美文导读：高尔斯华绥《品质》
2018-07-28 20:53阅读：
美文导读：高尔斯华绥《品质》
文革结束后，出版界有一段时间处于“重印热”之中，这与十年来禁锢文化有莫大的关系。在重印热中，我购买了一套《外国短篇小说选》，我就是最初在那里面读到了高尔斯华绥的短篇小说《品质》。
记得很快读完，然后就呆住了。想了很久。这篇小说很短，没有复杂的情节，没有激烈的戏剧冲突，也没有雕饰夸张的描写，几句话，几个情节，怎么就把这个人物写活了，心里隐约感觉到，这，才是大手笔。这种类似读《红楼梦》的震撼，第一次在读外国作品时感受到了。
很久后我在学校当过一段时间的图书馆头头，时间不长，大约不足一年。我管不了几个人，但手握购书之权，我购买了一些外语原版书，其中就有高尔斯华绥的著作。
读原文与读译文的感觉，就如饮葡萄酒与喝白开水。尽管内容早就熟悉，仍然强烈地被震撼。这“品质”二字，该是双关，一是指皮鞋的品质，二是指匠人的品质。小说把德国匠人的敬业与认真，宁可贫穷倒闭，坚持那种一丝不苟的质量，维护那种作为匠人的荣誉，坚持做人的准则，真是写得入木三分，有着强烈的感染力。反观咱们中国，粗制滥造，浪费资源，弄虚作假，坑蒙拐骗，被外人讥讽为“伪劣国家”，对照之下，令人汗颜！真该好好学习德国人的严谨认真的品质。
我把全文抄在这儿，供圈子内的朋友阅读。难的词汇是我给的词义，而文后的注释是原书的注释。其中的德国口音的英语要凭自己的语感去猜度，也不困难。
Quality
by John Galsworthy
I knew him from the days of my extreme youth, because he made
my father's boots; inhabiting with his elder brother two little
shops let int
o one, in a small
by-street -- now no more, but
then most fashionably placed in the West End.
by-street: 横街
That tenement had a certain quiet
distinction; there was no sign upon its face that he made for any
of the Royal Family -- merely his own German name of Gessler
Brother’s; and in the window a few pairs of boots. I remember that
it always troubled me to account for those unvarying boots in the
window; for he made only what was ordered, reaching
nothing down, and it seemed so inconceivable that what
he made could ever have failed to fit. Had he
bought them to put there? That, too, seemed
inconceivable. He would never have tolerated in his house leather
on which he had not worked himself. Besides,
they were too beautiful -- the pair of pumps,
so inexpressibly slim, the patent leathers with cloth tops, making
water come into one's mouth, the tall brown riding-boots with
marvelous sooty glow, as if, though new, they had been worn a
hundred years. Those pairs could only have been
made by one who saw before him the Soul of Boot -- so truly were
they prototypes incarnating the very spirit of
all foot-gear. These
thoughts, of course, came to me later, though even when I was
promoted to him, at the age of perhaps fourteen, some
inkling haunted me of the dignity of himself
and brother. For to make boots -- such boots
are he made -- seemed to me then, and still seemed to me,
mysterious and wonderful.
tenement: 房屋；住宅；租房
reach-me-down: 现成的衣服
pumps: 浅口皮鞋；轻软舞鞋
prototype: 原型；标准；典范；样板
proto-最初，原始
foot-gear: 脚上穿的结实物品；鞋类
inkling: 略知；轻微的感觉
I remember well my shy remark, one day, while stretching out
to him my youthful foot:
'Isn’t it awfully hard to do, Mr. Gessler?'
And his answer, given with a sudden smile from out of the
sardonic redness of his beard: 'Id is an Ardt !'
Himself, he was a little as if made from leather, with his
yellow crinkly face, and crinkly reddish hair and beard, and neat
folds slanting down his cheeks to the corners of his mouth, and his
guttural and one-toned voice; for leather is a
sardonic substance, and stiff and slow of purpose.
And that was the character of his face, save
that his eyes, which were grey-blue, had in them the simple
gravity of one secretly possessed by the
Ideal. His elder brother
was so very like him -- though watery, paler in
every way, with a great industry -- that
sometimes in early days I was not quite sure of him until the
interview was over. Then I knew that it was
he, if the words, 'I will ask my brudder,' had not been spoken; and
that, if they had, it was his elder brother.
guttural: 咽喉的；喉音的
gravity: 重力；严肃
watery:水汪汪的；无力的
industry: 工业；孜孜不倦
When one grew old and wild and ran up
bills, one somehow never ran them up with
Gessler Brothers. It would not have seemed
becoming to go in there and stretch out one's foot to that blue
iron-spectacled glance, owing him for more than -- say -- two
pairs, just the comfortable reassurance that one was still his
client.
For it was not possible to go to him very often -- his boots
lasted terribly, having something beyond the temporary -- some, as
it were, essence of boot stitched into them.
One went in, not as into most shops, in the mood of: 'Please
serve me, and let me go!' but restfully, as one enters a church;
and sitting on the single wooden chair, waited -- for there was
never anybody there. Soon, over the top edge of
that sort of well -- rather dark, and smelling soothingly of
leather -- which formed the shop, there would be seen his face, or
that elder brother, peering down. A guttural
sound. and the tip-tap of bast slippers beating
the narrow wooden stairs: and he would stand before one without
coat, a little bent, in leather apron, with sleeves turned back,
blinking -- as if awakened from some dream of boots, or like an owl
surprised in daylight and annoyed at this
interruption.
run up bills: 赊账
bast: 韧皮纤维
And I would say: “How do you do, Mr. Gessler?
Could you make me a pair of Russia leather
boots?'
Without a word he would leave me, retiring whence he came, or
into the other portion of the shop, and I would continue to rest in
the wooden chair, inhaling the incense of his trade.
Soon he would come back, hoiding in his thin,
veined hand a piece of gold-brown leather.
With eyes fixed on it, he would remark: 'What a beautiful biece!'
When I, too, had admired it. he would speak
again. 'When do you wand dem?'
And I would answer: 'Oh! As soon as you
conveniently can.' And he would say: “To-morrow
fordnighd?' Or if he were his elder brother:
'I will ask my brudder .'
Then I would rnurmur: 'Thank you!
Good-morning, Mr. Gessler,' 'Goot-morning!' he would reply, still
looking at the leather in his hand. And as I
moved to the door, I would hear the tip-tap of his bast slippers
restoring him, up the stairs, to his dream of boots.
But if it were some new kind of foot-gear that
he did not yet made me, then indeed he would
observe ceremony --
divesting me of my boot and holding it long in his
hand looking at it with eyes at once critical and loving, as if
recalling the glow with which he had created it. and
rebuking the way in which one had disorganized
this master-piece. Then, placing my foot on a
piece of paper, he would two or three times ticket the outer edges
with a pencil and pass his nervous fingers over my toes, feeling
himself into the heart of my requirements.
observe: 遵守
ceremony: 礼节；虚礼
divest:除去；脱下
glow: 热情
rebuke:指责
I cannot forget that day on which I had occasion to say to
him: 'Mr. Gessler, that last pair of town walking-boots creak-ed,
you know.'
He looked at me for a time without replying, as if expecting
me lo withdraw or qualify the statement, then said:
'Id shouldn'd 'ave greaked.'
'It did, I'm afraid.'
'You goddem wed before dey found
demselves?'
'I don't think so.'
At that he lowered his eyes, as if hunting for memory of
those boots. and I felt sorry I had mentioned this grave
thing.
'Zend dem back!' he said, “I will look at dem.'
A feeling of compassion for my creaking boots surged up in
me, so well could I imagine the sorrowful long curiosity of regard
which he would bend on them.
'Zome boods,' he said slowly, 'are bad from birdt.
If I can do noding wid dem, I dake dem off your
bill.'
Once (once only) I went absently-mindedly into his shop in a
pair of boots bought in an emergency at some large firm's.
He took my order without showing me any
leather, and I could feel his eyes penetrating the inferior
integument of my foot. At
last he said:
“Dose are nod my boods.'
Integument :
珠被;外皮;（动植物天然的）覆盖物;外壳
The cone was not one of anger, nor of sorrow, not even of
contempt, but there was in it something quiet that froze the blood.
He put his hand down and pressed a finger on
the place where the left boot, endeavoring to be fashionable, was
not quite comfortable.
'Id 'urds you dere,' he said. 'Dose big
virms 'ave no self-respect. Drash!'
And then, as if something had given way within
him, he spoke long and bitterly. It was the
only time I ever heard him discuss the conditions and hardships of
his trade.
'Dey get id all.' he said. 'dey get id by adverdisement, nod
by work. Dey dake it away from us, who lofe our boods.
Id gomes to this -- bresently I haf no work.
Every year id gets less -- you will see.'
And looking at his lined face I saw things I
had never noticed before, bitter things and bitter struggle -- and
what a long of grey hairs there seemed suddenly in his red
beard!
As best I could, I explained the circumstances of the
purchase of those ill-omened boots. But his face and voice made so
deep an impression that during the next few minutes I ordered many
pairs. Nemesis fell! They
lasted more terribly than ever. And
I was not able conscientiously to go to
him for nearly two years.
When at last I went I was surprised to find that outside one
of the two little windows of his shop another name was painted,
also that of a boot-maker -- making, of course, for the Royal
Family. The old familiar boots, no longer in
dignified isolation, were huddled in the single window.
Inside, the now contracted well of the one
little shop was more scented and darker than
ever. And it was longer than usual. too, before
a face peered down, and the tip-tap of the bast slippers began.
At last he stood before me, and gazing through
those rusty iron spectacles, said:
'Mr. ---, isn'd it?'
'Ah! Mr. Gessler,' I stammered, ' but your boots
are really too good. you know!
See. these are quite decent
still!' And I stretched out to him my foot.
He looked at it.
'Yes.' he said, 'beople do nod wand good boods, id
seems.'
To get away from his reproachful eyes and voice I hastily
remarked: 'What have you done to your
shop?'
He answered quietly: 'Id was too exbensif.
Do you wand some boods?'
I ordered three pairs, though I had only wanted two, and
quickly left. I had, I do not know quite what
feeling of being part, in his mind, of a
conspiracy against him; or not perhaps so much
against him as against his idea of boot. One
does not, I suppose, care to feel like that; for it was again many
months before my next visit to his shop, paid, I remember, with the
feeling: 'Oh! well, I can't leave the old boy
-- so here goes!
Perhaps it'll be his elder
brother!'
For his elder brother, I knew, had not character enough to
reproach me, even dumbly.
And, to my relief, in the shop there did appear to be his
elder brother, handling a piece of leather.
'Well, Mr. Gessler,' I said, 'how are you?”
He came close, and peered at me.
'I am breddy well,' he said slowly, 'but, my elder brudder is
dead.'
And I saw that it was indeed himself -- but now aged and
wan! And never
before had I heard him mention his brother.
Much shocked, I murmured: 'Oh! I am sorry!”
' Yes,' he answered, ' he was a good man, he made a good
bood; but he is dead.' And he touched
the top of his head, where the hair had suddenly gone as thin as it
had been on that of his poor brother, to indicate, I suppose, the
cause of death. “He could nod ged over losing
de oder shop. Do you wand any boods?'
And he held up the leather in his hand: “Id's
a beaudiful biece.'
I ordered several pairs. It was very
long before they came -- but they were better than ever.
One simply could not wear them out.
And soon after that I went abroad.
It was over a year before I was again in London.
And the first shop I went to was my old
friend's. I had left a man
of sixty, I came back to one of seventy-five, pinched and
worn and tremulous, who genuinely, this time, did not at first know
me.
“Oh! Mr. Gessler,' I said, sick at heart; 'how splendid your
boots are. See, I I’ve been wearing this pair
nearly all the time I’ve been abroad, and they're not half worn
out, are they?'
He looked long at my boots -- a pair of Russia leather, and
his face seemed to regain steadiness. Putting
his hand on my instep, he said:
'Do dey vid you here?
I'ad drouble wid dat bair, I
remember.”
I assured him that they had fitted beautifully.
“Do you wand any boods?' he said. 'I can make dem quickly; id
is a slack dime.'
I answered: 'Please, please! I want boots all round -- every
kind!'
“I will make a vresh model. Your food
must be bigger.' And with utter slowness, he
traced round my foot, and felt my toes, only once looking up to
say:
'Did I dell you my brudder was dead?'.
To watch him was painful, so feeble had he grown; I was glad
to get away.
I had given those boots up, when one evening they came.
Opening the parcel, I set the four pairs out
in a row. Then one by one I tried them on.
There was no doubt about it. In shape and fit,
in finish and quality of leather, they were the best he had ever
made me. And in the mouth of one of the town
walking-boots I found his bill. The amount was
the same as usual, but it gave me quite a shock.
He had never before sent it in till quarter
day. I flew downstairs and wrote a cheque,
and posted it at once with my own hand.
A week later, passing the little street, I thought I would go
in and tell him how splendidly the new boots fitted.
But when I came to where his shop had been, his name
was gone. Still there, in the window, were the
slim pumps, the patent leathers with cloth tops, the sooty riding
boots.
I went in, very much disturbed.
In the two little shops -- again made into one -- was
a young man with an English face.
'Mr, Gessler in?' I said.
He gave me a strange, ingratiating look.
'No, sir,' he said, “no. But we
can attend to anything with pleasure. We've
taken the shop over. You've seen our name, no
doubt, next door. We make for some very good
people.'
”Yes, yes,' I said;
'but Mr. Gessler?'
'Oh!' he answered; 'dead.'
'Dead! But I only received these boots
from him last Wednesday week.'
'Ah!' he said: “ 'a shockin' go. Poor old
man starved 'imself.'
“Good God !'
'Slow starvation, the doctor called ft!
You see he went to work in such a way!
Would keep the shop on; wouldn't bave a soul
touch his boots except himself. When he got an
order, it took him such a time. People won't
wait. He lost everybody.
And there he'd sit, goin' on and on -- I will
say that for him -- not a man in London made a better boot!
But look at the competition!
He never advertised!
Would 'avd the best leather, too, and do it all
'imself. Well, there it is.
What could you expect with his
ideas?'
“But starvation -- !'
'That may be a bit flowery, as the sayin'
is -- but I know myself he was sitiin' over his boots day and
night, to the very last. You see I use to
watch him. Never gave himself time to eat;
never had a penny in the house. All went in
rent and leather. How he lived so long I don't
know. He regular let his fire go out.
He was a character.
But he made good boots.'
'Yes,' I said, 'He made good boots.”
scent:气味
instep: 脚背，脚背形的东西
wan:苍白憔悴的
slack:懒散的；淡季的；松劲；
quarter day:季度结账日
ingratiating:极力讨好的；逢迎的
flowery:
夸张的；辞藻华丽的；用花装饰的
Notes:
1. the West End -- the western part of London, where most of
the largest and most fashionable shops, offices, etc. are
located.
2. the Royal Family -- the family of English Kings and
Queens.
3. the Soul of Boot -- the Ideal Boot.
Which alludes to Plato’s idealism.
4. “Id is a Ardt!” = It is an Art!” --Being German emmigrants
or under-educated the Gessler Brothers speak English in a guttural
voice, pronouncing D, B, V, for t, p, f,etc.
To achieve verisimilitude , the author records their actual way of
speaking, hereand elsewhere, in the story.
5. well -- a stairwell,an open shaft used as a
staircase.
6. Nemesis fell ! -- Nemesis, the goddess of vengeance.
Here it implies that the generous order is
just, deserved punishment for that purchase of boots from the big
firm.
7. a character -- (Colloq.) an odd, eccentric
person.
8. ... into the heart of my requirements:
使他能摸到我的要求的要点。
