雙語·《刀鋒》 第二章 二

CHAPTER TWO 2
第二章 二

I spent the next morning very pleasantly. I went to the Luxembourg and passed an hour looking at some pictures I liked.Then I strolled in the gardens, recapturing the memories of my youth.Nothing had changed.They might have been the same students who walked along the gravel paths in pairs, eagerly discussing the writers who excited them.They might have been the same children who trundled the same hoops under the watchful eyes of the same nurses.They might have been the same old men who basked in the sunshine, reading the morning paper.They might have been the same middle-aged women in mourning who sat on the free benches and gossiped with one another about the price of food and the misdeeds of servants.Then I went to the Odéon and looked at the new books in the galleries and I saw the lads who like myself thirty years before were trying under the petulant eyes of the smock-frocked attendants to read as much as they could of books they could not afford to buy.Then I strolled leisurely along those dear, dingy streets till I came to the Boulevard du Montparnasse and so to the D?me.Larry was waiting.We had a drink and walked along to a restaurant where we could lunch in the open air.
第二天上午，我度過了一段愜意的時光。先是到盧森堡博物館去，用去一個小時觀賞自己喜歡的畫作，隨后我就悠然散步于花園中，追憶已經(jīng)逝去的青春年華。這兒一點變化都沒有。但見青年學子成雙成對漫步在沙礫小徑上，興奮地談?wù)撝兴麄儫嵫序v的作家；孩子們在保姆的照看下滾鐵環(huán)玩耍；老人們一邊曬太陽一邊讀晨報；幾個正在服喪的中年婦女坐在公共長凳上嘮嗑，議論食品的價格和用人的不端行為。眼前的人和景依稀宛如當年。后來我去了奧德昂大劇院，在劇院的長廊里瀏覽陳列在那兒的新書。我看見幾個少年跟我三十年前一樣，頂著身穿長罩衫的書亭老板那惱怒的目光，如饑似渴地閱讀自己所買不起的書。出了大劇院，我邁著四方步走在那親切、幽暗的偏街小巷，到了蒙巴納斯街區(qū)，再走到多姆咖啡館。拉里已在那兒等候。喝了杯酒，我們就慢慢悠悠去找吃飯的地方了，想找一家可以在室外進餐的館子。

He was perhaps a little paler than I remembered him and this made his very dark eyes, in their deep orbits, more striking；but he had the same self-possession, curious in one so young, and the same ingenuous smile. When he ordered his lunch I noticed that he spoke French fluently and with a good accent.I congratulated him on it.
與上次見他時相比，他的臉色也許蒼白了些，這倒讓他那雙深陷在眼窩里的烏黑的眸子更加炯炯有神。他還是那樣矜持自重，這對一個小青年來說是很少見的；他的笑容依然坦率真誠。他點飯菜時，我留意到他說一口流利的法語，語音純正。為此，我向他表示祝賀。

“I knew a certain amount of French before, you know，”he explained.“Aunt Louisa had a French governess for Isabel, and when they were at Marvin she used to make us talk French with her all the time.”
“要知道，我以前懂得一點法語?！彼忉屨f，“路易莎伯母給伊莎貝爾請了個法國家庭女教師。在馬文的時候，那位教師讓我們跟她講法語，始終堅持這么做?！?/p>

I asked him how he liked Paris.
我問他喜歡不喜歡巴黎。

“Very much.”
“非常喜歡。”

“D'you live in Montparnasse?”
“你在蒙巴納斯街區(qū)住嗎？”

“Yes，”he said, after a moment's hesitation which I interpreted into a disinclination to tell exactly where he lived.
“是的。”他遲疑了一下才回答道。我猜想他這是不愿說出自己確切的住址。

“Elliott was rather put out that the only address you gave was the American Express.”
“你給艾略特只留了美國運通公司業(yè)務(wù)點的地址，叫他十分生氣。”

Larry smiled but did not answer.
拉里笑笑，什么也沒說。

“What do you do with yourself all the time?”
“你成天干些什么呢？”

“I loaf.”
“逛大街?！?/p>

“And you read?”
“還看書嗎？”

“Yes, I read.”
“是的，還看?！?/p>

“Do you ever hear from Isabel?”
“跟伊莎貝爾通信嗎？”

“Sometimes. We're neither of us great letter-writers.She's having a grand time in Chicago.They're coming over next year to stay with Elliott.”
“有時候通通信。我倆都不擅于寫信。她在芝加哥過得很開心。明年她們要來法國，在艾略特這兒待待。”

“That'll be nice for you.”
“這對你們倆是件好事?！?/p>

“I don't believe Isabel's ever been to Paris. It'll be fun taking her around.”
“據(jù)我所知，伊莎貝爾沒來過巴黎。領(lǐng)著她四處走走，一定會很有趣的?！?/p>

He was curious to know about my journey in China and listened attentively to what I told him；but when I tried to get him to talk about himself, I failed. He was so uncommunicative that I was forced to the conclusion that he had asked me to lunch with him merely to enjoy my company.I was pleased, but baffled.We had no sooner finished our coffee than he called for the bill, paid it, and got up.
對于我的中國之行，他充滿了好奇之心，很想聽我講一講。當我開始講述時，他聽得非常專注?？墒俏蚁胱屗?wù)勊约旱那闆r時，他卻三緘其口。他的沉默使我只能有一個結(jié)論——他約我吃飯僅僅是想和我一起坐坐。我雖然感到高興，心里卻百般困惑。喝完咖啡，他就叫結(jié)賬，付了錢，然后站起了身子。

“Well, I must be off，”he said.
“哦，我得走了。”他說。

We parted. I knew no more of what he was up to than before.I did not see him again.
我們分了手。對于他的人生目標，我仍然知之甚少。那以后，我再沒有見過他。