第六章

"Why don't men and women really like one another nowadays?" Connie asked Tommy Dukes, who was more or less her oracle.

“为何如今的男女之间已经没有真爱？”康妮请教汤米·杜克斯，这位军爷在她的心中，简直就是位先知。

Connie asked Tommy Dukes, who was more or less her oracle.

康妮请教汤米·杜克斯，这位军爷在她的心中，简直就是位先知。

"Oh, but they do! I don't think since the human species was invented, there has ever been a time when men and women have liked one another as much as they do today. Genuine liking! Take myself. I really like women better than men; they are braver, one can be more frank with them.” Connie pondered this.

“噢，他们当然深爱彼此！依我看，自人类诞生以来，从未有过哪个时代的男女之爱甚于今日。情深意笃的爱恋！就拿我来说吧。在我眼中，女人确实优于男人，她们能够更加勇敢地面对一切，与她们更可开露心意，坦诚相待。”康妮思忖着他话中的玄机。

"Ah, yes, but you never have anything to do with them!" she said.

“啊，话虽如此，可你从来没跟她们有过牵连！”她说。

"I? What am I doing but talking perfectly sincerely to a woman at this moment?" "Yes, talking..." "And what more could I do if you were a man, than talk perfectly sincerely to you?" "Nothing perhaps. But a woman..." "A woman wants you to like her and talk to her, and at the same time love her and desire her; and it seems to me the two things are mutually exclusive." "But they shouldn't be!”

“我吗？”难道我此时不是正和一位女士推心置腹地倾谈么？”“是，交谈……”“若你是男人，那除了倾心交谈之外，我还能做些什么呢？”“或许什么也做不了。但若换成女人……”“女人渴望博得异性的好感，与他们倾心交谈，同时又能给她炽热的爱恋，对她朝思暮想。但在我看来，这两者根本风马牛不相及。”“但事情并非如你所言！”

"No doubt water ought not to be so wet as it is; it overdoes it in wetness. But there it is! I like women and talk to them, and therefore I don't love them and desire them. The two things don't happen at the same time in me.” "I think they ought to." "All right. The fact that things ought to be something else than what they are, is not my department.

“水本不该如此湿润，它的润泽情况确实超出想象。但这恰恰就是它的本质。我对女性深有好感，愿意跟她们攀谈，但正因为这样，我无法燃起爱火，也不会对她们魂牵梦绕。对我而言，此二者绝不可能兼顾。”“我认为完全可以兼顾。”“好吧。事情往往失去其本来面目，这并非我所能控制的。”

Connie considered this. "It isn't true," she said. "Men can love women and talk to them. I don't see how they can love them WITHOUT talking, and being friendly and intimate. How can they?” "Well," he said, "I don't know. What's the use of my generalizing? I only know my own case. I like women, but I don't desire them. I like talking to them; but talking to them, though it makes me intimate in one direction, sets me poles apart from them as far as kissing is concerned. So there you are! But don't take me as a general example, probably I'm just a special case: one of the men who like women, but don't love women, and even hate them if they force me into a pretence of love, or an entangled appearance.

康妮思忖着他的言语。“此言差矣，”她反驳道，“彼此相爱的人本就应该倾心交谈。我搞不懂，如果没有交流，没有友好亲昵的关系，怎么能算相爱呢？这种事情怎么能够发生呢？”“哦，”他说，“我也说不准。何必因我片面的结论而以偏概全呢？我只清楚自己的情况。我会对女性产生好感，但却不会想要拥有她们。我愿意跟她们交谈，而且这样确实会在某方面拉近彼此的距离，但我从来没有亲吻她们的想法。你眼前的家伙就是如此！但以己推人未免过于主观，或许我只是个特例：一个喜欢异性，但却不会爱上她们的家伙，如果她们要我假作陷入爱河，或者陶醉其中，我甚至还会恨她们呢。”

"But doesn't it make you sad?” "Why should it? Not a bit! I look at Charlie May, and the rest of the men who have affairs… No, I don't envy them a bit! If fate sent me a woman I wanted, well and good. Since I don't know any woman I want, and never see one...why, I presume I'm cold, and really like some women very much.” "Do you like me?" "Very much! And you see there's no question of kissing between us, is there?” "None at all!" said Connie. "But oughtn't there to be?” "Why, in God's name? I like Clifford, but what would you say if I went and kissed him?” "But isn't there a difference?” "Where does it lie, as far as we're concerned? We're all intelligent human beings, and the male and female business is in abeyance. Just in abeyance. How would you like me to start acting up like a continental male at this moment, and parading the sex thing?” "I should hate it." "Well then! I tell you, if I'm really a male thing at all, I never run across the female of my species. And I don't miss her, I just like women. Who's going to force me into loving or pretending to love them, working up the sex game?” "No, I'm not. But isn't something wrong?” "You may feel it, I don't.” "Yes, I feel something is wrong between men and women. A woman has no glamour for a man any more." "Has a man for a woman?" She pondered the other side of the question.

“可你不会因此感到沮丧么？”“为何要沮丧？压根儿没有！看到查理·梅之流偷腥的家伙……我一点儿也不羡慕他们！如果命运使然，让我遇到中意的女子，那再好不过。因为从未有任何女子能令我倾倒……哎，多半是因为我太过冷淡，但对某些异性，我的确极有好感。”“你对我有好感么？”“很有好感！不过，你看，咱俩之间就没发生接吻之类的亲昵行为，对吗？”“当然没有！”康妮说。“可这些难道不应该发生么？”“为什么？以上帝的名义？我同样不反感克利福德，如果我跟他接吻，你会作何感想呢？”“但两者终归存在差别，不是么？”“差别究竟在何处，就拿你我为例？我们都是聪慧之人，从不牵扯男欢女爱。从不涉及到那种事。如果此刻，我表现得像个举止轻佻的浪荡子，张嘴闭嘴大谈性事，你会有何想法？”“我会感到厌恶。”“这不就得了！听我说，如果我当真是如假包换的男子汉，绝对碰不到性情相投的女子。我也不会日思夜盼她的到来，只是保留着对异性的好感。又有谁会勉强我去爱她们，装出堕入情网的模样，只为片刻的欢愉呢？”“不，我不会那样做。但是不是哪里出了问题？”“或许你察觉到什么，但我却意识不到。”“对，我觉得男女间的关系有些异样。对于男人而言，女人不再有任何魅力。”“男人之于女人呢？”变换角度的问法让她陷入沉思。