I saw Strickland not infrequently, and now and then played chess with him. —
我时常见到斯特里克兰德，有时还和他下棋。 —

He was of uncertain temper. Sometimes he would sit silent and abstracted, taking no notice of anyone; —
他的脾气多变。有时他会沉默寡言，毫不关心其他人； —

and at others, when he was in a good humour, he would talk in his own halting way. —
有时，当他心情好的时候，他会用自己磕磕绊绊的方式说话。 —

He never said a clever thing, but he had a vein of brutal sarcasm which was not ineffective, and he always said exactly what he thought. —
他从不说出聪明的话，但他有一种残酷讽刺的风格，相当见效，他总是说他想到的一切。 —

He was indifferent to the susceptibilities of others, and when he wounded them was amused. —
他对别人的感受漠不关心，伤害了他人时还感到愉快。 —

He was constantly offending Dirk Stroeve so bitterly that he flung away, vowing he would never speak to him again; —
他经常刺伤狄尔克·斯特鲁夫以致他恨之入骨，发誓再也不与他说话； —

but there was a solid force in Strickland that attracted the fat Dutchman against his will, so that he came back, fawning like a clumsy dog, though he knew that his only greeting would be the blow he dreaded.
但斯特里克兰德身上有一种坚实的力量，总是不情愿地吸引着这个胖胖的荷兰人，使他重新回来，象一只笨拙的狗一样示好，尽管他知道他唯一可能得到的回应就是被他害怕的打击。

I do not know why Strickland put up with me. —
我不知道为什么斯特里克兰德忍受我。 —

Our relations were peculiar. One day he asked me to lend him fifty francs.
我们的关系很特别。有一天他向我借五十法郎。

“I wouldn’t dream of it, ” I replied.
“我可不会做梦这么做，”我回答说。

“Why not?”
“为什么不呢？”

“It wouldn’t amuse me. “
“那对我没有乐趣。”

“I’m frightfully hard up, you know. “
“你知道我穷得要命，对吗？”

“I don’t care. “
“我不在乎。”

“You don’t care if I starve?”
“你不在乎我饿死吗？”

“Why on earth should I?” I asked in my turn.
“我为什么要这样做？”我反问道。

He looked at me for a minute or two, pulling his untidy beard. I smiled at him.
他盯着我看了一两分钟，拽着他蓬乱的胡须。我对他微笑。

“What are you amused at?” he said, with a gleam of anger in his eyes.
“你在笑什么？”他说，眼中闪着愤怒的光芒。

“You’re so simple. You recognise no obligations. No one is under any obligation to you. “
“你太简单了。你没有意识到任何义务。没有人对你有什么义务。”

“Wouldn’t it make you uncomfortable if I went and hanged myself because I’d been turned out of my room as I couldn’t pay the rent?”
“如果我因为被赶出房间付不起房租而去上吊，你会觉得不舒服吗？”

“Not a bit. “
“一点也不。”

He chuckled.
他笑了笑。

“You’re bragging. If I really did you’d be overwhelmed with remorse. “
“你在吹牛。如果我真的这样做了，你会后悔得要命。”

“Try it, and we’ll see, ” I retorted.
“试试看，我们等着瞧。”我反唇相讥。

A smile flickered in his eyes, and he stirred his absinthe in silence.
他眼中闪过一丝微笑，默不作声地搅动着他的苦艾酒。

“Would you like to play chess?” I asked.
“你想下国际象棋吗？”我问道。

“I don’t mind. “
“随你便。”

We set up the pieces, and when the board was ready he considered it with a comfortable eye. —
我们摆好棋子，当棋盘准备好时，他用舒适的眼光审视着。 —

There is a sense of satisfaction in looking at your men all ready for the fray.
看着你的士兵准备好战斗的状态是一种满足感。

“Did you really think I’d lend you money?” I asked.
“你真的以为我会借钱给你吗？”我问道。

“I didn’t see why you shouldn’t. “
“我不明白你为什么不应该。”

“You surprise me. “
“你让我感到惊讶。”

“Why?”
“为什么？”

“It’s disappointing to find that at heart you are sentimental. —
“让人失望的是，在内心深处你是感性的。” —

I should have liked you better if you hadn’t made that ingenuous appeal to my sympathies. “
“如果你没有向我的同情心发出那样纯真的呼吁，我本来会更喜欢你。”

“I should have despised you if you’d been moved by it, ” he answered.
“如果你被这动了心，我会鄙视你，”他回答道。

“That’s better, ” I laughed.
“这样好多了，”我笑着说。

We began to play. We were both absorbed in the game. When it was finished I said to him:
我们开始玩起了。我们都全神贯注于游戏中。当游戏结束时，我对他说：

“Look here, if you’re hard up, let me see your pictures. If there’s anything I like I’ll buy it. “
“听着，如果你手头紧，让我看看你的画。如果有我喜欢的，我会买下来。”

“Go to hell, ” he answered.
“滚一边去，”他回答道。

He got up and was about to go away. I stopped him.
他站起来，准备离开。我叫住了他。

“You haven’t paid for your absinthe, ” I said, smiling.
“你还没有付帐，”我笑着说。

He cursed me, flung down the money and left.
他骂了我一声，扔下钱就走了。

I did not see him for several days after that, but one evening, when I was sitting in the cafe, reading a paper, he came up and sat beside me.
之后好几天我都没见到他，但有一个晚上，我坐在咖啡馆里读报时，他走过来坐在我旁边。

“You haven’t hanged yourself after all, ” I remarked.
“你终究没有上吊，”我评论道。

“No. I’ve got a commission. I’m painting the portrait of a retired plumber for two hundred francs. “(5)
“不，我有一个委托。我正在为一位退休的管道工画肖像，报酬是两百法郎。”

(5) This picture, formerly in the possession of a wealthy manufacturer at Lille, who fled from that city on the approach of the Germans, is now in the National Gallery at Stockholm. —
“这幅画曾经是里尔一位富有的制造商所有，他在德军接近时逃离了那座城市，现在在斯德哥尔摩的国家美术馆展出。” —

The Swede is adept at the gentle pastime of fishing in troubled waters.
瑞典人善于在波涛汹涌的水域中钓鱼这种温和的消遣。

“How did you manage that?”
“你是怎么做到的？”

“The woman where I get my bread recommended me. —
“我买面包的地方的女人推荐了我。 —

He’d told her he was looking out for someone to paint him. —
他告诉她他在找人给他画像。 —

I’ve got to give her twenty francs. “
我得给她二十法郎。

“What’s he like?”
“他长什么样子？”

“Splendid. He’s got a great red face like a leg of mutton, and on his right cheek there’s an enormous mole with long hairs growing out of it. “
“棒极了。他有一个像个大羊腿的红脸，右脸上有一个长长的有毛的巨大痣。”

Strickland was in a good humour, and when Dirk Stroeve came up and sat down with us he attacked him with ferocious banter. —
斯特里克兰心情很好，当迪克·斯特罗夫走过来和我们坐在一起时，他开始猛烈地取笑他。 —

He showed a skill I should never have credited him with in finding the places where the unhappy Dutchman was most sensitive. —
他展示了一种我从未认为他有的技巧，找到了那个可怜荷兰人最敏感的地方。 —

Strickland employed not the rapier of sarcasm but the bludgeon of invective. —
斯特里克兰使用的不是讽刺的细剑，而是恶语相向的大棒。 —

The attack was so unprovoked that Stroeve, taken unawares, was defenceless. —
这次攻击无缘无故，斯特罗夫措手不及，毫无抵抗力。 —

He reminded you of a frightened sheep running aimlessly hither and thither. —
他让你想起一只受惊吓的羊，毫无目标地东奔西跑。 —

He was startled and amazed. At last the tears ran from his eyes. —
他受到惊吓和吃惊。最后眼泪从他眼睛流了出来。 —

And the worst of it was that, though you hated Strickland, and the exhibition was horrible, it was impossible not to laugh. —
即使你讨厌斯特里克兰，尽管那次展览十分可怕，仍然无法不笑。 —

Dirk Stroeve was one of those unlucky persons whose most sincere emotions are ridiculous.
迪克·斯特罗夫是那种最真挚情感却最可笑的不幸之人之一。

But after all when I look back upon that winter in Paris, my pleasantest recollection is of Dirk Stroeve. —
但当我回想起那个冬天在巴黎的时候，最愉快的回忆莫过于迪克·斯特罗夫。 —

There was something very charming in his little household. —
他的小家庭有着一种非常迷人的氛围。 —

He and his wife made a picture which the imagination gratefully dwelt upon, and the simplicity of his love for her had a deliberate grace. —
他和他的妻子组成一幅让人愉快地幻想的画面，他对她的爱的纯真中带着一种优雅的风度。 —

He remained absurd, but the sincerity of his passion excited one’s sympathy. —
他依然可笑，但他的激情的真挚引起了人的同情。 —

I could understand how his wife must feel for him, and I was glad that her affection was so tender. —
我能理解他的妻子对他的感受，我为她的深情感动而高兴。 —

If she had any sense of humour, it must amuse her that he should place her on a pedestal and worship her with such an honest idolatry, but even while she laughed she must have been pleased and touched. —
即使她有一些幽默感，他将她神圣地供奉并以如此诚实的盲目崇拜来尊崇她，这也许让她发笑，但同时一定让她感到满足和感动。 —

He was the constant lover, and though she grew old, losing her rounded lines and her fair comeliness, to him she would certainly never alter. —
他是个永远的情人，即便她慢慢变老，失去了曲线和容貌的优雅，对他而言，她一定永远不会改变。 —

To him she would always be the loveliest woman in the world. —
对他而言，她永远是世界上最美丽的女人。 —

There was a pleasing grace in the orderliness of their lives. —
他们的生活秩序有着迷人的优雅。 —

They had but the studio, a bedroom, and a tiny kitchen. Mrs. Stroeve did all the housework herself; —
他们只有工作室、一间卧室和一个微小的厨房。斯特罗夫太太亲自做所有的家务； —

and while Dirk painted bad pictures, she went marketing, cooked the luncheon, sewed, occupied herself like a busy ant all the day; —
迪克画糟糕的画，而她则去买菜、做午饭、缝制衣服，整天如同一只忙碌的蚂蚁； —

and in the evening sat in the studio, sewing again, while Dirk played music which I am sure was far beyond her comprehension. —
晚上她坐在工作室里继续缝制衣服，而迪克弹着他那超过她理解范围的音乐。 —

He played with taste, but with more feeling than was always justified, and into his music poured all his honest, sentimental, exuberant soul.
他演奏得有品位，但感情常常超过了必要，而他的音乐中融入了所有他诚实、多愁善感、热情洋溢的灵魂。

Their life in its own way was an idyl, and it managed to achieve a singular beauty. —
他们的生活以自己独特的方式成为一幅田园诗，展现出独特的美丽。 —

The absurdity that clung to everything connected with Dirk Stroeve gave it a curious note, like an unresolved discord, but made it somehow more modern, more human; —
一切与迪克·斯特罗夫有关的荒谬之处都让它带有一种奇特的音调，像是一个悬而未决的不和谐音，却使之更具现代感，更具人性； —

like a rough joke thrown into a serious scene, it heightened the poignancy which all beauty has.
就像一个粗糙的玩笑扔进了一个严肃的场景，它增强了所有美的凄美。