十七世纪的荷兰画家维米尔创作的《戴珍珠耳环的少女》(Girl with a Pearl Earring)可谓无人不知，被誉为“北方的蒙娜丽莎”，画中女子欲言又止、似说还笑的容颜打动了无数人，同样给英国女作家特蕾西·雪佛兰(Tracy Chevalier)带来了灵感，同名小说便由此诞生。
在小说中，画家维米尔和画中的少女葛叶丽成为了男女主角，贫苦的画家已有家室，暗生情愫的少女明知这一切不会有结局，只能选择来做画家的模特。在那时，艺术的大门不会对女性打开，葛叶丽最后也只能另嫁他人，过上了平淡的生活。
Life is a folly. If you live long enough, nothing is surprising.
生活就是一场闹剧。如果你活得够久，你会发现一切都那么索然无味。
I had walked along that street all my life, but had never been so aware that my back was to my home.
我一生都在这条街上游荡，从没想到身后就是回家的路。
You’re a fly in his web. We all are.
你已是他的池中之物。我们都是。
There needs to be some disorder in the scene, to contrast with her tranquility.
画中需要一些凌乱，来衬托出她的宁静。
He saw things in a way that others did not, so that a city I had lived in all my life seemed a different place, so that a woman became beautiful with the light on her face.
他看事情的方式与别人不同，因此，这个我生活了一辈子的城市似乎是另一个地方，而脸上映着光线的女子变得美丽动人。
I did not mind the cold so much when he was there.
当他在我身边，我都不再在意寒冷了。
You're so calm and quiet, you never say. But there are things inside you. I see them sometimes, hiding in your eyes.
你如此平和恬静，你虽未言说，但你内心仍有波澜。我有时能看见它们，隐匿在你的眼眸后。
The colors fight when they are side by side, sir.
同种颜色挨在一起会打架的。
There are colors in clouds.
云层里有各种色彩。
I had been looking at clouds all my life, but I felt as if I saw them for the first time.
我这一辈子看了各种各样的云，但此时却仿佛第一次见到了她们。
At first I could not meet his eyes. When I did it was like sitting close to a fire that suddenly blazes up.
刚开始我无法接触他的目光，要是正视了他的双眼，就好像坐在一堆火旁，火苗一下子旺了起来。
It's those little daily incidents of life that are dramatic, and if you put a frame around it, suddenly they become much bigger and much more important than you ever imagined.
正是日常生活中毫不起眼的琐事才令人印象深刻。如果你再给它们镶上一个边框，一瞬间，这些琐事变得重要无比，超乎你的想象。
I have spent my life waiting for something to happen, and I have come to understand that nothing will. Or it already has, and I blinked during that moment and it's gone. I don't know which is worse--- to have missed it or to know there is nothing to miss.
我一生都在期待会有不寻常的事情发生，现在我已经知道什么也不会发生。抑或是已经发生了，但是因为当时我眨了眼睛，它又立马消失了。我不知道哪一个更糟糕，是错过了它，还是本就平淡无奇。