評論
打印
"Yes; she hadn't a drop of white blood in her. Well, after I'd talked to her I sent for Strickland, and I said to him: 'Strickland, it's time for you to settle down. A man of your age shouldn't go playing about with the girls down at the front. They're bad lots, and you'll come to no good with them. You've got no money, and you can never keep a job for more than a month or two. No one will employ you now. You say you can always live in the bush with one or other of the natives, and they're glad to have you because you're a white man, but it's not decent for a white man. Now, listen to me, Strickland.'"
“是的，一滴白人的血液也沒有。就這樣，在我同她談了以后，我就派人把思特里克蘭德找來，我對他說：‘思特里克蘭德啊，你也該在這里安家落戶了。象你這樣年齡的人不應該再同碼頭邊上的女人鬼混了。那里面沒有好人，跟她們在一起你是落不出好兒來的。你又沒有錢，不管什么事你都干不長，沒有干過兩個月的。現在沒有人肯雇你了。盡管你說你可以同哪個土人一直住在叢林里頭，他們也愿意同你住在一起，因為你是個白人，但是作為一個白人來說，你這種生活可不象樣子。現在我給你出個主意，思特里克蘭德。’”
Tiare mingled French with English in her conversation, for she used both languages with equal facility. She spoke them with a singing accent which was not unpleasing. You felt that a bird would speak in these tones if it could speak English.
蒂阿瑞說話的時候一會兒用法語，一會兒用英語，因為這兩種話她說得同樣流利。她說話的時候語調象是在唱歌，聽起來非常悅耳。如果小鳥會講英語的話，你會覺得它正是用這種調子說話的。
"'Now, what do you say to marrying Ata? She's a good girl and she's only seventeen. She's never been promiscuous like some of these girls—a captain or a first mate, yes, but she's never been touched by a native. Elle se respecte, vois-tu. The purser of the Oahu told me last journey that he hadn't met a nicer girl in the islands. It's time she settled down too, and besides, the captains and the first mates like a change now and then. I don't keep my girls too long. She has a bit of property down by Taravao, just before you come to the peninsula, and with copra at the price it is now you could live quite comfortably. There's a house, and you'd have all the time you wanted for your painting. What do you say to it?"
“‘聽我說，你跟愛塔結婚怎么樣？她是個好姑娘，今年才十七歲。她從來不象這里有些女孩那樣亂來——同個把船長或是大副要好過，這種事倒是有，但是跟當地人卻絕對沒有亂來過。她是很自愛的，你知道。上回奧阿胡號到這里來的時候，船上的事務長對我講，他在所有這些島上還從來沒有遇見過比她更好的姑娘呢。她現在也到了尋個歸宿的時候啦，再說，船長也好、大副也好，總不時地想換個口味。凡是給我干活的女孩子我都不叫她們干多少年。愛塔在塔拉窩河旁弄到一小塊地產，就在你到這里不久以前，收獲的椰子干按現在的市價算足夠你舒舒服服過日子。那里還有一幢房子，你要想畫畫兒要多少時間有多少時間。你覺得怎么樣？’”
