I let him take me to a restaurant of his choice, but on the way I bought a paper. —
我让他带我去他选择的一家餐馆，但在路上我买了一份报纸。 —

When we had ordered our dinner, I propped it against a bottle of St. Galmier and began to read. —
当我们点了晚餐后，我将它靠在一瓶圣加尔米耶旁边，就开始阅读了。 —

We ate in silence. I felt him looking at me now and again, but I took no notice. —
我们默默地吃着。我感到他时不时地看着我，但我没有理会。 —

I meant to force him to conversation.
我打算逼他开口谈话。

“Is there anything in the paper?” he said, as we approached the end of our silent meal.
“报纸上有什么吗？”他说，当我们接近我们寂静的餐点时。

I fancied there was in his tone a slight note of exasperation.
我觉得他的语气中似乎带有一丝轻微的恼怒。

“I always like to read the feuilleton on the drama, ” I said.
“我总是喜欢读戏剧评论，”我说。

I folded the paper and put it down beside me.
我折叠了报纸放在我的旁边。

“I’ve enjoyed my dinner, ” he remarked.
“我的晚餐很愉快，”他说。

“I think we might have our coffee here, don’t you?”
“我想我们可以在这里喝咖啡，你认为呢？”

“Yes. “
“是的。”

We lit our cigars. I smoked in silence. I noticed that now and then his eyes rested on me with a faint smile of amusement. —
我们点燃了雪茄。我沉默地抽着烟。我注意到他不时地用微笑看着我。 —

I waited patiently.
我耐心等待。

“What have you been up to since I saw you last?” he asked at length.
“自从上次见到你后，你都在忙些什么？”他最终问道。

I had not very much to say. It was a record of hard work and of little adventure; —
我没有太多可说的。这是一段辛勤工作和少量冒险的记录。 —

of experiments in this direction and in that; —
朝着这个方向进行了实验； —

of the gradual acquisition of the knowledge of books and of men. —
逐渐获取了关于书籍和人的知识。 —

I took care to ask Strickland nothing about his own doings. —
我特意不问斯特里克兰关于他自己的事情。 —

I showed not the least interest in him, and at last I was rewarded. He began to talk of himself. —
我对他没有表现出任何兴趣，最后我得到了回报。他开始谈论他自己。 —

But with his poor gift of expression he gave but indications of what he had gone through, and I had to fill up the gaps with my own imagination. —
但由于他表达能力较差，只能给出一些他经历的线索，我不得不用自己的想象填补空白。 —

It was tantalising to get no more than hints into a character that interested me so much. —
对一个如此让我感兴趣的人物只能得到一些线索是一种折磨。 —

It was like making one’s way through a mutilated manuscript. —
就像翻阅一份残缺的手稿。 —

I received the impression of a life which was a bitter struggle against every sort of difficulty; —
我印象中的他的生活是一场苦苦挣扎，克服各种困难； —

but I realised that much which would have seemed horrible to most people did not in the least affect him. —
但我意识到对大多数人来说看起来可怕的事对他毫无影响。 —

Strickland was distinguished from most Englishmen by his perfect indifference to comfort; —
斯特里克兰和大多数英国人不同，不在乎舒适； —

it did not irk him to live always in one shabby room; —
住在一间破旧的房间里不会让他感到不适； —

he had no need to be surrounded by beautiful things. —
他不需要被美丽的东西环绕。 —

I do not suppose he had ever noticed how dingy was the paper on the wall of the room in which on my first visit I found him. —
我想他从来没有注意到我第一次访问时发现他的房间墙上的墙纸有多陈旧。 —

He did not want arm-chairs to sit in; he really felt more at his ease on a kitchen chair. —
他不需要舒适的扶手椅坐着；他觉得在一把厨房椅上更自在。 —

He ate with appetite, but was indifferent to what he ate; —
他有食欲，但对他吃的东西漠不关心； —

to him it was only food that he devoured to still the pangs of hunger; —
对他来说，那只是为了止饥食物； —

and when no food was to be had he seemed capable of doing without. —
当没有食物可吃时，他似乎能够不用食物。 —

I learned that for six months he had lived on a loaf of bread and a bottle of milk a day. —
我得知他曾经有六个月只靠一条面包和一瓶牛奶过活。 —

He was a sensual man, and yet was indifferent to sensual things. —
他是一个感性的人，然而对感官事物却漠不关心。 —

He looked upon privation as no hardship. —
他认为贫困并不是一种困境。 —

There was something impressive in the manner in which he lived a life wholly of the spirit.
他以完全属灵的方式生活的态度中透露出一种令人印象深刻的东西。

When the small sum of money which he brought with him from London came to an end he suffered from no dismay. —
当他从伦敦带来的一点零花钱用完时，他并没有感到沮丧。 —

He sold no pictures; I think he made little attempt to sell any; —
他没有卖过任何画作;我认为他几乎没有做过任何尝试去销售任何作品; —

he set about finding some way to make a bit of money. —
他着手想办法赚些钱。 —

He told me with grim humour of the time he had spent acting as guide to Cockneys who wanted to see the night side of life in Paris; —
他用冷峭的幽默告诉我，他曾充当过伦敦人的向导，带他们领略巴黎的夜生活； —

it was an occupation that appealed to his sardonic temper and somehow or other he had acquired a wide acquaintance with the more disreputable quarters of the city. —
这是一种符合他讥讽性情的职业，不知何故他和这座城市更不端的区域结识甚广。 —

He told me of the long hours he spent walking about the Boulevard de la Madeleine on the look-out for Englishmen, preferably the worse for liquor, who desired to see things which the law forbade. —
他告诉我，他花了很长时间在马德莱娜大道上走来走去，寻找醉醺醺的英国人，他们渴望看到法律所禁止的事物。 —

When in luck he was able to make a tidy sum; —
幸运的时候，他能赚到一大笔钱； —

but the shabbiness of his clothes at last frightened the sight-seers, and he could not find people adventurous enough to trust themselves to him. —
但是他衣衫褴褛的样子最终吓跑了游客，他再也找不到愿意冒险信任他的人。 —

Then he happened on a job to translate the advertisements of patent medicines which were sent broadcast to the medical profession in England. —
然后他碰巧找到了一份工作，翻译那些广泛发送给英国医学界的专利药品广告。 —

During a strike he had been employed as a house-painter.
在一次罢工期间，他当时是一名油漆工。

Meanwhile he had never ceased to work at his art; —
与此同时，他从未停止过自己的艺术创作； —

but, soon tiring of the studios, entirely by himself. —
但是，很快就厌倦了画室，完全独自行动。 —

He had never been so poor that he could not buy canvas and paint, and really he needed nothing else. So far as I could make out, he painted with great difficulty, and in his unwillingness to accept help from anyone lost much time in finding out for himself the solution of technical problems which preceding generations had already worked out one by one. —
他从来没因为买不起画布和颜料而放弃，实际上他并不需要其他东西。据我所知，他作画很困难，因为不愿意接受任何人的帮助，在发现前人已经逐一解决的技术问题上浪费了很多时间。 —

He was aiming at something, I knew not what, and perhaps he hardly knew himself; —
我不知道他的目标是什么，也许他自己几乎不明白； —

and I got again more strongly the impression of a man possessed. He did not seem quite sane. —
我更加强烈地感觉到他被一种强烈的东西所控制。他似乎不太正常。 —

It seemed to me that he would not show his pictures because he was really not interested in them. —
我觉得他不愿展示他的作品，因为他真的对它们没兴趣。 —

He lived in a dream, and the reality meant nothing to him. —
他生活在梦想之中，现实对他毫无意义。 —

I had the feeling that he worked on a canvas with all the force of his violent personality, oblivious of everything in his effort to get what he saw with the mind’s eye; —
我感觉到他在尽全力在画布上表现自己内心所看到的一切，完全忘我努力着去实现他脑海中的景象； —

and then, having finished, not the picture perhaps, for I had an idea that he seldom brought anything to completion, but the passion that fired him, he lost all care for it. —
然后，当完成时，也许不是完成画作，因为我觉得他很少完整地完成任何作品，但是燃烧他心灵的激情，他却对此毫不在意。 —

He was never satisfied with what he had done; —
他从来没有对自己的作品感到满意； —

it seemed to him of no consequence compared with the vision that obsessed his mind.
他觉得与困扰他心灵的幻想相比，作品微不足道。

“Why don’t you ever send your work to exhibitions?” I asked. —
“为什么你从不把作品送到展览会去？”我问。 —

“I should have thought you’d like to know what people thought about it. “
“我以为你会想知道人们对它的看法。”

“Would you?”
“你会吗？”

I cannot describe the unmeasurable contempt he put into the two words.
我无法描述他在这两个字中表现出的无法衡量的蔑视。

“Don’t you want fame? It’s something that most artists haven’t been indifferent to. “
“难道你不想要名声吗？这是大多数艺术家都不会无动于衷的事情。”

“Children. How can you care for the opinion of the crowd, when you don’t care twopence for the opinion of the individual?”
“孩子们。当你并不在意个人的看法时，你怎么会在意人群的看法呢？”

“We’re not all reasonable beings, ” I laughed.
“我们并不都是理性的存在，”我笑了。

“Who makes fame? Critics, writers, stockbrokers, women. “
“是谁创造了名声？评论家、作家、股票经纪人、女人。”

“Wouldn’t it give you a rather pleasing sensation to think of people you didn’t know and had never seen receiving emotions, subtle and passionate, from the work of your hands? —
“想象一下，想到你从未见过、也不认识的人从你手中的作品中感受到微妙而激情的情感，会使你感到愉悦吗？ —

Everyone likes power. I can’t imagine a more wonderful exercise of it than to move the souls of men to pity or terror. “
每个人都喜欢权力。我无法想象比让人感动到怜悯或恐惧更美妙的权力行使。

“Melodrama. “
“通俗剧。”

“Why do you mind if you paint well or badly?”
“为什么在乎你画得好还是不好呢？”

“I don’t. I only want to paint what I see. “
“我不在乎。我只想画我所看到的。”

“I wonder if I could write on a desert island, with the certainty that no eyes but mine would ever see what I had written. “
“我想知道如果我在荒岛上写作，确信只有我的眼睛会看到我所写的东西，会怎么样。”

Strickland did not speak for a long time, but his eyes shone strangely, as though he saw something that kindled his soul to ecstasy.
Strickland 非常长时间都没有说话，但他的眼睛闪烁着奇怪的光芒，好像看到了点燃他灵魂的狂喜的东西。

“Sometimes I’ve thought of an island lost in a boundless sea, where I could live in some hidden valley, among strange trees, in silence. —
“有时候我想到一个迷失在无边无际的海洋中的岛屿，在那里我可以生活在某个隐秘的山谷中，周围是奇异的树木，处在寂静之中。 —

There I think I could find what I want. “
“在那里，我想我可以找到我想要的。”

He did not express himself quite like this. —
他表达的并不完全是这样。 —

He used gestures instead of adjectives, and he halted. —
他用手势代替形容词，并停顿了。 —

I have put into my own words what I think he wanted to say.
我用自己的话表达了我认为他想要说的话。

“Looking back on the last five years, do you think it was worth it?” I asked.
“回顾过去的五年，你认为这一切是否值得？”我问道。

He looked at me, and I saw that he did not know what I meant. I explained.
他看着我，我看出他并不明白我说的是什么。我解释道。

“You gave up a comfortable home and a life as happy as the average. You were fairly prosperous. —
“你放弃了一个舒适的家和一个平均幸福的生活。你过得相当富裕。 —

You seem to have had a rotten time in Paris. If you had your time over again would you do what you did?”
你似乎在巴黎度过了糟糕的时光。如果你可以重新选择，你还会做你做过的事吗？”

“Rather. “
“宁愿如此。”

“Do you know that you haven’t asked anything about your wife and children? —
“你知道你从来没有问过你的妻子和孩子的情况吗？” —

Do you never think of them?”
“你从来没有想过他们吗？”

“No. “
“不。”

“I wish you weren’t so damned monosyllabic. —
“我希望你不要那么死板。 —

Have you never had a moment’s regret for all the unhappiness you caused them?”
你从来没有为你给他们带来的所有不幸感到过一丝悔意吗？”

His lips broke into a smile, and he shook his head.
他的嘴角露出微笑，摇了摇头。

“I should have thought sometimes you couldn’t help thinking of the past. —
“我以为有时你不能不想起过去。 —

I don’t mean the past of seven or eight years ago, but further back still, when you first met your wife, and loved her, and married her. —
我不是指七八年前的过去，而是更久远的，当你第一次遇见你的妻子，爱上她，然后娶她。 —

Don’t you remember the joy with which you first took her in your arms?”
你不记得最初把她拥入怀中时的喜悦吗？”

“I don’t think of the past. The only thing that matters is the everlasting present. “
“我不想过去。唯一重要的是永恒的现在.”

I thought for a moment over this reply. It was obscure, perhaps, but I thought that I saw dimly his meaning.
我稍作思考这个回答。它也许有点模糊，但我觉得我隐约看到了他的意思。

“Are you happy?” I asked.
“你快乐吗？”我问。

“Yes. “
“是的。”

I was silent. I looked at him reflectively. —
我沉默了。我反思地看着他。 —

He held my stare, and presently a sardonic twinkle lit up his eyes.
他与我对视着，不久后，他眼中闪过讥讽的闪光。

“I’m afraid you disapprove of me?”
“我担心你会不赞同我？”

“Nonsense, ” I answered promptly; “I don’t disapprove of the boa-constrictor; —
“胡说，”我干脆地回答道；“我并不反对那条蟒蛇； —

on the contrary, I’m interested in his mental processes. “
相反，我对他的心智过程很感兴趣。”

“It’s a purely professional interest you take in me?”
“你只是对我抱着纯粹的专业兴趣？”

“Purely. “
“纯粹是的。”

“It’s only right that you shouldn’t disapprove of me. You have a despicable character. “
“你不反对我是理所当然的。你的品格很卑鄙。”

“Perhaps that’s why you feel at home with me, ” I retorted.
“也许这正是你觉得在我这里如鱼得水的原因，”我反驳道。

He smiled dryly, but said nothing. I wish I knew how to describe his smile. —
他干笑了一下，但没说什么。我希望我知道怎样去形容他的笑容。 —

I do not know that it was attractive, but it lit up his face, changing the expression, which was generally sombre, and gave it a look of not ill-natured malice. —
我不知道它是否吸引人，但它照亮了他的脸，改变了通常阴郁的表情，给它一种不算恶意的邪恶笑容。 —

It was a slow smile, starting and sometimes ending in the eyes; —
这是一个缓慢的微笑，有时从眼睛开始，有时以眼睛结束； —

it was very sensual, neither cruel nor kindly, but suggested rather the inhuman glee of the satyr. —
它很感性，既不残忍也不善良，而更像是半人半兽者那种非人的喜悦。 —

It was his smile that made me ask him:
正是他的笑容让我问他：

“Haven’t you been in love since you came to Paris?”
“自从你来到巴黎以后，你没有恋爱过吗？”

“I haven’t got time for that sort of nonsense. Life isn’t long enough for love and art. “
“我没有时间浪费在那种废话上。生命并不长到足以容纳爱情和艺术。”

“Your appearance doesn’t suggest the anchorite. “
“你的外表并不像隐士那样。”

“All that business fills me with disgust. “
“所有这一切的事情让我感到恶心。”

“Human nature is a nuisance, isn’t it?” I said.
“人性真是麻烦，不是吗？”我说。

“Why are you sniggering at me?”
“为什么你在嘲笑我？”

“Because I don’t believe you. “
“因为我不相信你。”

“Then you’re a damned fool. “
“那你就是个该死的傻瓜。”

I paused, and I looked at him searchingly.
我停顿了一下，审视着他。

“What’s the good of trying to humbug me?” I said.
“你还想用欺骗来愚弄我有什么好处？”我说。

“I don’t know what you mean. “
“我不知道你在说什么。”

I smiled.
我笑了。

“Let me tell you. I imagine that for months the matter never comes into your head, and you’re able to persuade yourself that you’ve finished with it for good and all. —
“让我告诉你。我想，在几个月的时间里，这件事从来没有出现在你的脑海中，你能够说服自己，彻底了结了。 —

You rejoice in your freedom, and you feel that at last you can call your soul your own. —
你为自由而欢庆，觉得终于可以拥有自己的灵魂。 —

You seem to walk with your head among the stars. —
你仿佛漫步于星星之间。 —

And then, all of a sudden you can’t stand it any more, and you notice that all the time your feet have been walking in the mud. —
然后，突然间你再也无法忍受，你发现一直以来你的脚一直在泥中行走。 —

And you want to roll yourself in it. And you find some woman, coarse and low and vulgar, some beastly creature in whom all the horror of sex is blatant, and you fall upon her like a wild animal. —
你想要将自己卷入其中。然后你找到了一位女人，粗俗、低级、庸俗，一个性的所有恐怖显露无遗的恶兽，你如野兽般扑上去。 —

You drink till you’re blind with rage. “
你喝得失去理智，盲目发怒。”

He stared at me without the slightest movement. I held his eyes with mine. I spoke very slowly.
他毫不动容地盯着我。我与他对视着。我说得很慢。

“I’ll tell you what must seem strange, that when it’s over you feel so extraordinarily pure. —
“我告诉你一件似乎很奇怪的事，当一切结束后，你会感到异常纯洁。 —

You feel like a disembodied spirit, immaterial; —
您会感觉自己像一个无形的灵体； —

and you seem to be able to touch beauty as though it were a palpable thing; —
而且您似乎能够触摸美丽，就像它是一个可以触摸的东西； —

and you feel an intimate communion with the breeze, and with the trees breaking into leaf, and with the iridescence of the river. —
您会感觉与微风，与破土成叶的树木，与河水的七彩光辉有一种亲密交流。 —

You feel like God. Can you explain that to me?”
您会觉得自己像上帝。你能解释给我听吗？”

He kept his eyes fixed on mine till I had finished, and then he turned away. —
他一直盯着我的眼睛，直到我说完，然后他转过头去了。 —

There was on his face a strange look, and I thought that so might a man look when he had died under the torture. —
他脸上带着一种奇怪的表情，我觉得这就是一个人在受酷刑致死时可能会有的表情。 —

He was silent. I knew that our conversation was ended.
他沉默了。我知道我们的对话结束了。