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Chapter 47
第四十七章
I have tried to put some connection into the various things Captain Nichols told me about Strickland, and I here set them down in the best order I can. They made one another's acquaintance during the latter part of the winter following my last meeting with Strickland in Paris. How he had passed the intervening months I do not know, but life must have been very hard, for Captain Nichols saw him first in the Asile de Nuit. There was a strike at Marseilles at the time, and Strickland, having come to the end of his resources, had apparently found it impossible to earn the small sum he needed to keep body and soul together.
我試圖把尼柯爾斯船長給我講的一些有關思特里克蘭德的事連貫起來，下面我將盡量按照事情發生的先后次序記載。他們兩人是我同思特里克蘭德在巴黎最后會面的那年冬末認識的。思特里克蘭德和尼柯爾斯船長相遇以前的一段日子是怎么過的，我一點也不清楚；但是他的生活肯定非常潦倒，因為尼柯爾斯船長第一次看到他是在夜宿店里。當時馬賽正發生一場罷工，思特里克蘭德已經到了山窮水盡的地步，顯然連勉強賴以糊口的一點錢也掙不到了。
The Asile de Nuit is a large stone building where pauper and vagabond may get a bed for a week, provided their papers are in order and they can persuade the friars in charge that they are workingmen. Captain Nichols noticed Strickland for his size and his singular appearance among the crowd that waited for the doors to open; they waited listlessly, some walking to and fro, some leaning against the wall, and others seated on the curb with their feet in the gutter; and when they filed into the office he heard the monk who read his papers address him in English. But he did not have a chance to speak to him, since, as he entered the common-room, a monk came in with a huge Bible in his arms, mounted a pulpit which was at the end of the room, and began the service which the wretched outcasts had to endure as the price of their lodging. He and Strickland were assigned to different rooms, and when, thrown out of bed at five in the morning by a stalwart monk, he had made his bed and washed his face, Strickland had already disappeared. Captain Nichols wandered about the streets for an hour of bitter cold, and then made his way to the Place Victor Gelu, where the sailor-men are wont to congregate. Dozing against the pedestal of a statue, he saw Strickland again. He gave him a kick to awaken him.
夜宿店是一幢龐大的石頭建筑物，窮人和流浪漢，凡是持有齊全的身份證明并能讓負責這一機構的修道士相信他本是干活吃飯的人，都能在這里寄宿一個星期。尼柯爾斯在等著寄宿舍開門的一群人里面注意到思特里克蘭德，因為斯特里克蘭德身軀高大樣子又非常古怪，非常引人注目。這些人沒精打采地在門外等候著，有的來回踱步，有的懶洋洋地靠著墻，也有的坐在馬路牙子上，兩腳伸在水溝里。最后，當所有的人們排著隊走進了辦公室，尼柯爾斯船長聽見檢查證件的修道士同思特里克蘭德談話用的是英語。但是他并沒有機會同思特里克蘭德說話，因為人們剛一走進公共休息室，馬上就走來一位捧著一本大《圣經》的傳教士，登上屋子一頭的講臺，布起道來；作為住宿的代價，這些可憐的流浪者必須耐心地忍受著。尼柯爾斯船長和思特里克蘭德沒有分配在同一間屋子里，第二天清晨五點鐘，一個高大粗壯的教士把投宿的人們從床上趕下來，等到尼柯爾斯整理好床鋪、洗過臉以后，思特里克蘭德已經沒影了。尼柯爾斯船長在寒冷刺骨的街頭徘徊了一個鐘頭，最后走到一個水手們經常聚會的地方——維克多·耶魯廣場。他在廣場上又看見了思特里克蘭德，思特里克蘭德正靠著一座石雕像的底座打盹。他踢了思特里克蘭德一腳，把他從夢中踢醒。
