【書摘】在少女們身旁—與希爾貝特的愛情-1 (Fall in love with Gilberte-1) 7
Or, le même mystère qui dérobe aux yeux souvent la cause des catastrophes, quand il s’agit de l’amour, entoure, tout aussi fréquemment la soudaineté de certaines solutions heureuses (telle que celle qui m’était apportée par la lettre de Gilberte). Solutions heureuses ou du moins qui paraissent l’être, car il n’y en a guère qui le soient réellement quand il s’agit d’un sentiment d’une telle sorte que toute satisfaction qu’on lui donne ne fait généralement que déplacer la douleur. Parfois pourtant une trêve est accordée et l’on a pendant quelque temps l’illusion d’être guéri.
(l’édition Gallimard, Paris, 1946-47)
 
在愛情問題上，奧秘使我們看不到災難的起因，也使我們無法理解突如其來的圓滿結局（例如希爾貝特的信所帶來的結局）。對這種類型的感情而言，任何滿足往往只是使痛苦換一個地方，因此只能稱為貌似圓滿的結局，而並無真正的圓滿結局可言。有時，我們得到暫時的喘息，於是在一段時間內便產生了痊癒的幻覺。
(p.72 追憶似水年華 II 在少女們身旁 聯經版 1992)

然而，這種神祕不僅遮蔽了視線。讓人無法看到災難的起因，而且當事關愛情時，往往也會彌漫在某些突如其來的圓滿結局周圍 (比如吉爾貝特的信帶給我的這個結局)。說圓滿，其實不如說看上去圓滿，因為如果一種情感的滿足僅僅意味著痛苦的移情，真正的圓滿從何談起呢。痛苦有時會暫時停歇一下。這時我們常常誤以為它消除了。
(p.77 追憶似水年華 II 在少女花影下 時報版 周克希譯 2011)

Now the same mystery which often veils from our eyes the reason for a catastrophe, when love is in question, envelops just as frequently the suddenness of certain happy solutions, such as had come to me with Gilberte’s letter. Happy, or at least seemingly happy, for there are few solutions that can really be happy when we are dealing with a sentiment of such a kind that every satisfaction which we can bring to it does no more, as a rule, than dislodge some pain. And yet sometimes a respite is granted us, and we have for a little while the illusion that we are healed.
(Translated by C. K. Scott Moncrieff)

In love, it is not only the causes of catastrophe that may lie forever beyond our grasp: just as often we remain in ignorance of the whys and wherefores of sudden outcomes that are happier-such as the one that Gilberte’s letter brought to me-or, rather, outcomes which appear to be happy, as there are few truly happy outcomes in the life of a feeling, which can generally look for no better reward than a shift in the site of the pain it entails. At times, however, a temporary remission is granted, and for a while one may have the illusion of being cured.
(Translated by James Grieve)