夏靜

A young painter resided（居?。?in a small narrow house， living on painting portraits （肖像） before he became famous.

一位年輕的畫家住在一個狹窄的房子里，出名前靠畫肖像為生。

One day， a rich man came by and found the painter painting so meticulously （細(xì)致地） that he liked it and asked him to draw a portrait. They agreed on the remuneration （報酬） of 10，000 dollars.

一天，一個富人經(jīng)過，看到這個畫家畫畫很細(xì)致，非常喜歡，就請他為自己畫一幅肖像。他們談好了酬金——1萬美元。

After a week， the portrait was done. The rich man came to take the painting as agreed on. At this moment， the rich man hit on an evil idea of bullying （欺負(fù)） the unknown young artist， so he refused to pay the remuneration.

一周后，肖像畫好了，富人按約定來取畫。這時，富人心里起了歹念，欺負(fù)這畫家年輕又不出名，便拒絕支付約定好的酬金。

The rich man thought， “The man in the painting is me. If I dont buy this painting， no one will buy it. Why should I pay so much money for it？” So the rich man said， “I will only pay 3，000 dollars to buy this painting.”

富人想，“反正畫的是我的肖像，要是我不買這畫，別人更不會買，何必要花這么多錢買這畫？”于是他說：“我只出3千美元?！?/p>

The young artist was stunned， for he had never come across such things. He strongly

argued on just grounds， expecting the rich man to abide by （遵守） the agreement and to be a

trustworthy （可信賴的） man.

年輕畫家這時不知所措，因?yàn)樗麖奈从龅竭^這樣的事情。他極力爭辯，認(rèn)為自己在理，期望這富人是個守信的人，能夠遵守約定。

“I can only pay 3，000 dollars to buy the painting. Speak no more.” The rich man thought he had won. “I ask you at last， will you sell it 3，000 dollars or not？”

“反正我只出3千美元，別的不多說?！备蝗苏J(rèn)為自己勝算在握，“我再問你一次，3千美元賣不賣？”

The young artist knew the rich man deliberately （故意地） went back on his word， so he felt indignant. He said in a firm tone， “No. I would prefer not to sell the painting rather than to be humiliated （羞辱） by you. Today you break your word and someday you must pay 20 times.”

畫家看出富人是故意食言，他感到很氣憤，堅定地說道：“不賣。我寧愿不賣這幅畫，也不愿被你羞辱！今天你失信于我，以后你會以20倍償還！”

“What a joke！20 times will be 200，000！ I wont be stupid to pay 200，000 dollars to buy the painting！”

“真是笑話！20倍，那可是20萬！我才不會傻到花20萬買這畫！”

“Well， wed better wait and see，” the young artist said to the rich man who left angrily.

“好吧，那我們等著瞧！”年輕畫家說道。富人生氣地離開了。

After the stimulation （刺激） of such an incident， the painter moved out of this sad place， and formally acknowledged teachers to work hard night and day. More than a dozen years later， he finally blazed a new way and became popular in the circle of art.

畫家因這件事的刺激離開了這個傷心之地，重新拜師學(xué)藝，日夜苦練。十幾年后，他終于闖出一片新天地，成為了藝術(shù)界的知名人物。

After he left the studio， the rich man had forgotten the artists painting and words the next day. Until one day， some friends of the rich man simultaneously （同時地） came to tell him， “Something is so strange！We

paid a visit to a famous artists exhibition of paintings， in which one painting is marked 200，000 dollars and the man in the painting looks exactly the same as you. It is so ridiculous that the title of the painting is Thief.

富人那次離開畫室后，第二天就把那件事拋之腦后。直到有一天，富人的幾個朋友一起來告訴他，“太奇怪了，我們?nèi)⒂^了一個著名畫家的畫展，其中有一副畫標(biāo)價20萬，畫上的人看起來和你一模一樣！更荒謬的是畫的標(biāo)題居然是‘賊！”

It came to him a terrible blow that he immediately thought of what had happened more than a dozen years before. He went to find the young painter the same night right away. As expected， the painting titled as Thief was no other than the one he had broken his word that year. He quickly apologized to the artist and paid 200，000 dollars to buy back the portrait.

富人突然想起十幾年前的那件事，深受打擊。他當(dāng)天晚上就找到了那位畫家。不出預(yù)料，那幅名為“賊”的畫正是他當(dāng)年食言那次的畫。他趕緊向畫家道歉并付了20萬把肖像買了回來。

With an undefeated ambition， the young painter made the rich man bend his head. This young man was Pablo Picasso.

憑著永不言敗的雄心，年輕的畫家最終使富人向自己低頭。這位畫家就是巴勃羅·畢加索。