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Though he had suffered so much from the ridicule of his friends, Dirk Stroeve, eager for praise and naively self-satisfied, could never resist displaying his work. He brought out a picture of two curly-headed Italian urchins playing marbles.
雖然戴爾克·施特略夫不斷受到朋友們的嘲笑，卻從來克制不了自己，總是要把自己的畫拿給人家看，滿心希望聽到別人的夸獎，而且他的虛榮心很容易得到滿足。他先給我看了一張兩個鬈頭發的意大利窮孩子玩玻璃球的畫。
Aren't they sweet? said Mrs. Stroeve.
“多好玩兒的兩個孩子，”施特略夫太太稱贊說。
And then he showed me more. I discovered that in Paris he had been painting just the same stale, obviously picturesque things that he had painted for years in Rome. It was all false, insincere, shoddy; and yet no one was more honest, sincere, and frank than Dirk Stroeve. Who could resolve the contradiction?
接著他又拿出更多的畫來。我發現他在巴黎畫的還是他在羅馬畫了很多年的那些陳腐不堪、花里胡哨的畫。這些畫畫得一絲也不真實、毫無藝術價值，然而世界上卻再沒有誰比這些畫的作者、比戴爾克·施特略夫更心地篤實、更真摯坦白的了。這種矛盾誰解釋得了呢？
I do not know what put it into my head to ask:
我不知道自己為什么會突然問他道：
I say, have you by any chance run across a painter called Charles Strickland?
“我問你一下，不知道你遇見過一個叫查理斯·思特里克蘭德的畫家沒有？”
You don't mean to say you know him? cried Stroeve.
“你是說你也認識他？”施特略夫叫喊起來。
Beast, said his wife.
“這人太沒教養了，”他的妻子說。
Stroeve laughed.
施特略夫笑了起來。
Ma pauvre cherie. He went over to her and kissed both her hands. "She doesn't like him. How strange that you should know Strickland!"
“我的可憐的寶貝。”他走到她前面，吻了吻她的兩只手。“她不喜歡他。真奇怪，你居然也認識思特里克蘭德。”
I don't like bad manners, said Mrs. Stroeve.
“我不喜歡不懂禮貌的人，”施特略夫太太說。
Dirk, laughing still, turned to me to explain.
戴爾克的笑聲一直沒有停止，轉過身來給我解釋。
You see, I asked him to come here one day and look at my pictures. Well, he came, and I showed him everything I had. Stroeve hesitated a moment with embarrassment. I do not know why he had begun the story against himself; he felt an awkwardness at finishing it. "He looked at—at my pictures, and he didn't say anything. I thought he was reserving his judgment till the end. And at last I said: 'There, that's the lot!' He said: 'I came to ask you to lend me twenty francs.'"
“你知道，有一次我請他來看看我的畫。他來了，我把我的畫都拿給他看了。”說到這里，施特略夫有些不好意思，躊躇了一會兒。我不理解為什么他開始講這樣一個于他臉面并不光彩的故事；他不知道該怎樣把這個故事說完。“他看著——我的畫，一句話也不說。我本來以為他等著把畫都看完了再發表意見。最后我說：‘就是這些了！’他說：‘我來是為了向你借二十法郎。’”
And Dirk actually gave it him, said his wife indignantly.
“戴爾克居然把錢給他了，”他的妻子氣憤地說。
I was so taken aback. I didn't like to refuse. He put the money in his pocket, just nodded, said 'Thanks,' and walked out.
“我聽了他這話嚇了一跳。我不想拒絕他。他把錢放在口袋里，朝我點了點頭，說了聲‘謝謝’，扭頭就走了。”
