1705006879

1705006880 ● for me, or rather, for himself：与其说为我调整，不如说为他自己调整。教授调整好了，他自己先看。

1705006881

1705006882 I finally took a deferred pass, as they called it, and waited a year and tried again. (You had to pass one of the biological sciences or you couldn’t graduate.) The professor had come back from vacation brown as a berry, brightened, and eager to explain cell-structure again to his classes. “Well,” he said to me, cheerily when we met in the first laboratory hour of the semester, “we’re going to see cells this time, aren’t we?” “Yes, sir,” I said. Students to right of me and to left of me and in front of me were seeing cells; what’s more, they were quietly drawing pictures of them in their notebooks. Of course, I didn’t see anything.

1705006883

1705006884 ● deferred pass：重修后给学分（延迟的及格）。as they called it：学生手则上有这样一个名称。（they系泛指。）

1705006885

1705006886 ● You同上段的You一样，也是泛指。在那所大学里读书，必须选修一门生物科学（动物学、植物学、生理学、遗传学等），否则不得毕业。

1705006887

1705006888 ● vacation：美国人喜欢到山上海边去度暑假，回来的时候，皮肤晒得红红的（应该说是“棕色的”，但是中国人不大说“棕色的”）。

1705006889

1705006890 ● the first laboratory hour：本学期第一堂实验课。

1705006891

1705006892 ● were seeing：see用进行式，是不常见的。但这里应该用进行式：教授和我谈话的时候，同学们都在看显微镜；非但是看（looking through），而且都从显微镜里看见细胞。

1705006893

1705006894 “We’ll try it,” the professor said to me grimly, “with every adjustment of the microscope known to man. As God is my witness, I’ll arrange this glass so that you see cells through it or I’ll give up teaching. In twenty-two years of botany, I—” He cut off abruptly for he was beginning to quiver all over, like Lionel Barrymore.

1705006895

1705006896 ● grimly：教授的脸沉下去了。known to man：全人类所知道的调整显微镜的方法本来只有这么几种，教授都给用上了。

1705006897

1705006898 ● As God is my witness：赌咒的话——你这次再看不见细胞，我就不（give up）吃这碗教书饭了。

1705006899

1705006900 ● cut off abruptly：话突然停住。教授愈说愈气，全身发抖。

1705006901

1705006902 ● Lionel Barrymore：当年有名的性格演员，擅演暴躁易怒的老人。

1705006903

1705006904 So we tried it with every adjustment of the microscope known to man. With only one of them did I see anything but blackness or the familiar lacteal opacity, and that time I saw, to my pleasure and amazement, a variegated constellation of flecks, specks and dots. These I hastily drew. The instructor, noting my activity, came back from an adjoining desk, a smile on his lips and his eyebrows high in hope. He looked at my cell drawing. “What’s that?” he demanded, with a hint of squeal in his voice. “That’s what I saw,” I said. “You didn’t, you didn’t, you didn’t!” he screamed, losing control of his temper instantly, and he bent over and squinted into the microscope. His head snapped up. “That’s your eye!” he shouted. “You’ve fixed the lens so that it reflects! You’ve drawn your eye!”

1705006905

1705006906 ● with every adjustment：套用前面教授的话。

1705006907

1705006908 ● with only one of them：用各种调整方法，我所看见的只是一片黑暗，或是平常那种牛奶状（lacteal）的模糊一团（opacity）。opacity的形容词形式是opaque。lacteal意同前面的milky；只是lacteal的字源是拉丁文；milky的字源是盎格鲁撒克逊文。可是有一次调整对了，我所见不同。那一次，我看见了很多斑斑点点（flecks, specks and dots），聚成一堆（constellation：星座），形状斑驳复杂（variegated），我大为惊喜。

1705006909

1705006910 ● noting my activity：见到我在画图了。adjoining desk：隔壁那张桌子。his eyebrows high in hope：教授满怀希望，眉毛抬得老高。

1705006911

1705006912 ● a hint of squeal：声音里有点尖声惨叫的味道。you didn’t：似为you didn’t see that之略。squinted：眯着眼睛往里看。

1705006913

1705006914 ● snapped up：头猛地一抬。

1705006915

1705006916 ● lens：透镜。reflects：反射，这里用作不及物动词。笨学生所看见的，原来是自己眼睛的反影！

1705006917

1705006918 Another course that I didn’t like, but somehow managed to pass, was economics. I went to that class straight from the botany class, which didn’t help me any in understanding either subject. I used to get them mixed up. But not as mixed up as another student in my economics class who came there direct from a physics laboratory. He was a tackle on the football team, named Bolenciecwcz. At that time Ohio State University had one of the best football teams in the country, and Bolenciecwcz was one of its outstanding stars. In order to be eligible to play it was necessary for him to keep up in his studies, a very difficult matter, for while he was not dumber than an ox he was not any smarter. Most of his professors were lenient and helped him along. None gave him more hints, in answering questions, or asked him simpler ones than the economics professor, a thin, timid man named Bassum.

1705006919

1705006920 ● another course：生物学之外，经济学他也不喜欢；但是他总是不知怎么想法子“弄”（managed）及格的。

1705006921

1705006922 ● straight：直接地。一上完生物学，就去上经济学。which：这两门课，连着上（这点事实）。either：两样东西之任何一样。

1705006923

1705006924 ● get them mixed up：把两门功课混淆起来。

1705006925

1705006926 ● But not…：此句不完全，仅是补充前句的mixed up。direct：这个字同前面的straight一样，用作副词。

1705006927

1705006928 ● tackle：截球员（美国式足球球员中之一角色）。Bolenciecwcz：此人恐怕是波兰裔；名字的读音很难，读者可不必深究。

[ 上一页 ]  [ :1.705006879e+09 ]  [ 下一页 ]