威廉·S. 毛姆(William S. Maugham)
I think the chief thing that struck me about Burton was his kindliness. There was something very pleasing in his mild blue eyes. His voice was gentle; you could not imagine that he could possibly raise it in anger; his smile was benign . Here was a man who attracted you because you felt in him a real love for his fellow. He had charm. But there was nothing gawky in him:he liked his game of cards and his cocktail, he could tell with point a good and spicy story, and in his youth he had been something of an athlete. He was a rich man and he made every penny himself. I suppose one thing that made you like him was that he was so small and frail; he aroused your instincts of protection. You felt that he could not bear to hurt a fly.
- benign [bɪˈnaɪn] a. 慈祥的
- gawky [ˈɡɔːkɪ] a. 笨拙的，腼腆的
- spicy [ˈspaɪsɪ] a. 下流的，辛辣的
- arouse [əˈraʊz] v. 引起
我想伯尔顿给我留下深刻印象的，主要是他的善良。他的蓝眼睛里有某种令人愉快的温情。他声音柔和，你简直无法想象他有可能提高嗓门发泄怒气。他的笑容很慈祥。他对你很有吸引力，因为你感觉到他身上有对别人真挚的爱。他有魅力。但是他没有丝毫的笨拙，他喜欢打牌，喝鸡尾酒，讲故事很精彩，有滋有味。另外，年轻的时候，他是个相当不错的运动员。他很富有，每一分钱都是自己挣来的。我以为还有一点会让你喜欢上他：他身材矮小，体质虚弱，能唤起你保护他的本能。你会感觉到他连一只苍蝇都不忍伤害。