這兩句都是出自于《雙城記》第一章,不過,第一句的英文有誤,原文是：Even the Cock-lane ghost had been laid only a round dozen of years,after rapping out its messages,句中的“a”和“ round”是分開寫的,不是一個詞,這里的round是一個形容詞,意為“完整的,十足的”,a round dozen of作為一個短語來說就是“整整一打.”,整段話的意思是“即使雄雞巷的幽靈在咄咄逼人地發(fā)出它的預(yù)言之后銷聲匿跡整整十二年,”
至于上文中的第二句“In short,the period was so far like the present period,that some of the noisiest authorities insisted on its being received,for good or for evil,in the superlative degree of comparision only”,該句出自于《雙城記》第一章第一段段尾,中文的譯文是“簡而言之,那時跟現(xiàn)在非常相象,某些最喧囂的權(quán)威堅持要用形容詞的最高級來形容它.說它好,是最高級的；說它不好,也是最高級的.”