月亮和六便士 第二十六章(3)

 Strickland was a weird¹ figure as he lay there, thinner than ever, with his ragged² red beard and his eyes staring feverishly³ into vacancy⁴; 思特里克兰德躺在床上，样子古怪怕人，他的身躯比平常更加削瘦，红色的胡子乱成一团，眼睛兴奋地凝视着半空；

his illness seemed to have made them larger, and they had an unnatural⁵ brightness. 因为生病，他的眼睛显得非常大，炯炯发光，但那光亮显得很不自然。

Does he ever talk to you in the night? I asked her once. Never. “夜里他跟你说过话吗？”有一次我问她。“从来没有。”

Do you dislike him as much as you did? More, if anything. “你还象过去那样不喜欢他吗？”“比以前更厉害了。”

She looked at me with her calm gray eyes. 她用一双安详的、灰色的眼睛望着我。

Her expression was so placid⁶, it was hard to believe that she was capable of the violent emotion I had witnessed. 她的神色非常恬静，我很难相信她居然能象那次我看到的那样大发脾气。

Has he ever thanked you for what you do for him? No, she smiled. “你替他做了这么多事，他谢过你吗？”“没有。”她笑了笑说。

He's inhuman⁷. He's abominable⁸. “这人真不通人情。”“简直太可恶了。”

Stroeve was, of course, delighted with her. 施特略夫对她自然非常满意。

He could not do enough to show his gratitude⁹ for the whole-hearted devotion with which she had accepted the burden he laid on her. 她这样把他撂给她的挑子担了过来，而且全心全意地履行自己的职责，他无论怎样做也无法表示对她的感激。

But he was a little puzzled by the behaviour of Blanche and Strickland towards one another. 但是他对勃朗什同思特里克兰德彼此的关系又有些不解。

Do you know, I've seen them sit there for hours together without saying a word? “你知道，我看见过他们在一起坐了好几个钟头，谁也一句话不说。”

On one occasion, when Strickland was so much better that in a day or two he was to get up, I sat with them in the studio. 有一次我和这一家人一同坐在画室里，这时思特里克兰德的身体已经快好了，再过一两天就要起床了。

Dirk and I were talking. 戴尔克同我闲聊。

Mrs. Stroeve sewed, and I thought I recognised the shirt she was mending as Strickland's. 施特略夫太太在缝补什么；她缝的东西我是认得的，那是思特里克兰德的一件衬衣。

He lay on his back; he did not speak. 思特里克兰德仰面躺着，一句话也不说。

Once I saw that his eyes were fixed¹⁰ on Blanche Stroeve, and there was in them a curious irony¹¹. 有一次我看到他的目光停在勃朗什·施特略夫身上，带着一种奇怪的嘲弄神情。

Feeling their gaze, she raised her own, and for a moment they stared at one another. 勃朗什感到他正在看自己，抬起眼睛，他们俩彼此凝视了一会儿。

1 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

2 ragged   

adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的

参考例句：

• A ragged shout went up from the small crowd.这一小群人发出了刺耳的喊叫。
• Ragged clothing infers poverty.破衣烂衫意味着贫穷。

3 feverishly   

adv. 兴奋地

参考例句：

• Feverishly he collected his data. 他拼命收集资料。
• The company is having to cast around feverishly for ways to cut its costs. 公司迫切须要想出各种降低成本的办法。

4 vacancy   

n.（旅馆的）空位，空房，（职务的）空缺

参考例句：

• Her going on maternity leave will create a temporary vacancy.她休产假时将会有一个临时空缺。
• The vacancy of her expression made me doubt if she was listening.她茫然的神情让我怀疑她是否在听。

5 unnatural   

adj.不自然的；反常的

参考例句：

• Did her behaviour seem unnatural in any way?她有任何反常表现吗？
• She has an unnatural smile on her face.她脸上挂着做作的微笑。

6 placid   

adj.安静的，平和的

参考例句：

• He had been leading a placid life for the past eight years.八年来他一直过着平静的生活。
• You should be in a placid mood and have a heart-to- heart talk with her.你应该心平气和的好好和她谈谈心。

7 inhuman   

adj.残忍的，不人道的，无人性的

参考例句：

• We must unite the workers in fighting against inhuman conditions.我们必须使工人们团结起来反对那些难以忍受的工作条件。
• It was inhuman to refuse him permission to see his wife.不容许他去看自己的妻子是太不近人情了。

8 abominable   

adj.可厌的，令人憎恶的

参考例句：

• Their cruel treatment of prisoners was abominable.他们虐待犯人的做法令人厌恶。
• The sanitary conditions in this restaurant are abominable.这家饭馆的卫生状况糟透了。

9 gratitude   

adj.感激，感谢

参考例句：

• I have expressed the depth of my gratitude to him.我向他表示了深切的谢意。
• She could not help her tears of gratitude rolling down her face.她感激的泪珠禁不住沿着面颊流了下来。

10 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

11 irony   

n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄

参考例句：

• She said to him with slight irony.她略带嘲讽地对他说。
• In her voice we could sense a certain tinge of irony.从她的声音里我们可以感到某种讥讽的意味。