1705004971 现代英文选评注 [:1705000324]

1705004972 现代英文选评注 Prescott历史家普瑞斯各德

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1705004974 Van Wyck Brooks (1886—1963)

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1705004976 本文作者勃鲁克斯是美国当代文学批评家，著作很多，最重要的是皇皇五巨册的《美国文学史》（Makers and Finders: A History of the Writer in America,1800–1915）。勃氏以生动华丽的文字，传记家的笔法，描写美国过去的文坛实况和文人言行，使得读者有身历其境、面对古人之感。所以有人说他这部文学史读来和历史小说一样地有趣。

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1705004978 本文选自《新英格兰的盛世》（The Flowering of New England,1815–1865），这一本书在他全部文学史里按出版年份来说是最早的一本（1936年出版），也是最成功的一本。在《新英格兰的盛世》这一时期里，美国文坛名家辈出，如朗费罗、爱默生、霍桑、梭罗等皆是，历史家普瑞斯各德的成就也许比不上他们这些人，但普氏以半盲之人，全凭苦心毅力，完成他的那部巨著The Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella，实在也值得介绍于中国读者之前。

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1705004980 Suddenly, in l837, out of the throng of historical studies, honest and laborious, some of them fervent, none of them august, a great work appeared, like a wonder of nature, as it seemed to American readers, —The Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella. It was a brilliant performance, as any child could see and no scholar was ever to deny. Its limitations were obvious enough. It was not a philosophical history. The author had no great leading views, nor any profound feeling for human motives. There were depths upon depths behind and beneath the story that he had never plumbed. But, as a work of art, a great historical narrative, grounded at every point in historical fact, and with all the glow and colour of Livy and Froissart, it was a magnificent success. Its outlines were as firm as those of a cartoon of Raphael, and its pageantry of picturesque detail was calculated to feed as never before the starved imagination of the country. The book had been planned like a battle and built as stoutly as a Salem clipper, destined to sail through many enchanted minds for generations to come.

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1705004982 ● throng：大量，很多种。1837年前几年间，美国出了好多种历史研究著作，都是老老实实苦心经营（laborious）之作，有几种热情充沛，但是没有一本是令人叹服（august）的杰作，忽然在那一年，从（out of）那一堆书里，出现了一本巨著，据美国读者看来，就像是一件奇迹（wonder of nature）。

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1705004984 ● 伊培利亚半岛上Aragon国国王Ferdinand于1469年娶Isabella为后，Isabella于1474年复继位为Castile国的女王，这两国的联合奠定了今日西班牙的基础。十五世纪的西班牙在他们统治（reign）之下，国势极盛，哥伦布发现新大陆，就是在他们俩赞助下完成的。普氏的巨著，就是以这个时代为题材。

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1705004986 ● brilliant performance：精彩之作。这一点小孩子都看得出来，专家学者也从没有人否认过。

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1705004988 ● limitations：限制，缺点。虽然是本巨著，但并非十全十美，缺点很明显。

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1705004990 ● philosophical history：哲学历史。从哲学观点来写的历史，历史中包含哲学思想者。

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1705004992 ● leading views：主要的观点。great这里应作“高明”解。human motives：人类行为的动机。普通历史家只研究事情本身，有心理学修养的历史家，还要研究事情后面的动机。但是普氏在这方面并没有深刻的认识。

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1705004994 ● depths upon depths：故事的后面、故事的底下，一层复一层的，深藏着人心的奥秘，但是普氏从来没有往深处去探测。普氏只对于故事本身发生兴趣。

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1705004996 ● 这部历史虽然缺乏深刻的哲理和心理动机的分析。但是我们拿它当作一件艺术品来看或是一部伟大的历史叙事文来读，我们不得不承认这是部了不起的著作（magnificent success）。

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1705004998 ● grounded是过去分词，形容narrative，意为“建立”。这部历史所讲的许多事迹，没有一处是向壁虚构，每一句话都有根据：“每一点都建立于历史事实之上。”

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1705005000 ● Livy（59 B.C.— A.D.17）是罗马历史家。Froissart（1337？—1400）是法国历史家。他们的文章都是有光彩的（glow and colour），普氏的文章也可以和他们的媲美。

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1705005002 ● 最后几句话都是赞扬普氏巨著的优点。他这本书的轮廓明确，就像拉斐尔的勾勒画稿一样。cartoon现在普通译作“卡通”或“漫画”，这里解作“勾勒画稿”，即油画、壁画、织锦等动工以前，先在厚纸上用钢笔所画的草稿。拉斐尔是文艺复兴时期意大利画家。这部书的“轮廓明确”，说的是它的计划周密，叙事次序井然，无轻重偏颇之病。

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1705005004 ● picturesque detail：如画的细节。本书的组织完整，各处小节描写，又生动美丽如画，使人目不暇接，犹如盛大赛会，化装游行（pageantry）一般。calculated=fit，suitable（足以产生某种结果）。to feed the imagination of the country：给美国人民以精神食粮，激发他们的想象力，starved：饥饿的。十九世纪初叶，美国人的精神生活很是贫乏，所能想象的东西很有限。普氏此书，活龙活现地描写西班牙国势最盛的一段时期，大多为美国人见所未见，闻所未闻的事情，美国人欢迎这本书，无异是饥民之得美食。as never before：以前所出的书，从来没有像这本书那样能满足美国人者。

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1705005006 ● like a battle：本书写作以前，设计周密审慎，犹如参谋本部计划一场战争一样。Salem：美国麻州之海港，为当时美国造船业之中心。clipper：快帆船。本书的结构完美，颠扑不破，如Salem快船一般地结实（stoutly built）。按：普氏为Salem地方的人，这个譬喻用得很适当。

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1705005008 ● destined原意是“命中注定的”，但通常并不含有“命运”的意义，只是指“将来有某种结果”而已。他这只船造成以后，将要在未来世世代代（for generations to come）读者的心灵中航行。enchanted：着迷的；这本书可以使人入迷，使读者犹如置身于十五世纪的西班牙一般。船在很多人的心灵中航行，就是说很多人要读它（读了还要着迷）。

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1705005010 It was the work of William Hickling Prescott, Ticknor’s young friend, the charming, amusing son of Judge Prescott, who lived in his ample house in Bedford Street, overlooking a beautiful garden. Prescott?—who could believe it? He was partly blind, and he had an extravagant love of jolly parties. He talked with a joyous abandon, running over with animal spirits, laughing at his own inconsequences, with always some new joke or witty sally. He could be happy in more ways, in spite of his defective eyes, and happier in every one of them, than anyone else his friends had ever seen. One met him in the street, with his gay blue satin waistcoat, tall, graceful, with light brown hair and a clear and ruddy complexion. He seemed to look younger everyday. It was known that, for twenty years, he and a group of his friends had carried on a literary club, reading their papers over a merry supper. He had printed a few essays in the review. But this was in a dilettantish spirit, everyone supposed. One of his relatives, meeting him on the street, not long before his book appeared, urged him to undertake some serious task. It would be so good for him. It would be more respectable than leading this unprofitable life.

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1705005012 ● George Ticknor（1791—1871）：当时有名学者，曾任哈佛大学法文、西班牙文教授，学识渊博，喜奖掖后进。普氏年龄比他轻五岁。

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1705005014 ● 第一句说明普氏家世，其父任法官，家里房子很大。社会人士对他的认识是如此。作者并不直叙普氏的家世与为人，这里只是描写当时的人看见普氏的巨著后的惊奇心理：凭这样一个人也能写出这样一部书来吗？

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1705005016 ● partly blind：半盲。jolly parties：热闹的社交宴会。

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1705005018 ● abandon：随便（名词）。说起话来总很高兴，想说什么就说什么。

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1705005020 ● animal spirits：活泼好动的劲儿（此二字为成语）。running over：滔滔不绝地说话。inconsequences：前言不对后语，自己也觉得好笑。running和laughing都是形容主语He，描写他说话的情形。sally：隽语，俏皮话。

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