Chapter 32
第三十二章
I did not see Strickland for several weeks. I was disgusted with him, and if I had had an opportunity should have been glad to tell him so, but I saw no object in seeking him out for the purpose. I am a little shy of any assumption of moral indignation; there is always in it an element of self-satisfaction which makes it awkward to anyone who has a sense of humour. It requires a very lively passion to steel me to my own ridicule. There was a sardonic sincerity in Strickland which made me sensitive to anything that might suggest a pose.
我有好幾個星期沒有見到思特里克蘭德。我非常厭惡他,如果有機會的話,我會當著面把我對他的看法告訴他,但是我也犯不上為了這件事特地到處去找他。我不太愿意擺出一副義憤填膺的架勢來,這里面總有某種自鳴得意的成分,會叫一個有幽默感的人覺得你在裝腔作勢。除非我真的動起火來,我是不肯讓別人拿自己當笑話看的。思特里克蘭德慣會諷刺挖苦、不講情面,在他面前我就更要小心戒備,絕不能讓他覺得我是在故作姿態(tài)。
But one evening when I was passing along the Avenue de Clichy in front of the cafe which Strickland frequented and which I now avoided, I ran straight into him. He was accompanied by Blanche Stroeve, and they were just going to Strickland's favourite corner.
但是一天晚上,正當我經(jīng)過克利舍路一家咖啡館門前的時候(我知道這是思特里克蘭德經(jīng)常來的一家咖啡館,最近一段時間我總是盡量躲著這個地方),我卻和思特里克蘭德撞了個滿懷。勃朗什·施特略夫同他在一起,兩人正在走向思特里克蘭德最喜歡坐的一個角落去。
Where the devil have you been all this time? said he. "I thought you must be away."
“你這么多天跑到哪兒去了?”他問我說,“我還以為你到外地去了呢。”
His cordiality was proof that he knew I had no wish to speak to him. He was not a man with whom it was worth while wasting politeness.
他對我這樣殷勤正表示他知道得很清楚,我不愿意理他。但是你對思特里克蘭德這種人根本不需要講客套。
No, I said; "I haven't been away."
“沒有,”我直截了當?shù)卣f,“我沒有到外地去。”
Why haven't you been here?
“為什么老沒到這兒來了?”
There are more cafes in Paris than one, at which to trifle away an idle hour.
“巴黎的咖啡館不是只此一家,在哪兒不能消磨時間???”
Blanche then held out her hand and bade me good-evening. I do not know why I had expected her to be somehow changed;
勃朗什這時伸出手來同我打招呼。不知道為什么我本來認為她的樣子一定會發(fā)生一些變化,但是我現(xiàn)在看到她仍然是老樣子: