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现代英文选评注 Michael and Mary金船
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Seumas O’Kelly (1881—1918)
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本文采自《爱尔兰短篇小说故事集》（Irish Stories ＆ Tales）。爱尔兰人与英格兰人种族不同，其地虽久为英国所统治，然其人对英国素乏好感。十九世纪末，随爱尔兰民族主义之抬头，爱尔兰文学也力求表现其民族之特色。所谓“爱尔兰文艺复兴”（The Irish Literary Revival）之目的，即为摆脱英国文学之传统，以新形式表现爱尔兰人之思想与信仰。现在南爱尔兰为一独立国（不属英联邦）。爱尔兰文学在戏剧、诗歌、小说方面亦颇多表现，为英语文学放一异彩。二十世纪最伟大小说家之一James Joyce，即为爱尔兰人。《爱尔兰短篇小说故事集》所收诸人，如Oscar Wilde, Bernard Shaw, George Moore, Se n O’Faoláin, Frank O’Connor等，皆文坛俊彦。Seumas O’Kelly之声名，虽不如上述诸人，然此篇细腻动人，允称佳作。
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Mary had spent many days gathering wool from the whins on the headland. They were the bits of wool shed by the sheep before the shearing. When she had got a fleece that fitted the basket she took it down to the canal and washed it. When she had done washing it was a soft, white, silky fleece. She put it back in the brown sally basket, pressing it down with her long, delicate fingers. She had risen to go away, holding the basket against her waist, when her eyes followed the narrow neck of water that wound through the bog.
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● 本文题名“Michael and Mary”，现在Michael尚未出现。
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● gathering wool：拾羊毛。whins：暗色的岩石，粗玄岩。headland：山岩，想是牧羊之所。
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● shed：褪脱。羊在修剪（shearing）之前，自己会褪毛。毛落山野间，贫家女子捡来，亦有微利可博。
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● a fleece：原意是“一次剪下之羊毛”，这里当然是“一次拾来的羊毛”。that fitted the basket：篮子里盛得下的。
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● had done washing：洗毕。
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● sally：柳枝，是sallow之变体。pressing down：用力塞进去。long, delicate fingers：关于这个女子的美，只有这几个字形容。
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● neck of water：水道。即上述之运河（canal）。followed：眼睛跟着河道望去。bog：潮湿之泥炭地。运河在这种沼泽地上蜿蜒（wound）流过。
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She could not follow the neck of yellow water very far. The light of day was failing. A haze hung over the great Bog of Allen that spread out level on all sides of her. The boat loomed out of the haze on the narrow neck of the canal water. It looked, at first, a long way off, and it seemed to come in a cloud. The soft rose light that mounted the sky caught the boat and burnished it like dull gold. It came leisurely, drawn by the one horse looking like a Golden Barque in the twilight. Mary put her brown head a little to one side as she watched the easy motion of the boat. The horse drew himself along deliberately, the patient head going up and down with every heavy step. A crane rose from the bog, flapping two lazy wings across the wake of the boat, and, reaching its long neck before it, got lost in the haze.
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● 本段是风景描写，有几个有关色彩的形容词，尤其要请读者注意。色彩并不艳丽，然而很醒目。本文的浪漫情调是很明显的，但是这里到底只是乡村风光，并非仙境，运河也只是一条“黄流”，并不是碧绿的。
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● 天色将暮，日光渐暗（failing），她看不远。
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● Bog of Allen：这块沼泽地大约不小，居然有它的专用名字。爱尔兰北部有湖名Lough (=Lake) Allen，这块沼泽地想必离此不远。level是形容词，形容主语that，沼泽地平平地向四周伸展开来。
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● The boat：这里不用She suddenly saw…等字样，这种写法在英文里并不显得突兀。loomed：朦胧中突然出现，通常用于形体庞大的东西。boat虽是小船，但是四周雾气（haze）低垂，船穿雾而出，疑是驾云（in a cloud）而来，也会使人觉得很大的。
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● soft rose light：雾气中看出来的霞光，用这几个字恐怕是最为妥贴。mounted：升（空）。空中霞光，应该普照万物，但是周围都是平平的地和水，没有突出的东西，单单照在船上，好像霞光只有一道，专照（caught：捉住）这艘小船的。burnished：磨擦（金属，使光亮）。小船在雾气之中，为霞光所照，色彩一定很美。但是假如真说它灿烂若黄金，未免显得过火。这里dull一字用得最为恰当。
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● leisurely：船并不急驶。horse：中国有用民夫拉纤行船的，爱尔兰恐怕是用马拉纤的。马在岸上走，船在水中行。Golden Barque：典不详，想必爱尔兰民间传说中有“仙舟”这种东西，乡村女子在暮色苍茫之中（in the twilight），逢此奇景，很可能往这方面联想上去的。barque即bark，小船。乡间小船，认作仙人金槎，这就是我所谓“浪漫情调”。
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● brown head：头发的颜色。put…to one side：侧着头。
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● crane：鹤。四周本来一片静寂，小船出现，打破了这种沉寂，作者特别叫一只野鹤受惊飞起，描写就更有生气。中国旧诗中这种“画龙点睛”之法很常见，读者不妨参照。
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● lazy wings：和前面船的leisurely以及马的deliberately相呼应。wake：船身后边的水流。reaching its neck：伸长它的头颈。before it=before the crane。
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The figure that swayed by the big arm of the tiller on The Golden Barque was vague and shapeless at first, but Mary felt her eyes following the slow movements of the body. Mary thought it was very beautiful to sway every now and then by the arm of the tiller, steering a Golden Barque through the twilight.
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● figure：人的身形。朦胧中还看不仔细。swayed是不及物动词：摇摆。tiller：舵柄；想必粗而且长，故说the big arm。
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● The Golden Barque：小船的名字，我们不知道。但是在Mary想象之中，她觉得它很美，就干脆叫它金船了。
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