他被女人真挚的爱打动了，不顾她的残疾，娶了她

The Model 模特

Curving like a crescent moon, the little town of Etretat, with its white cliffs, its white, shingly beach and its blue sea, lay in the sunlight at high noon one July day. At either extremity of this crescent its two "gates," the smaller to the right, the larger one at the left, stretched forth—one a dwarf and the other a colossal limb—into the water, and the bell tower, almost as tall as the cliff, wide below, narrowing at the top, raised its pointed summit to the sky. On the sands beside the water a crowd was seated watching the bathers. On the terrace of, the Casino another crowd, seated or walking, displayed beneath the brilliant sky a perfect flower patch of bright costumes, with red and blue parasols embroidered with large flowers in silk.

埃特勒塔小城像一轮弯弯的新月，七月里的一天，这里白色的峭壁、洁白多石的海滩和蔚蓝的大海，正沐浴着正午的阳光。在这个“新月“的两端有两个“关口”，右边的小，像个侏儒，左边的大，像个巨人，两个都突向海中；还有一个底大顶尖的钟楼，跟悬崖一样高，尖顶直插天空。一群人坐在海滩上看游泳的人。还有一群人在娱乐场露台上，他们有的坐着，有的走着，鲜艳的服饰，用丝线绣着花朵的红色、蓝色阳伞在灿烂的天空下构成一幅唯美的花园锦绣图。

On the walk at the end of the terrace, other persons, the restful, quiet ones, were walking slowly, far from the dressy throng.

在露台边上，远离衣着华丽的人群，还有一些喜欢安静的人，他们悠闲地散着步。

A young man, well known and celebrated as a painter, Jean Sumner, was walking with a dejected air beside a wheeled chair in which sat a young woman, his wife. A manservant was gently pushing the chair, and the crippled woman was gazing sadly at the brightness of the sky, the gladness of the day, and the happiness of others.

一位名叫让·萨姆纳的年轻有为的画家，跟在一辆轮椅旁垂头丧气地走着。车上坐着一个年轻女人，那是他的妻子。仆人小心翼翼地推着轮椅，坐在上面的残疾女人悲伤地望着灿烂的天空、快乐的日子和幸福的人群。

They did not speak. They did not look at each other.

他们一句话也没说。两人看都不看对方一眼。

"Let us stop a while," said the young woman.

“我们停一会儿吧。”女人说。

They stopped, and the painter sat down on a camp stool that the servant handed him.

他们停下来，画家接过仆人递过来的折叠椅坐下来。

Those who were passing behind the silent and motionless couple looked at them compassionately. A whole legend of devotion was attached to them. He had married her in spite of her infirmity, touched by her affection for him, it was said.

这对夫妇安静地、一动不动地坐着，从他们身旁走过的人们都向他们投以同情的目光。听说他们之间还有一段传奇的爱情故事。据说，他被女人真挚的爱打动了，不顾她的残疾，娶了她。

Not far from there, two young men were chatting, seated on a bench and looking out into the horizon.

两个年轻男人坐在不远处的长凳上，望着天边，谈论着。

"No, it is not true; I tell you that I am well acquainted with Jean Sumner."

“不，这不可能；因为我和让·萨姆纳很熟。”

"But then, why did he marry her? For she was a cripple when she married, was she not?"

“那么，他为什么要娶她呢？她结婚前就残疾了，不是吗？”

"Just so. He married her—he married her—just as every one marries, parbleu! Because he was an idiot!”

“没错。跟所有人的婚姻一样，他娶了她，哎呀！因为他很蠢！”

"But why?"

“但是，为什么呢？”

"But why—but why, my friend? There is no why. People do stupid things just because they do stupid things. And, besides, you know very well that painters make a specialty of foolish marriages. They almost always marry models, former sweethearts, in fact, women of doubtful reputation, frequently. Why do they do this? Who can say? One would suppose that constant association with the general run of models would disgust them forever with that class of women. Not at all. After having posed them they marry them. Read that little book, so true, so cruel and so beautiful, by Alphonse Daudet: 'Artists' Wives.’

“但是原因——但是原因到底是什么呢，我的朋友？没有原因。人们做蠢事，就是因为他做了蠢事。再说，你也知道，画家本来就偏好愚蠢的婚姻。他们娶的几乎都是模特、之前的情妇等等，反正总是那些名声不好的女人。他们为什么这样做？谁知道呢？一般人们认为，和这些普通的模特交往多了，就会永远觉得这类女人令人作呕。但他们不这么认为。给模特们摆好姿势后，他们便会娶她们。看看阿尔封斯·都德的《艺术家的妻子们》这本书吧，里面讲述的是那么真实、那么残酷，却又那么美丽。

In the case of the couple you see over there the accident occurred in a special and terrible manner. The little woman played a frightful comedy, or, rather, tragedy. She risked all to win all. Was she sincere? Did she love Jean? Shall we ever know? Who is able to determine precisely how much is put on and how much is real in the actions of a woman? They are always sincere in an eternal mobility of impressions. They are furious, criminal, devoted, admirable and base in obedience to intangible emotions. They tell lies incessantly without intention, without knowing or understanding why, and in spite of it all are absolutely frank in their feelings and sentiments, which they display by violent, unexpected, incomprehensible, foolish resolutions which overthrow our arguments, our customary poise and all our selfish plans. The unforeseenness and suddenness of their determinations will always render them undecipherable enigmas as far as we are concerned. We continually ask ourselves:

而你看到的那边那对夫妇，他们的故事则既特别又可怕。那个娇小的女人上演了一出可怕的闹剧，不，其实是悲剧。为了赢得一切，她不惜付出一切。她是真心的吗？她爱让吗？谁知道呢？又有谁能够准确地猜出女人所做的事情中，哪些是真哪些是假？不过她们的善变倒是真的。有时她们大发雷霆、卑鄙无耻，有时她们又热心忠实、令人钦佩，她们听任情感变幻莫测。她们的谎言一个接着一个，不是故意的，可也不知道、不明白为什么。尽管如此，她们内心的感觉和情感又绝对是真实的，这通过她们强烈的、意外的、愚蠢的、不可思议的决定表现出来。她们的这些决定推翻了我们的理论，打破了我们以往的习惯，终止了我们所有自私的计划。她们出人意料而又突如其来的决定，使得她们在我们眼里，总是像谜一样，难以琢磨。我们不断地问自己：

'Are they sincere? Are they pretending?'

‘她们是真心的吗？还是虚假的?'

But, my friend, they are sincere and insincere at one and the same time, because it is their nature to be extremists in both and to be neither one nor the other.

但是，亲爱的朋友，她们既是真诚的，同时又是虚假的，因为同时走向这两个极端是她们的天性，她们没办法只走向其中的一个。

See the methods that even the best of them employ to get what they desire. They are complex and simple, these methods. So complex that we can never guess at them beforehand, and so simple that after having been victimized we cannot help being astonished and exclaiming: 'What! Did she make a fool of me so easily as that?'

看看她们当中即使是最真心的女人，为了得到想要的东西，所使用的方法吧。这些方法既复杂又简单。复杂到我们事先根本无法猜到她们的意图，而又简单到成为受害者后，我们不禁惊叹：‘什么！她竟如此轻易地骗了我?'

And they always succeed, old man, especially when it is a question of getting married.

而且她们总能成功，老伙计，特别是关系到结婚的问题时。

But this is Sumner's story:

萨姆纳的故事是这样的：

The little woman was a model, of course. She posed for him. She was pretty, very stylish-looking, and had a divine figure, it seems. He fancied that he loved her with his whole soul. That is another strange thing. As soon as one likes a woman one sincerely believes that they could not get along without her for the rest of their life. One knows that one has felt the same way before and that disgust invariably succeeded gratification; that in order to pass one's existence side by side with another there must be not a brutal, physical passion which soon dies out, but a sympathy of soul, temperament and temper. One should know how to determine in the enchantment to which one is subjected whether it proceeds from the physical, from a certain sensuous intoxication, or from a deep spiritual charm.

毫无疑问，这个娇小的女人是个模特。她是他的模特。她既漂亮又时尚，据说，拥有魔鬼一样的身材。他以为自己全身心地爱上了她。这是件奇怪的事。我们一旦喜欢上某个女人，就会天真地相信余下的生命要与她一起度过。过来人都有同样的感触：厌倦感总是会渐渐战胜满足感；纯粹狂野的、身体上的吸引是不会长久的，只有心灵相通、气质相吸、脾气相投的人才可以共度一生。面对诱惑时，人们应该学会区分：是身体的迷惑，感觉的陶醉，还是灵魂深处的吸引。

Well, he believed himself in love; he made her no end of promises of fidelity, and was devoted to her.

不过，他相信自已真的爱她，心里只有她，真诚地向她许下无数爱的诺言。

She was really attractive, gifted with that fashionable flippancy that little Parisians so readily affect. She chattered, babbled, made foolish remarks that sounded witty from the manner in which they were uttered. She used graceful gesture's which were calculated to attract a painter's eye. When she raised her arms, when she bent over, when she got into a carriage, when she held out her hand to you, her gestures were perfect and appropriate.

她真的很迷人，具有巴黎小女人时尚魅惑的气质。她侃侃而谈，很会讲话，就连一些幼稚的话，也会因为她独特的表达方式，而变得诙谐可爱。她动作优雅，时时刻刻都能吸引画家的眼球。不论是举手、弯腰、上马车，还是向你招手示意，她的动作都那么完美到位、无懈可击。

For three months Jean never noticed that, in reality, she was like all other models.

三个月下来，让都没有发现，她其实和其它模特没什么区别。

He rented a little house for her for the summer at Andresy.

他在安德烈西租了一个小房子，和她在那里度过了夏天。

I was there one evening when for the first time doubts came into my friend's mind.

有天晚上我也在那里，那是我朋友第一次产生了怀疑。

As it was a beautiful evening we thought we would take a stroll along the bank of the river. The moon poured a flood of light on the trembling water, scattering yellow gleams along its ripples in the currents and all along the course of the wide, slow river.

那个夜晚很美，我们决定沿着河边散散步。月光洒在水面上，河水荡漾，每条波纹都折射出金黄的光芒，最后在整个缓缓流淌的大河上面交相辉映。

We strolled along the bank, a little enthused by that vague exaltation that these dreamy evenings produce in us. We would have liked to undertake some wonderful task, to love some unknown, deliciously poetic being. We felt ourselves vibrating with raptures, longings, strange aspirations. And we were silent, our beings pervaded by the serene and living coolness of the beautiful night, the coolness of the moonlight, which seemed to penetrate one's body, permeate it, soothe one's spirit, fill it with fragrance and steep it in happiness.

我们沿着河边漫步，如梦的夏夜使人产生一种莫名的兴奋，想要做些奇妙的事情，想要关爱那些不认识的、如诗般美丽的生命。我们感到内心激情澎湃、充满渴望。我们沉默不语，感受着这美妙夏夜的平静和孤寂。凄凉的月光，也好像渗透到我们的身体里，弥漫开来，抚慰我们的内心，带来幸福和芬芳。

Suddenly Josephine (that is her name) uttered an exclamation:

突然，约瑟芬（她的名字）大叫一声：

'Oh, did you see the big fish that jumped, over there?'

‘呀，你看到有条大鱼在那边跳起来了吗?'

He replied without looking, without thinking:

他看都没看，想都没想，应了一句：

'Yes, dear.'

‘是的，亲爱的。’

She was angry.

她生气了。

'No, you did not see it, for your back was turned.'

‘不，你没看到，因为你刚刚背对那里。’

He smiled.

他笑着说：

'Yes, that's true. It is so delightful that I am not thinking of anything.’

‘是的。这么美妙的夜晚，我什么也不想想。’

She was silent, but at the end of a minute she felt as if she must say something and asked:

她没有答话，沉默了一会儿，又感到自己必须得说些什么，于是问道：

'Are you going to Paris to-morrow?’

‘你明天去巴黎吗?'

'I do not know,' he replied.

‘我不知道。’他回答。

She was annoyed again.

她又生气了。

'Do you think it is very amusing to walk along without speaking? People talk when they are not stupid.'

‘你觉得一句话也没有的散步有意思吗？人之所以不傻，就是因为能讲话。’

He did not reply. Then, feeling with her woman's instinct that she was going to make him angry, she began to sing a popular air that had harassed our ears and our minds for two years:

他没有吭声。出于女人的本能，她觉得应该把他惹火才行，于是她开始唱起那首流行歌曲，这两年来，我们听这歌听得耳朵都长茧了。

'Je regardais en fair.'

‘我望着空中。’

He murmured:

他低声说道：

'Please keep quiet.'

‘求求你，安静下来。’

She replied angrily:

她生气地反问：

'Why do you wish me to keep quiet?'

‘为什么要我安静?'

'You spoil the landscape for us!' he said.

‘因为你破坏了这里的美景！’他答道。

Then followed a scene, a hateful, idiotic scene, with unexpected reproaches, unsuitable recriminations, then tears. Nothing was left unsaid. They went back to the house. He had allowed her to talk without replying, enervated by the beauty of the scene and dumfounded by this storm of abuse.

接下来发生的事情很讨厌、很荒唐。她突然开始责备他，毫不讲理地讽刺他，然后自己哭了起来。能说的不能说的，她全都说了出来。他们往回走。或许是被美丽的景色吸引，或许是对她刺耳的辱骂无言以对，他一副无精打采的样子，任凭她怎么辱骂都不搭理她。

Three months later he strove wildly to free himself from those invincible and invisible bonds with which such a friendship chains our lives. She kept him under her influence, tyrannizing over him, making his life a burden to him. They quarreled continually, vituperating and finally fighting each other.

三个月后，他努力想从这无形却又牢不可破的束缚中挣脱出来。我跟他之间的友谊也让我与此事紧密相连。但她一直控制着他，对他施压，使生活变成他的一种负担。他们不断争吵、辱骂，最后两人开始打架。

He wanted to break with her at any cost. He sold all his canvases, borrowed money from his friends, realizing twenty thousand francs (he was not well known then), and left them for her one morning with a note of farewell.

他不惜一切代价想跟她分手。他卖掉所有的画，从朋友那里借钱，凑了两万法郞（他当时还不出名），一天早上，他留下一封分手信连同这笔钱走了。

He came and took refuge with me.

他找到我寻求帮助。

About three o'clock that afternoon there was a ring at the bell. I went to the door. A woman sprang toward me, pushed me aside, came in and went into my atelier. It was she!

那天下午三点钟左右，门铃响了。我打开门。一个女人冲过来，把我推开，进屋后径直走进我的画室。是她！

He had risen when he saw her coming.’

看到她进来，他站了起来。

She threw the envelope containing the banknotes at his feet with a truly noble gesture and said in a quick tone:

她把装着钞票的信封扔到他脚下，摆出一副高傲的姿态，急促地说道：

'There's your money. I don't want it!’

‘这是你的钱。我不需要！'

She was very pale, trembling and ready undoubtedly to commit any folly. As for him, I saw him grow pale also, pale with rage and exasperation, ready also perhaps to commit any violence.

她脸色苍白，浑身颤抖，毫无疑问她打定主意要做蠢事了。而他，我看到他也是脸色发白，压着怒火，或许也准备要动手。

He asked:

他问：

'What do you want?'

‘你想干什么?'

She replied:

她回答：

'I do not choose to be treated like a common woman. You implored me to accept you. I asked you for nothing. Keep me with you!'

‘我不想被当作一个普通的女人。你曾经苦苦哀求，让我答应你。我什么都没求过你。让我呆在你身边吧!'

He stamped his foot.

他跺着脚，说道：

'No, that's a little too much! If you think you are going—’

‘不，你别太过分了！如果你以为你会——’

I had seized his arm.

我抓住他的胳膊。

'Keep still, Jean... Let me settle it.'

‘别说了，让，让我来处理吧。’

I went toward her and quietly, little by little, I began to reason with her, exhausting all the arguments that are used under similar circumstances. She listened to me, motionless, with a fixed gaze, obstinate and silent.

我走向她，平静地、一点一点和她讲道理，把能用到这种场合的道理全都讲了。她听着，一言不发、一动不动、目光呆滞，非常倔强。

Finally, not knowing what more to say, and seeing that there would be a scene, I thought of a last resort and said:

最后，我实在不知道说什么好了，瞅准时机，我想到最后一个办法，说道：

'He loves you still, my dear, but his family want him to marry some one, and you understand—’

‘其实他仍然爱着你，我的朋友，只是他的家人叫他跟别人结婚，这个你也理解——’

She gave a start and exclaimed:

她抽搐了一下，喊道：

'Ah! Ah! now I understand.'

‘啊！哦！现在我明白了。’

And turning toward him, she said:

她转向他，说：

'You are—you are going to get married?’

‘你——你要结婚吗?'

He replied decidedly: 'Yes.'

他果断地答道：‘是的。’

She took a step forward.

她往前一步。

'If you marry, I will kill myself! Do you hear?'

‘如果你结婚，我就自杀！你给我听好了。’

He shrugged his shoulders and replied:

他耸耸肩，答道：

'Well, then kill yourself!'

‘好啊，去死啊!'

She stammered out, almost choking with her violent emotion:

由于过分激动，她结结巴巴地差点儿说不出话来。

'What do you say? What do you say? What do you say? Say it again!'

‘你说什么？你说什么？你说什么？再说一遍!'

He repeated:

他重复道：

'Well, then kill yourself if you like!'

‘好吧，你喜欢的话就去死呀!'

With her face almost livid, she replied:

她脸色铁青，说道：

'Do not dare me! I will throw myself from the window!'

‘不要逼我！否则我从窗户跳下去!'

He began to laugh, walked toward the window, opened it, and bowing with the gesture of one who desires to let some one else precede him, he said:

他开始大笑，走到窗户旁边，打开它，就像请某人先行似的，鞠了一躬，说道：

'This is the way. After you!'

‘这边请。您先!'

She looked at him for a second with terrible, wild, staring eyes. Then, taking a run as if she were going to jump a hedge in the country, she rushed past me and past him, jumped over the sill and disappeared.

她用可怕的、发疯似的目光盯着他看了几秒钟。随后，她就像跨越乡间篱笆一样，冲了过去，经过我面前，经过他面前，翻过窗台，消失了。

I shall never forget the impression made on me by that open window after I had seen that body pass through it to fall to the ground. It appeared to me in a second to be as large as the heavens and as hollow as space. And I drew back instinctively, not daring to look at it, as though I feared I might fall out myself.

那扇敞开的窗户我永远也不会忘记，我看到她的身体穿过那扇窗户，落到地面上。有那么一秒钟，我感觉它就像广阔的天空，无穷的宇宙，那么大、那么空。我本能地往后退，不敢看下去，仿佛担心自己也会掉下去。

Jean, dumfounded, stood motionless.

琼吓傻了，站在那里，一动不动。

They brought the poor girl in with both legs broken. She will never walk again.

他们抬回那可怜的女孩时，她的双腿已经断了。她将永远不能走路。

Jean, wild with remorse and also possibly touched with gratitude, made up his mind to marry her.

琼，深怀内疚，也可能是被她的真情打动了，决定娶她。

There you have it, old man.”

这就是整个故事，老兄。”

It was growing dusk. The young woman felt chilly and wanted to go home, and the servant wheeled the invalid chair in the direction of the village. The painter walked beside his wife, neither of them having exchanged a word for an hour.

天色暗下来。年轻女人感到天气有点凉，想回去，于是仆人推着轮椅朝村子方向走去。画家在妻子的身旁走着，刚才的一个小时他们没有说过一句话。

This story appeared in Le Gaulois, December 17, 1883.

本故事出自李·高卢洛伊斯，时间是1883年12月17日。