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属类: 双语小说 【分类】世界名著 -[作者: 毛姆] 阅读:[36207]
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但是,当我最终见到查尔斯·斯特里克兰的时候,在那种情况下,我不仅结识了他本人,还结识了其他的人。一天上午,斯特里克兰太太让人给我送来一张便条,上面说当天晚上她办一个晚餐聚会,其中一位客人来不了了,她问我是否愿意补缺。她写道:

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But when at last I met Charles Strickland, it was under circumstances which allowed me to do no more than just make his acquaintance. One morning Mrs.Strickland sent me round a note to say that she was giving a dinner-party that evening, and one of her guests had failed her.She asked me to stop the gap.She wrote:

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别说我言之不预,你会厌烦得要死的。从头到尾这都会是个乏味的聚会,但是如果你愿意来,我会不胜感激,而且你我可以聊会儿天。

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It’s only decent to warn you that you will be bored to extinction.It was a thoroughly dull party from the beginning, but if you will come I shall be uncommonly grateful.And you and I can have a little chat by ourselves.

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似乎别无选择,我只能接受。

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It was only neighbourly to accept.

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当斯特里克兰太太把我介绍给她的丈夫时,他漫不经心地跟我握了握手。斯特里克兰太太快乐地转向他,试图跟他开一个小玩笑。

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When Mrs. Strickland introduced me to her husband, he gave me a rather indifferent hand to shake.Turning to him gaily, she attempted a small jest.

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“我请他来,就是给他看看,我的确有个丈夫。我觉得他开始时很是怀疑这一点呢。”

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“I asked him to show him that I really had a husband. I think he was beginning to doubt it.”

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斯特里克兰先生礼貌而短暂地笑了一下,这种笑正是人们假装承认可笑,而实际上他们看不出有什么可笑,又不能明说的敷衍。别的客人陆续到来,主人忙着招呼他们,于是我被晾在了一边。终于等到我们聚齐了,在餐桌边等着宣布晚餐开始,这时我一边和身边一位叫我“关照”的女客聊天,一边思忖,文明人竟会运用这样一种奇怪的、别出心裁的创意,把短暂的生命浪费在这类冗长乏味的活动上。

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Strickland gave the polite little laugh with which people acknowledge a facetiousness in which they see nothing funny, but did not speak. New arrivals claimed my host’s attention, and I was left to myself.When at last we were all assembled, waiting for dinner to be announced, I refected, while I chatted with the woman I had been asked to“take in,”that civilised man practises a strange ingenuity in wasting on tedious exercises the brief span of his life.

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你会纳闷这类聚会为什么女主人会不厌其烦地邀请客人们来,而为什么客人们也不辞劳苦地有请必到。聚会上有十个人,这些人见面时冷淡相对,分手时如释重负。当然,这种聚会纯粹是为了社交。

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It was the kind of party which makes you wonder why the hostess has troubled to bid her guests, and why the guests have troubled to come.There were ten people.They met with indifference, and would part with relief.It was, of course, a purely social function.

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斯特里克兰一家“欠”了很多人的晚餐,哪怕这些人他们丝毫不感兴趣,为了还人情的缘故,他们不得不邀请这些客人来,而这些客人也往往会接受。为什么?为了避免吃饭时,只是夫妇俩相对的乏味,为了让他们的用人休息一下,因为没有原因拒绝,因为他们被“欠”了一顿晚餐。

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The Stricklands“owed”dinners to a number of persons, whom they took no interest in, and so had asked them;these persons had accepted.Why?To avoid the tedium of dining tête-à-tête, to give their servants a rest, because there was no reason to refuse, because they were“owed”a dinner.

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餐厅很拥挤,让人感到不便。在座的有一位王室法律顾问和他的妻子,一位政府官员和他的妻子,斯特里克兰的姐姐和她丈夫——麦克安德鲁上校,一位议员的妻子。正是因为这位议员大人不能离开议会,我才接到替补的邀请。这些客人的身份都很高贵,他们也很自命不凡。这些太太们做派很足,不太讲究自己的衣着,她们也深知自己的地位,也就不主动去取悦别人。男人们志得意满,总之所有的人都显出心满意足、兴旺发达的样子。

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The dining-room was inconveniently crowded. There was a K.C.and his wife, a Government official and his wife, Mrs.Strickland’s sister and her husband, Colonel MacAndrew, and the wife of a Member of Parliament.It was because the Member of Parliament found that he could not leave the House that I had been invited.The respectability of the party was portentous.The women were too nice to be well dressed, and too sure of their position to be amusing.The men were solid.There was about all of them an air of well-satisfed prosperity.

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每个人本能地都希望宴会别冷场,所以说话的声调都比正常情况下略高,结果房间里充斥着吵吵嚷嚷的声音。但是,没有大家一起谈论一件事的时候,每个人都在和他的邻座交谈,喝汤、吃鱼和品小菜时和右手边的人交谈,吃烤肉、甜点和开胃小吃时和左手边的人交谈。

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Everyone talked a little louder than natural in an instinctive desire to make the party go, and there was a great deal of noise in the room. But there was no general conversation.Each one talked to his neighbour;to his neighbour on the right during the soup, fish, and entrée;to his neighbour on the left during the roast, sweet, and savoury.

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他们谈论政治形势、高尔夫、他们的孩子,以及最近上演的新戏,他们还谈论皇家学院展出的画作、天气,以及度假的计划。没有片刻的停歇,所以噪声变得更大了。斯特里克兰太太兴许暗自庆幸她举办的聚会获得成功。

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They talked of the political situation, and of golf, of their children and the latest play, of the pictures at the Royal Academy, of the weather, and their plans for the holidays.There was never a pause, and the noise grew louder.Mrs.Strickland might congratulate herself that her party was a success.

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她的丈夫举止得体,也许他的话不多,我感觉晚宴快结束时,坐在他两旁的女客脸上都露出了倦怠的神色。她们一定觉得他也不轻松,有那么一两次,斯特里克兰太太有些焦虑的目光落在他身上。

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Her husband played his part with decorum.Perhaps he did not talk very much, and I fancied there was towards the end a look of fatigue in the faces of the women on either side of him.They were fnding him heavy.Once or twice Mrs.Strickland’s eyes rested on him somewhat anxiously.

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最后,她起身带着女士们离开了餐厅,斯特里克兰在她身后关上了门,走到桌子的另一头,坐在了王室法律顾问和政府官员中间,他把波尔图葡萄酒挨个给客人满上,又递给我们每人一根雪茄烟。王室法律顾问对葡萄酒的品质大加赞赏,斯特里克兰告诉我们他从哪里搞到的这种酒。

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At last she rose and shepherded the ladies out of the room. Strickland shut the door behind her, and, moving to the other end of the table, took his place between the K.C.and the Government offcial.He passed round the port again and handed us cigars.The K.C.remarked on the excellence of the wine, and Strickland told us where he got it.

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我们又开始谈论起了酿酒和烟草。王室法律顾问跟我们聊起了一桩他正在办的案子,上校谈起了打马球的事。我没什么可聊的,所以安静地坐着,礼貌性地表现出对谈话很感兴趣的样子,因为我知道这些人都跟我毫不相干,所以很放松地观察上了斯特里克兰。

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We began to chat about vintages and tobacco.The K.C.told us of a case he was engaged in, and the Colonel talked about polo.I had nothing to say and so sat silent, trying politely to show interest in the conversation;and because I thought no one was in the least concerned with me, examined Strickland at my ease.

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他比我料想的还要高大,我不知道为什么我以前想象他身材瘦小,其貌不扬。实际上他生得魁梧壮实,大手大脚。笨拙地穿着晚礼服,难免给你这种想法——一个马夫为了这个场合特意衣冠楚楚了一番。

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He was bigger than I expected:I do not know why I had imagined him slender and of insignificant appearance;in point of fact he was broad and heavy, with large hands and feet, and he wore his evening clothes clumsily.He gave you somewhat the idea of a coachman dressed up for the occasion.

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他有四十岁,不好看,也谈不上难看,因为他的五官还算端正,但是似乎都比一般人大了一号,所以看上去有些粗笨。他的胡子刮得精光,那张大脸看上去光秃秃的,让人不怎么舒服。他的头发是红色的,剪得很短,他的小眼睛是蓝色或者灰色的,他看上去相貌平平。

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He was a man of forty, not good-looking, and yet not ugly, for his features were rather good;but they were all a little larger than life-size, and the effect was ungainly.He was clean shaven, and his large face looked uncomfortably naked.His hair was reddish, cut very short, and his eyes were small, blue or grey.He looked commonplace.

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我不再纳闷为什么斯特里克兰太太谈到他时有些难为情,对于一个想在艺术和文学圈子里获得一席之地的女人来说,他很难为她增光添彩。很显然他也没有社交的天赋,但这种天赋也并非人人都有,他甚至没有什么奇行怪癖,能够使他脱离庸庸碌碌之辈,他就是一个善良、乏味、诚实、普通的男人。

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I no longer wondered that Mrs.Strickland felt a certain embarrassment about him;he was scarcely a credit to a woman who wanted to make herself a position in the world of art and letters.It was obvious that he had no social gifts, but these a man can do without;he had no eccentricity even, to take him out of the common run;he was just a good, dull, honest, plain man.

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有人兴许会羡慕他身上的优秀品质,但一定不会愿意和他做伴。他是一个微不足道的人,他可能是一个有价值的社会成员,一个好丈夫和好父亲,一个诚实的经纪人,但是没有理由在他的身上浪费时间。

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One would admire his excellent qualities, but avoid his company.He was null.He was probably a worthy member of society, a good husband and father, an honest broker;but there was no reason to waste one’s time over him.

序号 英文/音标 中文解释 更多操作

chat

[tʃæt]

vi.闲谈;谈天

neighbourly

[’neɪbəli]

adj.睦邻友好的

jest

[dʒest]

n.说笑;玩笑

ingenuity

[ˌɪndʒə’njuːəti]

n.心灵手巧;独创性;精巧

indifference

[ɪn’dɪfrəns]

n.不重视;无兴趣;漠不关心

prosperity

[prɒ’sperəti]

n.繁荣;兴旺

savoury

[’seɪvəri]

adj.咸味的;美味可口的

latest

[’leɪtɪst]

adj.最近的;最新的

Academy

[əˈkædəmɪ]

高等(专科)院校研究院(所)

fancy

[’fænsi]

n. 【C】设想;幻想;空想;

shepherd

[’ʃepəd]

n.牧羊者;牧师;指导者

vintage

[’vɪntɪdʒ]

n. 【常用单】摘收葡萄;葡萄收获期;

Colonel

[’kɜːnl]

n.上校

conversation

[ˌkɒnvə’seɪʃn]

n.谈话;会话

insignificant

[ˌɪnsɪɡ’nɪfɪkənt]

adj.无关紧要的;可忽略的;不重要的;无用的

clumsily

[’klʌmzɪli]

adv.笨拙地

coachman

[’kəʊtʃmən]

n.赶马车人

shave

[ʃeɪv]

v.刮;剃;修剪;掠过;削减

reddish

[’redɪʃ]

adj.略带红色的;微红的

felted

[’feltɪd]

v. 把 ... 制成毡(使 ... 粘结)

scarcely

[’skeəsli]

adv.几乎不;简直不;刚刚;决不

eccentricity

[ˌeksen’trɪsəti]

n.古怪;古怪的行为;怪癖;离心率

简典