双语·《刀锋》 第三章 四

CHAPTER THREE 4
第三章 四

But Elliott had a flair. An inner monitor suggested to him that the Riviera was on the point of becoming once more the resort of rank and fashion.He knew the coast well from having often spent a few days in Monte Carlo at the H?tel de Paris on his way back from Rome, whither his duties at the papal court had called him, or at Cannes in the villa of one or the other of his friends.But that was in the winter, and of late rumours had reached him that it was beginning to be well spoken of as a summer resort.The big hotels were remaining open；their summer visitors were listed in the social columns of the Paris Herald and Elliott read the familiar names with approval.
艾略特是个有眼光的人。一位知情人告诉他，说里维埃拉就要重新成为贵族和上层人物的休闲之地了。过去由于在教廷供职，他从罗马回来，途中常要在蒙特卡洛的巴黎饭店住上几天，或者到戛纳去，在哪个朋友的别墅里待一待，所以对那一带海滨相当熟悉。不过，那都是在冬天。近来却听到传言，说那儿正在成为一个非常理想的消夏胜地。那些大旅馆夏天仍旧营业；夏季贵宾的名字登载进了巴黎《先锋报》的交际栏——那一个个熟悉的名字，艾略特看了满心喜悦。

“The world is too much with me，”he said.“I have now reached a time of life when I am prepared to enjoy the beauties of nature.”
“滚滚红尘，叫人不胜烦恼。”他说，“我已是一把岁数的人了，也该享受享受山水之乐了。”

The remark may seem obscure. It isn't really.Elliott had always felt that nature was an impediment to the social life, and he had no patience with people who could bother to go to see a lake or a mountain when they had before their eyes a Regency commode or a painting by Watteau.He had at the time a considerable sum of money to spend.Henry Maturin, urged by his son and exasperated by the sight of his friends on the stock exchange who were making fortunes overnight, had surrendered at last to the current of events and, abandoning little by little his old conservatism, had seen no reason why he too should not get on the band wagon.He wrote to Elliott that he was as much opposed to gambling as he had ever been, but this was not gambling, it was an affirmation of his belief in the inexhaustible resources of the country.His optimism was based on common sense.He could see nothing to halt the progress of America.He ended by saying that he had bought on margin a number of sound securities for dear Louisa Bradley and was glad to be able to tell Elliott that she now had a profit of twenty thousand dollars.Finally, if Elliott wanted to make a little money and would allow him to act according to his judgement, he was confident that he would not be disappointed.Elliott, apt to use hackneyed quotations, remarked that he could resist anything but temptation；the consequence of which was that from then on, instead of turning to the social intelligence as he had done for many years when the Herald was brought him with his breakfast, he gave his first attention to the reports of the stock market.So successful were Henry Maturin's transactions on his behalf that now Elliott found himself with the tidy sum of fifty thousand dollars which he had done nothing to earn.
这话说得没头没尾，有点言不由衷。他一直认为游乐山水是社交生活的一大障碍。有些人眼前明明放着一件摄政时代的古董或者华托的一幅名画不好好欣赏，却跑去游山玩水，这叫他无法容忍。当时，他手头有着一笔数额可观的现金。话说亨利·马图林一方面因儿子力劝，一方面看见那些做证券交易的朋友一夜暴富，不由红了眼，终于向潮流屈服，渐渐放弃了他那套陈旧的保守主义，觉得自己没有理由不搭上这趟顺风车。他写信给艾略特，说他仍旧和过去一样反对赌博，但证券交易并非赌博，而是对祖国坚定的信任，相信祖国有着永不枯竭的财源。他的乐观是有道理的。他认为任何力量都阻挡不住美国前进的步伐。在信的结尾处，他说他凭保证金额度为亲爱的路易莎·布雷德利买进了一些安全股票，而且很高兴告诉艾略特，她现在已经赚入两万块钱了。末了，他说艾略特如果想赚点零钱，让他根据自己的判断行事，保证不会叫艾略特失望。遇到这种事，艾略特总喜欢找些借口搪塞，说什么他抵挡不住眼前的诱惑。多年来，当《先锋报》随着早餐一道送入他的房间时，他都是先看社交界的消息，而自从读了亨利·马图林的来信之后，他首先注意的就是证券市场的报道了。亨利·马图林代表他做的那些交易非常成功，使他不费吹灰之力便拿到了五万块可观的收益。

He decided to take his profit and buy a house on the Riviera. As a refuge from the world he chose Antibes, which held a strategic position between Cannes and Monte Carlo so that it could be conveniently reached from either；but whether it was the hand of Providence or his own sure instinct that led him to choose a spot that was soon to become the centre of fashion, it is impossible to say.To live in a villa with a garden had a suburban vulgarity that revolted his fastidious taste, so he acquired two houses in the old town looking on the sea, knocked them into one, and installed central heating, bathrooms, and the sanitary conveniences that American example has forced on a recalcitrant Europe.Pickling was all the rage just then, so he furnished the house with old Proven?al furniture duly pickled and, surrendering discreetly to modernity, with modern fabrics.He was still unwilling to accept such painters as Picasso and Braque—“horrors, my dear fellow, horrors”—whom certain misguided enthusiasts were making such a fuss about, but felt himself at long last justified in extending his patronage to the Impressionists and so adorned his walls with some very pretty pictures.I remember a Monet of people rowing on a river, a Pissarro of a quay and a bridge on the Seine, a Tahitian landscape by Gauguin, and a charming Renoir of a young girl in profile with long yellow hair hanging down her back.His house when finished was fresh and gay, unusual, and simple with that simplicity that you knew could only have been achieved at great expense.
他决定把这笔钱拿上，在里维埃拉买一幢房子。他选中昂第布作为一处避世的港湾。那地方位于戛纳和蒙特卡洛之间，可进可退，具有战略意义，方便游走于那两地。后来，昂第布没多久便成了上流社会的中心，他的选择不知是出于天意，还是受到内心本能的驱使，谁也说不清。住在一个带花园的乡村别墅里，脱不了城市近郊的那种庸俗气，让讲究品味的他觉得倒胃口，于是他跑到旧城区临海的地方买了两幢房子，再将两幢并为一幢，安装上中央暖气系统、浴室和卫生设备——这些都是顽固的欧洲大陆受到美国影响的产物。当时正流行酸洗，所以他把古老的普罗旺斯家具全都酸洗过，再用现代纺织品蒙上，摆放在屋里，在某种程度上也算赶了赶时髦。对于毕加索、布拉克这类现代派画家，他却仍然难以接受。“不成样子，老伙计，不成样子！”他会这样嗟叹。他觉得这些画家都是缺心眼的评论家制造舆论捧起来的。但是他对印象派画家却青睐有加，并认为自己眼光独到，于是他家的墙上便挂了一些花花绿绿的印象派画作。我记得其中有一张莫奈的人们在河里划船的画；一张毕沙罗画的塞纳河的码头和桥；一张高更的塔希提岛风景；一张雷诺阿画的少女侧像，黄头发从背上披下来，很令人着迷。等到房子修整完毕，真是焕然一新，叫人赏心悦目，不同凡响而又朴素无华——那种朴素，是费尽心思才取得的效果。

Then began the most splendid period of Elliott's life. He brought his excellent chef down from Paris and it was soon acknowledged that he had the best cuisine on the Riviera.He dressed his butler and his footman in white with gold straps on their shoulders.He entertained with a magnificence that never overstepped the bounds of good taste.The shores of the Mediterranean were littered with royalties from all parts of Europe：some lured there on account of theclimate, some in exile, and some because a scandalous past or an unsuitable marriage made it more convenient for them to inhabit a foreign country.There were Romanoffs from Russia, Hapsburgs from Austria, Bourbons from Spain, the two Sicilys, and Parma；there were princes of the House of Windsor and princes of the House of Bragan?a；there were Royal Highnesses from Sweden and Royal Highnesses from Greece：Elliott entertained them.There were princes and princesses not of royal blood, dukes and duchesses, marquesses and marchionesses, from Austria, Italy, Spain, Russia, and Belgium：Elliott entertained them.In winter the King of Sweden and the King of Denmark made sojourns on the coast；now and then Alfonso of Spain paid a hurried visit：Elliott entertained them.I never ceased to admire the way in which, while he bowed with courtly grace to those exalted personages, he managed to maintain the independent demeanour of the citizen of a country where all men are said to be born equal.
自此，艾略特步入了自己一生中最辉煌的时期。他从巴黎把他那位厨艺超群的厨子带了来，不久大家便公认他家的饭菜在里维埃拉口味最好。艾府的管家和男仆全都是一身白装，肩上挂着金带。他请客讲究排场，但有一定的底线，从不庸俗。在地中海沿岸，欧洲各地来的王公贵族处处可见，有的是喜欢这儿的气候，有的是逃亡来的，有的是因为不堪丑闻的纠缠，有的是婚姻出现问题，觉得不如定居于这一片异国的土地。人群中有俄国的罗曼诺夫皇族、奥地利的哈布斯堡王族、西班牙的波旁王族、两个西西里贵族和一个帕尔马贵族，另外还有温莎王室的公主、布拉干萨王室的公主，有瑞典的王室和希腊的王公贵族。对于这些人，艾略特敞开大门欢迎。对于那些从奥地利、意大利、西班牙、俄罗斯、比利时来的没有王室血统的王子和公主，公爵和公爵夫人，侯爵和侯爵夫人，艾略特也都设宴款待。冬季，瑞典国王和丹麦国王来海滨小住，西班牙的阿方索国王也不时地来匆匆一游，艾略特对他们迎迓不及。他鞠躬迎接这些高贵人物不卑不亢的样子历来都叫我佩服有加，因为他既能表现得彬彬有礼，又能保持一个声称人人生来平等的国度里的公民所具有的独立人格。

I had then, after some years of travel, bought a house on Cap Ferrat and thus saw a good deal of Elliott. I had risen so high in his good graces that sometimes he invited me to his very grandest parties.
游荡了几年之后，此时我在费拉角买了幢房屋定居了下来，于是和艾略特见面的机会就多了。我的地位在他眼中很荣幸已经升得很高，所以，他有时候也请我参加他举办的最为盛大的宴会。

“Come as a favour to me, my dear fellow，”he would say.“Of course I know just as well as you do that royalties ruin a party. But other people like to meet them and I think one owes it to oneself to show the poor things some attention.Though heaven knows they don't deserve it.They're the most ungrateful people in the world；they'll use you, and when they have no further use for you they'll cast you aside like a frayed shirt；they'll accept innumer-able favours from you, but there’s not one of them who’d cross the road to do the smallest thing for you in return.”
“来吧，老伙计，算是帮我的忙了。”他会这样对我说，“当然，你我都清楚，王公贵族在宴会上只会叫人败兴。不过，有些人还是想会会他们的，我觉得自己有责任照顾照顾那些可怜人的面子。只有上天知道，他们是不配的，因为他们是世界上最忘恩负义的人。这些人是要利用你，而一旦你对他们没有用时，便会将你视若敝屣。你给予他们千百种恩惠，他们也不会感恩，哪怕是举手之劳的忙也不会帮你的。”

Elliott had taken pains to get on good terms with the local authorities, and the prefect of the district and the bishop of the diocese, accompanied by his vicar general, often graced his table. The bishop had been a cavalry officer before entering the Church and in the war had commanded a regiment.He was a rubicund, stoutish man, who affected the rough-and-ready language of the barracks, and his austere, cadaverous vicar general was always on pins and needles lest he should say something scandalous.He listened with a deprecating smile when his superior told his favourite stories.But the bishop conducted his diocese with remarkable competence, and his eloquence in the pulpit was no less moving than his sallies at the luncheon table were amusing.He approved of Elliott for his pious generosity to the Church and liked him for his amiability and the good food he provided；and the two became good friends.Elliott could thus flatter himself that he was making the best of both worlds and, if I may venture so to put it, effecting a very satisfactory working arrangement between God and Mammon.
艾略特绞尽脑汁和当地的权贵搞好关系，因此，区长、教区主教以及主教代理就成了他家常来常往的座上宾。主教在进教会之前是个骑兵军官，第一次世界大战期间指挥过一个骑兵团。他脸色红润，身材胖大，讲话粗鲁、率直，一副军队里的腔调，这叫表情严肃、面容枯槁的主教代理总是如坐针毡，生怕他会说出有伤大雅的话来。主教很喜欢讲故事，这位代理在听的时候，脸上会堆起不以为然的微笑。不过，主教大人在管理教区方面能力过人。他布道时口若悬河、动人心扉，餐桌旁则妙语如珠，给大家带来了欢乐。艾略特对教会的虔诚以及慷慨布施令他很是欣赏，他喜欢艾略特的和蔼可亲以及艾略特提供的美味佳肴。二人成了好朋友。艾略特扬扬得意，说他在天地两世界都游刃有余，而按照我的说法是，他拜上帝和拜金两不误，取得了理想的平衡。

Elliott was house-proud and he was anxious to show his new house to his sister；he had always felt a certain reserve in her approval of him and he wanted her to see the style in which he now lived and the friends he hobnobbed with. It was the definitive answer to her hesitations.She would have to admit that he had made good.He wrote and asked her to come over with Gray and Isabel, not to stay with him, for he had no room, but to stay as his guests at the near-by H?tel du Cap.Mrs.Bradley replied that her travelling days were over, for her health was indifferent and she thought she was better off at home；and in any case it was impossible for Gray to absent himself from Chicago；business was booming and he was making a great deal of money and had to stay put.Elliott was attached to his sister and her letter alarmed him.He wrote to Isabel.She replied by cable that, though her mother was so far from well that she had to stay in bed one day a week, she was in no immediate danger and indeed with care might be expected to live a long time yet；but that Gray needed a rest and, with his father there to look after things, there was no reason why he should not take a holiday；so, not that summer but the next, she and Gray would come over.
艾略特对自己的房子颇感自豪，急于向姐姐炫耀炫耀。他总觉得姐姐在赞扬他时，肚子里留了三分话。他想让她看看自己如今过得是多么风光，想让她见见自己新结交的朋友。姐姐来了一看，所有的疑惑都会消失的，会承认他干得不错。他写信给她，让她带着格雷和伊莎贝尔一同来——不是住在他的府上，因为府上没有空房间，而是以他的客人身份住进近旁的“海角旅馆”。布雷德利夫人写了回信，说她已经过了旅行的年龄，因为健康欠佳，想想还是待在家里养病好；格雷在芝加哥是怎么也脱不了身的，他生意兴隆，财源滚滚，忙得只好留在国内了。艾略特跟姐姐感情很深，这封信使他慌张起来。他又给伊莎贝尔写了封信。对方回了封电报，说母亲身体虽然很不好，每星期得卧床一天，但目前还没有危险，其实，如果当心一点，完全还能活很长时间；不过，格雷倒需要休息休息，国内的生意有他父亲照看着呢，他自己有理由度一段时间的假；今年夏天算是不行了，明年她和格雷一定来。

On October the 23rd，1929，the New York market broke.
一九二九年十月二十三日，纽约证券市场崩溃了。