1705007369
1705007370
All in all, they had an uncommonly happy life and they so much enjoyed each other that when Hedda died, with no warning at all, of heart disease, Wolfgang’s friends were afraid that he, too, might die, of grief. And, indeed, he asked for a semester’s leave and spent the whole of it indoors, seldom answering his doorbell and never answering his telephone. But, at the end of that time, he merged as companionable and as exuberant as ever, as much at home with life.
1705007371
1705007372
● All in all：总而言之。enjoyed each other：夫妻二人相亲相爱（二人在一起，日子过得很有趣）。因此（so…that）一个死了，另外一个恐怕也活不长了。
1705007373
1705007374
● died of heart disease：患心脏病而死。with no warning at all：事前一无征兆。
1705007375
1705007376
● he might die之后跟一逗点，表示句子到die本可以结束：“朋友怕他也会死掉的”，但是作者要补充说明：因什么而死呢？忧伤而死。
1705007377
1705007378
● asked for leave：请了（一学期的）假。the whole of it=the whole of the semester。
1705007379
1705007380
● answering the doorbell：有人按门铃，主人出去开门（他难得去开的）。他杜门谢客，心中确乎悲伤到极点。
1705007381
1705007382
● emerged：从隐居的生活中忽然“冒”出来。companionable：善与人交。exuberant：精力饱满。as…as ever：跟平常（太太死前）一样。as much at home with life的后面也该有as ever 二字，这里是省掉了。at home：并无落寞或陌生之感。at home with life：并不自视为遁世的人，正常地过日子。
1705007383
1705007384
1705007385
1705007386
1705007388
现代英文选评注 A Writer’s Life作家甘苦
1705007389
1705007390
Catherine Drinker Bowen (1897—1973)
1705007391
1705007392
本文作者波文为美国著名传记作家，所著以Yankee from Olympus, A Biography of Oliver Wendell Holmes最为世所传诵。本文原题“Discipline and Reward: A Writer’s Life”，刊于1957年《大西洋月刊》12月号。文中所述作家生活之甘苦，凡曾经用心写过文章的人，想必都有同感。本文风格近乎美国口语，很少经营刻划的痕迹。
1705007393
1705007394
In 1920, I sold my first piece to a magazine. I have been writing fairly steadily ever since. And fairly steadily I have been asked the same questions:
1705007395
1705007396
“Do you write at regular intervals, or do you wait for inspiration?”
1705007397
1705007398
“How do you manage with children, husband, household, and find time to write?”
1705007399
1705007400
● piece：一篇文章。sold：投稿录取。
1705007401
1705007402
● fairly：相当；steadily：不停地，不懈地。第二句的动词时态have been writing表示写作已有数十年历史，现在还是在写；这可以说是完成进行式的典型的例子。
1705007403
1705007404
● 第三句把第二句的两个副词重复地用。所不同者：第二句中，副词放在动词之后；第三句中，副词放在主语之前。这样用法使前后两句连接得很稳。
1705007405
1705007406
● at regular intervals：经常的间隔（如一天工作几小时，一星期工作几天等）。这句用现在式，表示习惯如此。
1705007407
1705007408
● manage在这里是不及物动词，《简明牛津字典》解作：succeed in one’s aims（实现你写作的愿望，同时还得对付[manage with]家务）。
1705007409
1705007410
Now, in answering these questions I shall go beyond them to talk about discipline, about the rewards and sacrifices of a writer’s life. I shall speak out of my own experience, though I have no way of knowing if my experience will prove of value to anyone besides myself.
1705007411
1705007412
● go beyond them：超过这两个问题的范围。go这个字应用很广，在这个场合，中国学生大致想不到用go字的。discipline：纪律，自律（想做的事不许做，不愿做的事偏该做）。
1705007413
1705007414
● rewards and sacrifices：报酬与牺牲，甘苦。about重复地用，也是使语气通畅的一法。about后面，如有三个宾语，读起来难免气急辞促之弊，这里about discipline两个字自成一段落，读文至此换一口气，换气之后再读about the…，岂不是语气就通畅了吗？
1705007415
1705007416
● out of my own experience：从我自己的经验里面。no way of knowing：无法知道。if=whether。of value：有价值。
1705007417
1705007418
That is the risk I take: the risk of boring my audience, the risk of ridicule from overexposure of the person. This is the risk we all take when we walk on stage, or send our painting to be exhibited, our manuscript to a publisher: the risk of public exposure. It is no small thing, the incurrence of this risk, and it runs from beginning to end of a writer’s life. After thirty-five years of writing for publication, I suffer from it more than I did in the beginning. As one gains in reputation, the risk becomes somehow larger, or one thinks it does. Consciousness of it generally strikes in the night when one wakes. Actual physical sweating takes place, loud moans are rendered, and the question is put, “Why in God’s name did one undertake such a venture, such a presumptuous, enormous, unlikely book? Why can’t one be content to live an anonymous, respectable life?”
[
上一页 ]
[ :1.705007369e+09 ]
[
下一页 ]