月亮与六便士【中英字幕】

"I've donepretty well, " he said, "but the strange thing is that I owe it allto one piece of luck. "

"What doyou mean by that?"

"Well, doyou remember Abraham? He was the man who had the future. When we were studentshe beat me all along the line. He got the prizes and the scholarships that Iwent in for. I always played second fiddle to him. If he'd kept on he'd be inthe position I'm in now. That man had a genius for surgery. No one had a lookin with him. When he was appointed Registrar at Thomas's I hadn't a chance ofgetting on the staff. I should have had to become a G. P. , and you know whatlikelihood there is for a G. P. ever to get out of the common rut. But Abrahamfell out, and I got the job. That gave me my opportunity. "

"I daresay that's true. "

"It wasjust luck. I suppose there was some kink in Abraham. Poor devil, he's gone tothe dogs altogether. He's got some twopenny-halfpenny job in the medical atAlexandria -- sanitary officer or something like that. I'm told he lives withan ugly old Greek woman and has half a dozen scrofulous kids. The fact is, Isuppose, that it's not enough to have brains. The thing that counts ischaracter. Abraham hadn't got character. "

“我混得不错，”他说，“但是奇怪的是，这一切都归功于我偶然交了一个好运。”

“我不懂你说的是什么意思？”

“不懂？你还记得阿伯拉罕吧？应该飞黄腾达的本该是他。做学生的时候，他处处把我打得惨败。奖金也好，助学金也好，都被他从我手里夺去；哪次我都甘拜下风。如果他这样继续下去，我现在的地位就是他的了。他对于外科手术简直是个天才。谁也无法同他竞争。当他被指派为圣·托玛斯附属医学院注册员的时候，我是绝对没有希望进入领导机构的。我只能开业当个医生，你也知道，一个普通开业行医的人有多大可能跳出这个槽槽去。但是阿伯拉罕却让位了，他的位子让我弄到手了。这样就给了我步步高升的机会了。”

“我想你说的话是真的。”

“这完全是运气。我想，阿伯拉罕这人心理一定变态了。这个可怜虫，一点儿救也没有了。他在亚历山大港卫生部门找了个小差事——检疫员什么的。有人告诉我，他同一个丑陋的希腊老婆子住在一起，生了半打长着瘰疬疙瘩的小崽子。所以我想，问题不在于一个人脑子聪明不聪明，真正重要的是要有个性。阿伯拉罕缺少的正是个性。”

Somethingseemed to twist his heart, and suddenly he felt an exultation, a sense ofwonderful freedom. He felt himself at home, and he made up his mind there andthen, in a minute, that he would live the rest of his life in Alexandria. Hehad no great difficulty in leaving the ship, and in twenty-four hours, with allhis belongings, he was on shore.

"TheCaptain must have thought you as mad as a hatter, " I smiled.

"I didn'tcare what anybody thought. It wasn't I that acted, but something strongerwithin me. I thought I would go to a little Greek hotel, while I looked about,and I felt I knew where to find one. And do you know, I walked straight there,and when I saw it, I recognised it at once. "

"Had youbeen to Alexandria before?"

"No; I'dnever been out of England in my life. "

Presently heentered the Government service, and there he had been ever since.

"Have younever regretted it?"

"Never,not for a minute. I earn just enough to live upon, and I'm satisfied. I asknothing more than to remain as I am till I die. I've had a wonderful life."

I leftAlexandria next day, and I forgot about Abraham till a little while ago, when Iwas dining with another old friend in the profession, Alec Carmichael, who wasin England on short leave. I ran across him in the street and congratulated himon the knighthood with which his eminent services during the war had beenrewarded. We arranged to spend an evening together for old time's sake, andwhen I agreed to dine with him, he proposed that he should ask nobody else, sothat we could chat without interruption. He had a beautiful old house in QueenAnne Street, and being a man of taste he had furnished it admirably. On the wallsof the diningroom I saw a charming Bellotto, and there was a pair of Zoffanysthat I envied. When his wife, a tall, lovely creature in cloth of gold, hadleft us, I remarked laughingly on the change in his present circumstances fromthose when we had both been medical students. We had looked upon it then as anextravagance to dine in a shabby Italian restaurant in the Westminster BridgeRoad. Now Alec Carmichael was on the staff of half a dozen hospitals. I shouldthink he earned ten thousand a year, and his knighthood was but the first ofthe honours which must inevitably fall to his lot.

“船长一定会觉得你发疯了。”我笑着说。

“别人爱怎么想就怎么想，我才不在乎呢。做出这件事来的不是我，是我身体里一种远比我自己的意志更强大的力量。上岸以后，我四处看了看，想着我要到一家希腊人开的小旅馆去；我觉得我知道在哪里能找到这家旅馆。你猜怎么着？我一点儿也没有费劲儿就走到这家旅馆前边，我一看见这地方马上就认出来了。”

“你过去到过亚历山大港吗？”

“没有。在这次出国前我从来没有离开过英国。”

不久以后，他就在公立医院找到个工作，从此一直待在那里。

“你从来没有后悔过吗？”

“从来没有。一分钟也没有后悔过。我挣的钱刚够维持生活，但是我感到心满意足。我什么要求也没有，只希望这样活下去，直到我死。我生活得非常好。”

第二天我就离开了亚历山大港，直到不久以前我才又想起阿伯拉罕的事。那是我同另外一个行医的老朋友，阿莱克·卡尔米凯尔一同吃饭的时候。卡尔米凯尔回英国来短期度假，我偶然在街头上遇见了他。他在大战中工作得非常出色，荣获了爵士封号。我向他表示了祝贺。我们约好一同消磨一个晚上，一起叙叙旧。我答应同他一起吃晚饭，他建议不再约请别人，这样我俩就可以不受干扰地畅谈一下了。他在安皇后街有一所老宅子，布置很优雅，因为他是一个很富于艺术鉴赏力的人。我在餐厅的墙上看到一幅贝洛托①的画，还有两幅我很羡慕的佐范尼②的作品。当他的妻子，一个穿着金色衣服、高身量、样子讨人喜欢的妇女离开我们以后，我笑着对他说，他今天的生活同我们在医学院做学生的时代相比，变化真是太大了。那时，我们在威斯敏斯特桥大街一家寒酸的意大利餐馆吃一顿饭都认为是非常奢侈的事。现在阿莱克·卡尔米凯尔在六七家大医院都兼任要职，据我估计，一年可以有一万镑的收入。这次受封为爵士，只不过是他迟早要享受到的第一个荣誉而已。

①贝尔纳多·贝洛托（1720—1780），意大利威尼斯派画家。

②约翰·佐范尼（1733—1810），出生于德国的英国画家。

In a few weeksthe authorities received his resignation of the coveted position on the staff.It created profound astonishment, and wild rumours were current. Whenever a mandoes anything unexpected, his fellows ascribe it to the most discreditablemotives. But there was a man ready to step into Abraham's shoes, and Abrahamwas forgotten. Nothing more was heard of him. He vanished.

It was perhapsten years later that one morning on board ship, about to land at Alexandria, Iwas bidden to line up with the other passengers for the doctor's examination.The doctor was a stout man in shabby clothes, and when he took off his hat Inoticed that he was very bald. I had an idea that I had seen him before.Suddenly I remembered.

"Abraham," I said.

He turned to mewith a puzzled look, and then, recognizing me, seized my hand. Afterexpressions of surprise on either side, hearing that I meant to spend the nightin Alexandria, he asked me to dine with him at the English Club. When we metagain I declared my astonishment at finding him there. It was a very modestposition that he occupied, and there was about him an air of straitenedcircumstance. Then he told me his story. When he set out on his holiday in theMediterranean he had every intention of returning to London and his appointmentat St. Thomas's. One morning the tramp docked at Alexandria, and from the deckhe looked at the city, white in the sunlight, and the crowd on the wharf; he sawthe natives in their shabby gabardines, the blacks from the Soudan, the noisythrong of Greeks and Italians, the grave Turks in tarbooshes, the sunshine andthe blue sky; and something happened to him. He could not describe it. It waslike a thunder-clap, he said, and then, dissatisfied with this, he said it waslike a revelation. 

几个星期以后，医院领导人收到一份辞呈，阿伯拉罕声明他决定放弃这个人人嫉羡的位置。这件事使人们感到极其惊诧，千奇百怪的谣言不胫而走。每逢一个人干出一件出人意料的事，他的相识们总是替他想出种种最令人无法置信的动机。但是既然早就有人准备好填补他留下的空缺，阿伯拉罕不久也就被人遗忘了。以后再也没人听到他的任何消息。这个人就这样从人们的记忆里消失了。

大约十年之后，有一次我乘船去亚历山大港①。即将登陆之前，一天早上，我被通知同其他旅客一起排好队，等待医生上船来检查身体。来的医生是个衣履寒酸、身体肥硕的人。当他摘下帽子以后，我发现这人的头发已经完全秃了。我觉得仿佛过去在什么地方见过他。忽然，我想起来了。

①在埃及。

“阿伯拉罕。”我喊道。

他转过头来，脸上显出惊奇的神色。愣了一会儿，他也认出我来，立刻握住我的手。在我们两人各自惊叹了一番后，他听说我准备在亚历山大港过夜，便邀请我到英侨俱乐部去吃晚饭。在我们会面以后，我再次表示在这个地方遇到他实在出乎我的意料之外。他现在的职务相当低微，他给人的印象也很寒酸。这以后他给我讲了他的故事。在他出发到地中海度假的时候，他一心想的是再回伦敦去，到圣·托玛斯医院去就职。一天早晨，他乘的那艘货轮在亚历山大港靠岸，他从甲板上看着这座阳光照耀下的白色城市，看着码头上的人群。他看着穿着褴褛的轧别丁衣服的当地人，从苏丹来的黑人，希腊人和意大利人成群结队、吵吵嚷嚷，土耳其人戴着平顶无檐的土耳其小帽，他看着阳光和碧蓝的天空。就在这个时候，他的心境忽然发生了奇异的变化，他无法描述这是怎么一回事。事情来得非常突兀，据他说，好象晴天响起一声霹雳；但他觉得这个譬喻不够妥当，又改口说好象得到了什么启示。

I have an ideathat some men are born out of their due place. Accident has cast them amidcertain surroundings, but they have always a nostalgia for a home they knownot. They are strangers in their birthplace, and the leafy lanes they haveknown from childhood or the populous streets in which they have played, remainbut a place of passage. They may spend their whole lives aliens among theirkindred and remain aloof among the only scenes they have ever known. Perhaps itis this sense of strangeness that sends men far and wide in the search forsomething permanent, to which they may attach themselves. Perhaps somedeeprooted atavism urges the wanderer back to lands which his ancestors left inthe dim beginnings of history. Sometimes a man hits upon a place to which hemysteriously feels that he belongs. Here is the home he sought, and he willsettle amid scenes that he has never seen before, among men he has never known,as though they were familiar to him from his birth. Here at last he finds rest.

I told Tiarethe story of a man I had known at St. Thomas's Hospital. He was a Jew namedAbraham, a blond, rather stout young man, shy and very unassuming; but he hadremarkable gifts. He entered the hospital with a scholarship, and during thefive years of the curriculum gained every prize that was open to him. He wasmade house-physician and house-surgeon. His brilliance was allowed by all.Finally he was elected to a position on the staff, and his career was assured.So far as human things can be predicted, it was certain that he would rise tothe greatest heights of his profession. Honours and wealth awaited him. Beforehe entered upon his new duties he wished to take a holiday, and, having noprivate means, he went as surgeon on a tramp steamer to the Levant. It did notgenerally carry a doctor, but one of the senior surgeons at the hospital knew adirector of the line, and Abraham was taken as a favour.

我认为有些人诞生在某一个地方可以说未得其所。机缘把他们随便抛掷到一个环境中，而他们却一直思念着一处他们自己也不知道坐落在何处的家乡。在出生的地方他们好象是过客；从孩提时代就非常熟悉的浓荫郁郁的小巷，同小伙伴游戏其中的人烟稠密的街衢，对他们说来都不过是旅途中的一个宿站。这种人在自己亲友中可能终生落落寡台，在他们唯一熟悉的环境里也始终孑身独处。也许正是在本乡本土的这种陌生感才逼着他们远游异乡，寻找一处永恒定居的寓所。说不定在他们内心深处仍然隐伏着多少世代前祖先的习性和癖好，叫这些彷徨者再回到他们祖先在远古就已离开的土地。有时候一个人偶然到了一个地方，会神秘地感觉到这正是自己栖身之所，是他一直在寻找的家园。于是他就在这些从未寓目的景物里，从不相识的人群中定居下来，倒好象这里的一切都是他从小就熟稔的一样。他在这里终于找到了宁静。

我给蒂阿瑞讲了一个我在圣托玛斯医院认识的人的故事。这是个犹太人，姓阿伯拉罕。他是个金黄头发、身体粗壮的年轻人。性格腼腆，对人和气，但是很有才能。他是靠着一笔奖学金入学的，在五年学习期间，任何一种奖金只要他有机会申请就绝对没有旁人的份儿。他先当了住院内科医生，后来又当了住院外科医生。没有人不承认他的才华过人。最后他被选进领导机构中，他的前程已经有了可靠的保证。按照世情推论，他在自己这门事业上肯定会飞黄腾达、名利双收的。在正式上任以前，他想度一次假；因为他自己没有钱，所以在一艘开往地中海的不定期货船上谋了个医生位置。这种货轮上一般是没有医生的，只是由于医院里有一名高级外科医生认识跑这条航线的一家轮船公司的经理，货轮看在经理情面上才录用了阿伯拉罕。

"He usedto come here sometimes, and I used to see him walking about Papeete. I wassorry for him, he was so thin, and he never had any money. When I heard he wasin town, I used to send a boy to find him and make him come to dinner with me.I got him a job once or twice, but he couldn't stick to anything. After alittle while he wanted to get back to the bush, and one morning he would begone. "

Stricklandreached Tahiti about six months after he left Marseilles. He worked his passageon a sailing vessel that was making the trip from Auckland to San Francisco,and he arrived with a box of paints, an easel, and a dozen canvases. He had afew pounds in his pocket, for he had found work in Sydney, and he took a smallroom in a native house outside the town. I think the moment he reached Tahitihe felt himself at home. Tiare told me that he said to her once:

"I'd beenscrubbing the deck, and all at once a chap said to me: `Why, there it is. ' AndI looked up and I saw the outline of the island. I knew right away that therewas the place I'd been looking for all my life. Then we came near, and I seemedto recognise it. Sometimes when I walk about it all seems familiar. I couldswear I've lived here before. "

"Sometimesit takes them like that, " said Tiare. "I've known men come on shorefor a few hours while their ship was taking in cargo, and never go back. AndI've known men who came here to be in an office for a year, and they cursed theplace, and when they went away they took their dying oath they'd hangthemselves before they came back again, and in six months you'd see them landonce more, and they'd tell you they couldn't live anywhere else. "

“他有时候到这里来，我常常看见他在帕皮提走来走去。我挺可怜他，他瘦得要命，口袋总是空空的。我一听说他到城里来了，就派一个茶房去把他找来，到我这里来吃饭。我还给他找过一两回工作，但是他什么事也干不长。过不了多久，他就又想回到荒林里去，于是一天清早，他人就不见了。”

思特里克兰德大约是在离开马赛以后六个月到的塔希提。他在一只从奥克兰驶往旧金山的帆船上干活儿，弄到一个舱位。到达塔希提的时候，他随身带的只是一盒油彩、一个画架和一打画布。他口袋里有几英镑钱，这是他在悉尼干活儿挣的。他在城外一个土著人家里租了一间小屋子。我猜想他一到塔希提就好象回到家里一样。蒂阿瑞告诉我思特里克兰德有一次同她讲过这样的话：

“我正在擦洗甲板，突然间有一个人对我讲：‘看，那不是吗？’我抬起头一望，看到了这个岛的轮廓。我马上就知道这是我终生寻找的地方。后来我们的船越走越近，我觉得好象记得这个地方。有时候我在这里随便走的时候，我见到的东西好象都很熟悉。我敢发誓，过去我曾经在这里待过。”

“有的时候这个地方就是这样把人吸引住，”蒂阿瑞说，“我听说，有的人趁他们乘的轮船上货的时候到岸上来，准备待几小时，可是从此就再也不离开这个地方了。我还听说，有些人到这里来，准备在哪个公司干一年事，他们对这个地方骂不绝口，离开的时候，发誓赌咒，宁肯上吊也决不再回来。可是半年以后，你又看见他们登上这块陆地；他们会告诉你说，在别的任何地方他们也无法生活下去。”

She was thebest cook on the island, and she adored good food. From morning till night yousaw her sitting on a low chair in the kitchen, surrounded by a Chinese cook andtwo or three native girls, giving her orders, chatting sociably with all andsundry, and tasting the savoury messes she devised. When she wished to dohonour to a friend she cooked the dinner with her own hands. Hospitality was apassion with her, and there was no one on the island who need go without adinner when there was anything to eat at the Hotel de la Fleur. She never turnedher customers out of her house because they did not pay their bills. She alwayshoped they would pay when they could. There was one man there who had fallen onadversity, and to him she had given board and lodging for several months. Whenthe Chinese laundryman refused to wash for him without payment she had sent histhings to be washed with hers. She could not allow the poor fellow to go aboutin a dirty shirt, she said, and since he was a man, and men must smoke, shegave him a franc a day for cigarettes. She used him with the same affability asthose of her clients who paid their bills once a week.

Age and obesityhad made her inapt for love, but she took a keen interest in the amatoryaffairs of the young. She looked upon venery as the natural occupation for menand women, and was ever ready with precept and example from her own wideexperience.

"I was notfifteen when my father found that I had a lover, " she said. "He wasthird mate on the Tropic Bird. A good-looking boy. "

She sighed alittle. They say a woman always remembers her first lover with affection; butperhaps she does not always remember him.

"My fatherwas a sensible man. "

"What didhe do?" I asked.

"Hethrashed me within an inch of my life, and then he made me marry CaptainJohnson. I did not mind. He was older, of course, but he was good-looking too."

Tiare -- herfather had called her by the name of the white, scented flower which, they tellyou, if you have once smelt, will always draw you back to Tahiti in the end,however far you may have roamed -- Tiare remembered Strickland very well.

她是岛上最好的厨师，对美馔佳肴有很深的爱好。从清早直到夜晚，你什么时候都会看见她坐在厨房里一把矮椅上，一名中国厨师和两三个本地的使女围着她团团转；她一面发号施令，一面同所有的人东拉西扯，偷空还要品尝一下她设计烹调出的令人馋涎欲滴的美味。如果要对一位朋友表示敬意，她就亲自下厨。殷勤好客是她的本性；只要鲜花旅馆有东西吃，岛上的人谁也用不着饿肚皮。她从来不因为房客付不出帐而把他们赶走。有一次有一个住在她旅馆的人处境不佳，她竟一连几个月供给这人食宿，分文不收。最后开洗衣店的中国人因为这人付不起钱不再给他洗衣服，她就把这位房客的衣服和自己的混在一起给洗衣店送去。她说，她不能看着这个可怜的人穿脏衬衫，此外，既然他是一个男人，而男人又非抽烟不可，她还每天给这个人一个法郎，专门供他买纸烟。她对这个人同对那些每星期付一次账的客人一样殷勤和气。

年龄和发胖已经使她自己不能再谈情说爱了；但是她对年轻人的恋爱事却极有兴趣。她认为情欲方面的事是人的本性，男人女人都是如此，她总是从自己的丰富经验中给人以箴言和范例。

“我还不到十五岁的时候，我父亲就发现我有了爱人，”她说，“他是热带鸟号上的三副。一个漂亮的年轻人。”

她叹了一口气。人们都说女人总是不能忘怀自己的第一个爱人；但是也许她并不是永远把头一个爱人记在心上的。

“我父亲是个明白事理的人。”

“他怎么着你了？”我问。

“他差点儿把我打得一命呜呼，以后他就让我同约翰生船长结了婚。我倒也不在乎。当然了，约翰生船长年纪大多了，但是他也很漂亮。”

蒂阿瑞——这是一种香气芬芳的白花，她父亲给她起的名字。这里的人说，只要你闻过这种花香，不论走得多么远，最终还要被吸引回塔希提去——蒂阿瑞对思特里克兰德这个人记得非常清楚。

I lived at theHotel de la Fleur, and Mrs. Johnson, the proprietress, had a sad story to tellof lost opportunity. After Strickland's death certain of his effects were soldby auction in the market-place at Papeete, and she went to it herself becausethere was among the truck an American stove she wanted. She paid twenty-sevenfrancs for it.

"Therewere a dozen pictures, " she told me, "but they were unframed, andnobody wanted them. Some of them sold for as much as ten francs, but mostlythey went for five or six. Just think, if I had bought them I should be a richwoman now. "

But TiareJohnson would never under any circumstances have been rich. She could not keepmoney. The daughter of a native and an English sea-captain settled in Tahiti,when I knew her she was a woman of fifty, who looked older, and of enormousproportions. Tall and extremely stout, she would have been of imposing presenceif the great good-nature of her face had not made it impossible for her toexpress anything but kindliness. Her arms were like legs of mutton, her breastslike giant cabbages; her face, broad and fleshy, gave you an impression ofalmost indecent nakedness, and vast chin succeeded to vast chin. I do not knowhow many of them there were. They fell away voluminously into the capaciousnessof her bosom. She was dressed usually in a pink Mother Hubbard, and she woreall day long a large straw hat. But when she let down her hair, which she didnow and then, for she was vain of it, you saw that it was long and dark andcurly; and her eyes had remained young and vivacious. Her laughter was the mostcatching I ever heard; it would begin, a low peal in her throat, and would growlouder and louder till her whole vast body shook. She loved three things -- ajoke, a glass of wine, and a handsome man. To have known her is a privilege.

我住在鲜花旅馆，旅馆的女主人，约翰生太太给我讲了一个悲惨的故事——她如何把大好良机白白错过去了。思特里克兰德死了以后，他的一些遗物在帕皮提市场上拍卖。她亲自跑了一趟，因为在拍卖的物品中有一个她需要的美国式煤油炉子。她花了二十七法郎把炉子买了下来。

“有十来张画，”她对我说，“但是都没有镶框，谁也不要。有几张要卖十法郎，但是大部分只卖五、六法郎一张。想想吧，如果我把它们买下来，现在可是大富翁了。”

但是蒂阿瑞·约翰生无论在什么情况下也绝对发不了财；她手头根本存不下钱。她是一个在塔希提落户的白人船长同一个土著女人结婚生的女儿。我认识她的时候，她已经五十岁了，但是样子比年纪显得还要老。她的身躯又大又壮，一身肥肉；如果不是一张只能呈现出仁慈和蔼表情来的一团和气的面孔，她的仪表会是非常威严的。她的胳臂象两条粗羊腿，乳房象两颗大圆白菜，一张胖脸满是肥肉，给人以浑身赤裸、很不雅观的感觉。脸蛋下面是一重又一重的肉下巴（我说不上她有几重下巴），嘟嘟噜噜地一直垂到她那肥胖的胸脯上。平常她总穿着一件粉红色的宽大的薄衫，戴着一顶大草帽，但是当她把头发松垂下来的时候（她常常这样做，因为她对自己的头发感到很骄傲），你会看到她生着一头又黑又长、打着小卷的秀发；此外，她的眼睛也非常年轻，炯炯有神。她的笑声是我听到过的最富有感染性的笑声；开始的时候只是在喉咙里一阵低声咯咯，接着声音越来越大，直到她那肥胖的身躯整个都哆哆嗦嗦地震颤起来。她最喜欢的是三件东西——笑话、酒同漂亮的男人。有缘同她结识真是一件荣幸的事。

"Do notask me. I could not make head or tail of it. I never saw such a thing in mylife. `What shall we do with it?' I said to my wife. `We can never hang it up,' she said. `People would laugh at us. ' So she took it into an attic and putit away with all sorts of rubbish, for my wife can never throw anything away.It is her mania. Then, imagine to yourself, just before the war my brotherwrote to me from Paris, and said: `Do you know anything about an Englishpainter who lived in Tahiti? It appears that he was a genius, and his picturesfetch large prices. See if you can lay your hands on anything and send it tome. There's money to be made. ' So I said to my wife. `What about that picturethat Strickland gave me?' Is it possible that it is still in the attic?'`Without doubt, ' she answered, ` for you know that I never throw anythingaway. It is my mania. ' We went up to the attic, and there, among I know notwhat rubbish that had been gathered during the thirty years we have inhabitedthat house, was the picture. I looked at it again, and I said: `Who would havethought that the overseer of my plantation on the peninsula, to whom I lent twohundred francs, had genius? Do you see anything in the picture?' `No, ' shesaid, `it does not resemble the plantation and I have never seen cocoa-nutswith blue leaves; but they are mad in Paris, and it may be that your brotherwill be able to sell it for the two hundred francs you lent Strickland. ' Well,we packed it up and we sent it to my brother. And at last I received a letterfrom him. What do you think he said? `I received your picture, ' he said, `andI confess I thought it was a joke that you had played on me. I would not havegiven the cost of postage for the picture. I was half afraid to show it to thegentleman who had spoken to me about it. Imagine my surprise when he said itwas a masterpiece, and offered me thirty thousand francs. I dare say he wouldhave paid more, but frankly I was so taken aback that I lost my head; Iaccepted the offer before I was able to collect myself. '"

Then MonsieurCohen said an admirable thing.

"I wishthat poor Strickland had been still alive. I wonder what he would have saidwhen I gave him twenty-nine thousand eight hundred francs for his picture."

“别问我这个，我一点也看不懂。我活了一辈子也没见过这种画。‘这幅画咱们怎么办？’我问我的妻子说。‘什么时候也挂不出去，’她说，‘人家会笑掉大牙的，’就这样她把它拿到阁楼上，同各式各样的废物堆在一起。我的妻子什么东西也舍不得扔掉，这是她的习性。几年以后，你自己可以想象一下，正当大战爆发之前，我哥哥从巴黎给我写来一封信说：‘你是否听说过一个在塔希提住过的英国人？看来这人是个天才，他的画现在能卖大钱。看看你有没有办法弄到他画的任何东西，给我寄来。这件事很能赚钱。’于是我对我的妻子说：‘思特里克兰德给我的那张画还有没有？会不会仍然在阁楼上放着呢？’‘没错儿，’她回答说，‘你也知道，我什么东西都不扔。这是我的毛病。’我们两人走到阁楼上，这里堆着自从我们住到这所房子的第一天起积攒了三十年的各式各样的破烂货。那幅画就在这些我也弄不清楚到底都是些什么的废物堆里面。我又仔细看了看。我说：‘谁想得到，我的半岛上的种植园里的一个监工，一个向我借过两百法郎的人，居然是个伟大天才。你看得出这幅画哪点画得好吗？’‘看不出来，’她说，‘一点也不象咱们的种植园，再说我也从来没有见过椰子树长着蓝叶子。他们巴黎人简直发疯了，也说不定你哥哥能把那幅画卖两百法郎，正好能抵思特里克兰德欠我们的那笔债。’不管怎么说。我们还是把画包装好，给我哥哥寄去了。最后我收到了他的回信。你猜他信里面怎么说？‘画已收到，’他说，‘我必须承认，开始我还认为你在同我开玩笑。我真不应该出这笔寄费。我几乎没有胆量把它拿给同我谈过这件事的那位先生看。当他告诉我这是一件杰作，并出价三万法郎要购买它的时候，你可以想象到我是多么吃惊。我猜想他还肯出更多的钱。但是说老实话，这件事当时太出乎我的意料，弄得我简直晕头转向了。没等我脑子清醒过来以前，这笔生意已经拍板成交了。’”

接着，寇汉先生又说出几句着实令人起敬的话。

“我希望可怜的思特里克兰德还活着，我真想知道，在我把两万九千八百法郎卖画的钱交到他手里的时候，他会说什么。”

"You see,I was interested in him because he was a painter, " he told me. "Wedon't get many painters in the islands, and I was sorry for him because he wassuch a bad one. I gave him his first job. I had a plantation on the peninsula,and I wanted a white overseer. You never get any work out of the natives unlessyou have a white man over them. I said to him: `You'll have plenty of time forpainting, and you can earn a bit of money. ' I knew he was starving, but Ioffered him good wages. "

"I can'timagine that he was a very satisfactory overseer, " I said, smiling.

"I madeallowances. I have always had a sympathy for artists. It is in our blood, youknow. But he only remained a few months. When he had enough money to buy paintsand canvases he left me. The place had got hold of him by then, and he wantedto get away into the bush. But I continued to see him now and then. He wouldturn up in Papeete every few months and stay a little while; he'd get money outof someone or other and then disappear again. It was on one of these visitsthat he came to me and asked for the loan of two hundred francs. He looked asif he hadn't had a meal for a week, and I hadn't the heart to refuse him. Ofcourse, I never expected to see my money again. Well, a year later he came tosee me once more, and he brought a picture with him. He did not mention themoney he owed me, but he said: `Here is a picture of your plantation that I'vepainted for you. ' I looked at it. I did not know what to say, but of course Ithanked him, and when he had gone away I showed it to my wife. "

"What wasit like?" I asked.

 “你知道，我对他感兴趣是因为他是个画家，”他对我说，“很少有画家到我们这些岛上来，我很可怜他，因为我觉得他画的画很蹩脚。他的头一个工作就是我给他的。我在半岛上有一个种植园，需要一个白人监工。除非有个白人监督着他们，这些土人是绝不肯给你干活的。我对他说：‘你有的是时间画画儿，你还可以挣点钱。’我知道他正在挨饿，但是我给他的工资很高。”

“我想他不是一个令人满意的监工。”我笑着说。

“我对他的要求并不苛刻。我对艺术家总是同情的。我们一家人生来就是这样，你知道。但是他只干了几个月的活儿。等他攒够了钱，能够买油彩和画布的时候，他就想离开这地方，跑到荒林里去。但是我还是经常不断地能见到他。每过几个月他就到帕皮提来一次，待几天；他会从随便哪个人手里弄到点钱，于是又无影无踪了。正是在他这样一次访问时，他到我家里来，要向我借两百法郎。他的样子象是一个礼拜没吃一顿饱饭了，我不忍心拒绝他。当然了，我知道这笔钱我绝不会再要回来了。你猜怎么着，一年以后，他又来看我了，带着一幅画。他没提向我借钱的事，他只说：‘这是一幅你那座种植园的画，是我给你画的。’我看了看他的画。我不知道该说什么。当然了，我还是对他表示感谢。他走了以后，我把这幅画拿给我的妻子看。”

“他画得怎么样？”我问。

It is here thatI purposed to end my book. My first idea was to begin it with the account ofStrickland's last years in Tahiti and with his horrible death, and then to goback and relate what I knew of his beginnings. This I meant to do, not fromwilfulness, but because I wished to leave Strickland setting out with I knownot what fancies in his lonely soul for the unknown islands which fired hisimagination. I liked the picture of him starting at the age of forty-seven,when most men have already settled comfortably in a groove, for a new world. Isaw him, the sea gray under the mistral and foam-flecked, watching thevanishing coast of France, which he was destined never to see again; and Ithought there was something gallant in his bearing and dauntless in his soul. Iwished so to end on a note of hope. It seemed to emphasise the unconquerablespirit of man. But I could not manage it. Somehow I could not get into mystory, and after trying once or twice I had to give it up; I started from thebeginning in the usual way, and made up my mind I could only tell what I knewof Strickland's life in the order in which I learnt the facts.

Those that Ihave now are fragmentary. I am in the position of a biologist who from a singlebone must reconstruct not only the appearance of an extinct animal, but itshabits. Strickland made no particular impression on the people who came incontact with him in Tahiti. To them he was no more than a beach-comber inconstant need of money, remarkable only for the peculiarity that he paintedpictures which seemed to them absurd; and it was not till he had been dead forsome years and agents came from the dealers in Paris and Berlin to look for anypictures which might still remain on the island, that they had any idea thatamong them had dwelt a man of consequence. They remembered then that they couldhave bought for a song canvases which now were worth large sums, and they couldnot forgive themselves for the opportunity which had escaped them. There was aJewish trader called Cohen, who had come by one of Strickland's pictures in asingular way. He was a little old Frenchman, with soft kind eyes and a pleasantsmile, half trader and half seaman, who owned a cutter in which he wanderedboldly among the Paumotus and the Marquesas, taking out trade goods andbringing back copra, shell, and pearls. I went to see him because I was told hehad a large black pearl which he was willing to sell cheaply, and when Idiscovered that it was beyond my means I began to talk to him about Strickland.He had known him well.

这本书我本来准备就写到这里为止。我最初的计划是首先叙述一下思特里克兰德一生中最后几年是怎样在塔希提度过的，以及他悲惨的死亡，然后再回头来描写我所了解的他早年的生活。我预备这样做倒不是由于我的任性，而是因为想把思特里克兰德启程远航作为这本书的收尾；他那孤独的灵魂中怀着种种奇思遐想，终于向点燃起自己丰富想象的陌生的荒岛出发了。我喜欢这样一个画面：他活到四十七岁（到了这个年纪大多数人早已掉进舒适的生活沟槽里了）动身到天涯海角去寻找一个新世界；大海在凛冽的北风中一片灰蒙蒙，白沫四溅，他迷茫地盯视着逐渐消失、再也无法重见的法国海岸。我想他的这一行为含有某种豪迈的精神，他的灵魂里具有大无畏的勇气。我本来想让这本书结束的时候给人一线希望。我觉得这样也许能够突出思特里克兰德的不可征服的精神。但是我却写不好；不知为什么我不能把这些写下来，在试了一两次之后我还是放弃这样一个结构了。我走的还是老路子——从头儿开始。我决定按照我了解到的事实以先后顺序记叙我所知道的思特里克兰德的生平。

我掌握的事实只是一些断简残篇。我的处境很象一个生物学家，根据一根骨骼不仅要重新塑造出一个早已灭绝的生物的外貌，还要推测出它的生活习惯。思特里克兰德没有给那些在塔希提同他有接触的人留下什么特别的印象。在这些人眼睛里，他只不过是一个永远缺钱花的流浪汉，唯一与众不同的地方是他爱画一些他们认为是莫名其妙的画。直到他死了多年以后，巴黎和柏林的画商陆续派来几个代理人搜寻思特里克兰德可能散失在岛上的遗作时，这些人才多少认识到在他们当中一度生活过一位了不起的人物。他们这时想起来，当时只要花一点点钱就能买到今天已经价值连城的名画，他们白白让机会从眼皮底下溜掉，真是追悔莫及。塔希提有一位姓寇汉的犹太商人，手里存着思特里克兰德的一幅画；他得到这幅画的情况有一点不寻常。寇汉是个法国小老头，生着一对温柔、善良的眼睛，脸上总是堆着笑容；他一半是商人，一半是水手，自己有一只快艇，常常勇敢地往来于包莫图斯群岛、马克萨斯和塔希提群岛之间，运去当地需要的商品，载回来椰子干、蚌壳和珍珠。我去看他是因为有人告诉我他有一颗大黑珍珠要廉价出售。后来我发现他的要价超过我的支付能力，我便同他谈起思特里克兰德来。他同思特里克兰德很熟。