評(píng)論
打印
Tiare—her father had called her by the name of the white, scented flower which, they tell you, if you have once smelt, will always draw you back to Tahiti in the end, however far you may have roamed—Tiare remembered Strickland very well.
蒂阿瑞——這是一種香氣芬芳的白花，她父親給她起的名字。這里的人說，只要你聞過這種花香，不論走得多么遠(yuǎn)，最終還要被吸引回塔希提去——蒂阿瑞對(duì)思特里克蘭德這個(gè)人記得非常清楚。
"He used to come here sometimes, and I used to see him walking about Papeete. I was sorry for him, he was so thin, and he never had any money. When I heard he was in town, I used to send a boy to find him and make him come to dinner with me. I got him a job once or twice, but he couldn't stick to anything. After a little while he wanted to get back to the bush, and one morning he would be gone."
“他有時(shí)候到這里來，我常常看見他在帕皮提走來走去。我挺可憐他，他瘦得要命，口袋總是空空的。我一聽說他到城里來了，就派一個(gè)茶房去把他找來，到我這里來吃飯。我還給他找過一兩回工作，但是他什么事也干不長。過不了多久，他就又想回到荒林里去，于是一天清早，他人就不見了。”
Strickland reached Tahiti about six months after he left Marseilles. He worked his passage on a sailing vessel that was making the trip from Auckland to San Francisco, and he arrived with a box of paints, an easel, and a dozen canvases. He had a few pounds in his pocket, for he had found work in Sydney, and he took a small room in a native house outside the town. I think the moment he reached Tahiti he felt himself at home. Tiare told me that he said to her once: "I'd been scrubbing the deck, and all at once a chap said to me: 'Why, there it is.' And I looked up and I saw the outline of the island. I knew right away that there was the place I'd been looking for all my life. Then we came near, and I seemed to recognise it. Sometimes when I walk about it all seems familiar. I could swear I've lived here before."
思特里克蘭德大約是在離開馬賽以后六個(gè)月到的塔希提。他在一只從奧克蘭駛往舊金山的帆船上干活兒，弄到一個(gè)艙位。到達(dá)塔希提的時(shí)候，他隨身帶的只是一盒油彩、一個(gè)畫架和一打畫布。他口袋里有幾英鎊錢，這是他在悉尼干活兒掙的。他在城外一個(gè)土著人家里租了一間小屋子。我猜想他一到塔希提就好象回到家里一樣。蒂阿瑞告訴我思特里克蘭德有一次同她講過這樣的話：“我正在擦洗甲板，突然間有一個(gè)人對(duì)我講：‘看，那不是嗎？’我抬起頭一望，看到了這個(gè)島的輪廓。我馬上就知道這是我終生尋找的地方。后來我們的船越走越近，我覺得好象記得這個(gè)地方。有時(shí)候我在這里隨便走的時(shí)候，我見到的東西好象都很熟悉。我敢發(fā)誓，過去我曾經(jīng)在這里待過。”
"Sometimes it takes them like that," said Tiare. "I've known men come on shore for a few hours while their ship was taking in cargo, and never go back. And I've known men who came here to be in an office for a year, and they cursed the place, and when they went away they took their dying oath they'd hang themselves before they came back again, and in six months you'd see them land once more, and they'd tell you they couldn't live anywhere else."
“有的時(shí)候這個(gè)地方就是這樣把人吸引住，”蒂阿瑞說，“我聽說，有的人趁他們乘的輪船上貨的時(shí)候到岸上來，準(zhǔn)備待幾小時(shí)，可是從此就再也不離開這個(gè)地方了。我還聽說，有些人到這里來，準(zhǔn)備在哪個(gè)公司干一年事，他們對(duì)這個(gè)地方罵不絕口，離開的時(shí)候，發(fā)誓賭咒，寧肯上吊也決不再回來。可是半年以后，你又看見他們登上這塊陸地；他們會(huì)告訴你說，在別的任何地方他們也無法生活下去。”
