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The Picture
画 作
For several years Mr Williams worked for the museum at the University of Oxford, enlarging its already famous collection of drawings and pictures of English country houses and churches. It is hard to imagine anything less alarming than collecting pictures of houses and churches, but Mr Williams found that even this peaceful work had its unexpected dark corners.
几年来，威廉斯先生一直在牛津大学博物馆工作，为该馆不断地增加其本已出名的有关英国乡村住房和教堂方面绘画作品的收藏。收集有关住房和教堂的绘画作品本无任何惊人之处，可威廉斯先生却发现即使是这样一项很平静的工作也有其意想不到之处。
He bought many pictures for the museum from the London shop of Mr J. W. Britnell. Twice a year Mr Britnell sent a list of pictures to all his regular customers, who could then choose which pictures they wanted to look at before deciding whether to buy.
他从伦敦J．W．布里耐尔先生的商店为博物馆买入大量绘画作品。布里耐尔先生一年两次为其所有的老主顾们寄上一份作品目录。这样，这些老主顾们便能够选择一下他们想看看哪些作品，然后决定是否购买。
In February 1895 Mr Williams received a list from Mr Britnell with the following letter:
1895年2月威廉斯先生接到了布里耐尔先生寄来的目录和下面这封信：
Dear Sir,
亲爱的先生：
I think you might be interested in Picture Number 978 in our list, which I will be happy to send to you if you wish.
我想您可能对我们目录中的第978号作品感兴趣，如果您希望，我很乐意给您寄上。
J. W. Britnell
J．W．布里耐尔
Mr Williams turned to Number 978 in the list and found the following note:
威廉斯先生翻到目录中的第978号，发现了下面的说明：
Number 978. Artist unknown. Picture of an English country house, early nineteenth century. 25 centimetres by 40 centimetres. 20 pounds.
第978号，作者不详，画面为一座19世纪早期英国乡村住房，长40厘米，宽25厘米，售价20英镑。
It did not sound very interesting and the price seemed high. However, Mr Williams added it to the pictures that he asked Mr Britnell to send to him.
这幅画似乎没多大意思，而且价格似乎也偏高。可威廉斯先生还是在要求市里耐尔先生寄给他的画里加上了它。
