现代英文选评：A Pretty Girl 美丽的姑娘

A Pretty Girl 美丽的姑娘

Max Beerbohm (1872—1956)

麦克斯·比亚卜姆出生于维多利亚女王统治下的英国，逝于意大利。比氏寿登耄耋，久无作品问世，很多读者以为他早已不在人世了。事实上，按他的文章风格和生活趣味来说，他和十九世纪末叶所谓唯美主义作家如王尔德等比较接近，同我们这一代，确是疏远了。他的文章，大抵近乎“游戏人间”一路，俏皮，幽默，机智，但不一定深刻。他有过人的聪明，在文字修饰上所用的功夫却极大，作品数量不多，大多是经过精心雕琢之作。

比氏的小品文最有名，但他也写小说。这里所选的几段采自他的长篇小说Zuleika Dobson（1911）的第二章。Zuleika Dobson是一部胡闹的讽刺小说，Zuleika是个十分美丽的姑娘，她在牛津住了一个时候，牛津的大学生都被她弄得神魂颠倒，但是谁也得不到她的青睐，结果大家跳河自杀，集体殉情以死！学生都死完了，牛津大学也开不下去了。

She was a nymph to whom men's admiration was the greater part of life. By day, whenever she went into the streets, she was conscious that no man passed her without a stare; and this consciousness gave a sharp zest to her outings. Sometimes she was followed to her door—crude flattery which she was too innocent to fear. Even when she went into the haberdasher's to make some little purchase of tape or riband, or into the grocer's—for she was an epicure in her humble way—to buy a tin of meat for her supper, the homage of the young men behind the counter did flatter and exhilarate her.

● nymph：希腊神话中的女仙，常借用作“年轻貌美的女子”。men's admiration：男人的爱慕。这种女子，生活中主要的事情（greater part），就是给男人爱慕。

● no man passed her without a stare：路人看见她，都要张大眼睛，对她注视。no…without：两重否定，等于一重肯定。passed her：在她身旁走过。

● this consciousness照应前面的was conscious。她知道人家都要看她，出门游散（outings）时，分外有劲。zest：（很浓的）兴味。

● she was followed：从这一句里，可以看出被动语态胜过主动语态的地方。“她被跟随”——（by whom?）谁在跟？这可不必说了，总是街上那些男子。crude flattery：这一个短语用得很见功夫。男人觉得女人长得美，这是一种恭维（flattery），但是用眼睛看看，或嘴上赞美足矣，那种人尾随不舍，一直盯到她的家门，未免显得粗野（crude）。crude flattery即指此句之main clause（Sometimes…door），总括说明这一种人的行为。innocent：盯梢的人可能不怀好意，但是小姐一派天真，只引以为得意，并不觉得恐惧。

● haberdasher：贩卖针线等小件装饰品的杂货商。他的“店”，英文里不用说，只要加apostrophe s（'s）即可。同样的，贩卖食品的杂货商是grocer，这一种店就是the grocer's。tape：扁带。riband：是ribbon（丝带）较古的拼法。to make some little purchase of：这一个短语相当古雅，我们普通说话作文，只要用to buy some (tape or ribbon)就够了。

● epicure：讲究饮食的人。in her humble way：那个时候，她并没有钱，可是在她的经济范围之内，她还是很讲究的。young men behind the counter：柜台后面的青年人、伙计。homage：大恭敬。exhilarate：使（她）高兴。

As the homage of men became for her, more and more, a matter of course, the more subtly necessary was it to her happiness. The more she won of it, the more she treasured it. She was alone in the world, and it saved her from any moment of regret that she had neither home nor friends. For her the streets that lay around her had no squalor, since she paced them always in the gold nimbus of her fascinations. Her bedroom seemed not mean nor lonely to her, since the little square of glass, nailed above the wash-stand, was ever there to reflect her face. Thereinto, indeed, she was ever peering. She would smile, frown, pout, languish—let all the emotions hover upon her face; and always she seemed to herself lovelier than she had ever been.

● a matter of course：当然之事，没有什么希罕的了。第一句中的主句的主语置于动词之后，正当的次序是it (=the homage) was necessary to her happiness。the more的the是副词，有“因此”（on that account）之意。这种用法很常见，如nevertheless即为never the less（并不因此减少）三字合成的。subtly：subtle的副词形式，解作“微妙地，神秘地，不可捉摸地”。她的快乐，更不可思议地有赖于男人对她的恭敬了。

● 第二句的The more…the more也是常见的句法结构：第一个The=in whatever degree；第二个the=in that degree。那边增加，这边也同样地增加。of it连前面的The more，it代替the homage，她所得到的恭敬愈多，她对于这个恭敬也愈为珍视。it saved的it仍是代替the homage。有了男人献殷勤，她也用不着为身世兴悲了。

● For her：对她来说。squalor：污秽（此字的形容词是squalid，squalid比dirty更多“未经扫除，无人清理”之意）。paced在这里是及物动词，“走过”。paced them=paced the streets。nimbus：（神佛头上的）光轮。她走在街上，遍体似有彩云环绕，令人目移神夺（fascinations），她自己因此也看不出街上的污秽了。

● mean：寒酸相。她的卧室本来是寒酸而又寂寞的，但是现在看来却并不如此，因为洗脸架子上面，钉了一面方镜子，常得美人照看；镜中玉容，就足使陋室生春了。

● Thereinto=into that (glass)。indeed：说真的；indeed这个字很常见，但是不易应用。这里大约是怕读者不相信上面一句所说的the…glass…was ever there to reflect her face，特再补充说明一句：“这是真的”，这位小姐老是在照（peer into）镜子的。ever本来和always一样，解作“无论何时，永远如此”，但是这种副词（另外的例子如perpetually, constantly等）倘若和进行式动词一起用，那就表示“常常，老是这么做”了。she ever peered (into the glass)：那是说不通的，因为一个人不可能什么事情不做，“永远”看着镜子的。she was ever peering：那就表示她“常常”这么做，现在看一下，过一会又看一下，再过一会又看一下。

● peer解作“凝视”，意义大致同gaze相仿。但gaze常常指看的人因爱慕而看得出神，peer则指仔细地看，或吃力地看，或带着好奇心地看，或看的人和所看的东西中间隔了一层什么东西。人和镜中反影之间隔了一层玻璃，用peer是很合适的。

● frown：皱眉。pout：撅嘴。languish：作出娇慵之态。这些动词前面的助动词would表示“习惯”。let=she would let。hover本指鸟类不振翼远飞，而在某一地点拍翅盘旋；或云雾等浮挂在一个地方。现在她故意对镜子做出各种“表情”，那些情感也好像在她脸上低回飞翔。

● lovelier：每对镜子看一次，总觉得自己比以前更可爱了。注意时态seemed和had been之间的先后关系。

Yet was there nothing Narcissine in her spirit. Her love for her own image was not cold aestheticism. She valued that image not for its own sake, but for the sake of the glory it always won for her.

● Yet was there nothing=yet there was nothing。Narcissine是Narcissus的形容词。Narcissus是水仙花，据希腊神话，此花原是一美少年，见水中自身反影而悦之，顾影自怜，憔悴不堪，天神将他化身为花，俾得永远临泉自照也。变态心理学中有一种病，叫做Narcissism。这位小姐可没有这种“自恋”的病。

● aestheticism：唯美主义。前面所以加形容词cold者，表示唯美主义不注重情感；看见美的东西心里用不着激动，美是应该冷静地欣赏的。

● for its own sake：只因为这个影子的美，才觉得它宝贵，此外别无其他情感搀杂在内。这位小姐并不如此。她长得美，博得无数男人的追求，她为了这种“光荣”，才对于镜子里自己的影子看个不厌的。

● it always won for her：定语从句。

Though Zuleika had never given her heart, strong in her were the desire and the need that it should be given. Whithersoever she had fared, she had seen nothing but youths fatuously prostrate to her—not one upright figure which she could respect. There were the middle-aged men, the old men, who did not bow down to her; but from middle-age, as from eld, she had a sanguine aversion. She could love none but a youth. Nor could she love one who fell prone before her. And before her all youths always did fall prone. She was an empress, and all youths were her slaves. Their bondage delighted her, as I have said. But no empress who has any pride can adore one of her slaves. Whom, then, could proud Zuleika adore?

● given her heart：把心送人，陷入情网。

● 第一句中主句又是例装的，动词were在前，主语the desire and the need在后。这许多男人爱慕她，她没有爱慕过任何男人，可是她很想恋爱，也很需要恋爱。it (the heart) should be given：她的心该“奉献给”一个男人。

● Whithersoever she had fared：她不论走到哪里。fare=go，这是比较古雅的字眼。fatuously：痴呆的。prostrate：匍匐在地。事实上当然不一定有人向她三跪九叩首，这不过引伸前面的homage（青年男子都对她臣服）而已。one upright figure：一个站直的身躯；有自尊心不向她表示爱慕的男人，这种人才是使她尊敬的。

● bow down：还是引伸homage的意思。eld=old age，这是个古字。我们现在只有elder和eldest这两个形容词，名词eld很少有人用了。sanguine在这里应该解作“热诚的”（warm or ardent），也即是strong。aversion连前面的两个from（from middle-age，from eld）；中年人老年人对她不一定“服贴”，但她也很讨厌中年人、老年人的。

● 中年人、老年人她不要，青年人毫无骨气，对她恭而敬之，俯首贴耳，这种人她也是不能（Nor could）爱的。prone是形容词，解作“俯伏的”，是subjective complement，形容who。fall prone二字常连用，是idiom。

● before her：在她面前。did fall prone的did用以加强语气。

● bondage：奴役。

● But no empress一句，用现在时态，表示一般情形。adore：敬爱，崇拜。love的含义广泛，adore一定是一种很崇高的情感。

It was a question which sometimes troubled her.

To be able to love once—would not that be better than all the homage in the world? But would she ever meet whom, looking up to him, she could love—she, the omnisubjugant? Would she ever, ever meet him?

● 她老是受人家的爱，她到底还能不能爱别人呢？不一定见了男人就爱，只要她能爱一个男人，只要她能主动地爱一次——这不是比全世界的恭敬都集中在她一人身上还要强吗？To be able to love once：不定式，作名词用。这句的主语that，就是代替这个infinitive phrase的。

● 后面一句的语法结构，也是比较古的用法。照现代通用说法，应该说But would she ever meet the man whom…，但是按古时的用法，the man这个antecedent是可以省掉的。

● looking up to him：participial phrase，形容从句中的主语she。looking up：她要“仰首”才看见他，足见这个男人是不向她俯首称臣的。she, the omnisubjugant：she是重复she could love中的she。omnisubjugant是个罕见的字，字典里都不一定查得到，但意义不难了解。omni：是个接头语，表示“全体”（如omnipotent，omniscient……等，这些字的解释请查字典）。subjugant是subjugate（征服）的形容词形式，-ant是个接尾语，表示present participle的意思（如defiant，pliant……等）。连在一起，这个字的解释应作“征服一切的”。

● 最后一句ever重复地用，非但是为了音调好听，而且也加强情感上绝望的意义。这样一个男人，“这一辈子”还找得到吗？

It was when she wondered thus, that the wistfulness came into her eyes. Even now, as she sat by the window, that shadow returned to them.

● wistfulness是一种“若有所思”的神态。她心里思量，能不能找到一位如意郎君的时候，眼睛里就露出这种表情了。这种表情不是一种快乐的表情，它像一种“阴影”。现在她凭窗闲坐，这种阴影又回到她眼睛里来了。