1705000836
现代英文选评注 The Life And Work Of Professor Roy Millen米伦教授的生活与工作
1705000837
1705000838
Robert Penn Warren (1905—1989)
1705000839
1705000840
本文作者罗伯特·潘·华伦像这篇小说的主人公一样，是一位英文教授。他是美国肯塔基州人，写过小说、诗、传记和文学评论，最著名的作品是长篇小说《国王的人马》（All the King’s Men）（曾改编为电影，中文译名《当代奸雄》）。他的辈分比海明威、福克纳等稍晚（他们是二十年代成名的，他是三十年代成名的），但他已经是美国一个很重要的诗人和小说家了。本篇选自他的短篇小说集The Circus in the Attic（1948）。
1705000841
1705000842
Professor Roy Millen had loved his wife devotedly, and now she was dead…. He made his plans to go abroad, to England, to work in the libraries there, as he and his wife had planned. It was what she should have him do, he told himself. And the book would be a kind of monument to her. He would dedicate the book to her. As he walked slowly back from the campus to his house in the late afternoons or early evenings of spring, he would try to compose the dedication, saying the words aloud to himself as he looked up at the paling, peach-colored sky beyond the newly leafed branches. He had decided to sail in June, as soon as he could leave after commencement.
1705000843
1705000844
● 第一句和第二句之间，原文还有好几段（约有一千五百字），是他过去生活的回忆，主要讲他的妻子。作者口口声声地说他们的婚姻是如何美满，但他给我们的暗示是：这位教授的婚姻生活并不快乐，恐怕也没有什么爱情。他的妻子是系主任的女儿，本是一位三十岁出头的老小姐，他在初教大一英文的时候认识的。婚后很亲爱，她支配着他的生活。二十多年后，她死了，他更感觉到空虚，唯有继续写他的那部书。
1705000845
1705000846
● 第一句had loved的时态表示是在他的妻子故世之前。devotedly：副词，由动词devote（奉献）的过去分词devoted（把自己奉献给）化成。
1705000847
1705000848
● 第三句should have him do之间的have=cause to（使得），后随不定词do，should表示虚拟式。（假如她活着的话，“她该会使他这样做的”——到英国图书馆去研究。）
1705000849
1705000850
● monument：纪念碑。他的书将用以纪念他的太太，好像是纪念碑，但并非真的是纪念碑，故云a kind of monument。dedicate：献。作家每将其书献给一个他所亲爱或尊敬的人，作为纪念。
1705000851
1705000852
● campus：是个美国字，指大学范围内全部的场地。
1705000853
1705000854
● the book would be…，He would dedicate…两句的would表示将来。he would try…的would表示他的习惯。那年夏天，每当黄昏薄暮，他慢慢步行回家的时候，“他总要……”。
1705000855
1705000856
● compose：（在心里）拟（稿子）。dedication：（预备刊在卷首的）献词。paling：pale的现在分词，“颜色在淡下去”，形容sky。newly leafed：新长树叶的。嫩芽初绽，树叶新绿，是状“春”也，霞艳似桃，薄瞑徐合，是状“夕”也；用一介词beyond，则天在树外，红绿相映，夕阳春光，各得其所。如易beyond为and，则立刻化立体为平面，化图画为剪贴，文趣索然矣。
1705000857
1705000858
● commencement：毕业典礼。sail：坐船去（英国）。
1705000859
1705000860
“I hear you’re going away for a year, Professor Millen,” Tom Howell said, standing respectfully before Professor Millen’s office desk. Then he added, in a dutiful tone, “To work on your book.”
1705000861
1705000862
“Yes,” Professor Millen said, “to work on my book.” Then, as though recollecting himself, he made a little gesture toward the chair in front of the desk, and said, “Won’t you have a seat, Howell?”
1705000863
1705000864
“Are you going to finish it in a year?” Howell asked, and sat down.
1705000865
1705000866
● in a dutiful tone：用恭恭敬敬的语调。dutiful：尽（学生对老师之）责的。To work on your book补充第一句的going away，表示出国的目的。
1705000867
1705000868
● recollecting himself：恢复镇定。突然有学生来访，米伦教授忘了该请来客先坐下，然后再同他说话。
1705000869
1705000870
“I still have a little research to do. I have to settle a few points—points which can’t be settled in libraries in this country. I have to do some work yet in one of the great English libraries.” Professor Millen paused, looking over the green lawn outside his office window. “But I’ll get it written within the year. Practically everything is in order. Though, of course,” he paused, again looking at Tom Howell, who listened respectfully and with what seemed interest, “I’ll have to do a good deal of retouching—style and so on, you know—” he waved his hand modestly in the air, “when I get back.”
1705000871
1705000872
● research：研究。settle：解决。
1705000873
1705000874
● yet：还有。在美国已经做了不少工作，还有些工作，一定（have to）要到英国图书馆去做。
1705000875
1705000876
● practically=almost。in order：有秩序的，安排好了。
1705000877
1705000878
● with interest：有兴趣地。with what seemed interest：听者有一种似乎是有兴趣的表情。米伦教授不敢断定那位学生对于他的写作计划真发生兴趣。
1705000879
1705000880
● retouching：小小的修改，润饰。到英国去还不能完稿，回国以后，对于文字及其他方面，还要有很多的（a good deal of）修饰。
1705000881
1705000882
“I’m hoping—” the boy hesitated, fumbling in his pocket to draw out a folded paper, “I’m hoping to be able to go abroad next year. If I can make it. That’s what I wanted to see you about, Professor Millen.”
1705000883
1705000884
“Anything I can do, I’ll be glad to do.”
[
上一页 ]
[ :1.705000835e+09 ]
[
下一页 ]