現(xiàn)代英文選評：Captain Carlsen 卡爾遜船長

Captain Carlsen 卡爾遜船長

Thomas Whiteside (1918—1997)

本交原載1958年12月13日The New Yorker。該周刊有一欄“人物素描”，叫做Profiles（側(cè)影），所收的人物種類繁多，是很有興趣的讀物。The New Yorker的文章大多寫得都很工整典雅。本文作者所描寫的卡爾遜船長是個(gè)航海英雄，其人在狂風(fēng)中救船的事跡，可歌可泣。原文很長，這里只短短地節(jié)錄了幾段。因?yàn)槲恼缕L，原文的句子也都很長，這里也已縮短了很多，短文章里用長句子是很別扭的。

Of all the winter storms to sweep the North Atlantic in recent years, few are more sorely remembered by seafaring people and the inhabitants of many European coastal areas than the gales that prevailed over the eastern part of the ocean during the last few days of 1951. The area of disturbance extended from Scandinavia to the Iberian Peninsula, and even into North Africa, and the storms stretched westward into the ocean for several hundred miles.

● sweep：吹過。這字隱含風(fēng)的力量。sorely remembered：痛苦地被記得。seafaring people：出海航行的人。coastal areas：海岸區(qū)域。gales：強(qiáng)風(fēng)（速度約每小時(shí)25英里至75英里）。prevailed：（在那個(gè)地方）發(fā)威。

● 首句的主要結(jié)構(gòu)是few are more sorely remembered…than…。歷年冬季的暴風(fēng)之中，很少有一次比得上那一年的。

● area of disturbance：狂風(fēng)所及之區(qū)。Iberian Peninsula：西班牙、葡萄牙所在之半島。

● stretched westward：狂風(fēng)主要范圍是在大西洋東岸，但它也往西伸展到大西洋中間去。

Of all the manifold adversities brought on by the storms, none attracted such intense interest here and throughout the world as the plight of a United States freighter named the Flying Enterprise. The American public began to hear about the Flying Enterprise on December 29th, when press dispatches from Europe reported that she was encountering severe hurricane conditions some three hundred and thirty miles southwest of Cape Clear, on the southern tip of Ireland, and that her situation was grave.

● 第一段第一句的句法是：Of all the…few are more…than…。現(xiàn)在第二段第一句的句法，又是Of all the…none attracted such…as…，這樣似乎句法變化太少。但是原文的第一段很長，隔了很久，再出現(xiàn)一句結(jié)構(gòu)相類似的句子，未足為病。這里只摘錄了兩句，隔得太近，所以看起來似乎不舒服。但是初學(xué)英文的讀者，趁這機(jī)會把這種句法多看看，也是好事。

● manifold adversities：多種的災(zāi)禍。bring (brought) on：引起。

● intense interest：強(qiáng)烈的興趣。here：在美國。plight：（困難的）處境。freighter：貨船。

● press dispatches：新聞界的電訊。she：船用女性代名詞。hurricane：比gale更強(qiáng)的風(fēng)。此字的狹義是指從西印度群島吹向美國東海岸的颶風(fēng)。東大西洋的風(fēng)實(shí)際上并不是hurricane，但是情形已很類似。所以說這艘船“遭遇到類似颶風(fēng)的情形”。some：大約。tip：尖端。

By the following day, the storms were at their worst over most of the eastern Atlantic, and it became apparent that the gravity of the freighter's position had deepened into desperation. While these events were dramatic, what really focussed attention on the Flying Enterprise was the news that her captain had chosen to remain aboard after ordering everybody else off, and that he was sticking to his ship with the expressed determination to keep command of her as long as she remained afloat, or at least, a tug took her safely in tow. The name of the captain was Henrik Kurt Carlsen—a name that was to become familiar throughout the world over the next two weeks. The story of Carlsen's unremitting effort to save the Flying Enterprise, relayed to the public in day-by-day installments in the press and over the air, was enough to excite anybody's imagination.

● at their worst：兇惡到極點(diǎn)。這種成語很有用，如：He is at his best.（表現(xiàn)得特別出色；正在最佳狀態(tài)。）不用best，worst，而用其他形容詞的最高級形式亦可。

● 上段說the situation was grave，這是已經(jīng)夠嚴(yán)重的了?，F(xiàn)在更進(jìn)一步，于是說the gravity…h(huán)ad deepened into desperation。（desperation：絕望。）本來用形容詞grave，現(xiàn)在改用抽象名詞gravity；此句最好的字是動詞deepen，它把兩個(gè)抽象名詞連接得很穩(wěn)。普通中國學(xué)生最覺得難用恐怕是抽象名詞；因?yàn)橐痪涞闹髡Z或賓語若是抽象名詞，它前后的動詞也非得慎加挑選不可。這句若改成：

　　The situation had become desperate.

亦無不可。但是如把grave轉(zhuǎn)化成為 gravity，再使它deepened into desperation，這樣讀者也得到一種“思想條理清楚”之樂。

● dramatic：戲劇性，緊張動人。（原文所舉的事情很多，故these events所指的很清楚。這里把那些事情都省略了，這兩個(gè)字稍覺模糊。）

● focussed attention on：使注意力集中于。chosen：自愿（善惡或勇怯間的選擇）。aboard：在船上。ordering…off：命令余人下船。

● sticking to：堅(jiān)守。expressed determination：明白表示的決心。

● remained：此字在本句中見了兩次，remained aboard與remained afloat（還能浮在水面，不往下沉）。remain和be，become等相仿，是linking verb，不過它所表示的是動詞的“繼續(xù)相”（durative aspect）——所說的情形要維持一個(gè)時(shí)候。to keep command of the ship：（繼續(xù)指揮全船）也是表示“繼續(xù)相”的。

● tug：拖大船的小輪（馬力甚大）。take her…in tow：把這條船拖走。

● unremitting effort：不懈的努力。relayed：傳達(dá)。installments：一天報(bào)告一段的“段”。over the air：廣播。

It was a drama that had all but pushed the war in Korea off the front pages for almost a fortnight, and public sympathy for Carlsen over the loss of his ship was exceeded only by the universally expressed admiration for his courage and resourcefulness in attempting to save her. New York gave him an enthusiastic ticker-tape reception, and medals and citations for bravery were pressed upon him by Congress and the governments of many other countries. All sorts of commercial offers were pressed upon him, too, and if he had accepted them, he would have become wealthy overnight. But Carlsen did not accept them; he refused to cash in on his popularity. "I only did my duty as a simple seaman," he explained. He seemed like a hero from another time.

● all but=almost。the war in Korea：1951年12月正是朝鮮戰(zhàn)爭激烈的時(shí)候。pushed…off the front pages：卡爾遜的事，占滿了報(bào)紙第一版，反而把朝鮮戰(zhàn)爭那種重要新聞幾乎給“擠”走了。

● 兩個(gè)抽象名詞給一個(gè)動詞連接起來，成一句子，前面已經(jīng)說過，這里又是一個(gè)例子：public sympathy…was exceeded by the…admiration…。此句的妙處也在動詞（exceeded：超過）?？栠d船長的船終于沉海，全世界的人都同情他得不得了。這種同情之大，似乎沒有東西可以超過它了。但是有一樣?xùn)|西可以超過它，那就是舉世所表示對他的欽仰（admiration）。他努力救船，人們佩服他的勇氣，也佩服他的智謀（resourcefulness）。

● reception：歡迎。ticker-tape：電報(bào)紙帶。英雄凱旋歸來時(shí)，市民紛紛以彩色紙帶向他拋擲。

● citations for bravery：褒揚(yáng)忠勇之辭，褒狀。pressed upon him：硬塞給他；他不要，也得要。

● commercial offers：商業(yè)性的奉獻(xiàn)。如請他擔(dān)任某公司的董事，或請他簽名介紹某種商品等。pressed upon him連用兩次，第二次在后面加了一個(gè)too。

● overnight：隔夕之間（頓成暴富）。

● his popularity：他的“風(fēng)頭”。

● cash in on：利用之以賺錢。

● a hero from another time：盡職而不求名利，實(shí)有“古風(fēng)”。