全新版大学英语(第二版)综合教程_第四册_Unit 5 Never Judge by Appearances——A Friend in Need
A Friend in Need
（by Somerset Maugham）
For thirty years now I have been studying my fellowmen. I do not know very much about them. I shrug my shoulders when people tell me that their first impressions of a person are always right. I think they must have small insight or great vanity. For my own part I find that the longer I know people the more they puzzle me.
我阅人至今已经有三十年之久。我不大了解他们。人家对我说他们对一个人的初次印象一准不会错的时候，我耸耸肩。我认为他们必然眼力颇浅，或者自负过高。就我来说，我发现自己认得越久的人，他们越使我迷惑不解。
//我最老的朋友们，恰恰是我可以说一点也不了解的人。
sort something out
These reflections have occurred to me because I read in this morning's paper that Edward Hyde Burton had died at Kobe. He was a merchant and he had been in business in Japan for many years. I knew him very little, but he interested me because once he gave me a great surprise. Unless I had heard the story from his own lips, I should never have believed that he was capable of such an action. It was more startling because both in appearance and manner he suggested a very definite type. Here if ever was a man all of a piece. He was a tiny little fellow, not much more than five feet four in height, and very slender, with white hair, a red face much wrinkled, and blue eyes. I suppose he was about sixty when I knew him. He was always neatly and quietly dressed in accordance with his age and station.
我产生这些想法是因为看到今天早晨报纸上登载爱德华·海德·勃吞在神户逝世的消息。他是一个商人，在日本经营多年。我跟他交情很浅，可是有一次他使我大吃一惊，才对他感到兴趣。要不是听他亲口说的，我怎么也不会相信他竟然做出这种事情。不论是外貌，是举动，他都使人想起一种定了型的人物，这就使人更为震惊。如果有那么一个前后一贯的人，他就是了。他身材矮小，高不过五英尺四多一点，细瘦文弱，一头白发，一脸皱纹，气红润，
眼睛湛蓝。我认识他的时候估计他是六十岁光景。穿得总是整洁素净，正适合他的年龄和地位。
Though his offices were in Kobe, Burton often came down to Yokohama. I happened on one occasion to be spending a few days there, waiting for a ship, and I was introduced to him at the British Club. We played bridge together. He played a good game and a generous one. He did not talk very much, either then or later when we were having drinks, but what he said was sensible. He had a quiet, dry humor. He seemed to be popular at the club and afterwards, when he had gone, they described him as one of the best. It happened that we were both staying at the Grand Hotel and next day he asked me to dine with him. I met his wife, fat, elderly, and smiling, and his two daughters. It was evidently a united and affectionate family. I think the chief thing that struck me about Burton was his kindliness. There was something very pleasing in his mild blue eyes. His voice was gentle; you could not imagine that he could possibly raise it in anger; his smile was benign. Here was a man who attracted you because you felt in him a real love for his fellows. At the same time he liked his game of cards and his cocktail, he could tell with point a good and spicy story, and
in his youth he had been something of an athlete. He was a rich man and he had made every penny himself. I suppose one thing that made you like him was that he was so small and frail; he aroused your instincts of protection. You felt that he could not bear to hurt a fly.
勃吞的办事处在神户，但是他常常到横滨去。我碰巧有事到那儿去耽搁几天，等一艘船，便在英国俱乐部被人介绍跟他认识。我们一起打桥牌。他打得很好，而且慷慨大方。当时或后来我们一起喝酒的时候，他不大说话，说起来却通情达理。他有一种沉着冷静的幽默感。他在俱乐部里看来人缘颇好，他离开以后，人家说他属于最高尚的人当中的一个。我们两人恰巧都下榻格朗德旅馆，第二天他邀我吃饭。看到了他的上了年纪的妻子，胖胖的、笑盈盈的，还有两个女儿。显然是一个融融怡怡、相亲相爱的家庭。给我印象最深的是他的忠厚善良。他的温和的蓝眼睛里有一种十分可爱的神。嗓音也是柔和的；不能想象他有高声怒吼的可能；他的微笑同样亲切慈祥。有一种人吸引你，是因为你觉得他对人们具有真诚的爱。他确有魅力。然而他身上却不带令人恶心的地方；他爱好打牌，喝鸡尾酒，能够抓住要点讲述生动有趣的故事，年轻时候曾经也算是个体育运动员。他富有，而每个便士都是自己赚来的。我觉得，使你喜欢他的一种情况是他如此文弱矮小；他唤起你做保护者的本能。你感到他连伤害一只苍蝇都不忍心。
One afternoon I was sitting in the lounge of the Grand Hotel when Burton came in and seated himself in the chair next to mine.
一天下午，我坐在格朗德旅馆的休息室时勃吞走进休息室，坐到我旁边的椅子上来。
    "What do you say to a little drink?" “喝点儿酒怎么样？”
    He clapped his hands for a boy and ordered two gin fizzes. As the boy brought them a man passed along the street outside and seeing me waved his hand. 他拍手招来了侍者，要了两杯加苏打水的杜松子洒。侍者端来的时候，一个人在外面街上经过，一眼看见了我，就对我招招手。
    "Do you know Turner?" said Burton as I nodded a greeting. “你认识透纳吗？”我点头招呼的时候，勃吞问。
    "I've met him at the club. I'm told he's a remittance man." “我在俱乐部里看见过他。我听说他是靠汇款过日子的人。”
    "Yes, I believe he is. We have a good many here." “不错，我相信是的。这里有许多这种人。”
    "He plays bridge well." “他桥牌打得很好。”
"They generally do. There was a fellow here last year, oddly enough a namesake of mine, who was the best bridge player I ever met. I suppose you never came across him in London. Lenny Burton he called himself. I believe he'd belonged to some very good clubs."
“他们一般都如此。去年这里有一个人，可真巧，他和我同姓氏，是我所见到的最好的桥牌手。我想你在伦敦从未遇到他吧。他说他叫赖内·勃吞。我相信他是一些第一流的俱乐部的成员。”
"No, I don't believe I remember the name." “没有，我似乎没有听到过这个名字。”
"He was quite a remarkable player. He seemed to have an instinct about the cards. It was uncanny. I used to play with him a lot. He was in Kobe for some time." “他是个十分出的牌手。对于牌他似乎有一种直觉。这是不：可思议的。我曾经常常和他打牌。他有一段时候
待在神户。”
    Burton sipped his gin fizz. 勃吞啜饮着苏打杜松子酒。
"It's rather a funny story," he said. "He wasn't a bad chap. I liked him. He was always well-dressed and smart-looking. He was handsome in a way with curly hair and pink-and-white cheeks. Women thought a lot of him. There was no harm in him, you know, he was only wild. Of course he drank too much. Those sort of fellows always do. A bit of money used to come on for him once a quarter and he made a bit more by card-playing. He won a good deal of mine, I know that."
“这是个相当有趣的故事，”他说。“他不是个坏人。我喜欢他。他总是衣冠楚楚，风度翩翩。头发是鬈曲的，脸腮白里透红，有那么点漂亮。女人家很欣赏他。他没坏心眼，你瞧，只不过落拓不羁。饮酒过度，自不必说了。他们这种人总是如此。每个季度都有一点钱寄给他，但是他打牌又赢得一点。他赢了我很不少的钱，这个我知道。”
    Burton gave a kindly chuckle. I knew from my own experience that he could lose money
at bridge with a good grace. He stroked his shaven chin with his thin hand; the veins stood out on it and it was almost transparent. 勃吞和颜悦地轻声一笑。我从自己的经验知道，他打牌输钱的时候也能够神态自若。他用瘦骨棱棱的手摸摸自己剃得光光的下巴，手上的青筋暴露，几乎是透明的。

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