双语·《刀锋》 第四章 八

CHAPTER FOUR 8
第四章 八

Though Suzanne had always lived in Montmartre, she decided that it was necessary to break with the past, so she took an apartment in Montparnasse in a house just off the boulevard. It consisted of two rooms, a tiny kitchen, and a bathroom；it was on the sixth floor, but there was a lift.To her a bathroom and a lift, even though it only held two persons and moved at a snail's pace and you had to walk downstairs, represented not only luxury but style.
苏姗娜虽说一直住在蒙马特高地，此时却觉得有必要与过去一刀两断，于是就在蒙巴纳斯街区离林荫道不远处的一幢公寓楼里租了一套房，里面包括两个房间、一个小厨房和一个浴室。此房位于六层，不过是配有电梯的。那电梯一次只能搭乘两人，慢得像蜗牛爬，下楼还得步行。但是，浴室和电梯对她而言，不仅代表的是奢华的生活，也是一种时髦。

For the first few months of their union Monsieur Achille Gauvain, for such was his name, put up at a hotel on his fortnightly visits to Paris and, after spending such part of the night with Suzanne as his amorous inclina-tion demanded, returned to it to sleep by himself till it was time for him to get up and catch his train to return to his business affairs and the sober pleasures of family life；but then Suzanne pointed out to him that he was throwing away money to no purpose and it would be both more economical and more comfortable if he stayed in the apartment till morning. He could not but see the force of this.He was flattered at Suzanne's thoughtfulness for his comfort-it was true, there was nothing agreeable in going out into the street and finding a taxi on a cold winter night-and he approved of her disinclination to put him to useless expense.It was a good woman who counted not only her own pennies but her lover's.
二人同居的头几个月，阿吉里·高凡先生（此为制造商的名字），每隔两个星期来到巴黎一趟，下榻于一个旅馆，受炽热欲望的驱使，跟苏姗娜做完好事，然后再回到旅馆独眠，次日起床乘火车回去料理事务，享受静谧、愉快的家庭生活。后来，苏姗娜向他指出，说那样糟蹋钱是毫无道理的，完全可以留在公寓里，早晨再走，既省钱又少受点罪。他觉得此话说得有理。苏姗娜这一番知痛知痒的话说得他心里暖洋洋的。说真的，冬夜天气冷，跑上街头拦出租车，可不是件好受的事。至于她不愿让他花冤枉钱，也打动了他的心。一个女人，既懂得自己省开销，也知道为情人节省铜板，这才是好女人。

Monsieur Achille had every reason to feel pleased with himself. In general they went to dine at one of the better restaurants in Montparnasse, but now and then Suzanne prepared dinner for him in the apartment.The tasty food she gave him was very much to his liking.On warm evenings he would dine in his shirt-sleeves and feel deliciously wanton and bohemian.He had always had an inclination for buying pictures, but Suzanne would let him buy nothing that she did not approve of, and he soon found reason to trust her judgement.She would have no truck with dealers, but took him to the studios of the painters and thus enabled him to buy pictures for half the money he would otherwise have had to pay.He knew that she was putting something aside, and when she told him that year by year she was buying a bit of land in her native village, he felt a thrill of pride.He knew the desire to own land that is in the heart of every person of French blood, and his esteem for her was increased because she possessed it too.
阿吉里先生对现状感到十分满意。他们俩一般都是下馆子，到蒙巴纳斯街区比较好的餐馆吃饭，但有的时候，苏姗娜也会亲自下厨，留他在公寓里吃饭。她烧得一手好菜，很对阿吉里先生的口味。吃晚饭时，如果天气暖和，阿吉里先生就脱掉外衣，只穿一件衬衫，感觉很有一种无拘无束、放荡不羁的艺术家风范。他一直对画品情有独钟，喜欢买画，但苏姗娜对于自己看不上的画，绝对不允许他买。没过多久，他便发现苏姗娜眼光独到，值得信赖了。苏姗娜不让他和中间人打交道，而是直接把他带到画家的画室里去买，所花的钱只抵在外面买画的一半。阿吉里先生知道她在攒钱，后来她告诉他，说她每年都要在老家的村子里添置一些地产，阿吉里听了为她感到很是自豪。他清楚，在每个法国人的血液里都涌动着拥有土地的欲望，而就是因为苏姗娜拥有了土地，故而对她的敬重又增加了几分。

On her side Suzanne was well satisfied. She was neither faithful to him nor unfaithful；that is to say, she took care not to form any permanent connexion with another man, but if she came across one who took her fancy she was not averse from going to bed with him.But it was a point of honour with her not to let him stay all night.She felt she owed that to the man of means and position who had settled her life in such an assured and respectable manner.
苏姗娜这一边也是心满意足的。她对阿吉里先生既忠实，也不忠实。这就是说，她留意着不和别的男人保持固定的关系，但如果碰上看得上眼的，也不反对与对方行云雨之欢。但是，她绝不留意中人在家里过夜，这涉及良心的问题。她觉得自己欠那位有钱有地位的阿吉里先生一份情，因为正是阿吉里先生让她衣食无忧，过上了稳定和有尊严的生活。

I had come to know Suzanne when she was living with a painter who happened to be an acquaintance of mine andhad often sat in his studio while she posed；I continued to see her now and then at irregular intervals, but did not enter upon terms of any intimacy with her till she moved to Montparnasse. It appeared that Monsieur Achille, for this was how she always spoke of him and how she addressed him, had read one or two of my books in translation, and one evening he invited me to dine with them at a restaurant.He was a little man, half a head shorter than Suzanne, with iron-grey hair and a neat grey moustache.He was on the plump side, and he had a pot-belly, but only to the extent of giving him an air of substance.He walked with the short fat man's strut and it was plain that he was not displeased with himself.He gave me a fine dinner.He was very polite.He told me he was glad I was a friend of Suzanne's, he could see at a glance that I was comme il faut and he would be glad to think that I should see something of her.His affairs, alas！kept him tied to Lille and the poor girl was too often alone；it would be a comfort to him to know that she was in touch with a man of education.He was a businessman, but he had always admired artists.
我是在苏姗娜和一位画家同居时认识她的。这位画家是我的一个相识。苏姗娜在他绘画时为他当模特儿，我时常坐在旁边看。我也只是隔上一段时间偶尔见见她，直至她迁入蒙巴纳斯街区，和她的交往才密切了起来。事情是这样的——阿吉里先生（她无论是提到还是当面称呼那位制造商都是这么叫的）读了一两本我的小说的法译本，于是，在某天晚上，请我到一家饭馆里和他们一起吃饭。他五短身材，比苏姗娜矮半个头，铁灰色的头发，八字胡修剪得整整齐齐，稍微有点偏胖，肚子突起，但并非大腹便便，仅仅衬托出了他的派头和气质而已。他走路迈着矮胖男人的那种四方步，一副意气风发的样子。这顿饭十分丰盛。他对我非常客气，说很高兴苏姗娜有我这样的朋友。他说一眼就看出我是个好人，对于我如此看得起苏姗娜而感到欣慰。他杂事太多，使他在里尔脱不了身，让可怜的苏姗娜倍感寂寞，多亏有我这等文化人相伴，真是叫人舒心。他虽然是生意人，对艺术家却素有敬仰之心。

“Ah, mon cher monsieur, art and literature have always been the twin glories of France. Along with her military prowess, of course.And I, a manufacturer of woollen goods, have no hesitation in saying that I put the painter and the writer on a level with the general and the statesman.”
“啊，我亲爱的先生，艺术和文学一直是法兰西的一对瑰宝。当然，它的军事实力可与之并驾齐驱。我是个毛织品制造商，不偏不倚，毫不犹豫地会将画家和作家放在与将军及政治家同等的位置。”

No one could say handsomer than that.
他的一席话说得无比入耳。

Suzanne would not hear of having a maid to do the housework, partly for economy's sake and partly because（for reasons best known to herself）she didn't want anyone poking her nose into what was nobody's business but her own. She kept the tiny apartment, furnished in the most modern style of the moment, clean and neat, and she made all her own underclothes.But even then, now that she no longer posed, time hung heavily on her hands, for she was an industrious woman；and presently the idea occurred to her that, after having sat to so many painters, there was no reason why she should not paint too.She bought canvases, brushes, and paints and forthwith set to work.Sometimes when I was to take her out to dinner I would go early and find her in a smock busily at work.Just as the embryo in the womb recapitulates in brief the evolution of the species, so did Suzanne recapitulate the styles of all her lovers.She painted landscape like the landscape painter, abstractions like the cubist, and with the help of picture postcards sailing-boats lying at anchor like the Scandinavian.She could not draw, but she had an agreeable sense of colour, and if her pictures were not very good she got a lot of fun out of painting them. Monsieur Achille encouraged her. It gave him a sense of satisfaction that his mistress should be an artist.It was on his insistence that she sent a canvas to the autumn salon and they were both very proud when it was hung.He gave her one bit of good advice.
苏姗娜坚决不愿请女佣料理家务，一半是为了省钱，一半是因为（她自己知道得最清楚）她不喜欢有人插手于纯粹属于她个人分内的事物。那套小公寓被她收拾得干干净净、整整齐齐，而且按照当时最时新的式样加以陈设；所有的内衣都由她自己亲手来缝制。可是，即便如此，由于她不再当模特儿，时间仍多得难以打发。鉴于她是个闲不住的人，不久便心生一念：为那么多画家当过模特儿，她自己也应该画上几笔。说干就干，她立刻买来画布、画笔和油彩等用品，动手画了起来。有时候，我带她出去吃饭，去得早一点，就会看见她穿着罩衫在忙着作画。与胎儿在子宫里重现物种进化的过程基本一样，苏姗娜也重现了她过去所有情人的风格。她画风景像那个风景画家，画抽象画像那个立体派画家，还以风景明信片为参照画了一只停泊的帆船，画风跟那个斯堪的纳维亚人的一样。她的画技很糟，但色彩感不错。即便画得不怎么样，她却从中获得了不少乐趣。阿吉里先生对她大加鼓励。想到自己的情妇是个画家，使他心里有一种满足感。在他的敦促之下，苏姗娜送了一张画去参加秋季沙龙。看见那幅画挂在展厅里，二人都颇为之自豪。阿吉里先生给她提了一条忠告。

“Don't try to paint like a man, my dear，”he said.“Paint like a woman. Don't aim to be strong；be satisfied to charm.And be honest.In business sharp practice sometimes succeeds, but in art honesty is not only the best but the only policy.”
“画的时候，不要像男人一样阳刚气十足，亲爱的，”他说道，“而应有女性的温柔。不求笔锋遒劲，但求柔美入眼。画风应该求实。生意场上弄虚作假有时能出奇制胜，但在艺术上求实至上，也是唯一可行之道。”

At the time of which I write the connexion had lasted for five years to their mutual content.
故事写到此处，他们俩交往已有五年之久，彼此都感到很满意。

“Evidently he doesn't thrill me，”said Suzanne.“But he's intelligent and in a good position. I've reached an age when it's necessary for me to think of my situation.”
“显然，他并非叫我热血沸腾的那种人，”苏姗娜告诉我说，“但他是智慧型的，有着很好的社会地位。我也老大不小了，应该考虑考虑退路了。”

She was sympathetic and understanding and Monsieur Achille conceived a high opinion of her judgement. She lent a willing ear when he discussed with her his business and domestic affairs.She condoled with him when his daughter failed in an examination and rejoiced with him when his son got engaged to a girl with money.He had himself married the only child of a man in his own line of business and the amalgamation of two rival firms had been a source of profit to both parties.It was naturally a satisfaction to him that his son was sensible enough to see that the soundest basis of a happy marriage is community of financial interests.He confided to Suzanne his ambition to marry his daughter into the aristocracy.
她富于同情之心，明白事理。阿吉里先生很尊重她的意见。他把生意场上的事和家里的事讲给她听时，她会侧着耳朵倾听。他女儿有一次考试落榜，她跟着他一道难过。他的儿子与一个有钱人家的千金订婚，她则和他一起高兴。他本人娶的就是一个同行人家的独生女。两个厂家原来是对头，这一联姻对双方都有好处。现在儿子也懂得了这个道理，知道幸福的婚姻必须有共同的物质利益作为坚实的基础，这叫他感到舒心。他推心置腹地告诉苏姗娜，说他有个野心，想把女儿嫁给贵族。

“And why not, with her fortune?”said Suzanne.
“她有的是钱，这是顺理成章的事。”苏姗娜说。

Monsieur Achille made it possible for Suzanne to send her own daughter to a convent where she would receive a good education, and he promised that at the proper age he would pay to have her suitably trained to earn her living as a typist and stenographer.
阿吉里先生替苏姗娜着想，把苏姗娜的女儿送进了一所女修道院办的学校，让她在那儿接受良好的教育，答应等她女儿到适当的年龄时，由他出钱去学习打字和速记，以便日后靠此谋生。

“She's going to be a beauty when she grows up，”Suzanne told me，“but evidently it won't hurt her to have an education and to be able to pound a typewriter. She's so young it's too soon to tell, but it may be that she'll have no temperament.”
“她长大后一定是个大美女。”苏姗娜告诉我，“反正受点教育，以后会打字，是没有坏处的。她现在还小，什么事都难以预料，说不定她会变得缺乏气质呢。”

Suzanne had delicacy. She left it to my intelligence to infer her meaning.I inferred it all right.
苏姗娜的话藏头露尾，弦外之音由着我去猜想了。我当然是能猜得出来的。