lesson3 使用暴力 Lesson Three The Use of Force 他们是我的新病人，我所知道的只有名字，奥尔逊。 They were new patients to me， all I had was the name， Olson. 请您尽快赶来，我女儿病得很重。 “Please come down as soon as you can， my daughter is very sick.” 当我到达时，孩子的母亲迎接了我，这是一位看上去惊恐不安的妇人，衣着整洁却一脸忧伤的神色她只是说，这位就是医生吗？ When I arrived I was met by the mother， a big startled looking woman， very clean and apologetic who merely said， Is this the doctor？ 然后带我进了屋。 And let me in. 在后面，她又说到，请你一定要原谅我们，医生，我们让她呆在厨房里，那儿暖和，这里有时很潮湿。 In the back， she added. You must excuse us， doctor， we have her in the kitchen where it is warm. It is very damp here sometimes. 在厨房的桌子旁边，这个孩子穿得严严实实的，坐在她父亲的腿上。 The child was fully dressed and sitting on here father's lap near the kitchen table. 他父亲试图站起来，但我向他示意不用麻烦，然后我脱下外套开始检查。 He tried to get up， but I motioned for him not to bother， took off my overcoat and started to look things over. 我能够觉察出他们都很紧张，而且用怀疑的眼光上下打量着我。 I could see that they were all very nervous， eyeing me up and down distrustfully. 在这种情形下，他们通常不会提供太多的情况，而是等着我告诉他们病情，这就是为什么他们会在我身上花3美元。 As often， in such cases， they weren't telling me more than they had to， it was up to me to tell them； that's why they were spending three dollars on me. 这个孩子用她那冷漠而镇定的目光目不转睛地盯着我，脸上没有任何表情。 The child was fairly eating me up with her cold， steady eyes， and no expression on her face whatever. 她纹丝不动，内心似乎很平静。这是一个非常惹人喜爱的小东西，外表长得象小牛一样结实。 She did not move and seemed， inwardly， quiet； an unusually attractive little thing， and as strong as a heifer in appearance. 但是她的脸发红，而且呼吸急促，我知道她在发着高烧。 But her face was flushed， she was breathing rapidly， and I realized that she had a high fever. 她长着一头漂亮浓密的金发，就像刊登在广告插页上和周日报纸图片版上的那些孩子一样。 She had magnificent blonde hair， in profusion. One of those picture children often reproduced in advertising leaflets and the photogravure sections of the Sunday papers. 她发烧已经3天了，她父亲开口说，我们不知道是什么原因。 She's had a fever for three days， began the father and we don't know what it comes from. 我太太给她吃了一些药，你知道，大家都是这样做的，可这些药根本不管用，而且，附近有很多人都生了病，所以我们想请您给她检查一下，然后告诉我们是怎么一回事。 My wife has given her things， you know， like people do， but it don't do no good. And there's been a lot of sickness around. So we tho't you'd better look her over and tell us what is the matter. 像医生们经常做的那样，我问了个问题，想以此来猜测一下病症所在。 As doctors often do I took a trial shot at it as a point of departure. Has she had a sore throat？ 父母两人一起回答说，没有……没有，她说她的嗓子不疼。 Both parents answered me together， No…No， she says her throat don't hurt her. 你嗓子疼吗？母亲又问了一下孩子。 Does your throat hurt you？ Added the mother to the child. 女孩的表情没有任何变化，而她的目光却一直没有从我的脸上移开。 But the little girl's expression didn't change nor did she move her eyes from my face. 你看过她的嗓子了吗？ Have you looked？ 我想看，孩子的母亲说，但看不见。 I tried to， said the mother but II couldn't see. 这个月碰巧她上学的那个学校已经有好几例白喉病。虽然到目前为止没有人说出这件事，但很显然，我们心里都想到了。 As it happens we had been having a number of cases of diphtheria in the school to which this child went during that month and we were all， quite apparently， thinking of that， though no one had as yet spoken of the thing. 好了，我说，我们先看看嗓子吧。 Well， I said， suppose we take a look at the throat first. 我以医生特有的职业方式微笑着，叫着孩子的名字。我说，来吧，玛蒂尔达，张开嘴，让我看一下你的嗓子。 I smiled in my best professional manner and asking for the child's first name I said， come on， Mathilda， open your mouth and let's take a look at your throat. 没有任何反应。 Nothing doing. 哦，来吧，我劝道，张大你的嘴，让我看看。看，我说着把两只手伸开，我的手里没有东西，张大嘴，让我看看。 Aw， come on， I coaxed， just open your mouth wide and let me take a look. Look， I said opening both hands wide， I haven't anything in my hands. Just open up and let me see. 他是一个多好的人呀，她的母亲插话道。你看他对你多好呀，来，听话。他不会伤害你的。 Such a nice man， put in the mother. Look how kind he is to you. Come on， do what he tells you to. He won't hurt you. 听到这里我狠狠地咬了咬牙，要是他们没用“伤害”这个词，我也许能做点什么，但是我没有着急或恼怒，而是慢声细语地说着话，一边再次靠近这个孩子。 As that I ground my teeth in disgust. If only they wouldn't use the word “hurt” I might be able to get somewhere. But I did not allow myself to be hurried or disturbed but speaking quietly and slowly I approached the child again. 我刚将椅子拉近一点，突然，她像猫一样双手本能地朝我的两眼抓去，我差一点被她抓到。 As I moved my chair a little nearer suddenly with one catlike movement both her hands clawed instinctively for my eyes and she almost reached them too. 好在她只是打掉了我的眼镜，虽然眼镜没有碎，但已落到了离我几英尺远的厨房地板上。 In fact she knocked my glasses flying and they fell， though unbroken， several feet away from me on the kitchen floor. 父母两人都非常尴尬，充满歉意，你这个坏孩子，母亲一边说，一边抓着她，并摇晃着她的一只手，你看看你做的事。这么一个好人。 Both the mother and father almost turned themselves inside out in embarrassment and apology. You bad girl， said the mother， taking her and shaking here by one arm. Look what you've done. The nice man… 看在上帝的份上，我打断了她的话，请不要再在她面前说我是一个好人。 For heaven's sake， I broke in. Don't call me a nice man to her. 我来是看看她的嗓子，也许她患了白喉，而且很可能会死于这种病。 I'm here to look at her throat on the chance that she might have diphtheria and possibly die of it. 但这一切她都不在乎，看这儿，我对女孩说，我们想看看你的嗓子，你不小了，应该明白我说的话，你是自己张开嘴呢，还是我们帮你张开？ But that's nothing to her. Look here， I said to the child， we're going to look at your throat. You're old enough to understand what I'm saying. Will you open it now by yourself or shall we have to open it for you？ 她仍然一动不动，甚至连表情都没有任何变化。 Not a move. Even her expression hadn't changed. 但是她的呼吸却越来越急促。 Her breaths， however， were coming faster and faster. 接着一场战役开始了，我不得不这样做。 Then the battle began. I had to do it. 由于她的自我保护，我必须检查一下她的嗓子。 I had to have a throat culture for her own protection. 可是我首先告诉家长这完全取决于他们。 But first I told the parents that it was entirely up to them. 我说明了其危险性，但同时提出只要他们承担责任我就不会坚持做这次喉咙检查。 I explained the danger but said that I would not insist on a throat examination so long as they would take the responsibility. 如果你不按大夫说的去做，你就要去医院了，母亲严厉地警告她。 If you don't do what the doctor says you'll have to go to the hospital， the mother admonished her severely. 是吗？我只好暗自笑了笑。毕竟我已经喜欢上了这个野蛮的小东西，但却看不起这对父母。 Oh yeah？ I had to smile to myself. After all， I had already fallen in love with the savage brat， the parents were contemptible to me. 在接下来的“战斗”中他们越来越难堪，被摧垮了，直至精疲力竭。而这个女孩由于恐惧，她对我的抗拒达到了惊人的地步。 In the ensuing struggle they grew more and more abject， crushed， exhausted while she surely rose to magnificent heights of insane fury of effort bred of her terror of me. 父亲尽了的努力，他块头很大，然而事实上他面对着的是他的女儿，由于对她的所作所为感到愧疚和担心伤到她，他每次在我几乎就要成功了的关键时刻放开了她，我真恨不得杀了他。 The father tried his best， and he was a big man but the fact that she was his daughter， his shame at her behavior and his dread of hurting her made him release her just at the critical times when I had almost achieved success， till I wanted to kill him. 可是，因为又担心她真会患上白喉，尽管他自己就快昏到了，他又告诉我继续，继续，而她的母亲在我们的身后走来走去，忧愁万分地抖着双手。 But his dread also that she might have diphtheria made him tell me to go on， go on though he himself was almost fainting， while the mother moved back and forth behind us raising and lowering her hands in an agony of apprehension. 把她放在你的大腿上，我命令道，抓住她的两个手腕。 Put her in front of you on your lap， I ordered， and hold both her wrists. 然而他刚一动手，女孩就尖叫了一声。 But as soon as he did the child let out a scream. 别这样，你会弄疼我的。 Don't， you're hurting me. 放开我的手，放手，我告诉你。 Let go of my hands. Let them go I tell you. 接着她发出可怕的歇斯底里的尖叫，住手！住手！你会弄死我的！ Then she shrieked terrifyingly， hysterically. Stop it！ Stop it！ You're killing me！ 你觉得她受得了吗？医生！她母亲说。 Do you think she can stand it， doctor！ Said the mother. 你出去，丈夫对他的妻子说，你想让她死于白喉吗？ You get out， said the hu******************and to his wife. Do you want her to die of diphtheria？ 来吧，抓住她，我说道。 Come on now， hold her， I said. 接着我用左手掰住女孩的头，并试图将木制的压舌板伸进她的嘴里。 Then I grasped the child's head with my left hand and tried to get the wooden tongue depressor between her teeth. 她紧咬着牙绝望地反抗着！ She fought， with clenched teeth， desperately！ 而此时我也变得狂怒了——对一个孩子。 But now I also had grown furious-at a child. 我试图让自己不要发脾气，但却做不到，我知道怎样去检查她的嗓子。 I tried to hold myself down but I couldn't. I know how to expose a throat for inspection. 我尽了的努力。当我终于把木制的压舌板伸到最后一排牙齿的后面时，她张开了嘴，然而只是一瞬间，我还来不及看她又把嘴闭上了，没等我把它取出来，她的臼齿已经紧紧咬住了压舌板，并把压舌板咬成了碎片。 And I did my best. When finally I got the wooden spatula behind the last teeth and just the point of it into the mouth cavity， she opened up for an instant but before I could see anything she came down again and gripped the wooden blade between her molars. She reduces it to splinters before I could get it out again. 你不害臊吗？妈妈朝她大声训斥道。你在大夫面前这样不觉得害臊吗？ Aren't you ashamed， the mother yelled at her. Aren't you ashamed to act like that in front of the doctor？ 给我拿一把平柄的勺子什么的，我对母亲说。 Get me a smooth-handled spoon of some sort， I told the mother. 我们还要接着做下去。 We're going through with this. 孩子的嘴已经流血了。 The child's mouth was already bleeding. 她的舌头破了，还在歇斯底里地大叫着。 Her tongue was cut and she was screaming in wild hysterical shrieks. 也许我应该停下来，过一个多小时再回来无疑这样会好一些。 Perhaps I should have desisted and come back in an hour or more. No doubt it would have been better. 但我已经看到至少两个孩子因为这种情况而被疏忽了，躺在床上死去，我感到我必须现在进行诊断，否则就再没有机会了。 But I have seen at least two children lying dead in bed of neglect in such cases， and feeling that I must get a diagnosis now or never I went at it again. 然而最糟糕的是，我也失去了理智，我本可以在盛怒之下将女孩的嘴扒开来享受其中的快乐，向她发起进攻真是一件乐事，我的脸也因此而发热。 But the worst of it was that I too had got beyond reason. I could have torn the child apart in my own fury and enjoyed it. It was a pleasure to attack her， my face was burning with it. 在这种时候，谁都会叮咛自己，无论这个可恶的小鬼做出任何愚蠢的举动，也要违背她的意愿来保护她。 The damned little brat must be protected against her own idiocy， one says to one's self at such times. 这样做也是为了保护其他孩子，同时这也是一种社会需要，事实也确是如此。 Others must be protected against her. It is a social necessity. And all these things are true. 然而由于释放体内能量的欲望而产生的一种盲目的无法控制的狂怒和一种成年人的羞耻感，使我一直坚持到最后。 But a blind fury，a feeling of adult shame， bred of a longing for muscular release are the operatives. One goes on to the end. 在最后失去理性的“战斗”中，我控制了女孩的脖子和下巴，我强行将沉重的银勺从她的牙后面伸到嗓子直到她作呕。 In the final unreasoning assault I overpowered the child's neck any jaws. I forced the heavy silver spoon back of her teeth and down her throat till she gagged. 果然，两个扁桃体上有着一层膜状物。她勇敢地反抗就是为了不让我发现她的这个秘密，她至少隐瞒了3天嗓子疼，并对父母撒谎，都是为了逃避这样一个结果。 And there it was – both tonsils covered with membrane. She had fought valiantly to keep me from knowing her secret. She had been hiding that sore throat for three days at least and lying to her parents in order to escape just such an outcome as this. 现在，她真的狂怒了，在这以前她一直处于守势，但是现在她开始进攻了。 Now truly she was furious. She had been on the defensive before but now she attacked， Tried to get off her father's lap and fly at me while tears of defeat blinded her eye.
Lesson One Rock Superstars 关于我们和我们的社会，他们告诉了我们些什么？ What Do They Tell Us About Ourselves and Our Society？ 摇滚乐是青少年叛逆的音乐。 ——摇滚乐评论家约相？罗克韦尔 Rock is the music of teenage rebellion. —— John Rockwell， rock music critic 知其崇拜何人便可知其人。 ——小说家罗伯特？佩恩？沃伦 By a man's heroes ye shall know him. —— Robert Penn Warren， novelist 1972年6月的一天，芝加哥圆形剧场挤满了大汗淋漓、疯狂摇摆的人们。 It was mid-June， 1972， the Chicago Amphitheater was packed， sweltering， rocking. 滚石摇滚乐队的迈克？贾格尔正在台上演唱“午夜漫步人”。 Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones was singing “Midnight Rambler.” 演唱结束时评论家唐？赫克曼在现场。 Critic Don Heckman was there when the song ended. 他描述道：“贾格尔抓起一个半加仑的水罐沿舞台前沿边跑边把里面的水洒向前几排汗流浃背的听众。听众们蜂拥般跟随着他跑，急切地希望能沾上几滴洗礼的圣水。 “Jagger，” he said， “grabs a half-gallon jug of water and runs along the front platform， sprinkling its contents over the first few rows of sweltering listeners. They surge to follow him， eager to be touched by a few baptismal drops”。 1973年12月下旬的一天，约1.4万名歌迷在华盛顿市外的首都中心剧场尖叫着，乱哄哄地拥向台前。 It was late December， 1973， Some 14，000 screaming fans were crunching up to the front of the stage at Capital Center， outside Washington， D.C. 美国的恐怖歌星艾利丝？库珀的表演正接近尾声。 Alice Cooper， America's singing ghoul， was ending his act. 他表演的最后一幕是假装在断头台上结束自己的生命。 He ends it by pretending to end his life – with a guillotine. 他的“头”落入一个草篮中。 His “head” drops into a straw basket. “哎呀！”一个黑衣女孩子惊呼道：“啊！真是了不起，不是吗？”。 “Ooh，” gasped a girl dressed in black. “Oh， isn't that marvelous？” 当时，14岁的迈克珀力也在场，但他的父母不在那里。 Fourteen-year-old Mick Perlie was there too， but his parents weren't. “他们觉得他恶心，恶心，恶心，”迈克说，“他们对我说，你怎么受得了那些？” “They think he's sick， sick， sick，” Mike said. “They say to me， 'How can you stand that stuff？'” 1974年1月下旬的一天，在纽约州尤宁谷城拿骚体育场内，鲍勃？狄伦和“乐队”乐队正在为音乐会上要用的乐器调音。 It was late January， 1974. Inside the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale， New York， Bob Dylan and The Band were tuning for a concert. 馆外，摇滚歌迷克利斯？辛格在大雨中等待着入场。 Outside， in the pouring rain， fan Chris Singer was waiting to get in. “这是朝圣，”克利斯说，“我应该跪着爬进去。” “ This is pilgrimage，” Chris said， “I ought to be crawling on my knees.” 对于这一切好评及个人崇拜，你怎么看？ How do you feel about all this adulation and hero worship？ 当米克？贾格尔的崇拜者们把他视为上帝的代表或是一个神时，你是赞成还是反对？ When Mick Jagger's fans look at him as a high priest or a god， are you with them or against them？ 你也和克利斯？辛格一样对鲍勃？狄伦怀有几乎是宗教般的崇敬吗？ Do you share Chris Singer's almost religious reverence for Bob Dylan？ 你认为他或狄伦是步入歧途吗？ Do you think he – or Dylan – is misguided？ 你也认为艾利丝？库珀令人恶心而拒不接受吗？ Do you reject Alice Cooper as sick？ 难道你会莫名其妙地被这个奇怪的小丑吸引，原因就在于他表达出你最狂热的幻想？ Or are you drawn somehow to this strange clown， perhaps because he acts out your wildest fantasies？ 这些并不是闲谈。 These aren't idle questions. 有些社会学家认为对这些问题的回答可以充分说明你在想些什么以及社会在想些什么——也就是说，有关你和社会的态度。 Some sociologists say that your answers to them could explain a lot about what you are thinking and about what your society is thinking – in other words， about where you and your society are. 社会学家欧文？霍洛威茨说：“音乐表现其时代。” “Music expressed its times，” says sociologist Irving Horowitz. 霍洛威茨把摇滚乐的舞台视为某种辩论的论坛，一个各种思想交锋的场所。 Horowitz sees the rock music arena as a sort of debating forum， a place where ideas clash and crash. 他把它看作是一个美国社会努力为自己的感情及信仰不断重新进行解释的地方。 He sees it as a place where American society struggles to define and redefine its feelings and beliefs. 他说：“重新解释是一项只有青年人才能执行的任务。只有他们才把创造与夸张、理性与运动、言语与声音、音乐与政治融为一体。” “The redefinition，” Horowitz says， “is a task uniquely performed by the young. It is they alone who combine invention and exaggeration， reason and motion， word and sound， music and politics.” 作曲兼演唱家托德？伦德格伦对这个观点表示赞同。 Todd Rundgren， the composer and singer， agrees. 他说：“摇滚乐与其说是一种音乐力量不如说是一种社会心理的表现。就连埃尔维斯？普雷斯利也并非是一种伟大的音乐力量，他只不过是体现了50年代青少年那种心灰意冷的精神状态。” “Rock music，” he says， “is really a sociological expression rather than a musical force. Even Elvis Presley wasn't really a great musical force. It's just that Elvis managed to embody the frustrated teenage spirit of the 1950s.” 毫无疑问，普雷斯利震惊了美国的成人世界。 Of course Presley horrified adult America. 报纸写社论攻击他，电视网也禁止播他，但也许埃尔维斯证实了霍洛威茨和伦德格伦的看法。 Newspapers editorialized against him， and TV networks banned him. But Elvis may have proved what Horowitz and Rundgren believe. 当他通过电视上埃德？沙利文的星期日晚间的综艺节目出现在千百万人面前时，就引起了某种辩论。 When he appeared on the Ed.Sullivan Sunday night variety show in front of millions， a kind of “debate” took place. 多数年纪大的观众眉头紧皱，而大多数年轻观众则报以掌声欢迎。 Most of the older viewers frowned， while most of the younger viewers applauded. 摇滚乐评论家们说，从埃尔维斯到艾利丝，许多歌星帮助我们的社会解说其信仰与态度。 Between Elvis and Alice， rock critics say， a number of rock stars have helped our society define its beliefs and attitudes. 鲍勃？狄伦触动了对现状不满的神经，他唱到民权、核散落物以及孤独。 Bob Dylan touched a nerve of disaffection. He spoke of civil rights， nuclear fallout， and loneliness. 他唱到变革和老一代人的迷茫，他在歌声中唱道：“这儿正发生着什么事，你不知道是什么事，对吗，琼斯先生？” He spoke of change and of the bewilderment of an older generation. “Something's happening here，” he sang. “You don't know what it is， do you， Mr.Jones？” 其他人也加入了这场辩论。 Others entered the debate. 霍洛威茨说，甲壳虫乐队以幽默的方式，或许还借助麻醉品的力量来倡导和平与虔诚。傲慢无理、打架斗殴的滚石乐队成员要求革命。杰斐逊飞机乐队的歌曲“我们能够联合”和“志愿者”（有一场革命）则是激进青年的更进一步的两项声明。 The Beatles， Horowitz said， urged peace and piety， with humor and maybe a little help from drugs. The Rolling Stones， arrogant street-fighting men， demanded revolution. The Jefferson Airplane's “We Can Be Together” and Volunteers （Got a Revolution）“ were two further statements of radical youth. 但政治并不是60年代强硬派摇滚乐所辩论的惟一主题，始终作为任何音乐永恒组成部分的情感也是一个重要题目。 But politics wasn't the only subject debated in the hard rock of the sixties. Feelings， always a part of any musical statement， were a major subject. 詹妮丝？乔普林用歌声表达自己的悲哀。 Janis Jophin sang of her sadness. 甲壳虫乐队揭示出爱与恨之间的一系列的感情。 The Beatles showed there were a range of emotions between love and hate. 以后又出现了“乐队”乐队把乡村音乐和西部音乐所表达的较为传统的观念与强硬派摇滚乐较为激进的“都市”观念结合在一起。 Then came The Band， mixing the more traditional ideas of country and western music into the more radical “city” ideas of the hard rock. 霍洛威茨认为这一成分的乡村音乐帮助听众表达了一种“摆脱这一切”，“重返过去时光”的强烈愿望。 This country element， Horowitz feels， helped its audience express an urge to “get away from it all，” to “go back to the old day. 当前最能说明霍洛威茨看法的例子之一就是约翰？丹佛，他最的歌曲《阳光照在我肩上》、《高高的落基山》和《乡间小路》把民间摇滚乐的音乐灵魂与力量结合了起来，而歌词则赞美了“往日美好时光”的朴素的欢乐。 。“ One of the best current examples of what Horotwitz is talking about is John Denver. His most notable songs – ”Sunshine on My Shoulders“， ”Rocky Mountain High“， and ”Country Road“ – combine the musical drive and power of folk rock， while the lyrics celebrate the simple joys of ”the good old days.“ 这样的例子不胜枚举。 The list could go on and on. 这些摇滚乐音乐家们和所有的艺术家一样反映出我们借以认识并形成属于自己的感情与信念。 Like all artists， these rock musicians mirror feelings and beliefs that help us see and form our own. 我们以什么来回报他们呢？当然是掌声和赞美。 What do we give them in return？ Applause and praise， of course. 在1972年的一次全国民意测验中，10％的男高中生和30％以上的女高中生都说他们最崇拜的人是超级摇滚歌星。 In one 1972， national opinion poll， more than 10 percent of the high school boys and 20 percent of the girls said their hero was a rock superstar. 此外我们给他们金钱， 商业杂志《福布斯》认为，“当今成为百万富翁的捷径是当摇滚歌星。” We also give them money. “The fastest way to become a millionaire these days，” says Forbes， a business magazine， “is to become a rock 'n' roll star.” 今天的英雄们——至少其中一部分人——告诉我们，他们很喜欢所得到的报偿。 Today's heroes – some of them， anyway – tell us they enjoy their rewards. “我暗自嘲笑这些先生们和女士们，他们从没想到过我们会成为金娃娃。”演唱这支歌曲的是“文化英雄”艾利丝？库珀。 “And I laughed to myself at the men and the ladies. Who never conceived of us billion-dollar babies.” The particular “culture hero” who sings that is Alice cooper. 可是，仍然存在着一个大问题：为什么他是文化英雄？ The big question remains： Why is he a culture hero？ 他，或者当今任何其他走红的摇滚歌星能告诉我们些什么有关他们的歌迷的事情？ What does he – or any other current rock success – tell us about his fans？ 对于我们自己和我们的社会有些什么了解？现在怎样，过去如何，将来又将向何处去？ About ourselves and our society？ Where it is， where it was， where it's heading？
Lesson Nine The Trouble with Television 电视的毛病 The Trouble with Television 要摆脱电视的影响是困难的。 It is difficult to escape the influence of television. 假如统计的平均数字适用于你的话，那么你到20岁的时候就至少看过2万个小时的电视了，从那以后每生活10年就会增加1万小时。 If you fit the statistical averages， by the age of 20 you will have been exposed to at least 20，000 hours of television. You can add 10，000 hours for each decade you have lived after the age of 20. 笔起看电视，美国人只有在工作和睡眠上花时间更多。 The only things Americans do more than watch television are work and sleep. 稍微计算一下，使用这些时间的一部分能够做些什么。 Calculate for a moment what could be done with even a part of those hours. 听说一个大学生仅用5000小时就可以获得学士学位。 Five thousand hours， I am told， are what a typical college undergraduate spends working on a bachelor's degree. 在1万个小时内你能学成一个天文学家或工程师，流利掌握几门外语。 In 10，000 hours you could have learned enough to become an astronomer or engineer. You could have learned several languages fluently. 如果你感兴趣的话，你可能读希腊原文的荷马史诗或俄文版的陀思妥耶夫斯基的作品；如果对此不感兴趣，那你可以徒步周游世界，撰写一本游记。 If it appealed to you， you could be reading Homer in the original Greek or Dostoyevsky in Russian. If it didn't， you could have walked around the world and written a book about it. 电视的毛病在于它分散了人们的注意力。 The trouble with television is that it discourages concentration. 生活中几乎一切有趣的、能给人以满足的事都需要一定的建设性的、持之以恒的努力。 Almost anything interesting and rewarding in life requires some constructive， consistently applied effort. 即使是我们中间那些最迟钝、最没有天才的人也能做出一些事来，而这些事使那些从来不在任何事情上专心致志的人感到像是奇迹一般。 The dullest， the least gifted of us can achieve things that seem miraculous to those who never concentrate on anything. 但电视鼓励我们不做出任何努力，它向我们兜售即时的满足，它给我们提供娱乐，使我们只想娱乐，让时间在毫无痛苦中消磨掉。 But Television encourages us to apply no effort. It sells us instant gratification. It diverts us only to divert， to make the time pass without pain. 电视节目的多样化成了一种麻醉剂而不是促进思考的因素。 Television's variety becomes a narcotic ， nor a stimulus. 它那系列的、多变的画面引着我们跟着它走。 Its serial， kaleidoscopic exposures force us to follow its lead. 观众无休无止地跟着导游游览：参观博物馆30分钟，看大教堂30分钟，喝饮料30分钟，然后上车去下一个参观点，只是电视的特点是时间分配以分秒计算，而所选择的内容却多为车祸和人们的互相残杀。 The viewer is on a perpetual guided tour： 30 minutes at the museum， 30 at the cathedral， 30 for a drink， then back on the bus to the next attraction —-except on television.， typically， the spans allotted arc on the order of minutes or seconds， and the chosen delights are more often car crashes and people killing one another. 总之许多电视节目取代了人类最可贵的一种才能，即主动集中自己的注意力，而不是被动地奉送注意力。 In short， a lot of television usurps one of the most precious of all human gifts， the ability to focus your attention yourself， rather than just passively surrender it. 吸引并抓住人们的注意力是大多数电视节目安排的主要目的，它加强了电视是有利可图的广告的载体的作用。 Capturing your attention —and holding it—is the prime motive of most television programming and enhances its role as a profitable advertising vehicle. 节目安排使人生活在无休止的恐惧之中，唯恐抓不住人们的注意力——不管是什么人的注意力都担心。 Programmers live in constant fear of losing anyone's attention—anyone's. 避免造成这一局面的最有把握的办法就是使一切节目都保持简短，不要使任何人的注意力过于集中而受到损害，而要通过多样化、新奇性、动作和行动不断地提供刺激。 The surest way to avoid doing so is to keep everything brief， not to strain the attention of anyone but instead to provide constant stimulation through variety， novelty， action and movement. 很简单，电视的运作原则就是迎合观众的注意力跨度短这一特点。 Quite simply， television operates on the appeal to the short attention span. 这只是最简单的解决办法，但它逐渐被看作是电视这一宣传媒体特定的，内在固有的性质，是必须履行的职责，似乎是司令萨尔诺夫或另一个令人敬畏的电视创始人给我们传下了刻有铭文的石碑，命令电视上出现的一切节目均不得使观众需要片刻以上的注意力。 It is simply the easiest way out. But it has come to be regarded as a given， as inherent in the medium itself； as an imperative， as though General Sarnoff， or one of the other august pioneers of video， had bequeathed to us tablets of stone commanding that nothing in television shall ever require more than a few moments' Concentration. 要是运用得恰当，这倒也无可厚非。 In its place that is fine. 如此出色地把使人忘却现实的娱乐作为大规模推销工具加以包装，谁又能反对这样一种宣传媒介呢？ Who can quarrel with a medium that so brilliantly packages escapist entertainment as a mass-marketing tool？ 但是我看到了它的价值现已充斥于这个国家及其生活之中。 Rut I see its values now pervading this nation and its life. 认为快速思维和快餐食品一样影响着生活节奏很快、性情急躁的公众，这已成了时髦的看法。 It has become fashionable to think that， like fast food， fast ideas are the way to get to a fast-moving， impatient public. 在新闻方面，我认为这种做法不能进行很好的交流。 In the case of news， this practice， in my view， results in inefficient communication. 我怀疑电视每晚的新闻节目真正能够被人吸收和理解的有多少。 I question how much of television's nightly news effort is really absorbable and understandable. 其中许多被形象地描述为“机关枪不连贯地点射”。 Much of it is what has been aptly described as “machine-gunning with scraps.” 我认为这种技术是与连贯性作对的。 I think the technique fights coherence. 我认为它最终会使事情变得枯燥乏味、无足轻重（除非伴以恐怖的画面），因为任何一件事，如果你对它几乎一无所知，那么它差不多总会是枯燥乏味、使人觉得无足轻重的。 I think it tends to make things ultimately boring and dismissible （unless they are accompanied by horrifying pictures） because almost anything is boring and dismissible if you know almost nothing about it. 我认为，电视迎合观众注意力跨度短的做法不仅会造成交流不畅，而且还会降低文化水平。 I believe that TV's appeal to the short attention span is not only inefficient communication but decivilizing as well. 想一想电视要达到的那些极不慎重的原则吧：必须避免复杂性，用视觉刺激来代替思考，语言的精确早已是不合时宜的要求。 Consider the casual assumptions that television tends to cultivate： that complexity must be avoided， that visual stimulation is a substitute for thought， that verbal precision is an anachronism. 它可能已过时，但我所受的教育告诉我思想就是语言，是按准确的语法规则组织起来的。 It may be old-fashioned， but I was taught that thought is words， arranged in grammatically precise 在美国存在着读写能力的危机。 There is a crisis of literacy in this country. 据一项研究估计，约有3000万美国成年人是“功能性文盲”。他们的读写能力无法回答招聘广告，或读懂药瓶上的说明。 One study estimates that some 30 million adult Americans are “functionally illiterate” and cannot read or write well enough to answer the want ad or understand the instructions on a medicine bottle. 能读写可能算不上是一项不可剥夺的人权，但是我们学识渊博的开国元勋们并不感到它是不合理的或者甚至是达不到的。 Literacy may not be an inalienable human right， but it is one that the highly literate Founding Fathers might not have found unreasonable or even unattainable. 从统计数字上看，我们的国家不仅未达到人人能读写的程度，而且离这一目标越来越远。 We are not only not attaining it as a nation， statistically speaking， but we are falling further and further short of attaining it. 尽管我不会天真到认为电视是造成这一情况的原因，但我却相信它起了一定的作用，是有影响的。 And， white I would not be so simplistic as to suggest that television is the cause， 1 believe it contributes and is an influence. 美国的一切：社会结构、家庭组织形式、经济、在世界上的地位，都变得更为复杂，而不是相反。 Everything about this nation —the structure of the society， its forms of family organization， its economy， its place in the world— has become more complex， not less. 然而其占主导地位的传播媒介，全国联系的主要方式，却在人类存在的问题上推销简单的解决方式，而这些问题通常是没有简单的解决方式的。 Yet its dominating communications instrument， its principal form of national linkage， is one that sells neat resolutions to human problems that usually have no neat resolutions. 在我的心目中，那30秒钟一个的商业广告：一位家庭主妇因选对了牙膏而感到幸福的那小小的戏剧性场面就是这一切的象征。电视已使这极其成功的艺术形式成为我们文化不可缺少的一个部分了。 It is all symbolized in my mind by the hugely successful art form that television has made central to the culture，the 30-second commercial： the tiny drama of the earnest housewife who finds happiness in choosing the right toothpaste. 在人类历，几时曾有这样多的人共同把自己这样多的业余时间奉送给一件玩具，一项大众娱乐？ When before in human history has so much humanity collectively surrendered so much of its leisure to one toy， one mass diversion？ 几时曾有一个国家使自己整个地置于商品推销媒介的摆布之下？ When before has virtually an entire nation surrendered itself whole-sale to a medium for selling？ 几年前，耶鲁大学的法学教授小查尔斯？L？布莱克写道：“……被喂食本身并不是件琐碎小事。” Some years ago Yale University law professor Charles L. Black. Jr.，wrote：“…… forced feeding on trivial fare is not itself a trivial matter-” 我认为我们这个社会正在强行被喂食。 I think this society is being forced-fed with trivial fare， 我担心这一做法对我们的思维习惯，对我们的语言、我们努力的极限度及对复杂情况的兴趣等方面所造成的影响，这一点我们还只是极模糊地意识到。 and I fear that the effects on our habits of mind， our language， our tolerance for effort， and our appetite for complexity are only dimly perceived. 就算我的看法不对，用怀疑和批判的眼光来分析这个问题，来考虑如何抵制它，也不会有任何害处。 If I am wrong， we will have done no harm to look at the issue skeptically and critically，to consider how we should be resisting it. I hope you will join with me in doing so.
lesson5 宁为黑人不为女子 Lesson Five I'd Rather Be Black than Female 我是第一位当选国会议员的黑人妇女，这使我不同凡响。 Being the first black woman elected to Congress has made me some kind of phenomenon. 国会中还有九位黑人议员和十位妇女议员，但我是第一位同时克服两个不利因素的人。 There are nine other blacks in Congress； there are ten other women. I was the first to overcome both handicaps at once. 在这两种不利因素中，是个女人比是黑人更糟。 Of the two handicaps， being black is much less of a drawback than being female. 如果我说做黑人比做妇女更糟糕，也许没有人会对我的说法提出质疑。 If I said that being black is a greater handicap than being a woman， probably no one would question me. 为什么呢？因为“众所周知”，美国存在着对黑人的歧视。 Why？ Because “we all know” there is prejudice against black people in America. 说美国存在着对妇女的歧视对于几乎所有男人——还有大多数女人来说——却是不可思议的。 That there is prejudice against women is an idea that still strikes nearly all men – and， I am afraid， most women – as bizarre. 许多年以来，多数人看不到社会存在着对黑人的歧视。 Prejudice against blacks was invisible to most white Americans for many years. 当黑人终于通过静坐*、联合抵制和自由乘车*的方式以示*，来提及这个问题时，他们觉得简直难以置信。 When blacks finally started to “mention” it， with sit-ins， boycotts， and freedom rides， Americans were incredulous. “谁，我们？”他们委屈地问道。 “Who， us？” they asked in injured tones. “我们歧视黑人？”对美国白人来说，这是漫长而痛苦的再教育的开始。 “We're prejudiced？” It was the start of a long， painful reeducation for white America. 他们，包括那些自认为是自由主义者的白人——还需要许多年才能发现并消除他们实际上都持有的种族主义态度。 It will take years for whites – including those who think of themselves as liberals – to discover and eliminate the racist attitudes they all actually have. 消除对妇女的歧视的困难有多大？我确信这将会是一场更持久的斗争。 How much harder will it be to eliminate the prejudice against women？ I am sure it will be a longer struggle. 部分问题在于比起黑人来美国妇女被洗脑的程度更深，且更满足于她们次等公民的角色。 Part of the problem is that women in America are much more brainwashed and content with their roles as second – class citizens than blacks ever were. 我来解释一下。 Let me explain. 二十多年来我一直积极参与政治活动。 I have been active in politics for more than twenty years. 除了最后的那六年，其余那些年干活的是我，我干的是所有无聊琐碎但对竞选胜负至关重要的工作——可得到好处的却是男人，这几乎就是政界妇女一直以来的命运。 For all but the last six， I have done the work – all the tedious details that make the difference between victory and defeat on election day – while men reaped the rewards， which is almost invariably the lot of women in politics. 在美国政界，大部分的工作仍然是由妇女来做——大约300万志愿者。 It is still women – about three million volunteers – who do most of this work in the American political world. 她们中任何人所能期待的结果是有幸当选为区或县的副主席，这是一个隔离却平等的职位，是给那些多年来一直忠实从事装信封和组织牌局工作的妇女的奖赏。 The best any of them can hope for is the honor of being district or county vice-chairman， a kind of separate-but-equal position with which a woman is rewarded for years of faithful envelope stuffing and card-party organizing. 在这种职位上，她可以享受公费出差去参加州或全国性的会议或代表大会，在这些场合她的作用就是和她单位的男主席投一样的票。 I n such a job， she gets a number of free trips to state and sometimes national meetings and conventions， where her role is supposed to be to vote the way her male chairman votes. 1963年，当我企图摆脱这一角色代表布鲁克林的贝德富锡—斯图维桑特参加竞选纽约州众议院的席位时，遇到了极大的阻力。 When I tried to break out of that role in 1963 and run for the New York State Assembly seat from Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant， the resistance was bitter. 从竞选一开始，我就要面对他们毫不掩饰的对女性的敌意。 From the start of that campaign， I faced undisguised hostility because of my sex. 但是在四年以后，当我竞选国会议员时，性别问题才成了一个主要争端。 But it was four years later， when I ran for Congress， that the question of my sex became a major issue. 我所在党派的党员召开秘密会议讨论如何阻止我参加竞选。 Among members of my own party， closed meetings were held to discuss ways of stopping me. 我的对手，的人权运动领袖詹姆士？法默竭力把自己塑造成一个具有男子汉气概的黑人形象；他坐着带有扩音器的卡车在附近地区巡回，车上满载着留着非洲发式、穿颜色花哨的宽袍和蓄胡子的年轻人。 My opponent， the famous civil-rights leader James Farmer， tried to project a black， masculine image； he toured the neighborhood with sound trucks filled with young men wearing Afro haircuts， dashikis， and beards. 电视台记者对我不屑一顾，他们忽略了一个非常重要的数据，而对此我和我的竞选经纪人韦斯利？麦克唐纳？霍尔德却很清楚。 While the television crews ignored me， they were not aware of a very important statistic， which both I and my campaign manager， Wesley MacD. Holder， knew. 在我这个区内，登记参加投票选举的人中男女的比例是1∶2.5.而且那些妇女是有组织的——是教师家长协会、教会社团、牌局俱乐部以及其他社会服务性团体的成员。我去找她们寻求帮助。 n my district there are 2.5 women for every man registered to vote. And those women are organized – in PTAs， church societies， card clubs， and other social and service groups I went to them and asked their help. 法默先生到现在仍然不知道他是如何被击败的。 Mr. Farmer still doesn't quite know what hit him. 当一位聪明的年轻女大学生开始找工作时，为什么第一个问题总是“你会打字吗？” When a bright young woman graduate starts looking for a job， why is the first question always： “Can you type？” 在这个问题背后是一整部妇女受歧视的历史。 A history of prejudice lies behind that question. 为什么被看成是秘书而不是管理者？为什么被看成是图书管理员和教师而不是律师？ Why are women thought of as secretaries， not administrators？Librarians and teachers， but not doctors and lawyers？ 因为她们被认为是不一样的，低人一等的。 Because they are thought of as different and inferior. 快乐的家庭主妇和心满意足的黑鬼都是由歧视产生的典型人物。 The happy homemaker and the contented darky are both stereotypes produced by prejudice. 妇女甚至还没有达到黑人所达到的象征性的平等水平。 Women have not even reached the level of tokenism that blacks are reaching. 法院中没有妇女，只有两名妇女曾担任内阁的职位，但现在一个也没有。 No women sit on the Supreme Court. Only two have held Cabinet rank， and none do at present. 只有两位妇女担任大使。 Only two women hold ambassadorial rank. 妇女主要从事工资低、伺候人、没有前途的工作。即使她们获得较好的职位，他们的工资也总是比同样工作的男人低。 But women predominate in the lower-paying， menial， unrewarding， dead-end jobs， and when they do reach better positions， they are invariably paid less than a man for the same job. 这不是歧视又是什么？ If that is not prejudice， what would you call it？ 几年前，我与一位政治领袖谈论有关一个有前途的青年妇女做候选人的事。 A few years ago， I was talking with a political leader about a promising young woman as a candidate. “为什么要花费时间和精力去树立这个女孩的威信？”他问道，“你很清楚她只会在我们打算让她竞选市长时退出竞选去而生孩子。” “Why invest time and effort to build the girl up？” he asked me. “You know she'll only drop out of the game to have a couple of kids just about the time we're ready to run her for mayor.” 对于我，许多人说了类似的话。 Plenty of people have said similar things about me. 每次当我试图向上迈一步时，许多人劝我回去教书，说那才是妇女的职业，把政治留给男人。 Plenty of others have advised me， every time， I tried to take another upward step， that I should go back to teaching， a woman's vocation and leave politics to the men. 我热爱教书，只要我确信这个国家再也不需要女人作贡献时，我就会去教书。 I love teaching， and I am ready to go back to it as soon as I am convinced that this country no longer needs a women's contribution. 当在这个富足的国家里，当没有孩子饿着肚子上床睡觉时，我可能会回去教书。 When there are no children going to bed hungry in this rich nation， I may be ready to go back to teaching. 当每一个孩子都能上好学校时，我也许会回去教书。 When there is a good school for every child， I may be ready. 当我们不再将钱财耗费在武器装备上来杀人时，当我们不再容忍对少数民族的歧视时，当惩治住房和雇佣不公行为的法律得以实施而不是被束之高阁时，那么我在政治上也就再没什么可做的了 When we do not spend our wealth on hardware to murder people， when we no longer tolerate prejudice against minorities， and when the laws against unfair housing and unfair employment practices are enforced instead of evaded， then there may be nothing more for me to do in politics. 但是在那以前——我们都知道那不是今年或是明年——我们需要的是更多的妇女投身于政治，因为妇女可以作出特殊的贡献。 But until that happens – and we all know it will not be this year or next – what we need is more women in politics， because we have a very special contribution to make. 我希望自己成功的例子能使其他的妇女愿意参与政治活动——不仅仅是装信封，而是竞选政府职位。 I hope that the example of my success will convince other women to get into politics – and not just to stuff envelopes， but to run for office. 妇女能将同情、宽容、远见、忍耐和毅力带到政府中——这是我们与生俱有的品质或是在男人的压制下不得不培养出来的品质。 It is women who can bring empathy， tolerance， insight， patience， and persistence to government – the qualities we naturally have or have had to develop because of our suppression by men. 一个国家的妇女通过她们在生活中的行为来塑造这个国家的道德、宗教和政治。 The women of a nation mold its morals， its religion， and its politics by the lives they live. 目前， 我们国家在政治上也许比其他任何方面更需要妇女的理想主义和决心。 At present，our country needs women's idealism and determination，perhaps more in politics than anywhere else.
lesson8-10 人生的一课 快一年了，大部分时间我都泡在家里、店铺、学校和教堂里，就像一块旧饼干，又脏又难以下咽。 For nearly a year， I sopped around the house， the Store， the school and the church， like an old biscuit， dirty and inedible. 这时我遇到或者说认识了抛给我第一根救生索的那位夫人。 Then I met， or rather got to know， the lady who threw me first lifeline. 波萨？弗劳尔斯夫人是斯坦普司黑人区中的出类拔萃的人物。 Mrs. Bertha Flowers was the aristocrat of Black Stamps. 她动作优雅，即使在最冷的天气里也不缩手缩脚，而在阿肯色州的夏日里，她似乎又有属于自己的微风环绕在她的身旁，给她带来凉爽。 She had the grace of control to appear warm in the coldest weather， and one the Arkansas summer days it seemed she had a private breeze which swirled around， cooling her. 她的皮肤深黑迷人，如果被挂住就会像李子皮一样剥落，但没有人敢离她近点，碰皱她的衣服，更不要说挂住她的皮肤了。 Her skin was a rich black that would have peeled like a plum if snagged， but then no one would have thought of getting close enough to Mrs. Flowers to ruffle her dress， let alone snag her skin. 她不太喜欢亲近，另外她还带着手套。 She didn't encourage familiarity. She wore gloves too. 她是我所知道的为数不多的有气质的女士之一，并且是我做人的楷模，影响了我一生。 She was one of the few gentlewomen I have ever known， and has remained throughout my life the measure of what a human being can be. 我被她深深地吸引，因为她像是我从没有亲身遇到过的那些人。 She appealed to me because she was like people I had never met personally. 她就像英国小说中的女人，走在沼泽地里（不管是什么地方），一群忠实的狗奔跑在她们的身旁，并与她们保持一定的距离以示尊敬。 Like women in English novels who walked the moors （whatever they were） with their loyal dogs racing at a respectful distance. 她就像坐在炉火熊熊的壁炉前的女人，不时从装满蛋糕和松脆饼的银盘中取东西喝。 Like the women who sat in front of roaring fireplaces， drinking tea incessantly from silver trays full of scones and crumpets. 她就像走在“石南丛生的荒野”中，读着用摩洛哥山羊皮装订的书的那些女人，而且有用连字符隔开的两个姓。 Women who walked over the “heath” and read morocco-bound books and had two last names divided by a hyphen. 可以肯定地说，是她本人使我为自己是个黑人而感到骄傲。 It would be safe to say that she made me proud to be Negro， just by being herself. 那个在我的记忆中如甜奶般鲜活的夏日的午后，她来我们的店里买东西。 One summer afternoon， sweet-milk fresh in my memory， she stopped at the Store to buy provisions. 换了另外一个同她身体情况和年龄相当的黑人妇女就会一只手把纸袋拎回家去，但奶奶却说，“弗劳尔斯大姐，让贝利帮你把东西送回家去。” Another Negro woman of her health and age would have been expected to carry the paper sacks home in one hand， but Momma said， “Sister Flowers， I'll send Bai-ley up to your house with these things.” “谢谢您，汉德森夫人。但我想让玛格丽特帮我送回去。” “Thank you， Mrs. Henderson. I'd prefer Marguerite， though.” 她说我名字时，我的名字也变得动听起来。 My name was beautiful when she said it. “反正我一直想跟她谈一谈。”她们互相对视了一下，其间的意思只有她们这些同龄人才明白。 “I've been mean-ins to talk to her， anyway.” They gave each other agegroup looks. 在石头路旁有一条小路，弗劳尔斯夫人在前面摆动着胳膊，在碎石路上小心地走着。 There was a little path beside the rocky road， and Mrs. Flowers walked in front swinging her arms and picking her way over the stones. 她没有回头，对我说，“听说你在学校里功课很好，玛格丽特，但那都是笔头作业。老师说他们很难让你在课堂上发言。” She said， without turning her head， to me， “I hear you're doing very good school work， Marguerite， but that it's all written. The teachers report that they have trouble getting you to talk in class. 我们走过左边三角形的农场，路变宽了，可以允许我们并排走在一起。但我畏缩地走在后面，想着那些没有问出口也无法回答的问题。 We passed the triangular farm on our left and the path widened to allow us to walk together. I hung back in the separate unasked and unanswerable questions. “过来和我一起走，玛格丽特。”我无法拒绝，尽管我很想。 “Come and walk along with me， Marguerite.” I couldn't have refused even if I wanted to. 她把我的名字叫得如此动听。或者更确切地说，她把每个词都说得这样清晰，我相信就是一个不懂英语的外国人也能听懂她的话。 She pronounced my name so nicely. Or more correctly， she spoke each word with such clarity that I was certain a foreigner who didn't understand English could have understood her. “现在没有人要强迫你说话——恐怕也没人能做到这一点。但是你记住，语言是人类进行沟通的方式，是语言将人类同低等动物区分开来。” “Now no one is going to make you talk —possibly no one can. But bear in mind， language is man's way of communicating with his fellow man and it is language alone which separates him from the lower animals.” 这对我来说是一个全新的观点，我需要些时间认真考虑一下。 That was a totally new idea to me， and I would need time to think about it. “你奶奶说你读了很多书，一有机会就读。这很好，但还不够好，言语的含义不仅是写在纸上的那点。它需要人的声音赋予它深层含义的细微差别。” “Your grandmother says you read a lot. Every chance you get. That's good， but not good enough. Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with the shades of deeper meaning. ” 我记住了有关声音赋予言语更多内涵的话。这些话听起来是那么正确，那么富有诗意。 I memorized the part about the human voice infusing words. It seemed so valid and poetic. 她说她要给我一些书，要我不仅阅读这些书，还要大声朗读。 She said she was going to give me some books and that I not only must read them， I must read them aloud. 她建议我用尽可能丰富的语调去读每一句话。 She suggested that i try to make a sentence sound in as many different ways as possible. “如果你草草读完这些书就还给我的话，我不接受任何理由。” “I'll accept no excuse if you return a book to me that has been badly handled.” 我想像不出如果我真的没有认真读弗劳尔斯夫人的某一本书，将会受到怎样的惩罚。让我去死恐怕是太仁慈太干脆了。 My imagination boggled at the punishment I would deserve if in fact I did abuse a book of Mrs. Flowers'。 Death would be too kind and brief. 房子里的气味让我有点吃惊。 The odors in the house surprised me. 不知什么缘故，我从来没有将弗劳尔斯夫人与食物、吃饭或是平常人的琐事联系起来。 Somehow I had never connected Mrs. Flowers with food or eating or any other common experience of common people. 那里一定也有户外厕所，但我一点也记不起来了。 There must have been an outhouse， too， but my mind never recorded it. 她打开门，香草的芬芳迎面扑来。 The sweet scent of vanilla had met us as she opened the door. “今天早上我做了些茶点。你瞧，我早打算好要请你来吃点心、柠檬水，这样我们就可以聊一会了。柠檬水正放在冰盒子里呢。” “I made tea cookies this morning. You see， I had planned to invite you for cookies and lemonade so we could have this little chat. The lemonade is in the icebox.” 这意味着弗劳尔斯夫人平时也买冰，而镇上大多数人家只是在星期六下午才买冰，放在木头做的冰淇凌冷藏机内，整个夏天也不过只买几次。 It followed that Mrs. Flowers would have ice on an ordinary day， when most families in our town bought ice late on Saturdays only a few times during the summer to be used in the wooden ice-cream freezers. “坐吧，玛格丽特，坐到那边桌子旁。” “Have a seat， Marguerite. Over there by the table.” 她端着一个用茶布盖着的盘。 She carried a platter covered with a tea towel. 尽管她事先说过她已经好久没有做点心了，我还是相信就像她的其他任何东西一样，点心也会十分精美可口。 Although she warned that she hadn't tried her hand at baking sweets for some time， I was certain that like everything else about her the cookies would be perfect. 我吃点心的时候，她开始给我讲我们后来称之为“我生活中的一课”的第一部分。 As I ate she began the first of what we later called “my lesson in living.” 她告诉我不能宽容无知，但可以理解文盲。 She said that must always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy. 她认为有些人虽然没有上过学，但却比大学教授更有知识，甚至更聪明。 That some people， unable to go to school， were more educated and even more intelligent than college professors. 她还鼓励我认真倾听被乡下人称为常识的一些俗语。她说这些朴实谚语是一代代人集体智慧的结晶。 She encouraged me to listen carefully to what country people called mother wit. That in those homely sayings was couched the collective wisdom of generations 我吃完点心后，她把桌子打扫干净，从书架上拿了一本又厚又小的书。 When I finished the cookies she brushed off the table and brought a thick， small book from the bookcase. 我读过《双城记》，认为这本书符合我心目中浪漫主义小说的标准。 I had read A Tale of Two Cities and found it up to my standards as a romantic novel. 她翻开第一页，于是我平生第一次听到了诗朗诵。 She opened the first page and I heard poetry for the first time in my life. “这是最辉煌的时代也是最糟糕的时代……”她的声音圆润，随着言语的起伏而抑扬顿挫，就像在唱歌一样。 “It was the best of times and the worst of times. . .” Her voice slid in and curved down through and over the words. She was nearly singing. 我想看一下她读的是否真的和我过去看的一样？ I wanted to look at the pages. Were they the same that I had read？ 还是像赞美诗一样，书页上满是音符？ Or were there notes， music， lined on the pages， as in a hymn book？ 她的声音开始慢慢低沉下来。 Her sounds began cascading gently. 我听过很多次布道，因此我知道她的朗诵就要结束了，但我还没有真正听见或听懂一个词。 I knew from listening to a thousand preachers that she was nearing the end of her reading， and I hadn't really heard， heard to understand， a single word. “你觉得怎么样？” “How do you like that？” 我这才意识到她在期待我的回答。 It occurred to me that she expected a response. 我的舌间还留有香草的余味，她的朗诵对我来说很奇妙。 The sweet vanilla flavor was still on my tongue and her reading was a wonder in my ears. 我得说点什么了。 I had to speak. 我说：“是的，夫人。”我至少得说这些，我也只能说这些。 I said， “Yea， ma'am.” It was the least I could do， but it was the most also. “还有一件事。你把这本诗集拿去，背下其中的一首。下次你再来看我时，我希望你背诵给我听。” 'There s one more thing. Take this book of poems and memorize one for me. Next time you pay me a visit， I want you to recite.“ 在经历了成年后的复杂生活后，我多次试图弄清楚为什么当年她送给我的礼物一下子就让我陶醉了。 I have tried often to search behind the sophistication of years for the enchantment I so easily found in those gifts. 书中的内容已经忘却，但余韵仍存。 The essence escapes but its aura remains. 被准许，不，是被邀请进入一群陌生人的私人生活中，与他们共同分享喜悦和恐惧，这使我读贝奥武夫时就犹如喝一杯蜜酒，读奥立佛？特威斯特时，犹如饮一杯热奶茶，忘记了那犹如南方苦艾酒般的痛苦经历。 To be allowed， no， invited， into the private lives of strangers， and to share their joys and fears， was a chance to exchange the Southern bitter wormwood for a cup of mead with Be-owulf or a hot cup of tea and milk with Oliver Twist. 当我大声地说“这比我做过的任何一件事都好得多”时，我眼中涌出了爱的泪水，那是为了自己的忘我 When I said aloud， “It is a far， far better thing that I do， than I have ever done…” tears of love filled my eyes at my selflessness. 在我第一次去她家回来，我跑下山去冲到马路上（路上很少有车经过），快到店铺时我还居然没忘了停下来。 On that first day， I ran down the hill and into the road （few cars ever came along it） and had the good sense to stop running before I reached the Store. 有人喜欢我，这是多么的不同啊。 was liked， and what a difference it made. 有人尊敬我，并不是因为我是汉德森夫人的外孙女或是贝利的妹妹，而是因为我是玛格丽特？约翰逊。 I was respected not as Mrs. Henderson's grandchild or Bailey's sister but for just being Marguerite Johnson. 孩提时的逻辑永远不需要证实（所有的结论都是绝对的）。 Childhood's logic never asks to be proved （all conclusions are absolute）。 我从来没有想过为什么弗劳尔斯夫人会选中我来表示关怀，也从来没想过也许是奶奶曾请求她开导我一下。 1 didn't question why Mrs. Flowers had singled me out for attention， nor did it occur to me that Momma might have asked her to give me a little talking to. 我只关心她曾给我做点心吃，还给我读她最喜欢的书。这些足以证明她喜欢我 All I cared about was that she had made tea cookies for me and read to me from her favorite book. It was enough to prove that she liked me. 奶奶和贝利在店铺里等我。 Momma and Bailey were waiting inside the Store. 他问：“她给了你什么？”他已经看到那些书了，但我把装着他那份点心的纸袋放在怀里，用诗集挡住。 He said. “My， what did she give you？” He had seen the books， but I held the paper sack with his cookies in my arms shielded by the poems. 奶奶说：“小姐，我知道你的举止像位女士。 Momma said， “Sister， I know you acted like a little lady. That do my heart good to see settled people take to you all. 我已经尽努力了，上帝知道，但这些天……“她的声音低下来，”快去把衣服换了。 I'm trying my best， the Lord knows， but these days…“ Her voice trailed off. ”Go on in and change your dress.
lesson6 一个好机会 Lesson Six A Good Chance 我到鸭溪时，喜鹊没在家，我和他的妻子阿米莉亚谈了谈。 When I got to Crow Creek， Magpie was not home. I talked to his wife Amelia. “我要找喜鹊，”我说，“我给他带来了好消息。”我指指提着的箱子，“我带来了他的诗歌和一封加利福尼亚大学的录取通知书，他们想让他来参加为印第安人举办的艺术课。” “I need to find Magpie，” I said. “I've really got some good news for him.” I pointed to the briefcase I was carrying. “I have his poems and a letter of acceptance from a University in California where they want him to come and participate in the Fine Arts Program they have started for Indians.” “你知道他还在假释期间吗？” “Do you know that he was on parole？” “这个，不，不大清楚。”我犹豫着说，“我一直没有和他联系，但我听说他遇到了些麻烦。” “Well， no， not exactly，” I said hesitantly， “I haven't kept in touch with him but I heard that he was in some kind of trouble. 她对我笑笑说：“他已经离开很久了。你知道，他在这儿不安全。他的假释官随时都在监视他，所以他还是不到这儿来为好，而且我们已经分开一段时间了，我听说他在城里的什么地方。” She smiled to me and said， “He's gone a lot. It's not safe around here for him， you know. His parole officer really watches him all the time and so sometimes it is just better for him not to come here. Besides， we haven't been together for a while. I hear he's in town somewhere.” “你是指他在钱柏林？” “Do you mean in Chamberlain？” “对。我和他姐姐住在这儿，她说前一段时间她在那儿见过他。不过喜鹊不会去加利福尼亚的。即使你见到他并和他谈此事，他现在也决不会离开这儿。” “Yes， I live here with his sister and she said that she saw him there， quite a while ago. But Magpie would not go to California. He would never leave here now even if you saw him and talked to him about it.” “可他以前去过，”我说，“他去过西雅图大学。” “But he did before，” I said， “He went to the University of Seattle.” “是的，但……但是，那是以前，”她说，似乎不想再谈这个话题。 “Yeah， but…well， that was before，” she said， as though to finish the matter. “你难道不希望他去吗？”我问道。 “Don't you want him to go？” I asked. “哦，这不是我说了算的。我们现在已经分开了。我只是告诉你，你一定会失望的。像你这样的人希望他需要那些，可他已经不再需要了。”她很快答道，语气非常肯定。 Quickly， she responded， “Oh， it's not up to me to say. He is gone from me now. I'm just telling you that you are in for a disappointment. He no longer needs the things that people like you want him to need，” she said positively. 当她意识到我不喜欢她用“像你这样的人”的字眼时，她停了一下，然后把手放在我的胳膊上，“听着，”她说，“喜鹊现在终于快乐了。他情绪很好，英俊倜傥，自由自在而又意志坚强。他和兄弟们一起坐在皮鼓前唱歌，他现在一切都很好。以前，每当发表那些反政府和反对美国印第安人事务委员会的言论时，他总会越发气愤，充满怨恨。我曾为他担忧，但现在我不再担心了。你为什么不让他独自呆着呢？” When she saw that I didn't like her reference to “people like you”， she stopped for a moment and then put her hand on my arm. “Listen，” she said， “Magpie is happy now， finally. He is in good spirits， handsome and free and strong. He sits at the drum and sings with his brothers： he's okay now. When he was saying all those things against the government and against the council， he became more and more ugly and embittered and I used to be afraid for him. But I'm not now. 我和赛利娜坐在一家咖啡馆里。 I was sitting at the café with Salina. 她突然说道：“我不知道喜鹊在哪儿，我已经4天没见到他了。” Abruptly she said， “I don't know where Mapie is. I haven't seen him in four days.” “我把他的诗也带来了。”我说，“他有机会进入加利福尼亚的艺术学院，但是我必须和他谈一谈，还要让他填一下这些表格。我相信他一定会感兴趣的。” “I've got his poems here with me，” I said. “He has a good change of going to a Fine Arts school in California， but I have to talk with him and get him to fill out some papers. I know that he is interested.” “不，他不会的，”她打断了我，“他根本就不再做这些没用的、愚蠢的梦了。” “No， he isn't，” she broke in. “He doesn't have those worthless， shitty dreams anymore.” “别这样说，赛利娜，这对他真的是个好机会。” “Don't say that， Salina. This is a good chance for him.” “好了，你爱怎么想就怎么想吧，可最近你跟他谈过吗？你知道他如今怎么样吗？” “Well， you can think what you want， but have you talked to him lately？ Do you know him as he is now？” “我知道他情况很好，我也知道他有这个天分。” “I know he is good. I know he has such talent.” “他是一个印第安人，这次他回到这里是要住下来。” “He is Indian， and he's back here to stay this time.” “你和我一起开车去钱柏林，好吗？”我问道。 “Would you drive into Chamberlain with me？” I asked. 她一言不发。 She said nothing. “如果他是你所说的那种印第安人，不管那是什么意思，如果他这次回来是要住下来，如果他自己亲口对我说出来，我就打消这个念头。但是，赛利娜，”我极力说服道，“我一定要跟他谈谈，问问他想要做什么。你知道我的意思，不是吗？” “If he is Indian as you say， whatever that means， and if he is back here to stay this time and if he tells me that himself， I'll let it go. But Salina，” I urged， “I must talk to him and ask him what he wants to do. You see that， don't you？” “是的， 我知道了，” 她 终于说道， “他有权知道这一切， 但你会明白。” “Yes，” she said finally. “He has a right to know about this， but you'll see…” 我们离开时，她的高跟鞋在咖啡屋前的人行道上发出清脆的响声，当她又谈及喜鹊时，变得焦虑不安。 Her heels clicked on the sidewalk in front of the café as we left， and she became agitated as she talked. “他在卡司特*时，因为法院被烧，惹了麻烦，被判入狱1年。他现在还在假释期间，他的假释期还有5年，可他们连任何对他不利的证据都没有找到。5年呀！你能相信吗？现在连谋杀罪的人都没有判这样重。” “After all that trouble he got into during that protest at Custer when the courthouse was burned， he was in jail for a year. He's still on parole and he will be on parole for another five years – and they didn't even prove anything against him！ Five years！ Can you believe that？ People these days can commit murder and not get that kind of a sentence.” 我们驱车行使在钱柏林的大街上，埃尔吉正站在银行附近的拐角处，我和赛利娜都心照不宣，这个喜鹊的好朋友肯定知道他在哪儿。 Elgie was standing on the corner near the Bank as we drove down the main street of Chamberlain， and both Salina and I knew without speaking that this man， this good friend of Magpie's， would know of his whereabouts. 我们停了车，埃尔吉走了过来，舒服地靠坐在车的后排座位上。 We parked the car， Elgie came over and settled himself in the back seat of the car. 车慢慢地驶到了我们停车的街角处，假释官目不转睛地盯着我们3人，而我们却假装没看见。 A police car moved slowly to the corner where we were parked and the patrolmen looked at the three of us intently and we pretended not to notice. 巡逻车在空荡荡的街道上慢慢前行。我小心谨慎地转向埃尔吉。 The patrol car inched down the empty street and I turned cautiously toward Elgie. 我还没来得及开口，赛利娜说，“她给喜鹊拿了些表格。他有可能进入加利福尼亚的一所作家学院读书。” Before I could speak， Salina said， “She is got some papers for Magpie. He has a chance to go to a writer's school in California.” 总是不太想让别人清楚地了解他的想法的埃尔吉说道，“是吗？”可赛利娜却不想让他就这么不置可否。“埃尔吉，”她嘲弄道，“埃尔吉，你知道他是不会去的！” Always tentative about letting you know what he was really thinking， Elgie said， “Yeah？” But Salina wouldn't let him get away so noncommittally， “Elgie，” she scoffed. “You know he wouldn't go！” “是呀，你知道，”埃尔吉开口说，“卡司特那件事发生以后，我和喜鹊曾经想要躲藏起来，最后我们到了奥古斯塔娜大学的校园。那儿有我们的几个朋友。他开始谈论自由，而这些是我永远都不会忘记的。在那以后当他被捕入狱时，自由便成为了他的主要话题。自由。他渴望自由，可是，老兄，他们总盯着你的时候，你不可能有自由。哦，那个怪物，就是他的那个假释官，是一只卑鄙的看门狗。” “Well， you know，” Elgie began， “one time when Magpie and me were hiding out after that Custer thing， we ended up on to Augustana College Campus. We got some friends there. And he started talking about freedom and I never forget that， and then after he went wants to be free and you can't be that， man， when they're watching you all the time. Man， that freak that's his parole officer is some mean watch-dog.” “你觉得他会拿到奖学金吗？”我满怀希望地说。 “You think he might go for the scholarship？” I asked， hopefully. “我不知道。也许吧。” “I don't know. Maybe.” “他在哪儿？”我问道。 “Where is he？” I asked. 沉默了很长一会儿后，埃尔吉终于开口了：“我想你来得太好了，因为喜鹊需要从这没完没了的监视和检查中解脱出来。事实上，他一直谈道：”如果我和白人交往，那么我将没有自由；那里没有印第安人的自由。你现在应该和他谈谈。他变了。他赞成同白人完全分离或隔离。“ There was a long silence. Then Elgie said at last， “I think it's good that you've come， because Magpie needs some relief from this constant surveillance， constant checking up. In fact， that's what he always talks about. 'If I have to associate with the whites， then I'm not free： there is no liberty in that for Indians.' You should talk to him now. He's changed. He's for complete separation， segregation， total isolation from the whites.” “这是不是有点太过分了？太不实际了？”我问道。 “Isn't that a bit too radical？ Too unrealistic？” I asked. “我不知道。我真的不知道。” “I don't know. Damn if I know.” “好了，”赛利娜说，“你觉得他在加利福尼亚的那所大学里会怎样？可这是他学习和写作的一个好机会。我觉得他会从中找到一种愉快的感觉。” “Yeah，” said Salina， “Just what do you think it would be like for him at that university in California？” “But it's a chance for him to study， to write. He can find a kind of satisfying isolation in that， I think.” 过了一会儿，埃尔吉说道：“不错，我认为你是对的”。 After a few moments， Elgie said， “Yeah， I think you are right.” 然后他又从后排座位上抬起身来说道：“我要过桥了，再过大约3个街区就到了。在我快要下桥的地方的左边有一座白色的老式二层小楼。喜鹊的哥哥刚从内布拉斯加州教养院出来，现在跟他的妻子就住在那儿，喜鹊也在。” “ Soon he got out of the back seat and said， ”I'm going to walk over the bridge . It's about three blocks down there. There is an old， whit two-story house on the left side just before you cross the bridge. Magpie's brother just got out of the Nebraska State Reformatory and he is staying there with his old lady， and that's where Magpie is.“ 现在终于能够和他谈谈，并让他自己作出决定了。 At last！ Now I could really talk to him and let him make this decision for himself. “呵！还有些问题，”埃尔吉说，“喜鹊本不应该在那儿，你知道，因为这是他的假释条件的一部分，那就是他要离开朋友、亲戚和以前的囚犯，差不多是所有的人。可上帝呀，这是他的哥哥呀。等到日落前你们再来。把车停在加油站那儿，只要从那儿绕过那条街走到房子的后门进去，你就可以跟喜鹊谈所有这一切了。” “There are things about this though，” Elgie said. “Magpie shouldn't have been there， see， because it's a part of the condition of his parole that he stays away from friends and relatives and ex-convicts and just about everybody. But Jesus， this is his brother. Wait until just before sundown and then come over. Park your car at the service station just around the block from there and walk to the back entrance of the house and then you can talk to Magpie about all this.” 赛利娜跟我讲述着喜鹊在背井离乡数月后返回鸭溪的情形及他的亲戚是怎样到他姐姐家欢迎他返乡的。“他们来听他和兄弟唱歌，他们围坐在椅子上，欢笑着和他一起歌唱。” Salina was talking， telling me about Magpie's return to Crow Creek after months in exile and how his relatives went to his sister's house and welcomed him home. “They came to hear him sing with his brothers， and they sat in chairs around the room and laughed and sang wit him.” 我们到达时，院子里停着几辆车。赛利娜压低声音说，“她们可能正在聚会。” Several cars were parked in the yard of the old house as we approached， and Salina， keeping her voice low， said， “Maybe they are having a party.” 然而，四周的寂静使我忐忑不安。当我们走进敞着的后门时，看到人们都站在厨房里，我小心翼翼地问道，“出什么事了？ But the silence which hung about the place filled me with apprehension， and when we walked in the back door which hung open， we saw people standing in the kitchen. I asked carefully， “What's wrong？” 没有人答话，只有埃尔吉走了过来。他那充血的眼睛里充满悲伤和痛苦。 Nobody spoke but Elgie came over， his bloodshot eyes filled with sorrow and misery. 他在我们面前站了一会儿，然后示意我们到起居室去。 He stood in front of us for a moment and then gestured us to go into the living room. 屋子里静静地，坐满了人。终于，埃尔吉轻轻地说道，“他们枪杀了他。” The room was filled with people sitting in silence， and finally Elgie said， quietly， “They shot him.” “他们说他违反了假释条件把他抓走了，关进监狱后就枪杀了他。” “They picked him up for breaking the conditions of his parole and they put him in jail and … they shot him.” “可是为什么？”我大喊道，“怎么会发生这样的事？” “But why？” I cried. “How could this have happened？” “他们说他们认为他要反抗，而且他们害怕他。” “They said they thought he was resisting and that they were afraid of him.” “害怕？”我怀疑地问，“但……但是，他有武器吗？” “Afraid？” I asked， incredulously. “But…but…was he armed？” “没有”，埃尔吉说着坐了下来。他的胳膊撑在膝盖上，头低着。 “No，” Elgie said， seated now， his arm on his knees， his head down. “No， he wasn't armed.” 我把喜鹊的诗紧紧握在手里，两手的拇指交替在平滑的纸夹上狠狠地摁着。 I held the poems tightly in my hands pressing my thumbs，first one and then the other，against the smoothness of the cardboard folder.
今天教务老师给大家收集整理了英语二自考教材翻译题型，2015英语二新题型翻译的相关问题解答，还有免费的自考历年真题及自考复习重点资料下载哦，以下是全国我们为自考生们整理的一些回答，希望对你考试有帮助！自考本科中的英语2难吗？有一定难度，自考英语二应该与大专的英语水平相当，比大学英语四级稍微简单一些。英语二是自考本科必考的科目，只有通过英语二才能拿到学位证书。自考需要很好很强大的自学能力和理解能力，需要很强悍的毅力，自考有主考院校，不是像高考一样，主要院校是固定的，是发给你毕业证的学校。考试要求：1、是词汇约3800个(其中中学阶段所学词汇1600个)，词组约750个，阅读量为50000余词。2、是对语法的整个体系(词法和句法)有比较清晰的概念，掌握词形变化规则，了解词和词组在句子中的作用、句子和分句的结构和功能并能在阅读和汉译英中实际运用。3、是阅读能力上要求能读懂与所学教材最后一册课文难易程度相当的一般性材料。阅读生词不超过总词数3%的材料，阅读速度要达到70词/分钟，理解正确率在70%以上。4、是能把结构不太复杂的句子译成英语。5、是虽没有听力和写作，但是有专门的语法和词汇题型。考试题型：英语二满分为100分，题型有：阅读判断、阅读选择、概括段落大意及补全句子、填句补文、填词补文、完形补文和短文写作，共七个大题。1、阅读判断阅读判断是试卷的第一题，会给你一个短文，根据文章内容对每个句子做出判断。做这个题目的重点是抓住关键词，根据文章内容作为答题依据。2、阅读选择阅读选择不是简单的判断对错，而是从4个选项中挑选出最佳选项，这种属于细节题。3、概括段落大意及补全句子概括段落大意是根据段落的意思，选择符合句意的词语。其中要非常注意段落的主题，做题时可先快速浏览一下文章，大致清楚文章讲的主旨是什么，再看选项。补全句子是需要从六个选项中选择五个选项填入对应句子，将其补全。这个的考点其实也非常固定化，一般是六种。4、填句补文这个是将六个句子选项填入短文中的五处空白从而让短文恢复原貌。尤其要注意空格前后的信息和关键词。即使读不懂文章，也要能看懂特殊的关联词，搞清楚带有转承关系的句子以及特殊标点的句子。5、填词补文这个题型对大家的词汇量要求比较高，尤其是词性的把握。最好在做题前先分析每一填空所需词汇的词性，到底是名词、动词、形容词还是副词，哪怕你看不懂文章也可以帮你快速排除错误答案。6、完形补文这个很像完形填空，根据上下文，填写单词的正确形式，进而补全文章，这里就涉及到语法知识了，如果语法薄弱的话，需要具体补一补了。7、短文写作作文写作字数一般要求在100词左右。根据指定的话题完成写作任务。要想作文得高分，考前大量作文模版的背诵是必不可少了。2016自考英语二有哪些题型，分值多少？2016自考英语二有以下题型：选择题非选择题。扩展资料：参加全国高等教育自学考试，且选择的是英语专业，简称为自考英语。本专业培养具有扎实的英语语言基础和比较广泛的科学文化知识，能在外事、经贸、文化、新闻出版、教育、科研、旅游等部门从事翻译、研究、教学、管理工作的英语高级专门人才。考生可以到市、县(区)自学考试办公室指定报名报考点报名报考，也可通过互联网或电话报名报考。首次参加自学考试的新生须先办理报名手续，然后才可办理报考手续。旧生在每次考试前只须按规定时间办理报考手续。四川2014年一月自考英语2有哪些题型？四川2014年一月自考英自考英语二，从去年改版后，出现两种版本的全国卷，一种是有单词拼写和英译汉，一种是没有单词拼写但是有作文。原自考英语考试题型：1、单项选择题10题，10分2、阅读理解15题，30分3、完形填空10题，10分4、词形变换20题，10分5、汉译英5题，15分6、英译汉1题，15分2013年10月自考英语题型调整为1、阅读判断10题，10分该项实则为判断题，正确选A，错误选B，没有提及选C，所以永远没有D选项哦2、阅读理解5题，10分该项大家都很熟悉，但较之以往考试，分值大大降低3、概况段落大意和补全句子10题，10分4、填句补文5题，10分5、填词补文10题，15分6、完型补文10题，15分，相当于之前的完形填空7、作文30分山东自考英语二课文翻译打开手机浏览器，输入爱问手机版地址在页面上就可以看见爱问知识人手机版的链接。点击进入后，使用您在爱问知识人的用户名和密码，就可以登录并提交问题和回答了。您也可以在手机浏览器地址栏直接输入进入爱问知识人手机版。自考/成考有疑问、不知道自考/成考考点内容、不清楚当地自考/成考政策，点击底部咨询官网老师，免费领取复习资料：
今天教务老师给大家收集整理了高级英语自考本科教材，自考本科高级英语怎么备考的相关问题解答，还有免费的自考历年真题及自考复习重点资料下载哦，以下是全国我们为自考生们整理的一些回答，希望对你考试有帮助！请问南师大英语本科自考英语泛读用什么教材的？全新正版27036高级英语阅读教程英语泛读江苏自考教材21世纪英语专业系列教程自学考试英语专业本科指定教材高级英语阅读教程下作者：康文凯出版社：上海交通大学出版社出版日期：2004-4-5定价：28元【内容简介】《高级英语阅读教程》分上中下三册，共精选短文96篇，内容涉及中西文化、语言、教育、生活、媒介、历史、妇女问题、科技、人性、哲学、文学等，每册按主题分为16个单元，每个单元配有与学习内容相关的阅读理解、词义辨析、句子释义以及修辞等练习和思考题。该教程为英语专业高年级学生设计，也可用作大学英语研究生和本科生选修课教材或散文爱好者的读物。【目录信息】UnitOneTextAUniversitiesandTheirFunctionTextBTheCollegeIsforEveryoneCultUnitTwoTextAMotherTongueTextBDoctorTalkUnitThreeTextATheProblemofHappinessTextBMyFather’sLifeUnitFourTextARememberingtheFarmTextBMyWoodUnitFiveTextASpeakingofPicturesTextBTelevision:ThePlug-inDrugUnitSixTextAHowDoesaPoemMean?TextBReading:FromManyRulestoOneHabitUnitSevenTextAWomenTextBWomen’sBusinessUnitEightUnitNineUnitTenUnitElevenUnitTwelveUnitThirteenUnitFourteenUnitFifteenUnitSixteenReferenceKeytotheExercises2010广东省自考英语教育本科教材有哪些？课程代码课程名称使用教材作者出版社版次8469高级英语(一)(B)新编英语教程(5册)李观仪上海外语教育出版社2003.38470高级英语(二)(B)新编英语教程(5、6册)李观仪上海外语教育出版社2004.18266翻译翻译新概念英汉互译实用教程宋天锡国防工业出版社2008重印第四版8268英语词汇学现代英语词汇学概论张韵裴北京师范大学出版社20048269英语语言学新编简明英语语言学教程戴炜栋、何兆熊上海外语教育出版社2002年7月第1版8475英美报刊选读英美报刊阅读教程端木义万南京大学出版社第二版8476英国文学选读英国文学史及选读吴伟仁外语教学与研究出版社19888478英语论文写作英语写作手册丁往道等外语教学与研究1994.6第二版8477美国文学选读美国文学史及选读吴伟仁外语教学与研究出版社19908479中学英语教学法英语教学法基础何广铿暨南大学出版社20018480外语教学心理学外语教学心理学朱纯上海外语教育出版社1994.98473第二外语《中日交流标准日本语》初级上、下册人民教育/日本光村人民教育/日本光村合作出版19888474第二外语简明法语教程(上下册)孙辉商务印书馆0012英语大学英语自学教程(上册)高远高等教育出版社1999年版8447基础英语新编英语教程[修订本](1、2册)李观仪上海外语教育出版社19988448基础英语新编英语教程[修订本](3册)李观仪上海外语教育出版社19998449基础英语新编英语教程[修订本](4册)李观仪上海外语教育出版社19998450英语阅读新编英语阅读教程(1-3册)王守仁.赵文书上海外语教育出版社自考英语本科中的《高级英语》比较难，该怎样复习才能通过考试呀？自?高级英语在英语本科中不是很难的，关键是要多看书，一般应该看3遍。有很多题目是书上的东西，没有什么窍门，只有去看透教材。另外，不要把希望寄托在一些复习材料上，北大燕园什么的用处都不大。以前的真题应该做一遍。当然，你参加英语自考，应该有很好的英语基础，我就不多说怎样学习英语了，呵呵。今年自考会计本科的教材？新华书店。大型书市。中职学校书店。淘宝网。自考/成考有疑问、不知道自考/成考考点内容、不清楚当地自考/成考政策，点击底部咨询官网老师，免费领取复习资料：
自考高级英语怎么复习备考？ 一、重视教材，考生一定要在考前过一到两遍教材，熟悉教材里面的文章，也是积累词汇量和句型结构的过程，而这些都是学习英语的基本功，有助于考生英文写作水平的提高。只有扎实基本功，你的英语水平才会有由量到质的飞跃。 二、分析题型和命题方式，考生除了了解教材以外，还要多做真题，清楚考试题型和得分要点，有助于考生分清楚重、难、易点，有的放矢地提高复习效率。 三、注重学习交流，有机会的考生可以向一些通过考试的考生请教学习方法，但是本身英语底子很差，一般想要通过自学在短时间内提高是很有挑战的。建议有条件的考生可以报名参加，它都是与主办高校合作办学的，有专业的老师帮助你提高英语水平，顺利攻下高级英语。 自考高级英语难吗？ 有一定英语底子的话还是容易的，底子如果不够建议还是慎重考虑，至少把英语水平提升一下考会比较好。英语专业是建立在已有的高中英语基础上，继续往更高难度学习，如果常用的英语也不扎实，想深入学习极其吃力。自考/成考有疑问、不知道如何总结自考/成考考点内容、不清楚自考/成考报名当地政策，点击底部咨询官网，免费领取复习资料：
工 作 Lesson Thirteen Work 究竟工作是幸福还是痛苦的源泉，这可能是一个难以回答的问题。 Whether work should be placed among the causes of happiness or among the causes of unhappiness may perhaps be regarded as a doubtful question. 毫无疑问有许多工作是非常令人厌烦的，而且过多的工作总是十分痛苦的事。 There is certainly much work which is exceedingly irksome， and an excess of work is always very painful. 然而我认为，只要不过量，对多数人来说即使是最枯燥的工作也比终日无所事事要好些。 I think， however， that， provided work is not excessive in amount， even the dullest work is to most people less painful than idleness. 工作给人的愉快的程度多种多样，从仅仅是消烦解闷到产生巨大的快乐，这会随工作的性质和工作者的能力而异。 There are in work all grades， from mere relief of tedium up to the profoundest delights， according to the nature of the work and the abilities of the worker. 大多数人不得不从事的工作本身大都无乐趣可言，但即使是这样的工作也有一些很大的好处。 Most of the work that most people have to do is not in itself interesting， but even such work has certain great advantages. 首先，工作可将一天的许多时间占满，人们不必再费神来决定应干些什么，大多数人在可以自由地按自己的愿望打发时间时，常常会不知所措，想不起有什么令人愉快的事值得去做。 To begin with， it fills a good many hours of the day without the need of deciding what one shall do. Most people， when they are left free to fill their own time according to their own choice， are at a loss to think of anything sufficiently pleasant to be worth doing. 而他们的决定又总是受到干扰，觉得干别的什么事也许会更令人愉快。 And whatever they decide on， they are troubled by the feeling that something else would have been pleasanter. 能够有意义地利用闲暇时间是文明发展到阶段的结果，而目前很少有人能达到这一层次。 To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization， and at present very few people have reached this level. 何况作出选择本身就是件令人厌烦的事。 Moreover the exercise of choice is in itself tiresome. 除了那些具有非凡主动性的人，其他的人肯定有人乐于被告诉一天中的每时每刻该做什么，当然命令他们做的事不能太令人厌烦。 Except to people with unusual initiative it is positively agreeable to be told what to do at each hour of the day， provided the orders are not too unpleasant. 多数无所事事的阔佬免遭从事单调乏味工作之苦，但代价是莫名其妙的无聊。 Most of the idle rich suffer unspeakable boredom as the price of their freedom from drudgery. 有时他们去非洲猎取巨兽或环绕世界飞行来解闷，但这类刺激的数量有限，尤其到了中年以后更是如此。 At times they may find relief by hunting big game in Africa， or by flying round the world， but the number of such sensations is limited， especially after youth is past. 因此较为明智的阔佬们工作起来几乎像穷人一样卖力，而有钱的女人则大多忙于她们自以为具有震撼世界般重要性的无数琐事。 Accordingly the more intelligent rich men work nearly as hard as if they were poor， while rich women for the most part keep themselves busy with innumerable trifles of whose earthshaking importance they are firmly persuaded. 因此人们愿意工作，首先因为工作可防止产生无聊感。比起终日无所事事而造成的无聊来，人们在干着虽必要但缺乏兴趣的工作时所感到的枯燥无聊就不值一提了。 Work therefore is desirable， first and foremost， as a preventive of boredom， for the boredom that a man feels when he is doing necessary though uninteresting work is as nothing in comparison with the boredom that he feels when he has nothing to do with his days. 与工作的这一好处相关的还有一个好处，那就是假日到来会令人感到更加美妙。只要一个人的工作不至于累得他体力不支，那么他就会从他的闲暇时间里得到无所事事的人绝对得不到的极大乐趣。 With this advantage of work another is associated， namely that it makes holidays much more delicious when they come. Provided a man does not have to work so hard as to impair his vigor， he is likely to find far more zest in his free time than an idle man could possibly find. 多数有报酬的工作和某些没有报酬的工作还有第二个好处，那就是它们提供了成功的机会和实现抱负的可能。 The second advantage of most paid work and of some unpaid work is that it gives chances of success and opportunities for ambition. 在多数工作中，收入的多少是衡量成功与否的标准，当我们这个资本主义社会继续存在时，这是不可避免的。 In most work success is measured by income and while our capitalistic society continues， this is inevitable. 只有在工作的情况下收入才不再被用作当然的衡量标准。 It is only where the best work is concerned that this measure ceases to be the natural one to apply. 人们想增加收入当然是出自钱多了可以获得更多的舒适享受这一愿望，但同样也出自想获得成功的愿望。 The desire that men feel to increase their income is quite as much a desire for success as for the extra comforts that a higher income can procure. 无论工作多么枯燥单调，如果它是能够使人逐渐成名的手段，无论是在世界上出名还是就在自己的圈子里出名，那么这工作就不再难以忍受了。 However dull work may be， it becomes bearable if it is a means of building up a reputation， whether in the world at large or only in one's own circle. 归根结底，幸福的最重要的因素之一是有始终如一的目的。而对多数人来说这样的目的主要来自他们的工作。 Continuity of purpose is one of the most essential ingredients of happiness in the long run， and for most men this comes chiefly through their work. 在这一点上，终日从事家务的妇女便远不如男子幸运，也没有走出家庭参加工作的妇女幸运。 In this respect those women whose lives are occupied with housework are much less fortunate than men， or than women who work outside the home. 家庭妇女没有工资，无法改善自己的状况，她所干的一切在她的丈夫看来都是理所当然的（她的丈夫对此几乎是熟视无睹），丈夫欣赏的不是她干的家务活，而是她的其他品质。 The domesticated wife does not receive wages， has no means of bettering herself， is taken for granted by her hu and （who sees practically nothing of what she does）， and is valued by him not for her housework but for quite other qualities. 当然对那些有足够的钱可以把住宅和花园搞得十分漂亮而成为邻居们的羡慕对象的女人来说，情况就不一样，但这样的女人相对来说数量较少，对于大多数妇女，家务带给她们的满足远不如其他工作带给男子或职业妇女的满足。 Of course this does not apply to those women who are sufficiently well-to-do to make beautiful houses and beautiful gardens and become the envy of their neighbors； but such women are comparatively few， and for the great majority housework cannot bring as much satisfaction as work of other kinds brings to men and to professional women. 多数工作都能使人满意地消磨掉时间，而且给人们实现抱负提供某种令人满意的途径，虽然这途径不起眼。一般说来这种满足足以使一个即使工作枯燥无味的人也比无事可做的人感到快乐。但如果从事的是有趣的工作，就能给人带来比仅仅是解闷高级得多的满足。 The satisfaction of killing time and of affording some outlet， however modest， for ambition， belongs to most work， and is sufficient to make even a man whose work is dull happier on the average than a man who has no work at all. But when work is interesting， it is capable of giving satisfaction of a far higher order than mere relief from tedium. 有兴趣的工作可以按其包含乐趣的大小顺序排列，我先谈小有乐趣的工作，最后谈那些值得伟大人物投入全部精力的工作。 The kinds of work in which there is some interest may he arranged in a hierarchy. I shall begin with those which are only mildly interesting and end with those that are worthy to absorb the whole energies of a great man. 两个使工作有趣的主要因素，一是需要运用技巧，二是有建设性。 Two chief elements make work interesting： first， the exercise of skill， and second， construction. 凡是掌握了不同寻常的技巧的人都喜欢运用这种技巧，直至他感到太平常或他再也不能提高时为止。 Every man who has acquired some unusual skill enjoys exercising it until it has become a matter of course， or until he can no longer improve himself. 这种想要自我表现的动机从幼儿时代就开始了：一个能倒立的男孩总是不想用脚站立。 This motive to activity begins in early childhood： a boy who can stand on his head becomes reluctant to stand on his feet. 许多工作同靠技艺取胜的游戏一样给人以快乐。 A great deal of work gives the same pleasure that is to be derived from games of skill. 律师或政治家的工作一定更愉快而且包含着许多和打桥牌同样的快乐。 The work of a lawyer or a politician must contain in a more delectable form a great deal of the same pleasure that is to be derived from playing bridge. 当然这里不仅运用了技巧，而且还在智力较量上胜过了一个本领高超的对手。 Here of course there is not only the exercise of skill but the outwitting of a skilled opponent. 即使在不存在竞争因素的情况下，表演高难的绝技也是件令人惬意的事情。 Even where this competitive element is absent， however， the performance of difficult feats is agreeable. 能驾驶飞机进行特技飞行的人会从中获得极大的快乐，以至为此甘愿冒生命危险。 A man who can do stunts in an aero——plane finds the pleasure so great that for the sake of it he is willing to risk his life. 我想像尽管一个能干的外科医生工作时处在令人痛苦的气氛中，他还是能从精湛的手术中得到满足。 I imagine that an able surgeon， in spite of the painful circumstances in which his work is done， derives satisfaction from the exquisite precision of his operations. 从大量层次较低的工作中也能得到同样的，只是在程度上没有那么强烈的快乐。 The same kind of pleasure， though in a less intense form， is to be derived from a great deal of work of a humbler kind. 只要工作中需要的技巧不是一成不变的，或存在着不断提高的余地，那么一切需要熟练技巧的工作都会是令人愉快的。 All skilled work can be pleasurable， provided the skill required is either variable or capable of indefinite improvement. 但如不具备上述两个条件，在人们掌握的技巧达到顶峰以后，这种工作便不再有兴趣了。 If these conditions are absent， it will cease to be interesting when a man has acquired his maximum skill. 一个从事3英里长跑的运动员到了不能再打破自己纪录的年龄以后，就不会再从这个职业中获得乐趣。 A man who runs three-mile races will cease to find pleasure in this occupation when he passes the age at which he can beat his own previous record. 幸而有相当数量的工作随新的情况出现而需要新的技巧，人们可以不断提高自己的技巧，至少可以一直继续到中年以后。 Fortunately there is a very considerable amount of work in which new circumstances call for new skill and a man can go on improving， at any rate until he has reached middle age. 从事某些技巧性工作的人，比如从政的人，似乎在60岁到70岁之间才达到颠峰状态，原因是在这些职业中，丰富的阅历至关重要。 In some kinds of skilled work， such as politics， for example， it seems that men are at their best between sixty and seventy， the reason being that in such occupations a wide experience of other men is essential. 因此有成就的政治家在70岁时往往会比其他同龄人幸福。 For this reason successful politicians are apt to be happier at the age of seventy than any other men of equal age. 在这一点上惟一能与他们相比的是大公司的首脑人物。 Their only competitors in this respect are the men who are the heads of big businesses. 然而的工作还具有另一因素，作为幸福的源泉它比运用技巧更为重要，这便是建设性。 There is， however， another element possessed by the best work， which is even more important as a source of happiness than is the exercise of skill. This is the element of constructiveness. 有些工作在完成后，结果会像纪念碑一样存在下去，尽管并非多数工作都能如此。 In some work， though by no means in most， something is built up which remains as a monument when the work is completed. 我们可以用下列标准区分是建设还是破坏。 We may distinguish construction from destruction by the following criterion. 如果是建设，则初始阶段事物较为缺少章法，而到最后阶段则体现出某个目标来；如为破坏，则正好相反，初始阶段体现出某个目标，而最后阶段则是缺少章法，也就是说，破坏者惟一的目的是制造出一个不具备某一目标的状态来。 In construction the initial state of affairs is comparatively haphazard， while the final stale of affairs embodies a purpose. In destruction the reverse is the case； the initial stale of affairs embodies a purpose， while the final state of affairs is haphazard， that is to say， all that is intended by the destroyer is to produce a state of affairs which does not embody a certain purpose. 适用这一标准的体最明显的一个例子，就是建造和拆除房屋。 This criterion applies in the most literal and obvious case， namely the construction and destruction of buildings. 在建造房屋时，预先制定好的方案得到实施，而在拆除房屋时没有人明确规定拆毁后残砖烂瓦应如何处置。 In constructing a building a previously made plan is carried out， whereas in destroying it no one decides exactly how the materials are to lie when the demolition is completed. 当然破坏常常是随之而来的建设的必要前提，在这种情况下它便成了整个建设的一部分。 Destruction is of course necessary very often as a preliminary to subsequent construction， in that case it is part of a whole which is constructive. 但有时一个人从事的活动旨在破坏而不是考虑此后可能进行的建设活动，他常常会标榜自己是为了重新建设而扫平一切，但一般说来如果这是个借口，只要问他随后的建设是什么样就会揭穿他。人们会发现在这一问题上他会含糊其词，毫无热情，但对于作为准备工作的破坏他却津津乐道，谈得十分具体。 But not infrequently a man will engage in activities of which the purpose is destructive without regard to any construction that may come after. Frequently he will conceal this from himself by the belief that he is only sweeping sway in order to build afresh， but it is generally possible to unmask this pretense， when it is a pretense， by asking him what the subsequent construction is to he. On this subject it will be found that he will speak vaguely and without enthusiasm， whereas on the preliminary destruction he has spoken precisely and with zest. 不少的革命者、尚武分子及其他暴力的信徒们就是如此。 This applies to not a few revolutionaries and militarists and other apostles of violence. 他们为仇恨所驱使，但自己往往还没意识到这一点……他们的真正目的是毁灭他们所仇恨的事物，相对来说对随后应做什么的问题并不关心。 They are actuated， usually without their own knowledge， by hatred： the destruction of what they hate is their real purpose， and they are comparatively indifferent to the question what is to come after it. 我无法否认从事破坏性工作和从事建设性工作一样也可能有快乐。 Now I cannot deny that in the work of destruction as in the work of construction there may be joy. 这是一种更为狂暴的快乐，也许有时更为强烈，但却不能给人以那种更深的满足，因为从它的结果中几乎找不到什么满足。 It is a fiercer joy， perhaps at moments more intense， but it is less profoundly satisfying， since the result is one in which little satisfaction is to be found. 你杀死了敌人，他死了你的职业就不存在了，你从胜利中得来的满足很快就消失了。 You kill your enemy， and when he is dead your occupation is gone， and the satisfaction that you derive from victory quickly fades. 从另一方面来说，建设性的工作在完成后一回想起来就令人愉快，而且这种永远也不会做到再也无事可做的地步。 The work of construction， on the other hand， when completed， is delightful to contemplate， and moreover is never so fully completed that there is nothing further to do about it. 最令人满意的目标是那些能永远从一个成功通向另一个成功而从不会走进死胡同的目标，在这个方面人们会发现建设比破坏更能带给人幸福。 The most satisfactory purposes are those that lead on indefinitely from one success to another without ever coming to a dead end； and in this respect it will be found that construction is a greater source of happiness than destruction. 也许更准确的说法应该是，在建设中寻求满足的人得到的满足要比热衷破坏建设的人从破坏中得到的满足更大，因为你一旦变得满腔仇恨，就很难从建设中得到别的人从中得到的乐趣。 Perhaps it would be more correct to say that those who find satisfaction in construction find in it greater satisfaction than the lovers of destruction can find in destruction， for if once you have become filled with hate you will not easily derive from construction the pleasure which another man would derive from it.
自考高级英语考生一定要在考前过一到两遍教材，熟悉教材里面的文章，也是积累词汇量和句型结构的过程，而这些都是学习英语的基本功，有助于考生英文写作水平的提高。那么高级英语自考重点有哪些呢？
自考高级英语应多做题，分析题型和命题方式，考生除了了解教材以外，还要多做真题，清楚考试题型和得分要点，有助于考生分清楚重、难、易点，有的放矢地提高复习效率。
高级英语自考重点
第一课
1．课文重点段落:2、4、5、6
2.重点短语:adulation、disaffection、embody、reverence、sprinkle、swelter
3.重点短语:conceive of :设想，想象、see......as :把......视为，把.…...当作、ratherthan :不是.…而是......、takeplace : 发生
第二课
4．课文重点段落:1、3、4、5、6、7、8、9、12
5 .重点短语:affluent、available、cleanse、dwindle、disillusionment、tedious.relevant
6．重点短语: contribute..........贡献，捐款、 batten on:靠损害他人养肥自己.drop out :放弃，退出
第三课
7.课文重点段落:2、3、15、16、17、21、30
8.重点短语:apologetic、apprehension、coax、contemptible、desist
9.重点短语: break in:插入，闯入、hold down:控制、reduce to:变成
第四课
10 ．课文重点段落∶2、6、7、8
11．重点短语:arguable、dodge、intrude、languish、legalize
12.重点短语:e to light 公布于众. go over:检查细节、hold out:持续、omplywith 依从，顺从
第五课
13 ．课文重点段落:1、2、4、6、7、10、12、15、16
14 .重点短语:drawback、incredulous、inferior、predominate、mold、register
15.重点短语: be content with :满足、be supposed to:理应，应该、run for :竞选、be aware of :意识，知道、convince sb. of sth./that......说服，使相信
……
自考本科学位英语考试题型有五种，分别是阅读理解、完形填空、挑错、翻译和词语用法和语法结构。题型一：阅读理解阅读理解部分主要考查自考生对材料的主旨的掌握，能够理解字面意思并能 根据所读材料进行一定的判断和推论;一般有三篇短文，总阅读量不超过900个词。每篇文章后有五个问题，考生应根据文章内容从每题四个选择项中选出一个最佳答案。题型二：完形填空完形填空考核考生的综合运用语言的能力，要求考生在全面理解内容的基础上选出一个最佳答案，使短文的结构和意思恢复完整。题型三：挑错挑错题是测试学生掌握词汇、短语及语法结构的熟练程度，其重点是固定搭配和句型。考试范围与第二部分相同。该题型由10个单句组成。每个句子含有标着A、B、C、D的四个画线部分，其中有一处是错误的，要求考生从四个画线部分中挑出其错误的部分。题型四：翻译翻译题考核学生词汇、语法、句型等方面综合运用语言的能力。 要求考生把前面阅读理解文章中画线的五个句子译成中文或把中文翻译成英文。题型五：词语用法和语法结构词语用法和语法结构题型考核学生运用词汇、短语及语法结构的能力。考试范围包括全日制文理科本科教学大纲中词汇表及语法结构表一至三级的主要内容。自考本科学位英语的难度相当于大学英语三级，一般说来不是很难，但是需要注意的是各地的考试试题是不同的，试题是有各地的教育考试院单独出题，因此试题难度不能一概而论。考虑到报考成人自考的多数都是在职人员、社会人员，所以自考本科考试在一定程度上是降低了考试的难度。自考/专升本有疑问、不知道自考/专升本考点内容、不清楚当地自考/专升本考试政策，点击底部咨询官网，免费获取个人学历提升方案：
lesson8-10 人生的一课 快一年了，大部分时间我都泡在家里、店铺、学校和教堂里，就像一块旧饼干，又脏又难以下咽。 For nearly a year， I sopped around the house， the Store， the school and the church， like an old biscuit， dirty and inedible. 这时我遇到或者说认识了抛给我第一根救生索的那位夫人。 Then I met， or rather got to know， the lady who threw me first lifeline. 波萨？弗劳尔斯夫人是斯坦普司黑人区中的出类拔萃的人物。 Mrs. Bertha Flowers was the aristocrat of Black Stamps. 她动作优雅，即使在最冷的天气里也不缩手缩脚，而在阿肯色州的夏日里，她似乎又有属于自己的微风环绕在她的身旁，给她带来凉爽。 She had the grace of control to appear warm in the coldest weather， and one the Arkansas summer days it seemed she had a private breeze which swirled around， cooling her. 她的皮肤深黑迷人，如果被挂住就会像李子皮一样剥落，但没有人敢离她近点，碰皱她的衣服，更不要说挂住她的皮肤了。 Her skin was a rich black that would have peeled like a plum if snagged， but then no one would have thought of getting close enough to Mrs. Flowers to ruffle her dress， let alone snag her skin. 她不太喜欢亲近，另外她还带着手套。 She didn't encourage familiarity. She wore gloves too. 她是我所知道的为数不多的有气质的女士之一，并且是我做人的楷模，影响了我一生。 She was one of the few gentlewomen I have ever known， and has remained throughout my life the measure of what a human being can be. 我被她深深地吸引，因为她像是我从没有亲身遇到过的那些人。 She appealed to me because she was like people I had never met personally. 她就像英国小说中的女人，走在沼泽地里（不管是什么地方），一群忠实的狗奔跑在她们的身旁，并与她们保持一定的距离以示尊敬。 Like women in English novels who walked the moors （whatever they were） with their loyal dogs racing at a respectful distance. 她就像坐在炉火熊熊的壁炉前的女人，不时从装满蛋糕和松脆饼的银盘中取东西喝。 Like the women who sat in front of roaring fireplaces， drinking tea incessantly from silver trays full of scones and crumpets. 她就像走在“石南丛生的荒野”中，读着用摩洛哥山羊皮装订的书的那些女人，而且有用连字符隔开的两个姓。 Women who walked over the “heath” and read morocco-bound books and had two last names divided by a hyphen. 可以肯定地说，是她本人使我为自己是个黑人而感到骄傲。 It would be safe to say that she made me proud to be Negro， just by being herself. 那个在我的记忆中如甜奶般鲜活的夏日的午后，她来我们的店里买东西。 One summer afternoon， sweet-milk fresh in my memory， she stopped at the Store to buy provisions. 换了另外一个同她身体情况和年龄相当的黑人妇女就会一只手把纸袋拎回家去，但奶奶却说，“弗劳尔斯大姐，让贝利帮你把东西送回家去。” Another Negro woman of her health and age would have been expected to carry the paper sacks home in one hand， but Momma said， “Sister Flowers， I'll send Bai-ley up to your house with these things.” “谢谢您，汉德森夫人。但我想让玛格丽特帮我送回去。” “Thank you， Mrs. Henderson. I'd prefer Marguerite， though.” 她说我名字时，我的名字也变得动听起来。 My name was beautiful when she said it. “反正我一直想跟她谈一谈。”她们互相对视了一下，其间的意思只有她们这些同龄人才明白。 “I've been mean-ins to talk to her， anyway.” They gave each other agegroup looks. 在石头路旁有一条小路，弗劳尔斯夫人在前面摆动着胳膊，在碎石路上小心地走着。 There was a little path beside the rocky road， and Mrs. Flowers walked in front swinging her arms and picking her way over the stones. 她没有回头，对我说，“听说你在学校里功课很好，玛格丽特，但那都是笔头作业。老师说他们很难让你在课堂上发言。” She said， without turning her head， to me， “I hear you're doing very good school work， Marguerite， but that it's all written. The teachers report that they have trouble getting you to talk in class. 我们走过左边三角形的农场，路变宽了，可以允许我们并排走在一起。但我畏缩地走在后面，想着那些没有问出口也无法回答的问题。 We passed the triangular farm on our left and the path widened to allow us to walk together. I hung back in the separate unasked and unanswerable questions. “过来和我一起走，玛格丽特。”我无法拒绝，尽管我很想。 “Come and walk along with me， Marguerite.” I couldn't have refused even if I wanted to. 她把我的名字叫得如此动听。或者更确切地说，她把每个词都说得这样清晰，我相信就是一个不懂英语的外国人也能听懂她的话。 She pronounced my name so nicely. Or more correctly， she spoke each word with such clarity that I was certain a foreigner who didn't understand English could have understood her. “现在没有人要强迫你说话——恐怕也没人能做到这一点。但是你记住，语言是人类进行沟通的方式，是语言将人类同低等动物区分开来。” “Now no one is going to make you talk —possibly no one can. But bear in mind， language is man's way of communicating with his fellow man and it is language alone which separates him from the lower animals.” 这对我来说是一个全新的观点，我需要些时间认真考虑一下。 That was a totally new idea to me， and I would need time to think about it. “你奶奶说你读了很多书，一有机会就读。这很好，但还不够好，言语的含义不仅是写在纸上的那点。它需要人的声音赋予它深层含义的细微差别。” “Your grandmother says you read a lot. Every chance you get. That's good， but not good enough. Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with the shades of deeper meaning. ” 我记住了有关声音赋予言语更多内涵的话。这些话听起来是那么正确，那么富有诗意。 I memorized the part about the human voice infusing words. It seemed so valid and poetic. 她说她要给我一些书，要我不仅阅读这些书，还要大声朗读。 She said she was going to give me some books and that I not only must read them， I must read them aloud. 她建议我用尽可能丰富的语调去读每一句话。 She suggested that i try to make a sentence sound in as many different ways as possible. “如果你草草读完这些书就还给我的话，我不接受任何理由。” “I'll accept no excuse if you return a book to me that has been badly handled.” 我想像不出如果我真的没有认真读弗劳尔斯夫人的某一本书，将会受到怎样的惩罚。让我去死恐怕是太仁慈太干脆了。 My imagination boggled at the punishment I would deserve if in fact I did abuse a book of Mrs. Flowers'。 Death would be too kind and brief. 房子里的气味让我有点吃惊。 The odors in the house surprised me. 不知什么缘故，我从来没有将弗劳尔斯夫人与食物、吃饭或是平常人的琐事联系起来。 Somehow I had never connected Mrs. Flowers with food or eating or any other common experience of common people. 那里一定也有户外厕所，但我一点也记不起来了。 There must have been an outhouse， too， but my mind never recorded it. 她打开门，香草的芬芳迎面扑来。 The sweet scent of vanilla had met us as she opened the door. “今天早上我做了些茶点。你瞧，我早打算好要请你来吃点心、柠檬水，这样我们就可以聊一会了。柠檬水正放在冰盒子里呢。” “I made tea cookies this morning. You see， I had planned to invite you for cookies and lemonade so we could have this little chat. The lemonade is in the icebox.” 这意味着弗劳尔斯夫人平时也买冰，而镇上大多数人家只是在星期六下午才买冰，放在木头做的冰淇凌冷藏机内，整个夏天也不过只买几次。 It followed that Mrs. Flowers would have ice on an ordinary day， when most families in our town bought ice late on Saturdays only a few times during the summer to be used in the wooden ice-cream freezers. “坐吧，玛格丽特，坐到那边桌子旁。” “Have a seat， Marguerite. Over there by the table.” 她端着一个用茶布盖着的盘。 She carried a platter covered with a tea towel. 尽管她事先说过她已经好久没有做点心了，我还是相信就像她的其他任何东西一样，点心也会十分精美可口。 Although she warned that she hadn't tried her hand at baking sweets for some time， I was certain that like everything else about her the cookies would be perfect. 我吃点心的时候，她开始给我讲我们后来称之为“我生活中的一课”的第一部分。 As I ate she began the first of what we later called “my lesson in living.” 她告诉我不能宽容无知，但可以理解文盲。 She said that must always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy. 她认为有些人虽然没有上过学，但却比大学教授更有知识，甚至更聪明。 That some people， unable to go to school， were more educated and even more intelligent than college professors. 她还鼓励我认真倾听被乡下人称为常识的一些俗语。她说这些朴实谚语是一代代人集体智慧的结晶。 She encouraged me to listen carefully to what country people called mother wit. That in those homely sayings was couched the collective wisdom of generations 我吃完点心后，她把桌子打扫干净，从书架上拿了一本又厚又小的书。 When I finished the cookies she brushed off the table and brought a thick， small book from the bookcase. 我读过《双城记》，认为这本书符合我心目中浪漫主义小说的标准。 I had read A Tale of Two Cities and found it up to my standards as a romantic novel. 她翻开第一页，于是我平生第一次听到了诗朗诵。 She opened the first page and I heard poetry for the first time in my life. “这是最辉煌的时代也是最糟糕的时代……”她的声音圆润，随着言语的起伏而抑扬顿挫，就像在唱歌一样。 “It was the best of times and the worst of times. . .” Her voice slid in and curved down through and over the words. She was nearly singing. 我想看一下她读的是否真的和我过去看的一样？ I wanted to look at the pages. Were they the same that I had read？ 还是像赞美诗一样，书页上满是音符？ Or were there notes， music， lined on the pages， as in a hymn book？ 她的声音开始慢慢低沉下来。 Her sounds began cascading gently. 我听过很多次布道，因此我知道她的朗诵就要结束了，但我还没有真正听见或听懂一个词。 I knew from listening to a thousand preachers that she was nearing the end of her reading， and I hadn't really heard， heard to understand， a single word. “你觉得怎么样？” “How do you like that？” 我这才意识到她在期待我的回答。 It occurred to me that she expected a response. 我的舌间还留有香草的余味，她的朗诵对我来说很奇妙。 The sweet vanilla flavor was still on my tongue and her reading was a wonder in my ears. 我得说点什么了。 I had to speak. 我说：“是的，夫人。”我至少得说这些，我也只能说这些。 I said， “Yea， ma'am.” It was the least I could do， but it was the most also. “还有一件事。你把这本诗集拿去，背下其中的一首。下次你再来看我时，我希望你背诵给我听。” 'There s one more thing. Take this book of poems and memorize one for me. Next time you pay me a visit， I want you to recite.“ 在经历了成年后的复杂生活后，我多次试图弄清楚为什么当年她送给我的礼物一下子就让我陶醉了。 I have tried often to search behind the sophistication of years for the enchantment I so easily found in those gifts. 书中的内容已经忘却，但余韵仍存。 The essence escapes but its aura remains. 被准许，不，是被邀请进入一群陌生人的私人生活中，与他们共同分享喜悦和恐惧，这使我读贝奥武夫时就犹如喝一杯蜜酒，读奥立佛？特威斯特时，犹如饮一杯热奶茶，忘记了那犹如南方苦艾酒般的痛苦经历。 To be allowed， no， invited， into the private lives of strangers， and to share their joys and fears， was a chance to exchange the Southern bitter wormwood for a cup of mead with Be-owulf or a hot cup of tea and milk with Oliver Twist. 当我大声地说“这比我做过的任何一件事都好得多”时，我眼中涌出了爱的泪水，那是为了自己的忘我 When I said aloud， “It is a far， far better thing that I do， than I have ever done…” tears of love filled my eyes at my selflessness. 在我第一次去她家回来，我跑下山去冲到马路上（路上很少有车经过），快到店铺时我还居然没忘了停下来。 On that first day， I ran down the hill and into the road （few cars ever came along it） and had the good sense to stop running before I reached the Store. 有人喜欢我，这是多么的不同啊。 was liked， and what a difference it made. 有人尊敬我，并不是因为我是汉德森夫人的外孙女或是贝利的妹妹，而是因为我是玛格丽特？约翰逊。 I was respected not as Mrs. Henderson's grandchild or Bailey's sister but for just being Marguerite Johnson. 孩提时的逻辑永远不需要证实（所有的结论都是绝对的）。 Childhood's logic never asks to be proved （all conclusions are absolute）。 我从来没有想过为什么弗劳尔斯夫人会选中我来表示关怀，也从来没想过也许是奶奶曾请求她开导我一下。 1 didn't question why Mrs. Flowers had singled me out for attention， nor did it occur to me that Momma might have asked her to give me a little talking to. 我只关心她曾给我做点心吃，还给我读她最喜欢的书。这些足以证明她喜欢我 All I cared about was that she had made tea cookies for me and read to me from her favorite book. It was enough to prove that she liked me. 奶奶和贝利在店铺里等我。 Momma and Bailey were waiting inside the Store. 他问：“她给了你什么？”他已经看到那些书了，但我把装着他那份点心的纸袋放在怀里，用诗集挡住。 He said. “My， what did she give you？” He had seen the books， but I held the paper sack with his cookies in my arms shielded by the poems. 奶奶说：“小姐，我知道你的举止像位女士。 Momma said， “Sister， I know you acted like a little lady. That do my heart good to see settled people take to you all. 我已经尽努力了，上帝知道，但这些天……“她的声音低下来，”快去把衣服换了。 I'm trying my best， the Lord knows， but these days…“ Her voice trailed off. ”Go on in and change your dress.
Lesson One Rock Superstars 关于我们和我们的社会，他们告诉了我们些什么？ What Do They Tell Us About Ourselves and Our Society？ 摇滚乐是青少年叛逆的音乐。 ——摇滚乐评论家约相？罗克韦尔 Rock is the music of teenage rebellion. —— John Rockwell， rock music critic 知其崇拜何人便可知其人。 ——小说家罗伯特？佩恩？沃伦 By a man's heroes ye shall know him. —— Robert Penn Warren， novelist 1972年6月的一天，芝加哥圆形剧场挤满了大汗淋漓、疯狂摇摆的人们。 It was mid-June， 1972， the Chicago Amphitheater was packed， sweltering， rocking. 滚石摇滚乐队的迈克？贾格尔正在台上演唱“午夜漫步人”。 Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones was singing “Midnight Rambler.” 演唱结束时评论家唐？赫克曼在现场。 Critic Don Heckman was there when the song ended. 他描述道：“贾格尔抓起一个半加仑的水罐沿舞台前沿边跑边把里面的水洒向前几排汗流浃背的听众。听众们蜂拥般跟随着他跑，急切地希望能沾上几滴洗礼的圣水。 “Jagger，” he said， “grabs a half-gallon jug of water and runs along the front platform， sprinkling its contents over the first few rows of sweltering listeners. They surge to follow him， eager to be touched by a few baptismal drops”。 1973年12月下旬的一天，约1.4万名歌迷在华盛顿市外的首都中心剧场尖叫着，乱哄哄地拥向台前。 It was late December， 1973， Some 14，000 screaming fans were crunching up to the front of the stage at Capital Center， outside Washington， D.C. 美国的恐怖歌星艾利丝？库珀的表演正接近尾声。 Alice Cooper， America's singing ghoul， was ending his act. 他表演的最后一幕是假装在断头台上结束自己的生命。 He ends it by pretending to end his life – with a guillotine. 他的“头”落入一个草篮中。 His “head” drops into a straw basket. “哎呀！”一个黑衣女孩子惊呼道：“啊！真是了不起，不是吗？”。 “Ooh，” gasped a girl dressed in black. “Oh， isn't that marvelous？” 当时，14岁的迈克珀力也在场，但他的父母不在那里。 Fourteen-year-old Mick Perlie was there too， but his parents weren't. “他们觉得他恶心，恶心，恶心，”迈克说，“他们对我说，你怎么受得了那些？” “They think he's sick， sick， sick，” Mike said. “They say to me， 'How can you stand that stuff？'” 1974年1月下旬的一天，在纽约州尤宁谷城拿骚体育场内，鲍勃？狄伦和“乐队”乐队正在为音乐会上要用的乐器调音。 It was late January， 1974. Inside the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale， New York， Bob Dylan and The Band were tuning for a concert. 馆外，摇滚歌迷克利斯？辛格在大雨中等待着入场。 Outside， in the pouring rain， fan Chris Singer was waiting to get in. “这是朝圣，”克利斯说，“我应该跪着爬进去。” “ This is pilgrimage，” Chris said， “I ought to be crawling on my knees.” 对于这一切好评及个人崇拜，你怎么看？ How do you feel about all this adulation and hero worship？ 当米克？贾格尔的崇拜者们把他视为上帝的代表或是一个神时，你是赞成还是反对？ When Mick Jagger's fans look at him as a high priest or a god， are you with them or against them？ 你也和克利斯？辛格一样对鲍勃？狄伦怀有几乎是宗教般的崇敬吗？ Do you share Chris Singer's almost religious reverence for Bob Dylan？ 你认为他或狄伦是步入歧途吗？ Do you think he – or Dylan – is misguided？ 你也认为艾利丝？库珀令人恶心而拒不接受吗？ Do you reject Alice Cooper as sick？ 难道你会莫名其妙地被这个奇怪的小丑吸引，原因就在于他表达出你最狂热的幻想？ Or are you drawn somehow to this strange clown， perhaps because he acts out your wildest fantasies？ 这些并不是闲谈。 These aren't idle questions. 有些社会学家认为对这些问题的回答可以充分说明你在想些什么以及社会在想些什么——也就是说，有关你和社会的态度。 Some sociologists say that your answers to them could explain a lot about what you are thinking and about what your society is thinking – in other words， about where you and your society are. 社会学家欧文？霍洛威茨说：“音乐表现其时代。” “Music expressed its times，” says sociologist Irving Horowitz. 霍洛威茨把摇滚乐的舞台视为某种辩论的论坛，一个各种思想交锋的场所。 Horowitz sees the rock music arena as a sort of debating forum， a place where ideas clash and crash. 他把它看作是一个美国社会努力为自己的感情及信仰不断重新进行解释的地方。 He sees it as a place where American society struggles to define and redefine its feelings and beliefs. 他说：“重新解释是一项只有青年人才能执行的任务。只有他们才把创造与夸张、理性与运动、言语与声音、音乐与政治融为一体。” “The redefinition，” Horowitz says， “is a task uniquely performed by the young. It is they alone who combine invention and exaggeration， reason and motion， word and sound， music and politics.” 作曲兼演唱家托德？伦德格伦对这个观点表示赞同。 Todd Rundgren， the composer and singer， agrees. 他说：“摇滚乐与其说是一种音乐力量不如说是一种社会心理的表现。就连埃尔维斯？普雷斯利也并非是一种伟大的音乐力量，他只不过是体现了50年代青少年那种心灰意冷的精神状态。” “Rock music，” he says， “is really a sociological expression rather than a musical force. Even Elvis Presley wasn't really a great musical force. It's just that Elvis managed to embody the frustrated teenage spirit of the 1950s.” 毫无疑问，普雷斯利震惊了美国的成人世界。 Of course Presley horrified adult America. 报纸写社论攻击他，电视网也禁止播他，但也许埃尔维斯证实了霍洛威茨和伦德格伦的看法。 Newspapers editorialized against him， and TV networks banned him. But Elvis may have proved what Horowitz and Rundgren believe. 当他通过电视上埃德？沙利文的星期日晚间的综艺节目出现在千百万人面前时，就引起了某种辩论。 When he appeared on the Ed.Sullivan Sunday night variety show in front of millions， a kind of “debate” took place. 多数年纪大的观众眉头紧皱，而大多数年轻观众则报以掌声欢迎。 Most of the older viewers frowned， while most of the younger viewers applauded. 摇滚乐评论家们说，从埃尔维斯到艾利丝，许多歌星帮助我们的社会解说其信仰与态度。 Between Elvis and Alice， rock critics say， a number of rock stars have helped our society define its beliefs and attitudes. 鲍勃？狄伦触动了对现状不满的神经，他唱到民权、核散落物以及孤独。 Bob Dylan touched a nerve of disaffection. He spoke of civil rights， nuclear fallout， and loneliness. 他唱到变革和老一代人的迷茫，他在歌声中唱道：“这儿正发生着什么事，你不知道是什么事，对吗，琼斯先生？” He spoke of change and of the bewilderment of an older generation. “Something's happening here，” he sang. “You don't know what it is， do you， Mr.Jones？” 其他人也加入了这场辩论。 Others entered the debate. 霍洛威茨说，甲壳虫乐队以幽默的方式，或许还借助麻醉品的力量来倡导和平与虔诚。傲慢无理、打架斗殴的滚石乐队成员要求革命。杰斐逊飞机乐队的歌曲“我们能够联合”和“志愿者”（有一场革命）则是激进青年的更进一步的两项声明。 The Beatles， Horowitz said， urged peace and piety， with humor and maybe a little help from drugs. The Rolling Stones， arrogant street-fighting men， demanded revolution. The Jefferson Airplane's “We Can Be Together” and Volunteers （Got a Revolution）“ were two further statements of radical youth. 但政治并不是60年代强硬派摇滚乐所辩论的惟一主题，始终作为任何音乐永恒组成部分的情感也是一个重要题目。 But politics wasn't the only subject debated in the hard rock of the sixties. Feelings， always a part of any musical statement， were a major subject. 詹妮丝？乔普林用歌声表达自己的悲哀。 Janis Jophin sang of her sadness. 甲壳虫乐队揭示出爱与恨之间的一系列的感情。 The Beatles showed there were a range of emotions between love and hate. 以后又出现了“乐队”乐队把乡村音乐和西部音乐所表达的较为传统的观念与强硬派摇滚乐较为激进的“都市”观念结合在一起。 Then came The Band， mixing the more traditional ideas of country and western music into the more radical “city” ideas of the hard rock. 霍洛威茨认为这一成分的乡村音乐帮助听众表达了一种“摆脱这一切”，“重返过去时光”的强烈愿望。 This country element， Horowitz feels， helped its audience express an urge to “get away from it all，” to “go back to the old day. 当前最能说明霍洛威茨看法的例子之一就是约翰？丹佛，他最的歌曲《阳光照在我肩上》、《高高的落基山》和《乡间小路》把民间摇滚乐的音乐灵魂与力量结合了起来，而歌词则赞美了“往日美好时光”的朴素的欢乐。 。“ One of the best current examples of what Horotwitz is talking about is John Denver. His most notable songs – ”Sunshine on My Shoulders“， ”Rocky Mountain High“， and ”Country Road“ – combine the musical drive and power of folk rock， while the lyrics celebrate the simple joys of ”the good old days.“ 这样的例子不胜枚举。 The list could go on and on. 这些摇滚乐音乐家们和所有的艺术家一样反映出我们借以认识并形成属于自己的感情与信念。 Like all artists， these rock musicians mirror feelings and beliefs that help us see and form our own. 我们以什么来回报他们呢？当然是掌声和赞美。 What do we give them in return？ Applause and praise， of course. 在1972年的一次全国民意测验中，10％的男高中生和30％以上的女高中生都说他们最崇拜的人是超级摇滚歌星。 In one 1972， national opinion poll， more than 10 percent of the high school boys and 20 percent of the girls said their hero was a rock superstar. 此外我们给他们金钱， 商业杂志《福布斯》认为，“当今成为百万富翁的捷径是当摇滚歌星。” We also give them money. “The fastest way to become a millionaire these days，” says Forbes， a business magazine， “is to become a rock 'n' roll star.” 今天的英雄们——至少其中一部分人——告诉我们，他们很喜欢所得到的报偿。 Today's heroes – some of them， anyway – tell us they enjoy their rewards. “我暗自嘲笑这些先生们和女士们，他们从没想到过我们会成为金娃娃。”演唱这支歌曲的是“文化英雄”艾利丝？库珀。 “And I laughed to myself at the men and the ladies. Who never conceived of us billion-dollar babies.” The particular “culture hero” who sings that is Alice cooper. 可是，仍然存在着一个大问题：为什么他是文化英雄？ The big question remains： Why is he a culture hero？ 他，或者当今任何其他走红的摇滚歌星能告诉我们些什么有关他们的歌迷的事情？ What does he – or any other current rock success – tell us about his fans？ 对于我们自己和我们的社会有些什么了解？现在怎样，过去如何，将来又将向何处去？ About ourselves and our society？ Where it is， where it was， where it's heading？
lesson6 一个好机会 Lesson Six A Good Chance 我到鸭溪时，喜鹊没在家，我和他的妻子阿米莉亚谈了谈。 When I got to Crow Creek， Magpie was not home. I talked to his wife Amelia. “我要找喜鹊，”我说，“我给他带来了好消息。”我指指提着的箱子，“我带来了他的诗歌和一封加利福尼亚大学的录取通知书，他们想让他来参加为印第安人举办的艺术课。” “I need to find Magpie，” I said. “I've really got some good news for him.” I pointed to the briefcase I was carrying. “I have his poems and a letter of acceptance from a University in California where they want him to come and participate in the Fine Arts Program they have started for Indians.” “你知道他还在假释期间吗？” “Do you know that he was on parole？” “这个，不，不大清楚。”我犹豫着说，“我一直没有和他联系，但我听说他遇到了些麻烦。” “Well， no， not exactly，” I said hesitantly， “I haven't kept in touch with him but I heard that he was in some kind of trouble. 她对我笑笑说：“他已经离开很久了。你知道，他在这儿不安全。他的假释官随时都在监视他，所以他还是不到这儿来为好，而且我们已经分开一段时间了，我听说他在城里的什么地方。” She smiled to me and said， “He's gone a lot. It's not safe around here for him， you know. His parole officer really watches him all the time and so sometimes it is just better for him not to come here. Besides， we haven't been together for a while. I hear he's in town somewhere.” “你是指他在钱柏林？” “Do you mean in Chamberlain？” “对。我和他姐姐住在这儿，她说前一段时间她在那儿见过他。不过喜鹊不会去加利福尼亚的。即使你见到他并和他谈此事，他现在也决不会离开这儿。” “Yes， I live here with his sister and she said that she saw him there， quite a while ago. But Magpie would not go to California. He would never leave here now even if you saw him and talked to him about it.” “可他以前去过，”我说，“他去过西雅图大学。” “But he did before，” I said， “He went to the University of Seattle.” “是的，但……但是，那是以前，”她说，似乎不想再谈这个话题。 “Yeah， but…well， that was before，” she said， as though to finish the matter. “你难道不希望他去吗？”我问道。 “Don't you want him to go？” I asked. “哦，这不是我说了算的。我们现在已经分开了。我只是告诉你，你一定会失望的。像你这样的人希望他需要那些，可他已经不再需要了。”她很快答道，语气非常肯定。 Quickly， she responded， “Oh， it's not up to me to say. He is gone from me now. I'm just telling you that you are in for a disappointment. He no longer needs the things that people like you want him to need，” she said positively. 当她意识到我不喜欢她用“像你这样的人”的字眼时，她停了一下，然后把手放在我的胳膊上，“听着，”她说，“喜鹊现在终于快乐了。他情绪很好，英俊倜傥，自由自在而又意志坚强。他和兄弟们一起坐在皮鼓前唱歌，他现在一切都很好。以前，每当发表那些反政府和反对美国印第安人事务委员会的言论时，他总会越发气愤，充满怨恨。我曾为他担忧，但现在我不再担心了。你为什么不让他独自呆着呢？” When she saw that I didn't like her reference to “people like you”， she stopped for a moment and then put her hand on my arm. “Listen，” she said， “Magpie is happy now， finally. He is in good spirits， handsome and free and strong. He sits at the drum and sings with his brothers： he's okay now. When he was saying all those things against the government and against the council， he became more and more ugly and embittered and I used to be afraid for him. But I'm not now. 我和赛利娜坐在一家咖啡馆里。 I was sitting at the café with Salina. 她突然说道：“我不知道喜鹊在哪儿，我已经4天没见到他了。” Abruptly she said， “I don't know where Mapie is. I haven't seen him in four days.” “我把他的诗也带来了。”我说，“他有机会进入加利福尼亚的艺术学院，但是我必须和他谈一谈，还要让他填一下这些表格。我相信他一定会感兴趣的。” “I've got his poems here with me，” I said. “He has a good change of going to a Fine Arts school in California， but I have to talk with him and get him to fill out some papers. I know that he is interested.” “不，他不会的，”她打断了我，“他根本就不再做这些没用的、愚蠢的梦了。” “No， he isn't，” she broke in. “He doesn't have those worthless， shitty dreams anymore.” “别这样说，赛利娜，这对他真的是个好机会。” “Don't say that， Salina. This is a good chance for him.” “好了，你爱怎么想就怎么想吧，可最近你跟他谈过吗？你知道他如今怎么样吗？” “Well， you can think what you want， but have you talked to him lately？ Do you know him as he is now？” “我知道他情况很好，我也知道他有这个天分。” “I know he is good. I know he has such talent.” “他是一个印第安人，这次他回到这里是要住下来。” “He is Indian， and he's back here to stay this time.” “你和我一起开车去钱柏林，好吗？”我问道。 “Would you drive into Chamberlain with me？” I asked. 她一言不发。 She said nothing. “如果他是你所说的那种印第安人，不管那是什么意思，如果他这次回来是要住下来，如果他自己亲口对我说出来，我就打消这个念头。但是，赛利娜，”我极力说服道，“我一定要跟他谈谈，问问他想要做什么。你知道我的意思，不是吗？” “If he is Indian as you say， whatever that means， and if he is back here to stay this time and if he tells me that himself， I'll let it go. But Salina，” I urged， “I must talk to him and ask him what he wants to do. You see that， don't you？” “是的， 我知道了，” 她 终于说道， “他有权知道这一切， 但你会明白。” “Yes，” she said finally. “He has a right to know about this， but you'll see…” 我们离开时，她的高跟鞋在咖啡屋前的人行道上发出清脆的响声，当她又谈及喜鹊时，变得焦虑不安。 Her heels clicked on the sidewalk in front of the café as we left， and she became agitated as she talked. “他在卡司特*时，因为法院被烧，惹了麻烦，被判入狱1年。他现在还在假释期间，他的假释期还有5年，可他们连任何对他不利的证据都没有找到。5年呀！你能相信吗？现在连谋杀罪的人都没有判这样重。” “After all that trouble he got into during that protest at Custer when the courthouse was burned， he was in jail for a year. He's still on parole and he will be on parole for another five years – and they didn't even prove anything against him！ Five years！ Can you believe that？ People these days can commit murder and not get that kind of a sentence.” 我们驱车行使在钱柏林的大街上，埃尔吉正站在银行附近的拐角处，我和赛利娜都心照不宣，这个喜鹊的好朋友肯定知道他在哪儿。 Elgie was standing on the corner near the Bank as we drove down the main street of Chamberlain， and both Salina and I knew without speaking that this man， this good friend of Magpie's， would know of his whereabouts. 我们停了车，埃尔吉走了过来，舒服地靠坐在车的后排座位上。 We parked the car， Elgie came over and settled himself in the back seat of the car. 车慢慢地驶到了我们停车的街角处，假释官目不转睛地盯着我们3人，而我们却假装没看见。 A police car moved slowly to the corner where we were parked and the patrolmen looked at the three of us intently and we pretended not to notice. 巡逻车在空荡荡的街道上慢慢前行。我小心谨慎地转向埃尔吉。 The patrol car inched down the empty street and I turned cautiously toward Elgie. 我还没来得及开口，赛利娜说，“她给喜鹊拿了些表格。他有可能进入加利福尼亚的一所作家学院读书。” Before I could speak， Salina said， “She is got some papers for Magpie. He has a chance to go to a writer's school in California.” 总是不太想让别人清楚地了解他的想法的埃尔吉说道，“是吗？”可赛利娜却不想让他就这么不置可否。“埃尔吉，”她嘲弄道，“埃尔吉，你知道他是不会去的！” Always tentative about letting you know what he was really thinking， Elgie said， “Yeah？” But Salina wouldn't let him get away so noncommittally， “Elgie，” she scoffed. “You know he wouldn't go！” “是呀，你知道，”埃尔吉开口说，“卡司特那件事发生以后，我和喜鹊曾经想要躲藏起来，最后我们到了奥古斯塔娜大学的校园。那儿有我们的几个朋友。他开始谈论自由，而这些是我永远都不会忘记的。在那以后当他被捕入狱时，自由便成为了他的主要话题。自由。他渴望自由，可是，老兄，他们总盯着你的时候，你不可能有自由。哦，那个怪物，就是他的那个假释官，是一只卑鄙的看门狗。” “Well， you know，” Elgie began， “one time when Magpie and me were hiding out after that Custer thing， we ended up on to Augustana College Campus. We got some friends there. And he started talking about freedom and I never forget that， and then after he went wants to be free and you can't be that， man， when they're watching you all the time. Man， that freak that's his parole officer is some mean watch-dog.” “你觉得他会拿到奖学金吗？”我满怀希望地说。 “You think he might go for the scholarship？” I asked， hopefully. “我不知道。也许吧。” “I don't know. Maybe.” “他在哪儿？”我问道。 “Where is he？” I asked. 沉默了很长一会儿后，埃尔吉终于开口了：“我想你来得太好了，因为喜鹊需要从这没完没了的监视和检查中解脱出来。事实上，他一直谈道：”如果我和白人交往，那么我将没有自由；那里没有印第安人的自由。你现在应该和他谈谈。他变了。他赞成同白人完全分离或隔离。“ There was a long silence. Then Elgie said at last， “I think it's good that you've come， because Magpie needs some relief from this constant surveillance， constant checking up. In fact， that's what he always talks about. 'If I have to associate with the whites， then I'm not free： there is no liberty in that for Indians.' You should talk to him now. He's changed. He's for complete separation， segregation， total isolation from the whites.” “这是不是有点太过分了？太不实际了？”我问道。 “Isn't that a bit too radical？ Too unrealistic？” I asked. “我不知道。我真的不知道。” “I don't know. Damn if I know.” “好了，”赛利娜说，“你觉得他在加利福尼亚的那所大学里会怎样？可这是他学习和写作的一个好机会。我觉得他会从中找到一种愉快的感觉。” “Yeah，” said Salina， “Just what do you think it would be like for him at that university in California？” “But it's a chance for him to study， to write. He can find a kind of satisfying isolation in that， I think.” 过了一会儿，埃尔吉说道：“不错，我认为你是对的”。 After a few moments， Elgie said， “Yeah， I think you are right.” 然后他又从后排座位上抬起身来说道：“我要过桥了，再过大约3个街区就到了。在我快要下桥的地方的左边有一座白色的老式二层小楼。喜鹊的哥哥刚从内布拉斯加州教养院出来，现在跟他的妻子就住在那儿，喜鹊也在。” “ Soon he got out of the back seat and said， ”I'm going to walk over the bridge . It's about three blocks down there. There is an old， whit two-story house on the left side just before you cross the bridge. Magpie's brother just got out of the Nebraska State Reformatory and he is staying there with his old lady， and that's where Magpie is.“ 现在终于能够和他谈谈，并让他自己作出决定了。 At last！ Now I could really talk to him and let him make this decision for himself. “呵！还有些问题，”埃尔吉说，“喜鹊本不应该在那儿，你知道，因为这是他的假释条件的一部分，那就是他要离开朋友、亲戚和以前的囚犯，差不多是所有的人。可上帝呀，这是他的哥哥呀。等到日落前你们再来。把车停在加油站那儿，只要从那儿绕过那条街走到房子的后门进去，你就可以跟喜鹊谈所有这一切了。” “There are things about this though，” Elgie said. “Magpie shouldn't have been there， see， because it's a part of the condition of his parole that he stays away from friends and relatives and ex-convicts and just about everybody. But Jesus， this is his brother. Wait until just before sundown and then come over. Park your car at the service station just around the block from there and walk to the back entrance of the house and then you can talk to Magpie about all this.” 赛利娜跟我讲述着喜鹊在背井离乡数月后返回鸭溪的情形及他的亲戚是怎样到他姐姐家欢迎他返乡的。“他们来听他和兄弟唱歌，他们围坐在椅子上，欢笑着和他一起歌唱。” Salina was talking， telling me about Magpie's return to Crow Creek after months in exile and how his relatives went to his sister's house and welcomed him home. “They came to hear him sing with his brothers， and they sat in chairs around the room and laughed and sang wit him.” 我们到达时，院子里停着几辆车。赛利娜压低声音说，“她们可能正在聚会。” Several cars were parked in the yard of the old house as we approached， and Salina， keeping her voice low， said， “Maybe they are having a party.” 然而，四周的寂静使我忐忑不安。当我们走进敞着的后门时，看到人们都站在厨房里，我小心翼翼地问道，“出什么事了？ But the silence which hung about the place filled me with apprehension， and when we walked in the back door which hung open， we saw people standing in the kitchen. I asked carefully， “What's wrong？” 没有人答话，只有埃尔吉走了过来。他那充血的眼睛里充满悲伤和痛苦。 Nobody spoke but Elgie came over， his bloodshot eyes filled with sorrow and misery. 他在我们面前站了一会儿，然后示意我们到起居室去。 He stood in front of us for a moment and then gestured us to go into the living room. 屋子里静静地，坐满了人。终于，埃尔吉轻轻地说道，“他们枪杀了他。” The room was filled with people sitting in silence， and finally Elgie said， quietly， “They shot him.” “他们说他违反了假释条件把他抓走了，关进监狱后就枪杀了他。” “They picked him up for breaking the conditions of his parole and they put him in jail and … they shot him.” “可是为什么？”我大喊道，“怎么会发生这样的事？” “But why？” I cried. “How could this have happened？” “他们说他们认为他要反抗，而且他们害怕他。” “They said they thought he was resisting and that they were afraid of him.” “害怕？”我怀疑地问，“但……但是，他有武器吗？” “Afraid？” I asked， incredulously. “But…but…was he armed？” “没有”，埃尔吉说着坐了下来。他的胳膊撑在膝盖上，头低着。 “No，” Elgie said， seated now， his arm on his knees， his head down. “No， he wasn't armed.” 我把喜鹊的诗紧紧握在手里，两手的拇指交替在平滑的纸夹上狠狠地摁着。 I held the poems tightly in my hands pressing my thumbs，first one and then the other，against the smoothness of the cardboard folder.