現(xiàn)代英文選評(píng)：The Last Puritan 最后一個(gè)清教徒

The Last Puritan 最后一個(gè)清教徒

George Santayana (1863—1952)

美國早期的移民，很多是英國來的清教徒，因此清教徒主義（Puritanism）也是美國立國基本精神之一。清教徒所過的是一種嚴(yán)肅的生活，以天理制人欲，培養(yǎng)獨(dú)立自尊的人格，除了相信上帝這一點(diǎn)以外，他們的理想，大致和宋儒傳統(tǒng)下的中國士大夫相仿。桑塔耶那在《最后一個(gè)清教徒》（1935）里描寫一個(gè)典型的清教徒Oliver Alden，下面幾段講的是那位“清教徒”幼年時(shí)候所受的教育，由此我們知道：一個(gè)嚴(yán)肅的（可是也是拘謹(jǐn)狹仄的）生活是怎么開始的。

下面所選的幾段（見原書第二編第三章）都比較淺近容易，并不能充分代表原作英文“構(gòu)思精妙，辭藻華麗”的好處。但是這幾段已經(jīng)把“Puritanism”說明得相當(dāng)清楚了。

The advent of Fr?ulein Schlote was a blessing all round. Mrs. Alden, on whom everything depended, smiled on the newcomer from the beginning. As for the child himself, neither the disappearance of his old nurse nor the appearance of the new Fr?ulein seemed to impress his young mind. He was accustomed to strangers, and not afraid of them; they all behaved in much the same way. Gradually, however, he became aware of something else in her: there was sympathy in her movements, there was playfulness: Irma was affectionate. Discipline was relaxed: it was no longer imperative to play only with clean gravel especially poured out for him: he might now run and dig up his own gravel from the path. The routine of life might have become more plastic, making a little room for caprice. But was caprice less tiresome than law?

● 本書主人翁Oliver Alden原有一老保姆（nurse），后從德國請(qǐng)來Irma Schlote小姐任看護(hù)管教之職，即英文所謂governess。

● Fr?ulein德文，意即“小姐”。advent：來到，義同arrival，但用于較莊嚴(yán)重要之場(chǎng)合。blessing：（天賜）恩典。all round：對(duì)全家的人說來。

● Mrs. Alden：書中主人翁之母親。on whom everything depended：什么東西都得靠她；她是主婦，家庭教師是好是壞，就憑她一句話。

● impress：給予印象。

● aware of：覺得。something else：有些別的東西；就這小孩子看來，到家里來的陌生人似乎都差不多，可是這位家庭教師他漸漸地發(fā)現(xiàn)有些與眾不同。

● sympathy：同情。playfulness：活潑好弄。affectionate：溫馨慈愛。他的母親待他是冷冰冰的，家庭教師的慈愛給他的印象特別深，故此字用斜體字排，以示重要。

● discipline：紀(jì)律。relaxed：放寬。接著就有例子說明：小孩子喜歡玩沙，本來家里管束得嚴(yán)，沙是先淘好了給他的，現(xiàn)在他可以自己到地上去挖了。gravel較sand為粗。中文應(yīng)作“沙礫”。

● routine of life：日常舊規(guī)，刻板生活。plastic：便于塑造的、可以任意變化其形狀的。caprice：中文成語“忽發(fā)奇想”里的“奇想”、怪主意。making room for里的room原意是“地位”，“讓出地位來給（別人）”；這個(gè)小孩子的生活本來只是循規(guī)蹈矩的刻板文章，現(xiàn)在新家庭教師來了，生活可以多點(diǎn)變化，“可以讓出些地位來給出乎常規(guī)的思想行動(dòng)了”——可以偶然“隨興之所至，自由行動(dòng)了”。

● 雖然有這種可能性，可是事實(shí)上卻并未實(shí)現(xiàn)，動(dòng)詞might have become隱含did not become之意。為什么呢？末一句“反問”（rhetorical question）即說明其原委。But was caprice less tiresome than law?=But caprice was not less tiresome than law。循規(guī)蹈矩的生活（law）固然無聊（tiresome），然而就興之所至，率性行事（caprice），亦復(fù)無聊，所以仍舊是規(guī)規(guī)矩矩地過日子。

It was a distinct relief to discard the perambulator and to trudge along with Fr?ulein for a country walk. And sometimes Fr?ulein lengthened these rambles more than was pleasant for him. He was no baby, to say he was tired, or hot, or wished to be carried; the old perambulator, even if thought of at such a moment, was not to be mentioned.

● perambulator：小孩坐車。discard：廢棄不用；小孩漸大，能蹣跚而行，用不到坐車了。relief：（束縛的）解除；坐車拘束而累贅，一旦下車步行，自有輕松之感。distinct：很明顯的。trudge：吃力的走路。

● rambles：漫游。lengthened：放長，（走遠(yuǎn)）。than在這里的用法很像是一個(gè)relative pronoun，丹麥籍文法學(xué)家Jespersen稱之為relative conjunction。（見其所著Essentials of English Grammar. §34.41與A Modern English Grammar, II. §9.11）

● to say...：infinitive phrase當(dāng)形容詞用，形容baby?！八辉偈且粋€(gè)可以說是他疲倦了……的嬰孩了?！彼呀?jīng)自認(rèn)是一個(gè)大孩子，即使是走累了，或是走熱了，或是想抱（carried）了，都不愿意講出來。

● thought of：兩個(gè)字連起來當(dāng)“及物動(dòng)詞”用。他即使想到要坐“坐車”，也不有意對(duì)家庭教師提起，真是一個(gè)有骨氣的小孩子。

If a pebble got into his shoe, it might be unpleasant, but he said nothing. Pebbles were insignificant accidents, like certain needs of the body: and if Fr?ulein said they must get to the top of the hill, the view would be so wundersch?n, the hill must be stoically climbed.

● pebble：石子。

● insignificant：無足輕重的；accidents：偶然的事件。like以下，作者語帶譏諷：石子進(jìn)了鞋子，那個(gè)剛會(huì)走路的小孩子還是往前走，認(rèn)為這是一件不足道的小事，“就像身體上某些需要一樣”。身體上某些需要是些什么？是不是指餓了想吃，渴了想喝，癢了想搔？清教徒是可以不理會(huì)這些需要的，桑塔耶那似乎并不以為然。

● must和wundersch?n都是引用那位德國小姐的原字，故用斜體字排。must表示非去不可，wundersch?n（德文）=very beautiful。the view would be so wundersch?n是noun clause，做said的賓詞。

● stoically：堅(jiān)毅地。Stoics本來是希臘一派哲學(xué)家，譯作“斯多噶學(xué)派”，其教人以“克己忍苦”為主。這個(gè)小孩子不管氣力夠不夠，（鞋子里還有石子呢!），一往直前地跟了家庭教師爬山，這種精神就夠得上稱是stoical。

The view was nothing to him: but by the time he had plodded bravely to the top, he had forgotten the pebble; and when later, after running down the hill, he felt it again in a different place, he knew that they were going home and that it didn't matter. Such was the nature of country walks; and when he changed his shoes and stockings before dinner, he would shake the pebble out. The next time he would remember to lace both his shoes equally tight, so that pebbles shouldn't get into either of them.

● 德國小姐為了要欣賞風(fēng)景才爬到山頂上去，可是這位清教徒小孩對(duì)于風(fēng)景的美，并不覺得什么，他只是“為了爬山而爬山”，忽略美育的陶冶，偏重意志的鍛煉，這也是清教徒主義的特征之一。桑塔耶那對(duì)于這一點(diǎn)，亦頗有微辭。

● plod意義同前面的trudge差不多：吃力地走路。

● 到了山頂，就忘了鞋子里的石子；回家的路上，腳底下又覺到有石子了（雖然石子能滾，已經(jīng)挪了地方了），可是反正要回家了，這點(diǎn)不舒服也就可以不理了。

● nature：性質(zhì)；鄉(xiāng)間散步的性質(zhì)就是如此，有點(diǎn)不舒服也在意料之中。

● lace：拴鞋帶。tight：緊。either：兩者之一；兩只鞋子拴得一樣緊，沒有一只進(jìn)得了石子了。

One day without any reason, he climbed up from her knee and put both arms round her neck, holding on very softly and very tight for what seemed to her a long time.

But darling, she said, smothering her emotions, "why do you do that?"

● for a long time：過了一段長時(shí)間；for what seemed to her a long time：過了一段在她看來是很長的時(shí)間。

● smothering：抑制。emotions：感情。學(xué)生對(duì)她忽然如此親熱，這位家庭教師可能驚喜交集；但是她還是抑制住了感情問他。

His German, and even his English, was inadequate to frame an answer, and he merely held on.

But do you ever hug your mother like that? And of course it would be very wrong not to love her ever so much more than you love me, because she is your mother.

● 他同家庭教師之間是說慣德文的，但是當(dāng)時(shí)的感情，他非但用德文說不出來，就是用英文也說不出來。and even his English前后兩逗點(diǎn)（,）的功用好像括弧一般不影響主詞German的number，所以動(dòng)詞還是用單數(shù)的“was”。

● inadequate：不夠；frame：形成。

● hug：擁抱。not to love her=if you did not love her；ever=very（此解根據(jù)《簡(jiǎn)明牛津字典》）；so也是用以加強(qiáng)much。比較級(jí)的形容詞（或副詞），如more等，前面加ever so much三個(gè)字來加強(qiáng)語氣，是很普通的用法。

Somewhat slowly and absent-mindedly Oliver let go: he certainly never hugged his mother like that. It was all rather discouraging. Irma felt this too, and gradually ceased to take him on her lap. "You are such a big boy now," she would say. "You must sit up in your high chair."

● absent-mindedly：心不在焉地。let go：松手。

● discouraging：掃興的。小孩子喜歡他的家庭教師，而且把這種感情天真自然地流露出來，本來也很正常?？墒乔褰掏秸J(rèn)為感情的流露是可恥的，Oliver從來沒有向他的母親親熱過，以后也不會(huì)再同家庭教師親熱了。家庭教師漸漸地也不去抱他了。lap：大腿。

One day Fr?ulein unsuspectingly mentioned at table the urgent need of a cushion for Oliver's chair. Mrs. Alden let her talk on; but after a little pause pursed her lips and said: "I don't think little boys ought to be brought up to sit on cushions. It is effeminate. The chair comes from the very best makers in Great Falls. I paid a particularly high price for it, and I'm sure it must be quite right as it is—much cooler and healthier in summer than sitting on a stuffy cushion, which is always slipping about and getting tumbled and making one restless. If only Oliver wouldn't fidget, but keep his clothes properly pulled down under him, he would be perfectly comfortable, and wouldn't need to find fault with what is provided for him."

● unsuspectingly：沒有猜想到會(huì)產(chǎn)生什么后果地；脫口而出地。（德國小姐以為座椅質(zhì)地太粗，有傷小孩的嫩皮膚，所以主張要用墊子，想不到她這種主張竟大受女主人的反對(duì)。）at table：用膳之時(shí)；urgent：迫切的。

● pursed her lips：把嘴唇縮起來，不大以為然的樣子。女主人也是清教徒，涵養(yǎng)功夫到家，雖然話聽不入耳，可是還是等人家說完了，再停一停之后（after a pause），然后發(fā)表她的高見。

● brought up：教養(yǎng)成人。（cushions一字應(yīng)重讀。）

● effeminate：太娘兒們氣了。

● Great Falls：地名，在康涅狄克州，為女主人娘家所在地。makers：制家具的。

● as it is：照它現(xiàn)在的樣子（就很好）。stuffy：不透氣的。slipping about：滑來滑去（about=here and there）。getting tumbled：坐傷了，壓破了，或是翻過來了。restless：神志不安。

● fidget：亂摸亂動(dòng)。under him：坐在他身體下面。

● find fault with：找錯(cuò)。what is provided for him：（家里）替他準(zhǔn)備好的東西。注意：他們家里資財(cái)百萬，并不是為了省錢才不給小孩子買（或做）一個(gè)墊子的。照清教徒的想法，任何不舒服的事情都該忍受，何況大人替小孩子所設(shè)想的，決不會(huì)有錯(cuò)。所以墊子就用不著了。