Philip walked down the Boulevard du Montparnasse. It was not at all like the Paris he had seen in the spring during his visit to do the accounts of the Hotel St. Georges—he thought already of that part of his life with a shudder—but reminded him of what he thought a provincial town must be. There was an easy-going air about it, and a sunny spaciousness which invited the mind to day-dreaming.
The trimness of the trees, the vivid whiteness of the houses, the breadth, were very agreeable; and he felt himself already thoroughly at home. He sauntered along, staring at the people; there seemed an elegance about the most ordinary, workmen with their broad red sashes and their wide trousers, little soldiers in dingy , charming uniforms.
He came presently to the Avenue de l’Observatoire, and he gave a sigh of pleasure at the magnificent, yet so graceful , vista . He came to the gardens of the Luxembourg: children were playing, nurses with long ribbons walked slowly two by two, busy men passed through with satchels under their arms, youths strangely dressed.
The scene was formal and dainty; nature was arranged and ordered, but so exquisitely , that nature unordered and unarranged seemed barbaric. Philip was enchanted . It excited him to stand on that spot of which he had read so much; it was classic ground to him; and he felt the awe and the delight which some old don might feel when for the first time he looked on the smiling plain of Sparta.
As he wandered he chanced to see Miss Price sitting by herself on a bench. He hesitated, for he did not at that moment want to see anyone, and her uncouth way seemed out of place amid the happiness he felt around him; but he had divined her sensitiveness to affront , and since she had seen him thought it would be polite to speak to her.
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6
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"你怎么上这儿来啦?"她见菲利普走过来,这样问。
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6
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‘What are you doing here?’ she said, as he came up.
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7
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"散散心呗。你呢?"
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7
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‘Enjoying myself. Aren’t you?’
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8
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"哦,我每天下午四点至五点都要上这儿来。我觉得整天埋头于工作,不见得有什么好处。"
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8
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‘Oh, I come here every day from four to five. I don’t think one does any good if one works straight through.’
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9
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"可以在这儿坐一会儿吗?"他说。
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9
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‘May I sit down for a minute?’ he said.
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10
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"悉听尊便。"
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10
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‘If you want to.’
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11
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"您这话似乎不大客气呢,"他笑着说。
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11
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‘That doesn’t sound very cordial,’ he laughed.
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12
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"我这个人笨嘴拙舌,天生不会甜言蜜语。"
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12
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‘I’m not much of a one for saying pretty things.’
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13
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菲利普有点困窘,默默地点起一支烟。
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13
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Philip, a little disconcerted, was silent as he lit a cigarette.
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14
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"克拉顿议论过我的画吗?"她猝然问了这么一句。
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14
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‘Did Clutton say anything about my work?’ she asked suddenly.
‘He’s no good, you know. He thinks he’s a genius, but he isn’t. He’s too lazy, for one thing. Genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains. The only thing is to peg away. If one only makes up one’s mind badly enough to do a thing one can’t help doing it.’
She spoke with a passionate strenuousness which was rather striking. She wore a sailor hat of black straw, a white blouse which was not quite clean, and a brown skirt. She had no gloves on, and her hands wanted washing. She was so unattractive that Philip wished he had not begun to talk to her. He could not make out whether she wanted him to stay or go.
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18
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"我愿意尽力为你效劳,"她突然前言不搭后语地说,"我可深知其难呢。"
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18
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‘I’ll do anything I can for you,’ she said all at once, without reference to anything that had gone before. ‘I know how hard it is.’
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19
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"多谢你了,"菲利普说。停了一会儿他又说:"我请你去用茶点,肯赏光嘛?"
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19
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‘Thank you very much,’ said Philip, then in a moment: ‘Won’t you come and have tea with me somewhere?’
She looked at him quickly and flushed. When she reddened her pasty skin acquired a curiously mottled look, like strawberries and cream that had gone bad.
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21
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"不,谢谢,你想我干吗要用茶点呢?我刚吃过午饭。"
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21
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‘No, thanks. What d’you think I want tea for? I’ve only just had lunch.’
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22
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"我想可以消磨消磨时间嘛,"菲利普说。
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22
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‘I thought it would pass the time,’ said Philip.
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23
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"哦,要是你闲得发慌,可犯不着为我操心。我一个人待着,并不嫌冷清。"
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23
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‘If you find it long you needn’t bother about me, you know. I don’t mind being left alone.’
‘They’re Americans,’ said Miss Price scornfully. ‘Frenchmen haven’t worn things like that for thirty years, but the Americans from the Far West buy those clothes and have themselves photographed the day after they arrive in Paris. That’s about as near to art as they ever get. But it doesn’t matter to them, they’ve all got money.’
Philip did not know anything about them, and she told him that from five to six every evening a model sat, from whom anyone who liked could go and draw at the cost of fifty centimes. They had a different model every day, and it was very good practice.
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30
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"我看你目前的水平还够不上,最好过一个时期再去。"
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30
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‘I don’t suppose you’re good enough yet for that. You’d better wait a bit.’
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31
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"我不明白干吗不能去试试笔呢!反正闲着没事干。"
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31
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‘I don’t see why I shouldn’t try. I haven’t got anything else to do.’
They got up and walked to the studio. Philip could not tell from her manner whether Miss Price wished him to walk with her or preferred to walk alone. He remained from sheer embarrassment , not knowing how to leave her; but she would not talk; she answered his questions in an ungracious manner.
A man was standing at the studio door with a large dish into which each person as he went in dropped his half franc. The studio was much fuller than it had been in the morning, and there was not the preponderance of English and Americans; nor were women there in so large a proportion. Philip felt the assemblage was more the sort of thing he had expected. It was very warm, and the air quickly grew fetid.
It was an old man who sat this time, with a vast gray beard, and Philip tried to put into practice the little he had learned in the morning; but he made a poor job of it; he realised that he could not draw nearly as well as he thought. He glanced enviously at one or two sketches of men who sat near him, and wondered whether he would ever be able to use the charcoal with that mastery. The hour passed quickly. Not wishing to press himself upon Miss Price he sat down at some distance from her, and at the end, as he passed her on his way out, she asked him brusquely how he had got on.
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35
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"不怎么顺手,"他微笑着说。
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35
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‘Not very well,’ he smiled.
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36
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"如果你刚才肯屈尊坐在我旁边,我满可以给你点提示。看来你这个人自视甚高的。"
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‘If you’d condescended to come and sit near me I could have given you some hints. I suppose you thought yourself too grand.’
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37
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"不,没有的事。我怕你会嫌我讨厌。"
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37
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‘No, it wasn’t that. I was afraid you’d think me a nuisance.’
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38
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"要是我真那么想,我会当面对你说的。"
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38
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‘When I do that I’ll tell you sharp enough.’
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39
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菲利普发现,她是以其特有的粗鲁方式来表示她乐于助人的善意。
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Philip saw that in her uncouth way she was offering him help.
Flanagan was there again: he was an American, a short, snub-nosed youth with a jolly face and a laughing mouth. He wore a Norfolk jacket of bold pattern, a blue stock round his neck, and a tweed cap of fantastic shape. At that time impressionism reigned in the Latin Quarter, but its victory over the older schools was still recent; and Carolus-Duran, Bouguereau, and their like were set up against Manet, Monet, and Degas.
To appreciate these was still a sign of grace. Whistler was an influence strong with the English and his compatriots, and the discerning collected Japanese prints. The old masters were tested by new standards. The esteem in which Raphael had been for centuries held was a matter of derision to wise young men. They offered to give all his works for Velasquez’ head of Philip IV in the National Gallery.