月亮与六便士【中英字幕】

"I don'tknow that he's very clever, " she said one day, when I was looking at thephotograph, "but I know he's good. He has a charming character. "

The daughterwas fourteen. Her hair, thick and dark like her mother's, fell over hershoulders in fine profusion, and she had the same kindly expression and sedate,untroubled eyes.

"They'reboth of them the image of you, " I said.

"Yes; Ithink they are more like me than their father. "

"Why haveyou never let me meet him?" I asked.

"Would youlike to?"

She smiled, hersmile was really very sweet, and she blushed a little; it was singular that awoman of that age should flush so readily. Perhaps her naivete was her greatestcharm.

"You know,he's not at all literary, " she said. "He's a perfect philistine."

“我想他不算太聪明，”有一天我正在看照片的时候，思特里克兰德太太说，“但是我知道他是个好孩子。性格很可爱。”

女儿十四岁。头发同母亲一样，又粗又黑，浓密地披在肩膀上。温顺的脸相，端庄、明净的眼睛也同母亲活脱儿一样。

“他们两个人长得都非常象你，”我说。

“可不是，他们都更随我，不随他们的父亲。”

“你为什么一直不让我同他见面？”

“你愿意见他吗？”

她笑了，她的笑容很甜，脸上微微泛起一层红晕；象她这样年纪的女人竟这么容易脸红，是很少有的。也许她最迷人之处就在于她的纯真。

“你知道，他一点儿也没有文学修养，”她说，“他是个十足的小市民。”

Rose Waterfordhad a blistering tongue. No one could say such bitter things; on the otherhand, no one could do more charming ones.

There wasanother thing I liked in Mrs. Strickland. She managed her surroundings withelegance. Her flat was always neat and cheerful, gay with flowers, and thechintzes in the drawing-room, notwithstanding their severe design, were brightand pretty. The meals in the artistic little dining-room were pleasant; thetable looked nice, the two maids were trim and comely; the food was wellcooked. It was impossible not to see that Mrs. Strickland was an excellenthousekeeper. And you felt sure that she was an admirable mother. There werephotographs in the drawing-room of her son and daughter. The son -- his namewas Robert -- was a boy of sixteen at Rugby; and you saw him in flannels and acricket cap, and again in a tail-coat and a stand-up collar. He had hismother's candid brow and fine, reflective eyes. He looked clean, healthy, andnormal.

柔斯·瓦特尔芙德的嘴非常刻薄。这种辛辣的话谁也说不出口，但是另一方面，哪个人做事也没有她漂亮。

还有一件事叫我喜欢思特里克兰德太太。她的住所布置得非常优雅。房间总是干干净净，摆着花，叫人感到非常舒服。客厅里的印花布窗帘虽然图案比较古板，可是色彩光艳，淡雅宜人。在雅致的小餐厅里吃饭是一种享受；餐桌式样大方，两个侍女干净利落，菜肴烹调得非常精致。谁都看得出，思特里克兰德太太是一位能干的主妇，另外，毫无疑问她也是一位贤妻良母。客厅里摆着她儿女的照片。儿子——他名叫罗伯特——十六岁，正在罗格贝学校读书；你在照片上看到他穿着一套法兰绒衣服，戴着板球帽，另外一张照片穿的是燕尾服，系着直立的硬领。他同母亲一样，生着宽净的前额和沉思的漂亮的眼睛。他的样子干净整齐，看去又健康，又端正。

During thesummer I met Mrs. Strickland not infrequently. I went now and then to pleasantlittle luncheons at her flat, and to rather more formidable tea-parties. Wetook a fancy to one another. I was very young, and perhaps she liked the ideaof guiding my virgin steps on the hard road of letters; while for me it waspleasant to have someone I could go to with my small troubles, certain of anattentive ear and reasonable counsel. Mrs. Strickland had the gift of sympathy.It is a charming faculty, but one often abused by those who are conscious ofits possession: for there is something ghoulish in the avidity with which theywill pounce upon the misfortune of their friends so that they may exercisetheir dexterity. It gushes forth like an oil-well, and the sympathetic pour outtheir sympathy with an abandon that is sometimes embarrassing to their victims.There are bosoms on which so many tears have been shed that I cannot bedew themwith mine. Mrs. Strickland used her advantage with tact. You felt that youobliged her by accepting her sympathy. When, in the enthusiasm of my youth, Iremarked on this to Rose Waterford, she said:

"Milk isvery nice, especially with a drop of brandy in it, but the domestic cow is onlytoo glad to be rid of it. A swollen udder is very uncomfortable. "

夏天我同思特里克兰德太太见面的次数不算少。我时不时地到她家里去吃午饭，或是去参加茶会；午饭总是吃得很好，茶点更是非常丰盛。我同思特里克兰德太太很相投。我当时年纪很轻，或许她喜欢的是指引着我幼稚的脚步走上文坛的艰辛道路，而在我这一方面，遇到一些不如意的琐事也乐于找到一个人倾诉一番。我准知道她会专神倾听，也一定能给我一些合乎情理的劝告。思特里克兰德太太是很会同情人的。同情体贴本是一种很难得的本领，但是却常常被那些知道自己有这种本领的人滥用了。他们一看到自己的朋友有什么不幸就恶狠狠地扑到人们身上，把自己的全部才能施展出来，这就未免太可怕了。同情心应该象一口油井一样喷薄自出；惯爱表同情的人让它纵情奔放，反而使那些受难者非常困窘。有的人胸膛上已经沾了那么多泪水，我不忍再把我的洒上了。思特里克兰德太太对自己的长处运用很得体，她让你觉得你接受她的同情是对她作了一件好事。我年轻的时候在一阵热情冲动中，曾同柔斯·瓦特尔芙德谈论这件事，她说：

“牛奶很好吃，特别是加上几滴白兰地。但是母牛却巴不得赶快让它淌出去。肿胀的乳头是很不舒服的。”

When she cameto know writers it was like adventuring upon a stage which till then she hadknown only from the other side of the footlights. She saw them dramatically,and really seemed herself to live a larger life because she entertained themand visited them in their fastnesses. She accepted the rules with which theyplayed the game of life as valid for them, but never for a moment thought ofregulating her own conduct in accordance with them. Their moral eccentricities,like their oddities of dress, their wild theories and paradoxes, were anentertainment which amused her, but had not the slightest influence on herconvictions.

"Is therea Mr. Strickland?" I asked

"Oh yes;he's something in the city. I believe he's a stockbroker. He's very dull."

"Are theygood friends?"

"Theyadore one another. You'll meet him if you dine there. But she doesn't oftenhave people to dinner. He's very quiet. He's not in the least interested inliterature or the arts. "

"Why donice women marry dull men?"

"Becauseintelligent men won't marry nice women. "

I could notthink of any retort to this, so I asked if Mrs. Strickland had children.

"Yes; shehas a boy and a girl. They're both at school. "

The subject wasexhausted, and we began to talk of other things.

当她同作家结识以后，她有一种感觉，仿佛过去只能隔着脚灯了望的舞台，这回却亲身登上去了。她看着这些人粉墨登场，好象自己的生活也扩大了，因为她不仅设宴招待他们，而且居然闯进这些人的重门深锁的幽居里去。对于这些人游戏人生的信条她认为无可厚非，但是她自己却一分钟也不想按照他们的方式调整自己的生活。这些人道德伦理上的奇行怪癖，正如他们奇特的衣着、荒唐背理的言论一样，使她觉得非常有趣，但是对她自己立身处世的原则却丝毫也没有影响。

“有没有一位思特里克兰德先生啊？”我问。

“怎么没有啊。他在伦敦做事。我想是个证券经纪人吧。没有什么风趣。”

“他们俩感情好吗？”

“两个人互敬互爱。如果你在他们家吃晚饭，你会见到他的。但是她很少请人吃晚饭。他不太爱说话，对文学艺术一点儿也不感兴趣。”

“为什么讨人喜欢的女人总是嫁给蠢物啊？”

“因为有脑子的男人是不娶讨人喜欢的女人的。”

我想不出什么反驳的话来，于是我就把话头转开，打听思特里克兰德太太有没有孩子。

“有，一个男孩和一个女孩。两个人都在上学。”

这个题目已经没有好说的了。我们又扯起别的事来。

When we left Iwalked away with Miss Waterford, and the fine day and her new hat persuaded usto saunter through the Park.

"That wasa very nice party, " I said.

"Did youthink the food was good? I told her that if she wanted writers she must feedthem well. "

"Admirableadvice, " I answered. "But why does she want them?"

Miss Waterfordshrugged her shoulders.

"She findsthem amusing. She wants to be in the movement. I fancy she's rather simple,poor dear, and she thinks we're all wonderful. After all, it pleases her to askus to luncheon, and it doesn't hurt us. I like her for it. "

Looking back, Ithink that Mrs. Strickland was the most harmless of all the lion-hunters thatpursue their quarry from the rarefied heights of Hampstead to the nethermoststudios of Cheyne Walk. She hæd led a very quiet youth in the ˈkʌntri, and thebooks that came down from Mudie's Library brought with them not only their ownromance, but the romance of London. She hæd a real passion for reading (rare inher kind, who for the most part are more interested in the author than in hisbook, in the painter than in his pictures), and she invented a world of theimagination in which she lived with a freedom she never acquired in the worldof every day. 

离开思特里克兰德太太家的时候，我是同瓦特尔芙德小姐一同走的。因为天气很好，又加上她这顶新帽子提了兴致，我们决定散一会步，从圣杰姆斯公园穿出去。

“刚才的聚会很不错。”我说。

“你觉得菜做得不坏，是不是？我告诉过她，如果她想同作家来往，就得请他们吃好的。”

“你给她出的主意太妙了，”我回答。“可是她为什么要同作家来往呢？”

瓦特尔芙德小姐耸了耸肩膀。

“她觉得作家有意思。她想迎合潮流。我看她头脑有些简单，可怜的人，她认为我们这些作家都是了不起的人。不管怎么说，她喜欢请我们吃饭，我们对吃饭也没有反感。我喜欢她就是喜欢这一点。”

现在回想起来，在那些惯爱结交文人名士的人中，思特里克兰德太太要算心地最单纯的了，这些人为了把猎物捕捉到手，从汉普斯台德的远离尘嚣的象牙塔一直搜寻到柴纳街的寒酸破旧的画室。思特里克兰德太太年轻的时候住在寂静的乡间，从穆迪图书馆借来的书籍不只使她阅读到不少浪漫故事，而且也给她的脑子里装上了伦敦这个大城市的罗曼史。她从心眼里喜欢看书（这在她们这类人中是少见的，这些人大多数对作家比对作家写的书、对画家比对画家画的画兴趣更大），她为自己创造了一个幻想的小天地，生活于其中，感到日常生活所无从享受到的自由。

Mrs. Jay, awarethat impropriety is the soul of wit, made observations in tones hardly above awhisper that might well have tinged the snowy tablecloth with a rosy hue.Richard Twining bubbled over with quaint absurdities, and George Road,conscious that he need not exhibit a brilliancy which was almost a by-word,opened his mouth only to put food into it. Mrs. Strickland did not talk much,but she had a pleasant gift for keeping the conversation general; and whenthere was a pause she threw in just the right remark to set it going once more.She was a woman of thirty-seven, rather tall and plump, without being fat; shewas not pretty, but her face was pleasing, chiefly, perhaps, on account of herkind brown eyes. Her skin was rather sallow. Her dark hair was elaboratelydressed. She was the only woman of the three whose face was free of make-up,and by contrast with the others she seemed simple and unaffected.

The dining-roomwas in the good taste of the period. It was very severe. There was a high dadoof white wood and a green paper on which were etchings by Whistler in neatblack frames. The green curtains with their peacock design, hung in straightlines, and the green carpet, in the pattern of which pale rabbits frolickedamong leafy trees, suggested the influence of William Morris. There was bluedelft on the chimneypiece. At that time there must have been five hundreddining-rooms in London decorated in exactly the same manner. It was chaste,artistic, and dull.

杰伊太太知道得很清楚，逾越礼规的言词是机智的灵魂，因此时不时地用不高于耳语的音调说一些足能使雪白的台布泛上红晕的话语。理查·特维宁则滔滔不绝地发表荒唐离奇的谬论。乔治·娄德知道他的妙语惊人已经尽人皆知，用不着再施展才华，因此每次张口只不过是往嘴里添送菜肴。思特里克兰德太太说话不多，但是她也有一种可爱的本领，能够引导大家的谈话总是环绕着一个共同的话题；一出现冷场，她总能说一句合适的话使谈话继续下去。思特里克兰德太太这一年三十七岁，身材略高，体态丰腴，但又不显得太胖。她生得并不美，但面庞很讨人喜欢，这可能主要归功于她那双棕色的、非常和蔼的眼睛。她的皮肤血色不太好，一头黑发梳理得非常精巧。在三个女性里面，她是唯一没有施用化妆品的，但是同别人比较起来，这样她反而显得更朴素、更自然。

餐室是按照当时的艺术风尚布置的，非常朴素。白色护墙板很高，绿色的糊墙纸上挂着嵌在精致的黑镜框里的惠斯勒①的蚀刻画。印着孔雀图案的绿色窗帘线条笔直地高悬着。地毯也是绿颜色的，地毯上白色小兔在浓郁树荫中嬉戏的图画使人想到是受了威廉·莫利斯②的影响。壁炉架上摆着白釉蓝彩陶器。当时的伦敦一定有五百间餐厅的装演同这里一模一样，淡雅，别致，却有些沉闷。

①杰姆斯·艾波特·麦克奈尔·惠斯勒（1834—1903），美国画家和蚀刻画家，长期定居英国。

②威廉·莫利斯（1834—1896），英国诗人和艺术家。

Rose Waterfordwas a cynic. She looked upon life as an opportunity for writing novels and the publicas her raw material. Now and then she invited members of it to her house ifthey showed an appreciation of her talent and entertained with properlavishness. She held their weakness for lions in good-humoured contempt, butplayed to them her part of the distinguished woman of letters with decorum.

I was led up toMrs. Strickland, and for ten minutes wi talked together. I noticed nothingabout her except that she hæd a pleasan- voice. She hæd a flat in Westminster,overlooking the unfinished cathedral, and because we lived in the sameneighbourhood we felt friendly disposed to one another. The Army and NavyStores are a bond of union between all who dwell between the river and St.James's Park. Mrs. Strickland asked me for my address, and a few days later Ireceived an invitation to luncheon.

My engagementswere few, and I was glad to accept. When I arrived, a little late, because inmy fear of being too early I had walked three times round the cathedral, Ifound the party already complete. Miss Waterford was there and Mrs. Jay,Richard Twining and George Road. We were all writers. It was a fine day, earlyin spring, and we were in a good humour. wi talked about a hundred things. MissWaterford, torn between the aestheticism of her early youth, when she used togo to parties in sage green, holding a daffodil, and the flippancy of hermaturer years, which tended to high heels and Paris frocks, wore a new hat. Itput her in high spirits. ai had never heard her more malicious about our commonfriends. 

柔斯·瓦特尔芙德处世采取的是一种玩世不恭的态度。她把生活看作是给她写小说的一个机会，把世人当作她作品的素材。如果读者中有谁对她的才能非常赏识而且慷慨地宴请过她，她有时也会请他们到自己家招待一番。这些人对作家的崇拜热让她感到又好笑又鄙夷，但是她却同他们周旋应酬，十足表现出一个有名望的女文学家的风度。

我被带到思特里克兰德太太面前，同她谈了十来分钟的话。除了她的声音很悦耳外，我没有发现她有什么特别的地方。她在威斯敏斯特区有一套房子，正对着没有完工的大教堂。因为我也住在那一带，我们两人就觉得亲近了一层。对于所有那些住在泰晤士河同圣杰姆斯公园之间的人来说，陆海军商店好象是一个把他们联结起来的纽带。思特里克兰德太太要了我的住址，又过了几天我收到她一张请吃午饭的请柬。

我的约会并不多，我欣然接受了这个邀请。我到她家的时候稍微晚了一些，因为我害怕去得过早，围着大教堂先兜了三个圈子。进门以后我才发现客人都已经到齐了。瓦特尔芙德是其中之一，另外还有杰伊太太、理查·特维宁和乔治·娄德。在座的人都是作家。这是早春的一天，天气很好，大家兴致都非常高。我们谈东谈西，什么都谈到了。瓦特尔芙德小姐拿不定主意，是照她更年轻时的淡雅装扮，身着灰绿，手拿一支水仙花去赴宴呢，还是表现出一点年事稍高时的丰姿；如果是后者，那就要穿上高跟鞋、披着巴黎式的上衣了。犹豫了半天，结果她只戴了一顶帽子。这顶帽子使她的情绪很高，我还从来没有听过她用这么刻薄的语言议论我们都熟识的朋友呢。

No one waskinder to me at that time than Rose Waterford. She combined a masculineintelligence with a feminine perversity, and the novels she wrote were originaland disconcerting. It was at her house one day that I met Charles Strickland's wife.Miss Waterford was giving a tea-party, and her small room was more than usuallyfull. Everyone seemed to be talking, and I, sitting in silence, felt awkward;but I was too shy to break into any of the groups that seemed absorbed in theirown affairs. Miss Waterford was a good hostess, and seeing my embarrassmentcame up to me.

"I wantyou to talk to Mrs. Strickland, " she said. "She's raving about yourbook. "

"What doesshe do?" I asked.

I was consciousof my ignorance, and if Mrs. Strickland was a well-known writer I thought it aswell to ascertain the fact before I spoke to her.

Rose Waterfordcast down her eyes demurely to give greater effect to her reply.

"She givesluncheon-parties. You've only got to roar a little, and she'll ask you. "

在那些日子里，再没有谁象柔斯·瓦特尔芙德那样关心照拂我了。她既有男性的才智又有女人的怪脾气。她写的小说很有特色，读起来叫你心绪不能平静。正是在她家里，有一天我见到了查理斯·思特里克兰德太太。那一天瓦特尔芙德小姐举行了一次茶话会，在她的一间小屋子里，客人比往常来得还多。每个人好象都在和别人交谈，只有我一个人静静地坐在那里，感到很窘；既然客人们都在三三两两地谈他们自己的事，我就很不好意思挤进哪个人堆里去了。瓦特尔芙德小姐是个很体贴的女主人，她注意到我有些尴尬，便走到我身边来。

“我想让你去同思特里克兰德太太谈一谈，”她说，“她对你的书崇拜得了不得。”

“她是干什么的？”我问。

我知道自己孤陋寡闻，如果思特里克兰德是一位名作家，我在同她谈话以前最好还是把情况弄清楚。

为了使自己的答话给我更深的印象，瓦特尔芙德故意把眼皮一低，做出一副一本正经的样子。

“她专门招待人吃午餐。你只要别那么腼腆，多吹嘘自己几句，她准会请你吃饭的。”

 It issad that I can remember nothing of all this scintillation. But I think theconversation never settled down so comfortably as when it turned to the detailsof the trade which was the other side of the art we practised. When we had donediscussing the merits of the latest book, it was natural to wonder how manycopies had been sold, what advance the author had received, and how much he waslikely to make out of it. Then we would speak of this publisher and of that,comparing the generosity of one with the meanness of another; we would arguewhether it was better to go to one who gave handsome royalties or to anotherwho "pushed" a book for all it was worth. Some advertised badly andsome well. Some were modern and some were old-fashioned. Then we would talk ofagents and the offers they had obtained for us; of editors and the sort ofcontributions they welcomed, how much they paid a thousand, and whether theypaid promptly or otherwise. To me it was all very romantic. It gave me anintimate sense of being a member of some mystic brotherhood.

我只记得最舒适顺畅的谈话莫过于这些人谈论起他们从事的行业的另一方面——谈起进行交易的一些细节来。在我们品评完毕一本新书的优劣后，自然要猜测一下这本书销售掉多少本，作者得到多少预支稿费，他一共能得到多少钱。以后我们就要谈到这个、那个出版商，比较一下这个人的慷慨和那个人的吝啬。我们还要争辩一下是把槁件交给这一个稿酬优厚的人还是哪一个会做宣传、善于推销的人。有的出版商不善于作广告，有的在这方面非常内行。有些出版商古板，有些能够适应潮流。再以后我们还要谈论一些出版代理人和他们为我们作家搞到的门路。我们还要谈论编辑和他们欢迎哪类作品，一千字付多少稿费，是很快付清呢，还是拖泥带水。这些对我说来都非常富于浪漫气味。它给我一种身为这一神秘的兄弟会的成员的亲密感。

①   见《圣经》旧约传道书第七章：“愚昧人的笑声，好象锅下烧荆棘的爆声。”

Some of them weredressed fashionably, and they said they couldn't for the life of them see whyyou should be dowdy just because you had written a novel; if you had a neatfigure you might as well make the most of it, and a smart shoe on a small foothad never prevented an editor from taking your "stuff. " But othersthought this frivolous, and they wore "art fabrics" and barbaricjewelry. The men were seldom eccentric in appearance. They tried to look aslittle like authors as possible. They wished to be taken for men of the world,and could have passed anywhere for the managing clerks of a city firm. Theyalways seemed a little tired. I had never known writers before, and I foundthem very strange, but I do not think they ever seemed to me quite real.

I remember thatI thought their conversation brilliant, and I used to listen with astonishmentto the stinging humour with which they would tear a brother-author to piecesthe moment that his back was turned. The artist has this advantage over therest of the world, that his friends offer not only their appearance and theircharacter to his satire, but also their work. I despaired of ever expressingmyself with such aptness or with such fluency. In those days conversation wasstill cultivated as an art; a neat repartee was more highly valued than thecrackling of thorns under a pot; and the epigram, not yet a mechanicalappliance by which the dull may achieve a semblance of wit, gave sprightlinessto the small talk of the urbane.

这些女人有的衣着入时，她们说她们无论如何也看不出一个人为什么只因为写了一本小说就要穿得邋里邋遢。如果你的身段苗条为什么不能尽量把它显示出来呢？俊俏的小脚穿上时髦的鞋子绝不会妨碍编辑采用你的稿件。但是也有一些人认为这样不够庄重，这些人穿的是艺术性的纺织品，戴着具有蛮荒色调的珠宝装饰。男士们的衣着一般却很少有怪里怪气的。他们尽量不让人看出自己是作家，总希望别人把他们当作是老于世故的人。不论到什么地方，人们都会以为他们是一家大公司的高级办事员。这些人总显出有些劳累的样子。我过去同作家从来没有接触，我发现他们挺奇怪，但是我总觉得这些人不象真实的人物。

我还记得，我总觉得他们的谈话富于机智。他们中的一个同行刚一转身，他们就会把他批评得体无完肤；我总是惊讶不置地听着他们那辛辣刻毒的幽默话。艺术家较之其他行业的人有一个有利的地方，他们不仅可以讥笑朋友们的性格和仪表，而且可以嘲弄他们的著作。他们的评论恰到好处，话语滔滔不绝，我实在望尘莫及。在那个时代谈话仍然被看作是一种需要下功夫陶冶的艺术，一句巧妙的对答比锅子底下噼啪爆响的荆棘①更受人赏识，格言警句当时还不是痴笨的人利用来冒充聪敏的工具，风雅人物的闲谈中随便使用几句会使得谈话妙趣横生。遗憾的是，这些妙言隽语我现在都回忆不起来了。