I have tried to put some connection into the various things Captain Nichols told me about Strickland, and I here set them down in the best order I can. —
我试图将尼科尔斯船长告诉我关于斯特里克兰的各种事情联系起来，并且按照我最好的方式列了下来。 —

They made one another’s acquaintance during the latter part of the winter following my last meeting with Strickland in Paris. How he had passed the intervening months I do not know, but life must have been very hard, for Captain Nichols saw him first in the Asile de Nuit. There was a strike at Marseilles at the time, and Strickland, having come to the end of his resources, had apparently found it impossible to earn the small sum he needed to keep body and soul together.
他们在我上次在巴黎与斯特里克兰见面后的这个冬天的晚些时候结识。我不知道他在这期间的生活过得如何，但生活肯定很艰难，因为尼科尔斯船长首次在马赛的Asile de Nuit看到了他。那时马赛正在发生罢工，斯特里克兰已经用尽了资源，显然无法赚到维持生计所需的少量钱。

The Asile de Nuit is a large stone building where pauper and vagabond may get a bed for a week, provided their papers are in order and they can persuade the friars in charge that they are workingmen. —
Asile de Nuit是一座大石建筑，穷人和流浪汉可以在那里得到一周的床位，前提是他们的文件齐全，且能说服负责的僧侣他们是工人。 —

Captain Nichols noticed Strickland for his size and his singular appearance among the crowd that waited for the doors to open; —
尼科尔斯船长因他的身材和在等待开门的人群中突出的外表而注意到了斯特里克兰； —

they waited listlessly, some walking to and fro, some leaning against the wall, and others seated on the curb with their feet in the gutter; —
他们无精打采地等着，有些人来回踱步，有些人靠在墙上，还有人坐在路边，脚踏水沟里； —

and when they filed into the office he heard the monk who read his papers address him in English. —
他们进入办公室时，听到读他文件的修士用英语和他交谈。 —

But he did not have a chance to speak to him, since, as he entered the common-room, a monk came in with a huge Bible in his arms, mounted a pulpit which was at the end of the room, and began the service which the wretched outcasts had to endure as the price of their lodging. —
但他没有机会去和他说话，因为当他进入公共休息室时，一个持着一个巨大圣经的僧侣走进来，走上位于房间一端的讲坛，开始为这些可怜的被遗弃者所忍受的住宿付出的代价进行仪式。 —

He and Strickland were assigned to different rooms, and when, thrown out of bed at five in the morning by a stalwart monk, he had made his bed and washed his face, Strickland had already disappeared. —
他和斯特里克兰被安排在不同的房间，当早上五点被一个壮实的修道士从床上推倒时，他已经整理好床并洗了脸，而斯特里克兰已经不见了。 —

Captain Nichols wandered about the streets for an hour of bitter cold, and then made his way to the Place Victor Gelu, where the sailor-men are wont to congregate. —
尼科尔斯船长在寒冷的街道上游荡了一个小时，然后前往维克托·格鲁广场，那里是水手们常去的地方。 —

Dozing against the pedestal of a statue, he saw Strickland again. —
他靠在雕像的基座上打盹，又看到了斯特里克兰。 —

He gave him a kick to awaken him.
他踢了一脚，想把他弄醒。

“Come and have breakfast, mate, ” he said.
“来吃早餐吧，伙计，”他说。

“Go to hell, ” answered Strickland.
“去死吧，”斯特里克兰回答说。

I recognised my friend’s limited vocabulary, and I prepared to regard Captain Nichols as a trustworthy witness.
我认出了我朋友有限的词汇量，并准备视尼科尔斯船长为一个可信的证人。

“Busted?” asked the Captain.
“破产了？”船长问。

“Blast you, ” answered Strickland.
“见鬼去吧，”斯特里克兰回答说。

“Come along with me. I’ll get you some breakfast. “
“跟我来，我给你买早餐。”

After a moment’s hesitation, Strickland scrambled to his feet, and together they went to the Bouchee de Pain, where the hungry are given a wedge of bread, which they must eat there and then, for it is forbidden to take it away; —
犹豫了一会儿，斯特里克兰艰难地站了起来，他们一起去了“面包角”，那里饥饿的人可以得到一块面包，必须当场吃掉，因为禁止带走； —

and then to the Cuillere de Soupe, where for a week, at eleven and four, you may get a bowl of thin, salt soup. —
然后去了“汤匙”，那里每天十一点和四点可以得到一碗淡咸的汤。 —

The two buildings are placed far apart, so that only the starving should be tempted to make use of them. —
这两座建筑相隔甚远，只有饥饿的人才会受到诱惑去使用它们。 —

So they had breakfast, and so began the queer companionship of Charles Strickland and Captain Nichols.
于是他们吃过早餐，于是查尔斯·斯特里克兰和尼科尔斯船长奇特的伴侣关系就开始了。

They must have spent something like four months at Marseilles in one another’s society. —
他们在马赛大约待了四个月，彼此为伴。 —

Their career was devoid of adventure, if by adventure you mean unexpected or thrilling incident, for their days were occupied in the pursuit of enough money to get a night’s lodging and such food as would stay the pangs of hunger. —
他们的职业生涯缺乏冒险，如果你所说的冒险是指意外或惊险事件的话，因为他们的日子都在追求足够的钱来支付一晚的住宿费和足以止饥饿的食物。 —

But I wish I could give here the pictures, coloured and racy, which Captain Nichols’ vivid narrative offered to the imagination. —
但我希望在这里能呈现出尼科尔斯船长生动叙述所呈现的色彩丰富的画面，让想象力得以展开。 —

His account of their discoveries in the low life of a seaport town would have made a charming book, and in the various characters that came their way the student might easily have found matter for a very complete dictionary of rogues. —
他对他们在港口小镇的底层生活中的发现进行的描述本可以成为一本迷人的书，在他们所遇到的各种人物中，研究者极易找到构成一个非常完整的流氓词典的素材。 —

But I must content myself with a few paragraphs. —
但我只能满足于撰写几段。 —

I received the impression of a life intense and brutal, savage, multicoloured, and vivacious. —
我得到的印象是一种充满强烈和残酷、野蛮、五颜六色且生动的生活。 —

It made the Marseilles that I knew, gesticulating and sunny, with its comfortable hotels and its restaurants crowded with the well-to-do, tame and commonplace. —
这让我知道的马赛显得招摇和阳光明媚，它舒适的旅馆和挤满有钱人的餐馆变得平淡无奇。 —

I envied men who had seen with their own eyes the sights that Captain Nichols described.
我对自己没有亲眼看到尼科尔斯船长所描述的景象的人心生羡慕。

When the doors of the Asile de Nuit were closed to them, Strickland and Captain Nichols sought the hospitality of Tough Bill. This was the master of a sailors’ boarding-house, a huge mulatto with a heavy fist, who gave the stranded mariner food and shelter till he found him a berth. —
当夜间收容所的门对他们关闭后，史特里克兰和尼科尔斯船长寻求了强壮比尔的好客之情。这是一家船员旅馆的老板，一个身材庞大的混血人，拳头重重，给滞留的海员食物和住宿直到他们找到工作。 —

They lived with him a month, sleeping with a dozen others, Swedes, negroes, Brazilians, on the floor of the two bare rooms in his house which he assigned to his charges; —
他们与他一起生活了一个月，在他分配给他的受托人的两个光秃秃的房间的地板上睡觉，与十几个其他人一起，其中有瑞典人、黑人和巴西人。 —

and every day they went with him to the Place Victor Gelu, whither came ships’ captains in search of a man. —
每天他们都和他一起去维克多·盖鲁广场，在那里船长们来寻找人手。 —

He was married to an American woman, obese and slatternly, fallen to this pass by Heaven knows what process of degradation, and every day the boarders took it in turns to help her with the housework. —
他娶了一个美国女人，肥胖而邋遢，因天晓得何种堕落过程而陷入这种境地，每天住客们轮流帮助她做家务。 —

Captain Nichols looked upon it as a smart piece of work on Strickland’s part that he had got out of this by painting a portrait of Tough Bill. Tough Bill not only paid for the canvas, colours, and brushes, but gave Strickland a pound of smuggled tobacco into the bargain. —
尼科尔斯船长认为史特里克兰设法逃脱这一切的方式是个明智之举，他为强壮比尔画了一幅肖像。强壮比尔不仅支付了画布、颜料和画笔的费用，还额外送了一磅走私烟草给史特里克兰。 —

For all I know, this picture may still adorn the parlour of the tumbledown little house somewhere near the Quai de la Joliette, and I suppose it could now be sold for fifteen hundred pounds. —
据我所知，这幅画可能到现在还挂在靠近乔利埃特码头的一处破旧小屋的客厅里，我想现在可能可以卖一千五百英镑。 —

Strickland’s idea was to ship on some vessel bound for Australia or New Zealand, and from there make his way to Samoa or Tahiti. —
史特里克兰的想法是搭乘前往澳大利亚或新西兰的某艘船，然后从那里前往萨摩亚或大溪地。 —

I do not know how he had come upon the notion of going to the South Seas, though I remember that his imagination had long been haunted by an island, all green and sunny, encircled by a sea more blue than is found in Northern latitudes. —
我不知道他是如何想到前往南海群岛的，尽管我记得他的想象长久以来一直被一个绿树成荫、阳光明媚、被更蓝色的海洋环绕的岛屿所困扰。 —

I suppose that he clung to Captain Nichols because he was acquainted with those parts, and it was Captain Nichols who persuaded him that he would be more comfortable in Tahiti.
我想他依附于尼克尔斯船长，是因为他熟悉那些地方，而正是尼克尔斯船长说服他在塔希提会过得更舒服。

“You see, Tahiti’s French, ” he explained to me. “And the French aren’t so damned technical. “
“你知道，塔希提是法属的，”他对我解释说。“而法国人不那么执着于技术。”

I thought I saw his point.
我觉得我理解了他的意思。

Strickland had no papers, but that was not a matter to disconcert Tough Bill when he saw a profit (he took the first month’s wages of the sailor for whom he found a berth), and he provided Strickland with those of an English stoker who had providentially died on his hands. —
Strickland没有文件，但这并不会让坚决的比尔感到困惑，当他看到利润时（他会拿到他为之安排船位的水手的第一个月工资），他给了Strickland一些英国司机的文件，这个司机在他手里恰好不幸去世。 —

But both Captain Nichols and Strickland were bound East, and it chanced that the only opportunities for signing on were with ships sailing West. Twice Strickland refused a berth on tramps sailing for the United States, and once on a collier going to Newcastle. —
但尼克尔斯船长和Strickland都要去东边，而巧合的是，唯一的签约机会都是与开往西方的船只。Strickland两次拒绝了开往美国的满载货船的船位，还有一次是开往纽卡斯尔的煤炭运输船位。 —

Tough Bill had no patience with an obstinacy which could only result in loss to himself, and on the last occasion he flung both Strickland and Captain Nichols out of his house without more ado. —
比尔坚定的性格对他自己的利益无疑，但对于那些只会引起损失的执拗，他无法忍受，最后一次他毫不客气地把Strickland和尼克尔斯船长一起赶出了房子。 —

They found themselves once more adrift.
他们再次发现自己漂泊无依。

Tough Bill’s fare was seldom extravagant, and you rose from his table almost as hungry as you sat down, but for some days they had good reason to regret it. —
比尔的饭菜很少奢侈，离开他的餐桌时几乎和坐下时一样饥饿，但是有几天他们有了后悔的理由。 —

They learned what hunger was. The Cuillere de Soupe and the Asile de Nuit were both closed to them, and their only sustenance was the wedge of bread which the Bouchee de Pain provided. —
他们体会到了什么是饥饿。Cuillere de Soupe和Asile de Nuit都对他们关闭，他们唯一的食物是Bouchee de Pain提供的一角面包。 —

They slept where they could, sometimes in an empty truck on a siding near the station, sometimes in a cart behind a warehouse; —
他们在哪里睡觉算哪里吧，有时在车站附近货车的空车厢里，有时在仓库后面的一辆小车里； —

but it was bitterly cold, and after an hour or two of uneasy dozing they would tramp the streets again. —
但天气非常寒冷，醒来后经过一两个小时的不安睡眠，他们又会在街上走动。 —

What they felt the lack of most bitterly was tobacco, and Captain Nichols, for his part, could not do without it; —
他们最痛苦的是缺烟草，尼克尔斯船长则离不开它； —

he took to hunting the “Can o’ Beer, ” for cigarette-ends and the butt-end of cigars which the promenaders of the night before had thrown away.
他开始捡拾昨晚游荡者扔掉的香烟头和雪茄蒂，他和我提供给他的两支雪茄后，他将一支放在嘴里，另一支放在口袋里。

“I’ve tasted worse smoking mixtures in a pipe, ” he added, with a philosophic shrug of his shoulders, as he took a couple of cigars from the case I offered him, putting one in his mouth and the other in his pocket.
偶尔他们能赚点钱。有时一艘邮轮进港，尼克尔斯船长与记录员打成一片，成功地为他们找到了装卸工的工作。

Now and then they made a bit of money. Sometimes a mail steamer would come in, and Captain Nichols, having scraped acquaintance with the timekeeper, would succeed in getting the pair of them a job as stevedores. —
现在他们继续俯视下去。 —

When it was an English boat, they would dodge into the forecastle and get a hearty breakfast from the crew. —
当那是一艘英国船时，他们会闪开到船头仓，并从船员那里得到丰盛的早餐。 —

They took the risk of running against one of the ship’s officers and being hustled down the gangway with the toe of a boot to speed their going.
他们冒险与船上的一名官员发生冲突，可能会被踢下阶梯，以加快他们的离去。

“There’s no harm in a kick in the hindquarters when your belly’s full, ” said Captain Nichols, “and personally I never take it in bad part. —
“当肚子饱的时候，屁股被踢一脚也没有什么大不了的，”尼科尔斯船长说，“个人来说，我从来不会把这看成什么坏事。” —

An officer’s got to think about discipline. “
“官员们必须考虑纪律问题。”

I had a lively picture of Captain Nichols flying headlong down a narrow gangway before the uplifted foot of an angry mate, and, like a true Englishman, rejoicing in the spirit of the Mercantile Marine.
我生动地想象着尼科尔斯船长在狭窄的阶梯上被愤怒的大副的抬起的脚把头朝下扑倒，像一位真正的英国人一样，对商船业的精神感到高兴。

There were often odd jobs to be got about the fish-market. —
在鱼市周围往往可以找到一些零工。 —

Once they each of them earned a franc by loading trucks with innumerable boxes of oranges that had been dumped down on the quay. —
有一次，他们每人赚了一法郎，把无数箱从马达加斯加经好望角绕到码头上倒下的橘子装上卡车。 —

One day they had a stroke of luck: one of the boarding-masters got a contract to paint a tramp that had come in from Madagascar round the Cape of Good Hope, and they spent several days on a plank hanging over the side, covering the rusty hull with paint. —
一天，他们走了好运：一个上岸头得到了一个合同，要给一艘从马达加斯加绕过好望角而来的破烂船涂漆，他们几天都在一个悬挂在船舷上的木板上，用油漆覆盖着生锈的船身。 —

It was a situation that must have appealed to Strickland’s sardonic humour. —
这种情况一定会吸引斯特里克兰的嘲讽幽默感。 —

I asked Captain Nichols how he bore himself during these hardships.
我问尼科尔斯船长在这些困难中是如何坚强的。

“Never knew him say a cross word, ” answered the Captain. —
“从来没听过他发过脾气，”船长回答说。 —

“He’d be a bit surly sometimes, but when we hadn’t had a bite since morning, and we hadn’t even got the price of a lie down at the Chink’s, he’d be as lively as a cricket. “
“有时候他可能有点脾气，但当我们从早上开始都没有吃东西，我们甚至没有钱在“那个中国佬”那里躺下来时，他会像只蟋蟀般活泼。”

I was not surprised at this. Strickland was just the man to rise superior to circumstances, when they were such as to occasion despondency in most; —
我对此并不感到意外。斯特里克兰正是能够在大多数人感到沮丧的情况下超越困境的人； —

but whether this was due to equanimity of soul or to contradictoriness it would be difficult to say.
但这是由于灵魂的平和还是由于矛盾，很难说。

The Chink’s Head was a name the beach-combers gave to a wretched inn off the Rue Bouterie, kept by a one-eyed Chinaman, where for six sous you could sleep in a cot and for three on the floor. —
“那个中国佬头”是海滩流浪汉们给予一家位于布蒂里街的破旧客栈的名字，由一个独眼的中国人经营，你可以在那里用六便士睡在床上，或者用三便士睡在地板上。 —

Here they made friends with others in as desperate condition as themselves, and when they were penniless and the night was bitter cold, they were glad to borrow from anyone who had earned a stray franc during the day the price of a roof over their heads. —
在这里，他们与其他处境像他们一样绝望的人交了朋友，当他们身无分文，夜晚寒冷得厉害时，他们很高兴向那些白天赚了一点零钱的人借一点钱，换个能遮风避寒的地方。 —

They were not niggardly, these tramps, and he who had money did not hesitate to share it among the rest. —
这些流浪汉并不吝啬，有钱的人也毫不犹豫地和其他人分享。 —

They belonged to all the countries in the world, but this was no bar to good-fellowship; —
他们来自世界各个国家，但这并不妨碍他们之间的友好； —

for they felt themselves freemen of a country whose frontiers include them all, the great country of Cockaine.
因为他们觉得自己是一个国家的自由人，这个国家的边界包括所有人，那就是”可口可乐”的大国。

“But I guess Strickland was an ugly customer when he was roused, ” said Captain Nichols, reflectively. —
“但我猜斯特里克兰一旦被激怒起来是一个狠角色，”尼科尔斯船长沉思地说。 —

“One day we ran into Tough Bill in the Place, and he asked Charlie for the papers he’d given him. “
“有一天，我们在广场上遇到了强壮的比尔，他要查理找他还给他的文件。”

“You'd better come and take them if you want them, ' says Charlie. <span><tang1> "如果你想要，最好过来亲自拿，’查理说。

“He was a powerful fellow, Tough Bill, but he didn’t quite like the look of Charlie, so he began cursing him. —
“比尔是个有力的家伙，但他看着查理有点心虚，于是开始咒骂。 —

He called him pretty near every name he could lay hands on, and when Tough Bill began cursing it was worth listening to him. —
他用尽了自己能想到的所有词汇来诅咒查理，而当强壮的比尔开始诅咒时，值得一听。 —

Well, Charlie stuck it for a bit, then he stepped forward and he just said: —
好吧，查理忍耐了一会，然后他走上前去，只是说： —

Get out, you bloody swine. ' It wasn't so much what he said, but the way he said it. --- <span><tang1> "滚开，你这该死的猪。’ 不仅仅是他说的话，而是他说话的方式。 —

Tough Bill never spoke another word; you could see him go yellow, and he walked away as if he’d remembered he had a date. “
强壮的比尔再没说一个字；你可以看到他的脸色发黄，他离开的时候好像突然想起了他还有个约会。”

Strickland, according to Captain Nichols, did not use exactly the words I have given, but since this book is meant for family reading I have thought it better, at the expense of truth, to put into his mouth expressions familiar to the domestic circle.
根据尼科尔斯船长的说法，斯特里克兰并没有用我给出的确切词语，但由于这本书是为家庭阅读而写的，我认为最好还是用家里人熟悉的说法，牺牲一些真实性，让他说。

Now, Tough Bill was not the man to put up with humiliation at the hands of a common sailor. —
现在，强壮的比尔可不是那种会忍受在一个普通海员手中受屈辱的人。 —

His power depended on his prestige, and first one, then another, of the sailors who lived in his house told them that he had sworn to do Strickland in.
他的权力依赖于他的威望，他所住的船员中的一个又一个告诉他们，他发誓要对斯特里克兰下手。

One night Captain Nichols and Strickland were sitting in one of the bars of the Rue Bouterie. —
一天晚上，尼科尔斯船长和斯特里克兰德坐在鲁布特里街的一家酒吧里。 —

The Rue Bouterie is a narrow street of one-storeyed houses, each house consisting of but one room; —
鲁布特里街是一条狭窄的街道，每座房子只有一层，每个房子只有一个房间； —

they are like the booths in a crowded fair or the cages of animals in a circus. —
它们就像拥挤的集市的小亭子或马戏团里动物的笼子。 —

At every door you see a woman. Some lean lazily against the side-posts, humming to themselves or calling to the passer-by in a raucous voice, and some listlessly read. —
每个门口都有一位女人。有些懒散地倚在门柱上，哼着小曲或用沙哑的声音招呼过路人，有些无精打采地读着。 —

They are French. Italian, Spanish, Japanese, coloured; some are fat and some are thin; —
他们都是法国人。意大利人、西班牙人、日本人、有色人种；有的胖，有的瘦； —

and under the thick paint on their faces, the heavy smears on their eyebrows, and the scarlet of their lips, you see the lines of age and the scars of dissipation. —
在她们脸上浓厚的化妆、眉毛上的浓厚涂抹和嘴唇上的猩红下，你能看到岁月的痕迹和糜烂的伤疤。 —

Some wear black shifts and flesh-coloured stockings; —
有些穿着黑色的裙子和肉色的长袜； —

some with curly hair, dyed yellow, are dressed like little girls in short muslin frocks. —
有些头发卷曲、染成黄色，穿着短款薄纱裙子，像小女孩一样。 —

Through the open door you see a red-tiled floor, a large wooden bed, and on a deal table a ewer and a basin. —
透过敞开的门，你能看到红瓦地板、一张大木床，和一张台面上的水罐和盆。 —

A motley crowd saunters along the streets – Lascars off a P. and O. , blond Northmen from a Swedish barque, Japanese from a man-of-war, English sailors, Spaniards, pleasant-looking fellows from a French cruiser, negroes off an American tramp. —
一群各色各样的人在街上闲逛——来自印度和东方轮船公司的拉斯卡人，瑞典帆船上的金发北欧人，日本人，英国水手，西班牙人，法国巡洋舰上的憨厚小伙子，美国货轮上的黑人。 —

By day it is merely sordid, but at night, lit only by the lamps in the little huts, the street has a sinister beauty. —
白天它只是肮脏的，但夜晚只有小屋里的灯光照明着，这条街道就有了一种阴森的美感。 —

The hideous lust that pervades the air is oppressive and horrible, and yet there is something mysterious in the sight which haunts and troubles you. —
弥漫在空气中的丑陋欲望让人感到沉闷和可怕，但是你会被这景象中的神秘感困扰和困扰。 —

You feel I know not what primitive force which repels and yet fascinates you. —
你感受到某种原始的力量，在排斥和吸引你。 —

Here all the decencies of civilisation are swept away, and you feel that men are face to face with a sombre reality. —
这里所有文明的礼仪都被抛弃，你感到人们直面着一种黑暗的现实。 —

There is an atmosphere that is at once intense and tragic.
这里有一种既深沉又悲壮的氛围。

In the bar in which Strickland and Nichols sat a mechanical piano was loudly grinding out dance music. —
Strickland和尼科尔斯坐的酒吧里，一架机械钢琴正大声演奏着舞曲。 —

Round the room people were sitting at table, here half a dozen sailors uproariously drunk, there a group of soldiers; —
房间里，人们坐在桌旁，这里有半打喝醉了的水手，那里有一群士兵； —

and in the middle, crowded together, couples were dancing. —
中间，成双成对的人拥挤在一起跳舞。 —

Bearded sailors with brown faces and large horny hands clasped their partners in a tight embrace. —
留着胡须的水手们，棕色的脸庞，大而粗糙的手牢牢地搂着他们的伴侣。 —

The women wore nothing but a shift. Now and then two sailors would get up and dance together. —
女人们只穿着一件衬衫。有时候两个水手会站起来一起跳舞。 —

The noise was deafening. People were singing, shouting, laughing; —
噪音震耳欲聋。人们唱歌、喊叫、大笑； —

and when a man gave a long kiss to the girl sitting on his knees, cat-calls from the English sailors increased the din. —
当一个男人给坐在他膝上的女孩一个长长的吻时，英国水手的嘲笑声使噪音更大。 —

The air was heavy with the dust beaten up by the heavy boots of the men, and gray with smoke. —
空气中充满了被男人们重重靴子踢起的灰尘，灰烟弥漫。 —

It was very hot. Behind the bar was seated a woman nursing her baby. —
天气很热。吧台后座着一个女人抱着她的孩子。 —

The waiter, an undersized youth with a flat, spotty face, hurried to and fro carrying a tray laden with glasses of beer.
侍者，一个脸上长着斑点的矮个子青年，匆忙地来回走动，端着托盘上面摆满了啤酒杯。

In a little while Tough Bill, accompanied by two huge negroes, came in, and it was easy to see that he was already three parts drunk. —
不一会儿，粗壮的比尔带着两个巨大的黑人走进来，很容易看出他已经喝了三分之一了。 —

He was looking for trouble. He lurched against a table at which three soldiers were sitting and knocked over a glass of beer. —
他在找麻烦。他撞到了一个坐着的三个士兵的桌子，打翻了一杯啤酒。 —

There was an angry altercation, and the owner of the bar stepped forward and ordered Tough Bill to go. —
一场愤怒的争执发生了，酒吧的老板走上前去，命令比尔走开。 —

He was a hefty fellow, in the habit of standing no nonsense from his customers, and Tough Bill hesitated. —
他是个强壮的家伙，习惯于不容许顾客胡闹，Tough Bill犹豫了一下。 —

The landlord was not a man he cared to tackle, for the police were on his side, and with an oath he turned on his heel. —
酒吧老板是一个他不愿意去惹的人，因为警察是站在他这边的，比尔开口骂娘，然后气呼呼地转身走开。 —

Suddenly he caught sight of Strickland. He rolled up to him. He did not speak. —
突然，他看到了斯特里克兰。他朝他滚了过去。他没有说话。 —

He gathered the spittle in his mouth and spat full in Strickland’s face. —
他聚集口水，朝斯特里克兰的脸上狠狠地吐了一口。 —

Strickland seized his glass and flung it at him. The dancers stopped suddenly still. —
斯特里克兰抓起玻璃杯扔向他。舞者们突然停了下来。 —

There was an instant of complete silence, but when Tough Bill threw himself on Strickland the lust of battle seized them all, and in a moment there was a confused scrimmage. —
短短的瞬间里，人群陷入了完全的沉默，但当粗壮的比尔扑向斯特里克兰时，所有人都被战斗的欲望所牵动，片刻之间一片混乱。 —

Tables were overturned, glasses crashed to the ground. There was a hellish row. —
桌子被推翻，玻璃杯摔碎在地上。酒吧里一片混乱。 —

The women scattered to the door and behind the bar. Passers-by surged in from the street. —
女人们四散奔向门口和吧台后。街上的路人纷纷涌入。 —

You heard curses in every tongue the sound of blows, cries; —
你能听到所有人咒骂的声音，各种语言的声音，打击声，呼喊声； —

and in the middle of the room a dozen men were fighting with all their might. —
房间中间有十几个人拼命搏斗。 —

On a sudden the police rushed in, and everyone who could made for the door. —
警察突然冲进来，所有人都纷纷朝门口逃去。 —

When the bar was more or less cleared, Tough Bill was lying insensible on the floor with a great gash in his head. —
当酒吧比较清空时，粗壮的比尔躺在地板上，头上有一个大口子，晕倒了。 —

Captain Nichols dragged Strickland, bleeding from a wound in his arm, his clothes in rags, into the street. —
尼科尔斯船长拖着满脸是血的，胳膊受伤，衣服破烂不堪的斯特里克兰，拖到了街上。 —

His own face was covered with blood from a blow on the nose.
他自己的脸上也沾满了血，因为鼻子受了一击。

“I guess you’d better get out of Marseilles before Tough Bill comes out of hospital, ” he said to Strickland, when they had got back to the Chink’s Head and were cleaning themselves.
“我想你最好在比尔从医院出来之前离开马赛，”他对斯特里克兰说，当他们回到”东方酒吧”清理自己时。

“This beats cock-fighting, ” said Strickland.
“这比斗鸡还要好玩，”斯特里克兰说。

I could see his sardonic smile.
我看得出他那讽刺的微笑。

Captain Nichols was anxious. He knew Tough Bill’s vindictiveness. —
尼科尔斯船长很焦虑。他知道泰夫·比尔的报复心理。 —

Strickland had downed the mulatto twice, and the mulatto, sober, was a man to be reckoned with. —
斯特里克兰曾两次打倒那个混血儿，而清醒的混血儿是一个不容小视的人。 —

He would bide his time stealthily. He would be in no hurry, but one night Strickland would get a knife-thrust in his back, and in a day or two the corpse of a nameless beach-comber would be fished out of the dirty water of the harbour. —
他会悄悄地等待时机。他不会着急，但有一天晚上，斯特里克兰会被刺死，然后过两天，一具无名的浪子尸体会被从港口肮脏的水中打捞出来。 —

Nichols went next evening to Tough Bill’s house and made enquiries. —
尼科尔斯船长第二天晚上去了泰夫·比尔家里打听情况。 —

He was in hospital still, but his wife, who had been to see him, said he was swearing hard to kill Strickland when they let him out.
他仍然在医院，但他的妻子说，看望过他的人，他在发誓要杀死斯特里克兰。

A week passed.
一个星期过去了。

“That’s what I always say, ” reflected Captain Nichols, “when you hurt a man, hurt him bad. —
“这就是我一直说的，”尼科尔斯船长反思道，“当你伤害一个人时，一定要伤得重。” —

It gives you a bit of time to look about and think what you’ll do next. “
这给了你一点时间去四处看看，考虑接下来该怎么做。

Then Strickland had a bit of luck. A ship bound for Australia had sent to the Sailors’ Home for a stoker in place of one who had thrown himself overboard off Gibraltar in an attack of delirium tremens.
然后斯特里克兰便得了一点好运。一艘前往澳大利亚的船只在水手之家寻找一个取代吉布拉尔特海峡抑郁症跳海自杀的工程师。

“You double down to the harbour, my lad, ” said the Captain to Strickland, “and sign on. —
“你快去港口吧，我的小伙，”船长对斯特里克兰说，“签约吧。 —

You’ve got your papers. “
你有你的文件。”

Strickland set off at once, and that was the last Captain Nichols saw of him. —
斯特里克兰立刻动身，这也是尼科尔斯船长最后一次见到他。 —

The ship was only in port for six hours, and in the evening Captain Nichols watched the vanishing smoke from her funnels as she ploughed East through the wintry sea.
船只仅在港口停留六小时，傍晚，尼科尔斯船长看着船只烟囱里消失的烟雾，她在冬天的海上向东驶去。

I have narrated all this as best I could, because I like the contrast of these episodes with the life that I had seen Strickland live in Ashley Gardens when he was occupied with stocks and shares; —
我尽力叙述这一切，因为我喜欢这些片段与我在艾仕利花园见到的斯特里克兰从事股票和股本生活的对比； —

but I am aware that Captain Nichols was an outrageous liar, and I dare say there is not a word of truth in anything he told me. —
但我知道尼科尔斯船长是个大话精，我敢说他告诉我的任何一句话都没有一丝真实。 —

I should not be surprised to learn that he had never seen Strickland in his life, and owed his knowledge of Marseilles to the pages of a magazine.
我不应该感到惊讶地得知他从未见过史特里克兰，而对马赛的了解只来源于一本杂志的页面。