評論
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I could imagine her sedately busy among her pots and pans, making a ritual of her household duties, so that they acquired a moral significance; I did not suppose that she was clever or could ever be amusing, but there was something in her grave intentness which excited my interest. Her reserve was not without mystery. I wondered why she had married Dirk Stroeve. Though she was English, I could not exactly place her, and it was not obvious from what rank in society she sprang, what had been her upbringing, or how she had lived before her marriage. She was very silent, but when she spoke it was with a pleasant voice, and her manners were natural.
閉上眼睛我可以想象她在鍋碗中間安詳地忙碌著，象奉行儀式般地操持著一些家務事，賦予這些日常瑣事一種崇高意義。我并不認為她腦筋如何聰明或者有什么風趣，但她那種嚴肅、專注的神情卻很使人感到興趣。她的穩重沉默里似乎蘊藏著某種神秘。我不知道為什么她要嫁給戴爾克·施特略夫。雖然她和我是同鄉，我卻猜不透她是怎樣一個人。我看不出她出身于什么社會階層，受過什么教育，也說不出她結婚前干的是什么職業。她說話不多，但是她的聲音很悅耳，舉止也非常自然。
I asked Stroeve if he was working.
我問施特略夫他最近畫沒畫過什么東西。
Working? I'm painting better than I've ever painted before.
“畫畫？我現在比過去任何時候畫得都好了。”
We sat in the studio, and he waved his hand to an unfinished picture on an easel. I gave a little start. He was painting a group of Italian peasants, in the costume of the Campagna, lounging on the steps of a Roman church.
我們當時坐在他的畫室里；他朝著畫架上一幅沒有完成的作品揮了揮手。我吃了一驚。他畫的是一群意大利農民，身穿羅馬近郊服裝，正在一個羅馬大教堂的臺階上閑蕩。
Is that what you're doing now? I asked.
“這就是你現在畫的畫嗎？”
Yes. I can get my models here just as well as in Rome.
“是啊。我在這里也能象在羅馬一樣找到模特兒。”
Don't you think it's very beautiful? said Mrs. Stroeve.
“你不認為他畫得很美嗎？”施特略夫太太問道。
This foolish wife of mine thinks I'm a great artist, said he.
“我這個傻妻子總認為我是個大畫家，”他說。
His apologetic laugh did not disguise the pleasure that he felt. His eyes lingered on his picture. It was strange that his critical sense, so accurate and unconventional when he dealt with the work of others, should be satisfied in himself with what was hackneyed and vulgar beyond belief.
他的表示歉意的笑聲掩蓋不住內心的喜悅。他的目光仍然滯留在自己的畫上。在評論別人的繪畫時他的眼光是那樣準確，不落俗套，但是對他自己的那些平凡陳腐、俗不可耐的畫卻那樣自鳴得意，真是一樁怪事。
Show him some more of your pictures, she said.
“讓他看看你別的畫。”她說。
Shall I?
“人家要看嗎？”
