Though he had suffered so much from the ridicule of his friends, Dirk Stroeve, eager for praise and naively self-satisfied, could never resist displaying his work. He brought out a picture of two curly-headed Italian urchins playing marbles.
虽然戴尔克·施特略夫不断受到朋友们的嘲笑，却从来克制不了自己，总是要把自己的画拿给人家看，满心希望听到别人的夸奖，而且他的虚荣心很容易得到满足。他先给我看了一张两个鬈头发的意大利穷孩子玩玻璃球的画。
Aren't they sweet? said Mrs. Stroeve.
“多好玩儿的两个孩子，”施特略夫太太称赞说。
And then he showed me more. I discovered that in Paris he had been painting just the same stale, obviously picturesque things that he had painted for years in Rome. It was all false, insincere, shoddy; and yet no one was more honest, sincere, and frank than Dirk Stroeve. Who could resolve the contradiction?
接着他又拿出更多的画来。我发现他在巴黎画的还是他在罗马画了很多年的那些陈腐不堪、花里胡哨的画。这些画画得一丝也不真实、毫无艺术价值，然而世界上却再没有谁比这些画的作者、比戴尔克·施特略夫更心地笃实、更真挚坦白的了。这种矛盾谁解释得了呢？
I do not know what put it into my head to ask:
我不知道自己为什么会突然问他道：
I say, have you by any chance run across a painter called Charles Strickland?
“我问你一下，不知道你遇见过一个叫查理斯·思特里克兰德的画家没有？”
You don't mean to say you know him? cried Stroeve.
“你是说你也认识他？”施特略夫叫喊起来。
Beast, said his wife.
“这人太没教养了，”他的妻子说。
Stroeve laughed.
施特略夫笑了起来。
Ma pauvre cherie. He went over to her and kissed both her hands. "She doesn't like him. How strange that you should know Strickland!"
“我的可怜的宝贝。”他走到她前面，吻了吻她的两只手。“她不喜欢他。真奇怪，你居然也认识思特里克兰德。”
I don't like bad manners, said Mrs. Stroeve.
“我不喜欢不懂礼貌的人，”施特略夫太太说。
Dirk, laughing still, turned to me to explain.
戴尔克的笑声一直没有停止，转过身来给我解释。
You see, I asked him to come here one day and look at my pictures. Well, he came, and I showed him everything I had. Stroeve hesitated a moment with embarrassment. I do not know why he had begun the story against himself; he felt an awkwardness at finishing it. "He looked at—at my pictures, and he didn't say anything. I thought he was reserving his judgment till the end. And at last I said: 'There, that's the lot!' He said: 'I came to ask you to lend me twenty francs.'"
“你知道，有一次我请他来看看我的画。他来了，我把我的画都拿给他看了。”说到这里，施特略夫有些不好意思，踌躇了一会儿。我不理解为什么他开始讲这样一个于他脸面并不光彩的故事；他不知道该怎样把这个故事说完。“他看着——我的画，一句话也不说。我本来以为他等着把画都看完了再发表意见。最后我说：‘就是这些了！’他说：‘我来是为了向你借二十法郎。’”
And Dirk actually gave it him, said his wife indignantly.
“戴尔克居然把钱给他了，”他的妻子气愤地说。
I was so taken aback. I didn't like to refuse. He put the money in his pocket, just nodded, said 'Thanks,' and walked out.
“我听了他这话吓了一跳。我不想拒绝他。他把钱放在口袋里，朝我点了点头，说了声‘谢谢’，扭头就走了。”