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现代英文选评注 A Special Occasion两小
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Joyce Cary (1888—1957)
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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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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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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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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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● 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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● 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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● 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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● 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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● on her private affairs：料理自己的私事去了。
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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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The little girl turned her head over one shoulder and slowly revolved on one heel, as if trying to examine the back of her own frock. She then stooped suddenly, brushed the hem with her hand, and said, “Hullo.”
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● study：端详，仔细地看。前有would，表示虚拟语气（好像是一个人看一件宝贝似的）。curiosity在这里是普通名词不是抽象名词，解作“奇珍异宝”。后随三个形容词：rare, valuable和surprising。普通学生作文总把形容词放在名词之前，然有时形容词放在名词之后，句法更易开展。请参阅前篇The Duck一文末句中“…that life, mysterious, fruitful, beautiful…”形容词的位置。
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● Tom是主语，它的动词是put（把双脚并起），made，said三字。
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● 双方瞪目而视者良久，小男孩跳了三步，上前迎候，小女孩羞答答地回礼。作者不用bashful这一类的字，而女孩娇羞之状可掬。她头向后转，以一只脚跟为支点，全身慢慢地转（revolved），好像要转身过去，仔细看看她身后的衣服似的。然后她突然俯下身去，手擦着衣服的边（hem），说声：哈罗。
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Tom made another jump, turned round, pointed out of the window, and said in a loud voice something like “twanky tweedle.” Both knew that neither the gesture nor the phrase was meant to convey a meaning. They simply expressed the fact that for Tom this was an important and exciting, a very special occasion.
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● twanky tweedle两字没有意义，是小孩嘴里随便发出的声音。gesture：姿势；即指手指窗外这一姿势。convey：表达。他做出这种姿势，说出这两个字来，其用意（was meant）并不要表达什么意义。
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● They=the gesture and the phrase。
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● occasion：时机，场合，事件。小客人来拜会，是一桩重要的、动人的、很特殊的事件（点明题意）。前面说句法如求便于开展，可将形容词放在名词之后；这里为求结束稳当，收煞有力，还是把名词放在形容词之后。
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The little girl took a step forward, caught her frock in both hands as if about to make a curtsy, rose upon her toes, and said in a prim voice, “I beg your pardon.”
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They both gazed at each other for some minutes with sparkling eyes. Neither smiled, but it seemed that both were about to smile.
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● curtsy：妇人欠身屈膝之礼。rose upon her toes：踮了脚身体伸直起来。prim：矜持，拘谨。I beg your pardon：对不起。（这句普通客套话，“你说什么，我没有听懂”。）
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