打字猴:1.705002991e+09
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1705002992 ● flotilla:小型船只之队伍。tiny:极小的。母鸭与小小雏鸭,列阵浮于水面,犹如小小船队,唯船身均披有羽毛(feathered)耳。minute义同tiny,唯tiny较通俗,近于白话;minute较正式,近于文言。
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1705002994 ● ducklings后有一同位语说明之:雏鸭形体尚未长成,从岸上望去,只是啾啾会叫的点点粒粒(specks)黄色绒毛(fluff)而已。
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1705002996 ● fascinated spectators:入了迷的看客;看得出神的人。
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1705002998 ● the war:时为1940年6月,法国西线崩溃,法国政府迁至西南部的波尔多(Bordeaux)后再迁至维希(Vichy),希特勒陈兵英伦海峡,侵英(invasion)之举,迫在眉睫(imminence),法国舰队(the French Fleet)谁属,与战局影响极大,英人疑虑(doubts)自深;而波尔多政府倡议求和,行动颇多乖谬,殊为昔日盟友所心痛,故作者称之为“令人伤心的反常行为”(melancholy antics)。时局严重若此,而作者看见池中群鸭之后,竟然将国家大事浑然忘却。
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1705003000 Our eyes and ears, and our imagination were caught and held by those triumphant little parcels of life. This duck hadn’t hatched her brood here; she’d hatched them in some hidden corner—nobody knows where—and had then conveyed them—and nobody knows how—to swim happily in the dusk on the summit of the city. She hadn’t asked anybody’s advice or permission; she hadn’t told herself it was too late or too difficult; nobody had told her to “go to it” and that “it all depended on her.” She had gone to it, a triumphant little servant of that life, mysterious, fruitful, beautiful, which expresses itself as a man writes a poem—now in vast galaxies of flaming suns, now in a tiny brood of ducklings squeaking in the dusk.
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1705003002 ● imagination:想象力,比耳目更进一步,不限于当前的所见所闻。caught:一把抓住。held:抓住不放。那时我们的全副注意力都为群鸭所摄,非但目不转瞬,耳不他闻,而且心中杂念顿息,如有所思,亦无非受此“奇观”之启发而已。
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1705003004 ● parcel此处不解作“包裹”,而解作“部分”(此字与part同源)。life:宇宙全体之生命。任何生物都只是“一条生命”,只可以算是“大生命”里的一部分。鸭子虽小,亦足表示天地间的生机流行,我们看见了群鸭嬉水得意(triumphant)之状,似乎看见了宇宙生物的神秘,无怪看得目定神往,把国事都忘了。(其实作者所忘的只是暂时战局的进退,他对于宇宙人生的信念,由于那天晚上的经验当更形增强。这样一个人将成为一个更坚定、更有决心的斗士。)hatched:孵化(用过去完成式,表示时间在前)。brood:一次所孵出之雏鸭(或其他鸟类)。conveyed:搬运。母鸭在哪里孵的蛋,没有人知道;孵出以后,如何把小鸭带到这里来游水,也没人知道。summit:最高点;那地方居于伦敦最高处。advice:劝告。permission:准许。她把小鸭带到这里来,既未向人求教,亦未得人准许,只是凭了生物的本能,把小鸭孵了出来,再带它们来教它们游水(池边可能并无养鸭人家,此鸭恐是野鸭)。
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1705003006 ● it was too late之it恐是代表孵小鸭等等的事情。母鸭决不自馁,不怕时间太晚,或者是困难太多,她要做的事情还是要做好。
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1705003008 ● 她并不自馁,可是也没有人给她鼓励怂恿,没有人对她说:“你去做吧”(go to it)或是“事情全靠着你呢”。
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1705003010 ● 她所以这样做,因为她是受宇宙间生命力的支配;她是那个大生命(that life)属下的一个兴高采烈的小仆人。triumphant表示任务完成以后的得意。
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1705003012 ● that life后跟着三个形容词:神秘、美丽、孕育丰富(fruitful)。那个大生命随时表现自己,就同诗人之写诗以表现自己一样,表现的方式大小不一,有时如星河(galaxies)横空,一颗星就是一颗太阳似的火球(flaming:火焰炽盛的);有时则如今夕所见的池中啾啾雏鸭也。
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1705003017 现代英文选评注 [:1705000313]
1705003018 现代英文选评注 A Special Occasion两小
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1705003020 Joyce Cary (1888—1957)
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1705003022 本文作者乔伊斯·卡里生于爱尔兰,祖先原为英人,牛津大学出身,第一次大战时曾在非洲从军作战。他写作兴趣发生甚早,苦练不辍,然难有惬意之作,其第一本书易稿多次,于1930年始出版。迄今成书十余种,以Mister Johnson(1939)及三部曲Herself Surprised(1941),To Be a Pilgrim(1942),The Horse’s Mouth(1944)为最著名。卡里在今日已被举世公认为英国大小说家。
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1705003024 卡里观察深刻,对人生有强烈的爱好,故最善描写人物。其文字洗炼有力,要言不烦,奇思妙想,络绎而来,生动活泼,逸趣横生,然而不夸张,不以辞害意,层次井然,语语恰到好处。苟非曾经苦功锻炼,实不克臻此。
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1705003026 本文原刊《哈柏杂志》(Harper’s Magazine, Oct. 1951),现从《哈柏杂志佳作选》(Harper’s Magazine Reader,1953年美国小斗鸡丛书版)录出。全文故事甚简单,且可说并无深意,然而其摹状人物,生动有致,若文学本为人生写照,则作者亦可谓善尽其使命矣。
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1705003028 The nursery doors opened and Nurse’s voice said in the sugary tone which she used to little girl guests, “Here you are, darling, and Tommy will show you all his toys.” A little brown-haired girl in a silk party frock, sticking out all around her legs like a lampshade, came in at the door, stopped, and stared at her host. Tom, a dark little boy, aged five, also in a party suit, blue linen knickers, and a silk shirt, stared back at the girl. Nurse had gone into the night nursery, next door, on her private affairs.
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1705003030 ● 故事的开头是一个小女孩去拜访一个小男孩子;但作者笔下多描写,少说明,他的目的不仅是讲故事,而且更要使读者“如见其人,如闻其声”。
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1705003032 ● Nurse是那男孩子的保姆。nursery:育儿室,供小孩与保姆应用的房间。本段末句另有night nursery两字,可见那家人家有两间育儿室,一间供儿童游戏之用,一间是儿童的卧室。
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1705003034 ● 第一句“育儿室的门打开了”,谁打开的呢?该是保姆开了门,把那小女孩子送进来的。保姆对小女客们说话,总是用(used)一种甜蜜的音调(sugary tone)。party frock:赴宴出客时所穿的外衣。外衣下幅是裙子,想必浆得很挺,向四外伸张(sticking out),如同灯罩一般。把裙子比作灯罩,是作者巧思,亦是文章情趣所在。
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1705003036 ● suit:成套的西装。linen:麻布。knickers(或作knicker-bockers):一种小脚管的肥大短裤,短灯笼裤。
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1705003038 ● on her private affairs:料理自己的私事去了。
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1705003040 Tom, having stared at the girl for a long time as one would study a curiosity, rare and valuable, but extremely surprising, put his feet together, made three jumps forward and said, “Hullo.”
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