The Moon And Sixpence 21.2

I had not verymuch to say. It was a record of hard work and of little adventure; ofexperiments in this direction and in that; of the gradual acquisition of theknowledge of books and of men. I took care to ask Strickland nothing about hisown doings. I showed not the least interest in him, and at last I was rewarded.He began to talk of himself. But with his poor gift of expression he gave butindications of what he had gone through, and I had to fill up the gaps with myown imagination. It was tantalising to get no more than hints into a characterthat interested me so much. It was like making one's way through a mutilatedmanuscript. I received the impression of a life which was a bitter struggleagainst every sort of difficulty; but I realised that much which would haveseemed horrible to most people did not in the least affect him. Strickland wasdistinguished from most Englishmen by his perfect indifference to comfort; itdid not irk him to live always in one shabby room; he had no need to be surroundedby beautiful things. I do not suppose he had ever noticed how dingy was thepaper on the wall of the room in which on my first visit I found him. He didnot want arm-chairs to sit in; he really felt more at his ease on a kitchenchair. He ate with appetite, but was indifferent to what he ate; to him it wasonly food that he devoured to still the pangs of hunger; and when no food wasto be had he seemed capable of doing without. I learned that for six months hehad lived on a loaf of bread and a bottle of milk a day. He was a sensual man,and yet was indifferent to sensual things. He looked upon privation as nohardship. There was something impressive in the manner in which he lived a lifewholly of the spirit.

我没有太多的事好说。我的生活只不过是每日辛勤工作，没有什么奇闻艳遇。我在不同方向进行了摸索试验；我逐渐积累了不少书本知识和人情世故。在谈话中，对他这几年的生活我有意闭口不问，装作丝毫也不感兴趣的样子。最后，我的这个策略生效了。他主动谈起他的生活来。但是由于他太无口才，对他自己这一段时间的经历讲得支离破碎，许多空白都需要我用自己的想象去填补。对于这样一个我深感兴趣的人只能了解个大概，这真是一件吊人胃口的事，简直象读一部残缺不全的稿本。我的总印象是，这个人一直在同各式各样的困难艰苦斗争；但是我发现对于大多数人说来似乎是根本无法忍受的事，他却丝毫不以为苦。思特里克兰德与多数英国人不同的地方在于他完全不关心生活上的安乐舒适。叫他一辈子住在一间破破烂烂的屋子里他也不会感到不舒服，他不需要身边有什么漂亮的陈设。我猜想他从来没有注意到我第一次拜访他时屋子的糊墙纸是多么肮脏。他不需要有一张安乐椅，坐在硬靠背椅上他倒觉得更舒服自在。他的胃口很好，但对于究竟吃什么却漠不关心。对他说来他吞咽下去的只是为了解饥果腹的食物，有的时候断了顿儿，他好象还有挨饿的本领。从他的谈话中我知道他有六个月之久每天只靠一顿面包、一瓶牛奶过活。他是一个耽于饮食声色的人，但对这些事物又毫不在意。他不把忍饥受冻当作什么苦难。他这样完完全全地过着一种精神生活，不由你不被感动。