(雙語(yǔ))月亮和六便士 第47章(5)

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"I've tasted worse smoking mixtures in a pipe," he added, with a philosophic shrug of his shoulders, as he took a couple of cigars from the case I offered him, putting one in his mouth and the other in his pocket.

“我的煙斗就是比這更不是味兒的雜八湊煙也抽過(guò)，”他加添了一句，自我解嘲地聳了聳肩膀。在他說(shuō)這句話的時(shí)候又從我遞過(guò)去的煙盒里拿了兩支雪茄，一支銜在嘴上，一支揣在口袋里。

Now and then they made a bit of money. Sometimes a mail steamer would come in, and Captain Nichols, having scraped acquaintance with the timekeeper, would succeed in getting the pair of them a job as stevedores. When it was an English boat, they would dodge into the forecastle and get a hearty breakfast from the crew. They took the risk of running against one of the ship's officers and being hustled down the gangway with the toe of a boot to speed their going.

偶然他們也有機(jī)會(huì)掙到一點(diǎn)兒錢。有時(shí)候一艘郵輪開(kāi)進(jìn)港，尼柯?tīng)査勾L(zhǎng)同雇用計(jì)時(shí)員攀上交情，會(huì)給兩人找個(gè)臨時(shí)裝卸工的活兒。如果是一艘英國(guó)船，他們會(huì)溜進(jìn)前甲板下面的艙房里，在水手那里飽餐一頓。當(dāng)然，這樣做要冒一定的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)，如果遇見(jiàn)船上的高級(jí)船員，他們就要從跳板上被趕下來(lái)，為了催他們動(dòng)作快一些，屁股后面還要挨一靴子。

"There's no harm in a kick in the hindquarters when your belly's full," said Captain Nichols, "and personally I never take it in bad part. An officer's got to think about discipline."

“一個(gè)人只要肚子吃飽，屁股叫人踢一腳算不得什么，”尼柯?tīng)査勾L(zhǎng)說(shuō)，“拿我個(gè)人說(shuō)，我是從來(lái)不生氣的。高級(jí)船員理應(yīng)考慮船上的風(fēng)紀(jì)的?！?/p>

I had a lively picture of Captain Nichols flying headlong down a narrow gangway before the uplifted foot of an angry mate, and, like a true Englishman, rejoicing in the spirit of the Mercantile Marine.

我的腦子里活生生地出現(xiàn)一幅圖畫(huà)：一個(gè)氣沖沖的大副飛起一腳，尼柯?tīng)査勾L(zhǎng)腦袋朝下地從窄窄的跳板上滾下來(lái)；象一個(gè)真正的英國(guó)人那樣，他對(duì)英國(guó)商船隊(duì)的這種紀(jì)律嚴(yán)明的精神非常高興。

There were often odd jobs to be got about the fish-market. Once they each of them earned a franc by loading trucks with innumerable boxes of oranges that had been dumped down on the quay. One day they had a stroke of luck: one of the boarding-masters got a contract to paint a tramp that had come in from Madagascar round the Cape of Good Hope, and they spent several days on a plank hanging over the side, covering the rusty hull with paint. It was a situation that must have appealed to Strickland's sardonic humour. I asked Captain Nichols how he bore himself during these hardships.

在魚(yú)市場(chǎng)里也不時(shí)能夠找點(diǎn)零活兒干。還有一次，卡車要把堆在碼頭上的許多筐桔子運(yùn)走，思特里克蘭德同尼柯?tīng)査勾L(zhǎng)幫助裝車，每人掙了一法郎。有一天兩人很走運(yùn)：一條從馬達(dá)加斯加繞過(guò)好望角開(kāi)來(lái)的貨輪需要上油漆，一個(gè)開(kāi)寄宿店的老板弄到包工合同，他們兩個(gè)人一連幾天站在懸在船幫旁邊的一條木板上，往銹跡斑斑的船殼上涂油漆。這件差事肯定很投合思特里克蘭德的慣受諷嘲的脾氣。我向尼柯?tīng)査勾L(zhǎng)打聽(tīng)，在那困頓的日子里，思特里克蘭德有什么反應(yīng)。

"Never knew him say a cross word," answered the Captain. "He'd be a bit surly sometimes, but when we hadn't had a bite since morning, and we hadn't even got the price of a lie down at the Chink's, he'd be as lively as a cricket."

“從來(lái)沒(méi)聽(tīng)他說(shuō)過(guò)一句喪氣話，”船長(zhǎng)回答說(shuō)，“有時(shí)候他有點(diǎn)兒悶悶不樂(lè)，但是就是在我們整天吃不到一口飯，連在中國(guó)佬那里歇宿的房錢都弄不到手的時(shí)候，他仍然象蛐蛐一樣歡蹦亂跳?！?/p>

I was not surprised at this. Strickland was just the man to rise superior to circumstances, when they were such as to occasion despondency in most; but whether this was due to equanimity of soul or to contradictoriness it would be difficult to say.

我對(duì)此并不覺(jué)得驚奇。思特里克蘭德正是超然于周圍環(huán)境之外的人，就是在最沮喪的情況下也是如此。這到底是由于心靈的寧?kù)o還是矛盾對(duì)立，那是難以說(shuō)清的。