The Moon And Sixpence 50.1

I have an ideathat some men are born out of their due place. Accident has cast them amidcertain surroundings, but they have always a nostalgia for a home they knownot. They are strangers in their birthplace, and the leafy lanes they haveknown from childhood or the populous streets in which they have played, remainbut a place of passage. They may spend their whole lives aliens among theirkindred and remain aloof among the only scenes they have ever known. Perhaps itis this sense of strangeness that sends men far and wide in the search forsomething permanent, to which they may attach themselves. Perhaps somedeeprooted atavism urges the wanderer back to lands which his ancestors left inthe dim beginnings of history. Sometimes a man hits upon a place to which hemysteriously feels that he belongs. Here is the home he sought, and he willsettle amid scenes that he has never seen before, among men he has never known,as though they were familiar to him from his birth. Here at last he finds rest.I told Tiarethe story of a man I had known at St. Thomas's Hospital. He was a Jew namedAbraham, a blond, rather stout young man, shy and very unassuming; but he hadremarkable gifts. He entered the hospital with a scholarship, and during thefive years of the curriculum gained every prize that was open to him. He wasmade house-physician and house-surgeon. His brilliance was allowed by all.Finally he was elected to a position on the staff, and his career was assured.So far as human things can be predicted, it was certain that he would rise tothe greatest heights of his profession. Honours and wealth awaited him. Beforehe entered upon his new duties he wished to take a holiday, and, having noprivate means, he went as surgeon on a tramp steamer to the Levant. It did notgenerally carry a doctor, but one of the senior surgeons at the hospital knew adirector of the line, and Abraham was taken as a favour.我认为有些人诞生在某一个地方可以说未得其所。机缘把他们随便抛掷到一个环境中，而他们却一直思念着一处他们自己也不知道坐落在何处的家乡。在出生的地方他们好象是过客；从孩提时代就非常熟悉的浓荫郁郁的小巷，同小伙伴游戏其中的人烟稠密的街衢，对他们说来都不过是旅途中的一个宿站。这种人在自己亲友中可能终生落落寡台，在他们唯一熟悉的环境里也始终孑身独处。也许正是在本乡本土的这种陌生感才逼着他们远游异乡，寻找一处永恒定居的寓所。说不定在他们内心深处仍然隐伏着多少世代前祖先的习性和癖好，叫这些彷徨者再回到他们祖先在远古就已离开的土地。有时候一个人偶然到了一个地方，会神秘地感觉到这正是自己栖身之所，是他一直在寻找的家园。于是他就在这些从未寓目的景物里，从不相识的人群中定居下来，倒好象这里的一切都是他从小就熟稔的一样。他在这里终于找到了宁静。我给蒂阿瑞讲了一个我在圣托玛斯医院认识的人的故事。这是个犹太人，姓阿伯拉罕。他是个金黄头发、身体粗壮的年轻人。性格腼腆，对人和气，但是很有才能。他是靠着一笔奖学金入学的，在五年学习期间，任何一种奖金只要他有机会申请就绝对没有旁人的份儿。他先当了住院内科医生，后来又当了住院外科医生。没有人不承认他的才华过人。最后他被选进领导机构中，他的前程已经有了可靠的保证。按照世情推论，他在自己这门事业上肯定会飞黄腾达、名利双收的。在正式上任以前，他想度一次假；因为他自己没有钱，所以在一艘开往地中海的不定期货船上谋了个医生位置。这种货轮上一般是没有医生的，只是由于医院里有一名高级外科医生认识跑这条航线的一家轮船公司的经理，货轮看在经理情面上才录用了阿伯拉罕。