月亮与六便士-节选1

月亮与六便士-节选1

The Moon and Sixpence 1

Chapter I

I confess that when first I made acquaintance with Charles Strickland I never for a moment

discerned that there was in him anything out of the ordinary. Yet now few will be found to deny

his greatness. I do not speak of that greatness which is achieved by the fortunate politician or the

successful soldier; that is a quality which belongs to the place he occupies rather than to the man;

我承认当我第一次和charles Strickland碰面时，我从未有任何一个瞬间察觉到他是那么的与众不同。直到现在，极少有人会怀疑他的伟大。这份伟大不是政客或者军功赫赫的战士的那种，这与其说是伟大不如说是特定局势下赋予的威名，这是由他们的身份带来的。

and a change of circumstances reduces it to very discreet proportions. The Prime Minister out of office is seen, too often, to have been but a pompous rhetorician(夸张的修辞）, and the General without an armyis but the tame hero of a market town. The greatness of Charles Strickland was authentic. It may be that you do not like his art, but at all events you can hardly refuse it the tribute of your interest.

生词：discreet 形容词.（言行）谨慎的，考虑周到的 网络.小心的，慎重的，言行谨慎的

但随着时间的流逝有的人的伟大越来越显得微不足道了。人们经常看到已经离任的首相不过是一个夸张爱演的演说家，一位退役的将军不过是小镇英雄。Charles Strickland的伟大是不可忽视的，就像你也许不喜欢他的艺术，但是你会难以拒绝他对你的吸引力。

He disturbs and arrests. The time has passed when he was an object of ridicule, and it is no longer a mark of eccentricity to defend or of perversity to extol him. His faults are accepted as the necessary complement to his merits. It is still possible to discuss his place in art, and the adulation（吹捧） of his admirers is perhaps no less capricious（变化无常的） than the disparagement （轻蔑）of his detractors（诋毁者）;

他的作品时常扰乱你的心又能够扣住你的心弦。那个他备受众人嘲笑的时代已经过去了，当人们为他辩护或者赞美时不必被认为是怪异不可理解的。人们已经承认他的缺陷已经成为了他的美德中不可缺少的部分。他在艺术上的地位尽待争论，但对于那些诋毁和轻蔑他的人和他的崇拜者来说对他的赞美也许都出于任性、

but one thing can never be doubtful, and that is that he had genius. To my mind the most interesting thing in art is the personality of the artist; and if that is singular, I am willing to excuse a thousand faults. I suppose Velasquez was a better painter than El Greco, but custom stales one's admiration for him:the Cretan, sensual and tragic, proffers the mystery of his soul like a standing sacrifice.

但有一件事是无可争议的，那就是他确实是一个天才。在我心里艺术最有趣的在于艺术家的个人性格，假如艺术家是独特的，即使他有一个缺点，我也愿意给他说出一千个理由...我认为Velasquez比起El Greco是一位更优秀的画家，但传统意识中对他的作品看起来更多是乏味无趣的：他的作品就像克里特岛人，富有肉欲又兼具了悲剧的美，使他的作品的灵魂充满了谜一样的殉道者的精神。

The artist,painter, poet, or musician, by his decoration, sublime or beautiful, satisfies the aesthetic sense; but that is a kin to the sexual instinct, and shares its barbarity: he lays before you also the greater gift of himself. To pursue his secret has something of the fascination of a detective story. It is a riddle which shares with the universe the merit of having no answer.

一位艺术家，画家，诗人，或者音乐家也好。用他的崇高的，美丽的作品把世界装扮起来，满足人们的审美，但也就像人类的本性一样，充满了美好，但也有粗鄙不堪的地方。他们向世人展示着他们伟大的作品以及他们本人，探求艺术家的本性就像看侦探小说一样令人兴奋不已，这就像探求宇宙的秘密，如此迷人但也许不会有答案。

The most insignificant of Strickland's works suggests a personality which is strange, tormented, and complex; and it is this surely which prevents even those who do not like his pictures from being indifferent to them; it is this which has excited so curious an interest in his life and character.

Strickland工作中最不显赫的作品也能让人们模模糊糊的和他的性格联系起来，古怪，倍感折磨，复杂.那些不喜欢他的作品的人肯定就是因为这个原因。但也正是那么多的人的对他的人生和性格拥有强烈好奇心。