英语学习网站威廉·萨默塞特·毛姆（William Somerset Maugham，1874年1月25日—1965年12月16日），英国小说家、剧作家。代表作有戏剧《圈子》，长篇小说《人生的枷锁》、《月亮和六便士》，短篇小说集《叶的震颤》、《阿金》等。
《面纱》是英国作家威廉·萨默塞特·毛姆创作的一部长篇小说，首次出版于1925年。
小说的故事发生在香港和一个叫“湄潭府”的地方。女主人公凯蒂·费恩因为和香港助理布政司查理通奸，被丈夫瓦尔特（细菌学家）发现后胁迫她去了霍乱横行的湄潭府，最终瓦尔特不幸染病死去，凯蒂回到香港，重投查理怀抱后羞愧不已，最终回到英国和父亲和解，并和父亲同往巴哈马群岛生活。
从《面纱》一书中，读者能看到一个表面漠然中立的叙事者背后的模糊性和矛盾性：作为帝国叙事的一分子，作者的面纱之下隐藏着东方主义的政治文化观；作为一个关注人性的个体作家，他的面纱之下隐藏着他对爱的怀疑和渴求、对人性的嘲讽和宽容。
Silence. She leaned against him, her knees shaking, and he was afraid she would faint. Frowning, his jaw set, he carried her to the bed and sat her down upon it. She was as white as the sheet and notwithstanding his tan his cheeks were pale too. He stood by her side looking with fascinated gaze at the china knob. They did not speak. Then he saw that she was crying.
房间里鸦雀无声。她紧贴在他的身上，双腿直打哆嗦。他觉得，一眨眼间她就要晕过去了。他皱起眉头，绷紧了下巴，搀扶她来到床边，让她坐在床沿上。她的脸色一片煞白，宛如一张白纸。他的脸膛虽已晒成了黝黑色，但双颊处也泛出了惨白的面容。他僵硬地站在她的身旁，直勾勾的眼睛死盯着搪瓷把手。他们俩谁都没有说话。这时，凯蒂抽抽噎噎地哭了起来。
But there was a quality of courage in Mrs.Garstin which in itself was admirable. She let no one in her immediate circle, which to her was the world, see how mortified she was by the frustration of her hopes. She made no change in her style of living. By careful management she was able to give as showy dinners as she had done before, and she met her friends with the same bright gaiety which she had so long cultivated. She had a hard and facile fund of chit-chat which in the society she moved in passed for conversation. She was a useful guest among persons to whom small talk did not come easily, for she was never at a loss with a new topic and could be trusted immediately to break an awkward silence with a suitable observation.
贾斯汀太太拥有一个令人敬佩的品质：从不气馁。志向受挫后，她深感屈辱，但是在朋友圈里，也是在她的全部世界里，决不让任何人看出来。她对自己的生活方式未作任何改变。经过精心筹划，她还像以前一样举办华丽的盛宴。与朋友交往时，仍显得若无其事，兴高采烈，这也是她多年养成的习惯。她有一身能说会道、巧舌如簧的本领，在社交圈内，这是她攀谈交往的通行证。在那些不轻易与人闲聊的客人当中，她的口才就有了用武之地。不管谈论什么样的时新话题，她都能得心应手。她能用得体的言谈迅速赢得信任，能有效打破尴尬的冷场。
By the time the season drew to its end they had seen a good deal of one another, but he had remained as aloof and impenetrable as ever. He was not exactly shy with her, but embarrassed; his conversation remained strangely impersonal. Kitty came to the conclusion that he was not in the least in love with her. He liked her and found her easy to talk to, but when he returned to China in November he would not think of her again. She thought it not impossible that he was engaged all the time to some nurse at a hospital in Hong Kong, the daughter of a clergyman, dull, plain, flat-footed, and strenuous; that was the wife that would exactly suit him.
那时，社交季节已接近尾声。他们俩经常见面，但瓦尔特还是对她若即若离，心思不可捉摸。确切地说，和她在一起，他不仅羞涩腼腆，而且手足无措。他的言谈依然硬邦邦的，怪兮兮的。凯蒂最终断定他根本不爱她，只是喜欢与她交往，觉得她容易接近而已。他在十一月份回到中国后，就再也不会想起她了。她还寻思着，保不准他与香港某个护士早就订婚了，这个护士说不定还是个牧师的女儿，长相平庸，天生一副平脚板，性格木讷得很，还扭扭捏捏的。这种女人做他老婆，说起来倒也是世间绝配呢！
Kitty was lively; she was willing to chatter all day long and she laughed easily. His silence disconcerted her. He had a way which exasperated her of returning no answer to some casual remark of hers. It was true that it needed no answer, but an answer all the same would have been pleasant. If it was raining and she said: “It’s raining cats and dogs,” she would have liked him to say: “Yes, isn’t it?” He remained silent. Sometimes she would have liked to shake him.
凯蒂生性活泼健谈，能一整天说个没完，而且乐此不疲，笑口常开。他对瓦尔特的沉默寡言不胜恼怒，无论凯蒂开口发表什么评论，他总是不置一词，令她十分不爽。有些评论确实无需回应，但支应附和一声，也让人心情愉快些。如果外面正在下雨，她会说：“这雨下得真大呀！”她很想听到他应声说：“嗯，雨真大。”可是他闷声不响，像个睡着了的木头人似的。有时候，她真恨不得走上前去把他推醒。
I knew you were silly and frivolous and empty-headed. But I loved you. I knew that your aims and ideals were vulgar and commonplace. But I loved you. I knew that you were second-rate. But I loved you. It’s comic when I think how hard I tried to be amused by the things that amused you and how anxious I was to hide from you that I wasn’t ignorant and vulgar and scandal-mongering and stupid. I knew how frightened you were of intelligence and I did everything I could to make you think me as big a fool as the rest of the men you knew. I knew that you’d only married me for convenience. I loved you so much, I didn’t care.
我知道你愚蠢轻浮，没有头脑，然而我爱你。我知道你胸无大志，粗俗不堪，然而我爱你。我知道你平庸浅薄，势利虚荣，然而我还是爱你。无论你喜欢什么，我都会竭尽全力地去喜欢。我设法向你隐瞒我并不是一个粗鄙无知、嚼舌愚蠢之人。现在回想起来，真是滑稽可笑。我知道你害怕有智慧的男人，所以很想让你觉得，我和你认识的其他男人一样，就是一个大傻瓜。我知道，你和我结婚只是权宜之计，可是我太爱你了，所以我根本不在乎。
