打字猴:1.705004073e+09
1705004073 现代英文选评注 [:1705000320]
1705004074 现代英文选评注 Father and Daughter父与女
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1705004076 James Yaffe (1927—?)
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1705004078 作者姚弗乃美国作家。本文采自1957年9月份《大西洋月刊》。原题《只有傻瓜才生女儿》(“Only a Crazy Man Has Daughters”),文字轻松幽默,对白尤为传神,为家庭喜剧中之佳作。兹录其开头几段如下:
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1705004080 When a father has a complaint to make about his son, all he has to do is take the boy aside and yell at him:
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1705004082 “What do you mean by getting home at three o’clock in the morning? Your mother was worried to death!”
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1705004084 “Twenty bucks? You want twenty bucks? My God, the way you spend my money, you could be the United States government.”
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1705004086 “A car of your own? Listen to him, will you? He’s still wet behind the ears, and he wants a car of his own!”
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1705004088 ● to make a complaint:责备。complaint通常译作“诉苦”,但“诉苦”二字易滋误解;complaint只是使人不满意不愉快的事情,受了委屈固然是complaint,其他如儿子荒唐,天气冷热不调,火车误点,垃圾桶无人清理,日本渔船越界捕鱼等都可成为complaint,其表达方式则喃喃低诉与大声斥责均可。
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1705004090 ● all he has to do:all之后省去that一字,但是照英文口语的习惯,这个that以不加为妥。the boy:此二字极简单,但是用来很好。这里如用take him aside,则易与主语之he相混;如重复his son,则句法太累赘;如用the latter,则太像官样文章,风味大减;只有the boy二字,才是恰到好处。
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1705004092 ● 下面三小节都是父亲责备儿子的话:第一节是儿子深夜返家时说的。注意was worried用的是过去式。“你这么晚回来,你妈着急死了!”母亲的着急,是在儿子回来之前,故用过去式(到了家就不着急了)。这种时间先后关系,中文无需表出,学习时应特别注意。
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1705004094 ● bucks=dollars(美国俚语)。the way:此二字有介词的作用。“照你这样不断地问我要钱,你简直成了美国政府了。”(按:美国政府捐税苛杂之重,时为民众所诟病。)could be是虚拟式,这里不可以用直述式can be,因为一个人是永远不能成为一个政府的。
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1705004096 ● 第三小节:儿子向老子开口要买汽车了,老子说:“你自己要一辆汽车!请听听他的话看!乳臭未干的小孩子,自己想要一辆汽车了!”will you之you并不指什么人,只是老子生气时所说的话,旁边未必有第三者在听他说话。wet behind the ears,相当于中文的“乳臭未干”,“胎毛未干”,原义是“你还要母亲给你洗脸呢!”
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1705004098 This is the sort of thing that goes on every day. Sarcasm, grumbling, out-and-out rage—how else should a father in this modern world express his affection and concern for his own son?
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1705004100 ● the sort of thing含混得好。如用the sort of conversation反而不确切;thing的范围比较conversation来得广,父亲骂儿子也不好算是conversation。这里要找一个确切的字很难,用了一个含糊的thing,读者也知道是怎么一回事了。
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1705004102 ● sarcasm:讥刺;反唇相讥。grumbling:叽喔咕噜地骂人;喃喃怨语。out-and-out:完全的,十足的。rage:盛怒;大发雷霆。affection:亲爱。concern:关怀。“这个年头,做老子的还有什么别的法子(how else)可以表示他对于他亲生儿子的慈爱和关切呢?”
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1705004104 But between a father and his daughter it isn’t so easy. Because a father can’t yell at his daughter, or wave his fist at her threateningly, or call her a good-for-nothing. More than one father has, of course. But he usually ends up with a terrible feeling of guilt over it. And then, when she smiles up at him and puts her hands on his shoulders and murmurs that pet name which he’s always been a sucker for, the most determined father in the world is as helpless as a baby.
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1705004106 ● wave his fist at her:拳头在她面前晃。threateningly:威胁状;作势欲打。good-for-nothing:无用之人;没出息的。
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1705004108 ● 第二句是Because开头的独立附属从句,照文法规定,这样写法是有毛病的。因为because是个subordinate conjunction,应该改用for(它是coordinate conjunction)。但是用because开头的独立句,现在很常见到。
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1705004110 ● More than one father has后面省去yelled,waved,called等字。这一句的has也有问题。既然是More than one,是不是该用have(动词复数形式)呢?但是这里的has没有错,林语堂的《开明英文法》中[5:42(6)]说:
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1705004112 Each, many a and more than one with nouns in the singular almost always take the singular verb.
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1705004114 该书又举了两个例子:
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1705004116 More than one person was suspected.
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1705004118 But there are more than one person involved in the matter.
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1705004120 第一例的动词紧跟着one person,故用单数形式was;第二例的动词紧接more,故用复数形式are。这样的用法合理吗?英文用法,本来只是习惯沿袭而已,并没有人来立过什么“法”。要是不合理,也只好由它去了。
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1705004122 ● ends up with:结局。照中文的想法(也是比较合理的想法),应该是“这件事情是如何如何的结局”,可是英文里面偏偏用人(he)来做主语。父亲骂了女儿,结局总是痛自后悔。feeling of guilt:歉疚之感。over=concerning,about。
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