The time came for my departure from Tahiti. —
我离开大溪地的时刻到了。 —

According to the gracious custom of the island, presents were given me by the persons with whom I had been thrown in contact – baskets made of the leaves of the cocoa-nut tree, mats of pandanus, fans; —
根据岛上亲切的习俗，与我有过接触的人送给我礼物 – 用椰子树叶编织的篮子，香榧树编织的垫子，扇子； —

and Tiare gave me three little pearls and three jars of guava-jelly made with her own plump hands. —
Tiare送给我三颗小珍珠和三罐她自己做的番石榴果冻。 —

When the mail-boat, stopping for twenty-four hours on its way from Wellington to San Francisco, blew the whistle that warned the passengers to get on board, Tiare clasped me to her vast bosom, so that I seemed to sink into a billowy sea, and pressed her red lips to mine. —
当从惠灵顿到旧金山的邮船停泊二十四小时时，吹响了警告乘客上船的汽笛声，Tiare拥抱着我那丰满的胸膛，我似乎沉入波涛汹涌的海洋中，并把她红唇贴在我的嘴上。 —

Tears glistened in her eyes. And when we steamed slowly out of the lagoon, making our way gingerly through the opening in the reef, and then steered for the open sea, a certain melancholy fell upon me. —
她眼中闪烁着泪光。当我们缓缓驶出礁湖，小心翼翼穿过礁的裂口，然后驶向开阔的海洋时，某种忧伤降临到我心头。 —

The breeze was laden still with the pleasant odours of the land. —
微风仍然带着大地宜人的气息。 —

Tahiti is very far away, and I knew that I should never see it again. —
大溪地非常遥远，我知道我再也见不到它了。 —

A chapter of my life was closed, and I felt a little nearer to inevitable death.
我人生的一章结束了，我感到离难以避免的死亡更近了一步。

Not much more than a month later I was in London; —
不到一个月后我来到了伦敦； —

and after I had arranged certain matters which claimed my immediate attention, thinking Mrs. Strickland might like to hear what I knew of her husband’s last years, I wrote to her. —
安排妥当了一些紧急事务后，我想到斯特里克兰太太可能想知道我对她丈夫最后几年的了解，于是给她写信。 —

I had not seen her since long before the war, and I had to look out her address in the telephone-book. —
自战争以前我就没见过她了，不得不在电话簿里查到她的地址。 —

She made an appointment, and I went to the trim little house on Campden Hill which she now inhabited. —
她约我去她现在住的坎普登山上的整洁小房子。 —

She was by this time a woman of hard on sixty, but she bore her years well, and no one would have taken her for more than fifty. —
那时她已经将近六十岁，但岁月并没有在她脸上留下太多痕迹，没有人会认为她超过五十岁。 —

Her face, thin and not much lined, was of the sort that ages gracefully, so that you thought in youth she must have been a much handsomer woman than in fact she was. —
她脸蛋瘦小，皱纹不多，是那种老来得体的容貌，让你在年轻时肯定她一定比实际更漂亮。 —

Her hair, not yet very gray, was becomingly arranged, and her black gown was modish. —
她的头发还没变得太灰，梳理得很得体，穿着一条时尚的黑礼服。 —

I remembered having heard that her sister, Mrs. MacAndrew, outliving her husband but a couple of years, had left money to Mrs. Strickland; —
我记得听说她的姐姐麦克安德鲁太太，丈夫去世后还活了几年，留下了钱给斯特里克兰太太； —

and by the look of the house and the trim maid who opened the door I judged that it was a sum adequate to keep the widow in modest comfort.
根据房子的外表和打开门的整洁女佣，我判断这笔钱足以让寡妇过上适度的舒适生活；

When I was ushered into the drawing-room I found that Mrs. Strickland had a visitor, and when I discovered who he was, I guessed that I had been asked to come at just that time not without intention. —
当我被引入客厅时，发现斯特里克兰太太有一个客人，当我发现他是谁时，我猜想我被邀请来的时间并不是没有目的； —

The caller was Mr. Van Busche Taylor, an American, and Mrs. Strickland gave me particulars with a charming smile of apology to him.
来访者是美国人范布舍·泰勒，斯特里克兰太太用一种迷人的道歉微笑给我介绍了他的背景；

“You know, we English are so dreadfully ignorant. You must forgive me if it’s necessary to explain. —
“你知道，我们英国人太无知了。如果必要的话，请原谅我解释一下； —

” Then she turned to me. “Mr. Van Busche Taylor is the distinguished American critic. —
“然后她转向我。“范布舍·泰勒先生是著名的美国评论家。 —

If you haven’t read his book your education has been shamefully neglected, and you must repair the omission at once. —
如果你还没有读过他的书，你的教育被极为忽视了，你必须立即补上这个遗漏。 —

He’s writing something about dear Charlie, and he’s come to ask me if I can help him. “
他正在写有关亲爱的查理的东西，他来问我能不能帮忙。”

Mr. Van Busche Taylor was a very thin man with a large, bald head, bony and shining; —
范布舍·泰勒是一个非常瘦的人，大脑袋光秃秃的，骨感的； —

and under the great dome of his skull his face, yellow, with deep lines in it, looked very small. —
在他巨大头颅的下面，他的脸黄，有深深的皱纹，看起来很小。 —

He was quiet and exceedingly polite. He spoke with the accent of New England, and there was about his demeanour a bloodless frigidity which made me ask myself why on earth he was busying himself with Charles Strickland. —
他沉默而极其礼貌。他说话带着新英格兰的口音，他的举止中有一种无血色的冷凝让我不禁问自己为什么他要忙于查尔斯·斯特里克兰。 —

I had been slightly tickled at the gentleness which Mrs. Strickland put into her mention of her husband’s name, and while the pair conversed I took stock of the room in which we sat. —
我稍微有点惊讶斯特里克兰太太在提及她丈夫的名字时表现出的温和，而当这对夫妇交谈时，我审视了我们所坐的房间。 —

Mrs. Strickland had moved with the times. —
斯特里克兰太太与时俱进。 —

Gone were the Morris papers and gone the severe cretonnes, gone were the Arundel prints that had adorned the walls of her drawingroom in Ashley Gardens; —
摒弃了莫里斯纸张和严肃的亚麻布，消失了曾装饰在阿仇德尔印画墙上的画作； —

the room blazed with fantastic colour, and I wondered if she knew that those varied hues, which fashion had imposed upon her, were due to the dreams of a poor painter in a South Sea island. —
房间闪耀着奇幻色彩，我想知道她是否知道那些多变的色彩，是因为南海岛屿一个贫穷画家的梦想。 —

She gave me the answer herself.
她亲自给了我答案。

“What wonderful cushions you have, ” said Mr. Van Busche Taylor.
“你有多漂亮的靠垫啊，”范布舍泰勒先生说道。

“Do you like them?” she said, smiling. “Bakst, you know. “
“你喜欢它们吗？”她微笑着说。“巴克斯的作品，你知道。”

And yet on the walls were coloured reproductions of several of Strickland’s best pictures, due to the enterprise of a publisher in Berlin.
然而，墙上挂着几幅斯特里克兰德的精彩画作的彩色复制品，这要归功于柏林的一家出版商的进取心。

“You’re looking at my pictures, ” she said, following my eyes. —
“你在看我的画作，”她顺着我的眼神说。 —

“Of course, the originals are out of my reach, but it’s a comfort to have these. —
“当然，原作对我来说遥不可及，但拥有这些还是蛮令人欣慰的。” —

The publisher sent them to me himself. They’re a great consolation to me. “
“出版商亲自送给我的。它们对我来说是一大慰藉。”

“They must be very pleasant to live with, ” said Mr. Van Busche Taylor.
“和它们一起生活肯定很愉快，”范布舍泰勒先生说。

“Yes; they’re so essentially decorative. “
“是的，它们如此强调装饰。”

“That is one of my profoundest convictions, ” said Mr. Van Busche Taylor. —
“这是我最深信不疑的事情之一，”范布舍泰勒先生说道。 —

“Great art is always decorative. “
“伟大的艺术总是具有装饰性的。”

Their eyes rested on a nude woman suckling a baby, while a girl was kneeling by their side holding out a flower to the indifferent child. —
他们的目光停留在一个裸体妇女哺乳婴儿的画作上，旁边有一个女孩跪在地上向这个漠然的孩子递上一朵花。 —

Looking over them was a wrinkled, scraggy hag. It was Strickland’s version of the Holy Family. —
目光则落在一位皱巴巴的老妇人身上。这是斯特里克兰德对圣家族的诠释。 —

I suspected that for the figures had sat his household above Taravao, and the woman and the baby were Ata and his first son. —
我怀疑这些形象是他在塔拉瓦上方的家人坐过的，女人和婴儿就是阿塔和他的长子。 —

I asked myself if Mrs. Strickland had any inkling of the facts.
我开始怀疑斯特里克兰德夫人是否有任何了解这些事实。

The conversation proceeded, and I marvelled at the tact with which Mr. Van Busche Taylor avoided all subjects that might have been in the least embarrassing, and at the ingenuity with which Mrs. Strickland, without saying a word that was untrue, insinuated that her relations with her husband had always been perfect. —
对话进行下去，我对范布什泰勒先生巧妙地回避可能令人尴尬的话题感到惊叹，同时惊叹斯特里克兰太太巧妙地暗示她与丈夫的关系一直完美无缺，而且没有说出任何不真实的话。 —

At last Mr. Van Busche Taylor rose to go. —
最后范布什泰勒先生起身告辞。 —

Holding his hostess’ hand, he made her a graceful, though perhaps too elaborate, speech of thanks, and left us.
他握着女主人的手，做了一番很优雅，但也许有点过分华丽的感谢辞，然后离开了我们。

“I hope he didn’t bore you, ” she said, when the door closed behind him. —
“希望他没有让你感到无聊，” 当他离开时，她说。 —

“Of course it’s a nuisance sometimes, but I feel it’s only right to give people any information I can about Charlie. —
“当然有时挺烦人的，但我觉得向人们提供任何我能提供的有关查理的信息是应该的。” —

There’s a certain responsibility about having been the wife of a genius. “
“曾是一个天才的妻子，这一点上有一定的责任感。”

She looked at me with those pleasant eyes of hers, which had remained as candid and as sympathetic as they had been more than twenty years before. —
她用那双让人愉快的眼睛看着我，这双眼睛保持着二十多年前那样坦诚和富于同情心。 —

I wondered if she was making a fool of me.
我想知道她是不是在愚弄我。

“Of course you’ve given up your business, ” I said.
“你已经放弃你的生意了，”我说。

“Oh, yes, ” she answered airily. “I ran it more by way of a hobby than for any other reason, and my children persuaded me to sell it. —
“哦，是的，”她轻松地回答。“我开的生意更像是一种爱好，而非其他原因，我的孩子们劝我把它卖掉。他们认为我负担过重。” —

They thought I was overtaxing my strength. “
我看出斯特里克兰太太已经忘记她曾经做过以工作为生糊口的可耻事情。

I saw that Mrs. Strickland had forgotten that she had ever done anything so disgraceful as to work for her living. —
她具有真正好女人的本能，认为靠别人的钱过活才是真正体面的。 —

She had the true instinct of the nice woman that it is only really decent for her to live on other people’s money.
“他们现在在这儿，”她说。“我觉得他们会想听听你对他们父亲的看法。你还记得罗伯特吗？我很高兴地告诉你，他已被推荐获得军功十字勋章。”

“They’re here now, ” she said. “I thought they’d, like to hear what you had to say about their father. —
Please have a seat. Henry will be here soon. Apologies for the wait. —

You remember Robert, don’t you? I’m glad to say he’s been recommended for the Military Cross. “
Don’t worry, I understand. No problem at all.

She went to the door and called them. There entered a tall man in khaki, with the parson’s collar, handsome in a somewhat heavy fashion, but with the frank eyes that I remembered in him as a boy. —
她走到门口喊了他们。 —

He was followed by his sister. She must have been the same age as was her mother when first I knew her, and she was very like her. —
一个穿着卡其色衣服、白领衫的高个子男人走了进来，他帅气而略微笨重的样子让我想起了他小时候那双坦率的眼睛。 —

She too gave one the impression that as a girl she must have been prettier than indeed she was.
他后面跟着他的姐姐。她应该和她母亲第一次认识时一样大，看起来很像她。

“I suppose you don’t remember them in the least, ” said Mrs. Strickland, proud and smiling. —
“我猜你一点都不记得他们了，”斯特里克兰太太骄傲地笑着说。 —

“My daughter is now Mrs. Ronaldson. Her husband’s a Major in the Gunners. “
“我女儿现在是罗纳德森夫人。她丈夫是炮兵团的少校。”

“He’s by way of being a pukka soldier, you know, ” said Mrs. Ronaldson gaily. —
“他是个纯粹的军人，你知道，”罗纳德森夫人欢快地说。 —

“That’s why he’s only a Major. “
“这就是为什么他只是一个少校。”

I remembered my anticipation long ago that she would marry a soldier. It was inevitable. —
我记得很久以前就预料到她会嫁给一个军人。那是不可避免的。 —

She had all the graces of the soldier’s wife. —
她拥有所有军人妻子的魅力。 —

She was civil and affable, but she could hardly conceal her intimate conviction that she was not quite as others were. Robert was breezy.
她彬彬有礼，但很难掩饰她内心深处的信念，认为她并不像其他人那样。

“It’s a bit of luck that I should be in London when you turned up, ” he said. —
“我很幸运能在你出现的时候恰巧在伦敦，”他说。 —

“I’ve only got three days’ leave. “
“我只有三天的假期。”

“He’s dying to get back, ” said his mother.
“他急着想回去，”他的母亲说。

“Well, I don’t mind confessing it, I have a rattling good time at the front. —
“嗯，我不介意承认，我在前线过得很开心。 —

I’ve made a lot of good pals. It’s a first-rate life. —
我交了很多好朋友。这是一个非常棒的生活。” —

Of course war’s terrible, and all that sort of thing; —
当然，战争是可怕的，等等； —

but it does bring out the best qualities in a man, there’s no denying that. “
但毋庸置疑，它确实能展现出人的最好品质。

Then I told them what I had learned about Charles Strickland in Tahiti. —
然后我告诉他们我在大溪地了解到的关于查尔斯·斯特里克兰的事情。 —

I thought it unnecessary to say anything of Ata and her boy, but for the rest I was as accurate as I could be. —
我觉得没有必要提及阿塔和她的孩子，但对于其他事情，我尽可能准确。 —

When I had narrated his lamentable death I ceased. —
当我叙述完他令人痛心的死亡之后，我停了下来。 —

For a minute or two we were all silent. Then Robert Strickland struck a match and lit a cigarette.
有一两分钟我们都保持沉默。然后罗伯特·斯特里克兰打着一根火柴点燃了一支香烟。

“The mills of God grind slowly, but they grind exceeding small, ” he said, somewhat impressively.
“上帝的磨坊虽然磨得慢，但磨得极细，”他说得有点令人印象深刻。

Mrs. Strickland and Mrs. Ronaldson looked down with a slightly pious expression which indicated, I felt sure, that they thought the quotation was from Holy Writ. Indeed, I was unconvinced that Robert Strickland did not share their illusion. —
斯特里克兰太太和罗纳德森太太低头看着，脸上微微带着虔诚的表情，我确信他们认为这句话出自《圣经》。实际上，我不确定罗伯特·斯特里克兰是否也有这种错觉。 —

I do not know why I suddenly thought of Strickland’s son by Ata. They had told me he was a merry, light-hearted youth. —
我不知道为什么我突然想起了斯特里克兰和阿塔的儿子。他们告诉我他是一个开朗、轻松的少年。 —

I saw him, with my mind’s eye, on the schooner on which he worked, wearing nothing but a pair of dungarees; —
我在脑海中看到他，在那艘他工作的帆船上，只穿着一条工装裤； —

and at night, when the boat sailed along easily before a light breeze, and the sailors were gathered on the upper deck, while the captain and the supercargo lolled in deck-chairs, smoking their pipes, I saw him dance with another lad, dance wildly, to the wheezy music of the concertina. —
夜晚，当船在轻风中轻松地航行时，水手们聚集在上层甲板上，而船长和超级货运员懒散地靠在躺椅上，抽着烟斗，我看到他与另一个男孩疯狂地跳舞，跳动着，伴随着飞机风琴的喘息般的音乐。 —

Above was the blue sky, and the stars, and all about the desert of the Pacific Ocean.
头顶是蔚蓝的天空和星星，四周是太平洋的荒漠。

A quotation from the Bible came to my lips, but I held my tongue, for I know that clergymen think it a little blasphemous when the laity poach upon their preserves. —
一个圣经的引文出现在我口中，但我保持沉黙，因为我知道传教士们认为俗人触犯了他们的领地时有点亵渎。 —

My Uncle Henry, for twenty-seven years Vicar of Whitstable, was on these occasions in the habit of saying that the devil could always quote scripture to his purpose. —
在惠特斯特布尔担任了二十七年牧师的我叔亨利，在这种场合经常说魔鬼总能以圣经的话来达到他的目的。 —

He remembered the days when you could get thirteen Royal Natives for a shilling.
他记得过去可以用一先令买到十三根皇家原生的情景。