(雙語(yǔ))月亮和六便士 第48章(4)

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"What was it like?" I asked.

“他畫(huà)得怎么樣？”我問(wèn)。

"Do not ask me. I could not make head or tail of it. I never saw such a thing in my life. 'What shall we do with it?' I said to my wife. 'We can never hang it up,' she said. 'People would laugh at us.' So she took it into an attic and put it away with all sorts of rubbish, for my wife can never throw anything away. It is her mania. Then, imagine to yourself, just before the war my brother wrote to me from Paris, and said: 'Do you know anything about an English painter who lived in Tahiti? It appears that he was a genius, and his pictures fetch large prices. See if you can lay your hands on anything and send it to me. There's money to be made.' So I said to my wife. 'What about that picture that Strickland gave me?' Is it possible that it is still in the attic?' 'Without doubt,' she answered, 'for you know that I never throw anything away. It is my mania.' We went up to the attic, and there, among I know not what rubbish that had been gathered during the thirty years we have inhabited that house, was the picture. I looked at it again, and I said: 'Who would have thought that the overseer of my plantation on the peninsula, to whom I lent two hundred francs, had genius? Do you see anything in the picture?' 'No,' she said, 'it does not resemble the plantation and I have never seen cocoa-nuts with blue leaves; but they are mad in Paris, and it may be that your brother will be able to sell it for the two hundred francs you lent Strickland.' Well, we packed it up and we sent it to my brother. And at last I received a letter from him. What do you think he said? 'I received your picture,' he said, 'and I confess I thought it was a joke that you had played on me. I would not have given the cost of postage for the picture. I was half afraid to show it to the gentleman who had spoken to me about it. Imagine my surprise when he said it was a masterpiece, and offered me thirty thousand francs. I dare say he would have paid more, but frankly I was so taken aback that I lost my head; I accepted the offer before I was able to collect myself.'"

“別問(wèn)我這個(gè)，我一點(diǎn)也看不懂。我活了一輩子也沒(méi)見(jiàn)過(guò)這種畫(huà)?！@幅畫(huà)咱們?cè)趺崔k？’我問(wèn)我的妻子說(shuō)?！裁磿r(shí)候也掛不出去，’她說(shuō)，‘人家會(huì)笑掉大牙的，’就這樣她把它拿到閣樓上，同各式各樣的廢物堆在一起。我的妻子什么東西也舍不得扔掉，這是她的習(xí)性。幾年以后，你自己可以想象一下，正當(dāng)大戰(zhàn)爆發(fā)之前，我哥哥從巴黎給我寫(xiě)來(lái)一封信說(shuō)：‘你是否聽(tīng)說(shuō)過(guò)一個(gè)在塔希提住過(guò)的英國(guó)人？看來(lái)這人是個(gè)天才，他的畫(huà)現(xiàn)在能賣(mài)大錢(qián)?？纯茨阌袥](méi)有辦法弄到他畫(huà)的任何東西，給我寄來(lái)。這件事很能賺錢(qián)?！谑俏覍?duì)我的妻子說(shuō)：‘思特里克蘭德給我的那張畫(huà)還有沒(méi)有？會(huì)不會(huì)仍然在閣樓上放著呢？’‘沒(méi)錯(cuò)兒，’她回答說(shuō)，‘你也知道，我什么東西都不扔。這是我的毛病?！覀儍扇俗叩介w樓上，這里堆著自從我們住到這所房子的第一天起積攢了三十年的各式各樣的破爛貨。那幅畫(huà)就在這些我也弄不清楚到底都是些什么的廢物堆里面。我又仔細(xì)看了看。我說(shuō)：‘誰(shuí)想得到，我的半島上的種植園里的一個(gè)監(jiān)工，一個(gè)向我借過(guò)兩百法郎的人，居然是個(gè)偉大天才。你看得出這幅畫(huà)哪點(diǎn)畫(huà)得好嗎？’‘看不出來(lái)，’她說(shuō)，‘一點(diǎn)也不象咱們的種植園，再說(shuō)我也從來(lái)沒(méi)有見(jiàn)過(guò)椰子樹(shù)長(zhǎng)著藍(lán)葉子。他們巴黎人簡(jiǎn)直發(fā)瘋了，也說(shuō)不定你哥哥能把那幅畫(huà)賣(mài)兩百法郎，正好能抵思特里克蘭德欠我們的那筆債?！还茉趺凑f(shuō)。我們還是把畫(huà)包裝好，給我哥哥寄去了。最后我收到了他的回信。你猜他信里面怎么說(shuō)？‘畫(huà)已收到，’他說(shuō)，‘我必須承認(rèn)，開(kāi)始我還認(rèn)為你在同我開(kāi)玩笑。我真不應(yīng)該出這筆寄費(fèi)。我?guī)缀鯖](méi)有膽量把它拿給同我談過(guò)這件事的那位先生看。當(dāng)他告訴我這是一件杰作，并出價(jià)三萬(wàn)法郎要購(gòu)買(mǎi)它的時(shí)候，你可以想象到我是多么吃驚。我猜想他還肯出更多的錢(qián)。但是說(shuō)老實(shí)話，這件事當(dāng)時(shí)太出乎我的意料，弄得我簡(jiǎn)直暈頭轉(zhuǎn)向了。沒(méi)等我腦子清醒過(guò)來(lái)以前，這筆生意已經(jīng)拍板成交了。’”

Then Monsieur Cohen said an admirable thing.

接著，寇漢先生又說(shuō)出幾句著實(shí)令人起敬的話。

"I wish that poor Strickland had been still alive. I wonder what he would have said when I gave him twenty-nine thousand eight hundred francs for his picture."

“我希望可憐的思特里克蘭德還活著，我真想知道，在我把兩萬(wàn)九千八百法郎賣(mài)畫(huà)的錢(qián)交到他手里的時(shí)候，他會(huì)說(shuō)什么?！?/p>