地下墓穴(2)(在线收听

 

Of a very different type was his companion, Julius Burger. He came of a curious blend, a German father and an Italian mother, with the robust qualities of the North mingling strangely with the softer graces of the South. Blue Teutonic eyes lightened his sun- browned face, and above them rose a square, massive forehead, with a fringe of close yellow curls lying round it. His strong, firm jaw was clean-shaven, and his companion had frequently remarked how much it suggested those old Roman busts which peered out from the shadows in the corners of his chamber. Under its bluff German strength there lay always a suggestion of Italian subtlety, but the smile was so honest, and the eyes so frank, that one understood that this was only an indication of his ancestry, with no actual bearing upon his character. In age and in reputation, he was on the same level as his English companion, but his life and his work had both been far more arduous. Twelve years before, he had come as a poor student to Rome, and had lived ever since upon some small endowment for research which had been awarded to him by the University of Bonn. Painfully, slowly, and doggedly, with extraordinary tenacity and single-mindedness, he had climbed from rung to rung of the ladder of fame, until now he was a member of the Berlin Academy, and there was every reason to believe that he would shortly be promoted to the Chair of the greatest of German Universities. But the singleness of purpose which had brought him to the same high level as the rich and brilliant Englishman, had caused him in everything outside their work to stand infinitely below him. He had never found a pause in his studies in which to cultivate the social graces. It was only when he spoke of his own subject that his face was filled with life and soul. At other times he was silent and embarrassed, too conscious of his own limitations in larger subjects, and impatient of that small talk which is the conventional refuge of those who have no thoughts to express.

他的朋友尤利乌斯伯格完全是另一种类型。他是个混血儿,父亲是德国人,母亲是意大利人,北欧人的强悍与南欧人的温柔奇特地融合在他的性格中。晒黑的脸上,条顿民族特有的蓝眼睛炯炯有神,宽大的额头方方正正,上面是一头浓密的黄色卷发。刚毅的下巴刮得干干净净,他的同伴经常说,这副下巴会使人想起他房间角落里暗中窥视的那些古罗马胸像。在德国式的豪放背后,总是隐戴着一丝意大利式的狡猾,然而他的微笑是那么率真,目光是那么坦诚,在别人看来,这仅仅是由于他的血统,与他的性格无关。跟他的英国同伴相比,两人年龄相仿,声望相当,不过他的生活和工作要艰难得多。十二年前,他作为穷学生来到罗马,当时,波恩大学给了他一笔微薄的研究经费,他一直靠这点钱维持生活。他忍受着痛苦,投入全副身心,缓慢地,顽强地、坚韧不拔地在成名成家的阶梯上一级一级地攀登着,如今已成为柏林科学院的院士,而且种种迹象表明,不久他就会跻身德国大学顶尖学者的行列。然而,目的的单一虽使他取得了成就,但又使他在其他各个方面永远不及那个富有而杰出的英国人,他总是埋头研究工作,无法抽出片刻工夫来培养优雅的社交风度。只有在谈到自己的研究课题的时候他才会兴高采烈,神采飞扬。除此之外他总是沉默寡言,面对超出他的知识范围的广泛话题他感到局促不安,而那些思想空虚的人特别喜爱的闲言碎语则使他厌烦。

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