雙語·《刀鋒》 第一章 三

CHAPTER ONE 3
第一章 三

When I first met Elliott I was just a young author like another and he took no notice of me. He never forgot a face and when I ran across him here or there he shook hands with me cordially, but showed no desire to further our acquaintance；and if I saw him at the opera, say, he being with a person of high rank, he was apt not to catch sight of me.But then I happened to make a somewhat startling success as a playwright, and presently I became aware that Elliott regarded me with a warmer feeling.One day I received a note from him asking me to lunch at Claridge's, where he lived when in London.It was a small party and not a very smart one, and I conceived the notion that he was trying me out.But from then on, since my success had brought me many new friends, I began to see him more frequently.Shortly after this I spent some weeks of the autumn in Paris and met him at the house of a common acquaintance.He asked me where I was staying and in a day or two I received another invitation to lunch, this time at his apartment；when I arrived I was surprised to see that it was a party of considerable distinction.I giggled to myself.I knew that with his perfect sense of social relations he had realized that in English society as an author I was not of much account, but that in France, where an author just because he is an author has prestige, I was.During the years that followed our acquaintance became fairly intimate without ever developing into friendship.I doubt whether it was possible for Elliott Templeton to be a friend.He took no interest in people apart from their social position.When I chanced to be in Paris or he in London, he continued to ask me to parties when he wanted an extra man or was obliged to entertain travelling Americans.Some of these were, I suspected, old clients and some were strangers sent to him with letters of introduction.They were the cross of his life.He felt he had to do something for them and yet was unwilling to have them meet his grand friends.The best way of disposing of them of course was to give them dinner and take them to a play, but that was often difficult when he was engaged every evening for three weeks ahead, and also he had an inkling that they would scarcely be satisfied with that.Since I was an author and so of little consequence he didn't mind telling me his troubles on this matter.
初次遇見艾略特時，我只是個名不見經(jīng)傳的年輕作家，他根本無視我的存在。由于他對每一張面孔都過目不忘，不管哪里遇見都跟我客氣地握手，只是似乎毫無意圖和我深交。在看戲的時候巧遇，如果他和某個顯貴在一起，他就假裝沒看見我。后來我寫的劇本獲得了出人意料的成功，我立刻就察覺到艾略特對我的態(tài)度升溫，變得熱情起來。一天，我收到他的一封請柬，請我去克拉里奇酒店吃飯——此處是他在倫敦的下榻地。那是個小型的宴會，規(guī)格也不是很高。我當時有一種感覺，覺得他在試探我的深淺。后來，我的成功給我的身邊增加了不少新朋友，跟他見面的機會也就多了起來。在這之后不久，正逢秋季，我去巴黎住了幾個星期，有一次在一個雙方都認識的熟人家和他不期而遇。他問了我的住址，過了一兩天我就收到了他的一封午宴請柬——這次的午宴地點設在他的公寓里。到了那兒一看，我意外地發(fā)現(xiàn)這次宴會的規(guī)格相當高，不由心里暗自笑了。我知道他熟諳人情世故，曉得一個作家在英國社交界無足輕重，而在法國則備受推崇，于是我這個作家也就被他另眼相看了。這以后的若干年里，我和他來往十分密切，但始終未成為推心置腹的朋友。我懷疑艾略特恐怕跟任何人都不能成為朋友的。他對人并不感興趣，只關心人的社會地位。不論我偶爾去巴黎，或是他來倫敦，他請客少一個人，或者有義務要招待前來旅游的美國人時，總要請我作陪。這些人，我懷疑有些是他的老主顧，有些是拿介紹信來拜見他的陌生人。他們成了他生活中的累贅。他覺得總得應酬一下，但又不情愿介紹他們和他那些顯赫的朋友見面。打發(fā)他們最好的辦法自然就是請客吃飯了，然后再請他們去看場戲，可這其中他也自有難處，因為他每晚都有應酬，而且早在三個星期前全約好了；即使他盡了地主之誼，料想那些人也未必就此滿足。鑒于我是個作家，跟這類事情干系不大，于是他愿意將肚子里的苦水倒給我聽。

“People in America are so inconsiderate in the way they give letters. It's not that I'm not delighted to see the people who are sent to me, but I really don't see why I should inflict them on my friends.”
“美國的那些人寫什么介紹信，一點也不為別人考慮。我倒不是不樂意接待前來拜訪的人，只是覺得實在不應該拖累身邊的朋友?！?/p>

He sought to make amends by sending them great baskets of roses and huge boxes of chocolates, but sometimes he had to do more. It was then, somewhat na?vely after what he had told me, that he asked me to come to the party he was organizing.
他用大籃子盛放玫瑰花，用大盒子裝上巧克力，贈送給那些人以彌補招待上的不周。不過，有時還得設迎賓宴。也就是在這個時候，他請我來作陪的。先前他把原委告訴了我，此時又邀我來應景，未免有些幼稚了。

“They want to meet you so much，”he wrote to flatter me.“Mrs. So-and-so is a very cultivated woman and she's read every word you've written.”
“他們渴望能和你見上一面?！彼谘埗碳碇蟹钣?，“某某夫人是個很有文學涵養(yǎng)的人，你寫的書她逐詞逐句都拜讀了?！?/p>

Mrs. So-and-so would then tell me she'd so much enjoyed my book Mr.Perrin and Mr.Traill and congratulate me on my play The Mollusc.The first of these was written by Hugh Walpole and the second by Hubert Henry Davies.
見了面，那位“某某夫人”就會告訴我，說看了我的《培林先生和特雷爾先生》一書，簡直喜歡極了，并祝賀我的《軟體動物》劇本演出成功。殊不知頭一本書的作者是休·沃波爾，后一書的作者是哈伯特·亨利·戴維斯。