1705001507
1705001508
● intelligent：聪明，尤其指“读书、学习”方面的聪明。
1705001509
1705001510
● before：指学得比别人快。used在这里是过去分词，不是finite verb。to后接动名词speaking。他不惯用嘴唇说话，还是做手势方便。有了这位哑巴朋友之后，他就用不着再开口了。
1705001511
1705001512
Nothing seemed real except the ten years with Antonapoulos. In his half-dreams he saw his friend very vividly, and when he awakened a great aching loneliness would be in him. Occasionally he would pack up a box for Antonapoulos, but he never received any reply. And so the months passed in this empty, dreaming way.
1705001513
1705001514
● vividly：生动地，活生生地。
1705001515
1705001516
● aching 是动词ache的现在分词，作“疼痛”解。loneliness（寂寞）本来只是一种空泛的感觉，今以aching来形容，则心头烦恼，化为身上疼痛，虽仍未着形象，然而隐者显，虚者实，触之宛然如在矣。
1705001517
1705001518
● pack up a box：包好一盒（礼物送去）。
1705001519
1705001520
● empty：空虚的。dreaming：梦幻似的。此两字应本段开首Nothing seemed real一句。未认识Antonapoulos之前，所经所历，似无一实在之事；今Antonapoulos已走，触目空虚，如梦似幻，生命又复虚度而已。
1705001521
1705001522
● 前文有句曰：The weeks that followed did not seem real at all，本段又曰：the months passed in this empty, dreaming way，生活空虚如旧，而weeks已延长为months矣。
1705001523
1705001524
Each evening the mute walked alone for hours in the street. Sometimes the nights were cold with the sharp, wet winds of March and it would be raining heavily. But to him this did not matter. His gait was agitated and he always kept his hands stuffed tight into the pockets of his trousers. Then as the weeks passed the days grew warm and languorous. His agitation gave way gradually to exhaustion and there was a look about him of deep calm. In his face there came to be a brooding peace that is seen most often in the faces of the very sorrowful or the very wise. But still he wandered through the streets of the town, always silent and alone.
1705001525
1705001526
● gait：走路的姿态。stuffed：塞。手塞在裤袋里面，哑巴的手，本来就是他的嘴。听他说话的人既然已经不在了，手是可以塞起来了。
1705001527
1705001528
● languorous：闷人的（天气）。gave way…to：原意是“让开路，让别人走”，或是“撤退了，让别人前进”。His agitation gave way gradually to exhaustion：他的激动渐渐地消失而疲竭之感继起。
1705001529
1705001530
● there was a look about him of deep calm=there was a look of deep calm about him。
1705001531
1705001532
● brooding：沉思的。peace：平和的气象。the very sorrowful和the very wise中的两个形容词，都当名词用——有大悲哀的人和有大智慧的人。望之穆然深思者，大抵其人非为哀伤已极，即已参透人生。今Singer脸上之表情即此类也。
1705001533
1705001534
1705001535
1705001536
1705001538
现代英文选评注 The Last Puritan最后一个清教徒
1705001539
1705001540
George Santayana (1863—1952)
1705001541
1705001542
美国早期的移民，很多是英国来的清教徒，因此清教徒主义（Puritanism）也是美国立国基本精神之一。清教徒所过的是一种严肃的生活，以天理制人欲，培养独立自尊的人格，除了相信上帝这一点以外，他们的理想，大致和宋儒传统下的中国士大夫相仿。桑塔耶那在《最后一个清教徒》（1935）里描写一个典型的清教徒Oliver Alden，下面几段讲的是那位“清教徒”幼年时候所受的教育，由此我们知道：一个严肃的（可是也是拘谨狭仄的）生活是怎么开始的。
1705001543
1705001544
下面所选的几段（见原书第二编第三章）都比较浅近容易，并不能充分代表原作英文“构思精妙，辞藻华丽”的好处。但是这几段已经把“Puritanism”说明得相当清楚了。
1705001545
1705001546
The advent of Fräulein Schlote was a blessing all round. Mrs. Alden, on whom everything depended, smiled on the newcomer from the beginning. As for the child himself, neither the disappearance of his old nurse nor the appearance of the new Fräulein seemed to impress his young mind. He was accustomed to strangers, and not afraid of them; they all behaved in much the same way. Gradually, however, he became aware of something else in her: there was sympathy in her movements, there was playfulness: Irma was affectionate. Discipline was relaxed: it was no longer imperative to play only with clean gravel especially poured out for him: he might now run and dig up his own gravel from the path. The routine of life might have become more plastic, making a little room for caprice. But was caprice less tiresome than law?
1705001547
1705001548
● 本书主人翁Oliver Alden原有一老保姆（nurse），后从德国请来Irma Schlote小姐任看护管教之职，即英文所谓governess。
1705001549
1705001550
● Fräulein德文，意即“小姐”。advent：来到，义同arrival，但用于较庄严重要之场合。blessing：（天赐）恩典。all round：对全家的人说来。
1705001551
1705001552
● Mrs. Alden：书中主人翁之母亲。on whom everything depended：什么东西都得靠她；她是主妇，家庭教师是好是坏，就凭她一句话。
1705001553
1705001554
● impress：给予印象。
1705001555
1705001556
● aware of：觉得。something else：有些别的东西；就这小孩子看来，到家里来的陌生人似乎都差不多，可是这位家庭教师他渐渐地发现有些与众不同。
[
上一页 ]
[ :1.705001507e+09 ]
[
下一页 ]