評論
打印
He's ill, he said. "Didn't you know?"
“他生病了，”他說，“你沒有聽說嗎？”
Seriously?
“厲害嗎？”
Very, I understand.
“我聽說很厲害?！?/div>
Stroeve's face grew white.
施特略夫的臉色一下變白了。
Why didn't he write and tell me? How stupid of me to quarrel with him. We must go to him at once. He can have no one to look after him. Where does he live?
“他為什么不寫信告訴我？咳，我同他吵嘴做什么？咱們得馬上去看看他。沒有人照料他。他住在什么地方？”
I have no idea, said the Frenchman.
“我說不清?！蹦莻€法國人說。
We discovered that none of us knew how to find him. Stroeve grew more and more distressed.
我們發現誰也不知道該到哪兒去找他。施特略夫越來越難過。
He might die, and not a soul would know anything about it. It's dreadful. I can't bear the thought. We must find him at once.
“說不定他已經死了，他的事沒有一個人知道。太可怕了。我真是受不了。咱們一定得馬上找到他。”
I tried to make Stroeve understand that it was absurd to hunt vaguely about Paris. We must first think of some plan.
我想叫施特略夫明白，在茫茫大海似的巴黎找一個人是荒謬的。我們必須首先有一個計劃。
Yes; but all this time he may be dying, and when we get there it may be too late to do anything.
“是的。但是也許就在我們想辦法的時候，他正在咽氣呢，等我們找到他的時候，一切就都太晚了。”
Sit still and let us think, I said impatiently.
“先安安靜靜地坐一會，想想該怎么辦，”我不耐煩地說。
The only address I knew was the Hotel des Belges, but Strickland had long left that, and they would have no recollection of him. With that queer idea of his to keep his whereabouts secret, it was unlikely that, on leaving, he had said where he was going. Besides, it was more than five years ago. I felt pretty sure that he had not moved far. If he continued to frequent the same cafe as when he had stayed at the hotel, it was probably because it was the most convenient. Suddenly I remembered that he had got his commission to paint a portrait through the baker from whom he bought his bread, and it struck me that there one might find his address. I called for a directory and looked out the bakers. There were five in the immediate neighbourhood, and the only thing was to go to all of them.
我知道的唯一地址是比利時旅館，但是思特里克蘭德早已搬出那個地方了，那里的人肯定不會記得他了。他行蹤詭秘，不愿意讓別人知道自己的住址；在搬走的時候，多半沒有留下地址。再說，這已是五年前的事了。但是我敢肯定他住的地方不會太遠。既然他住在比利時旅館的時候就到這家咖啡館來，后來始終沒有換地方，一定是因為這里對他很方便。突然我想起來，他經常去買面包的一家店鋪曾經介紹他給人畫過像，說不定那家面包店會知道他的住址。我叫人拿來一本電話簿，開始翻查這一帶的面包店。我一共找到了五家，唯一的辦法是挨家去打聽一遍。
