英語(yǔ)文學(xué)美文帶翻譯欣賞
閱讀是英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)的一項(xiàng)基本技能,也是英語(yǔ)教學(xué)中的非常重要的一部分。下面是學(xué)習(xí)啦小編帶來(lái)的英語(yǔ)文學(xué)美文帶翻譯欣賞，歡迎閱讀!
英語(yǔ)文學(xué)美文帶翻譯欣賞篇一
Hate(Excerpt)
仇 恨(節(jié)選)
Hendrik Willem Van Loon
亨德里克·威廉·房龍
Suddenly the war was over, and Hitler was captured and brought to Amsterdam. A militarytribunal condemned him to death. But how should he die? To shoot or hang him seemed tooquick, too merciful. Then someone uttered what was in everybody’s mind: the man who hadcaused such incredible suffering should be burned to death.
戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)忽然結(jié)束，希特勒抓到了，押解到阿姆斯特丹。軍事法庭判他死刑?？稍趺磦€(gè)死法?槍斃了吧，上絞刑架吧，都未免死的太快、太便宜了他。后來(lái)，不知是誰(shuí)說(shuō)出了大家的心里話：此人造成的苦難簡(jiǎn)直令人難以置信，應(yīng)該把他燒死。
“But,” objected one judge, “our biggest public square in Amsterdam holds only 10,000 people,and 7,000,000 Dutch men, women and children will want to be there to curse him during hisdying moments.”
“可是，”有一名法官不贊成，“我們阿姆斯特丹最大的廣場(chǎng)也只能容納萬(wàn)把人，可他要死了，到時(shí)候男男女女，少小娃子，是荷蘭人誰(shuí)不想上前去咒他一句，總得有700萬(wàn)人啊。”
Then another judge had an idea. Hitler should be burned at the stake, but the wood was to beignited by the explosion of a handful of gunpowder set off by a long fuse which should start inRotterdam and follow the main road to Amsterdam by way of Delft, The Hague, Leiden andHaarlem. Thus millions of people crowding the wide avenues which connect those cities couldwatch the fuse burn its way northward to Herr Hitler’s funeral pyre.
于是又一名法官出了個(gè)點(diǎn)子，希特勒應(yīng)該綁在火刑架上燒死，不過(guò)木柴要拿一把火藥來(lái)點(diǎn)著，火藥用一根長(zhǎng)引線來(lái)引爆，引線應(yīng)該從鹿特丹牽起，然后沿著主干公路，走德爾夫特、海牙、萊登、哈勒姆，再接到阿姆斯特丹。這樣，千家萬(wàn)戶平民百姓，簇?fù)碓谶B接這幾座城市的寬闊大道上，都可以一睹這根引線由南向北一路燃去，直到把為希特勒閣下舉行火葬的柴火堆點(diǎn)著。
A plebiscite was taken as to whether this was a fitting punishment. There were 4,981,076 yeasand one nay. The nay was voted by a man who preferred that Hitler be pulled to pieces by fourhorses.
如此懲辦是否妥當(dāng)，還特地舉行了一次公民投票。計(jì)有4981076票贊成，一票反對(duì)。投反對(duì)票者提出，應(yīng)對(duì)希特勒處以四馬分尸。
At last the great day came. The ceremony commenced at four o’clock on a June morning. Themother of three sons who had been shot by the Nazis for an act of sabotage they did notcommit set fire to the fuse while a choir sang a solemn hymn of gratitude. Then the peopleburst forth into a shout of triumph.
這個(gè)盛大的日子終于來(lái)臨6月的一天，清晨4時(shí)整，葬儀開始。有一位母親，她的3個(gè)兒子都叫納粹殺害了，說(shuō)是犯有莫須有的破壞行為。如今引線就由她來(lái)點(diǎn)燃，這時(shí)唱詩(shī)班唱起了一首莊嚴(yán)的感恩贊美詩(shī)。接著人群里爆發(fā)出一陣勝利的歡呼。
The spark slowly made its way from Rotterdam to Delft, and on toward the great square inAmsterdam. People had come from every part of the country. Special seats had been providedfor the aged and the lame and the relatives of murdered hostages.
火花從鹿特丹慢慢燃到德爾夫特，往前再奔阿姆斯特丹的廣場(chǎng)。全國(guó)四面八方都來(lái)了人。上年紀(jì)的、有殘疾的、遇害人質(zhì)的親屬，都備有專席接待。
Hitler, clad in a long yellow shirt, had been chained to the stake. He preserved a stoicalsilence until a little boy climbed upon the pile of wood surrounding the former Fuhrer andplaced there a placard which read, “This is the world’s greatest murderer.” This so aggravatedHitler’s pent-up feelings that he burst forth into one of his old harangues.
希特勒身穿黃色長(zhǎng)衫，已經(jīng)被鎖鏈拴在了火刑柱上。他始終保持自制，默不作聲，直到有個(gè)小男孩爬上這位元首身邊的柴堆，貼上一張告示，寫的是：“本人乃蓋世元兇。”這下可激發(fā)了希特勒憋在心里的情緒，他居然故伎重演，破口大罵起來(lái)。
The crowd gaped, for it was a grotesque sight to see this little man ranting away just as if hewere addressing his followers. Then a terrific howl of derision silenced him.
觀眾都傻了眼：這么個(gè)小小人物竟然大放厥詞，活像是在對(duì)他的徒子徒孫訓(xùn)話，真是一大奇觀，好不滑稽。接著是驚天動(dòng)地的吼聲一片，嘲笑四起，把他鎮(zhèn)住了。
Now came the great moment of the day. About three o’clock in the afternoon the sparkreached the outskirts of Amsterdam. Suddenly there was a roll of drums. Then, with anemotion such as they had never experienced before, the people sang the Wilhelmus, thenational anthem. Hitler, now ashen-gray, futilely strained at his chains.
最隆重的時(shí)刻到了，下午3點(diǎn)鐘光景，火花燃到了阿姆斯特丹的效區(qū)。剎時(shí)間鼓聲震天。接著，人們懷著從來(lái)沒(méi)有這么激動(dòng)的心情，唱起了國(guó)歌《威爾海爾慕斯》。希特勒這時(shí)面如死灰，枉自在鎖鏈里掙扎。
When the Wilhelmus came to an end the spark was only a few feet from the gunpowder; fivemore minutes and Hitler would die a horrible death. The crowd broke forth in a shout of hate. Aminute went by. Another minute. Silence returned. Now the fuse had only a few inches to go.And at that moment the incredible happened.
國(guó)歌唱畢，火花離火藥只有幾英尺了，再過(guò)5分鐘，希特勒就不得好死了。觀眾仇恨心切，一下子迸發(fā)出來(lái)，喊聲大作。一分鐘過(guò)去了，又過(guò)了一分鐘，重新安靜下來(lái)。眼看引線只剩下幾英寸了。就在此時(shí)此刻，偏偏出了不可思議的事。
A wizened little man wriggled through the line of soldiers standing guard. Everybody knew whohe was. Two of his sons had been machine-gunned to death by parachute troops; his wife andthree daughters had perished in Rotterdam’s holocaust. Since then, the poor fellow had seemeddeprived of reason, wandering aimlessly about and supported by public charity—an object ofuniversal pity.
有個(gè)一身干癟的小個(gè)子男人，拐彎抹角混過(guò)了執(zhí)行警戒的士兵隊(duì)列。誰(shuí)都知道他。他有兩個(gè)兒子，叫傘兵部隊(duì)拿機(jī)槍掃死了;他的妻子，3個(gè)女兒，都在鹿特丹的大屠殺中殺喪生。從那時(shí)起，這個(gè)可憐的人就好像一直神志不清，他無(wú)所事事，到處流浪，全靠社會(huì)上的慈善團(tuán)體養(yǎng)著——一個(gè)人人見(jiàn)了都同情的人物。
But what he did now made the crowd turn white with anger. For he deliberately stamped uponthe fuse and put it out.
可眼下他的舉動(dòng)觸犯了眾怒，大家臉都?xì)獾盟祝瓉?lái)他特意跑來(lái)踩那根引線，把火踩滅了。
“Kill him! Kill him!” the mob shouted. But the old man quietly faced the menacing populace.Slowly he lifted both arms toward heaven. Then in a voice charged with fury, he said:
“殺了他!殺了他!”眾人叫嚷起來(lái)。只見(jiàn)老人面對(duì)著殺氣騰騰的群眾，神色從容。他緩緩地朝天舉起雙臂。接著，他憤恨地說(shuō)：
“Now let us do it all over again!”
“咱們?cè)購(gòu)念^點(diǎn)起來(lái)!”
英語(yǔ)文學(xué)美文帶翻譯欣賞篇二
How Should One Read a Book?
怎樣讀書?
Virginia Woolf
弗吉尼亞·伍爾夫
It is simple enough to say that since books have classes——fiction，biography，poetry——weshould separate them and take from each what it is right that each should give us. Yet fewpeople ask from books what books can give us. Most commonly we come to books with blurredand divided minds，asking of fiction that it shall be true，of poetry that it shall be false，ofbiography that it shall be flattering，of history that it shall enforce our own prejudices. If wecould banish all such preconceptions when we read，that would be an admirable beginning. Donot dictate to your author;Try to become him. Be his fellow-worker and accomplice. If youhang back，and reserve and criticize at first，you are preventing yourself from getting thefullest possible value from what you read. But if you open your mind as widely as possible，thesigns and hints of almost imperceptible fineness，from the twist and turn of the firstsentences，will bring you into the presence of a human being unlike any other. Steep yourselfin this，acquaint yourself with this，and soon you will find that your author is giving you，orattempting to give you，something far more definite. The thirty-two chapters of a novel—if weconsider how to read a novel first——are an attempt to make something as formed andcontrolled as a building：but words are more impalpable than bricks;Reading is a longer andmore complicated process than seeing. Perhaps the quickest way to understand the elementsof what a novelist is doing is not to read，but to write;To make your own experiment with thedangers and difficulties of words. Recall，then，some event that has left a distinct impressionon you—how at the corner of the street，perhaps，you passed two people talking. A treeshook;an electric light danced;the tone of the talk was comic，but also tragic;a wholevision;an entire conception，seemed contained in that moment.
書既然有小說(shuō)，傳記，詩(shī)歌之分，就應(yīng)區(qū)別對(duì)待，從各類書中取其應(yīng)該給及我們的東西。這話說(shuō)來(lái)很簡(jiǎn)單。然而很少有人向書索取它能給我們的東西，我們拿起書來(lái)往往懷著模糊而又雜亂的想法，要求小說(shuō)是真是的，詩(shī)歌是虛假的，傳記要吹捧，史書能加強(qiáng)我們自己的偏見(jiàn)。讀書時(shí)如能拋開這些先入為主之見(jiàn)，便是極好的開端。不要對(duì)作者指手畫腳，而要盡力與作者融為一體，共同創(chuàng)作，共同策劃。如果你不參與，不投入，而且一開始就百般挑剔，那你就無(wú)緣從書中獲得最大的益處。你若敞開心扉，虛懷若谷，那么，書中精細(xì)入微的寓意和暗示便會(huì)把你從一開頭就碰上的那些像是山回水轉(zhuǎn)般的句子中帶出來(lái)，走到一個(gè)獨(dú)特的人物面前。鉆進(jìn)去熟悉它，你很快就會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)，作者展示給你的或想要展示給你的是一些比原先要明確得多的東西。不妨閑來(lái)談?wù)勅绾巫x小說(shuō)吧。一部長(zhǎng)篇小說(shuō)分成三十二章，是作者的苦心經(jīng)營(yíng)，想把它建構(gòu)得如同一座錯(cuò)落有致的布局合理的大廈?？墒窃~語(yǔ)比磚塊更難捉摸，閱讀比觀看更費(fèi)時(shí)、更復(fù)雜。了解作家創(chuàng)作的個(gè)中滋味。最有效的途徑恐怕不是讀而是寫，通過(guò)寫親自體驗(yàn)一下文字工作的艱難險(xiǎn)阻?；叵胍患阌洃洃n新的事吧。比方說(shuō)，在街道的拐彎處遇到兩個(gè)人正在談話，樹影婆娑，燈光搖曳，談話的調(diào)子喜中有悲。這一瞬間似乎包含了一種完善的意境，全面的構(gòu)思。
But when you attempt to reconstruct it in words，you will find that it breaks into a thousandconflicting impressions. Some must be subdued;others emphasized;in the process you willlose，probably，all grasp upon the emotion itself. Then turn from your blurred and litteredpages to the opening pages of some great novelist—Defoe，Jane Austen，or Hardy. Now youwill be better able to appreciate their mastery. It is not merely that we are in the presence ofa different person—Defoe，Jane Austen，or Thomas Hardy—but that we are living in a differentworld. Here，in Robinson Crusoe，we are trudging a plain high road;one thing happens afteranother;the fact and the order of the fact is enough. But if the open air and adventure meaneverything to Defoe they mean nothing to Jane Austen. Hers is the drawing-room，and peopletalking，and by the many mirrors of their talk revealing their characters. And if，when we haveaccustomed ourselves to the drawing-room and its reflections，we turn to Hardy，we are oncemore spun around. The other side of the mind is now exposed—the dark side that comesuppermost in solitude，not the light side that shows in company. Our relations are nottowards people，but towards Nature and destiny. Yet different as these worlds are，each isconsistent with itself. The maker of each is careful to observe the laws of his ownperspective，and however great a strain they may put upon us they will never confuseus，as lesser writers so frequently do，by introducing two different kinds of reality into thesame book. Thus to go from one great novelist to another—from Jane Austen to Hardy，fromPeacock to Trollope，from Scott to Meredith —is to be wrenched and uprooted;to be thrownthis way and then that. To read a novel is a difficult and complex art. You must be capable notonly of great finesse of perception，but of great boldness of imagination if you are going tomake use of all that the novelist—the great artist—gives you.
可是當(dāng)你打算用文字來(lái)重現(xiàn)此情此景的時(shí)候。它卻化作千頭萬(wàn)緒互相沖突的印象。有的必須淡化，有的則應(yīng)加突出。在處理過(guò)程中你可能對(duì)整個(gè)意境根本把握不住了。這時(shí)，還是把你那些寫得含糊雜亂的一頁(yè)頁(yè)書稿擱到一邊，翻開某位小說(shuō)大師，如笛福，簡(jiǎn)·奧斯汀或哈代的作品來(lái)從頭讀吧。這時(shí)候你就能更深刻地領(lǐng)略大師們駕馭文字的技巧了。因?yàn)槲覀儾粌H面對(duì)一個(gè)個(gè)不同的人物—笛福、簡(jiǎn)·奧斯汀或托馬斯·哈代，而且置身于不同的世界。閱讀《魯賓遜漂流記》時(shí)，我們仿佛跋涉在狂野大道上，事件一個(gè)接一個(gè)，故事再加上故事情節(jié)的安排就足夠了。如果說(shuō)曠野和歷險(xiǎn)對(duì)笛福來(lái)說(shuō)就是一切，那么對(duì)簡(jiǎn)·奧斯汀就毫無(wú)意義了。她的世界是客廳和客廳中閑聊的人們。這些人的言談像一面面的鏡子，反映出他們的性格特征。當(dāng)我們熟悉了奧斯汀的客廳及其反映出來(lái)的事物以后再去讀哈代的作品，又得轉(zhuǎn)向另一個(gè)世界。周圍茫?；囊埃^頂一片星空。此時(shí)，心靈的另一面，不要聚會(huì)結(jié)伴時(shí)顯示出來(lái)的輕松愉快的一面，而是孤獨(dú)時(shí)最容易萌生的憂郁陰沉的一面。和我們打交道的不是人，而是自然與命運(yùn)。雖然這些世界截然不同，它們自身卻渾然一體。每一個(gè)世界的創(chuàng)造者都小心翼翼地遵循自己觀察事物的法則，不管他們的作品讀起來(lái)如何費(fèi)力，卻不會(huì)像蹩腳的作家那樣，把格格不入的兩種現(xiàn)實(shí)塞進(jìn)一部作品中，使人感到不知所云。因此讀完一位偉大作家的小說(shuō)再去讀另一位的，比如說(shuō)從簡(jiǎn)·奧斯汀到哈代，從皮科克到特羅洛普，從司各特到梅瑞狄斯，就好像被猛力扭動(dòng)，連根拔起，拋來(lái)拋去。說(shuō)實(shí)在的，讀小說(shuō)是一門困難而又復(fù)雜的藝術(shù)。要想充分享用小說(shuō)作者，偉大的藝術(shù)家給予你的一切，你不僅要具備高度的感受能力，還得有大膽的想象力。
英語(yǔ)文學(xué)美文帶翻譯欣賞篇三
In Praise of the Humble Comma
小小逗號(hào)贊
Pico Lyer
皮科·埃爾
The gods, they say, give breath, and they take it away. But the samesaid-could be said-could itnot?-of the humble comma. Add it to the present clause, and, all of a sudden, the mind is,quite literally, given pause to think; take it out if you wish or forget it and the mind is deprivedof a resting place. Yet still the comma gets no respea. It seems just a slip of a thing, apedant's tick, a blip on the edge of our consciousness, a kind of printer's smudge almost.Small, we claim, is beautiful (especially in the age of the microchip). Yet what is so often used,and so rarely called, as the comma-unless it be breath itself?
人都說(shuō)神仙把氣賜予生靈，又把氣奪走。不過(guò)這話用在小小的逗號(hào)上，何嘗不是如此?給現(xiàn)在這句加上逗號(hào)，腦子里真會(huì)，突然，停下來(lái)想想;若隨意去掉，或忘了它，就剝奪了腦子休息的空間。盡管如此，逗號(hào)仍然不受人算重。它似乎只是一個(gè)小撇，書呆子手下的一個(gè)小點(diǎn)兒，是我們意識(shí)邊緣上的一個(gè)記號(hào)，甚至排字工人沾上的一點(diǎn)污。我們好說(shuō)以小為美(尤其在這集成電路時(shí)代)。然而，還有什么東西是像逗號(hào)那樣頻頻使用而又那樣默默無(wú)聞的呢?——不就是氣嗎?
Punctuation, one is taught, has a point: to keep up law and order. Punctuation marks are theroad signs placed along the highway of our communication——to control speeds，providedirections and prevent head-on collisions. A period has the unblinking finality of a red light,the comma is a flashing yellow light that asks us only to slow down, and the semicolon is astop sign that tells us to ease gradually to a halt, before gradually starting up again. Byestablishing the relations between words, punctuation establishes the relations between thepeople using words. That may be one reason why school teachers exalt it and lovers defy it("we love each other and belong to each other let’s don’t ever hurt each other Nicole let's don'tever hurt each other,” wrote Gary Gilmore to his girlfriend )A comma ，he must have known, "separate inseparables" ，in the clinching words of H. W. Fowler, King of English Usage.
我們都學(xué)過(guò)，標(biāo)點(diǎn)有一個(gè)目的：維持法律與秩序。標(biāo)點(diǎn)符號(hào)正是我們交通要道上一路設(shè)置的路標(biāo)——用以控制速度，指示方向，避免迎頭相撞。句號(hào)具有紅燈的一絲不茍，說(shuō)一不二;逗號(hào)是一閃一閃的黃燈，要求我們只是放慢速度;分號(hào)則是停車標(biāo)記，指示我們緩緩煞車，然后再緩緩啟動(dòng)標(biāo)點(diǎn)建立起詞與詞之間的關(guān)系，從而建立起用詞人之間的關(guān)系。教師捧它，情人煩它，其原因蓋出于此。(蓋瑞·基爾摩爾給女友寫道：“我愛(ài)你你愛(ài)我我是你的你是我的我們永遠(yuǎn)誰(shuí)也別傷誰(shuí)的心科爾我們永遠(yuǎn)誰(shuí)也別傷誰(shuí)的心。”)他一定學(xué)過(guò)英語(yǔ)慣用法大王福勒的斷言：逗號(hào)是“把不可分開的東西分開”。
Punctuation, then, is a civic prop, a pillar that holds society upright. (A run on sentence, itsphrases piling up without division, is as unsightly as a sink piled high with dirty dishes.)Smallwonder,then,that punctuation was one of the first proprieties of the Victorian age, the age ofthe corset, that the modernists threw off the sexual revolution might be said to have begunwhen Joyce's Molly Bloomis spilled out all her private thoughts in 36 pages of unbridled, almostunperioded and officially censored prose: and another are bellion was surely marked whenE.E.Cummings first felt free to commit "God" to the lower case.
如此說(shuō)來(lái)，標(biāo)點(diǎn)乃是百姓的支柱，是支撐社會(huì)不至于垮掉的棟梁冗長(zhǎng)的句子，詞組堆砌成贅而不分彼此，就好比洗碗槽堆滿了臟碗，很不雅觀。)也難怪在維多利亞時(shí)代，風(fēng)行緊身胸衣的時(shí)代，標(biāo)點(diǎn)是講禮貌的頭等大事，而現(xiàn)代派一概棄之門外。性的革命可以說(shuō)就是始于喬伊斯筆下的莫莉·布魯姆，她將全部私衷一吐為快，洋洋36頁(yè)文字信口道來(lái)，幾乎沒(méi)有句號(hào)，遭到官家查禁。再就是卡明斯，肯定也算造反，他當(dāng)初為所欲為，擅自將“Cod”貶為小寫。
Punctuation thus becomes the signatrire of cultures. The hot-blooded Spaniard seems to berevealed in the passion and urgency of his doubled exclamation points and question marks ( "iCaramba! LQuien sabe?"), while the impassive Chinese traditionally added to his so-calledinscrutability by omitting directions from his ideograms. The anarchy and commotion of the60s were given voice in the exploding exclamation marks, riotous capital letters and Day-Gloitalics of Tom Wolfe's spray-paint prose; and in Communist societies, where the State isabsolute, the dignity-and divinity-of capital letters is reserved for Ministries, Sub-Committeesand Secretariats.
于是，標(biāo)點(diǎn)成了不同文化的標(biāo)志。西班牙人性好激動(dòng)，打驚嘆號(hào)打問(wèn)號(hào)都用雙重的(“jCaramba! LQuiensabe?”見(jiàn)鬼啦!誰(shuí)能明白?)情真意切，如見(jiàn)其人;中國(guó)人則不好動(dòng)聲色，表意字的文言自古就不注標(biāo)點(diǎn)，所謂胸有城府，益見(jiàn)其深。湯姆·沃爾夫那種噴漆式的散文體，驚嘆號(hào)一哄而起，大寫字母泛濫成災(zāi)，斜體字像是涂了熒光漆，無(wú)不表達(dá)了60年代的無(wú)法無(wú)天和亂作一團(tuán);而在共產(chǎn)黨當(dāng)政的社會(huì)，國(guó)家至上，大寫字母的尊嚴(yán)——與神威——只留給政府各部委和書記處享用。
Yet punctuation is something more than a culture's birthmark; it scores the music in ourminds, gets our thoughts moving to the rhythm of our hearts. Punctuation is the notation inthe sheet music of our words, telling us when to rest, or when to raise our voices; itacknowledges that the meaning of our discourse, as of any symphonic composition, lies notonly in the units but in the pauses, the pacing and the phrasing. Punctuation is the way onebats one's eyes, lowers one's voice or blushes demurely. Punctuation adjusts the tone andcolor and volume till the feeling comes into perfea focus: not disgust exactly, but distastes; notlust, or like, but love.
然而，標(biāo)點(diǎn)又不僅是某一種文化的胎記;它記下我們心中的樂(lè)曲，指引我們的思想與我們的心聲合拍。標(biāo)點(diǎn)是我們作詞的歌篇上的樂(lè)譜，它告訴我們何時(shí)休止，何時(shí)提高嗓門;它表明，我們說(shuō)話著文，猶如譜寫交響樂(lè)曲，情意所至，不僅見(jiàn)于整體段落，也見(jiàn)于起落有間、快慢有節(jié)以及長(zhǎng)短有致。標(biāo)點(diǎn)就像人眨眨眼睛，低聲細(xì)語(yǔ)，或忸怩作態(tài)。標(biāo)點(diǎn)可調(diào)整音調(diào)、音色和音量，直至找準(zhǔn)了感情，萬(wàn)無(wú)一失：未必是厭惡，而是厭煩;并非情欲之類，而是情愛(ài)。
Punctuation, in short, gives us the human voice, and all the meanings that lie between thewords. "You aren't young, are you?" loses its innocence when it loses the question mark.Every child knows the menace of a dropped apostrophe (the parent's "Don't do that" shiftinginto the more slowly enunciated "Do not do that"), and every believer, the ignominy of havinghis faith reduced to "faith." Add an exclamation point to "To be or not to be..." and thegloomy Dane m has all the resolve he needs; add a comma, and the noble sobriety of "Godsave the Queen" becomes a cry of desperation bordering on double sacrilege.
簡(jiǎn)言之，標(biāo)點(diǎn)給我們傳來(lái)話音，傳來(lái)字里行間的全部含義。“你不小了，是吧?”這話去掉問(wèn)號(hào)，無(wú)心便成了有意。做父母的先是說(shuō)“Don't do that”(“別做那事”)，轉(zhuǎn)而又慢聲慢氣交代清楚：“Do not.dothat”(不要做那事)，每個(gè)孩子都聽得明白，拿掉了撇號(hào)可就把話說(shuō)絕了。每個(gè)信徒也都明白，把他的信教加上引號(hào)，所謂“信教”，那可是在污辱他。給“生存或者滅亡……”一句添上個(gè)驚嘆號(hào)，那位憂心忡忡的丹麥人便是毅然決然萬(wàn)死不辭之士。在“上帝保佑女王”中間加個(gè)逗號(hào)，那崇高的莊嚴(yán)則成了絕望的呼號(hào)，簡(jiǎn)直是對(duì)雙方的褻瀆。
Sometimes, of course, our markings may be simply a matter of aesthetics.Popping in a commacan be like slipping on the necklace that gives an outfit quiet elegance, or like catching thesound of running water that complements as it completes the silence of a Japaneselandscape. When VS.
Naipaul , in his latest novel, writes, "He was a middle-aged man, with glasses," the first commacan seem a little precious. Yet it gives the description a spin, as well as a subtlety, that itotherwise lacks, and it shows that the glasses are not part of the middle-agedness, butsomething else.
當(dāng)然，’有時(shí)我們的標(biāo)點(diǎn)符號(hào)也許只是個(gè)審美的問(wèn)題。插進(jìn)一個(gè)逗號(hào)，猶如給一套服裝悄然配上項(xiàng)鏈，使之顯得嫻靜優(yōu)雅，又如在日本園林的一片幽靜之外還聽到潺潺流水聲，使園景更加充實(shí)。奈保爾在他新近的一部小說(shuō)中寫道：“他是個(gè)中年人，戴著一副眼鏡。”前一個(gè)逗號(hào)看似有點(diǎn)做作。然而它使描述更為婉轉(zhuǎn)，也更為微妙，否則都顯不出來(lái);它還表明，那副眼鏡并非人到中年就非戴不可，而是別有由來(lái)。
Thus all these tiny scratches give us breadth and heft and depth. A world that has only periodsis a world without inflections. It is a world without shade. It has a music without sharps andflats. It is a martial music. It has a jackboot rhythm. Words cannot bend and curve. Acomma, by comparison,catches the gentle drift of the mind in thought, turning in on itselfand back on itself, reversing, redoubling and returning along the course of its own sweet rivermusic; while the semicolon brings clauses and thoughts together with all the silent discretionof a hostess arranging guests around her dinner table.
可見(jiàn)所有這些小來(lái)小去的一深度。只有句點(diǎn)的世界是個(gè)千篇撇一點(diǎn)都給我們?cè)黾恿藦V度、分量和一律的世界。是個(gè)沒(méi)有差別的世界。它的樂(lè)曲不分升調(diào)降調(diào)。是一首軍樂(lè)曲。是長(zhǎng)筒靴的節(jié)奏。文字不能彎曲。相形之下，逗號(hào)卻能捕捉頭腦里思路的涓涓細(xì)流，任它沿著自己娓娓動(dòng)聽的河上樂(lè)曲的航線，自行蜿蜒曲折，倒流，重疊。分號(hào)則將分句與思想融為一體，猶如女主人不露聲色地把來(lái)賓一一妥善安排入席。
Punctuation, then, is a matter of care. Care for words, yes, but also, and more important, forwhat the words imply. Only a lover notices the small things: the way the afternoon lightcatches the nape of a neck, or how a strand of hair slips out from behind an ear, or the way afinger curls around a cup. And no one scans a letter so closely as a lover, searching for its smallprint, straining to hear its nuances, its gasps, its sighs and hesitations, poring over the secretmessages that lie in every cadence. The difference between"Jane (whom I adore)" and "Jane,whom I adore," and the difference between them both and "Jane-whom I adore-" marks all thedistance between ecstasy and heartache. "No iron can pierce the heart with such force as aperiod put at just the right place," in Isaac Babel's lovely words; a comma can let us hear avoice break, or a heart. Punctuation, in fact, is a labor of love. Which brings us back in a way togods.
由此說(shuō)來(lái)，標(biāo)點(diǎn)符號(hào)又是個(gè)要謹(jǐn)慎從事的問(wèn)題。用詞要慎，不錯(cuò)，但更要緊的是對(duì)詞的涵義尤宜慎重。只有情人才注意到這些細(xì)節(jié)：下午的陽(yáng)光如何照在后頸上，一縷發(fā)絲如何從耳后根滑下來(lái)，手指如何勾住杯子。誰(shuí)看信也不會(huì)像情人那般仔細(xì)，苦苦尋覓信中的微小印跡，極力聽出其間的細(xì)微差別，其中的喘息、感嘆和猶豫不決，潛心揣摩那抑揚(yáng)頓挫中的秘密信息。“簡(jiǎn)(我深愛(ài)她)”與“簡(jiǎn)，我深愛(ài)她”兩句之間的差別，以及這兩句與“簡(jiǎn)——我深愛(ài)她——”之間的差別，標(biāo)明了醉心與傷心之間的距離。巴別爾有句話說(shuō)得多好：“句點(diǎn)用得其所，可穿透人心，雖刀槍力莫能及。”逗號(hào)則可使我們聽到聲咽或心碎。標(biāo)點(diǎn)符號(hào)其實(shí)是一項(xiàng)心甘情愿而為之的工作。它多少使我們重新成為主宰。
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