的弟弟、他最好的朋友亨利和他的爱人伊丽莎白……

From time to time, Victor caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. Wild-eyed and pale, he was an alarming sight, but he shrugged it off. "I'll take a break as soon as this is over," he promised himself. "I can't stop now."

维克多不时地瞥见镜子里的自己。 他的眼睛瞪得大大的，脸色苍白，看上去很吓人，但他不以为然。 “这事一结束，我就休息一下，”他向自己保证。 “我现在停不下来了。”

Completely obsessed, Victor allowed nothing to stand in his way- not even respect for the dead. For his experiment, he needed to build a body. So, by night, he secretly visited dark dissecting rooms and damp graveyards, stealing bones and fragments of flesh. Out of these horrors, he meant to create a completely new creature. At last, one stormy November night, everything was ready. A flickering lamp sent menacing shadows dancing over the finished body lying on the table. It was a hideous sight, with sunken eyes and shrunken lips. Patches of wrinkled greenish skin barely covered its flabby flesh.

维克多完全被迷住了，他不允许任何事情阻挡他的去路——甚至是对死者的尊重。 在他的实验中，他需要建立一个身体。 因此，在夜间，他秘密地去黑暗的解剖室和潮湿的墓地，偷取骨头和肉的碎片。 在这些恐怖之中，他打算创造一种全新的生物。 最后，在11月一个暴风雨的夜晚，一切都准备好了。 一盏闪烁的灯在桌子上完成的尸体上投射出威胁的阴影。 那是一幅可怕的景象，眼睛凹陷，嘴唇萎缩。 一块块皱巴巴的绿色皮肤勉强盖住了它松弛的肉。

A flash of lightning seared the sky directly overhead, hitting wires Victor had set up on the roof. A vast jolt of energy poured into his equipment, and sent a spark of life into the misshapen creature before him. Its oversized limbs twitched. Then, it took a hoarse, rattling breath, and its dull yellowy eyes flickered open...

一道闪电炙烤着头顶的天空，击中了维克多在屋顶上安装的电线。 一股巨大的能量涌进了他的装备，给面前这个畸形的生物注入了生命的火花。 它那粗大的四肢抽搐着。 然后，它嘶哑地、嘎嘎地吸了一口气，呆滞的黄眼睛眨了一下……