Robert Penn Warren (1905—1989)
本文作者羅伯特·潘·華倫像這篇小說的主人公一樣，是一位英文教授。他是美國肯塔基州人，寫過小說、詩、傳記和文學評論，最著名的作品是長篇小說《國王的人馬》（All the King's Men）（曾改編為電影，中文譯名《當代奸雄》）。他的輩分比海明威、福克納等稍晚（他們是二十年代成名的，他是三十年代成名的），但他已經是美國一個很重要的詩人和小說家了。本篇選自他的短篇小說集The Circus in the Attic（1948）。
Professor Roy Millen had loved his wife devotedly, and now she was dead…. He made his plans to go abroad, to England, to work in the libraries there, as he and his wife had planned. It was what she should have him do, he told himself. And the book would be a kind of monument to her. He would dedicate the book to her. As he walked slowly back from the campus to his house in the late afternoons or early evenings of spring, he would try to compose the dedication, saying the words aloud to himself as he looked up at the paling, peach-colored sky beyond the newly leafed branches. He had decided to sail in June, as soon as he could leave after commencement.
● 第一句和第二句之間，原文還有好幾段（約有一千五百字），是他過去生活的回憶，主要講他的妻子。作者口口聲聲地說他們的婚姻是如何美滿，但他給我們的暗示是：這位教授的婚姻生活並不快樂，恐怕也沒有什麼愛情。他的妻子是系主任的女兒，本是一位三十歲出頭的老小姐，他在初教大一英文的時候認識的。婚後很親愛，她支配著他的生活。二十多年後，她死了，他更感覺到空虛，唯有繼續寫他的那部書。
● 第一句had loved的時態表示是在他的妻子故世之前。devotedly：副詞，由動詞devote（奉獻）的過去分詞devoted（把自己奉獻給）化成。
● 第三句should have him do之間的have=cause to（使得），後隨不定詞do，should表示虛擬式。（假如她活著的話，「她該會使他這樣做的」——到英國圖書館去研究。）
● monument：紀念碑。他的書將用以紀念他的太太，好像是紀念碑，但並非真的是紀念碑，故雲a kind of monument。dedicate：獻。作家每將其書獻給一個他所親愛或尊敬的人，作為紀念。
● campus：是個美國字，指大學範圍內全部的場地。
● the book would be…，He would dedicate…兩句的would表示將來。he would try…的would表示他的習慣。那年夏天，每當黃昏薄暮，他慢慢步行回家的時候，「他總要……」。
● compose：（在心裡）擬（稿子）。dedication：（預備刊在卷首的）獻詞。paling：pale的現在分詞，「顏色在淡下去」，形容sky。newly leafed：新長樹葉的。嫩芽初綻，樹葉新綠，是狀「春」也，霞艷似桃，薄瞑徐合，是狀「夕」也；用一介詞beyond，則天在樹外，紅綠相映，夕陽春光，各得其所。如易beyond為and，則立刻化立體為平面，化圖畫為剪貼，文趣索然矣。
● commencement：畢業典禮。sail：坐船去（英國）。
"I hear you're going away for a year, Professor Millen," Tom Howell said, standing respectfully before Professor Millen's office desk. Then he added, in a dutiful tone, "To work on your book."
"Yes," Professor Millen said, "to work on my book." Then, as though recollecting himself, he made a little gesture toward the chair in front of the desk, and said, "Won't you have a seat, Howell?"
"Are you going to finish it in a year?" Howell asked, and sat down.
● in a dutiful tone：用恭恭敬敬的語調。dutiful：盡（學生對老師之）責的。To work on your book補充第一句的going away，表示出國的目的。
● recollecting himself：恢復鎮定。突然有學生來訪，米倫教授忘了該請來客先坐下，然後再同他說話。
"I still have a little research to do. I have to settle a few points—points which can't be settled in libraries in this country. I have to do some work yet in one of the great English libraries." Professor Millen paused, looking over the green lawn outside his office window. "But I'll get it written within the year. Practically everything is in order. Though, of course," he paused, again looking at Tom Howell, who listened respectfully and with what seemed interest, "I'll have to do a good deal of retouching—style and so on, you know—" he waved his hand modestly in the air, "when I get back."
● research：研究。settle：解決。
● yet：還有。在美國已經做了不少工作，還有些工作，一定（have to）要到英國圖書館去做。
● practically=almost。in order：有秩序的，安排好了。
● with interest：有興趣地。with what seemed interest：聽者有一種似乎是有興趣的表情。米倫教授不敢斷定那位學生對於他的寫作計劃真發生興趣。
● retouching：小小的修改，潤飾。到英國去還不能完稿，回國以後，對於文字及其他方面，還要有很多的（a good deal of）修飾。
"I'm hoping—" the boy hesitated, fumbling in his pocket to draw out a folded paper, "I'm hoping to be able to go abroad next year. If I can make it. That's what I wanted to see you about, Professor Millen."
"Anything I can do, I'll be glad to do."
"It's a scholarship. A French scholarship, and I was hoping you'd recommend me. I have had a lot of work with you, and all. The French Department will recommend me, but I have done my minor in English, you know. What you'd say would count a lot."
● hesitated：吞吞吐吐地說。fumbling：摸索。next year：下學年，可能就是同年秋天。
● If I can make it：假如能走得成的話。這句話沒有說完全，意思是跟著上面那一句來的。
● scholarship：獎學金。I was hoping you'd (=you would) recommend me意思比I am hoping you'll recommend me委婉。用現在式顯得太迫切，用過去式只是表示「我在來看你之前」或是「知道有這個獎學金的機會的時候，我是這樣希望」。現在是不是也這樣希望，沒有明言，對方如加拒絕，兩方都不致太難堪。recommend：推薦。
● and all=and everything else：我曾跟著你學習過，還有別的種種（關係）。這兩個字有點含糊，但說話的人恐怕也不想指明什麼，含糊一點好。
● The French Department：法語系，是此君的主系（major），英文系是他的輔系（minor）。
● 最後一句用虛擬式，也顯得很客氣。「我不知道你會不會保薦我，假如你保薦我的話，那麼你所說的（what you would say）將很起作用。」
"Howell," Professor Millen said, judicially putting the tips of his fingers together and inspecting the boy, "I've never had a better student than you are. Possibly never one as good. I'll say that in my recommendation. I'll write a strong one." He felt his enthusiasm mounting as he spoke, and a warmth suffused him as though at the prospect of some piece of happiness, some success for himself.
● judicially：像法官似的（把兩手手指對頂起來）。inspecting：仔細地看。
● Possibly never one as good.=Possibly I've never had a student as good as you are.
● that：那件事實，即「你是個傑出的好學生」。
● a strong one=a strong recommendation：一封強有力的推薦信。
● enthusiasm：熱忱。mounting：往上升。suffused：遍佈。prospect：所期望的東西。他覺得說話的時候很興奮，心頭熱了起來，好像自己將要有什麼得意的事一般。
"I certainly appreciate it," the boy said. "This is about the only thing I've got in sight for next year, and I'm graduating. Oh, I reckon I could get a little teaching job or something for a year or two to save up some money to go on. I don't think I ought to ask my family for any more—they've been swell, putting me through college and giving me that trip to France two years back—"
● appreciate=am thankful for。about=almost。
● in sight：現在可以看得到的出路（thing）。I'm graduating：快要畢業，大學四年級下學期。I reckon=I suppose。I could…的實現可能性比I can…小，could是can的虛擬式。to save up：儲蓄。to go on：繼續下去，指進研究所攻讀。
● any more=any more money。swell是俚語（slang）「很好」的意思，這個字二三十年代很常用，大約同北京話的「棒」或上海話的「嶄」相仿。
● 末一句講：他的家庭供給他讀四年大學，兩年前還送他到法國去遊歷一次，待他很好，他不應該再問家裡要錢了。
"Yes, yes," Professor Millen said abstractedly, "oh, yes, you did go over one summer, didn't you?"
"Oh, that was just for fun," Howell said, "but this time it would be for work. And when I get back I ought to be able to get a pretty good job so I could save enough to get my Ph.D. quick. Up East."
"A year of study in France will be a fine opportunity,"Professor Millen said. That enthusiasm and warmth which had filled him like a promise of happiness was waning now, he did not know why. He wished the boy would get up and go and leave him alone.
● abstractedly：心不在焉地。go over：到那邊去。
● for fun：去玩兒的，同for work（去唸書的）相對。那學生還不知道自己能不能去成，只好用虛擬式「it would be…」。
● a pretty good job：相當好的差使。Ph.D.：哲學博士。Up East：到東部去攻讀博士學位。他們的大學可能在美國南部，華倫自己曾在南部教書多年。
● 教授認為他去法國留學的可能性很大，故雲…will be a fine opportunity（好機會）。
● 剛才教授很興奮，那種興奮現在退下去（waning）了。which had filled him like a promise of happiness這一從句形容主語enthusiasm and warmth。promise可以解釋作「希望」。
● 教授怎麼會興趣大減的呢？他是覺得疲倦了？還是有什麼事引起了他別的心思？
"Oh, it'll be an opportunity," Howell agreed, "and I'm not going to waste it. The work'll be fun, and there ought to be a little fun besides. I was in Paris for two weeks—and you know how Paris is, it sort of knocks you off your feet. You've been there?"
● The work'll be fun：那邊唸書很有趣。教授用了will be，學生的自信心增加，他也改口不用虛擬式would be了。
● sort of（當副詞用）：somewhat，rather，相當的。knocks you off your feet：使你目眩神迷。這裡的you泛指一般人，不專指聽者。
"Yes, yes," Professor Millen said hurriedly, impersonally, almost impatiently, averting his face from the boy and looking off across the patch of lawn, wondering why he had lied, why he had told the boy he had been to Paris. He watched some students, two boys and a girl, who moved across the sunlit, open space. They moved lingeringly. It seemed that they would never be across that bright, open space of green where the sun was. Then they were gone, hidden by the screen of foliage.
● hurriedly：匆忙地。impersonally：好像同他個人沒有關係似的。avert：轉過去。the patch of lawn：那片草地。
● 教授自己不懂為什麼會撒這樣一個謊（lie）。假如他承認沒有到過巴黎，是不是學生會以為他的學問不夠呢？或者更嚴重的，學生會不會笑他的人生經驗不夠呢？他敢承認他沒有經驗過巴黎生活的那種fun嗎？
● sunlit：為陽光所照著的。lingeringly：慢慢地，好像捨不得走開似的。他們在陽光底下走得很慢，好像（It seemed）永遠不會走過去似的。春天的陽光和青年男女——這種景象小說家不是隨便放進去的，那位教授當時正感到「慚愧」，窗外的景致能使他感覺到輕鬆一點嗎？
● Then they were gone…：米倫教授畢竟看他們走過去了。這一段時間裡，室內兩人啞然無言。screen of foliage：樹葉遮蔽，猶如屏風。米倫教授看不見他們那三個人了，才把頭轉過來。
Professor Millen turned and brought his gaze to rest again on the boy. The boy was leaning forward, his face smiling. Professor Millen saw, as if for the first time, the blond, crisp hair combed back from the square forehead, the confident gaze of the blue eyes, the comfortable, confident way the coat hung from the good shoulders.
● 米倫教授本來在凝視窗外，現在轉身過來，凝視這個學生了。先是凝視，現在也是凝視，同為凝視（gaze），英文裡的說法：把他的凝視帶過來（brought），放（rest）在這個學生身上。
● leaning forward：身往前傾（坐的姿勢）。as if for the first time：這個學生本來是個熟人，在這屋子裡坐了也該有好些分鐘了。但是米倫教授從惘然若失的態度中醒回來，好像是第一次看見他似的。
● 這個學生的頭髮是金色的（blond），硬而細（crisp），從方正的前額往後梳；他的眼睛是藍色的，看人的時候，顯得很有自信；外套穿在身上，也顯得瀟灑自得。saw的賓語是hair、gaze和way；the coat…shoulders是adjective clause，形容way，從句前面省了in which兩字。
● 中國舊小說的習慣，人物一出場，就描寫他的狀貌服裝，現在這位學生早已出場，他的狀貌服裝，到這裡才描寫。中國舊小說的寫法，用的是一個超然的、局外的觀點，這裡用的是小說中主角的觀點。起初，米倫教授不注意他，所以不描寫，現在米倫教授注意他了，所以才開始描寫。人物描寫同小說中主角的心理活動相配合，較舊法似勝一籌。
The boy stood up. "I've stayed too long. I know you've got a lot of work to do."
"No," Professor Millen said.
"And I certainly appreciate your recommendation. The address of the scholarship committee is on here," he said, and laid a printed sheet on the desk. "That's the circular, and all the information."
"I'll attend to it right away," Professor Millen said.
"Thank you," the boy said, and was gone.
● you've got=you have，got在這裡並沒有「得到」的意義。
● address：地址。committee：委員會。
● circular：散發的通知書。即上文中所述該學生從口袋裡掏出來的紙，上載一切有關獎學金的事項。
● attend to=pay attention to。right away=at once。
For a few minutes Professor Millen sat there, his eyes on the bare wall opposite his desk. Then he read the circular. He laid it back on the desk and pressed a button. When the secretary came in, he handed her the printed sheet. "The address is on that," he said, and waited while she copied it. Then he said, "I'll give you the letter." He studied the wall for a moment, then began.
● bare：牆上不掛照片圖畫，也無糊牆花紙或其他裝飾。
● button：電鈴之按鈕。I'll give you the letter：他讀信稿，由秘書速記下來。studied：細細地看。
"Gentlemen. I can truthfully say that I take the most sincere pleasure in recommending to you Mr. Thomas Howell. In my long career as a teacher I have never had a better student. He has an acute and penetrating intelligence, and, as is so often not the case with young men of his capacity, the patience and honesty of a true scholar. I am sure that if he is appointed to—" He hesitated, looking at the wall. "I am sure that—" he said at last, then stopped.
● 引號內為米倫教授所讀之信稿。照寫信格式，gentlemen後面該用冒號，今用句號者，只表示教授讀此字後，語氣一頓而已。
● In my long career as a teacher：自我任教以來。career as a teacher：擔任教書這項職業。
● intelligence：智力。penetrating意思比acute進一層。acute敏銳而已，並不一定深入；penetrating則能發幽探微，洞察根本矣。
● 此句and以後，意思又進一層：聰明人每無恆，巧慧者鮮篤實，唯此君則「智者」、「仁者」兼於一身。patience和honesty，仍為has之賓語。as為關係代詞=which fact，所代者即為(he has) the patience and honesty of a true scholar一從句。case：情形。capacity：才力。so=very。
● I am sure之後似應跟著「如能出國深造，必能百尺竿頭，更進一步」這一類的話。他用了appointed（勉強可解作「獲選」）一字之後，句子很難往下做，故而停頓。學生的名字，前面是Tom，這裡是Thomas，Tom是Thomas的較親密的叫法，猶中國人的學名與小名之別。
The secretary, her pencil poised above her pad, waited while Professor Millen seemed to withdraw, to sink within himself. Her foot made a slight reproachful scraping sound as she changed her position in the chair. She, too, began to look out the window, where Professor Millen's gaze now was fixed.
"That's all—all for the present," Professor Millen said, suddenly. "Just hold that and I'll finish later. I've just thought—" he managed to look direct at her, "of something else I've got to do. There's something else."
● her pencil poised above her pad：是nominative absolute。poised（過去分詞）：懸空握在手裡。above所表示的關係：筆不靠在紙上（否則要用on）；筆是懸空的，但也並不正在紙的上面（否則要用over）。pad：記速記用的拍紙簿。withdraw原意是「退出」，這裡只是指「出神」。to sink within himself：陷入深思。
● scraping sound：皮鞋底與地板的摩擦聲。reproachful：聲音中似帶「責備」，不耐久候也。managed to look：似乎不願或不敢看她，結果還是提起精神，對她直視。
After the secretary had left the office, closing the door softly behind her, he did not move some time. Then he again looked out the window. The shadows were lengthening over the smooth lawn. The faintest premonitory flush was touching the puffs of white cloud visible toward the top of his window. Before long now he would be going home. He picked up the circular. He read it again, very carefully, dwelling on it almost painfully, as though he were an illiterate trying to extort some secret from the words. He lifted his eyes from the sheet to look at the chair where the boy had sat leaning forward, the pleasure shining on his clear, handsome face, the good coat riding easy on his shoulders, saying, "—you know how. Paris is, it sort of knocks you off your feet. You've been there?"
● The shadows were lengthening：影子拉長，時間更晚。flush：霞光。faintest：極淡的。premonitory：預示的（預示黑夜來臨）。
● puffs of white cloud：朵朵白雲。霞光自地平線上發出，照到在天空中的白雲。toward=near。
● he would be going home比he would go home更強調go的動作。
● dwelling on it：長時間地想它。painfully：痛苦地。這字前面加了副詞almost，份量已大為減輕。但是作者為什麼要用「痛苦地」這樣一個字呢？本段末一句中，隱約說明。illiterate：文盲。他並非文盲，故動詞用虛擬式的were。extort：用力逼出來或找出來。
● the pleasure shining on his…face和the good coat riding…on his shoulders都是nominative absolute phrase。riding on=hanging from，但用riding更見活潑。
● 最後他想起學生問他的那句話；為了這句話，他撒了一次謊，他想起這件事，心裡不免難過。據作者所描寫，這個學生只是一個天真活潑的大孩子。但是他的天真活潑，似乎反惹教授之厭。他的活力與自信（前面本文裡連用兩次confident），似乎是給教授的一種威脅。他的不假思索地假定教授青年時期的生活，是同他自己的一樣逍遙快樂，是給苦讀出身的教授的一種諷刺。教授不願向學生示弱，至少也不願使學生失望，就隨隨便便地答應一聲。等到他發現自己已經撒了一回謊的時候，他當然恨自己，而且很難避免地、連帶地更討厭那個不知不覺中逼他說謊的人。Tom無意中已經得罪了教授，而且很傷教授的心，這是Tom所絕對想像不到的，作者描寫的精微（subtlety）也在此。人和人之間真是這樣難處嗎？人的心理真是這樣變幻莫測嗎？所謂寫實主義作者像Warren恐怕相信真是這樣的。浪漫主義作家筆下的人生就比較單純，好人壞人也判然易分。這篇小說的主人公，快要自食其言，非但不去幫助那學生，而且要去破壞他了。我們看完了後覺得他是不是個壞人呢？（或者，憑了那幾句話，教授對於學生的個性真有新認識了嗎？）
Professor Millen let the circular slip from his lap to the floor. Then, decisively, he reached into the drawer of his desk and took out a sheet of paper. He wrote rapidly in his large, firm script:
GENTLEMEN:
I have been asked to recommend Mr. Thomas Howell to you for a scholarship for study in France. As you will observe from a transcript of his academic record, with which no doubt you have been provided, he has made the grade of A in all of his work in the English department of this institution, and I understand that his grades in French (his major subject) have been very high. This achievement, of course, deserves consideration, but candor compels me to say that a superficial facility and cleverness seem to characterize his mind. I do not wish to prejudice the committee against his case, and I may be wrong in my estimate; certainly, I hope that the committee will consider him very carefully. But I do feel that he lacks solidity of character, the spirit of patient inquiry, and what might be termed the philosophical bent.
Very respectfully yours,
ROY MILLEN,
Professor of English.
● slip：滑下去。lap：衣兜。
● decisively：已經有了決定了。drawer：抽屜。
● firm：筆力堅挺。script：字體。
● have been asked：被動語態，可不必明言是誰托他寫這封信的。
● academic record：成績單。transcript：重抄的副本，正本留校。with which no doubt you have been provided：成績單諒必業已達覽。with which應該連到provided後面去，「無疑人家已經把那個東西給你們了」。institution：指該大學。
● This achievement：這種成就，指成績皆列入甲等。deserves consideration：值得考慮。candor=honesty in giving one's opinion，相當於中文的「良心」。compels me：迫使我。superficial：膚淺的。facility：做事太容易，不肯認真。cleverness：此字本來有壞的意義，指「小聰明」。characterize his mind=be the characteristics（特徵）of his mind。
● prejudice（動詞）：使（人）發生偏見。case：他來申請獎學金的這件事。estimate：判斷。
● solidity of character：性格上的穩重。the spirit of patient inquiry：耐心探求的精神。最後一個noun clause的意思是：他還缺一種素質。這種素質，無以名之，姑名之曰philosophical bent：研究哲理的傾向（或興趣）。
Without looking up, he addressed an envelope hurriedly, the pen making a dry, scratching sound. Then he blotted and stamped the envelope, inserted the sheet, put the letter into his pocket, picked up his hat, and left the office. He would, he remembered, pass a postbox on his way home.
● addressed：寫地址。dry：墨水不足故干。scratching sound：筆尖抓紙的聲音。blotted：用吸水紙（blotting-paper）來吸。stamped：貼上郵票。inserted：將（信紙）放入信封。
● postbox：郵箱。對於Tom很不利的一封推薦信（？）就此要寄給獎學金委員會了。