Chapter7-双语名著无障碍阅读丛书——《月亮与六便士The Moon and Sixpence》

Chapter VII The season was drawing to its dusty end,and everyone I knew was arranging to go away.Mrs.Strickland was taking her family to the coast of Norfolk,so that the children might have the sea and her husband golf.We said good-bye to one another,and arranged to meet in the autumn.But on my last day in town, coming out of the Stores,I met her with her son and daughter;like myself,she had been making her final purchases before leaving London,and we were both hot and tired.I proposed that we should all go and eat ices in the park. I think Mrs.Strickland was glad to show me her children,and she accepted my invitation with alacrity.They were even more attractive than their photographs had suggested,and she was right to be proud of them.I was young enough for them not to feel shy,and they chattered merrily about one thing and another.They were extraordinarily nice,healthy young children.It was very agreeable under the trees. When in an hour they crowded into a cab to go home,I strolled idly to my club.I was perhaps a little lonely,and it was with a touch of envy that I thought of the pleasant family life of which I had had a glimpse.They seemed devoted to one another.They had little private jokes of their own which,unintelligible to the outsider,amused them enormously.Perhaps Charles Strickland was dull judged ·048· 七 枯燥乏味的社交季即将结束，我认识的每一个人都 在计划离开伦敦。斯特里克兰德太太打算带全家人到诺 佛克海滨去，孩子们可以去海边游泳，丈夫可以打高尔 夫球。我们互致再见，约定秋天再见。可是就在我次日 就要离开伦敦的那天，我从陆海军商店购物出来的时 候，与斯特里克兰德太太和她的一双儿女偶遇；她和我 一样，也是在离开伦敦之前最后一次购物。我们都汗流 浃背，疲惫不堪的，于是我提议一起去公园吃点冷饮。 我推测斯特里克兰德太太一定很高兴秀秀她的两个 ①alacrity[b'laekrati坷n.欣然 孩子，她毫不犹豫就接受了我的邀请。孩子们比照片上 同意的表示 还要可爱，她理所当然应该为他们而自豪。我也正青春 年少，所以他们在我面前也是无拘无束的，开心地聊东 聊西。这两个小孩子都健康活泼，像模像样，逗人喜爱。 我们在树荫下休憩，都觉得心情舒畅。 休息了近一个小时，这一家子挤上一辆马车回家 ②stroll[straul]溜达，闲 了，我也一个人懒洋洋地向我的俱乐部慢慢走去。大概 荡 ③idly['aidli]ad..无所事事 我觉得有些寂寞了吧，回忆着刚才目睹的幸福家庭生 地；懒惰地 活，我触景生情，心中的羡慕油然而生。他们似乎彼此 忠贞不谕。他们说一些外人听不懂的私房小笑话，乐不 可支。假如以口才作为判定一个人智慧的最高标准，那 查尔斯·斯特里克兰德大概算是愚笨之人，然而他的智 ·049· ChapterVII by a standard that demanded above all things verbal scintillation;but his intelligence was adequate to his surroundings,and that is a passport,not only to reasonable success,but still more to happiness.Mrs.Strickland was a charming woman,and she loved him.I pictured their lives,troubled by no untoward adventure,honest,decent,and,by reason of those two upstanding,pleasant children,so obviously destined to carry on the normal traditions of their race and station,not without significance.They would grow old insensibly;they would see their son and daughter come to years of reason,marry in due course -the one a pretty girl,future mother of healthy children;the other a handsome, manly fellow,obviously a soldier;and at last,prosperous in their dignified retirement,beloved by their descendants,after a happy,not unuseful life,in the fullness of their age they would sink into the grave. That must be the story of innumerable couples,and the pattern of life it offers has a homely grace.It reminds you of a placid rivulet,meandering smoothly through green pastures and shaded by pleasant trees,till at last it falls into the vasty sea;but the sea is so calm,so silent,so indifferent,that you are troubled suddenly by a vague uneasiness.Perhaps it is only by a kink in my nature,strong in me even in those days,that I felt in such an existence,the share of the great majority,something amiss.I recognised its social values,I saw its ordered happiness,but a fever in my blood asked for a wilder course. There seemed to me something alarming in such easy delights.In my heart was a desire to live more dangerously.I was not unprepared for jagged rocks and treacherousshoals if I could only have change-change and the excitement of the unforeseen. ·050· 七 scintillation [.sinti'leifan] 慧与他所处的环境相匹配，不仅成为成功事业的通行 n(才华、智慧的)焕发， 迸发 证，而且更是幸福的通行证。斯特里克兰德太太是一个 可爱的女人，她爱她的丈夫至深。我勾勒得出他们顺风 顺水的生活，没有节外生枝的干扰，诚实而体面，两个 孩子更是循规蹈矩，乖巧可爱，一眼就看得出来，一定 会继承传统、家业和社会地位，光宗耀祖。他们会在不 知不觉间渐渐老去，儿女却渐渐长大成人，到了一定的 年龄，就会照例男婚女嫁—一个已经出落成漂亮的大 姑娘，将来还会成为健康孩子的母亲：另一个则是英俊 帅气的男子汉，显而易见会成为一名军人。最后，他们 会功成名就，光荣退休，他们德高望重，养尊处优，深 受子孙爱戴，晚年生活幸福而充实。他们顾养天年，在 龟年鹤寿之后寿终正寝。 人间不计其数的夫妻的生活故事一定都是如此。这 ②placid[plasid]a.平静的 种生活模式给人一种安详亲切的感觉，令人联想到一条 安静的 ③rivulet['rivjulit].小河， 静静的小河，蜿蜒曲折流过绿油油的牧场，岸边绿萌掩 小溪 映，最后落入浩瀚的大海。但是大海却总是那么平静， ④meander[mi'endb]k(河 流等)蜿蜒；迂回曲折 那么沉默，那么淡定，你会突然隐约感到一种不安。大 地前进 概这只是我自己的一种天生的怪癖吧，即便在那些年， pasture ['pa:stfa;'pas-]n. 这种古怪的念头对我影响也很深，我觉得这像大多数人 牧场：牧草地 样的生活，似乎欠缺了一点儿什么。我承认这种生活 的社会价值，我也认识到了这种稳稳的幸福，但是我的 血液中却有一种强烈的渴望，渴望去走一条更狂野的 ⑥jagged['d3 egid]a.参差 路。这种安详自在的快乐中好像有一种让我惶恐不安的 不齐的：凸凹不平的 7 treacherous ['tretfaras]a. 东西。我的心渴望一种更大的冒险。只要在我的生活中 暗藏危险的 能有千变万化一千变万化和无法预见的刺激，我随时 8 shoals[ouls]m.复]暗 准备攀登怪石嶙峋的山崖，奔赴暗礁处处的海滩。 礁 ·051·