5 Hardest Times

Chapter 5 Hardest Times The Monets' second child, a little boy named Michel, was born in the spring of 1878. Camille's health was worse than ever. Ernest lost all his money so he and his wife Alice and their six children moved in with the Monets. Everyone lived in a big house that had steep steps leading down to the Seine.

莫奈的第二个孩子，一个名叫米歇尔的小男孩，于1878年春天出生。 卡米尔的健康状况比以前更糟了。 欧内斯特失去了所有的钱，所以他和他的妻子爱丽丝以及他们的六个孩子搬到了莫奈家。 每个人都住在一座大房子里，房子里有通往塞纳河的陡峭台阶。

Alice did the housekeeping and looked after Camille and the baby Michel. She also gave piano lessons to earn money. Ernest never paid his share of household expenses and ran up bills. It was a long, hard winter. The cold weather broke records. It started snowing on November 29 and kept on snowing all through December. The snow was several feet deep. Trains often didn't run. Often the roads were blocked. When the Seine froze, the children had fun walking across the river to the town on the other side. The grown-ups,

爱丽丝做家务，照顾卡米尔和婴儿米歇尔。 她还教钢琴课赚钱。 欧内斯特从不支付他的那份家庭开支，账单堆积如山。 那是一个漫长而艰难的冬天。 寒冷的天气打破了记录。 11月29日开始下雪，整个12月都在下雪。 雪有几英尺深。 火车经常停驶。道路经常被堵塞。 塞纳河结冰的时候，孩子们渡过河去对岸的城镇玩得很开心。 成年人,

however, were worried and miserable. Monet continued to paint outdoors. Sometimes he would wear three coats and use a hot water bottle to stay as warm as possible. A neighbor came to their rescue. He bought some of Monet's pictures, which kept everyone from starving. Monet sent twenty-nine pictures to the Impressionist salon that year. Mary Cassatt, an American painter in Paris, bought one of them for three hundred dollars. But many people still thought his style was odd looking. One art reviewer said he must have done all twenty-nine paintings in one afternoon. Besides all the money troubles, Camille was dying of cancer. Monet was frantic to find a way to pay for the doctor and Camille's medicine. He pawned everything to raise as much cash as he could. And for the first time, he could not paint. Camille, in great pain, died on September 5, 1879. Strange as it sounds, Monet decided to paint one last picture of her on her deathbed. He was shocked to discover that even in grief, he noticed the way

然而，我们又担心又痛苦。 莫奈继续在户外作画。 有时他会穿三件外套，用一个热水瓶尽可能保暖。 一个邻居来救他们。 他买了一些莫奈的画，使大家免于挨饿。 那一年，莫奈给印象派沙龙寄去了29幅画。 在巴黎的美国画家玛丽·卡萨特（Mary Cassatt）花了300美元买了其中一幅。 但许多人仍然认为他的风格很奇怪。 一位艺术评论家说，他一定是在一个下午完成了所有29幅画。 除了钱的问题，卡米尔死于癌症。 莫奈急于想办法支付医生和卡米尔的药费。 他典当了一切以尽可能多地筹集现金。 这是他第一次不会画画。 卡米尔痛苦万分，于1879年9月5日去世。 听起来很奇怪，莫奈决定在她临终前为她画最后一幅画。 他惊讶地发现，即使在悲伤中，他也能注意到这条路

the light shone on the still face of his beloved wife. In the picture, she does not look like an angel at peace. She looks like a dead woman. He was a slave to his art, he admitted to a friend. Nothing mattered more to him. Alice and her children remained in the house with Monet and his two boys. The next winter was as cold as the one before. The Seine froze solid again. All eight children were sick.

灯光照在他深爱的妻子平静的脸上。 在照片中，她看起来不像一个平静的天使。 她看起来像个死人。 他向一位朋友承认，他是艺术的奴隶。 对他来说没有什么比这更重要了。 爱丽丝和她的孩子们与莫奈和他的两个儿子留在了房子里。 第二年冬天和前年一样冷。 塞纳河又结冰了。 八个孩子都生病了。

Monet was painting again and worked on many pictures of the Seine that winter. He never grew tired of studying the effect of light on ice and snow. After the thaw came, chunks of ice floated down the river. Monet painted them, too, using gloomy grays and dark purples. When these pictures were put up for sale, everyone said they looked even more unfinished than his usual work.

莫奈又开始画画了，那年冬天他画了很多关于塞纳河的画。 他孜孜不倦地研究光对冰雪的影响。 解冻后，大块的冰顺流而下。 莫奈也用灰暗的灰色和深紫色来画它们。 当这些画被出售时，每个人都说它们看起来比他平时的作品更未完成。

In a town on the coast near Le Havre, he painted seascapes. One day a heavy rain began to fall. A storm was brewing. Monet decided to try and paint it. He set up his easel on a cliff overlooking the sea and latched it down with rope. He kept painting while waves broke against the cliff just below him. The waves got higher. Monet painted away.

在勒阿弗尔附近的一个海边小镇，他画海景画。 一天，下起了一场大雨。 暴风雨即将来临。莫奈决定试着把它画出来。 他把画架架在俯瞰大海的悬崖上，用绳子把画架固定住。 海浪拍击着他脚下的悬崖时，他仍在继续作画。 海浪越来越高。莫奈不停地作画。