双语·《刀锋》 第五章 三

CHAPTER FIVE 3
第五章 三

On the following evening I took the Blue Train to the Riviera and two or three days later went over to Antibes to see Elliott and give him news of Paris. He looked far from well.The cure at Montecatini had not done him the good he expected, and his subsequent wanderings had exhausted him.He found a baptismal font in Venice and then went on to Florence to buy the triptych he had been negotiating for.Anxious to see these objects duly placed, he went down to the Pontine Marshes and put up at a miserable inn where the heat had been hard to bear.His precious purchases were a long time on the way, but determined not to leave till he had accomplished his purpose, he stayed on.He was delighted with the effect when at last everything was in order, and he showed me with pride the photographs he had taken.The church, though small, had dignity, and the restrained richness of the interior was proof of Elliott's good taste.
第二天傍晚，我搭乘蓝色列车去了里维埃拉，两三天后前往安提比斯去看望艾略特，把巴黎的新闻告诉了他。他看上去气色很糟，蒙特卡蒂尼的疗养并没有取得预期的疗效，而事后去各处旅行又弄得他精疲力竭。他在威尼斯找到一只圣洗池，然后又到佛罗伦萨去买下那幅经过讨价还价才敲定的三联浮雕画。他急于把这些东西安装在教堂里，便跑到了蓬蒂内沼泽去，下榻于一家条件很差的客栈，屋里热得令人无法忍受。他买的那些宝贝东西要很长时间才能到货，但他下定决心不达目的誓不离开，于是就坚持了下来。最后，一切料理停当，他对效果极为满意。见了我，他就自豪地把拍的照片拿给我看。教堂虽然小，但很有气派，内部装修富于情调，对艾略特高雅的艺术品味是一种佐证。

“I saw an early Christian sarcophagus in Rome that took my fancy and I deliberated a long time about buying it, but in the end I thought better of it.”
“我到罗马时，看见一具早期基督教时期的石棺，不由动了心，考虑了好久，想把它买下来，但最后想了想，还是放弃了。”

“What on earth did you want with an early Christian sarcophagus, Elliott?”
“你怎么会想到要买一口早期基督教时期的石棺呢，艾略特？”

“To put myself in it, my dear fellow. It was of a very good design, and I thought it would balance the font on the other side of the entrance, but those early Christians were stumpy little fellows and I shouldn't have fitted in.I wasn't going to lie there till the Last Trump with my knees doubled up to my chin like a foetus.Most uncomfortable.”
“是给我自己用的，亲爱的老伙计。这具石棺极为精美，可以和门道另一侧的圣洗池配成一双。不过，早期的基督徒都是些矮胖子，他们的石棺装不下我。我可不愿在最后审判日的号声吹响时，膝盖顶着下巴躺在里面，像个胎儿一样。那种姿势太不舒服了。”

I laughed, but Elliott was serious.
我被逗笑了，而艾略特却是一本正经的。

“I had a better idea. I've made all arrangements, with some difficulty, but that was to be expected, to be buried in front of the altar at the foot of the chancel steps, so that when the poor peasants of the Pontine Marshes come up to take the Sacrament they'll clump over my bones with their heavy shoes.Rather chic, don't you think?Just a plain stone slab with my name on it and a couple of dates.Si monumentum quaeris, circumspice.If you seek his monument, look around, you know.”“I do know enough Latin to understand a hackneyed quotation, Elliott，”I said tartly.
“我想出了一个比较好的办法，并做出了具体安排，中间遇到了一些困难，但这也是在意料之中的。我死后要葬在祭坛前边的台阶跟前。这样，蓬蒂内沼泽的那些可怜的农民前来领圣餐时，会穿着沉重的皮靴踏着我的遗骨走过去。你不觉得这样很酷吗？那儿只放一块普通的石板，上面刻有我的名字和生卒年月。还刻有Si monumentum quoeris, circumspiece，意思“我懂拉丁语，知道这句被人们广泛引用的铭文是什么意思，用不着你翻译，艾略特。”我有点刻薄地说。

“I beg your pardon, my dear fellow. I'm so accustomed to the crass ignorance of the upper classes, I forgot for the moment that I was talking to an author.”
“对不起，老伙计。我惯常跟愚昧无知的上流社会的人打交道，一时竟忘了这是在跟一位作家说话。”

He scored.
他嘴上不饶人，呛了我这么一句。

“But what I wanted to say to you was this，”he continued.“I've left proper instructions in my will, but I want you to see they're carried out. I will not be buried on the Riviera among a lot of retired colonels and middle-class French people.”
“有件事情我想对你讲一讲。”他继续说道，“对于身后之事，我已在遗嘱里写明，只是希望你能监督执行。我可不愿葬在里维埃拉，和那些退役上校以及法国的中产阶级埋在一起。”

“Of course I'll do what you wish, Elliott, but I don't think we need plan for anything like that for many years to come.”
“我当然会按你的意愿办理，艾略特。不过，我认为那是多年以后的事了，用不着现在就制订计划。”

“I'm getting on, you know, and to tell you the truth I shan't be sorry to go. What are those lines of Landor's?‘I've warmed both hands……'”
“你知道，我也是上了岁数的人了。说实在话，离开人世，我并不为之感到难过。兰多的那几句诗是怎么说的来着？我双手烤着火……”

Though I have a bad verbal memory, the poem is very short and I was able to repeat it.
我对诗文的记性虽则很差，但是，这首诗很短，所以我能背得出来：

“I strove with none, for none was worth my strife.
我与世无争，和谁争我都不愿；

Nature I loved, and, next to Nature, Art；
我爱艺术，仅次于我爱大自然；

I warmed both hands before the fire of Life；
我双手烤着火，用生命之火取暖；

It sinks and I am ready to depart.”
火渐熄，我已做好了走的打算。

“That's it，”he said.
“是这几句诗。”他说。

I could not but reflect that it was only by a violent stretch of the imagination that Elliott could fit the epigram to himself.
我不由心想，艾略特真是想入非非，竟拿这几句诗形容自己的状况，实在牵强。

“It expresses my sentiments exactly，”he said, however.“The only thing I could add to it is that I've always moved in the best society in Europe.”
“这首诗淋漓尽致地表达了我的心情。”却听他这样继续说道，“唯有一点我需要补充进去，那就是我终生与欧洲的上流社会打交道。”

“It would be difficult to squeeze that into a quatrain.”
“在一首这么短的四行诗里，把你的人生经历加进去恐怕是件棘手的事。”

“Society is dead. At one time I had hopes that America would take the place of Europe and create an aristocracy that the hoi polloi would respect, but the depression has destroyed any chance of that.My poor country is becoming hopelessly middle-class.You wouldn't believe it, my dear fellow, but last time I was in America a taxi driver addressed me as brother.”
“社交界已走进了死胡同。我曾经满怀憧憬，希望美国能取代欧洲的位置，创造一个万民敬仰的贵族阶层，谁料经济大萧条将此化为一场空梦。我不幸的祖国越来越叫人失望，成为一个极其平庸的国度。我说出来你也不会相信，老伙计，上次去美国，一个出租车司机竟然称我为‘兄弟’。”

But though the Riviera, still shaken by the crash of'twenty-nine, was not what it had been, Elliott continued to give parties and go to parties. He had never frequented Jews, making an exception only for the family of Rothschild, but the grandest parties were being given now by members of the chosen race, and when there was a party Elliott could not bear not to go to it.He wandered through these gatherings, graciously shaking the hand of one or kissing that of another, but with a kind of forlorn detachment like an exiled royalty who felt a trifle embarrassed to find himself in such company.The exiled royalties, however, had the time of their lives, and to meet a film star seemed the height of their ambitions.Nor had Elliott ever looked with approval on the modern practice of treating members of the theatrical profession as persons whom you met socially；but a retired actress had built herself a sumptuous residence in his immediate neighbourhood and kept open house.Cabinet ministers, dukes, great ladies stayed with her for weeks on end.Elliott became a constant visitor.
受到一九二九年经济大崩溃的冲击，里维埃拉已好景不再，仍然没有恢复过来。艾略特却依然如故，照旧举办宴会，并参加别人举办的宴会。他从不跟犹太人你来我往，不过对罗慈吉尔兹家族却是个例外。话又说回来，最为盛大的宴会往往正是这些上帝选中的人举办的。而只要有宴会，艾略特心里就发痒，不得不去。他穿梭于这些聚会，优雅地握握这位先生的手，或者吻吻那位女士的手，表情却忧郁、超然，就像是一个流亡皇族混杂于平民，颇觉尴尬。而那些真正的流亡皇族却审时度势，将结识电影明星视为崇高的愿望。眼下有一种风气，将演艺界的人纳入了社交圈子，艾略特对此是看不顺眼的。可是，一位隐退的女演员在离他家很近的地方建了一座豪宅，敞开门接待四方来宾，内阁部长、公爵、阔太太富小姐在她府上一住就是几个星期，艾略特也成了她的座上宾。

“Of course it's a very mixed crowd，”he told me，“but one doesn't have to talk to people one doesn't want to. She'sa compatriot of mine and I feel I ought to help her out.It must be a relief to her house guests to find someone who can talk their own language.”
“当然，她的客人形形色色，什么人都有。”他告诉我说，“不过，那些人你不愿意跟他们说话，可以不予理睬。再怎么她也是我的同胞嘛，我觉得自己有义务伸出援手。住在她家的那些法国客人，看见一个会说法语的，心里一定会放松不少。”

Sometimes he was obviously so far from well that I asked him why he didn't take things more easily.
有时候看得很明显，他的身体十分不好。我劝他不要把社交活动看得太重。

“My dear fellow, at my age one can't afford to fall out. You don't think I've moved in the highest circles for nearly fifty years without realizing that if you're not seen everywhere you're forgotten.”
“老伙计，我这种年龄，只能进不能退。我在上流社会混了快五十年了，此处的道理我哪能不知——你不露面，别人就会把你忘掉。”

I wondered if he realized what a lamentable confession he was then making. I had not the heart to laugh at Elliott any more；he seemed to me a profoundly pathetic object.Society was what he lived for, a party was the breath of his nostrils, not to be asked to one was an affront, to be alone was a mortification；and, an old man now, he was desperately afraid.
真不知他明不明白自己的这一番表白是多么可悲。我都没有心情再去取笑他了，觉得他是一个彻头彻尾的可怜虫。他活着就是为了从事社交活动，而宴会则是他的生命支柱。不邀请他，就是对他的侮辱，无人理睬会叫他丢面子；现在上了年纪，他最怕的就是受冷落。

So the summer passed. Elliott spent it scurrying from one end of the Riviera to the other, lunching in Cannes, dining in Monte Carlo, and exercising all his ingenuity to fit in a tea party here and a cocktail party there；and however tired he felt, taking pains to be affable, chatty, and amusing.He was full of gossip and you could trust him to know the details of the latest scandal before anyone but the parties immediately concerned.He would have stared at you with frank amazement had you suggested to him that his existence was futile.He would have thought you distressingly plebeian.
夏天一溜而过。艾略特在里维埃拉从这头跑到那头，疲于奔命，在戛纳吃午饭，又跑到蒙特卡洛吃晚饭，忽而茶会，忽而鸡尾酒会，使出浑身解数应付场面，不管有多累，他都会强打起精神，装出一副和蔼、健谈和风趣的样子。他知道许多小道消息，对于最近发生的丑闻，除了当事人，恐怕数他了解得最清楚了。假如你向他指出这样的生活毫无价值，他一定会呆呆地望着你，满脸的惊愕，觉得你简直就是个令人扫兴的蠢蛋。