【讀書筆記】王爾德《自深深處》54
1891年，處在寫作生涯巔峰期的王爾德遇見了阿爾弗雷德·“波西”·道格拉斯(Alfred "Bosie" Douglas)，兩人很快成為了同性戀人。四年后，因?yàn)檫@段“不敢說出名字的愛”，王爾德被判“有傷 風(fēng)化”罪而入獄。在獄中，王爾德開始反思從前的生活，思索痛苦和人生的意義，藝術(shù)和愛的真諦，最終將那些痛苦的淚水都化作優(yōu) 美而深沉的文字，寫成了這封名為"de profundis"(從深處)的長信。
作者簡介：奧斯卡·王爾德(Oscar Wilde, 1854-1900)，英國維多利亞時(shí)代著名作家，“唯美主義 運(yùn)動(dòng)”的領(lǐng)軍人物，倡導(dǎo)“為藝術(shù)而藝術(shù)”(Art for art's sake)。他的代表作有戲劇《莎樂美》(Salome)《認(rèn)真的 重要性》(The Importance of Being Earnest)，童話《快樂王子》(The Happy Prince) 《夜鶯與玫瑰》(The Nightingale and the Rose) ，小說《道連·格雷的畫像》(The Picture of Dorian Gray)，以及書信《自深深處》(De Profundis)等。
【原著選段】
If you had any imagination in?you, you would know that there is not a single?person who has been kind to me in my prison-life,?down to the warder who may give me a goodmorning?or a good-night that is not one of his?prescribed duties—down to the common policemen?who in their homely rough way strove to comfort me?on my journeys to and fro from the Bankruptcy?Court under conditions of terrible mental?distress—down to the poor thief who, recognising?me as we tramped round the yard at Wandsworth,?whispered to me in the hoarse prison-voice men get?from long and compulsory silence: “I am sorry for?you; it is harder for the likes of you than it is for the?likes of us”—not one of them all, I say, the very?mire from whose shoes you should not be proud?to be allowed to kneel down and clean.
【朱純深譯本】
假如你還有一丁點(diǎn)想象力的話，你會(huì)懂得，在我囚禁生活中對我好的每一個(gè)人，下至在例行公務(wù)之外向我道一聲“早安”或“晚安”的獄吏——下至普普通通的警察，在我心煩意亂被帶著來回奔忙于破產(chǎn)法庭的途中，他們以那種樸實(shí)的、粗線條的方式盡力想安慰我——下至那個(gè)可憐的盜賊，當(dāng)我們在瓦茲華斯院子里走步放風(fēng)時(shí)，他認(rèn)出我來，便用獄中人那長期被迫沉默而落下的沙啞嗓音，輕聲對我說：“我替你難過，這日子對你們這種人比對我們要更難熬啊。”——我說，這些人一個(gè)個(gè)，要是允許你跪下來給他們擦去鞋上的污泥，你都該覺得臉上有光才是。
【讀書筆記】
1、這段選文的結(jié)構(gòu)比較復(fù)雜，其基本結(jié)構(gòu)只有一個(gè)長句，即：
If you had any imagination in you, you would know that there is not a single person who has been kind to me in my prison-life,?the very mire from whose shoes you should not be proud to be allowed to kneel down and clean.
假如你還有一丁點(diǎn)想象力的話，你會(huì)懂得，在我囚禁生活中對我好的每一個(gè)人，要是允許你跪下來給他們擦去鞋上的污泥，你都該覺得臉上有光才是。
而中間三個(gè)“down to”所引出的句子，都是在具體說明“person who has been kind to me in my prison-life”。
2、prescribe?v.規(guī)定；指定；開處方
【舉例】a prescribed amount of work?規(guī)定的工作量
The doctor prescribed some pills for my cold.?為了治感冒，醫(yī)生給我開了一些藥片。
3、strive?v.努力；奮斗；反抗
【舉例】strive towards a goal?朝著目標(biāo)奮斗
strive to suppress one's tears?強(qiáng)忍著眼淚
strive against oppression 反抗壓迫
4、compulsory?a.被迫的；強(qiáng)制的；義務(wù)的
【舉例】compulsory legislation 強(qiáng)制性立法
compulsory education?義務(wù)教育
a compulsory subject 必修科目