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● chattered:喋喋而谈,但闻其声,不明其义。
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● lilting:轻快含糊而多起伏的。exotic:异国(情调)的。jargon:(令人难懂的)语言。
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● the sound was more of music than of talk:她们的声音与其说是像说话,不如说是像音乐。rising and falling:起伏。tinkling:轻脆叮当。sibilant:丝丝作响。两字形容,恐犹有未足,接着又用一譬喻:“如疾风飘来远处铃声”。铃声叮当,即为tinkling;疾风之声嘘嘘然,亦为一种hissing sound,正好衬托前面的sibilant。borne(bear之过去分词):(风把声音)带来。
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● 她们姊妹间的闲谈,并不(little有否定的意义)乱人心意(distracting),反而有使人安静的作用(restful),犹如公园里(喷水泉?)的水珠溅落之声(splashings)。playful原义“嬉戏的”,这里作“忽快忽慢,时东时西”解。
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The last time I saw Rosie (we knew it was the last), she wore her pale Mestiza gown, with its sheer high-shouldered sleeves like wings of butterflies. Among the boles of a grove of palms—a tranquil, timeless colonnade in the moonlight—we built a diminutive fire. Then through long night hours we watched its embers blacken, die, and fall to ashes. My memory of those hours is sharply clear, and only a little sweetened by time, but I can remember no spoken words.
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● Mestiza为Mestizo(菲律宾人之杂有华人血统者)之女性形式。Mestiza gown当为菲律宾混血女儿所惯穿之女式长衣,是“土装”并非“美式”服装也。sheer:绝薄的(衣料)。sleeves:袖。high-shouldered:衣袖在肩部耸起的。
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● grove of palms:一片棕林。棕树干直无枝,叶生干端,人居林中,但见有干(boles),不见枝叶。群树矗立拱卫,犹如柱廊(colonnade)。tranquil:安静的。timeless:终古常存的。diminutive:很小的。fire:堆木柴而生之火。
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● embers:火烬。接着用三个不加to的不定式动词:blacken(由红变黑),die(火熄成炭),fall to ashes(炭碎为死灰)。
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● sweetened by time约相当于中文“愈陈愈香”之意。当时情境,犹历历如在目前,所不同者,唯因岁月推移,回忆益觉甜蜜耳。
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● I can remember no spoken words:两人言语本不通,今别离在即,相对黯然,更没有话可说。自然也记不起说过什么话了。
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I remember well the yellow and mellow Manila cigar that I gently puffed and rolled between my fingers. I recall how I stretched on the dark, springy earth as the night’s gauzy warmth caressed me. I can see the ivory of Rosie’s cheek and Rosie’s arms that glowed here and there orange-red in the firelight. Her eyes were black and sad like a spaniel’s eyes. Her soft lips smiled and smiled.
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● mellow:烟味醇和的。puffed:以口喷烟。rolled:搓卷。
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● stretched:伸臂舒腿地躺下。springy:有弹性如弹簧的。gauzy:轻薄如纱的。夜间暖气,轻如薄纱,来抚我身。ivory:象牙。彼女脸颊双臂之色本如象牙,今火光照处,其肌肤乃发桔色红光。here and there:东一处西一处的。火焰跳跃无定,火光有及有不及,明暗亦不一致。orange-red乃形容词,用作subjective complement。
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● spaniel:西班牙狗,其眼乌黑而有忧郁之表情。
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● Her soft lips smiled and smiled:连用两smiled,而妙在仍不说话。
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She sang me a song whose words I did not understand, and she danced a little round the fire, a lonely slow Lindy with empty arms, hopping barefoot and awkward in the dust.
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● whose words=the words of which。song:为无生命之物,照有些语法书规定,这里应该用of which,但有时为求句法紧凑起见,常有用whose来代替of which的。
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● Lindy:即Lindy Loo,是一种黑人舞蹈。hopping:跳跃,为现在分词,形容主语she。barefoot(赤脚的)可作形容词或副词,但awkward(拙劣的)只可作形容词,如为形容词,当系形容主语she。露西姑娘的舞姿并不美妙,作者照实写来,似亦无伤其人之可爱。一个菲律宾姑娘,连英文都不会说的,想必非摩登人物,作者描写,亦在其朴质处着眼。她的歌喉似乎也没有什么了不起。初学作文者描写美人,往往美得“过火”,结果赞叹多而描写少,读此当可悟作文之道。
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Then she came to my side and was quiet. She faintly smelled of unscented soap, and her hair was full of wood-smoke. So quaint and small was this odd brown girl, my throat congealed, and had there been anything to say, I could not have said it. But there was nothing to say, and in this deepening night we were happy and sad together.
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● smelled of=had the smell of。unscented soap:未加香料之素净肥皂。美人身上,何必一定要发什么“兰麝之香”?这里据实写来,不加夸张,而彼女之朴素洁净,不言自明。wood-smoke:木柴烟味,想是生火时所沾上。
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● quaint:别致,别具风味。congealed原意“冻结”转作“僵化”。这位古怪的棕肤女郎,如此别有风味,又如此娇小玲珑,以致我的喉咙僵住,说不出话来了。她的娇小,她的风味,和他的说不出话有何相干?还不是因为别离在即,愈觉其美,便愈不忍离之耶?
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● had there been…为一conditional clause,义同if there had been…。本来就无话可说,要是有话可说,此情此境,我也说不出口来。
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● deepening night:夜色渐深。用一现在分词deepening,表示时间进行,便觉长夜漫漫,缠绵无穷。第二段已说:Then through long night hours we watched its embers blacken, die, and fall to ashes。看烟消火灭,相对无语,竟夕相共,黯然神伤,尽在不言中矣。
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