The Moon And Sixpence 31.4

For all hispain, Dirk Stroeve remained a ridiculous object. He might have excited sympathyif he had grown worn and thin. He did nothing of the kind. He remained fat, andhis round, red cheeks shone like ripe apples. He had great neatness of person,and he continued to wear his spruce black coat and his bowler hat, always alittle too small for him, in a dapper, jaunty manner. He was getting somethingof a paunch, and sorrow had no effect on it. He looked more than ever like aprosperous bagman. It is hard that a man's exterior should tally so littlesometimes with his soul. Dirk Stroeve had the passion of Romeo in the body ofSir Toby Belch. He had a sweet and generous nature, and yet was alwaysblundering; a real feeling for what was beautiful and the capacity to createonly what was commonplace; a peculiar delicacy of sentiment and gross manners.He could exercise tact when dealing with the affairs of others, but none whendealing with his own. What a cruel practical joke old Nature played when sheflung so many contradictory  elementstogether, and left the man face to face with the perplexing callousness of theuniverse.尽管在这样大的痛苦里，戴尔克·施特略夫的样子仍然让人看着发笑。如果他削瘦了、憔悴了，也许会引起人们同情的。但是他却一点儿也不见瘦。他仍然是肥肥胖胖的，通红的圆脸蛋象两只熟透了的苹果。他一向干净、利落，现在他还是穿着那件整整齐齐的黑外套，一顶略小一些的圆顶硬礼帽非常洒脱地顶在头上。他的肚子正在发胖，也一点儿没受这次伤心事的影响。他比以往任何时候都更象一个生意兴隆的商贩了。有时候一个人的外貌同他的灵魂这么不相称，这实在是一件苦不堪言的事。施特略夫就是这样：他心里有罗密欧的热情，却生就一副托比·培尔契爵士①的形体。他的禀性仁慈、慷慨，却不断闹出笑话来：他对美的东西从心眼里喜爱，但自己却只能创造出平庸的东西；他的感情非常细腻，但举止却很粗俗。他在处理别人的事务时很有手腕，但自己的事却弄得一团糟。大自然在创造这个人的时候，在他身上揉捏了这么多相互矛盾的特点，叫他面对着令他迷惑不解的冷酷人世，这是一个多么残忍的玩笑啊。莎士比亚戏剧《第十二夜》中人物。