65 Vincent van Gogh

65 Vincent van Gogh Peanut watched helplessly as Nerys reached out and turned the illustrated handle. The latch clicked and she pushed the door. On the other side of the threshold, Peanut could see the oak-panelled walls of the Blood, Stone & Partners offices in London. "I must say, Peanut," said Nerys, looking over her shoulder as she stepped through, "that you have been a worthy adversary. You nearly managed to stop me. I'll admit that you have a very creative brain, lovely. It's just a shame that the world will never get to see your artistic talents. They'll just have to make do with mine, I suppose." "VINCENT VAN GOGH!" shouted Peanut, as loudly and dramatically as she could.

65 文森特·梵高 花生只能眼睁睁看着内里斯伸出手，转动了带花纹的把手。 插销咔哒一响，她推开了门。 门槛的另一边，花生看清了伦敦血石合伙律师事务所的橡木板墙面。 “我得说，花生，”内里斯迈步进门，回头说道，“你确实是个配得上我的对手。 你差一点就成功阻止我了。 我得承认，你脑子很灵活，小家伙。 可惜啊，全世界永远都看不到你的艺术天赋了。 我想，他们只能将就着看我的作品了。” “文森特·梵高！”花生拼尽全力，大声喊了出来。

Nerys stopped. She turned around, half-in and half-out of the doorway. "I beg your pardon, lovely?" "Er, Vincent van Gogh!" Peanut repeated, desperately trying to organise her thoughts as the wind whipped around her head. "Back when he was painting, people thought he was a terrible artist. In fact, they laughed at his work. They said it was rubbish, and they said it so many times that he ended up believing them. Vincent van Gogh considered himself a total failure! Can you believe that? Did you know that he only ever sold one painting in his lifetime?" "What's that got to do with anything?" asked Nerys, confused. Peanut wasn't sure why, but, again, she felt she had to keep Nerys talking. She swallowed hard and continued, "It's just that... everything you're trying to do, everything you have been doing, all stems from the fact that you think that you've failed. As an artist, l mean." "Failed?" "Because you didn't get into the Royal College all those years ago," replied Peanut, her mouth dry. "That's where this all started, right?" "Yes, well, I'll show them!" said Nerys, the muscles in her jaw clenching. "Let's see if they still think my style is too naive, shall we? Once I'm the only artist in the world, they'll have to appreciate my talents!"

内里斯停住了脚步。 她转过身，半个身子在门里，半个身子在门外。 “你说什么，小家伙？” “呃，文森特·梵高啊！” 风在花生耳边呼啸，她一边重复，一边拼命理清自己的思绪。 当年梵高画画的时候，所有人都觉得他是个差劲的画家。 实际上，他们还嘲笑他的作品。 他们说他的画就是垃圾，说得多了，连梵高自己都信了。 文森特·梵高居然觉得自己是个彻头彻尾的失败者！ 你能相信吗？ 你知道吗，他一辈子只卖出去过一幅画？” “这和现在的事有什么关系？”内里斯困惑地问道。 花生也不知道为什么，但她就是觉得必须拖着内里斯多说话。 她用力咽了口唾沫，继续说道：“只不过啊……你现在想做的一切，你已经做过的一切，根源都是你觉得自己失败了。 我是说，作为艺术家这件事。” “失败？” “就因为很多年前你没能考上皇家艺术学院，”花生回答，嘴干得发涩。 “一切都是从那时候开始的，对不对？” “没错，所以我要证明给他们看！”内里斯说着，咬紧了下巴的肌肉。 “咱们倒要看看，他们还会不会说我的风格太幼稚，好不好？ 等全世界只剩下我一个艺术家，他们就不得不欣赏我的才华了！”

"You see," said Peanut, "that's my point. Why do you care what other people think? You shouldn't need anybody to tell you whether you're good or not. If you enjoy painting and creating, then that's enough. You are good at it. If you decide you want to be then you are an artist."

“你看，”花生说，“我说的就是这个道理。 你为什么要在意别人的看法呢？ 你根本不需要任何人来告诉你，你画得好不好。 如果你自己喜欢画画、喜欢创作，那就足够了。 你本来就画得很好。 只要你想当艺术家，你就是艺术家。”

Nerys frowned. "Look," continued Peanut, "if van Gogh had listened to all those people back in the day and decided to give up, we wouldn't have his beautiful paintings to enjoy today. The fact is he didn't give up. He carried on. Because, for him, the creation of the art was the point of it. Not what other people thought of it." Nerys took a small step forward, back towards Chroma. "And who gets to decide what's good and what's bad anyway?" asked Peanut. "It's all a matter of personal taste, isn't it? With art, there is no right answer and there is no wrong answer. It's not like maths." She glanced down at Rockwell as she said the last part. "That's the beauty of it. Everyone can draw. Everyone can paint. And if you enjoy it, then that's all that matters." Nerys didn't say anything. Peanut smiled. "Just because one person didn't think you were good enough to get into the Royal College, it doesn't mean that you are a failure as an artist. That was just one decision taken in one moment by one individual. Maybe they were just having a bad day. Whatever it was, please don't punish all of us for one person's opinion." Peanut held her breath for a moment and crossed her fingers. Nerys looked at the girl with an odd expression on

内里斯皱起了眉头。 “你听我说，”花生接着说道，“要是当年梵高听了那些人的话选择放弃，我们今天就欣赏不到他那些美妙的画作了。 事实就是，他没有放弃。 他一直坚持创作。 因为对他来说，创作艺术本身就是意义。 别人怎么看根本不重要。” 内里斯往前迈了一小步，走回克罗马这边。 “再说了，好坏到底是谁说了算呢？”花生问道。 “这本来就是个人喜好的问题，对不对？ 艺术这件事，没有绝对的对，也没有绝对的错。 它不像数学那样有标准答案。” 说最后这句话的时候，她低头瞥了罗克韦尔一眼。 “这就是艺术的魅力呀。 人人都能画画。 人人都能创作。 只要你喜欢，这就够了。” 内里斯什么话也没说。 花生笑了笑。 “只不过因为一个人觉得你不够格进皇家艺术学院，不代表你就是个失败的艺术家。 那只是某一个人在某一刻做出的一个决定而已。 说不定那个人那天刚好心情不好呢。 不管怎么样，请不要因为一个人的看法，惩罚我们所有人。” 花生屏住呼吸，悄悄交叉手指祈祷。 内里斯正带着古怪的表情看着这个女孩

her face, like she was seeing her properly for the frst time. She held up the pencil, looked at its long point and blinked three times... Then she took a step backwards. "So many pretty words," she said. "You certainly paint a very nice picture with them. All complete nonsense, of course, but pretty words nevertheless. Now, it's time I went." Peanut's smile fell as Nerys backed through the door, waving. "Goodbye, lovely. It's been-" Nerys stopped talking. Something far below had caught her eye. Movement. A small, dark shape. A scribble of fur with legs and tail. "Doodle!" shouted Little-Bit.

，那神情就像是第一次真正看清她一样。 她举起铅笔，看着尖尖的长笔尖，眨了三次眼睛…… 接着她往后退了一步。 “说了这么多漂亮话，”她说。 “你用这些话确实描绘出了一幅很不错的图景。 当然全都是胡扯，不过话确实说的好听。 现在，我该走了。” 内里斯一边挥手一边退出门去，花生的笑容慢慢沉了下去。 “再见啦，小家伙。 能和你——”内里斯突然停住了话头。 下方很远的地方，有什么东西吸引了她的目光。 有东西在动。 一个小小的黑影。 一团长着腿和尾巴的毛茸茸的小东西。 “杜德尔！”小比特喊道。

The illustrated dog had sprinted out onto the walkway and was running at full speed up the steps towards the mast. Suddenly, the large brown rat sitting on Doodle's back leapt onto the ladder and started to climb it at phenomenal speed. Before Nerys even had a chance to finish her goodbye, Woodhouse had reached the top, scurried up her white suit and knocked Little Tail out of her hand. "Not so useless now, eh?" he said in his broad Glaswegian accent as the pencil flew high into the air.

这只画出来的小狗冲出门跑到走道上，正全速朝着桅杆方向的台阶跑去。 突然，蹲在杜德尔背上的大棕鼠跳到梯子上，以惊人的速度往上爬。 内里斯还没来得及说完再见，伍德豪斯就爬到了顶端，顺着她的白西装窜上去，把“小尾巴”铅笔从她手上打飞了。 铅笔高高飞到空中，他用浓重的格拉斯哥口音说道：“现在不觉得我那么没用了吧，嗯？”