[短文閱讀] 一件紀念品 part3

網路摘錄文章:

A RELIC

By Max Beerbohm

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1956/1956-h/1956-h.htm#2H_4_0001

paragraph 3

I did once see her, and in Normandy, and by moonlight, and her name was Ange'lique. She was graceful, she was even beautiful. I was but nineteen years old. Yet even so I cannot say that she impressed me favourably. I was seated at a table of a cafe' on the terrace of a casino. I sat facing the sea, with my back to the casino. I sat listening to the quiet sea, which I had crossed that morning. The hour was late, there were few people about. I heard the swing-door behind me flap open, and was aware of a sharp snapping and crackling sound as a lady in white passed quickly by me. I stared at her erect thin back and her agitated elbows. A short fat man passed in pursuit of her — an elderly man in a black alpaca jacket that billowed. I saw that she had left a trail of little white things on the asphalt. I watched the efforts of the agonised short fat man to overtake her as she swept wraith-like away to the distant end of the terrace.

我的確在諾曼地的月光下見過她一次。她的名字是Ange'lique。她優雅而美麗。而我才十九歲。儘管如此，我仍不能說她給了我好印象。當時，我正坐在賭場裡的露台咖啡館。面望大海，背對賭場，聆聽早上經過的那片大海的寂靜。時候已晚，週遭人稀，我聽到身後的旋轉門啪噠一聲打開，繼而注意到刺耳的斷折破裂聲，接著一位白衣女士快步經過我身旁。我凝望著她直聳單薄的後背和那帶著怒氣而顫動的雙肘。一位矮小肥胖而上了年紀的男人接著經過，在追著她。他的黑色羊駝毛外套被風吹得鼓起來。我看到她把一樣白色東西丟在柏油路上。這個為她而情緒崩潰，失魂落魄的焦慮矮胖男人，在露台的遠端為了追上她而努力著。

What was the matter? What had made her so spectacularly angry with him? The three or four waiters of the cafe' were exchanging cynical smiles and shrugs, as waiters will. I tried to feel cynical, but was thrilled with excitement, with wonder and curiosity. The woman out yonder had doubled on her tracks. She had not slackened her furious speed, but the man waddlingly contrived to keep pace with her now. With every moment they became more distinct, and the prospect that they would presently pass by me, back into the casino, gave me that physical tension which one feels on a wayside platform at the imminent passing of an express. In the rushingly enlarged vision I had of them, the wrath on the woman's face was even more saliently the main thing than I had supposed it would be. That very hard Parisian face must have been as white as the powder that coated it.

到底是怎麼回事？她為何對他動如此大怒？三四個咖啡館裡的服務生，相互交流著服務生都會有的嘲諷式微笑聳肩。我試著嘲笑卻因為不解與好奇而產生一股興奮的震顫。在遠處的女人折返她的路徑，氣沖沖的速度不曾稍懈，但現在男人搖搖晃晃地找出一種方式跟上她的步伐了。當他們愈走愈近，使我期待他們經過我而返回賭場時，就像站在月台邊看著迫近的高速火車經過般，我的全身緊繃著。當他們成了急速放大的畫面，我看到她臉上全是怒氣，比猜想中的更加明顯。她冷硬的法國面孔此刻一定跟其所施的脂粉一樣蒼白。

Coute, Ange'lique,' gasped the perspiring bourgeois, 'écoute, je te supplie — ' The swing-door received them and was left swinging to and fro. I wanted to follow, but had not paid for my bock. I beckoned my waiter. On his way to me he stooped down and picked up something which, with a smile and a shrug, he laid on my table: 'Il semble que Mademoiselle ne s'en servira plus.' This is the thing I now write of, and at sight of it I understood why there had been that snapping and crackling, and what the white fragments on the ground were.

「Coute, Ange'lique,」全身冒汗的普通人喘氣喊著，「'écoute, je te supplie —」他們進了旋轉門，門尚兀自前後擺動。我打算跟上，但尚未為我的波克啤酒買單。我招手叫服務生。在他過來的路上，他停下拾起一樣東西，放到我的桌上，微笑聳肩說：「Il semble que Mademoiselle ne s'en servira plus.」。這正是我現在所寫之物。當我看著它時，我明白了之前聽到的斷折聲，與丟在地上的白色殘物為何。

terrace [記憶法] [`tɛrɪs; 'tɛrəs] n. 露台
casino [記憶法] [kə`sino; kə'si:nou] (供表演、音樂演奏、賭博等的) 俱樂部,娛樂場
flap [記憶法] [flæp; flæp] 使 <帆、窗簾等> 啪噠啪噠地拍動 [拍打]
snap [記憶法] [snæp; snæp] 啪一聲折斷,卡喳一聲剪斷
crackle [記憶法] [`krækl; 'krækl] 發辟啪聲,發出細碎的爆裂聲
erect [記憶法] [ɪ`rɛkt; i'rɛkt] <<形容詞>> (more ~; most ~) 1 直立的,豎起的
agitated [記憶法] ['ædʒɪtɛɪtɪd] a. 顫抖的
elbow [記憶法] [`ɛlˌbo; 'ɛlbou] 肘 (在關節處彎曲的外側部分;
pursuit [記憶法] [pɚ`sut, -`sjut; pə'sju:t, -'su:t] 《pursue 的名詞緊追 (…) ,窮追
elderly [記憶法] [`ɛldɚlɪ; 'ɛldəli] <<形容詞>> 上了年紀的; 中年以上的; 老年人
alpaca [記憶法] [æl`pækə; æl'pækə] 羊駝毛織品
billow [記憶法] [`bɪlo; 'bilou] 膨脹,鼓起
trail [記憶法] [trɛl; trɛil] 行跡
asphalt [記憶法] [`æsfɔlt, -fælt; 'æsfælt] 瀝青,柏油
agonized [記憶法] a. (感到/表示)極度痛苦的
overtake [記憶法] [ˌovɚ`tɛk; ˌouvə'tɛik] 趕上…,追及…
sweep [記憶法] [swip; swi:p] (swept[swɛpt; swɛpt]) 掃,掃除,清掃
wraith [記憶法] [rɛθ; rɛiθ] 鬼魂,幽靈 (ghost)
spectacular [記憶法] [spɛk`tækjəlɚ; spɛk'tækjulə] 《壯觀的, (場面) 盛大的
cynical [記憶法] [`sɪnɪkl; 'sinikl] 挖苦的,譏笑的,冷嘲的,憤世嫉俗的
shrug [記憶法] [ʃrʌg; ʃrʌg] (雙手掌朝上而) 聳 <肩>
thrill [記憶法] [θrɪl; θril] 興奮
yonder [`jɑndɚ; 'jɔndə] (文語) 在那邊 [彼方]
double [記憶法] [`dʌbl; 'dʌbl] 2) <船>繞過 <岬角等> 回航
slacken [記憶法] [`slækən; 'slækən] 減慢速度
furious [記憶法] [`fjʊrɪəs; 'fjuəriəs] 《fury 的形容詞》 a. 狂怒的
waddling [記憶法] wad.dling [`wɑdlɪŋ; 'wɔdliŋ] <<形容詞>> 蹣跚的; 搖擺而行的 <<副詞>> wad'dling.ly
contrive [記憶法] [kən`traɪv; kən'traiv] 設法<做…>
pace [記憶法] [pɛs; pɛis] 速度
distinct [記憶法] [dɪ`stɪŋkt; di'stiŋkt] 清楚的
prospect [記憶法] [`prɑspɛkt; 'prɔspɛkt] 預期
presently [記憶法] [`prɛzntlɪ; 'prɛzntli] 很快地
tension [記憶法] [`tɛnʃən; 'tɛnʃn] 緊張
wayside 路旁,路邊
platform [記憶法] [`plætˌfɔrm; 'plætfɔ:m] 月台
imminent [記憶法] [`ɪmənənt; 'iminənt] 逼近的
rushingly [記憶法] adv.急流地, 旺盛地
wrath [記憶法] [ræθ; rɔθ] <<不可數名詞>> (文語)暴怒,憤怒
salient [記憶法] [`sɛlɪənt; 'sɛiljənt] 顯著的
gasp [記憶法] [gæsp; gɑ:sp] 喘氣
perspire [記憶法] [pɚ`spaɪr; pə'spaiə] 流汗
bourgeois [記憶法] [bʊr`ɝwɑ, `bʊrɝwɑ; 'buəɝwɑ平凡的,普通的
bock [記憶法] bock [bɑk; bɔk] <<不可數名詞>> (又作 bock beer) 玻克啤酒 (德國產的一種烈性黑啤酒; 通常於秋季釀造,至次年春季上市)
beckon [記憶法] [`bɛkən; 'bɛkən] 以手勢 [點頭,比手畫腳 (等) ] 向…示意,招手指揮,向…招手