月亮和六便士 第1章(1)

 　　Chapter 1 第一章

　　I confess that when first I made acquaintance with Charles Strickland I never for a moment discerned that there was in him anything out of the ordinary. 老实说，我刚刚认识查理斯·思特里克兰德的时候，从来没注意到这个人有什么与众不同的地方。

　　Yet now few will be found to deny his greatness.  但是今天却很少有人不承认他的伟大了。

　　I do not speak of that greatness which is achieved by the fortunate politician or the successful soldier;  我所谓的伟大不是走红运的政治家或是立战功的军人的伟大；

　　that is a quality which belongs to the place he occupies rather than to the man;  这种人显赫一时，与其说是他们本身的特质倒不如说沾了他们地位的光，

　　and a change of circumstances reduces it to very discreet¹ proportions.  一旦事过境迁，他们的伟大也就黯然失色了。

　　The Prime Minister out of office is seen, too often, to have been but a pompous² rhetorician,  人们常常发现一位离了职的首相当年只不过是个大言不惭的演说家；

　　and the General without an army is but the tame hero of a market town.  一个解甲归田的将军无非是个平淡乏味的市井英雄。

　　The greatness of Charles Strickland was authentic³.  但是查理斯·思特里克兰德的伟大却是真正的伟大。

　　It may be that you do not like his art, but at all events you can hardly refuse it the tribute of your interest.  你可能不喜欢他的艺术，但无论如何你不能不对它感到兴趣。

　　He disturbs and arrests.  他的作品使你不能平静，扣紧你的心弦。

　　The time has passed when he was an object of ridicule⁴, and it is no longer a mark of eccentricity⁵ to defend or of perversity⁶ to extol⁷ him.  思特里克兰德受人挪揄讥嘲的时代已经过去了，为他辩护或甚至对他赞誉也不再被看作是某些人的奇行怪癖了。

　　His faults are accepted as the necessary complement⁸ to his merits.  他的瑕疵在世人的眼中已经成为他的优点的必不可少的派生物。

　　It is still possible to discuss his place in art, and the adulation of his admirers is perhaps no less capricious than the disparagement⁹ of his detractors;  他在艺术史上的地位尽可以继续争论。崇拜者对他的赞颂同贬抑者对他的诋毁固然都可能出于偏颇和任性，

　　but one thing can never be doubtful, and that is that he had genius.  但是有一点是不容置疑的，那就是他具有天才。

　　To my mind the most interesting thing in art is the personality of the artist; and if that is singular, I am willing to excuse a thousand faults.   在我看来，艺术中最令人感兴趣的就是艺术家的个性；如果艺术家赋有独特的性格，尽管他有一千个缺点，我也可以原谅。

　　I suppose Velasquez was a better painter than El Greco, but custom stales one's admiration¹⁰ for him: 我料想，委拉斯凯兹【迪埃戈·罗德里盖斯·德·西尔瓦·委拉斯凯兹（1599—1660），西班牙画家】是个比埃尔·格列柯【埃尔·格列柯（1541—1614？），西班牙画家，生于克里特岛】更高超的画家。可是由于所见过多，却使我们感到他的绘画有些乏味。

　　the Cretan, sensual and tragic¹¹, proffers¹² the mystery of his soul like a standing¹³ sacrifice.  而那位克里特岛画家的作品却有一种肉欲和悲剧性的美，仿佛作为永恒的牺牲似地把自己灵魂的秘密呈献出来。

　　The artist, painter, poet, or musician, by his decoration, sublime¹⁴ or beautiful, satisfies the aesthetic¹⁵ sense;  一个艺术家——画家也好，诗人也好，音乐家也好，用他的崇高的或者美丽的作品把世界装点起来，满足了人们的审美意识，

　　but that is akin¹⁶ to the sexual instinct, and shares its barbarity:   但这也同人类的性本能不无相似的地方，都有其粗野狂暴的一面。

　　he lays before you also the greater gift of himself. 在把作品奉献给世人的同时，艺术家也把他个人的伟大才能呈现到你眼前。

　　To pursue his secret has something of the fascination¹⁷ of a detective story.  探索一个艺术家的秘密颇有些阅读侦探小说的迷人劲儿。

　　It is a riddle¹⁸ which shares with the universe the merit of having no answer.  这个奥秘同大自然极相似，其妙处就在于无法找到答案。

　　The most insignificant¹⁹ of Strickland's works suggests a personality which is strange, tormented²⁰, and complex;  思特里克兰德的最不足道的作品也使你模糊看到他的奇特、复杂、受着折磨的性格；

　　and it is this surely which prevents even those who do not like his pictures from being indifferent to them;  那些不喜欢他的绘画的人之所以不能对他漠不关心，肯定是因为这个原因。

　　it is this which has excited so curious an interest in his life and character. 也正是这一点，使得那么多人对他的生活和性格充满了好奇心和浓厚的兴趣。

1 discreet   

adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的

参考例句：

• He is very discreet in giving his opinions.发表意见他十分慎重。
• It wasn't discreet of you to ring me up at the office.你打电话到我办公室真是太鲁莽了。

2 pompous   

adj.傲慢的，自大的；夸大的；豪华的

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities.他有点自大，自视甚高。
• He is a good man underneath his pompous appearance. 他的外表虽傲慢，其实是个好人。

3 authentic   

a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的

参考例句：

• This is an authentic news report. We can depend on it. 这是篇可靠的新闻报道, 我们相信它。
• Autumn is also the authentic season of renewal. 秋天才是真正的除旧布新的季节。

4 ridicule   

v.讥讽，挖苦；n.嘲弄

参考例句：

• You mustn't ridicule unfortunate people.你不该嘲笑不幸的人。
• Silly mistakes and queer clothes often arouse ridicule.荒谬的错误和古怪的服装常会引起人们的讪笑。

5 eccentricity   

n.古怪，反常，怪癖

参考例句：

• I can't understand the eccentricity of Henry's behavior.我不理解亨利的古怪举止。
• His eccentricity had become legendary long before he died.在他去世之前他的古怪脾气就早已闻名遐尔了。

6 perversity   

n.任性；刚愎自用

参考例句：

• She's marrying him out of sheer perversity.她嫁给他纯粹是任性。
• The best of us have a spice of perversity in us.在我们最出色的人身上都有任性的一面。

7 extol   

v.赞美，颂扬

参考例句：

• We of the younger generation extol the wisdom of the great leader and educator.我们年轻一代崇拜那位伟大的引路人和教育家的智慧。
• Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever. 我要天天称颂你，也要永永远远赞美你的名。

8 complement   

n.补足物，船上的定员；补语；vt.补充，补足

参考例句：

• The two suggestions complement each other.这两条建议相互补充。
• They oppose each other also complement each other.它们相辅相成。

9 disparagement   

n.轻视，轻蔑

参考例句：

• He was humble and meek, filled with self-disparagement and abasement. 他谦卑、恭顺，满怀自我贬斥与压抑。 来自互联网
• Faint praise is disparagement. 敷衍勉强的恭维等于轻蔑。 来自互联网

10 admiration   

n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕

参考例句：

• He was lost in admiration of the beauty of the scene.他对风景之美赞不绝口。
• We have a great admiration for the gold medalists.我们对金牌获得者极为敬佩。

11 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

12 proffers   

v.提供，贡献，提出( proffer的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

13 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

14 sublime   

adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的

参考例句：

• We should take some time to enjoy the sublime beauty of nature.我们应该花些时间去欣赏大自然的壮丽景象。
• Olympic games play as an important arena to exhibit the sublime idea.奥运会，就是展示此崇高理念的重要舞台。

15 aesthetic   

adj.美学的，审美的，有美感

参考例句：

• My aesthetic standards are quite different from his.我的审美标准与他的大不相同。
• The professor advanced a new aesthetic theory.那位教授提出了新的美学理论。

16 akin   

adj.同族的，类似的

参考例句：

• She painted flowers and birds pictures akin to those of earlier feminine painters.她画一些同早期女画家类似的花鸟画。
• Listening to his life story is akin to reading a good adventure novel.听他的人生故事犹如阅读一本精彩的冒险小说。

17 fascination   

n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋

参考例句：

• He had a deep fascination with all forms of transport.他对所有的运输工具都很着迷。
• His letters have been a source of fascination to a wide audience.广大观众一直迷恋于他的来信。

18 riddle   

n.谜，谜语，粗筛；vt.解谜，给…出谜，筛，检查，鉴定，非难，充满于；vi.出谜

参考例句：

• The riddle couldn't be solved by the child.这个谜语孩子猜不出来。
• Her disappearance is a complete riddle.她的失踪完全是一个谜。

19 insignificant   

adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的

参考例句：

• In winter the effect was found to be insignificant.在冬季，这种作用是不明显的。
• This problem was insignificant compared to others she faced.这一问题与她面临的其他问题比较起来算不得什么。

20 tormented   

饱受折磨的

参考例句：

• The knowledge of his guilt tormented him. 知道了自己的罪责使他非常痛苦。
• He had lain awake all night, tormented by jealousy. 他彻夜未眠，深受嫉妒的折磨。