Jane Mayhall (1918—2009)
本篇選自《1949年美國最佳短篇小說集》（The Best American Short Stories 1949，edited by Martha Foley）。作者珍·梅霍是一位女作家，曾有多種作品問世。原題「The Men」，記作者記憶中印象最深刻的三位男性，第一位就是這裡所要轉載介紹的舞蹈家，第二位是她中學時代的一個圖書館管理員，第三位是大學時代的一位教授。就嚴格的體例言之，全文似乎不像是一篇短篇小說，而像是三則速寫（sketches）。但是作者對於感覺印象，把握得準而且穩；尤其可貴的是她對於瞬息間感覺印象的變化，都能很正確生動地記錄下來。本文不但可以當一件藝術品來欣賞，作者這種認真的寫作態度，也是值得有志文學創作之士傚法的。
I remember when I was eleven years old and attended a ballet for the first time. It was held at the Memorial Auditorium, a large building in the town where I lived.
During the first group of dances, I sat up very high in the balcony with my family and the stage seemed too far away. It was a pretty show at such a distance, but the dancers with their bright dots of costumes appeared as small and no more alive than marionettes.
● ballet：普通譯作「芭蕾舞」。按：ballet以舞蹈表示故事的進展和人物感情的起伏，似可譯作「舞劇」。
● Memorial Auditorium：紀念堂。
● first group of dances：頭幾個舞。balcony：樓座。
● 這裡末一句開始顯出作者的功夫：從遠遠的、高高的樓座望底下台上，該是怎麼回事。戲是很美麗的戲，但是舞者們顯得太小，動作也不活潑，同木偶（marionettes）戲差不多。costumes：演員的服裝，大多為絲絹所制，本有光彩，經燈光照耀，更顯明亮，但是觀察者坐得遠，一身衣服看上去只成一小點（dot），故雲bright dots of costumes。
● as small之後，照一般語法書規定，還應跟一個as。
When intermission came some friends of the family suggested that I sit down in the second row orchestra with them. This was probably because they considered me a \"nice little girl,\" a point of view to which I had no objection.
● intermission：休息時間，觀眾可以離座出去談話。
● sit down之sit是subjunctive mood現在式。作者家里長輩的朋友在樓下正廳有空座，提議把她接到那邊去看。先不過是一種提議，並非是事實，故用subjunctive mood。
● second row orchestra：正廳第二排。orchestra這裡不解釋作「樂隊」，而是「正廳前座」。
● 他們認為她是一個「乖小女孩」（nice little girl），所以要她坐在一起。他們這種看法，她並不反對。a point of view 綜括地代表前面所說的這種「看法」，是一種同位語的說明法。
The world of second row orchestra was an immensely different one. The seats were softer and had slightly reclining backs. Here the members of the audience sat with much dignity, as if each had been appointed to a separate throne, I thought. A sweet flowery scent came from the ladies. As they settled into their places, one heard a faint sound of silk and fur.
● 她的長輩如何地讓她下去，她如何地被攙著走……這些與題旨無關，作者都略而不記。
● world：指環境而言，從樓上搬到樓下來坐，好像進了另外一個「世界」。immensely different：大大地不同。
● backs：椅子的靠背。slightly reclining：微向後傾。
● audience作「聽眾」解是集合名詞。「聽眾中的一位」便是a member of the audience。with much dignity：很莊嚴地。前排觀眾多半是社會上有身份人士，as if…從句中的動詞是subjunctive mood。throne：王座。他們的座位並非王座，故用虛擬式。separate：個別的，每人分到一座。
● scent：香味。flowery：花似的（可能是香水的香）。
● As they settled into their places：休息時間將滿，觀眾進場就座。作者鼻覺芬芳之香，耳聞絲裘悉索之聲，雖未用眼睛，而女士們服飾的豪華，已如在目前。
Then the music began. Everyone leaned forward. The high arc of the curtain lifted as if moved by a hundred tiny unseen hands. The stage before us was a forest, bathed in willowy green light. The backdrop was splotched with painted leaves and gawk-headed birds whose artificiality seemed, for some reason, particularly exciting.
● 音樂聲作，戲又將開場。觀眾的上身往前傾——這是很自然的反應，但寫文章的人能有幾個會注意到這種「小節」？
● arc of the curtain：幕是成弧狀地升上去。未升之前，不見其成弧狀（arc），故high與arc不能分。幕升上去，很整齊，很靈巧，很利落（坐在遠處就注意不到了，所以一定要在作者座位更動後才描寫），一個十一歲的女孩子看起來一定覺得很奇怪，所以說「好像是一百隻看不見的小手把它提起來的」。
● bathed：舞台「浴」於燈光之中。willowy green：楊柳似的綠（請注意作者此處選字的功夫）。
● backdrop：作為佈景的一塊幕。splotched：斑斑點點地塗上去。gawkheaded：頭的姿態很笨拙的。artificiality：人為性。樹葉和小鳥都是畫上去的，故雲artificial（人為的），小孩子看舞台布景，明知是假的，但是看上去更有勁。要問什麼理由，自己也說不上來。for some reason：為了某種理由。
The dancers stepped forward, the make-up sharp on their faces.
But how near, how human they were! Their eyes moved, their lips smiled. Rising together and beginning to twirl on the tips of their toes, they were much more admirable from here than from afar!
● make-up：臉上的化裝，脂粉油彩。sharp：很明顯的。make-up和sharp之間，照一般語法書說來，該有一個現在分詞「being」。
● 作者坐近了，看得清楚了，大為興奮。how human…：多麼像人。請不要忘記：剛才只像木偶。
● twirl：旋轉。注意介詞用on。
It was a warm spring night. The sky appeared to reflect a pleasant tropical heat. Men wearing sky blue jackets leapt to girls whose dresses ruffled like swans. Their smiles mingled, their arms embroidered the air with wonderful patterns. Several more dancers came forward, carrying garlands of green and yellow flowers into which they wove themselves. And all with such remarkable enjoyment! Surely something marvelous was going to happen.
● warm spring night：不可能指演戲的那天晚上，而是指舞台上所表現的情景。作者已經把全副精神放到台上去了。
● reflect：反射出來。tropical：熱帶的。
● jacket：短上衣。leapt to=leapt to meet：跳過去迎接，to是介詞。ruffled：起皺紋像天鵝（swans）的毛一樣地蓬鬆起來。男舞人們穿的是天藍色上衣，舞孃們的衣服可能是白色的。
● mingled：混合。（男女舞人的笑容怎麼會混合起來的呢？）patterns：圖案。embroidered：刺繡。手臂舞動，在空中繡出種種奇妙的圖案。
● garlands：花圈。into which they wove themselves：把自己也編進花圈裡去。使人看得眼花繚亂，「人」「花」不分。wove是weave（編織）的過去式。
● enjoyment：舞人們做種種動作，精神顯得很是愉快。
● 舞蹈如此，似乎已盡美矣；然而不然，這一切似乎不過都是準備。好戲還在後頭。
And then it did.
Suddenly the music stopped. The only sound to be heard was a thin, somewhat unsteady tone of a violin. The gaily costumed characters moved back silently and made way for someone.
A little flap in the backdrop pulled open. And a young man stepped forth.
● And then it did.=And then something marvelous did happen.奇妙的事果然發生了。
● unsteady：不穩定的，似斷似續的；兩個字都形容小提琴的聲音。
● gaily costumed：衣服色彩鮮艷的。characters：劇中人物。made way for：讓開路，好讓別人走。
● flap：幕上可啟閉的小門。
The rest of the dancers departed and left him alone. The lights took on a white hue and one saw that the young man was very pale with dark-penciled eyes. He was dressed in a light blousing shirt and tight breeches of cream-colored satin.
Stepping forward, with casual grace, he began to dance.
● the lights took on a white hue：燈光本來綠如春日之柳，現在綠得稍微淡一點了（hue：顏色的濃淡層次）。淡淡的綠光照著，青年舞蹈家的臉色顯得蒼白，相形之下，他的眼睛也很明顯地看出是經過黑鉛筆勾劃過的。
● light：輕飄飄的，形容shirt。blouse本意是「寬鬆的上衣」，因此可作動詞（=to assume a blouse-like form，寬寬鬆松，作blouse狀。解見《韋氏新國際字典》）。blousing是動詞blouse的現在分詞。褲子（breeches）很緊。全身衣服，都是乳黃色緞子所做成。
● 他向前走來，漫不經心（casual），而姿勢優雅（grace）；舉起雙臂，舞將起來了。
At first, all I could realize of him was the delicate-footed motion, the coolness and lightness of the figure. He wore soft close-fitting slippers and the insteps of his feet were so beautiful and alive that I fell in love with them at once. He was small and perfectly formed, slender-hipped and probably quite typical of the ballet dancer. And perhaps there was something too mannered and too self-conscious in the face. His eyes were drawn to appear elongated, Oriental. The head was finely shaped, dark-haired. But the very self-conscious style of him seemed to add to the charm. What could equal the stance, the quick lightning movements of the body, or the severe control of its quietness?
● all I could realize of him：我所能看出來的（realize=be fully aware of）。figure：身段。coolness：冷靜，不露出狂熱。lightness：輕靈。
● close-fitting slippers：貼肉的軟底舞鞋。insteps：腳背。這個小女孩子最先愛上的不是那個舞蹈家的臉，也不是他的身段，更不是他的不可捉摸的精神，而是他的腳背！一個芭蕾舞蹈家最迷人的地方恐怕該是他的靈活的腳背吧。
● perfectly formed：身材合度。slender-hipped：臀部瘦細。typical of the ballet dancer：是個典型的芭蕾舞蹈家。
● 下一句講臉上的表情。mannered：做作的。self-conscious：自覺的（自覺在表演，未能忘我，藝術恐尚未臻化境）。
● drawn：勾劃（可能作「吊起」解）。elongated, Oriental：細長的，像是東方人的。西洋人以為東方人的眼睛大多是斜而細長的。
● the very self-conscious style of him…：他的表演雖未能忘我，似乎卻益顯其為人之可愛。very是形容詞，加重語氣之用。
● stance：站的姿勢。its quietness的its指the body\'s。
But none of these features by themselves gave the full effect. The complete harmonious accord of the moment—there was no way to explain it.
When the ballet was over and the dancers were bowing outside the curtain, I felt a terrible childish sadness, the kind that is felt only after the accidental pleasure. It is a puzzling sensation, the regret for the loss of that which one had not—no, never—even hoped for in the first place!
● features：特色。harmonious accord：和諧一致。作者所感覺到的效果，並不是由於上述特色中的任何一種，而是由於這些特色的和諧的配合。她以為這是沒法說明的。
● accidental pleasure：無意中得來的樂事。起初本來不準備有這樣的快樂的經驗，失掉了不應該覺得可惜，可是現在卻另有一種悵惘之感。puzzling sensation：令人難以瞭解的感覺。
The young man stood a little in front of the others, bowing. I noticed that his ears were beautifully pointed and his hair was sleek.
● 青年舞蹈家站出來謝幕，她看得更清楚了，她注意到他的耳朵的形狀和頭髮的光滑。（鞠躬的時候不是頭髮和耳朵尖在最前頭嗎？）
The lights in the Auditorium went up. The orchestra began to play. People put on their wraps and began to talk in matter-of-fact voices. But I was gravely occupied with the memory of the young man. Moving slowly in the large arena of the Auditorium, I felt that I would never forget him. I listened dreamily to the music and watched the audience make its dignified parade to the rear exit. It seemed, to my impressionable mind, that everything existed only for the contemplation of him.
● went up：燈亮起來了。wraps：大衣外套之類。matter-of-fact：枯燥無味的，家常的。他們已經脫離舞蹈的幻境了。
● large arena of the Auditorium：在這紀念堂的大屋子裡。
● make its dignified parade：很堂皇地排班而出。make是省掉to的infinitive。its代替of the audience。rear exit：後面的出口（太平門）。
● contemplation of him：想念他。好像一切事物，都是為了想念他才存在的。小妮子癡矣。