导读：文森特·凡·高（Vincent van Gogh）短暂的一生中，他只与弟弟提奥·凡·高（Theo van Gogh）保持着亲密的关系。弟弟提奥是成功的艺术品商人，他为哥哥的一生提供最大的经济资助和情感支持。在文森特·凡·高生前那段潦倒的日子里，提奥从不间断的经济资助，让哥哥能将自己全力奉献于绘画。在哥哥凡·高37岁去世的数月之后，33岁的提奥因哀伤加上久病，也随之过世。

My dear brother，

Thanks for your kind letter and for the 50 fr. note it contained.

There are many things I should like to write you about， but I feel it is pointless. I hope you have found these gentlemen favorably disposed toward you.

Your reassuring me as to the state of peace of your household was not worth the trouble， I think， having seen the other side of it for myself. And I quite agree with you that rearing a boy on a fourth floor is a hell of a job for you as well as Jo.

Since it is going well， which is the main thing， I should insist on things of less importance. My word， before we have a chance of talking business more calmly， there is probably a long way to go. That is all I want to say， that I noted it with a certain fright and I cannot hide it. But that is all there is to it. The other painters， whatever they think of it， instinctively keep themselves at a distance from discussions about actual trade.

我親爱的弟弟：

谢谢你的来信和一起寄来的50法郎。

有很多事情想对你说，但是又觉得没有用处。我希望你面对的是那些体面的绅士。

我自己曾经历过悲伤，因而你用家庭的幸福来使我安心，我想那并不必要。不过我颇为赞同你所说：在位于四楼上的公寓里抚养孩子，对你和乔来说是件可怕的事情。

最重要的事情正在往好的方向发展，为什么我还要对不太重要的事情浪费口舌呢？据我看，在我们有机会对情况心平气和地进行讨论之前，可能还有很长的路要走。这就是我想说的，我意识到它带着一定的恐惧，我无法隐藏它，但这就是它的全部了。别的画家无论他们怎么想，总是本能地与艺术品的实际经营保持距离。

Well， the truth is， we cannot speak other than by our paintings. But still， my dear brother， there is this that I have always told you， and I repeat it once more with all the earnestness that can be imparted by an effort of a mind diligently fixed on trying to do as well as one can—I tell you again that I shall always consider that you are something other than a simple dealer in Corots， that through my mediation you have your part in the actual production of some canvases， which even in the cataclysm retain their calm.

For this is what we have got to， and this is all or at least the chief thing that I can have to tell you at a moment of comparative crisis. At a moment when things are very strained between dealers in paintings by dead artists， and living artists.

Well， my work to me， I risk my life on it， and my reason has half foundered-all right-but you are not one of those dealers in men， as far as I know， and you can take sides， I find， truly acting with humanity， but what is the use？

是呀，事实在于，我们只能通过我们的作品说话。然而，我亲爱的兄弟，有一件事我经常对你讲起，我现在要再次对你说，这番话出自一个竭尽全力想要把事情尽可能做好的头脑，出自只有这样的头脑才能体现的真诚——我要再一次对你说：我会永远把你看作一个不同一般的科罗特画商，以我的工作为中介，你对一些作品的诞生出了力，而这些作品经得起风暴的考验。

这是我们不得不面对的事，这是我在一个相对危急的关头不得不向你说起的全部或至少主要的东西。在这样一个关头，经营死去的艺术家和活着的艺术家作品的画商之间的关系十分紧张。

哦，我自己的作品，我为了它们拿生命在冒险，我的理智为此已经垮掉了一半——这不要紧，要紧的是，你不在我所说的画商之列。我想，你仍然可以坚持你的立场，带着仁慈的心去行事，但那又怎么样呢？

注：

信中提到的Jo. 指提奥的太太乔安娜 （Johanna van Gogh-Bonger，1862-1925）。

Word Study

dispose /d?'sp??z/ v. 处理，安排

They dispose of the citys waste in the sea.

instinctively /?n'st??kt?vl?/ adv. 本能地

repeat /r?'pi?t/ v. 复述；重复

Ill repeat that so you can commit it to memory.

diligently /'d?l?d??ntl?/ adv. 勤奋地； 用心

production /pr?'d?k?n/ n. 生产，制作

We needed to increase the volume of production.

strained /stre?nd/ adj. 紧张的； 不友善的