Content #
The Last Puritan 最后一个清教徒 #
It was a distinct relief to discard the perambulator and to trudge along with Fräulein for a country walk. And sometimes Fräulein lengthened these rambles more than was pleasant for him. He was no baby, to say he was tired, or hot, or wished to be carried; the old perambulator, even if thought of at such a moment, was not to be mentioned.
perambulator：小孩坐车。 discard：废弃不用；小孩渐大，能蹒跚而行，用不到坐车了。 relief：（束缚的）解除；坐车拘束而累赘，一旦下车步行，自有轻松之感。 distinct：很明显的。 trudge：吃力的走路。 rambles：漫游。 lengthened：放长，（走远）。 than在这里的用法很像是一个relative pronoun，丹麦籍文法学家Jespersen称之为relative conjunction。
In Dreams Begin Responsibilities 君子好逑 #
My father arrives at my mother’s house. He has come too early and so is suddenly embarrassed. My aunt, my mother’s sister, answers the loud bell with her napkin in her hand, for the family is still at dinner.
- answers the bell：听见铃响，出去开门。
Finally my mother comes downstairs, all dressed up, and my father being engaged in conversation with my grandfather becomes uneasy, not knowing whether to greet my mother or continue the conversation. He gets up from the chair clumsily and says “hello” gruffly. My grandfather watches, examining their congruence, such as it is, with a critical eye, and meanwhile rubbing his bearded cheek roughly, as he always does when he reflects.
- congruence：合适；相称，和谐。外祖父也不聊天了，索性冷眼（critical eye）旁观，看看这对情侣究竟能够琴瑟协调到什么程度，未来的事情他看不到，就拿目前他们俩在一起的情形来说吧：究竟是“一对璧人”呢？还是“彩凤随鸦”呢？such as it is=such congruence as now exists。
My father tells my mother how much money he has made in the past week, exaggerating an amount which need not have been exaggerated. But my father has always felt that actualities somehow fall short.
- an amount which need not have been exaggerated：这笔数目本来就相当大，用不着再夸大的了。need在这里是助动词，故虽然主语是第三人称单数，也不加s。
- actualities：现实情形。
- fall short=are insufficient。父亲总觉得实际数目不大够似的，非得要夸张一下不可。
The ocean is becoming rough. The waves come in slowly, and then crack, dashing fiercely upon the sand, bouncing upward and forward, and at last petering out into a small stream which races up the beach and then is recalled.
- rough：波涛起伏。
- crack：碎裂，浪花迸发。
- bouncing：跳跃。
- petering out：势力转弱，归于消沉。海水往岸上打来，其势初颇迟缓，继而浪花四溅，声势汹涌，直上沙滩，平地凌空，一跃而前，但终于力竭消沉，化为细流一条，余势未歇，仍向沙滩上方奔去（races up the beach），迅即急流勇退，召归大海（recalled）。
When I return, several hours have apparently passed and my parents are looking for a place to have dinner. My father suggests the best one on the boardwalk and my mother demurs, in accordance with her principles.
他从厕所里回来，银幕上显然（apparently）又是好几个钟头过去了，他的父母正在找地方吃晚饭。他父亲提议到路边最好的馆子去吃，可是他母亲反对（demurs）。反对也没有什么理由，只是根据她的原则，她大约是不赞成进豪华的餐馆，花费太多的。
A Mountain Adventure 登山遇险记 #
We loaded sweaters and windbreakers and knapsacks into the Ford and started north on a bright October afternoon. Motoring twenty years ago was a more rugged adventure than it is now: we had to force a passage through cobbled streets and jammed-up traffic and then jounce everlastingly over the high-crowned washboard roads in the open country, determined to maintain a twenty-five-mile-an-hour average.
- loaded：装，放。
- sweaters：羊毛衫。
- windbreakers：厚夹克（jacket），防风御寒运动外套。
- knapsacks：背包，可背在肩上的帆布包或皮包。
- Motoring：坐汽车长途旅行。
- rugged：艰苦。
在二十年代坐汽车旅行，比今日苦得多。（这里的adventure，不作“探险”解，只是一种不平凡的经历而已。）他们三人坐车从波士顿出发，先经过的是市区，市区的街道是用石卵铺的（cobbled），行人车马（traffic）很挤（jammed-up），我们非冲出一条路来不可（force a passage）。市区过后，进入乡区，乡区开阔（in the open country），然而道路崎岖，路中间凸起（high-crowned），若有棱骨，好像搓衣服的板（washboard）似的。
- jounce：颠簸。
- everlasting：不停的。
- determined是过去分词，形容主语we。车子假如慢慢地开，也许可以平稳得多，但是他们决心要保持平均（average）每小时廿五英里的速度，只好先在市区里直冲，后在乡区颠簸着走了。
To achieve a hundred miles in four hours in a Model T was fine work, but exhausting. Yet on this day the air lay sweetly over the golden countryside, full of balm and peace and the faint taste of leaf smoke. We sang and laughed and drank the rare and mellow distillations of Indian summer, our hearts grew light, our heads giddy with joy: the flames of the northern maples made great chords of splendid music in our spirit. We hailed the northward adventure, the lifting of each higher hill, the spreading miles of forest, the coming of dark spruce, the first glint of rock peaks in the silvery blue, and then the long slow waning of the sun, the golden flow of light from the southwest level across the colored land, the intensity of it, deepening and brightening toward night, the palpable gold on the leaves and grasses, the blue wells of shadows, valleys lost now in dusk and high hills still glowing in smokeless mantles of fire. We turned silent and watched the slow evening climb the slopes of brightness. In the far north a peak gleamed like a luminescent spearhead of pearl, purer than white itself.
- Model T：福特公司的T型车，三四十年前在美国很流行。
- achieve：做成功。
- exhausting：使人筋疲力尽。
- 车行虽吃力，好在道旁景物很美：时已深秋，田野中满目金色。空气中似含香味（sweetly），笼罩大地，一片温馨（balm原义是止痛的油膏）宁静之气，充塞宇宙之间，还可以淡淡地闻到乡民焚烧落叶的清香。
- Indian summer：秋天里的亢爽温暖的天气，中文所谓十月小阳春。
- distillations：蒸馏所得的液体；精华（有许多的酒也是蒸馏出来的，这里还使读者联想到酒）。
- rare：稀薄的。
- mellow：圆熟的；和醇的。
- drank：吸收，领略，享受。“我们唱着笑着，欣逢这种亢爽温暖的秋天好天气，更领略到一种清淡醇和的味道，中人欲醉，似乎天气的精华也给我们吸收进去了。”
- light：轻松的。
- giddy：眩晕（照应上句的“酒”）。
- maples：枫树。
- northern：长在北方的（车子正往北开）。
- flames：枫树不是红似火吗？
- chords：音乐里的和弦（如do, mi, so三个音便成和弦）。音乐里几声雄壮的和弦，很有撼人心魄的力量，现在火红似的枫叶，在他们心里所起的效果，亦复如此。
- hailed：向（人或物）欢呼；这里未必叫出声音来，只是心里非常高兴而已。他们驾车北上，渐入佳境，如入山阴道上，应接不暇，触目所及，无非美景奇观，他们每看见一样新的景致，心里就要喝一声彩。这一句很长，列举眼前的各种景致，精彩的phrases一个一个出现，汽车就向山区迈进，而时间也渐近黄昏了。
- the lifting of each higher hill：山一个比一个高，一个一个地抬头显露出来。
- spruce：虎尾枞。这种树出现，恐怕是已近山区了。
- glint：发晶光。
- peak：山峰。先看见的还是些小山，现在初次看见蒙着一层银色的碧空之中，露出一排山峰，峰尖岩石闪闪发光。
- the long slow waning of the sun：日光渐渐转弱。slow前面有一long字，此字意义与slow相仿，不过有了此字，更可把slow衬托出来。the southwest level：深秋黄昏时候的太阳，应该在西南方；level大约是地平线。太阳从那边照过来，凡经照耀之处，犹如金光流注；地上本自有其色彩（colored），经此一照，更显得鲜艳夺目。● the intensity of it：日色渐暮，金光更显浓盛。deepening：色彩更深更浓。brightening：日落前的回光返照，特别显得明亮。palpable：手可以摸得出来的。草上叶上的金光，本是幻象，可是现在看来，宛然真金。well：井。回光返照将过，黑夜渐临，低洼之处，黑影渐浓，作深青之色，望之黝然如井。dusk：暮色。mantles：外罩。暮色降临，山谷已消失不见，唯霞光照处，山头仍通体透红，如披火袍，唯不发烟耳。● 这句很长，可是只要仔细一看它里面所叙景物之多，
◆ 这样一句话能包括这许多东西，描写这么长的一段路程，笔墨可说十分经济。● We turned silent：黑夜已临，人亦转趋沉寂，没有刚才那么高兴了。黑夜来时，先从山脚下黑起，沿坡而上（climb），最后太阳西沉，山头上也是一片黑暗。● 可是他们还没有算正式入山。远望极北之处，尚有一峰矗立，状甚尖锐，犹如矛锋（spearhead），隐隐发光，色润如珠，其皎洁胜过一般之所谓白色也。
◆ Then, as we stood waiting and gazing, a vast piece of mountain pageantry occurred. In the overhead darkness a ragged blue hole showed itself, then splashes of pale sun. Mountain shoulders suddenly took shape high among the curtains of light and cloud. The west wind came down over Tuckerman’s Ravine and moved the whole cloud-mass before it.
◆ ● pageantry：壮观，奇景。我们正在守候眺望之际，忽然一幕山景奇观，浩瀚雄伟，在我们面前展开了。● 顶上天空，色本浓重，现在忽然裂出青色一角，在此破碎不整（ragged）的裂孔之中，淡淡的阳光，像水花（splashes）似的飞溅下来。● 云破天青，在光幕云层之中，群峰（Mountain shoulders：山隆起如肩状者）突然显露，耸立高空。took shape：成形，现形。本来虚无缥缈，渐渐轮廓显明。● Tuckerman’s Ravine：为华盛顿山中一峡谷之名。西风从峡谷上方吹来，滚滚白云，俱为吹开。before it：云在前面，风在后面，风吹云动。
◆ Up out of the woods we came, to the rocks of the Little Headwall, and stood in a lee in the noon sun to look eastward across the bottomless valley to Carter Dome and Wildcat. All earth and air rang with clear autumn brilliance. White cumulus marched away through the blue to the pale southeastward rim of the world, but the sun kept its warm blaze against us, partly drying our wet skin.
◆ ● 他们走出林区，登上Little Headwall（峰名）的乱石山头。Up out of the woods we came=we came up out of the woods。lee：背风之处，风力所不及之处。他们从九、十点钟开始爬山，到中午已经穿越森林，攀登一小山头，那天吹西风（前面已经说过），他们背西面东而立，身后山石将风挡住，纵目东望，下临无底深谷，前面Carter Dome与Wildcat两峰矗立。● 其时秋高气爽，天色明净，clear autumn brilliance三字自不难了解，可是动词rang一字，则大见功夫。rang者，铿锵有声也；大地太空满目清朗，秋气飒爽，似作金石之声。其有声耶？其无声耶？有待读者之妙悟矣。● cumulus：积云（云之成朵状者，晴朗天气时见之）。白云为西北风所吹，飞过（原文用marched，声势雄壮，犹如天马行空）碧空，飘向苍茫杳霭（pale）西南方地平线（rim of the world：地球之边缘）而去。● blaze：光辉。
◆ cocked his head：侧着头（这样说话，有讽刺之意）。
◆ John’s boots clashed on the rock, but he went up powerfully, muttering a chant of joy to himself and watching for the turns of the trail.
◆ clashed：（鞋钉与山石相接触）叮叮发声。chant：歌。watching for the turns of the trail：留意山路转折之处。
◆ Back to the wind, we looked down the rough slope. My watery eyes were closed slits, and a fine spindrift of snow blew like white smoke over the rocks, but I could still see where the headwall fell away into cold space.
◆ Back to the wind：背对着风。watery eyes：眼睛流泪，不能睁开，仅成细缝（slit）。fine spindrift：很细的浪花。雪为风所吹，如浪花似的凌空飞溅，雪质很细，望之乃如烟雾。fell away：人在高处下望，原驻足之山头，渐渐消失。
◆ The mountain slope had glistened remotely above us in the cold sun—not clear to our half-blinded eyes, but palpably there, a visible part of earth’s substance. The smoke of snow revealed gray rock and even the cairns set by human hands to mark the trail; and beyond those outposts of earth the blue of sky had given us comfort. But now white and gray masses of cloud came like a cataract, solid, vast, silent in the gale. The sun flashed against it with cold and terrible brightness, but in the hollows and rifts it deepened to dark gray and black. Tatters of it came first like flying arrows, and I saw them flash past the dim, hunched figure of John Somes; then the mass came down like a solid avalanche of death itself, silver above and black in its caverns, riding the wind. A few seconds of terrifying beauty, and I saw John Somes fade, go under, vanish; and then before I could draw breath or warn Tommy it happened to us too.
◆ ● 他们到了山区高处，见到冰雪之后，只是觉得奇寒难忍，狂风难当，此外景色还和下面差不多：高处山坡在毫无暖气的日光底下，隐隐约约地晶晶发光，他们的眼睛睁不大开，看不清楚，可是前面的确有这么一块地方，似乎伸了手就摸得到的（palpably there），有形有体（substance），宛然可睹，分明是大地的一部分。一阵轻烟似的雪风过处，灰色的岩石便露了出来，还有前人以手堆植用以山行标路的石堆（cairns），也看得见了。这些都是大地尽处的前哨（outposts），前哨外面，便是一片碧空，看了心中也曾觉得安慰。● 注意这两句的动词时态：had glistened和had given（过去完成式）是表示“过去”的事，接着第三句从But now起，就是叙述眼前的事了。● cataract：瀑布。gale：大风（gust是突然发作随时可停的疾风，故常用复数gusts。gale则是劲吹不已的大风）。● 现在忽然大块雪团袭来，风势既猛，水气又多结成冰雪，故竟予人以坚硬（solid）的感觉。日光照处，冷光耀目，特别可怕；然云团低洼罅隙（hollows and rifts）之处，则又深暗作浓灰乌黑之色。● 云团的碎片（Tatters）先到，John在前，首当其冲，只见前面丝丝碎云，像飞箭似的，射过他拱首隆背（hunched）模糊的身形，然后大块云团，表面银光闪闪，其凹处黝暗，复如岩洞，挟生杀之威，如雪崖崩落（avalanche），御风而至，当头落下。● 这种惊心动魄的奇丽景色，不过是几秒钟的事，John即为当头罩住，先是身形不清，继则全身掩没（go under），消失不见。我要换口气的工夫都没有，招呼Tommy也来不及了，我们两人立刻都被罩住。
Father and Daughter 父与女
◆ “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!”
◆ 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！”
Merry Christmas 圣诞快乐
◆ Christmas is odors, brought in from the cold to the fire, a blend of perfume made of the scent of snow mingling with the scent of sanctity; of holly and fir mingling with the gifts of new clothes and new shoes; of Christmas candy and the bright, painted toys mingling with the unmistakable scent of happiness that comes out of people at Christmas, no matter how deeply it is buried.
◆ ● 事实上这一段所描写的不尽是嗅觉，如from the cold的cold为触觉，bright, painted toys的bright, painted为视觉，但是这些东西都有它们的香味，作者就抓住了这一点来描写。假如读者读了这段文章，似乎鼻子里也嗅到这些圣诞节特有的香味，那么作者的写法就成功了。● 好的描写文章是要叫读者眼睛能看到，耳朵能听到，鼻子能嗅到，嘴能尝到。这就是所谓“具体描写”。
◆ holly：冬青（叶厚角尖，红果小圆如珠，多用于圣诞装饰。按：好莱坞之“好莱”即由此得名）。fir：枞树，想必就是供在屋内的圣诞树。of holly与前面的of snow平行。
◆ ● it is buried的it代表the scent of happiness。
D-Day 诺曼第登陆
◆ In the twenty-four hours of June 6 the Allies flew over 14,600 sorties. So great was our superiority in the air that all the enemy could put up during daylight over the invasion beaches was a mere hundred sorties.
◆ ● over 14,600 sorties：超过一万四千六百“架次”。一架飞机出动一次，称为“架次”（sortie），此字源自法文sortir，有“出动”之意。一架飞机出动两次或两架飞机出动一次，都是“two sorties”。
◆ From midnight three airborne divisions were alighting, the British 6th Airborne Division northeast of Caen to seize bridgeheads over the river between the town and the sea, and two American airborne divisions north of Carentan to assist the seaborne assault on the beaches, and to check the movement of enemy reserves into the Contentin peninsula. Although in places the airborne divisions were more widely scattered than had been intended, the object was in every case achieved.
◆ ● airborne division：空运师。borne是bear（载运）的过去分词。alighting：着陆。人下车或鸟栖止都可以用这个字。此处用过去进行式，有“不断地降落”之意。● Caen：法国地名。bridgeheads：桥头堡。over the river：这条河大约是指River Ordon。英国登陆地点是在Caen城的北边，初步目标是占领Caen城；Caen和海岸之间，有河阻隔，故先用空运部队，在河对岸占领桥头堡，直接威胁Caen，并和海岸登陆大军相呼应。● two American airborne divisions：该两师的番号是第82和第101两空运师。Carentan也是诺曼第半岛上的一个城市。seaborne：请参看前面airborne的注。● check：阻止，抑制。enemy reserves：敌方后备部队。the Contentin peninsula：诺曼第半岛上一块凸出的小半岛。敌方后备部队如开入该处，可影响美军的成败。
◆ As dawn came and the ships, great and small, began to file into their prearranged positions for the assault, the scene might almost have been a review.
◆ ● file：单行纵列进行；鱼贯而驶。prearranged positions：预定阵地。for the assault：准备攻击。the scene might almost have been a review：这景象几乎像是在军事检阅。队伍整齐，一切按部就班，几乎不像是在作战，但事实上是在作战，故动词用虚拟语气might have been。
A Student in Economics 工读生
◆ All of the boys on the third floor of Mrs. Gooch’s approved rooms for men had been posted to get Charlie Wingate up that afternoon. He had to go to see the Dean. Two or three of them forgot all about it and two or three of them had other things to do, but Eddie Barbour liked waking people up.
◆ ● approved rooms for men：经学校当局核准的男生公寓。美国有些大学规定：本科学生一定得住学校宿舍，如借住校外公寓者，则该项公寓须经学校当局特别核准。Mrs. Gooch是公寓房东太太的名字。posted：通知。had been posted：事前都经嘱托。get…up：唤醒。● Dean：大学里高级首长，可能是院长，也可能是教务长，这里是训导长，看下文便知。训导长要找那位学生下午去谈话，那位学生下午要睡觉，恐怕因睡误事，特别拜托同宿舍的朋友叫醒他。到了那时，别人都没有来叫他，只有一位朋友还把这事放在心上。
◆ Charlie Wingate loped up the steps of the Administration Building, hurried through the revolving doors, and walked past hissing steam radiators down the long hall to the Dean of Men’s office. He was ten minutes late. Before he opened the frosted-glass door he took out a pair of amber-colored spectacles and put them on. Then he went in and handed his summons to the secretary.“The Dean will see you in a moment,” she said. “Please take a chair.”
◆ ● loped：边走边跳。steps：台阶。Administration Building：行政大楼。revolving doors：旋转门。hissing：（热汽流通时）丝丝发响。steam radiators：水汀炉子。Dean of Men：男生训导长。● frosted-glass：表面上有凹凸花纹的半透明玻璃；压花玻璃。ambercolored spectacles：琥珀色（茶晶）眼镜。put them on：戴上眼镜。summons：（训导处的）通知单。此字语尾为s，然为单数形式，其复数形式作summonses。
◆ The Dean of Men got up as he entered and with his eyes on the slip bearing Charlie’s name, said, “Ah, this is Charles Wingate, isn’t it?”
◆ ● slip：纸条，即训导长传见的通知条。
◆ three hours of F：三个学分得F，即English 101。hours 是每星期上课的钟点数，通常钟点数即代表该课程的学分。
◆ “I couldn’t work fewer hours and stay in school, sir. I just barely get by as it is. I get my board at The Wigwam, and I pay my room rent, and I’ve been paying out on a suit of clothes. That leaves only about a dollar a week for all the other things I have to have.”
◆ ● I couldn’t work是虚拟式语气，意谓“即使我想这么做，也办不到。”既想减少课外工作时间，又想不辍学，两者不可兼得。● just barely get by：只是勉强对付过去。by有“过去”之意。as it is：就现状来说。● board：膳食之“膳”，此字原意为木板，转为桌子，又转为专指饭桌，再转为饭桌上陈列的膳食。● paying out on：分期付款（注意时态；钱还没付清）。a suit of clothes：一套西装。● all the other things I have to have：其他必需用途。I have to have（定语从句）：我所“不得不有”的东西。
◆ 2024/06/10发表想法
挖苦人的水平也是分高下的，这是顶级的挖苦。
原文：“Ah, then that’s the explanation. So you were assiduously engaged in evolving your own theory of the leisure class. Is that right, Mr. Wingate? You have evidently concluded that Economics 150 is the leisure class.” The class rocked with laughter. Dr. Kenshaw, pleased with his pun and flattered by the response to it, found it hard to keep his face straight.
◆ “Ah, then that’s the explanation. So you were assiduously engaged in evolving your own theory of the leisure class. Is that right, Mr. Wingate? You have evidently concluded that Economics 150 is the leisure class.“The class rocked with laughter. Dr. Kenshaw, pleased with his pun and flattered by the response to it, found it hard to keep his face straight.
Prescott 历史家普瑞斯各德
◆ It was a conquest of personality. Prescott was a first-rate human being, exuberant, gallant, wilful, firm, devoted, far removed from the clerkly sort of scholar, painstaking but wanting in vigour and sinew, who, in a world in which the most virile types adopted careers of enterprising action, ruled over the sphere of books.
◆ ● It：本书的成功。conquest of personality：个性之征服。如上文所叙，Prescott个性外向，爱同朋友来往，参加热闹的社交宴会。他不像是个潜心著作的史学家。他超越了自己的个性，才能写出这部不朽名著来。● a first-rate human being：第一流的人物。exuberant：精力充沛。gallant此字有勇敢、高贵之意，相当于中文的“潇洒不群”。wilful：任性行事。firm：意志坚定。devoted：对朋友极为忠诚，当然也极有可能献身于一己的事业。● the clerkly sort of scholar：在书本世界里过日子的那种学者。clerkly：像个书呆子或小书记似的，没有见解，没有气魄。普氏绝不是这一类人。painstaking：治学非常小心。可是体力（vigour and sinew）稍差。sinew：筋络，转作“体力”。who代表主语the clerkly sort of scholar。它的动词是ruled。在那时的美国，凡是以体魄胜人（virile）的那一种人，都去从事（adopted：采用）于带点冒险性（enterprising）的事业了，如经商、航海、从军等，剩下那些体力不如人的学者，只好在书堆里称王（统治了书本的领域）。普氏精力充沛，原是第一类型的人，却能克服自己的个性，成为一个大史学家。
◆ The refractory horse makes the most mettlesome charger. Prescott had a formidable will, and he had bridled and harnessed his indolent nature. E
◆ ● 第一句用现在时，表示一般情形。凡顽劣不驯（refractory）之马，如经名手训练，常成为最刚健之良驹（charger：战马，用以冲锋陷阵者）。● formidable will：坚强的意志。他用毅力驾御了自己懒惰的个性。bridled：替马装上羁勒。harnessed：替马装上马具，备驾车之用。indolent：习惯性的懒惰，怕吃力，喜悠闲。这里把他的个性比作一头马，所以可以bridled又可以harnessed。
◆ Prescott taught himself to use a noctograph, by means of which, with the aid of an ivory stylus, pressing on a sheet of carbon-paper, he took his notes and wrote his manuscripts. The secretary copied the notes in a large, round hand, which Prescott was sometimes able to read. Meanwhile, he had learned to memorize, composing in his memory to such an extent that he could often carry in his mind as many as three chapters of one of his books, seventy-two pages of printed text. He could hold it there for several days, turning it over and over, remodelling every sentence. One chapter he thus remodelled sixteen times, before committing a word to paper.
◆ ● noctograph：盲人用的写字机器，构造不详，想必是利用触觉代替视觉的。ivory stylus：象牙制的尖头笔。carbon-paper：复写纸。pressing on：加压力于其上，即“写”。took notes：记笔记。manuscripts：文稿。● large：字迹（hand）很大。round hand：圆形字体，笔划清楚，不倾不斜，各字母间都分开的。相当于中文的“正楷”，易于辨认，与“行书”（running hand）不同。sometimes：秘书把他的笔记这样清清楚楚地抄了下来，普氏还只是“有时”能读得出来而已，其目力之不济可想而知。● composing in his memory：用他的记忆来作文。写下的稿子自己不能读，如何能修改补正呢？只好把文章都记在脑子里。to such an extent that：普通人也有会拟“腹稿”的，可是比起普氏来，真是小巫之见大巫。普氏的拟腹稿，能够做到把好几十页书都记在脑筋里的“程度”。● 关于“记住”，这两句里用了两个动词，都值得称道。一个是carry：把一本书整整三章文章（排印起来要占七十二页之多）都“背”在脑筋里。还有一个字是hold：放在那里，牢记不忘。hold it的it，指那几章文章的“整体”。● turning it over and over：心里翻来覆去地想它。remodelling every sentence：腹稿未必妥当，句句都在脑筋里仔细地修改。remodelling所指，不单是更动几个字而已，硬是把句法都要彻底地改过。● committing a word to paper：写一个字在纸上。先是一字不落，想之又想，改之又改，然后再落笔。有一章他的腹稿改了十六次之多。committing有“付托”之意。
◆ He had first acquired these mental habits when, as a young man with failing sight, he had been sent abroad, to London and Paris, to consult the doctors there, and had spent a quiet winter in the Azores.
◆ ● these mental habits：这些心理上的习惯，即上文所说的记忆，拟腹稿等。acquired：获得；“养成一种习惯”可说to acquire a habit。with failing sight：目力渐渐丧失。● to consult the doctors there：请教伦敦巴黎两地的名医。（普氏游欧，在他19岁到21岁之间。）Azores：大西洋中岛屿，属葡萄牙。群岛前面，该加冠词the。普氏的外祖父那时是岛上的美国领事。● 本文文章的特点，是长句子相当多，可是句子虽长，停顿也多，很少有一气呵成的，读了几个字读者就可以换一口气，调子缓慢，不慌不忙，有闲散轻松之妙。调子既慢，装饰用的字眼可以随时插入，句法内容因以丰富，而句法变化亦变幻莫测矣。以第一句为例，when以前的句法是直接了当的，到了when以后，从句的主语he不见出来，反而添了一个comma，comma之后又来as a young man with failing sight这样一个短语，这六个字紧凑得好，假如初学写来，写成when he was young and his sight was failing就显得笨拙而啰嗦矣。六个字过后，再说他到海外去。去哪里呢？（语气一顿）伦敦、巴黎。去干什么呢？（语气又一顿）是去瞧大夫的。
Man and Woman 男与女
◆ They came slowly up the road through the colorless dawn like shadows left behind by the night. There was no motion in their bodies, and yet their feet scuffed up dust that settled behind them as quickly as it was raised. They lifted their eyes with each step they took, peering toward the horizon for the first red rays of the sun.
◆ ● 第一段点出小说的时间和地点。时间是黑夜已过，旭日未升，地点是公路上。人物只是模模糊糊的They。有多少人呢？是些什么人呢？这里尚未说明，但标题是“男与女”，我们可以暂且假定是一男一女。他们的身形我们还看不清楚，他们只是像“黑夜所遗留下来的影子”。他们的动作我们也看不见，只是他们的脚步拖起（scuffed up）了灰尘，脚步步步向前，灰尘也在他们身后旋起旋落（settled）。● scuffed本是不及物动词，解作“拖着脚步走路”，这里是及物动词。peering：眯着眼睛看。● 描写文最难运用的是形容词，以及由形容词转化出来的副词。本文形容词用得很少，都很简单。这一段里可以说只有两个形容词是用作描写的，一个是colorless (dawn)，一个是red (rays)，都很传神而有力量。描写黎明景色，中英文都有很多滥调，如“天空露出鱼肚白色”，“美丽的朝霞”等，这种美丽的字眼，比之本文的两个简单的形容词，到底哪一种更为妥贴，哪一种更能显出作者炼字的功夫，请读者自己下判断吧。同样的，slowly是个很简单的副词，但这里用这么一个字也够了，作者可说是惜墨如金也。slowly前面的came，是从读者的立场而言：假定读者看他们往前走“来”。用了went，就变成愈走愈远，came则表示愈走愈近。
◆ Ruth got up, dropping the bread in her hand.“Thank you for the breakfast,” she said. “I am going now.““If you take my advice,” the woman said, “you’ll leave that man the first chance you get. If he won’t take a job, you’ll be a fool….““He had a job, but he got sick with a kind of fever.““I don’t believe you. I’d put you down for lying about him.”
◆ ● dropping the bread in her hand：Ruth想必是不愿再听那人唠唠叨叨的话，站了起来，拿在手里的面包也掉了下来，（本来也许还想多吃一点呢）。● you’ll leave that man the first chance you get：一有机会，就同那个男人分手。the first chance是副词短语，you get是定语从句，形容chance。● If he won’t take a job：屋主人一口咬定那个男人是游手好闲之徒。● fever：发烧。那个男人的脸容苍白，步履维艰，前文已一再言之，其故为何，现在要逐步地揭穿了。● I’d=I would; put down=reckon（认为）。我可要认为你是在替他撒谎。
A Pretty Girl 美丽的姑娘
◆ 2024/06/12发表想法
美女的心思捉摸不定，但却又是个男人在此细细描摹。
◆ As the homage of men became for her, more and more, a matter of course, the more subtly necessary was it to her happiness. The more she won of it, the more she treasured it. She was alone in the world, and it saved her from any moment of regret that she had neither home nor friends. For her the streets that lay around her had no squalor, since she paced them always in the gold nimbus of her fascinations. Her bedroom seemed not mean nor lonely to her, since the little square of glass, nailed above the wash-stand, was ever there to reflect her face. Thereinto, indeed, she was ever peering. She would smile, frown, pout, languish—let all the emotions hover upon her face; and always she seemed to herself lovelier than she had ever been.
◆ ● a matter of course：当然之事，没有什么希罕的了。第一句中的主句的主语置于动词之后，正当的次序是it (=the homage) was necessary to her happiness。the more的the是副词，有“因此”（on that account）之意。这种用法很常见，如nevertheless即为never the less（并不因此减少）三字合成的。subtly：subtle的副词形式，解作“微妙地，神秘地，不可捉摸地”。她的快乐，更不可思议地有赖于男人对她的恭敬了。● 第二句的The more…the more也是常见的句法结构：第一个The=in whatever degree；第二个the=in that degree。那边增加，这边也同样地增加。of it连前面的The more，it代替the homage，她所得到的恭敬愈多，她对于这个恭敬也愈为珍视。it saved的it仍是代替the homage。有了男人献殷勤，她也用不着为身世兴悲了。● For her：对她来说。squalor：污秽（此字的形容词是squalid，squalid比dirty更多“未经扫除，无人清理”之意）。paced在这里是及物动词，“走过”。paced them=paced the streets。nimbus：（神佛头上的）光轮。她走在街上，遍体似有彩云环绕，令人目移神夺（fascinations），她自己因此也看不出街上的污秽了。● mean：寒酸相。她的卧室本来是寒酸而又寂寞的，但是现在看来却并不如此，因为洗脸架子上面，钉了一面方镜子，常得美人照看；镜中玉容，就足使陋室生春了。● Thereinto=into that (glass)。indeed：说真的；indeed这个字很常见，但是不易应用。这里大约是怕读者不相信上面一句所说的the…glass…was ever there to reflect her face，特再补充说明一句：“这是真的”，这位小姐老是在照（peer into）镜子的。ever本来和always一样，解作“无论何时，永远如此”，但是这种副词（另外的例子如perpetually, constantly等）倘若和进行式动词一起用，那就表示“常常，老是这么做”了。she ever peered (into the glass)：那是说不通的，因为一个人不可能什么事情不做，“永远”看着镜子的。she was ever peering：那就表示她“常常”这么做，现在看一下，过一会又看一下，再过一会又看一下。● peer解作“凝视”，意义大致同gaze相仿。但gaze常常指看的人因爱慕而看得出神，peer则指仔细地看，或吃力地看，或带着好奇心地看，或看的人和所看的东西中间隔了一层什么东西。人和镜中反影之间隔了一层玻璃，用peer是很合适的。● frown：皱眉。pout：撅嘴。languish：作出娇慵之态。这些动词前面的助动词would表示“习惯”。let=she would let。hover本指鸟类不振翼远飞，而在某一地点拍翅盘旋；或云雾等浮挂在一个地方。现在她故意对镜子做出各种“表情”，那些情感也好像在她脸上低回飞翔。● lovelier：每对镜子看一次，总觉得自己比以前更可爱了。注意时态seemed和had been之间的先后关系。
◆ Though Zuleika had never given her heart, strong in her were the desire and the need that it should be given. Whithersoever she had fared, she had seen nothing but youths fatuously prostrate to her—not one upright figure which she could respect. There were the middle-aged men, the old men, who did not bow down to her; but from middle-age, as from eld, she had a sanguine aversion. She could love none but a youth. Nor could she love one who fell prone before her. And before her all youths always did fall prone. She was an empress, and all youths were her slaves. Their bondage delighted her, as I have said. But no empress who has any pride can adore one of her slaves. Whom, then, could proud Zuleika adore?
◆ ● given her heart：把心送人，陷入情网。● 第一句中主句又是例装的，动词were在前，主语the desire and the need在后。这许多男人爱慕她，她没有爱慕过任何男人，可是她很想恋爱，也很需要恋爱。it (the heart) should be given：她的心该“奉献给”一个男人。● Whithersoever she had fared：她不论走到哪里。fare=go，这是比较古雅的字眼。fatuously：痴呆的。prostrate：匍匐在地。事实上当然不一定有人向她三跪九叩首，这不过引伸前面的homage（青年男子都对她臣服）而已。one upright figure：一个站直的身躯；有自尊心不向她表示爱慕的男人，这种人才是使她尊敬的。● bow down：还是引伸homage的意思。eld=old age，这是个古字。我们现在只有elder和eldest这两个形容词，名词eld很少有人用了。sanguine在这里应该解作“热诚的”（warm or ardent），也即是strong。aversion连前面的两个from（from middle-age，from eld）；中年人老年人对她不一定“服贴”，但她也很讨厌中年人、老年人的。● 中年人、老年人她不要，青年人毫无骨气，对她恭而敬之，俯首贴耳，这种人她也是不能（Nor could）爱的。prone是形容词，解作“俯伏的”，是subjective complement，形容who。fall prone二字常连用，是idiom。● before her：在她面前。did fall prone的did用以加强语气。● bondage：奴役。● But no empress一句，用现在时态，表示一般情形。adore：敬爱，崇拜。love的含义广泛，adore一定是一种很崇高的情感。
Romeo 大情人
◆ “…We played Romeo and Juliet thirty consecutive weeks at the Morosco,” he was saying, “and then took it on the road for another whole season. You can imagine the bang it gave me when we played Pueblo, Colorado. After the American tour, there was a three months’ run at the Haymarket in London. I’m telling you, I was never so sick of anything in my life as I was of Romeo when we finally quit. Bored stiff.”
◆ ● took it on the road：各处巡回公演。road有一个特别意义，专指戏班跑码头而言。请参照上文road company。
Dialogues of A. N. Whitehead 怀德海语录
◆ It was a loury evening with rain in brew and a rising wind. The Whiteheads were alone and seemed more than usual at their ease. In no time at all we were out beyond the harbour jetties and into the conversational open water. It was about the gap between written and spoken language, between literature and vernacular.
◆ ● loury：阴沉沉的。in brew：这个成语和中文“酝酿中”是巧合，brew原意是“酿”。a rising wind：风正起。● The Whiteheads：他们这一家人。alone：没有客人。（“我走到他们家里……”这种话是不必说的；这是文章经济之法。）at their ease：优游自得。平常本来如此，今天晚上益见闲散。● In no time：很快地。at all用以加强no。harbour jetties：港口边上的码头。conversational open water：码头种种，都是“暗喻”。谈话未开始时，好像船未启碇；开始之后，立刻畅谈无阻，好像驶入汪洋大海。
◆ ● gap：歧异。vernacular：白话，口语。这个字通常作形容词用：口语的。
University Days 大学生活回忆
◆ 2024/06/25发表想法
这老师当得太不容易了。
原文：Mr. Bassum himself rounded off the little show. “Ding, dong, ding, dong,” he said, hopefully.
◆ 作者的文字很简练，要言不烦，幽默而不流入油滑，作者自己似乎是板起了脸来叙述这一段有趣的故事的。莎士比亚说：Brevity is the soul of wit.旨哉斯言。
British Bicycles in Spain 英国自行车在西班牙
◆ The Spanish government will not, of course, agree that anyone else in the world can make anything better than Spaniards do, and surely a government’s business is to foster faith in the nation’s industrial proficiency. This attitude, however, makes it difficult for a Spaniard or a foreign resident in Spain to import a British bicycle, especially when Spanish sterling reserves are low.
◆ ● 西班牙政府当然认为西班牙的国货，决不会比外国货差。他们决不会同意，说是别国人造出来的东西会比西班牙人造的好。（注意本句中 anyone else二字，如改用any other nation，就笨得多了。）● a government’s business：business是“责任”或“天责”。这字同前面的anyone else相仿，都是口语习用之字，读之令人起亲切之感。如此处改用responsibility等字，句子又要显得笨了。我们学idiomatic English，主要的是要学这些简单的字的用法。● foster faith：培养信心。industrial proficiency：工业技术之（熟练）程度。● however：此种态度虽好，但是对人民亦有不便之处。makes it中的it指下面to import (进口)…。foreign resident：外侨。● sterling reserves：英镑外汇储存量。low：不足。向英国买东西，就得动用英镑外汇。国际贸易大约有两大集团，即英镑集团（sterling bloc）和美元集团（dollar bloc）是也。美元外汇储存量是dollar reserves.
◆ Such a person must fill out fifteen forms in quintuplicate, supplying all his own vital statistics, with those of his relations in at least the nearer degrees, and showing a just cause why he should be allowed a British bicycle (despite the hundred-percent Spanish import duty) instead of a much better, locally manufactured machine, which can be bought at half the cost.
◆ ● Such a person：申请购买英制脚踏车的人。fill out fifteen forms：填十五种表。in quintuplicate：每种表填同式五份。同式双份是duplicate，三份是triplicate，四份是quadruplicate。● vital statistics：世界书局《四用字典》解作“人口统计”。但此词亦有“履历”之意：包括出生年月日、出生地点、婚姻状况等。those of his relations：those仍是statistics。亲戚有远近，以degrees表示之。relations in the nearer degrees：近亲或家属。at least：虽然不致把“三代”“九族”都填进去，至少父母妻子的“履历”都得要一填的。● just cause：正当理由。allowed：请求政府批准。注意：allowed后面不必跟 buy等字样。allow之本身，就含有to have的意思。import duty：进口税。进口税高达百分之一百，你还要去申请外汇买卖英国脚踏车，一定有理由，试于表格上详述之。● much better：反语。脚踏车是一种machine。● at half the cost：西班牙制脚踏车价钱只需英国的一半，何况它的品质又比英国的好得多（在西班牙政府看来）。
The Reigning Royalty of Europe 欧洲之王室
◆ Only in England is the institution still sacramental, the monarch being crowned in church and still recognized as head of the national church. Other countries manage to forego the religious ceremony of coronation: the monarchs of Europe mark their accession by swearing an oath in the legislative assembly, according to a constitutional concept that does not accept any idea of divinely appointed monarch.
◆ ● institution：（王室的）制度。sacramental：含有神圣意味的。（sacrament：圣礼，或是任何有神圣意味的东西。）● 第一句是倒装法。句子重心在前三个字，主语放在动词的后面。又本句用了一个absolute phrase（the monarch being…），这种短语用作轻描淡写的说明，最为合适。● crowned：加冕。这个字的名词形式是coronation。head of the national church：国教的教主。in church的church是“教堂”，national church的church是“教会”。● manage：想办法。forego或拼作forgo：取消。● Europe：广义的欧洲，包括英国在内。狭义的欧洲，仅指欧洲大陆。这里所用的是狭义。● accession：登基，就位。这个字的动词形式是accede。mark：举行仪式以表示。swearing an oath：宣誓。legislative assembly：立法议会。他们所以在议会里宣誓，而不在教堂加冕者，是根据一种宪法观念：这种宪法观念不承认君主是上帝任命的（不接受这种想法）。
◆ 。courtly formality：宫廷的繁文缛节。stately splendor：庄严华丽。“庄严”和“华丽”这两个观念在中文里是平行的，但在英文里，可以用一个为主（名词），一个为从（形容词）。这是中英文用法不同之处，亦是英文较多伸缩性的一个例子，请读者注意。
A Professor in Retirement 退休教授
◆ Although their New York Times came four days late, and although perhaps they were not in the thick of things, neither did their minds abide in Shangri-La. Visiting lecturers and vacationing friends were bound to admit that the insular community was remarkably au courant and that within it there was an exchange of ideas as brilliant and constant as the Colorado sun.
◆ ● Visiting lecturers：从别处来讲学的人。vacationing friends：度假期的朋友。were bound to：不得不。● insular community：与世隔绝的小社会。（insular：孤岛似的）。au courant（法文）：适应潮流；跟得上时代，并不落后。● within it：在这个小社会之中，大家不断交换意见（所以说：那辈教授的心并不是在世外桃源里）。Colorado州的太阳，光华灿烂，四季永照（constant）；那辈教授在思想上的互相砥砺，也是四季不断，而且所讨论的内容也是非常精彩的。轻轻的一笔，就把那地方的天气，和那地方的学术空气连在一起，文势俯仰自如，令人佩服。
◆ Sometimes Dr. Bohrmann and Hedda spoke of summering in Europe—in spite of their contentment, they were often grievously homesick for Freiburg—and occasionally they went so far as to book passage, but something always prevented them from going. One year, Wolfgang was engaged in writing a monograph on Maimonides for the Hibbert Journal, another year Hedda was bedridden for a long while after a miscarriage that doomed them, to their everlasting sorrow, to childlessness. After the Second World War, they no longer even spoke of going back, for the thought of how Freiburg now must look sickened them.
◆ ● 他们没有孩子，他们很悲伤——这是他们生命中的大事，可是作者把这件事放在一个从句里。本段所说的是，为什么他们这些年来从来没有回德国去一次，这是主要的意思，别的意思都只好成为附庸了。又，本文处处轻描淡写，表现一种闲情逸致；按照这种风格，这种语调（tone），本文是不容许有强烈情感出现的。但是强烈的情感有时非写不可，作者就极力把它压低，使它在文章中占不重要的地位。使情感受到风格的支配，做文章若能懂得这一点，大约也就算写“通”了。that doomed them…这个定语从句含蓄的意思真不少，而它在语法结构上的地位又这样不重要，我在前面本文中说：“中国学生作文时如能把定语从句任意活用，于文字通畅之道，已思过半矣”，这里谨重复一遍。
A Writer s Life 作家甘苦
◆ That is the risk I take: the risk of boring my audience, the risk of ridicule from overexposure of the person. This is the risk we all take when we walk on stage, or send our painting to be exhibited, our manuscript to a publisher: the risk of public exposure. It is no small thing, the incurrence of this risk, and it runs from beginning to end of a writer’s life.
◆ Actual physical sweating takes place, loud moans are rendered, and the question is put, “Why in God’s name did one undertake such a venture, such a presumptuous, enormous, unlikely book? Why can’t one be content to live an anonymous, respectable life?”
◆ ● incurrence的动词形式是incur：招惹。这一句用了一个expletive “it"做主语，it就是下面的incurrence。所以如此说法，也是为了要语气通畅平易近人之故。如易成The incurrence of this risk is no small thing，读起来就较为庄重；而且开头用了incurrcnce这种书卷气的字，后面no small thing这样平凡的字跟上去就有点不配了。照现在这样用法，主语是It，incurrence云云只是陪衬，读起来比较轻松。
◆ ● sweating：出汗。吓得一身冷汗不是过甚其辞的说法，是实实在在身体上出汗。takes place：发生。中国人说英文，很难做出sweating takes place这样的句子，我们很可能说one sweats这样的话。把动词sweat，化成动名词sweating，然后再找一个动词来配合成一个句子——这一点是和中国人思想习惯不合的。● rendered：发出。the question is put：自己问自己。in God’s name：只是为加重语气之用。venture：带点冒险性的尝试，成败难测的事情。presumptuous：自以为了不起的。unlikely：不可能写得好的。
◆ 2024/06/27发表想法
不是看到这句话，真是无法意识到这一点。
原文：中国人说英文，很难做出sweating takes place这样的句子，我们很可能说one sweats这样的话。把动词sweat，化成动名词sweating，然后再找一个动词来配合成一个句子——这一点是和中国人思想习惯不合的。
◆ I maintain that this double living, these hours and scenes twice experienced, make up the inevitable sign of the natural-born writer. There is a compulsion to relive everything, repeat conversation to oneself, mimic a speaker’s accent, tone of voice, gesture, as carefully as if one were rehearsing to do it before an audience. It is an odd practice and serves no immediate purpose, certainly. I sometimes think it derives from sheer love of life, or infatuation with life, even the parts of life that we hate and fear. The practice takes its toll, also, in fatigue, a peculiar exhaustion. A double life is a double burden.
◆ ● a compulsion to relive everything：把任何东西生活两次的冲动。repeat是和relive平行的，前面的to省掉了。mimic（模仿）也是和它平行的。● 把听来的谈话，在心里（然后在笔底下）重演一次；某一个人说话时候的（原文作：一个说话人的）特殊的腔调、声调、姿势，私下细心模仿，好像练好了（rehearsing：正式公演前的预演）要演给人（audience）看似的。● 如此做法（practice）无疑是很奇怪（odd）的，而且没有直接（immediate）的好处。● it derives from：如此做法的来源是，对于人生纯粹（sheer）的爱，或者说是，对于人生的着迷。● 前面说过，人生的经验有tragic，comic……等多种。天生的作家爱人生，迷恋人生，不单是人生中的可喜可爱的部分而已，人生中有令人憎恨害怕的部分，作家们对此也依恋不舍。（如前举的逃难的例子；又如小时候给老师打手心。）● also：非但没有用处（serves no purpose），而且有害处。● takes its toll：叫人付出代价。这种代价是疲乏，一种特殊的心力交瘁（exhaustion）之感。人生本是负担，双重生活岂不是双重负担吗？● 前面都用double living讲的是作家的“生活方式”，是动的。这里用double life是概括地讲一种生活，是静的（把流动的生命当作一个整体看），因此可以压在人的身上。
◆ To know what one is doing, to ask oneself from time to time, Why am I writing this book? Whom am I trying to reach with my messsage, and have I message? (You have, or you shouldn’t be writing.) By a message I do not mean a moral. I mean a central idea which caused you to write your piece in the first place. Or your story, or your book, or any particular chapter in your book.
◆ ● By A I mean B：我所说的A，意思就是B。这种句法，是常常可以看见的。这里message一字，意义欠明。作者作进一步的说明。她说她用这个字，并不是指的moral。moral在这里是名词，解作“寓意，教训”。《伊索寓言》于每则故事终了，必列一行moral，说明本故事用意是劝人如何如何。近代人的写作，不可能有如此浅显之寓意，所以这里的message并不是指moral。● 可是你在写作之初，必有一中心思想；你一开头（in the first place）所以要写这篇东西（piece）（或某篇故事，或某一本书，或书里的某一章），就是受这个中心思想的驱使的。
◆ If you are a morning worker, with your best hours from, say, nine to one, your afternoons will have to be devoted to outdoor exercises, neglected housework if you are a wife, the tender loving care and feeding of family or whatever is necessary to make daily life go on, clearing the decks for tomorrow morning and keeping you in top health besides.
◆ ● morning worker：早晨工作的人。前面说过best productive hours。有些人适宜于早晨工作，有些人适宜于晚上工作，今以早晨工作的人为例。● will have to be：这里的will不含“将来”的意思。在“条件句子”里，前面“if”clause假如用现在式，后面的主句通常用将来式。这是习惯用法如此，那个将来式仅是表示“猜测”，并不表示“将来”。have to be：不得不。devoted to：奉献给。下面跟五样东西。1. outdoor exercises：户外运动。作家为保持身心康健计，也该锻炼身体。2. 受到忽略了的家务（假如你是个主妇）。3. 照顾子女等等。4. 这是个暗喻：“清除甲板”是海军作战前的准备。作家为明天早晨的工作，此时亦可稍事准备，如买稿纸、墨水，整理书桌等。5. 保持自己的康健（睡个午睡亦自不妨）。top是形容词：上好的；“巅峰状态”。
◆ With a pencil in hand, making notes or marking passages, you will read on and off until ten o’clock, when you go to bed.
◆ ● marking passages：在书中某几段文章上做记号。read on and off：断断续续地读。when you go to bed：“那个时候”，你上床睡觉了。这种补充用的定语从句（non-restrictive clause），中国学生不大会用。文章如求松散自然，这一种的用法是值得模仿的。
We Need Humor 我们需要幽默
◆ Humor, I have come to feel, is an expression in terms of the grotesque of the enormous disparity between human aspiration and human performance. Thus, self-importance is funny because everyone really knows in his heart that, whatever else is conceivable, it is quite outside the bounds of possibility that one mortal man should be inherently more important than another.
◆ ● I have come to feel：我渐渐地有这个看法。这几个字一般中国学生用来，会把它们放在全句之首，成为全句之主句，然后用连词that，再说humor如何如何，而以humor is…为从句。在这里I have come to feel这五个字，只是临时插进去的（parenthetical），在全句文法结构上，几乎不占地位。按理说，这五个字本是可有可无，如把它们放在主句的地位，的确是太抬举它们了。中国学生对于这种“插入语句”（parenthetical expression）如能善加利用，英文句法可以活泼得多。照现在这样的用法，全句的重心在Humor一字，I have come to feel读起来很轻。这样读法，语气很顺。
◆ 2024/06/27发表想法
很微妙的区别。
原文：● I have come to feel：我渐渐地有这个看法。这几个字一般中国学生用来，会把它们放在全句之首，成为全句之主句，然后用连词that，再说humor如何如何，而以humor is…为从句。在这里I have come to feel这五个字，只是临时插进去的（parenthetical），在全句文法结构上，几乎不占地位。按理说，这五个字本是可有可无，如把它们放在主句的地位，的确是太抬举它们了。中国学生对于这种“插入语句”（parenthetical expression）如能善加利用，英文句法可以活泼得多。照现在这样的用法，全句的重心在Humor一字，I have come to feel读起来很轻。这样读法，语气很顺。
◆ 2024/06/28发表想法
文章可以读得这么细，还可以写出来帮助别人读得更细。
原文：I have come to feel：在前面有一段是用作“插入语句”的，这里可是“主句”了。在前面那一段，作者要强调humor这个字，故把那五个字贬为“插入语句”。在本句中，作者要批评英美人，说他们的幽默逐渐丧失，这种话也许是不中听的，作者怕得罪人，乃吞吞吐吐，故意不把想说的话说出来。在这种情形之下，I have come to feel就成了主句了。
Skeffington s Decision to Run for Re-election 市长决心竞选
◆ off years：通常说来，不选举总统的美国选年都可称为off years。1952，1956，1960等年才是大选年。（按：参议员、州长何年选举，每州情况不一样，市长何年竞选，各大都市情形也不同。1993年是个off year，但纽泽西州竞选州长，纽约市竞选市长也很热闹。）
Moon Shell 月形螺壳
◆ This is a snail shell, round, full and glossy as a horse chestnut. Comfortable and compact, it sits curled up like a cat in the hollow of my hand. Milky and opaque, it has the pinkish bloom of the sky on a summer evening, ripening to rain.
◆ ● compact：满满的。Comfortable形容贝壳，似乎奇怪；但贝壳既比作为猫，此字也是妥当的。curled是过去分词，作形容词用，形容主语it。这两句的形容词，有些放在名词的前面，有些放在后面，其间颇有考究。如第一句改成：This is a round snail shell. 第二句改成：It sits comfortable, compact, and curled up. 都比较差。● in the hollow of my hand：在我手心里面（我手的洼处）。● 第三句又是以两个形容词开头。这种句法，至少可以省掉verb to be；否则的话It is comfortable and compact；it is milky and opaque：重复地说，句法很笨。现在把形容词放在一句之首，句子的主语还没出现；句子的重心不落在这几个形容词身上，句子里可以讲些更重要的事。opaque：不透明的。bloom：红润之色。ripening：这个字来形容天空，很怪。原义是“成熟”，夏日黄昏，红云渐浓，乃下雨之兆。
◆ Naturally. How one hates to think of oneself as alone. How one avoids it. It seems to imply rejection or unpopularity. An early wallflower panic still clings to the word.
◆ wallflower：舞会中无人邀舞的女子。西洋女子视舞会为正式社交场合，假如众人皆舞，我独向隅，这个味道是不好受的。她们很早就有这种心理，这种心理也就附着于（clings to）这个字上。the word：什么字？可能是alone；较好的是solitude。
◆ For a full day and two nights I have been alone. I lay on the beach under the stars at night alone. I made my breakfast alone. Alone I watched the gulls at the end of the pier, dip and wheel and dive for the scraps I threw them.
◆ ● 前三句都用alone结尾，第四句用alone开头。这是造句变化之法。gulls：海鸥。pier：码头。dip：以身浸水。wheel：盘旋地飞。dive：俯冲。三个动词都是不定式。在watched后面的不定式动词是不要用to的。scraps：碎片（食物）。
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《现代英文选评注》 夏济安 夏志清