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● life and living:life是大事情,living是小事情。人的生命全部是life。他要做人(to live)就得做很多事情(如吃饭、穿衣、赚钱),这些事情就是living。
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Writing, I think, is not apart from living. Writing is a kind of double living. The writer experiences everything twice. Once in reality and once in that mirror which waits always before or behind him.
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● 写作与生活不可分。double living:双重生活。作家和普通人不一样;普通人只生活一次,作家要生活两次。一次是真实的生活;一次是拿生活作为材料,从事回忆、考验、分析、综合、研究和写作。
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● 作家的身前或身后,总有一面镜子在侍候着他。他在这面镜子里,把自己的生活再过一次。例如逃难:普通人逃难逃过就算了,作家要拿逃难的经验,仔细地思索,作为他写作的材料,充实他写作的(同时也是生命的)内容。
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I maintain that this double living, these hours and scenes twice experienced, make up the inevitable sign of the natural-born writer. There is a compulsion to relive everything, repeat conversation to oneself, mimic a speaker’s accent, tone of voice, gesture, as carefully as if one were rehearsing to do it before an audience. It is an odd practice and serves no immediate purpose, certainly. I sometimes think it derives from sheer love of life, or infatuation with life, even the parts of life that we hate and fear. The practice takes its toll, also, in fatigue, a peculiar exhaustion. A double life is a double burden.
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● these hours and scenes twice experienced与this double living是同位语:人生中有些时刻,有些景象,人是要经验两次的(经验一次之后,还要加以玩味)。
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● make up:造成(部分造成整体)。动词用复数形式,值得注意。很明显的,make是跟靠近的hours and scenes,而不是跟较远的living的。inevitable:不可避免的,非有不可的。sign:表记,特征。natural-born writer:有写作天才的人。
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● a compulsion to relive everything:把任何东西生活两次的冲动。repeat是和relive平行的,前面的to省掉了。mimic(模仿)也是和它平行的。
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● 把听来的谈话,在心里(然后在笔底下)重演一次;某一个人说话时候的(原文作:一个说话人的)特殊的腔调、声调、姿势,私下细心模仿,好像练好了(rehearsing:正式公演前的预演)要演给人(audience)看似的。
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● 如此做法(practice)无疑是很奇怪(odd)的,而且没有直接(immediate)的好处。
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● it derives from:如此做法的来源是,对于人生纯粹(sheer)的爱,或者说是,对于人生的着迷。
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● 前面说过,人生的经验有tragic,comic……等多种。天生的作家爱人生,迷恋人生,不单是人生中的可喜可爱的部分而已,人生中有令人憎恨害怕的部分,作家们对此也依恋不舍。(如前举的逃难的例子;又如小时候给老师打手心。)
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● also:非但没有用处(serves no purpose),而且有害处。
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● takes its toll:叫人付出代价。这种代价是疲乏,一种特殊的心力交瘁(exhaustion)之感。人生本是负担,双重生活岂不是双重负担吗?
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● 前面都用double living讲的是作家的“生活方式”,是动的。这里用double life是概括地讲一种生活,是静的(把流动的生命当作一个整体看),因此可以压在人的身上。
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However, I happen to think a writer’s life is the most privileged there is in our society. It is a life exciting, varied. If success comes, it is a life that lends itself to expansion both materially and spiritually. Expansion, surely, is what counts. Expansion is the prize of life. And, as with all of the best things in this world, the writer pays for that prize every inch of the way. Let us say he pays by the establishment and acceptance of certain disciplines, more rigorous than the disciplines that other people follow. I will try to destribe them.
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● 作家的忧患欢乐,都比人多一倍。作家的精力支出,也比别人多。做作家该是苦事了。可是我恰巧(happen to think)有一种想法:作家的生活是现社会所有的各种生活之中,最为幸运的(privileged:享有特权的)。there is前面省了个关系代名词that。
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● exciting:令人兴奋的。varied:多变化的,多彩多姿的。这两个形容词放在名词后面,重心就落在这两个形容词上,句子读起来有劲。如把形容词放在名词前面,这一句读起来便松。而且主语It就是a writer’s life,这个字和表语a life,靠得很近,连接得很牢,好像成了That life is a life一般,这样句法自然紧凑。如在a与life之间,放了两个形容词,句子就松了。
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● If success comes:一旦写作成功。
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● it is a life再出现一次,不过这里life后面跟的是定语从句。lends itself to:把自己出让,把自己交托给,使自己能够适合于扩张。both materially and spiritually:物质精神双方。
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● what counts(表语从句):人生有价值的东西。count(不及物动词):有价值,或能发生作用。
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● prize:奖品。(生命的)扩张是宝贵的。何谓生命的扩张,作者这里似乎交待得不够清楚。但是读者不妨想象一个成功的作家过的是什么样的生活。
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● as with all:就跟世界上一切(最好东西)一样,没有不劳而获的。pays for:得到这个奖品是付了代价的。every inch of the way:这五个字是adverbial phrase(前面无需介词,和every morning之为adverbial phrase一样)。赛跑得奖,每一英寸都是用力跑出来的。
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● pays两次都是不及物动词:付代价。作家的生活,最后假如能够得到什么“扩张”的酬报,作家需付出的代价是:建立并接受某种纪律,这种纪律比别种人(并非作家)所守(follow)的纪律,更要严格。
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● 作家要服从什么严格的纪律呢?且听我一一道来。
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