A certain importance attaches to the views on art of painters, 对于其他大师的绘画艺术看法如何，是一件相当重要的事；

and this is the natural place for me to set down what I know of Strickland's opinions of the great artists of the past. 我在这里自然要记叙一下思特里克兰德对过去一些伟大艺术家的意见。

I am afraid I have very little worth noting. 我怕值得我写下的东西实在不多。

Strickland was not a conversationalist, and he had no gift for putting what he had to say in the striking phrase that the listener remembers. 思特里克兰德不善讲话，他根本不会把自己想要说的用精辟的言辞讲出来，给听的人留下较深的印象。

He had no wit. 他说话没有风趣。

His humour, as will be seen if I have in any way succeeded in reproducing the manner of his conversation, was sardonic. 如果说我多少还成功地记录下他的一些话语，从中可以看出他的某些幽默感，这种幽默也主要表现为冷嘲热讽。

His repartee was rude. 他辩驳别人话的时候非常粗野，

He made one laugh sometimes by speaking the truth, but this is a form of humour which gains its force only by its unusualness; 有时候由于直言不讳，会叫你发笑；但是这些话之所以让你觉得滑稽，只是因为他的话说得不多。

it would cease to amuse if it were commonly practised. 如果他一开口就是这样的话，人们也就不觉得有什么好笑的了。

Strickland was not, I should say, a man of great intelligence, and his views on painting were by no means out of the ordinary. 我应该说，思特里克兰德并不是一个智力超群的人，他对于绘画的见解也丝毫没有什么独到之处。

I never heard him speak of those whose work had a certain analogy with his own—of Cezanne, for instance, or of Van Gogh; 我从来没有听他谈论过那些绘画风格与他类似的画家，例如塞尚，凡·高等人；

and I doubt very much if he had ever seen their pictures. 我很怀疑他是否看过这些画家的作品。

He was not greatly interested in the Impressionists. 他对于印象派画家似乎不怎么感兴趣，

Their technique impressed him, but I fancy that he thought their attitude commonplace. 这些人的技巧留给他一定的印象，但是我猜想他也许认为他们对待艺术的态度是平庸无奇的。

When Stroeve was holding forth at length on the excellence of Monet, he said: "I prefer Winterhalter." 有一次施特略夫正仔细评论莫奈的卓越艺术，思特里克兰德突然插口说：“我更喜欢温特尔哈尔特（弗朗兹·伊可萨维尔·温特尔哈尔特（1805—1873），德国宫廷画家）。”

But I dare say he said it to annoy, and if he did he certainly succeeded. 我敢说他说这句是有意气一气施特略夫；如果他确实有这个意思，他算成功了。