双语·《刀锋》 第一章 二

CHAPTER ONE 2
第一章 二

In 1919 I happened to be in Chicago on my way to the Far East, and for reasons that have nothing to do with this narrative I was staying there for two or three weeks. I had recently brought out a successful novel and being for the moment news, I had no sooner arrived than I was interviewed.Next morning my telephone rang.I answered.
一九一九年我去欧洲，途经芝加哥，为了一些与本书无关的事由在那儿待了两三个星期。当时我刚刚出版了一部小说，大获成功，一时成为新闻人物，屁股还没坐稳就有记者来采访。次日清晨电话铃便响了起来，我拿起了话筒。

“Elliott Templeton speaking.”
“我是艾略特·邓普顿。”

“Elliott?I thought you were in Paris.”
“艾略特？我还以为你在巴黎呢。”

“No, I'm visiting with my sister. We want you to come along and lunch with us today.”
“我来这儿，是看望我姐姐的。”“我想请你今天来，一块儿吃顿午饭。”

“I should love to.”
“乐意奉陪。”

He named the hour and gave me the address.
他把时间和地址告诉了我。

I had known Elliott Templeton for fifteen years. He was at this time in his late fifties, a tall, elegant man with good features and thick waving dark hair only sufficiently greying to add to the distinction of his appearance.He was always beautifully dressed.He got his haberdashery at Charvet's, but his suits, his shoes, and his hats in London.He had an apartment in Paris on the Rive Gauche in the fashionable Rue St.Guillaume.People who did not like him said he was a dealer, but this was a charge that he resented with indignation.He had taste and knowledge, and he did not mind admitting that in bygone years, when he first settled in Paris, he had given rich collectors who wanted to buy pictures the benefit of his advice；and when through his social connexions he heard that some impoverished nobleman, English or French, was disposed to sell a picture of first-rate quality he was glad to put him in touch with the directors of American museums who, he happened to know, were on the lookout for a fine example of such and such a master.There were many old families in France and some in England whose circumstances compelled them to part with a signed piece of Buhl or a writing-table made by Chippendale himself if it could be done quietly, and they were glad to know a man of great culture and perfect manners who could arrange the matter with discretion.One would naturally suppose that Elliott profited by the transactions, but one was too well bred to mention it.Unkind people asserted that everything in his apartment was for sale and that after he had invited wealthy Americans for an excellent lunch, with vintage wines, one or two of his valuable drawings would disappear, or a marquetry commode would be replaced by one in lacquer.When he was asked why a particular piece had vanished he very plausibly explained that he hadn't thought it quite up to his mark and had exchanged it for one of much finer quality.He added that it was tiresome always to look at the same things.
我认识艾略特·邓普顿已有十五个年头。此时的他年近六旬，高挑的个子，五官端正，一派儒雅的风度，乌黑浓密的卷发微染白霜，反倒使他更加气宇轩昂。他素来衣着考究，小物件可以在查维特服饰店采购，但衣帽和鞋子这套行头却一定要在伦敦添置。他在巴黎塞纳河左岸有一套公寓，位于时尚的圣纪尧姆大街。不喜欢他的人称他为掮客，这种污蔑叫他不胜愤怒。他眼光独特、学识渊博，不否认刚刚在巴黎安家的那些年曾经为有意买画的大款收藏家出过主意，助过他们一臂之力。在交际场上，他一旦耳闻某个英法破落贵族想出手一幅精品画作，碰巧又知道哪个美国博物馆的理事在访求某某大师的优秀画作，他便乐见其成，为之穿针引线。法国有许多世家，英国也是有一些的。这类人家有时深陷窘境，不得不出手某件有布尔大师①签名的柜子或者一张由齐本德尔亲手制作的写字台，只要不声张出去，当然愿意有一个知识渊博、风度儒雅、办事谨慎的人代为操办。人们自然想到艾略特会从这种交易中捞上一把，但大家都是有教养的，谁也不愿明说。肚肠小的人却不客气，硬说他家样样东西都是摆出来兜售的，请美国的富佬来吃上一顿丰盛的午餐，觥筹交错之后，就会有一两幅值钱的画品不见了踪影，或者一件镶嵌细工家具被一件漆品替换。若是有人问起某样东西怎么不见了，他便头头是道地解释一通，说那东西不上品位，他拿去换了样品质远在其之上的。他还补充说，成天看一样特定的东西，哪有不烦的。

“Nous autres Américains, we Americans，”he said，“like change.It is at once our weakness and our strength.”
“Nous autres Américains，我们美国人就喜欢换花样。这既是我们的短板，也是我们的长处。”

Some of the American ladies in Paris, who claimed to know all about him, said that his family was quite poor and if he was able to live in the way he did it was only because he had been very clever. I do not know how much money he had, but his ducal landlord certainly made him pay a lot for his apartment and it was furnished with objects of value.On the walls were drawings by the great French masters, Watteau, Fragonard, Claude Lorraine and so on；Savonnerie and Aubusson rugs displayed their beauty on the parquet floors；and in the drawing-room there was a Louis Quinze suite in petit point of such elegance that it might well have belonged, as he claimed, to Madame de Pompadour.Anyhow he had enough to live in what he considered was the proper style for a gentleman without trying to earn money, and the method by which he had done so in the past was a matter which, unless you wished to lose his acquaintance, you were wise not to refer to.Thus relieved of material cares he gave himself over to the ruling passion of his life, which was social relationships.His business connexions with the impecunious great both in France and in England had secured the foothold he had obtained on his arrival in Europe as a young man with letters of introduction to persons of consequence.His origins recommended him to the American ladies of title to whom he brought letters, for he was of an old Virginian family and through his mother traced his descent from one of the signatories of the Declaration of Independence.He was well-favoured, bright, a good dancer, a fair shot, and a fine tennis player.He was an asset at any party.He was lavish with flowers and expensive boxes of chocolates, and though he entertained little, when he did it was with an originality that pleased.It amused these rich ladies to be taken to bohemian restaurants in Soho or bistros in the Latin Quarter.He was always prepared to make himself useful, and there was nothing, however tiresome, that you asked him to do for you that he would not do with pleasure.He took an immense amount of trouble to make himself agreeable to ageing women, and it was not long before he was the ami de la maison, the household pet, in many an imposing mansion.His amiability was extreme；he never minded being asked at the last moment because someone had thrown you over and you could put him next to a very boring old lady and count on him to be as charming and amusing with her as he knew how.
巴黎有些美国籍的小姐太太，自称了解他的底细，说他的家道原来很穷，之所以能过上如此阔绰的日子，只是由于他为人非常精明的缘故。我不清楚他究竟有多少钱，可是那位有公爵身份的房东容他住这样的公寓，自然要收不菲的房租。况且，他的房间里摆的尽是值钱的物件。墙上挂着一些法国艺术大师的画作，有华多的，有弗拉戈纳尔的，还有克洛德·洛兰等其他人的；镶木地板上铺着萨冯内里埃地毯和奥比松地毯，相互争奇斗艳；客厅里摆了一套路易十五时代精工细雕的家具，制作之精，如他自己所称，说不定就是当年蓬帕杜夫人香闺中的物件呢。不管怎么说，反正他不必挖空心思去赚钱，照样能把日子过得很滋润，他认为一个绅士应该讲究这种排场，至于他是如何才达到了这样的水准，智者会三缄其口，除非你希望跟他一刀两断，不再来往。对于物质生活没有了后顾之忧，他便全身心去实现一生中最大的愿望——游刃于社交圈子。初来欧洲时，他只是个拿着介绍信四处拜访名流的年轻人，后来因为帮助那些英法世家成交了几笔生意，巩固了在这之前已经取得的地位。他出身于弗吉尼亚州的一个旧世家，母系一族追溯起来，曾有一位祖先在《独立宣言》上签过字呢。他拿着介绍信拜见那些美国贵妇人时，其出身颇受重视。他如鱼得水，八面玲珑，舞跳得好，枪打得准，还打得一手好网球，什么样的派对他都是必到之客。他慷慨大方，将鲜花和昂贵的巧克力买来任意送人。他自己倒是很少请客，可是一旦设宴，必定别开生面。他会请那些阔太太到苏荷区富于人文气息的饭馆开洋荤，或者去拉丁区的酒馆小酌，使她们得到身心的愉悦。随时随地，他都愿意为人效犬马之劳，不管再怎么烦人的事，只要有求于他，他没有不乐意办的。遇见上年纪的女人，他很舍得花气力花时间曲意逢迎，没过多长时间便成了许多大户人家的新宠。他这个人太好说话了，开宴会万一有人爽约没来，请他临时凑个数，他是毫不介意的；把他安排在一个讨厌透顶的老太太身边，他一定会谈笑风生，博得老太太的欢心。

In two or more years, both in London to which he went for the last part of the season and to pay a round of country house visits in the early autumn, and in Paris, where he had settled down, he knew everyone whom a young American could know. The ladies who had first introduced him into society were surprised to discover how wide the circle of his acquaintance had grown.Their feelings were mixed.On the one hand they were pleased that their young protégé had made so great a success, and on the other a trifle nettled that he should be on intimate terms with persons with whom their own relations had remained strictly formal.Though he continued to be obliging and useful to them, they were uneasily conscious that he had used them as stepping-stones to his social advancement.They were afraid he was a snob.And of course he was.He was a colossal snob.He was a snob without shame.He would put up with any affront, he would ignore any rebuff, he would swallow any rudeness to get asked to a party he wanted to go to or to make a connexion with some crusty old dowager of great name.He was indefatigable.When he had fixed his eye on his prey he hunted it with the persistence of a botanist who will expose himself to dangers of flood, earthquake, fever, and hostile natives to find an orchid of peculiar rarity.The war of 1914 gave him his final chance.When it broke out he joined an ambulance corps and served first in Flanders and then in the Argonne；he came back after a year with a red ribbon in his buttonhole and secured a position in the Red Cross in Paris.By then he was in affluent circumstances and he contributed generously to the good works patronized by persons of consequence.He was always ready with his exquisite taste and his gift for organization to help in any charitable function that was widely publicized.He became a member of the two most exclusive clubs in Paris.He was ce cher Elliott to the greatest ladies in France.He had finally arrived.
在两三年的时间里，他混迹于伦敦和巴黎，作为一个年轻的美国人，凡是能攀得上的关系，他都与之有了交往。他把家安在巴黎，社交季节之末则到伦敦去，初秋时分前往乡间去拜访一圈住在乡村别墅的名门。最初将他引入社交界的那些贵妇人发现他的交游竟然如此之广，不由颇感意外，心里五味杂陈。她们一方面感到高兴——这个受她们保护的小伙子取得了巨大的成功；另一方面，她们则有些拈酸——他跟别人混得很熟，和她们却是礼节性的交往。虽然他依然有求必应，愿意为她们效劳，但她们心里直犯嘀咕，觉得自己被他当成了跻身社交界的垫脚石，怀疑他是个唯利是图的势利眼。实际上他的确是个势利眼，一个不折不扣的势利眼，一个毫无廉耻之心的势利眼。哪家请客，他只要能上客人名单，或者跟哪个有名望的脾气乖戾的贵族老太太攀上关系，什么样的苦他都能吃，受得了侮辱谩骂，听得了冷言冷语，咽得下窝囊气。在这方面，他可以说是不屈不挠。他只要盯上一个猎物，非将其猎到手不可，就像寻找罕见种类兰花的植物学家一样执着，什么洪水、地震、热病和充满敌意的土著人啦，这种危险全不放在眼里。一九一四年的世界大战给他提供了升腾的良机。战争一爆发，他就去参加了一个救护队，先后在佛兰德斯和阿尔贡战区救死扶伤；一年后回来，他胸前多了条荣誉红丝带，并且在巴黎红十字会谋了个缺。此时的他今非昔比，手头已很宽裕，凡是名流主办的慈善事业，他必定慷慨捐赠。看见名声显赫的慈善机构，他会运用自己渊博的知识和高雅的品味鼎力相助。巴黎有两家顶级的高档俱乐部，他都成了会员。在法国那些最有名望的贵妇人眼中，他成了“了不起的艾略特”。他终于发迹了！