They pinched and saved so that I should have enough to live on, and when my first picture was exhibited they came to Amsterdam to see it, my father and mother and my sister, and my mother cried when she looked at it. His kind eyes glistened. "And now on every wall of the old house there is one of my pictures in a beautiful gold frame."
他们老两口省吃俭用,好叫我能够维持生活。当我的第一幅绘画参加展出的时候,他们到阿姆斯特丹看来了,我的父亲、母亲和妹妹都来了。我的母亲看见我的图画,眼泪都流出来了。”说到这里,施特略夫自己的眼睛也挂上了泪花。“现在老家的屋子四壁都挂着我的一张张画,镶在漂亮的金框子里。”
He glowed with happy pride. I thought of those cold scenes of his, with their picturesque peasants and cypresses and olive-trees. They must look queer in their garish frames on the walls of the peasant house.
他的一张脸因为幸福的骄傲而闪闪发亮。我又想起来他画的那些毫无生气的景物,穿得花花绿绿的农民啊、丝柏树啊、橄榄树啊什么的。这些画镶着很讲究的金框子,挂在一家村舍的墙上是多么不伦不类呀!
The dear soul thought she was doing a wonderful thing for me when she made me an artist, but perhaps, after all, it would have been better for me if my father's will had prevailed and I were now but an honest carpenter.
“我那可怜的母亲认为她把我培养成一个艺术家是干了一件了不起的事,但是说不定要是父亲的想法得以实现,我如今只不过是个老老实实的木匠,对我说来倒更好一些。”
Now that you know what art can offer, would you change your life? Would you have missed all the delight it has given you?
“现在你已经了解了艺术会给人们带来些什么。你还愿意改变你的生活吗?你肯放弃艺术给与你的所有那些快感吗?”
Art is the greatest thing in the world, he answered, after a pause.
“艺术是世界上最伟大的东西。”他沉吟了片刻说。
He looked at me for a minute reflectively; he seemed to hesitate; then he said:
他沉思地看了我一会儿,好象对一件什么事拿不定主意。最后,他开口说:
Did you know that I had been to see Strickland?
“你知道我去看思特里克兰德了吗?”
You?
“你?”
I was astonished. I should have thought he could not bear to set eyes on him. Stroeve smiled faintly.
我吃了一惊。我本来以为他非常恨他,决不会同他见面的。施特略夫的脸浮起一丝笑容。
You know already that I have no proper pride.
“你已经知道我这人是没有自尊心的。”
What do you mean by that?
“这话是什么意思?”
He told me a singular story.
他给我说了一个奇异的故事。