月亮和六便士 第四十九章(1)

 Chapter 49 第四十九章

I lived at the Hotel de la Fleur, and Mrs. Johnson, the proprietress, had a sad story to tell of lost opportunity. 我住在鲜花旅馆，旅馆的女主人，约翰生太太给我讲了一个悲惨的故事——她如何把大好良机白白错过去了。
After Strickland's death certain of his effects were sold by auction 1 in the market-place at Papeete, 思特里克兰德死了以后，他的一些遗物在帕皮提市场上拍卖。
and she went to it herself because there was among the truck an American stove she wanted. 她亲自跑了一趟，因为在拍卖的物品中有一个她需要的美国式煤油炉子。
She paid twenty-seven francs for it. 她花了二十七法郎把炉子买了下来。
"There were a dozen pictures," she told me, “有十来张画，”她对我说，
"but they were unframed, and nobody wanted them. “但是都没有镶框，谁也不要。
Some of them sold for as much as ten francs, but mostly they went for five or six. 有几张要卖十法郎，但是大部分只卖五、六法郎一张。
Just think, if I had bought them I should be a rich woman now." 想想吧，如果我把它们买下来，现在可是大富翁了。”
But Tiare Johnson would never under any circumstances have been rich. She could not keep money. 但是蒂阿瑞·约翰生无论在什么情况下也绝对发不了财；她手头根本存不下钱。
The daughter of a native and an English sea-captain settled in Tahiti, 她是一个在塔希提落户的白人船长同一个土着女人结婚生的女儿。
when I knew her she was a woman of fifty, who looked older, and of enormous proportions. 我认识她的时候，她已经五十岁了，但是样子比年纪显得还要老。
Tall and extremely stout 2, 她的身躯又大又壮，一身肥肉；
she would have been of imposing 3 presence if the great good-nature of her face had not made it impossible for her to express anything but kindliness 4. 如果不是一张只能呈现出仁慈和蔼表情来的一团和气的面孔，她的仪表会是非常威严的。
Her arms were like legs of mutton, her breasts like giant cabbages; 她的胳臂像两条粗羊腿，乳房像两颗大圆白菜，
her face, broad and fleshy, gave you an impression of almost indecent nakedness, and vast chin succeeded to vast chin. 一张胖脸满是肥肉，给人以浑身赤裸、很不雅观的感觉。脸蛋下面是一重又一重的肉下巴。
I do not know how many of them there were. They fell away voluminously into the capaciousness of her bosom 5. 我说不上她有几重下巴，嘟嘟噜噜地一直垂到她那肥胖的胸脯上。
She was dressed usually in a pink Mother Hubbard, and she wore all day long a large straw hat. 平常她总穿着一件粉红色的宽大的薄衫，戴着一顶大草帽，
But when she let down her hair, which she did now and then, for she was vain of it, you saw that it was long and dark and curly; 但是当她把头发松垂下来的时候（她常常这样做，因为她对自己的头发感到很骄傲），你会看到她生着一头又黑又长、打着小卷的秀发；
and her eyes had remained young and vivacious 6. 此外，她的眼睛也非常年轻，炯炯有神。
Her laughter was the most catching 7 I ever heard; 她的笑声是我听到过的最富有感染性的笑声；
it would begin, a low peal 8 in her throat, and would grow louder and louder till her whole vast body shook. 开始的时候只是在喉咙里一阵低声咯咯，接着声音越来越大，直到她那肥胖的身躯整个都哆哆嗦嗦地震颤起来。
She loved three things—a joke, a glass of wine, and a handsome man. 她最喜欢的是三件东西——笑话、酒同漂亮的男人。
To have known her is a privilege. 有缘同她结识真是一件荣幸的事。