as he took a couple of cigars from the case I offered him, putting one in his mouth and the other in his pocket. 在他说这句话的时候又从我递过去的烟盒里拿了两支雪茄，一支衔在嘴上，一支揣在口袋里。

Now and then they made a bit of money. 偶然他们也有机会挣到一点儿钱。

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. 有时候一艘邮轮开进港，尼柯尔斯船长同雇用计时员攀上交情，会给两人找个临时装卸工的活儿。

When it was an English boat, they would dodge into the forecastle and get a hearty breakfast from the crew. 如果是一艘英国船，他们会溜进前甲板下面的舱房里，在水手那里饱餐一顿。

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. 当然，这样做要冒一定的风险，如果遇见船上的高级船员，他们就要从跳板上被赶下来，为了催他们动作快一些，屁股后面还要挨一靴子。

"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. “一个人只要肚子吃饱，屁股叫人踢一脚算不得什么，”尼柯尔斯船长说，“拿我个人说，我是从来不生气的。

An officer's got to think about discipline." 高级船员理应考虑船上的风纪的。”

I had a lively picture of Captain Nichols flying headlong down a narrow gangway before the uplifted foot of an angry mate, 我的脑子里活生生地出现一幅图画：一个气冲冲的大副飞起一脚，尼柯尔斯船长脑袋朝下地从窄窄的跳板上滚下来；

and, like a true Englishman, rejoicing in the spirit of the Mercantile Marine. 像一个真正的英国人那样，他对英国商船队的这种纪律严明的精神非常高兴。

There were often odd jobs to be got about the fish-market. 在鱼市场里也不时能够找点零活儿干。

Once they each of them earned a franc by loading trucks with innumerable boxes of oranges that had been dumped down on the quay. 还有一次，卡车要把堆在码头上的许多筐桔子运走，思特里克兰德同尼柯尔斯船长帮助装车，每人挣了一法郎。

One day they had a stroke of luck: 有一天两人很走运：

one of the boarding-masters got a contract to paint a tramp that had come in from Madagascar round the Cape of Good Hope, 一条从马达加斯加绕过好望角开来的货轮需要上油漆，一个开寄宿店的老板弄到包工合同，

and they spent several days on a plank hanging over the side, covering the rusty hull with paint. 他们两个人一连几天站在悬在船帮旁边的一条木板上，往锈迹斑斑的船壳上涂油漆。

It was a situation that must have appealed to Strickland's sardonic humour. 这件差事肯定很投合思特里克兰德的惯受讽嘲的脾气。

I asked Captain Nichols how he bore himself during these hardships. 我向尼柯尔斯船长打听，在那困顿的日子里，思特里克兰德有什么反应。

"Never knew him say a cross word," answered the Captain. “从来没听他说过一句丧气话，”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." “有时候他有点儿闷闷不乐，但是就是在我们整天吃不到一口饭，连在中国佬那里歇宿的房钱都弄不到手的时候，他仍然像蛐蛐一样欢蹦乱跳。”

I was not surprised at this. 我对此并不觉得惊奇。

Strickland was just the man to rise superior to circumstances, when they were such as to occasion despondency in most; 思特里克兰德正是超然于周围环境之外的人，就是在最沮丧的情况下也是如此。

but whether this was due to equanimity of soul or to contradictoriness it would be difficult to say. 这到底是由于心灵的宁静还是矛盾对立，那是难以说清的。