North Richmond Street, being blind, was a quiet street except at the hour when the Christian Brothers' School set the boys free. An uninhabited house of two storeys stood at the blind end, detached from its neighbours in a square ground. The other houses of the street, conscious of decent lives within them, gazed at one another with brown imperturbable faces.
第一段set the boy free. 暗示從天主教的嚴格規律中釋放自由。接者提到一間巷子盡頭無人居住的兩層樓房子，作者使用conscious of、gaze at 、imperturbable face 巧妙的字詞將房子擬人化(personification)，也顯示出這棟房子與眾不同，凜然而不可侵犯。(英國人其實就是一個不容易親近的人種)
The former tenant of our house, a priest, had died in the back drawing-room. Air, musty from having been long enclosed, hung in all the rooms, and the waste room behind the kitchen was littered with old useless papers. Among these I found a few paper-covered books, the pages of which were curled and damp: The Abbot, by Walter Scott, The Devout Communicant, and The Memoirs of Vidocq. I liked the last best because its leaves were yellow. The wild garden behind the house contained a central apple-tree and a few straggling bushes, under one of which I found the late tenant's rusty bicycle-pump. He had been a very charitable priest; in his will he had left all his money to institutions and the furniture of his house to his sister.
鏡頭拉近那房子的空間，從起居室拉到廚房後的儲藏室，塵埃瀰漫呈現出房子已經很久沒有人使用。那三本舊書其實都是跟基督教有關的書，作者喜歡最後一本在於它的內頁泛黃的很好看(小男孩對於顏色的敏銳在文章後面還會在點出來)。鏡頭拉到房子後面的院子，並將後院的實際狀況描寫出來。最後一句的will並不是指意志或意願，而是指牧師的遺囑。
When the short days of winter came, dusk fell before we had well eaten our dinners. When we met in the street the houses had grown sombre. The space of sky above us was the colour of ever-changing violet and towards it the lamps of the street lifted their feeble lanterns. The cold air stung us and we played till our bodies glowed. Our shouts echoed in the silent street. The career of our play brought us through the dark muddy lanes behind the houses, where we ran the gauntlet of the rough tribes from the cottages, to the back doors of the dark dripping gardens where odours arose from the ashpits, to the dark odorous stables where a coachman smoothed and combed the horse or shook music from the buckled harness. When we returned to the street, light from the kitchen windows had filled the areas. If my uncle was seen turning the corner, we hid in the shadow until we had seen him safely housed. Or if Mangan's sister came out on the doorstep to call her brother in to his tea, we watched her from our shadow peer up and down the street. We waited to see whether she would remain or go in and, if she remained, we left our shadow and walked up to Mangan's steps resignedly. She was waiting for us, her figure defined by the light from the half-opened door. Her brother always teased her before he obeyed, and I stood by the railings looking at her. Her dress swung as she moved her body, and the soft rope of her hair tossed from side to side.
點出愛爾蘭高緯度晝短夜長的特色，人們在還沒吃完晚飯前天早已昏暗。天空的瞬息萬變連到街道的路燈(由上到下)，繪出愛爾蘭的傍晚時分。
Our shouts echoed in the silent street.這是一種映襯法。
The career of our play，career在這裡指的是途徑，整句話的主詞翻為玩耍的途徑。
Stables 馬廄，點出了屋主應該是有錢人。
shook music from the buckled harness. 小男孩將這個馬轡所發出來的小聲響當作是一種Music，由此也可見男孩的童心以及他的聽覺敏銳。
If my uncle was seen turning the corner, we hid in the shadow until we had seen him safely housed. 雖說是看uncle安全進入家門，其實是說自己又可以安心的繼續追逐遊戲(uncle進家門根本沒有危險….)，這是一種矛盾修飾法(oxymoron)。
her figure defined by the light from the half-opened door.一種攝影上，逆光的描寫，勾勒出他的輪廓。
Every morning I lay on the floor in the front parlour watching her door. The blind was pulled down to within an inch of the sash so that I could not be seen. When she came out on the doorstep my heart leaped. I ran to the hall, seized my books and followed her. I kept her brown figure always in my eye and, when we came near the point at which our ways diverged, I quickened my pace and passed her. This happened morning after morning. I had never spoken to her, except for a few casual words, and yet her name was like a summons to all my foolish blood.
這個blind是指窗簾遮光的那一層布。
I quickened my pace and passed her. (小男孩為了引起她的注意)
her name was like a summons to all my foolish blood. 在這summons指的原易是上位者對下位者的召喚。Foolish blood道盡了單戀與暗戀時的傻與木訥。
Her image accompanied me even in places the most hostile to romance. On Saturday evenings when my aunt went marketing I had to go to carry some of the parcels. We walked through the flaring streets, jostled by drunken men and bargaining women, amid the curses of labourers,the shrill litanies of shop-boys who stood on guard by the barrels of pigs' cheeks, the nasal chanting of street-singers, who sang a come-all-you about O'Donovan Rossa, or a ballad about the troubles in our native land. These noises converged in a single sensation of life for me: I imagined that I bore my chalice safely through a throng of foes. Her name sprang to my lips at moments in strange prayers and praises which I myself did not understand. My eyes were often full of tears (I could not tell why) and at times a flood from my heart seemed to pour itself out into my bosom. I thought little of the future. I did not know whether I would ever speak to her or not or, if I spoke to her, how I could tell her of my confused adoration. But my body was like a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running upon the wires.
jostled by drunken men and bargaining women, amid the curses of labourers. 摩肩接踵的市集最能點出愛爾蘭當地人的實際生活面貌，drunken men多為礦工，也是一家的經濟支柱，薪資微薄。最愛與兄弟喝酒解悶，嘴巴說出來的每一句難免不帶髒字。那為何是bargaining women? 男人的薪資微薄，又愛喝酒，女人在家庭的生活開銷方面當然更是斤斤計較。
shrill litanies of shop-boys who stood on guard by the barrels of pigs' cheeks. 叫販的童工，他們年紀都很小，作者才將他們的叫賣聲比喻為男童唱詩般的尖銳聲(shrill litanies)。
These noises converged in a single sensation of life for me: I imagined that I bore my chalice safely through a throng of foes. 市集的這些吵鬧聲就是最在地生活的聲音，這種聲音讓小男孩幻想自己就像是武士，肩負著守護著聖杯的神聖任務，大包小包的穿過市集。(對於聲音的敏感又再這一段出現)
my body was like a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running upon the wires. 她的姿態、她的每一句話都像是撥弄他心弦上的指頭(很美的一句話, 也是一個很棒的simile)
One evening I went into the back drawing-room in which the priest had died. It was a dark rainy evening and there was no sound in the house. Through one of the broken panes I heard the rain impinge upon the earth, the fine incessant needles of water playing in the sodden beds.
I heard the rain impinge upon the earth這又突顯出男孩的聽覺敏銳
sodden beds.指的是地面，而不是床。
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