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月亮和六便士|Moon and Sixpence

第四十六章|Chapter XLVI

属类： 双语小说 【分类】世界名著 -[作者: 毛姆] 阅读：[29537]
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1
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我到塔希提岛不久，就遇见了尼科尔斯船长。有一天上午，我正在宾馆的露台上吃早餐，他走过来并做了自我介绍。

1
-

I had not been in Tahiti long before I met Captain Nichols. He came in one morning when I was having breakfast on the terrace of the hotel and introduced himself.

2
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他早就听人说过我对查尔斯·斯特里克兰感兴趣，打过招呼后，就跟我说他来是为了谈谈斯特里克兰的事。就像在英格兰的乡下一样，塔希提岛的人喜欢张家长李家短地聊闲天，有那么一两次我打听过斯特里克兰的画，这消息很快就传开了。我问初次见面的船长是否吃过了早餐。

2
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He had heard that I was interested in Charles Strickland, and announced that he was come to have a talk about him.They are as fond of gossip in Tahiti as in an English village, and one or two inquiries I had made for pictures by Strickland had been quickly spread.I asked the stranger if he had breakfasted.

3
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“是的，我早就喝了咖啡，”他回答道，“不过我倒是不介意喝上点威士忌。”

3
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“Yes；I have my coffee early，”he answered，“but I don’t mind having a drop of whisky.”

4
-

我招呼一个中国侍者过来。

4
-

I called the Chinese boy.

5
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“你是不是认为现在喝酒太早了点？”船长说道。

5
-

“You don’t think it’s too early？”said the Captain.

6
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“你和你的肝好好商量一下，然后再决定吧。”我回答说。

6
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“You and your liver must decide that between you，”I replied.

7
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“我其实平时滴酒不沾。”他一边给自己斟了大半杯加拿大克拉伯牌威士忌，一边说道。

7
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“I’m practically a teetotaller，”he said, as he poured himself out a good half-tumbler of Canadian Club.

8
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当他笑的时候，露出的牙齿有的豁着，有的发黄了。他是一个很瘦削的人，个头比中等略低，灰白头发剪得很短，嘴上的灰白胡子短而粗，看得出来，他有好几天没有修边幅了，脸上的皱纹很深，长期暴露在太阳下面，脸被晒成了古铜色。他长着一双蓝色的小眼睛，眼珠令人吃惊的灵活，我的手哪怕稍微一动，它们就能快速地跟着动，看上去让人感觉这人是个老江湖了。

8
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When he smiled he showed broken and discoloured teeth. He was a very lean man, of no more than average height, with grey hair cut short and a stubby grey moustache.He had not shaved for a couple of days.His face was deeply lined, burned brown by long exposure to the sun, and he had a pair of small blue eyes which were astonishingly shifty.They moved quickly, following my smallest gesture, and gave him the look of a very thorough rogue.

9
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但是，在那一刻他倒是全心全意地对我，而且一副哥们义气的模样。他穿着一身破旧的卡其布套装，双手看上去真应该好好洗一洗了。

9
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But at the moment he was all heartiness and good-fellowship.He was dressed in a bedraggled suit of khaki, and his hands would have been all the better for a wash.

10
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“我和斯特里克兰很熟，”他一边向后靠在椅子上点亮我递给他的雪茄烟，一边说道，“通过我，他才来到这个岛上。”

10
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“I knew Strickland well，”he said, as he leaned back in his chair and lit the cigar I had offered him.“It’s through me he came out to the islands.”

11
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“你在哪儿遇见他的？”我问道。

11
-

“Where did you meet him？”I asked.

12
-

“在马赛。”

12
-

“In Marseilles.”

13
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“你在马赛做什么？”

13
-

“What were you doing there？”

14
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他冲我讨好地笑了笑。

14
-

He gave me an ingratiating smile.

15
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“嗯，我想那时我正处于困境。”

15
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“Well, I guess I was on the beach.”

16
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从我这位朋友现在的这副模样来看，他的窘况依然没有改善。我准备和他交个朋友，培养一下感情，和这些海滨白人游民打交道，你总要付出点小代价才能和他们处得不错。

16
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My friend’s appearance suggested that he was now in the same predicament, and I prepared myself to cultivate an agreeable acquaintance. The society of beach-combers always repays the small pains you need be at to enjoy it.

17
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他们很容易接近，交谈时总是很友善；他们很少摆架子，给他们买杯酒肯定就能让他们掏心掏肺，你不用费力和他们套近乎，如果你能认真地听他们天南海北地一通胡扯，你不仅能赢得他们的信任，而且还能让他们心怀感激。

17
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They are easy of approach and affable in conversation.They seldom put on airs, and the offer of a drink is a sure way to their hearts.You need no laborious steps to enter upon familiarity with them, and you can earn not only their confidence, but their gratitude, by turning an attentive ear to their discourse.

18
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他们把聊闲天看作是生活中很大的乐趣，因此，他们往往用神侃证明他们教养的优异，他们当中的大多数人都是娱乐别人的侃爷。这些人的阅历很广，再加上想象力丰富，所以还是能侃出一些东西来的，不能说他们的话中没有吹嘘和欺骗的成分，但他们对法律能保持起码的尊重，尤其当法律能够得到有力的支持时，更是如此。

18
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They look upon conversation as the great pleasure of life, thereby proving the excellence of their civilization, and for the most part they are entertaining talkers.The extent of their experience is pleasantly balanced by the fertility of their imagination.It cannot be said that they are without guile, but they have a tolerant respect for the law, when the law is supported by strength.

19
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跟他们一起玩扑克牌是危险的，但是他们的不老实反而给这种世界上最棒的游戏增添了特殊的刺激。在我离开塔希提岛之前，我和尼科尔斯船长已经很熟悉了，和他交往，我赚大了。

19
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It is hazardous to play poker with them, but their ingenuity adds a peculiar excitement to the best game in the world.I came to know Captain Nichols very well before I left Tahiti, and I am the richer for his acquaintance.

20
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我不认为掏钱请他抽雪茄、喝威士忌（他从不喝鸡尾酒，因为他是个滴酒不沾的人嘛）做了冤大头。有时他还会客客气气地跟我借上几美元，好像是给我面子，就这样这几美元从我兜里转到了他的口袋中。不管怎么说，这些付出对于他带给我的乐趣还是值得的。

20
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I do not consider that the cigars and whisky he consumed at my expense（he always refused cocktails, since he was practically a teetotaller），and the few dollars, borrowed with a civil air of conferring a favour upon me, that passed from my pocket to his, were in any way equivalent to the entertainment he afforded me.

21
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他其实是我的债主，如果我的良心坚持以死板的方式来处理这本书的写作，为了不跑题而寥寥几行字就把他打发掉的话，我会觉得对不起他的。

21
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I remained his debtor.I should be sorry if my conscience, insisting on a rigid attention to the matter in hand, forced me to dismiss him in a couple of lines.

22
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我不知道尼科尔斯船长最初为什么要离开英格兰，这件事他闭口不谈，跟他这种脾气的人相处，一些单刀直入的问题是非常欠考虑的。他的言谈中隐约透露出他受了不白之冤。毫无疑问，他把自己看成是非正义的受害者。

22
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I do not know why Captain Nichols first left England. It was a matter upon which he was reticent, and with persons of his kid-ney a direct question is never very discreet.He hinted at undeserved misfortune, and there is no doubt that he looked upon himself as the victim of injustice.

23
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我的想象总把这事跟诈骗和暴力之类的事相联系。当他说在英格兰的一些地方当局执法过于机械时，我总是充满同情地表示认可。

23
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My fancy played with the various forms of fraud and violence, and I agreed with him sympathetically when he remarked that the authorities in the old country were so damned technical.

24
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我很高兴地看到，尽管在故土他经历了种种不愉快，但没有损伤他热情洋溢的爱国主义，他频频宣称英格兰是世界上最好的国家，觉得在美国人、殖民地人、达哥人、荷兰人或是卡纳加人面前，他还是高人一等的。

24
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But it was nice to see that any unpleasantness he had endured in his native land had not impaired his ardent patriotism.He frequently declared that England was the fnest country in the world, sir, and he felt a lively superiority over Americans, Colonials, Dagos, Dutchmen, and Kanakas.

25
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但我不认为他是个幸福的人。他患有消化不良症，人们经常看见他含着助消化的药片，在上午他的胃口通常很糟糕，但是光这一痛苦并不能损害他的精神，更令他痛苦的是生活的不如意。

25
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But I do not think he was a happy man. He suffered from dyspepsia, and he might often be seen sucking a tablet of pepsin；in the morning his appetite was poor；but this affliction alone would hardly have impaired his spirits.He had a greater cause of discontent with life than this.

26
-

八年前，他草率地娶了老婆。对于有些男人，仁慈的上帝已经毫无疑问地判定他们过单身生活，但是他们有的人由于任性，有的人由于拗不过环境，却违背了上帝的意旨。没有什么事比结了婚但还做光棍这件事更令人同情的了，而尼科尔斯船长恰恰就碰上了这样的倒霉事。

26
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Eight years before he had rashly married a wife.There are men whom a merciful Providence has undoubtedly ordained to a single life, but who from wilfulness or through circumstances they could not cope with have fown in the face of its decrees.There is no object more deserving of pity than the married bachelor.Of such was Captain Nichols.

27
-

我见过他妻子，她是一个二十八岁的女人。我觉得有一类人，她们的年龄总是存疑，因为看上去她和二十岁时也没有什么不同，到了四十岁，看上去也不怎么老。她就是属于此类看不出年龄的女人。

27
-

I met his wife.She was a woman of twenty-eight, I should think, though of a type whose age is always doubtful；for she cannot have looked different when she was twenty, and at forty would look no older.

28
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她留给我的印象是浑身上下都紧绷绷的：相貌平平的脸蛋，薄薄的嘴唇，看上去是紧绷绷的；皮肤包着骨头，是紧绷绷的；微笑是紧绷绷的；头发是紧绷绷的；衣服也是紧绷绷的。她穿的白色斜纹布衣服全然穿出了黑色孝衣的效果，我无法想象，尼科尔斯船长出于什么原因娶了她，而且娶过门之后竟然没有抛弃她。

28
-

She gave me an impression of extraordinary tightness.Her plain face with its narrow lips was tight, her skin was stretched tightly over her bones, her smile was tight, her hair was tight, her clothes were tight, and the white drill she wore had all the effect of black bombazine.I could not imagine why Captain Nichols had married her, and having married her why he had not deserted her.

29
-

也许他时常打算抛弃她，可他的悲哀之处就在于总也不成功，不管他跑到多远的地方，也不管他的藏身之地是多么隐秘，我能肯定，尼科尔斯太太，就像命运一样，不屈不挠地如影随形，就像良知一样，毫无恻隐之心，很快就能找到他，黏上他。如同因离不开果，他也无法逃离她。

29
-

Perhaps he had, often, and his melancholy arose from the fact that he could never succeed.However far he went and in howsoever secret a place he hid himself, I felt sure that Mrs.Nichols, inexorable as fate and remorseless as conscience, would presently rejoin him.He could as little escape her as the cause can escape the effect.

30
-

这个老江湖，就像艺术家，也许还有绅士一样，不属于哪一个阶级。他不会对无业游民的粗鲁感到难堪，也不会对王公贵族的繁文缛节表示嘉许。但是尼科尔斯太太属于很有教养的阶层，最近名声日隆，被众人称为下中阶层。

30
-

The rogue, like the artist and perhaps the gentleman, belongs to no class. He is not embarrassed by the sans-gêne of the hobo, nor put out of countenance by the etiquette of the prince.But Mrs.Nichols belonged to the well-defned class, of late become vocal, which is known as the lower-middle.

31
-

实际上，她的父亲是个警察，我敢肯定是办事很有效率的那一类，我不知道她为什么抓住船长不放手，但我肯定那不是因为爱情。我从未听她说过话，也许私下里她也挺能说。

31
-

Her father, in fact, was a policeman.I am certain that he was an effcient one.I do not know what her hold was on the Captain, but I do not think it was love.I never heard her speak, but it may be that in private she had a copious conversation.

32
-

不管怎样，尼科尔斯船长怕她怕得要死。有时，他和我坐在宾馆的露台上，他也能感觉出她正走在外面的路上，她没搭理他，好像他完全不存在，只是镇定地踱来踱去。紧接着，一阵奇怪的不安笼罩着船长，他看了看表，发出一声叹息。

32
-

At any rate, Captain Nichols was frightened to death of her.Sometimes, sitting with me on the terrace of the hotel, he would become conscious that she was walking in the road outside.She did not call him；she gave no sign that she was aware of his existence；she merely walked up and down composedly.Then a strange uneasiness would seize the Captain；he would look at his watch and sigh.

33
-

“好了，我该回去了。”他说道。

33
-

“Well, I must be off，”he said.

34
-

这个时候，什么俏皮话、什么威士忌都留不住他了。但他还是个男人，能够以大无畏的气概面对飓风和台风，只要有一把手枪，他会毫不犹豫地和十二个手无寸铁的黑人战斗。有时，尼科尔斯太太会派她的女儿，一个脸色苍白，但又阴沉着脸的七岁小女孩来宾馆。

34
-

Neither wit nor whisky could detain him then. Yet he was a man who had faced undaunted hurricane and typhoon, and would not have hesitated to fght a dozen unarmed niggers with nothing but a revolver to help him.Sometimes Mrs.Nichols would send her daughter, a pale-faced, sullen child of seven, to the hotel.

35
-

“妈妈找你。”她带着哭腔说道。

35
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“Mother wants you，”she said, in a whining tone.

36
-

“好的，好的，乖乖。”尼科尔斯船长赶忙答道。

36
-

“Very well, my dear，”said Captain Nichols.

37
-

他立马站起身来，陪着女儿沿路回去了。我想这是精神战胜物质的明证，所以我的跑题，至少还是有些寓意的好处的。

37
-

He rose to his feet at once, and accompanied his daughter along the road. I suppose it was a very pretty example of the triumph of spirit over matter, and so my digression has at least the advantage of a moral.

序号 英文/音标 中文解释 更多操作

terrace

[’terəs]

n.平台;阳台;梯田

gossip

[’ɡɒsɪp]

n.流言蜚语;爱说长道短的人;闲话

whiskey

[’wɪskɪ]

n.威士忌酒.

teetotaller

[ˌtiː’təʊtlə(r)]

n.禁酒者;禁酒主义者

rogue

[rəʊɡ]

恶棍， 流氓， 小淘气;

khaki

[’kɑːki]

n.卡其布;土黄色

ingratiate

[ɪn’ɡreɪʃieɪt]

v.取悦;迎合;讨好

repay

[rɪ’peɪ]

v.偿还;报答;还钱给

conversation

[ˌkɒnvə’seɪʃn]

n.谈话;会话

familiarity

[fəˌmɪli’ærəti]

n.亲密;熟悉;精通;不拘礼节

entertain

[ˌentə’teɪn]

v.娱乐;使有兴趣;招待;考虑;抱有;容纳

talker

[’tɔːkə(r)]

n.说话的人;健谈者

tolerant

[’tɒlərənt]

adj.宽容的;容忍的

hazardous

[’hæzədəs]

adj.危险的;冒险的;碰运气的

poker

[’pəʊkə(r)]

n.扑克

cocktail

[’kɒkteɪl]

n.鸡尾酒;混合物;开胃品

confer

[kən’fɜː(r)]

v.商讨;授予，赐予

debtor

[’detə(r)]

n.借方;债务人

rigid

[’rɪdʒɪd]

adj.坚硬的;严格的;固执的

injustice

[ɪn’dʒʌstɪs]

n.不公正;不公正的行为

fancy

[’fænsi]

n. 【C】设想；幻想；空想;

sympathetically

[ˌsɪmpə’θetɪklɪ]

adv.同情地;表示好感地

impair

[ɪm’peə(r)]

vt.损害;削弱【计算机】 损伤.

patriotism

[’peɪtriətɪzəm]

n.爱国主义;爱国心

felted

[’feltɪd]

v. 把 ... 制成毡(使 ... 粘结)

superiority

[suːˌpɪəri’ɒrəti]

n.优越性;优势

Dutchman

[’dʌtʃmən]

n.荷兰人

discontent

[ˌdɪskən’tent]

n.不满

rash

[ræʃ]

n.疹子;大量

Providence

[’prɒvɪdəns]

n.天意;天命

undoubted

[ʌn’daʊtɪd]

adj.无疑的

willfulness

[’wɪlfəlnɪs]

n.任性;存心.

decree

[dɪ’kriː]

n.法令;判决

tightness

[taɪtnəs]

n.密闭;紧密;不渗透性

stretchable

[stretʃəbl]

v.伸展;延伸;张开;夸大

melancholy

[’melənkəli]

n.忧郁;忧愁;悲伤

etiquette

[’etɪket]

n.礼仪;礼节;规矩

sullen

[’sʌlən]

adj.愠怒的;闷闷不乐的;阴沉的

whine

[waɪn]

n.闹声;抱怨;牢骚

digression

[daɪ’ɡreʃn]

n.离题;脱轨

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