In this there was a substratum of truth.

这里面有一个真理的基础。

Firmly narrowing upward from this wealthy but inconspicuous substratum was the compact and dominant group which the Mingotts, Newlands, Chiverses and Mansons so actively represented.

从这个富有但不显眼的底层坚定向上缩小的是明戈特、纽兰兹、奇弗斯和曼森家族如此表的紧凑而占主地位的群体。

Mr Chivers overlays a street map with colours representing the different substrata - " half eccentric artwork, half primary-school science project" - which becomes a springboard for his digressions.

奇弗斯先生用表不同底层结构的不同颜色，描绘出一张街道地图——“既像古怪的艺术品，又像小的科项目”——这成了他离题的跳板。

While he did not answer she began to feel the old hypnotism of his intelligence, sometimes exercised without power but always with substrata of truth under truth which she could not break or even crack.

虽然他没有回答，但她开始感受到他智慧的古老催眠术，有时没有力量，但总是在真理之下隐藏着真理的底层，她无法打破甚至破解。