The Moon And Sixpence 48.2

月亮与六便士【中英字幕】

"You see,I was interested in him because he was a painter, " he told me. "Wedon't get many painters in the islands, and I was sorry for him because he wassuch a bad one. I gave him his first job. I had a plantation on the peninsula,and I wanted a white overseer. You never get any work out of the natives unlessyou have a white man over them. I said to him: `You'll have plenty of time forpainting, and you can earn a bit of money. ' I knew he was starving, but Ioffered him good wages. "

"I can'timagine that he was a very satisfactory overseer, " I said, smiling.

"I madeallowances. I have always had a sympathy for artists. It is in our blood, youknow. But he only remained a few months. When he had enough money to buy paintsand canvases he left me. The place had got hold of him by then, and he wantedto get away into the bush. But I continued to see him now and then. He wouldturn up in Papeete every few months and stay a little while; he'd get money outof someone or other and then disappear again. It was on one of these visitsthat he came to me and asked for the loan of two hundred francs. He looked asif he hadn't had a meal for a week, and I hadn't the heart to refuse him. Ofcourse, I never expected to see my money again. Well, a year later he came tosee me once more, and he brought a picture with him. He did not mention themoney he owed me, but he said: `Here is a picture of your plantation that I'vepainted for you. ' I looked at it. I did not know what to say, but of course Ithanked him, and when he had gone away I showed it to my wife. "

"What wasit like?" I asked.

“你知道，我对他感兴趣是因为他是个画家，”他对我说，“很少有画家到我们这些岛上来，我很可怜他，因为我觉得他画的画很蹩脚。他的头一个工作就是我给他的。我在半岛上有一个种植园，需要一个白人监工。除非有个白人监督着他们，这些土人是绝不肯给你干活的。我对他说：‘你有的是时间画画儿，你还可以挣点钱。’我知道他正在挨饿，但是我给他的工资很高。”

“我想他不是一个令人满意的监工。”我笑着说。

“我对他的要求并不苛刻。我对艺术家总是同情的。我们一家人生来就是这样，你知道。但是他只干了几个月的活儿。等他攒够了钱，能够买油彩和画布的时候，他就想离开这地方，跑到荒林里去。但是我还是经常不断地能见到他。每过几个月他就到帕皮提来一次，待几天；他会从随便哪个人手里弄到点钱，于是又无影无踪了。正是在他这样一次访问时，他到我家里来，要向我借两百法郎。他的样子象是一个礼拜没吃一顿饱饭了，我不忍心拒绝他。当然了，我知道这笔钱我绝不会再要回来了。你猜怎么着，一年以后，他又来看我了，带着一幅画。他没提向我借钱的事，他只说：‘这是一幅你那座种植园的画，是我给你画的。’我看了看他的画。我不知道该说什么。当然了，我还是对他表示感谢。他走了以后，我把这幅画拿给我的妻子看。”

“他画得怎么样？”我问。