月亮和六便士 第五十四章(1)

 Chapter 54 第五十四章

As we walked along I reflected on a circumstance which all that I had lately heard about Strickland forced on my attention. 我一面走路一面思索着他到这里以后的景况。最近一些日子我听到思特里克兰德不少轶事，不能不认真思考一下这里的环境。

Here, on this remote island, he seemed to have aroused none of the detestation with which he was regarded at home, 他在这个遥远的海岛上似乎同在欧洲不一样，一点儿也没有引起别人的厌嫌；

but compassion¹ rather; and his vagaries² were accepted with tolerance³. 相反地，人们对他都很同情，他的奇行怪癖也没有人感到诧异。

To these people, native and European, he was a queer fish, but they were used to queer fish, and they took him for granted; 在这里的人们——不论是欧洲人或当地土着—— 眼里，他当然是个怪人，但是这里的人对于所谓怪人已经习以为常，因此对他从不另眼相看。

the world was full of odd persons, who did odd things; and perhaps they knew that a man is not what he wants to be, but what he must be. 世界上有的是怪人，他们的举止离奇古怪；也许这里的居民更能理解，一般人都不是他们想要做的那种人，而是他们不得不做的那种人。

In England and France he was the square peg⁴ in the round hole, but here the holes were any sort of shape, and no sort of peg was quite amiss. 在英国或法国，思特里克兰德可以说是个不合时宜的人，“圆孔里插了个方塞子”，而在这里却有各种形式的孔，什么样子的塞子都能各得其所。

I do not think he was any gentler here, less selfish or less brutal⁵, but the circumstances were more favourable⁶. 我并不认为他到这里以后脾气比过去变好了，不那么自私了，或者更富于人情味儿了；而是这里的环境对他比以前适合了。

If he had spent his life amid these surroundings he might have passed for no worse a man than another. 假如他过去就在这里生活，人们就不会注意到他的那些劣点了。

He received here what he neither expected nor wanted among his own people—sympathy. 他在这里所经历到的是他在本乡本土不敢希冀、从未要求的——他在这里得到的是同情。

I tried to tell Captain Brunot something of the astonishment⁷ with which this filled me, and for a little while he did not answer. 这一切我感到非常惊奇；我把我的想法试着同布吕诺船长谈了一些。他并没有立刻回答我什么。

"It is not strange that I, at all events, should have had sympathy for him," he said at last, “我对他感到同情其实也没有什么奇怪的，”最后他说，

"for, though perhaps neither of us knew it, we were both aiming at the same thing." “因为，尽管我们两人可能谁也不知道，我们寻求的却是同一件东西。”

"What on earth can it be that two people so dissimilar as you and Strickland could aim at?" I asked, smiling. “你同思特里克兰德完全是不同类型的人，有什么东西会是你们俩共同寻求的呢？”

"Beauty." “美。”

"A large order," I murmured. “你们寻求的东西太高了，”我咕噜了一句。

"Do you know how men can be so obsessed⁸ by love that they are deaf and blind to everything else in the world? “你知道不知道，一个人要是坠入情网，就可能对世界上一切事物都听而不闻、视而不见了？

They are as little their own masters as the slaves chained to the benches of a galley⁹. 那时候他就会象古代锁在木船里摇桨的奴隶一样，身心都不是自己所有了。

The passion that held Strickland in bondage¹⁰ was no less tyrannical than love." 把思特里克兰德俘获住的热情正同爱情一样，一点自由也不给他。”

1 compassion   

n.同情，怜悯

参考例句：

• He could not help having compassion for the poor creature.他情不自禁地怜悯起那个可怜的人来。
• Her heart was filled with compassion for the motherless children.她对于没有母亲的孩子们充满了怜悯心。

2 vagaries   

n.奇想( vagary的名词复数 )；异想天开；异常行为；难以预测的情况

参考例句：

• The vagaries of fortune are indeed curious.\" 命运的变化莫测真是不可思议。” 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• The vagaries of inclement weather conditions are avoided to a certain extent. 可以在一定程度上避免变化莫测的恶劣气候影响。 来自辞典例句

3 tolerance   

n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差

参考例句：

• Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
• Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。

4 peg   

n.木栓，木钉；vt.用木钉钉，用短桩固定

参考例句：

• Hang your overcoat on the peg in the hall.把你的大衣挂在门厅的挂衣钩上。
• He hit the peg mightily on the top with a mallet.他用木槌猛敲木栓顶。

5 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

6 favourable   

adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的

参考例句：

• The company will lend you money on very favourable terms.这家公司将以非常优惠的条件借钱给你。
• We found that most people are favourable to the idea.我们发现大多数人同意这个意见。

7 astonishment   

n.惊奇，惊异

参考例句：

• They heard him give a loud shout of astonishment.他们听见他惊奇地大叫一声。
• I was filled with astonishment at her strange action.我对她的奇怪举动不胜惊异。

8 obsessed   

adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的

参考例句：

• He's obsessed by computers. 他迷上了电脑。
• The fear of death obsessed him throughout his old life. 他晚年一直受着死亡恐惧的困扰。

9 galley   

n.（飞机或船上的）厨房单层甲板大帆船；军舰舰长用的大划艇；

参考例句：

• The stewardess will get you some water from the galley.空姐会从厨房给你拿些水来。
• Visitors can also go through the large galley where crew members got their meals.游客还可以穿过船员们用餐的厨房。

10 bondage   

n.奴役，束缚

参考例句：

• Masters sometimes allowed their slaves to buy their way out of bondage.奴隶主们有时允许奴隶为自己赎身。
• They aim to deliver the people who are in bondage to superstitious belief.他们的目的在于解脱那些受迷信束缚的人。