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● 康德的散步，数十年如一日，风雨无间，寒暑不辍，据说只有一次，他收到了一本卢梭（Jean Jacques Rousseau，1712—1778）的《爱弥尔》（卢梭自叙教育理想的一部小说，1762年出版），读得不忍释手，三天没有出门，因此破例没有散步。tear：撕，扯；书把他吸引住了，撕都撕不开，其吸引力之强可想。
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● 第二句稍长，但句法仍十分干净。He walked后接副词slowly（他怕出汗sweat，故步子很慢），又接形容词alone（形容主词是predicate adjective），该句主干实仅是He walked slowly and he walked alone而已。alone一字放在这里，可称险绝，然而脚头站得很稳，丝毫摇撼不动，作者炼句，实见功夫。alone离开它所形容的主语He，已经隔了十几个字，后面又引起四十几个字来说明何以alone，这样一个字，假如用得不得法，很可能变得无靠无依，交代不清。但是这一句的层次依旧很清楚，我们读到alone的时候，自然会大大地换一口气，聚精会神地且看作者在because以后耍些什么花样出来。
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● 康德散步为什么不带伴儿呢？原来他有用鼻孔（nostrils）呼吸的习惯，这样他可以免伤风（catching cold）；假如（had he had=if he had had）有一个他非敷衍不可的人陪他一起走（替他带伞的仆人，他是可以不必敷衍的），他不得不跟他说话，因此就不得不用嘴呼吸了。
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● “with whom courtesy would oblige him to speak”中的with，在句法结构上应放在speak之后。courtesy：礼貌。oblige：强使为之。此字与稍后的constrain略有不同：oblige大抵是道义上的约束，constrain则无论什么样无可奈何的情形，使人不得不受制者，皆可适用之。所以对于朋友，他不得不说话，则宜用oblige；说话时不得不张嘴，则宜用constrain了。
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He invariably took the same walk, along the Linden Allee, and this, according to Heine, he strolled up and down eight times. He issued from his house at precisely the same hour so that the people of the town could set their clocks by it. When he came home he returned to his study and read and wrote letters till the light failed. Then, as was his habit, fixing his eyes on the tower of a neighbouring church, he pondered over the problems that just then occupied him…. At a quarter to ten he suspended his arduous labour and by ten was safely tucked up in bed.
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● walk：散步的地方，供人步行的道路。invariably：不变地。Linden：菩提树。Allee：马路，林荫大道；此德文字与英文字alley同源而异义，相当于英文之avenue, boulevard。Heine即Heinrich Heine（1797—1856，中文普通译作海涅），德国诗人、作家，曾著录康德事迹。strolled：逍遥漫步，溜达。“and this… he strolled up and down”此句句法与前段（见上文）有一句“and this he would not permit himself to do”相仿，this都是以宾语而置于句首者。up and down：来回。
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● issued：出发。precisely：精确地，恰巧。set their docks：钟上拨准时间，对时。
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● the light failed：日色渐暮，不便工作。
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● pondered over：思考，occupied本解作“占有”； the problems that occupied him：占有了他的脑筋的问题，他所专心研究的那些（哲学）问题。
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● suspended：停止。arduous labour：费力的工作。was tucked up in bed：裹身被中；这样的说法当比lay in bed更能使读者觉得床上的安逸舒适。
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Though he lived to be eighty, he never went more than sixty miles away from the town in which he was born. He suffered from frequent indispositions and was seldom free from pain, but he was able by the exertion of his will to turn his attention away from his feelings just as though they did not concern him.
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● lived to be eighty：活到八十岁。the town in which he was born：指Königsberg，为东普鲁士首府。
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● indispositions：身体上的不舒服，小毛病。seldom free from pain：身上老是带点病痛的。
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● by the exertion of his will：运用其意志力量。此短语（phrase）插在able与to之间，其地位亦值得研究。当able出现之时，读者自然会等着后面的to：能够……，能够什么呢？可是作者小弄玄虚，偏偏先来“by the exertion of his will”一个短语，再把to搬出来。这个用法至少有两点好处：一、意义可以更丰富：多一个短语，当然多一层意义；二、气势可以较舒缓：able与to直接相随，气势迫切，分开了语气就较婉转。然文章之道难有定规，有时文章意义要求单纯，气势要求爽利，这种办法就不合适了。总之，在读者意料不到的地方，插进几个字、一两个短语或甚至一个从句（clause），这就是文章的“装饰”，可以帮助文章的美。但是天下一切装饰，都要小心，否则随时都可能弄巧成拙的。如何运用得好，还得靠多读名家著作，培养正确的taste也。
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● to turn his attention away from his feelings：使心另有所属，不去注意身上的痛痒。“As though they did not concern him”中之they指feelings：好像身上的不舒服同他没有关系似的。
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He was neither impulsive nor demonstrative, but he was kindly, within his scanty means generous, and obliging. His intelligence was great, his power of reasoning impressive, but his emotional nature was meagre. Twice he thought seriously of marrying, but he took so long to consider the advantages and disadvantages of the step he had in mind that in the interval one of the young women he had his eye on married somebody else and the other left Königsberg before he reached a decision.
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● impulsive：凭感情冲动行事。demonstrative：喜怒哀乐，常形诸辞色的。康德为人稳重，情感亦深藏不露。
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● kindly：待人厚道。generous：用钱慷慨。此字之前又插了一个短语within his scanty means：在他菲薄的经济力量容许之下。君子固穷，然苟人有所需，康德亦必尽其微力，乐于周济也。obliging：乐于助人；此字在本文中为第二次出现，前面的一个解作“强使人不得不做某一件事”，这里的一个解作“使人负恩，使人感激”。此字的被动形式，普通书信中常用，如云“I shall be much obliged if…”（如蒙……不胜感激）。它的主动形式，就是“乐于助人而使人感激”。又，此字约相当于中国的“古道热肠，好行方便”，并无“故意市惠望人报答”之意。
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● intelligence：智力。power of reasoning：推理的能力。impressive（动词was省去）：给人很深的印象；非常可观。emotional nature：情感的天性（天生的情感）。meagre：贫乏，薄弱。
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● so long：那么长的时间。advantages and disadvantages：利弊。the step he had in mind：他心目中的计划（步骤）；he had in mind是定语从句。that in the interval之that呼应so long之so；in the interval：在（他考虑的）这一段时间内。he had his eye on：又是一个定语从句，“他所看中的”。本句内这两个定语从句运用得很是轻巧自然，随随便便放一个定语从句上去，句子一点不觉得累赘笨重，凡是喜欢把英文写得流利的，在这种地方应该多加注意。
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现代英文选评注 In Dreams Begin Responsibilities君子好逑
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Delmore Schwartz (1913—1966)
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本文题目应该译作“责任于梦想中开始”，然文中所谓的梦想，似指恋爱，所谓责任，似指婚姻，故暂译为“君子好逑”。
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