I would fain say something, not so much concerning the Chinese and Sandwich Islanders as you who read these pages, who are said to live in New England; something about your condition, especially your outward condition or circumstances in this world, in this town, what it is, whether it is necessary that it be as bad as it is, whether it cannot be improved as well as not.

fain 欣然
concern 有关
outward 外部的

I have travelled a good deal in Concord; and everywhere, in shops, and officers, and fields, the inhabitants have appeared to me to be doing penance in a thousand remarkable ways.

inhabitant 居民
penance 苦修
remarkable 卓越的

What I have heard of Bramins sitting exposed to four fires and looking in the face of the sun; or hanging suspended, with their heads downwards, over flames; or looking at the heavens over their shoulders "until it becomes impossible for them to resume their natural position, while from the twist of the neck nothing but liquids can pass into the stomach"; or dwelling, chained for life, at the foot of a tree; or measuring with their bodies, like caterpillars, the breadth of vast empires; or standing on one leg on the tops of pillars--even these forms of conscious penance are hardly more incredible and astonishing than the scenes which I daily witness.

expose to 暴露
in the face of 面对
hang suspended 悬挂
downward 向下
flame 火焰
resume 恢复
twist 拧
dwell 居住
caterpillar 毛毛虫
breadth 宽度
vast 辽阔的
empire 帝国
pillar 柱子
conscious 有意识的
hardly 几乎不
incredible 难以置信的，荒诞的
astonishing 惊人的，意想不到的
scene 景象
witness 目睹

The twelve labors of Hercules were trifling in comparison with those which my neighbors have undertaken; for they were only twelve, and had an end; but I could never see that these men slew or captured any monster or finished any labor.

trifling 微小的
in comparison with 和......比较
undertake 从事
slew 杀死
capture 捕获

They have no friend Iolaus to burn with a lot iron the root of the hydra's head, but as soon as one head is crushed, two spring up.

iron 铁
hydra 九头蛇
crush 破碎
spring up 涌现