- 注释版
- 纯净版
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July 31st, 1978
My darling McGeorge,
[1] You said that things seemed clearer when they were written down. Well, herewith a very boring letter in which I will try and put everything down so that you may read and re-read it in horror at your folly in getting involved with me. Deep breath.
[2] To begin with I love you with a depth and passion that I have felt for no one else in this life and if it astonishes you it astonishes me as well. Not I hasten to say, because you are not worth loving. Far from it. It’s just that, first of all, I swore I would not get involved with another woman. Secondly, I have never had such a feeling before and it is almost frightening. Thirdly, I would never have thought it possible that another human being could occupy my waking (and sleeping) thoughts to the exclusion of almost everything else.
[3] Fourthly, I never thought that — even if one was in love — one could get so completely besotted with another person, so that a minute away from them felt like a thousand years.
[4] Fifthly, I never hoped, aspired, dreamed that one could find everything one wanted in a person. I was not such an idiot as to believe this was possible. Yet in you I have found everything I want: you are beautiful, gay, giving, gentle, idiotically and deliciously feminine, sexy, wonderfully intelligent and wonderfully silly as well. I want nothing else in this life than to be with you, to listen and watch you (your beautiful voice, your beauty), to argue with you, to laugh with you, to show you things and share things with you, to explore your magnificent mind, to explore your magnificent mind, to explore your wonderful body, to help you, protect you , serve you, and bash you on the head when I think you are wrong… not to put too fine a point on it I consider that I am the only man outside mythology to have found the crock of gold at the rainbow’s end.
folly ['fɒli] n. 愚蠢, 荒唐事, 讽刺剧
astonish [ә'stɒniʃ] vt. 使惊讶
hasten ['heisn]vt. 催促, 加紧 vi. 赶快, 急忙
besotted [bi'sɒtid] a. 愚蠢的, 糊涂的
aspire [ә'spaiә]vi. 渴望, 立志于
idiotically adv. 白痴地
feminine ['feminin]a. 女性的, 阴性的, 柔弱的
magnificent [mæg'nifisnt]a. 华丽的, 高尚的, 宏伟的
bash [bæʃ]vt. 猛击, 打坏
mythology [mi'θɒlәdʒi]n. 神话
crock [krɒk]n. 壶, 罐, 碎瓦片vt. 使受伤, 弄衰弱vi. 摩擦脱色, 衰竭
[5] But — having said all that — let us consider things in detail. Don’t let this become public but… well, I have one or two faults. Minor ones, I hasten to say. For example, I am inclined to be overbearing. I do it for the best possible motives (all tyrants say that) but I do tend (without thinking) to tread people underfoot. You must tell me when I am doing it to you, my sweet, because it can be a very bad thing in a marriage.
overbearing adj. 傲慢的; 专横的; 逞威风的; 压倒性的
tyrant ['taɪərənt]n. 暴君; 暴君似的人; 专制君主; 专横的人
blemish ['blemiʃ]n. 污点, 缺点vt. 弄脏, 玷污, 损害
established [ɪ'stæblɪʃt]adj. 已制定的; 确定的
[6] Right. Second blemish. This, actually, is not so much a blemish of character as a blemish of circumstance. Darling I want you to be you in your own right, and I will do everything I can to help you in this. But you must take into consideration that I am also me in my own right and that I have a head start on you… what I am trying to say is that you must not feel offended if you are sometimes treated simply as my wife. Always remember that what you lose on the swings, you gain on the roundabouts. But I am an established ‘creature’ in the world, and so — on occasions — you will have to live in my shadow. Nothing gives me less pleasure than this but it is a fact of life to be faced.
overbearing adj. 傲慢的; 专横的; 逞威风的; 压倒性的
tyrant ['taɪərənt]n. 暴君; 暴君似的人; 专制君主; 专横的人
blemish ['blemiʃ]n. 污点, 缺点vt. 弄脏, 玷污, 损害
established [ɪ'stæblɪʃt]adj. 已制定的; 确定的
take into consideration 考虑到
--People seem to fail to take into consideration the fact that education does not end with graduation. 人们似乎忽视了教育不应该随着毕业而结束这一事实。
what you lose on the swings, you gain on the roundabouts. 失之东隅,收之桑榆
[7] Third (and very important and nasty) blemish: jealousy. I don’t think you know what jealousy is (thank God) in the real sense of the word. I know you have felt jealousy over Lincoln’s wife and child but this is what I call normal jealousy, and this — to my regret — is not what I’ve got. What I have got is a black monster that can pervert my good sense, my good humour and any goodness that I have in my make-up. It is really a Jekyll and Hyde situation… my Hyde is stronger than my good sense and defeats me, hard though I try. As I told you, I have always known that this lurks within me, but I couldn’t control it, and my monster slumbered and nothing happened to awake it. Then I met you and I felt my monster stir and become half awake when you told me of Lincoln and others you have known, and with your letter my monster came out of its lair, black, irrational, bigoted, stupid, evil, malevolent. You will never know how terribly corrosive jealousy is; it is a physical pain as though you had swallowed acid or red hot coals. It is the most terrible of feelings. But you can’t help it — at least I can’t, and God knows I’ve tried. I don’t want any ex-boyfriends sitting in church when I marry you. On our wedding day, I want nothing but happiness, for both you and me, and I know I won’t be happy if there is a church full of your ex-conquests. When I marry you I will have no past, only a future: I don’t want to drag my past into our future and I don’t want you to do it , either. Remember I am jealous of you because I love you. You are never jealous of something you don’t care about. OK, enough about jealousy.
pervert [pә:'vә:t]vt. 使堕落, 使反常, 歪曲, 滥用, 使左右颠倒, 唆使...性变态n. 堕落者, 行为反常者, 背教者, 性欲反常者
Jekyll and Hyde / ,dʒekl ən `haɪd / noun [singular] 有善恶两种性格的人
someone who seems to have two different personalities, one good and one bad
lurk [lә:k]n. 潜伏, 潜行vi. 暗藏, 潜伏, 埋伏
slumber ['slʌmbә]n. 睡眠, 麻木状态vi. 微睡, 静止, 麻木vt. 睡着度过(时间)
stir [stә:]n. 骚动, 轰动, 搅动, 监狱vt. 移动, 摇动, 激起, 搅拌vi. 走动, 传播, 搅拌
bigoted ['bigәtid] a. 盲从的, 固执己见的, 执迷的, 顽固的
malevolent [mә'levәlәnt]a. 有恶意的, 坏心肠的
corrosive [cor'rosive || -əʊsɪv]n. 腐蚀物; 腐蚀剂adj. 腐蚀的, 蚀坏的, 腐蚀性的
[8] Now, let me tell you something… I have seen a thousand sunsets and sunrises, on land where it floods forest and mountains with honey-coloured light, at sea where it rises and sets like a blood orange in a multi-coloured nest of cloud, slipping in and out of the vast ocean. I have seen a thousand moons: harvest moons like gold coins, winter moons as white as ice chips, new moons like baby swans’ feathers.
[9] I have seen seas as smooth as if painted, coloured like shot silk or blue as a kingfisher or transparent as glass or black and crumpled with foam, moving ponderously and murderously. I have felt winds straight from the South Pole, bleak and wailing like a lost child; winds as tender and warm as a lover’s breath; winds that carried the astringent smell of salt and the death of seaweeds; winds that carried the moist rich smell of a forest floor, the smell of a million flowers. Fierce winds that churned and moved the sea like yeast, or winds that made the waters lap at the shore like a kitten.
kingfisher ['kiŋfiʃә]n. 鱼狗, 翠鸟
transparent [træns'pærənt]adj. 透明的, 明晰的, 显然的
crumple [crum·ple || 'krʌmpl]v. 弄皱, 压皱; 使一蹶不振; 起皱; 倒坍; 倒下; 一蹶不振
ponderously ['pɑndrəslɪ /'pɒn-]adv. 沉重地, 笨重地; 冗长无味地, 生硬地
adv. heavily, weightily; in a dull manner, tediously, boringly
murderous ['mә:dәrәs]a. 凶狠的, 杀人的, 致命的
bleak [bli:k]a. 萧瑟的, 荒凉的, 阴冷的
astringent [as'trin·gent || -dʒənt]n. 收敛剂adj. 严酷的; 涩的; 收敛性的
churn [tʃә:n]n. 搅乳器vt. 搅拌, 搅动vi. 搅拌, 搅动
yeast [jɪːst]n. 酵母, 发酵粉
[10] I have known silence: the cold, earthy silence at the bottom of a newly dug well; the implacable stony silence of a deep cave; the hot, drugged midday silence when everything is hypnotized and stilled into silence by the eye of the sun; the silence when great music ends.
[11] I have heard summer cicadas cry so that the sound seems stitched into your bones. I have heard tree frogs in an orchestration as complicated as Bach singing in a forest lit by a million emerald fireflies. I have heard the Keas calling over grey glaciers that groaned to themselves like old people as they inched their way to the sea. I have heard the hoarse street vendor cries of the mating Fur seals as they sang to their sleek golden wives, the crisp staccato admonishment of the Rattlesnake, the cobweb squeak of the Bat and the belling roar of the Red deer knee-deep in purple heather. I have heard Wolves baying at a winter’s moon, Red Howlers making the forest vibrate with their roaring cries. I have heard the squeak, purr and grunt of a hundred multi-coloured reef fishes.
implacable [im'plækәbl]a. 不能安抚的, 难和解的, 不变的
stony ['stәuni]a. 多石的, 无情的
hypnotize ['hipnәtaiz]vt. 施催眠术, 使恍惚, 使着迷
cicada [si'kɑ:dә]n. 蝉
stitch [stitʃ]n. 一针, 疼痛, 针法, 碎布条, 针脚vt. 缝, 缝合, 装订vi. 缝, 缝合, 装订
orchestration [,ɒ:kes'treiʃәn]n. 协调的结合, 管弦乐编曲
emerald ['emәrәld]n. 翡翠, 绿宝石, 翠绿色a. 翡翠的, 翠绿色的
sleek [sli:k]a. 光滑的, 油嘴滑舌的, 线条明快的, 圆滑的, 时髦的vt. 使光滑, 掩盖vi. 打扮漂亮, 滑动
staccato a. 断奏的, 断续的, 不连贯的ad. 断续地, 不连贯地n. 不连贯的东西
admonishment n. 训戒; 劝告; 警告; 忠告
n. warning; reproof, reprimand
rattlesnake ['rætlsneik]n. 响尾蛇
cobweb ['kɒbweb]n. 蜘蛛网, 蛛丝, 混乱vt. 使布满蛛网
[12] I have seen hummingbirds flashing like opals round a tree of scarlet blooms, humming like a top. I have seen flying fish, skittering like quicksilver across the blue waves, drawing silver lines on the surface with their tails. I have seen Spoonbills flying home to roost like a scarlet banner across the sky. I have seen Whales, black as tar, cushioned on a cornflower blue sea, creating a Versailles of fountain with their breath. I have watched butterflies emerge and sit, trembling, while the sun irons their wings smooth. I have watched Tigers, like flames, mating in the long grass. I have been dive-bombed by an angry Raven, black and glossy as the Devil’s hoof. I have lain in water warm as milk, soft as silk, while around me played a host of Dolphins. I have met a thousand animals and seen a thousand wonderful things…
[13] But –All this I did without you. This was my loss. All this I want to do with you. This will be my gain. All this I would gladly have forgone for the sake of one minute of your company, for your laugh, your voice, your eyes, hair, lips, body, and above all for your sweet, ever surprising mind which is an enchanting quarry in which it is my privilege to delve.
hummingbird n. 蜂鸟
skitter ['skitә] vi. 飞掠而过, 蹦跳 vt. 使掠过水面
quicksilver ['kwiksilvә] n. 水银, 汞
spoonbill ['spu:nbil] n. 琵鹭
roost [ruːst] n. 栖木, 休息所, 鸟窝 v. 栖息, 安歇
cornflower ['kɒ:nflauә] n. 矢车菊
Versailles n. 凡尔赛
forgo [fɒ:'gәu] vt. 摒绝, 放弃
delve [delv] v. 探究, 钻研; 挖, 掘; 搜索; 挖, 掘; 刨
来源:
July 31st, 1978
My darling McGeorge,
[1] You said that things seemed clearer when they were written down. Well, herewith a very boring letter in which I will try and put everything down so that you may read and re-read it in horror at your folly in getting involved with me. Deep breath.
[2] To begin with I love you with a depth and passion that I have felt for no one else in this life and if it astonishes you it astonishes me as well. Not I hasten to say, because you are not worth loving. Far from it. It’s just that, first of all, I swore I would not get involved with another woman. Secondly, I have never had such a feeling before and it is almost frightening. Thirdly, I would never have thought it possible that another human being could occupy my waking (and sleeping) thoughts to the exclusion of almost everything else.
[3] Fourthly, I never thought that — even if one was in love — one could get so completely besotted with another person, so that a minute away from them felt like a thousand years.
[4] Fifthly, I never hoped, aspired, dreamed that one could find everything one wanted in a person. I was not such an idiot as to believe this was possible. Yet in you I have found everything I want: you are beautiful, gay, giving, gentle, idiotically and deliciously feminine, sexy, wonderfully intelligent and wonderfully silly as well. I want nothing else in this life than to be with you, to listen and watch you (your beautiful voice, your beauty), to argue with you, to laugh with you, to show you things and share things with you, to explore your magnificent mind, to explore your magnificent mind, to explore your wonderful body, to help you, protect you , serve you, and bash you on the head when I think you are wrong… not to put too fine a point on it I consider that I am the only man outside mythology to have found the crock of gold at the rainbow’s end.
[5] But — having said all that — let us consider things in detail. Don’t let this become public but… well, I have one or two faults. Minor ones, I hasten to say. For example, I am inclined to be overbearing. I do it for the best possible motives (all tyrants say that) but I do tend (without thinking) to tread people underfoot. You must tell me when I am doing it to you, my sweet, because it can be a very bad thing in a marriage.
[6] Right. Second blemish. This, actually, is not so much a blemish of character as a blemish of circumstance. Darling I want you to be you in your own right, and I will do everything I can to help you in this. But you must take into consideration that I am also me in my own right and that I have a head start on you… what I am trying to say is that you must not feel offended if you are sometimes treated simply as my wife. Always remember that what you lose on the swings, you gain on the roundabouts. But I am an established ‘creature’ in the world, and so — on occasions — you will have to live in my shadow. Nothing gives me less pleasure than this but it is a fact of life to be faced.
[7] Third (and very important and nasty) blemish: jealousy. I don’t think you know what jealousy is (thank God) in the real sense of the word. I know you have felt jealousy over Lincoln’s wife and child but this is what I call normal jealousy, and this — to my regret — is not what I’ve got. What I have got is a black monster that can pervert my good sense, my good humour and any goodness that I have in my make-up. It is really a Jekyll and Hyde situation… my Hyde is stronger than my good sense and defeats me, hard though I try. As I told you, I have always known that this lurks within me, but I couldn’t control it, and my monster slumbered and nothing happened to awake it. Then I met you and I felt my monster stir and become half awake when you told me of Lincoln and others you have known, and with your letter my monster came out of its lair, black, irrational, bigoted, stupid, evil, malevolent. You will never know how terribly corrosive jealousy is; it is a physical pain as though you had swallowed acid or red hot coals. It is the most terrible of feelings. But you can’t help it — at least I can’t, and God knows I’ve tried. I don’t want any ex-boyfriends sitting in church when I marry you. On our wedding day, I want nothing but happiness, for both you and me, and I know I won’t be happy if there is a church full of your ex-conquests. When I marry you I will have no past, only a future: I don’t want to drag my past into our future and I don’t want you to do it , either. Remember I am jealous of you because I love you. You are never jealous of something you don’t care about. OK, enough about jealousy.
[8] Now, let me tell you something… I have seen a thousand sunsets and sunrises, on land where it floods forest and mountains with honey-coloured light, at sea where it rises and sets like a blood orange in a multi-coloured nest of cloud, slipping in and out of the vast ocean. I have seen a thousand moons: harvest moons like gold coins, winter moons as white as ice chips, new moons like baby swans’ feathers.
[9] I have seen seas as smooth as if painted, coloured like shot silk or blue as a kingfisher or transparent as glass or black and crumpled with foam, moving ponderously and murderously. I have felt winds straight from the South Pole, bleak and wailing like a lost child; winds as tender and warm as a lover’s breath; winds that carried the astringent smell of salt and the death of seaweeds; winds that carried the moist rich smell of a forest floor, the smell of a million flowers. Fierce winds that churned and moved the sea like yeast, or winds that made the waters lap at the shore like a kitten.
[10] I have known silence: the cold, earthy silence at the bottom of a newly dug well; the implacable stony silence of a deep cave; the hot, drugged midday silence when everything is hypnotized and stilled into silence by the eye of the sun; the silence when great music ends.
[11] I have heard summer cicadas cry so that the sound seems stitched into your bones. I have heard tree frogs in an orchestration as complicated as Bach singing in a forest lit by a million emerald fireflies. I have heard the Keas calling over grey glaciers that groaned to themselves like old people as they inched their way to the sea. I have heard the hoarse street vendor cries of the mating Fur seals as they sang to their sleek golden wives, the crisp staccato admonishment of the Rattlesnake, the cobweb squeak of the Bat and the belling roar of the Red deer knee-deep in purple heather. I have heard Wolves baying at a winter’s moon, Red Howlers making the forest vibrate with their roaring cries. I have heard the squeak, purr and grunt of a hundred multi-coloured reef fishes.
[12] I have seen hummingbirds flashing like opals round a tree of scarlet blooms, humming like a top. I have seen flying fish, skittering like quicksilver across the blue waves, drawing silver lines on the surface with their tails. I have seen Spoonbills flying home to roost like a scarlet banner across the sky. I have seen Whales, black as tar, cushioned on a cornflower blue sea, creating a Versailles of fountain with their breath. I have watched butterflies emerge and sit, trembling, while the sun irons their wings smooth. I have watched Tigers, like flames, mating in the long grass. I have been dive-bombed by an angry Raven, black and glossy as the Devil’s hoof. I have lain in water warm as milk, soft as silk, while around me played a host of Dolphins. I have met a thousand animals and seen a thousand wonderful things…
[13] But –All this I did without you. This was my loss. All this I want to do with you. This will be my gain. All this I would gladly have forgone for the sake of one minute of your company, for your laugh, your voice, your eyes, hair, lips, body, and above all for your sweet, ever surprising mind which is an enchanting quarry in which it is my privilege to delve.