When in an hour they crowded into a cab to go home, I strolled idly to my club. I was perhaps a little lonely, and it was with a touch of envy that I thought of the pleasant family life of which I had had a glimpse. They seemed devoted to one another. They had little private jokes of their own which, unintelligible to the outsider, amused them enormously. Perhaps Charles Strickland was dull judged by a standard that demanded above all things verbal scintillation; but his intelligence was adequate to his surroundings, and that is a passport, not only to reasonable success, but still more to happiness. Mrs. Strickland was a charming woman, and she loved him. I pictured their lives, troubled by no untoward adventure, honest, decent, and, by reason of those two upstanding, pleasant children, so obviously destined to carry on the normal traditions of their race and station, not without significance. They would grow old insensibly; they would see their son and daughter come to years of reason, marry in due course—the one a pretty girl, future mother of healthy children; the other a handsome, manly fellow, obviously a soldier; and at last, prosperous in their dignified retirement, beloved by their descendants, after a happy, not unuseful life, in the fullness of their age they would sink into the grave.
Excerpt From The Moon and Sixpence
By William Somerset Maugham
［参考译文］
快乐的家庭
威廉·萨默塞特·毛姆
一个钟头以后，这一家挤上一辆马车回家去了，我一个人懒洋洋地往俱乐部踱去。我也许感到有一点寂寞，回想我刚才瞥见的这种快乐家庭生活，心里不无艳羡之感。这一家人感情似乎非常融洽。他们说一些外人无从理解的小笑话，笑得要命。如果纯粹从善于辞令这一角度衡量一个人的智慧，也许查理斯·思特里克兰德算不得聪明，但是在他自己的那个环境里，他的智慧还是绰绰有余的，这不仅是事业成功的敲门砖，而且是生活幸福的保障。思特里克兰德太太是个招人喜爱的女人，她很爱她的丈夫。我想象着这一对夫妻的生活，不受任何灾殃祸变的干扰，诚实、体面，两个孩子更是诚实可爱，肯定会继承和发扬这一家人的地位和传统，他们夫妻一场算是相当有意义的。他们会不知不觉地进入暮年，他们将看到儿女长大成人，继而结婚成家——一个已经出落成美丽的姑娘，将来还会生育活泼健康的孩子；另一个则是仪表堂堂的男子汉，显然会成为一名军人。最后这一对夫妻告老引退，受到子孙敬爱，过着富足、体面的晚年生活。他们过着幸福、有意义的生活，直到年事已经很高，才告别人世。
［注释］
-stroll [strəʊl] v. 闲逛，漫步 to go for a leisurely walk
-glimpse [ɡlɪmps] n. 一瞥，一看 a brief, incomplete view or look
-unintelligible [ˌʌnɪnˈtelɪʤəbl] adj. 难以理解的 being such that understanding or comprehension is difficult or impossible
-scintillation [ˌsɪntɪˈleɪʃən] n. （才华的）焕发，闪亮 a spark; a flash
-untoward [ˌʌntəˈwɔːd] adj. 倔强的，麻烦的，困难的，不幸的 hard to control
［作者简介］
威廉·萨默塞特·毛姆（William Somerset Maugham, 1874-1965），英国现代著名作家，20世纪上半叶最受欢迎的小说家之一。1897年以描绘伦敦贫民区生活的小说《兰贝斯的丽莎》开始其漫长的创作生涯。他一生著作甚多，除诗歌以外的各个文学领域，都有所涉猎，有所建树。他的作品，特别是他的长篇、短篇小说，文笔质朴，脉络清晰，人物性格鲜明，情节跌宕有致，机智、幽默，不时流露出对一些社会现象的讥讽。