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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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作者史华兹,为美国犹太裔诗人、小说家,曾任《宗派评论》(Partisan Review)副编辑。这篇小说原来是在《宗派评论》上发表的。该刊搜集历年所发表的短篇小说佳作十余篇,出版选集一本,书名《新体小说选》(Stories in the Modern Manner)。此处所录即从该书中摘出。史氏第一部小说、诗歌集即名In Dreams Begin Responsibilities(1938)。
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I think it is the year 1909. I feel as if I were in a motion picture theatre, the long arm of light crossing the darkness and spinning, my eyes fixed on the screen. This is a silent picture, in which the actors are dressed in ridiculously old-fashioned clothes, and one flash succeeds another with sudden jumps. The actors too seem to jump about and walk too fast. The shots themselves are full of dots and rays, as if it were raining when the picture was photographed. The light is bad.
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● 责任于梦想中开始,整个故事亦是“南柯一梦”。
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● 小说中的主人公自称似乎置身于1909年,又像是在看电影。long arm of light:放映机射至银幕上的一道白光。spinning:旋转。fixed是过去分词:眼睛全神贯注地看着银幕。
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● silent picture:无声电影。ridiculously:可笑地。one flash succeeds another:银幕上的光线,一闪一闪的很不稳定;一亮之后,突然一跳,接着又是一亮。
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● jump about:东跳西跳,旧时电影的摄制和放映技术均恶劣,演员的一举一动似乎都在跳跃。
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● shots:一幕一幕的镜头。dots:斑点。rays:光线;大约指乱七八糟的光线。
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