月亮與六便士 The Moon and Sixpence
作者：威廉· 薩默賽特·毛姆 (William Somerset Maugham) [英國]
每個人都隻看到腳下的六便士，隻有他抬頭看到天上的月亮。作品以法國印象派畫傢保羅·高更的生平為素材，描述瞭一個原本平凡的倫敦證券經紀人思特裡克蘭德，突然著瞭藝術的魔，拋妻棄子，絕棄瞭旁人看來優裕美滿的生活，奔赴南太平洋的塔希提島，用圓筆譜寫出自己光輝燦爛的生命，把生命的價值全部註入絢爛的畫佈的故事。貧窮的糾纏，病魔的折磨他毫不在意，隻是後悔從來沒有光顧過他的意識。作品表現瞭天才、個性與物質文明以及現代婚姻、傢庭生活之間的矛盾，有著廣闊的生命視角，用散發著消毒水味道的手術刀對皮囊包裹下的人性進行瞭犀利地解剖，混合著看客訕笑的幽默和殘忍的目光。
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第一章
I confess that when first I made acquaintance with Charles Strickland I never for a moment discerned that there was in him anything out of the ordinary. Yet now few will be found to deny his greatness.
老實說，我剛剛認識查理斯•思特裡克蘭德的時候，從來沒註意到這個人有什麼與眾不同的地方，但是今天卻很少有人不承認他的偉大瞭。
I do not speak of that greatness which is achieved by the fortunate politician or the successful soldier; that is a quality which belongs to the place he occupies rather than to the man; and a change of circumstances reduces it to very discreet proportions.
我所謂的偉大不是走紅運的政治傢或是立戰功的軍人的偉大；這種人顯赫一時，與其說是他們本身的特質倒不如說沾瞭他們地位的光，一旦事過境遷，他們的偉大也就黯然失色瞭。
The Prime Minister out of office is seen, too often, to have been but a pompous rhetorician, and the General without an army is but the tame hero of a market town. The greatness of Charles Strickland was authentic.
人們常常發現一位離瞭職的首相當年隻不過是個大言不慚的演說傢；一個解甲歸田的將軍無非是個平淡乏味的市井英雄。但是查理斯•思特裡克蘭德的偉大卻是真正的偉大。
It may be that you do not like his art, but at all events you can hardly refuse it the tribute of your interest.
你可能不喜歡他的藝術，但無論如何你不能不對它感到興趣。
He disturbs and arrests. The time has passed when he was an object of ridicule, and it is no longer a mark of eccentricity to defend or of perversity to extol him.
他的作品使你不能平靜，扣緊你的心弦。思特裡克蘭德受人挪揄譏嘲的時代已經過去瞭，為他辯護或甚至對他贊譽也不再被看作是某些人的奇行怪癖瞭。
His faults are accepted as the necessary complement to his merits. It is still possible to discuss his place in art, and the adulation of his admirers is perhaps no less capricious than the disparagement of his detractors; but one thing can never be doubtful, and that is that he had genius.
他的瑕疵在世人的眼中已經成為他的優點的必不可少的派生物。他在藝術史上的地位盡可以繼續爭論。崇拜者對他的贊頌同貶抑者對他的詆毀固然都可能出於偏頗和任性，但是有一點是不容置疑的，那就是他具有天才。
To my mind the most interesting thing in art is the personality of the artist; and if that is singular, I am willing to excuse a thousand faults.
在我看來，藝術中最令人感興趣的就是藝術傢的個性；如果藝術傢賦有獨特的性格，盡管他有一千個缺點，我也可以原諒。
I suppose Velasquez was a better painter than El Greco, but custom stales one's admiration for him: the Cretan, sensual and tragic, proffers the mystery of his soul like a standing sacrifice.
我料想，委拉斯凱茲是個比埃爾•格列柯更高超的畫傢，可是由於所見過多，卻使我們感到他的繪畫有些乏味。而那位克裡特島畫傢的作品卻有一種肉欲和悲劇性的美，仿佛作為永恒的犧牲似地把自己靈魂的秘密呈獻出來。
The artist, painter, poet, or musician, by his decoration, sublime or beautiful, satisfies the aesthetic sense; but that is akin to the sexual instinct, and shares its barbarity: he lays before you also the greater gift of himself.
一個藝術傢——畫傢也好，詩人也好，音樂傢也好，用他的崇高的或者美麗的作品把世界裝點起來，滿足瞭人們的審美意識，但這也同人類的性本能不無相似的地方，都有其粗野狂暴的一面。在把作品奉獻給世人的同時，藝術傢也把他個人的偉大才能呈現到你眼前。
To pursue his secret has something of the fascination of a detective story. It is a riddle which shares with the universe the merit of having no answer.
探索一個藝術傢的秘密頗有些閱讀偵探小說的迷人勁兒。這個奧秘同大自然極相似，其妙處就在於無法找到答案。
The most insignificant of Strickland's works suggests a personality which is strange, tormented, and complex; and it is this surely which prevents even those who do not like his pictures from being indifferent to them; it is this which has excited so curious an interest in his life and character.
思特裡克蘭德的最不足道的作品也使你模糊看到他的奇特、復雜、受著折磨的性格；那些不喜歡他的繪畫的人之所以不能對他漠不關心，肯定是因為這個原因。也正是這一點，使得那麼多人對他的生活和性格充滿瞭好奇心和濃厚的興趣。
It was not till four years after Strickland's death that Maurice Huret wrote that article in the Mercure de France which rescued the unknown painter from oblivion and blazed the trail which succeeding writers, with more or less docility, have followed.
直到思特裡克蘭德去世四年以後，莫利斯•胥瑞才寫瞭那篇發表在《法蘭西信使》上的文章，使這位不為人所知的畫傢不致湮沒無聞。他的這篇文章打響瞭第一炮，很多怯於標新的作傢這才踏著他的足跡走瞭下去。
For a long time no critic has enjoyed in France a more incontestable authority, and it was impossible not to be impressed by the claims he made; they seemed extravagant; but later judgments have confirmed his estimate, and the reputation of Charles Strickland is now firmly established on the lines which he laid down.
在很長一段時間內法國藝術評論界更沒有哪個人享有比胥瑞更無可爭辯的權威。胥瑞提出的論點不可能不給人以深刻的印象，看起來他對思特裡克蘭德的稱許似乎有些過分，但後來輿論的裁決卻證實瞭他評價的公正；而查理斯•思特裡克蘭德的聲名便也在他所定的調子上不可動搖地建立起來瞭。
The rise of this reputation is one of the most romantic incidents in the history of art.
思特裡克蘭德聲名噪起，這在藝術史上實在是最富於浪漫主義味道的一個事例。
But I do not propose to deal with Charles Strickland's work except in so far as it touches upon his character.
但是我在這裡並不想對查理斯•思特裡克蘭德的藝術作品有所評論，除非在這些作品涉及到畫傢性格的時候。
I cannot agree with the painters who claim superciliously that the layman can understand nothing of painting, and that he can best show his appreciation of their works by silence and a cheque-book.
我對某些畫傢的意見不敢茍同，他們傲慢地認為外行根本不懂得繪畫，門外漢要表示對藝術的鑒賞，最好的方法就是免開尊口，大大方方地掏出支票簿。
It is a grotesque misapprehension which sees in art no more than a craft comprehensible perfectly only to the craftsman: art is a manifestation of emotion, and emotion speaks a language that all may understand.
老實講，把藝術看作隻有名工巧匠才能完全理解的藝術技巧，其實是一種荒謬的誤解。藝術是什麼？藝術是感情的表露，藝術使用的是一種人人都能理解的語言。
But I will allow that the critic who has not a practical knowledge of technique is seldom able to say anything on the subject of real value, and my ignorance of painting is extreme.
但是我也承認，藝術評論傢如果對技巧沒有實際知識，是很少能作出真正有價值的評論的；而我自己對繪畫恰好是非常無知的。
Fortunately, there is no need for me to risk the adventure, since my friend, Mr. Edward Leggatt, an able writer as well as an admirable painter, has exhaustively discussed Charles Strickland's work in a little book which is a charming example of a style, for the most part, less happily cultivated in England than in France.
幸而在這方面我無庸冒任何風險，因為我的朋友愛德華•雷加特先生既是一位寫文章的高手，又是一位深有造詣的畫傢，他在一本小書裡對查理斯•思特裡克蘭德的作品已經作瞭詳盡的探索；這本書的優美文風也為我們樹立瞭一個典范。很可惜，這種文風今天在英國遠不如在法國那麼時興瞭。
Maurice Huret in his famous article gave an outline of Charles Strickland's life which was well calculated to whet the appetites of the inquiring.
莫利斯•胥瑞在他那篇馳名的文章裡簡單地勾畫瞭查理斯•思特裡克蘭德的生平；作者有意這樣吊一下讀者的胃口。
With his disinterested passion for art, he had a real desire to call the attention of the wise to a talent which was in the highest degree original;
他對藝術的熱情毫不攙雜個人的好惡，他這篇文章的真正目的是喚起那些有頭腦的人對一個極為獨特的天才畫傢的註意力。
But he was too good a journalist to be unaware that the "human interest" would enable him more easily to effect his purpose.
但是胥瑞是一個善於寫文章的老手，他不會不知道，隻有引起讀者“興味”的文章才更容易達到目的。
And when such as had come in contact with Strickland in the past, writers who had known him in London, painters who had met him in the cafes of Montmartre, discovered to their amazement that where they had seen but an unsuccessful artist, like another, authentic genius had rubbed shoulders with them there began to appear in the magazines of France and America a succession of articles, the reminiscences of one, the appreciation of another, which added to Strickland's notoriety, and fed without satisfying the curiosity of the public.
後來那些在思特裡克蘭德生前曾和他有過接觸的人——有些人是在倫敦就認識他的作傢，有些是在蒙特瑪特爾咖啡座上和他會過面的畫傢——極其吃驚地發現，他們當初看作是個失敗的畫傢，一個同無數落魄藝術傢沒有什麼不同的畫傢，原來是個真正的天才，他們卻交臂失之。從這時起，在法國和美國的一些雜志上就連篇累牘地出現瞭各式各類的文章：這個寫對思特裡克蘭德的回憶，那個寫對他作品的評述。結果是，這些文章更增加瞭思特裡克蘭德的聲譽，挑起瞭、但卻無法滿足讀者的好奇心。
The subject was grateful, and the industrious Weitbrecht-Rotholz in his imposing monograph has been able to give a remarkable list of authorities.
這個題目大受讀者歡迎，魏特佈瑞希特—羅特霍爾茲下瞭不少工夫，在他寫的一篇洋洋灑灑的專題論文裡開列瞭一張篇目，列舉出富有權威性的一些文章。
The faculty for myth is innate in the human race. It seizes with avidity upon any incidents, surprising or mysterious, in the career of those who have at all distinguished themselves from their fellows, and invents a legend to which it then attaches a fanatical belief. It is the protest of romance against the commonplace of life.
制造神話是人類的天性。對那些出類拔萃的人物，如果他們生活中有什麼令人感到詫異或者迷惑不解的事件，人們就會如饑似渴地抓住不放，編造出種種神話，而且深信不疑，近乎狂熱。這可以說是浪漫主義對平凡暗淡的生活的一種抗議。
The incidents of the legend become the hero's surest passport to immortality.
傳奇中的一些小故事成為英雄通向不朽境界的最可靠的護照。
The ironic philosopher reflects with a smile that Sir Walter Raleigh is more safely inshrined in the memory of mankind because he set his cloak for the Virgin Queen to walk on than because he carried the English name to undiscovered countries.
瓦爾特•饒利爵士之所以永遠珍留在人們記憶裡是因為他把披風鋪在地上，讓伊麗莎白女皇踏著走過去，而不是因為他把英國名字帶給瞭許多過去人們從來沒有發現的國土；一個玩世不恭的哲學傢在想到這件事時肯定會啞然失笑的。
Charles Strickland lived obscurely. He made enemies rather than friends.
講到查理斯•思特裡克蘭德，生前知道他的人並不多。他樹瞭不少敵人，但沒有交下什麼朋友。
It is not strange, then, that those who wrote of him should have eked out their scanty recollections with a lively fancy, and it is evident that there was enough in the little that was known of him to give opportunity to the romantic scribe; there was much in his life which was strange and terrible, in his character something outrageous, and in his fate not a little that was pathetic.
因此，那些給他寫文章的人必須借助於活躍的想象以彌補貧乏的事實，看來也就不足為奇瞭。非常清楚，盡管人們對思特裡克蘭德生平的事跡知道得並不多，也盡夠浪漫主義的文人從中找到大量鋪陳敷衍的材料，他的生活中有不少離奇可怕的行徑，他的性格裡有不少荒謬絕倫的怪僻，他的命運中又不乏悲壯淒愴的遭遇。
In due course a legend arose of such circumstantiality that the wise historian would hesitate to attack it.
經過一段時間，從這一系列事情的演繹附會中便產生瞭一個神話，明智的歷史學傢對這種神話是不會貿然反對的。
But a wise historian is precisely what the Rev. Robert Strickland is not. He wrote his biography avowedly to "remove certain misconceptions which had gained currency" in regard to the later part of his father's life, and which had "caused considerable pain to persons still living."
羅伯特•思特裡克蘭德牧師偏偏不是這樣一位明智的歷史學傢。他認為有關他父親的後半生人們誤解頗多，他公開申明自己寫這部傳記就是為瞭“排除某些成為流傳的誤解”，這些謬種流傳“給生者帶來很大的痛苦”。
It is obvious that there was much in the commonly received account of Strickland's life to embarrass a respectable family.
誰都清楚，在外界傳播的思特裡克蘭德生平軼事裡有許多使一個體面的傢庭感到難堪的事。
I have read this work with a good deal of amusement, and upon this I congratulate myself, since it is colourless and dull.
我讀這本傳記的時候忍不住啞然失笑，但也暗自慶幸，幸好這本書寫得實在枯燥乏味。
Mr. Strickland has drawn the portrait of an excellent husband and father, a man of kindly temper, industrious habits, and moral disposition.
思特裡克蘭德牧師在傳記裡刻劃的是一個體貼的丈夫和慈祥的父親，一個性格善良、作風勤奮、品行端正的君子。
The modern clergyman has acquired in his study of the science which I believe is called exegesis an astonishing facility for explaining things away, but the subtlety with which the Rev. Robert Strickland has "interpreted" all the facts in his father's life which a dutiful son might find it inconvenient to remember must surely lead him in the fullness of time to the highest dignities of the Church.
當代的教士在研究人們稱之為《聖經》詮釋這門學問中都學會瞭遮掩粉飾的驚人本領，但羅伯特•思特裡克蘭德牧師用以“解釋”他父親行狀（這些行動都是一個孝順的兒子認為值得記住的）的那種精思敏辯，在時機成熟時肯定會導致他在教會中榮獲顯職的。
I see already his muscular calves encased in the gaiters episcopal.
我好象已經看到他那筋骨強健的小腿套上瞭主教的皮裹腿瞭。
It was a hazardous, though maybe a gallant thing to do, since it is probable that the legend commonly received has had no small share in the growth of Strickland's reputation; for there are many who have been attracted to his art by the detestation in which they held his character or the compassion with which they regarded his death; and the son's well-meaning efforts threw a singular chill upon the father's admirers. It is due to no accident that when one of his most important works, The Woman of Samaria, was sold at Christie's shortly after the discussion which followed the publication of Mr. Strickland's biography, it fetched POUNDS 235 less than it had done nine months before when it was bought by the distinguished collector whose sudden death had brought it once more under the hammer.
他做的是一件危險的，但或許是很勇敢的事，因為思特裡克蘭德之所以名傳遐邇，在很大程度上要歸功於人們普遍接受瞭的傳說。他的藝術對很多人有那麼大的魅力，或者是由於人們對他性格的嫌惡，或者是對他慘死的同情；而兒子的這部旨在為父親遮羞掩醜的傳記對於父親的崇拜者卻不啻當頭澆瞭一盆冷水。思特裡克蘭德的最重要的一幅作品《薩瑪利亞的女人》九個月以前曾經賣給一位有名的收藏傢。由於這位收藏傢後來突然逝世，這幅畫再度拍賣，又被克利斯蒂購去。這次拍賣正值思特裡克蘭德牧師的傳記出版、人們議論紛紛之際，這幅名畫的價格竟比九個月以前降低瞭二百三十五鎊；這顯然不是一件偶合。
Perhaps Charles Strickland's power and originality would scarcely have sufficed to turn the scale if the remarkable mythopoeic faculty of mankind had not brushed aside with impatience a story which disappointed all its craving for the extraordinary.
如果不是人們對神話的喜愛，叫他們對這個使他們的獵奇心大失所望的故事嗤之以鼻的話，隻靠思特裡克蘭德個人的權威和獨特也許無力挽回大局的。
And presently Dr. Weitbrecht-Rotholz produced the work which finally set at rest the misgivings of all lovers of art.
說也湊巧，沒有過多久魏特佈瑞希特—羅特霍爾茲博士的文章就問世瞭，藝術愛好者們的疑慮不安終於消除瞭。
Dr. Weitbrecht-Rotholz belongs to that school of historians which believes that human nature is not only about as bad as it can be, but a great deal worse; and certainly the reader is safer of entertainment in their hands than in those of the writers who take a malicious pleasure in representing the great figures of romance as patterns of the domestic virtues.
魏特佈瑞希特—羅特霍爾茲博士隸屬的這一歷史學派不隻相信“人之初，性本惡”，而且認為其惡劣程度是遠遠超過人們的想象的；用不著說，比起那些把富有浪漫色彩的人物寫成道貌岸然的君子的使人敗興的作傢來，這一派歷史學者的著作肯定能夠給予讀者更大的樂趣。
For my part, I should be sorry to think that there was nothing between Anthony and Cleopatra but an economic situation; and it will require a great deal more evidence than is ever likely to be available, thank God, to persuade me that Tiberius was as blameless a monarch as King George V.
對於我這樣的讀者，如果把安東尼和克莉奧佩特拉的關系隻寫作經濟上的聯盟，我是會覺得非常遺憾的；要想勸說我讓我把泰伯利歐斯看作是同英王喬治五世同樣的一位毫無瑕疵的君主，也需要遠比手頭掌握的多得多的證據（謝天謝地，這種證據看來很難找到）。
Dr. Weitbrecht-Rotholz has dealt in such terms with the Rev. Robert Strickland's innocent biography that it is difficult to avoid feeling a certain sympathy for the unlucky parson.
魏特佈瑞希特—羅特霍爾茲博士在評論羅伯特•思特裡克蘭德牧師那部天真的傳記時所用的詞句，讀起來很難叫人對這位不幸的牧師不感到同情。
His decent reticence is branded as hypocrisy, his circumlocutions are roundly called lies, and his silence is vilified as treachery.
凡是這位牧師為瞭維護體面不便暢言的地方都被攻擊為虛偽，凡是他鋪陳贅述的章節則率直地被叫作謊言，作者對某些事情保持緘默則幹脆被魏特佈瑞希特—羅特霍爾茲斥之為背叛。
And on the strength of peccadillos, reprehensible in an author, but excusable in a son, the Anglo-Saxon race is accused of prudishness, humbug, pretentiousness, deceit, cunning, and bad cooking.
作品中的這些缺陷，從一個傳記作傢的角度來看，固然應該受到指摘，但作為傳記主人公的兒子倒也情有可原；倒黴的是，竟連盎格魯—薩克遜民族也連帶遭瞭殃，被魏特佈瑞希特—羅特霍爾茲博士批評為假裝正經、作勢嚇人、自命不凡、狡猾欺心，隻會烹調倒人胃口的菜飯。
Personally I think it was rash of Mr. Strickland, in refuting the account which had gained belief of a certain "unpleasantness" between his father and mother, to state that Charles Strickland in a letter written from Paris had described her as "an excellent woman," since Dr. Weitbrecht-Rotholz was able to print the letter in facsimile, and it appears that the passage referred to ran in fact as follows:
講到我個人的意見，我認為思特裡克蘭德牧師在駁斥外間深入人心的一種傳述——關於他父母之間某些“不愉快”的事件時，實在不夠慎重。他在傳記裡引證查理斯• 思特裡克蘭德從巴黎寫的一封傢信，說他父親稱呼自己的妻子為“瞭不起的女人”，而魏特佈瑞希特—羅特霍爾茲卻把原信復制出來；原來思特裡克蘭德牧師引證的這段原文是這樣的：
"God damn my wife. She is an excellent woman. I wish she was in hell."
“叫上帝懲罰我的妻子吧！這個女人太瞭不起瞭，我真希望叫她下地獄。”
It is not thus that the Church in its great days dealt with evidence that was unwelcome.
在教會勢力鼎盛的日子，它們並不是用這種方法對待不受歡迎的事實的。
Dr. Weitbrecht-Rotholz was an enthusiastic admirer of Charles Strickland, and there was no danger that he would whitewash him. He had an unerring eye for the despicable motive in actions that had all the appearance of innocence.
魏特佈瑞希特—羅特霍爾茲博士是查理斯•思特裡克蘭德的一位熱心的崇拜者，如果他想為思特裡克蘭德塗脂抹粉本來是不會有什麼危險的。但他的目光敏銳，一眼就望穿瞭隱含在一些天真無邪的行為下的可鄙的動機。
He was a psycho-pathologist, as well as a student of art, and the subconscious had few secrets from him.
他既是一個藝術研究者，又是一個心理——病理學傢。他對一個人的潛意識瞭如指掌。沒有
No mystic ever saw deeper meaning in common things.
哪個探索心靈秘密的人能夠象他那樣透過普通事物看到更深邃的意義。
The mystic sees the ineffable, and the psycho-pathologist the unspeakable.
探索心靈秘密的人能夠看到不好用語言表達出來的東西，心理病理學傢卻看到瞭根本不能表達的事物。
There is a singular fascination in watching the eagerness with which the learned author ferrets out every circumstance which may throw discredit on his hero.
我們看到這位學識淵深的作傢如何熱衷於搜尋出每一件使這位英雄人物丟臉的細節瑣事，真是令人拍案叫絕。
His heart warms to him when he can bring forward some example of cruelty or meanness, and he exults like an inquisitor of an heretic when with some forgotten story he can confound the filial piety of the Rev.
每當他列舉出主人公一件冷酷無情或者卑鄙自私的例證，他的心就對他更增加一分同情。在他尋找到主人公某件為人遺忘的軼事用來嘲弄羅伯特•思特裡克蘭德牧帥的一片孝心時，他就象宗教法庭的法官審判異教徒那樣樂得心花怒放。
Robert Strickland. His industry has been amazing.
他寫這篇文章的那種認真勤奮勁兒也著實令人吃驚。
Nothing has been too small to escape him, and you may be sure that if Charles Strickland left a laundry bill unpaid it will be given you in extenso, and if he forebore to return a borrowed half-crown no detail of the transaction will be omitted.
沒有哪件細小的事情被他漏掉，如果查理斯•思特裡克蘭德有一筆洗衣賬沒有付清，這件事一定會被詳細記錄下來；如果他欠人傢一筆借款沒有償還，這筆債務的每一個細節也絕對不會遺漏；這一點讀者是完全可以放心的。
