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Do you mean to say you didn't leave your wife for another woman?
“你是说你不是因为另外一个女人才离开你妻子？”
Of course not.
“当然不是。”
On your word of honour?
“你敢发誓？”
I don't know why I asked for that. It was very ingenuous of me.
我不知道为什么我这样要求他。我问这句话完全没有动脑子。
On my word of honour.
“我发誓。”
Then, what in God's name have you left her for?
“那么你到底是为什么离开她的？”
I want to paint.
“我要画画儿。”
I looked at him for quite a long time. I did not understand. I thought he was mad. It must be remembered that I was very young, and I looked upon him as a middle-aged man. I forgot everything but my own amazement.
我半天半天目不转睛地盯着他。我一点儿也不理解。我想这个人准是疯了。读者应该记住，我那时还很年轻，我把他看做是一个中年人。我除了感到自己的惊诧外什么都不记得了。
But you're forty.
“可是你已经四十了。”
That's what made me think it was high time to begin.
“正是因为这个我才想，如果现在再不开始就太晚了。”
Have you ever painted?
“你过去画过画儿吗？”
I rather wanted to be a painter when I was a boy, but my father made me go into business because he said there was no money in art. I began to paint a bit a year ago. For the last year I've been going to some classes at night.
“我小的时候很想作个画家，可是我父亲叫我去作生意，因为他认为学艺术赚不了钱。一年以前我开始画了点儿画。去年我一直在夜校上课。”
Was that where you went when Mrs. Strickland thought you were playing bridge at your club?
“思特里克兰德太太以为你在俱乐部玩桥牌的时间你都是去上课吗？”
That's it.
“对了。”
Why didn't you tell her?
“你为什么不告诉她？”
I preferred to keep it to myself.
“我觉得还是别让她知道好。”
Can you paint?
“你能够画了吗？”
Not yet. But I shall. That's why I've come over here. I couldn't get what I wanted in London. Perhaps I can here.
“还不成。但是我将来能够学会的。正是为了这个我才到巴黎来。在伦敦我得不到我要求的东西。也许在这里我会得到的。”
Do you think it's likely that a man will do any good when he starts at your age? Most men begin painting at eighteen.
“你认为象你这样年纪的人开始学画还能够学得好吗？大多数人都是十八岁开始学。”
I can learn quicker than I could when I was eighteen.
“如果我十八岁学，会比现在学得快一些。”
What makes you think you have any talent?
“你怎么会认为自己还有一些绘画的才能？”
He did not answer for a minute. His gaze rested on the passing throng, but I do not think he saw it. His answer was no answer.
他并没有马上回答我的问题。他的目光停在过往的人群上，但是我认为他什么也没有看见。最后他回答我的话根本算不上是回答。
I've got to paint.
“我必须画画儿。”
Aren't you taking an awful chance?
“你这样做是不是完全在碰运气？”
He looked at me. His eyes had something strange in them, so that I felt rather uncomfortable.
这时他把目光转到我身上。他的眼睛里有一种奇怪的神情，叫我觉得不太舒服。
How old are you? Twenty-three?
“你多大年纪？二十三岁？”
It seemed to me that the question was beside the point. It was natural that I should take chances; but he was a man whose youth was past, a stockbroker with a position of respectability, a wife and two children. A course that would have been natural for me was absurd for him. I wished to be quite fair.
我觉得他提这个问题与我们谈的事毫不相干。如果我想碰碰运气做一件什么事的话，这是极其自然的事；但是他的青年时代早已过去了，他是一个有身份有地位的证券经纪人，家里有一个老婆、两个孩子。对我说来是自然的道路在他那里就成为荒谬悻理的了。但是我还是想尽量对他公道一些。
