(雙語)月亮和六便士 第50章(5)

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"I've done pretty well," he said, "but the strange thing is that I owe it all to one piece of luck."

“我混得不錯(cuò)，”他說，“但是奇怪的是，這一切都?xì)w功于我偶然交了一個(gè)好運(yùn)?！?/p>

"What do you mean by that?"

“我不懂你說的是什么意思？”

"Well, do you remember Abraham? He was the man who had the future. When we were students he beat me all along the line. He got the prizes and the scholarships that I went in for. I always played second fiddle to him. If he'd kept on he'd be in the position I'm in now. That man had a genius for surgery. No one had a look in with him. When he was appointed Registrar at Thomas's I hadn't a chance of getting on the staff. I should have had to become a G.P., and you know what likelihood there is for a G.P. ever to get out of the common rut. But Abraham fell out, and I got the job. That gave me my opportunity."

“不懂？你還記得阿伯拉罕吧？應(yīng)該飛黃騰達(dá)的本該是他。做學(xué)生的時(shí)候，他處處把我打得慘敗。獎(jiǎng)金也好，助學(xué)金也好，都被他從我手里奪去；哪次我都甘拜下風(fēng)。如果他這樣繼續(xù)下去，我現(xiàn)在的地位就是他的了。他對于外科手術(shù)簡直是個(gè)天才。誰也無法同他競爭。當(dāng)他被指派為圣·托瑪斯附屬醫(yī)學(xué)院注冊員的時(shí)候，我是絕對沒有希望進(jìn)入領(lǐng)導(dǎo)機(jī)構(gòu)的。我只能開業(yè)當(dāng)個(gè)醫(yī)生，你也知道，一個(gè)普通開業(yè)行醫(yī)的人有多大可能跳出這個(gè)槽槽去。但是阿伯拉罕卻讓位了，他的位子讓我弄到手了。這樣就給了我步步高升的機(jī)會(huì)了?！?/p>

"I dare say that's true."

“我想你說的話是真的。”

"It was just luck. I suppose there was some kink in Abraham. Poor devil, he's gone to the dogs altogether. He's got some twopenny-halfpenny job in the medical at Alexandria—sanitary officer or something like that. I'm told he lives with an ugly old Greek woman and has half a dozen scrofulous kids. The fact is, I suppose, that it's not enough to have brains. The thing that counts is character. Abraham hadn't got character."

“這完全是運(yùn)氣。我想，阿伯拉罕這人心理一定變態(tài)了。這個(gè)可憐蟲，一點(diǎn)兒救也沒有了。他在亞歷山大港衛(wèi)生部門找了個(gè)小差事——檢疫員什么的。有人告訴我，他同一個(gè)丑陋的希臘老婆子住在一起，生了半打長著瘰疬疙瘩的小崽子。所以我想，問題不在于一個(gè)人腦子聰明不聰明，真正重要的是要有個(gè)性。阿伯拉罕缺少的正是個(gè)性?！?/p>

Character? I should have thought it needed a good deal of character to throw up a career after half an hour's meditation, because you saw in another way of living a more intense significance. And it required still more character never to regret the sudden step. But I said nothing, and Alec Carmichael proceeded reflectively: "Of course it would be hypocritical for me to pretend that I regret what Abraham did. After all, I've scored by it." He puffed luxuriously at the long Corona he was smoking. "But if I weren't personally concerned I should be sorry at the waste. It seems a rotten thing that a man should make such a hash of life."

個(gè)性？在我看來，一個(gè)人因?yàn)榭吹搅硗庖环N生活方式更有重大的意義，只經(jīng)過半小時(shí)的考慮就甘愿拋棄一生的事業(yè)前途，這才需要很強(qiáng)的個(gè)性呢。貿(mào)然走出這一步，以后永不后悔，那需要的個(gè)性就更多了。但是我什么也沒說。阿萊克·卡爾米凱爾繼續(xù)沉思著說：“當(dāng)然了，如果我對阿伯拉罕的行徑故作遺憾，我這人也就太虛偽了。不管怎么說，正因?yàn)樗吡诉@么一步，才讓我占了便宜?！彼恢чL長的寇羅納牌哈瓦那雪茄煙，舒適地噴著煙圈。“但是如果這件事同我個(gè)人沒有牽連的話，我是會(huì)為他虛擲才華感到可惜的。一個(gè)人竟這樣糟蹋自己實(shí)在太令人心痛了。”

I wondered if Abraham really had made a hash of life. Is to do what you most want, to live under the conditions that please you, in peace with yourself, to make a hash of life; and is it success to be an eminent surgeon with ten thousand a year and a beautiful wife? I suppose it depends on what meaning you attach to life, the claim which you acknowledge to society, and the claim of the individual. But again I held my tongue, for who am I to argue with a knight?

我很懷疑，阿伯拉罕是否真的糟蹋了自己。做自己最想做的事，生活在自己喜愛的環(huán)境里，淡泊寧靜、與世無爭，這難道是糟蹋自己嗎？與此相反，做一個(gè)著名的外科醫(yī)生，年薪一萬鎊，娶一位美麗的妻子，就是成功嗎？我想，這一切都取決于一個(gè)人如何看待生活的意義，取決于他認(rèn)為對社會(huì)應(yīng)盡什么義務(wù)，對自己有什么要求。但是我還是沒有說什么；我有什么資格同一位爵士爭辯呢？