William Van Buskirk (1922—？)
本文選自《新聲：美國新作選》（New Voices: American Writing Today），1953年出版。《新聲》收美國新作家約六十人，大多皆無藉藉名，然就其一般成績觀之，實可代表美國文壇之新作風。此數十作家皆態度謹嚴，刻意求精，其忠於藝術，敢於嘗試之精神，大致蓋秉承Flaubert、Henry James、Conrad諸大師之遺教規範。書中所收各篇，皆正視人生，取材現實，故事自不落窠臼；慧心妙悟，無遮無隔，描寫亦必多奇句。全書文字，大多可讀，其運思之精，功力之深，比之世界名作，亦無愧色。雖曰後生可畏，實亦文章正宗也。《露西姑娘》一文，寥寥數段（此處未加節刪），而意味深長，精心之作也。作者范·勃斯寇克生於美國紐約市，為會計師之子，第二次大戰時，隨美國空軍第十三大隊轉戰所羅門群島、菲律賓一帶，戰後執業廣告設計。寫作雖非其專業，然其文字造詣之深，讀本文便知。
I am remembering now my small Filipina, Rosie, in the far away, long ago islands of wartime. Perhaps it was only because she had few English words, and I had no Tagalog, that we spoke so little together. Certainly she chattered freely enough with her sisters. But because I could not understand their lilting, exotic jargon, the sound was more of music than of talk, their gentle voices rising and falling, tinkling yet sibilant, like the sound of distant bells borne on a rushing wind. The gossiping sisters were as restful and as little distracting as the playful splashings in a park.
● Filipina：菲律賓人（陰性；陽性為Filipino）。far away, long ago：此四字當形容詞來形容islands，用法頗特別。作者大致但求表達方式的簡單經濟，顧不得習慣的用法了。
● Tagalog：菲律賓之一種方言。
● chattered：喋喋而談，但聞其聲，不明其義。
● lilting：輕快含糊而多起伏的。exotic：異國（情調）的。jargon：（令人難懂的）語言。
● the sound was more of music than of talk：她們的聲音與其說是像說話，不如說是像音樂。rising and falling：起伏。tinkling：輕脆叮噹。sibilant：絲絲作響。兩字形容，恐猶有未足，接著又用一譬喻：「如疾風飄來遠處鈴聲」。鈴聲叮噹，即為tinkling；疾風之聲噓噓然，亦為一種hissing sound，正好襯托前面的sibilant。borne（bear之過去分詞）：（風把聲音）帶來。
● 她們姊妹間的閒談，並不（little有否定的意義）亂人心意（distracting），反而有使人安靜的作用（restful），猶如公園裡（噴水泉？）的水珠濺落之聲（splashings）。playful原義「嬉戲的」，這裡作「忽快忽慢，時東時西」解。
The last time I saw Rosie (we knew it was the last), she wore her pale Mestiza gown, with its sheer high-shouldered sleeves like wings of butterflies. Among the boles of a grove of palms—a tranquil, timeless colonnade in the moonlight—we built a diminutive fire. Then through long night hours we watched its embers blacken, die, and fall to ashes. My memory of those hours is sharply clear, and only a little sweetened by time, but I can remember no spoken words.
● Mestiza為Mestizo（菲律賓人之雜有華人血統者）之女性形式。Mestiza gown當為菲律賓混血女兒所慣穿之女式長衣，是「土裝」並非「美式」服裝也。sheer：絕薄的（衣料）。sleeves：袖。high-shouldered：衣袖在肩部聳起的。
● grove of palms：一片棕林。棕樹幹直無枝，葉生干端，人居林中，但見有干（boles），不見枝葉。群樹矗立拱衛，猶如柱廊（colonnade）。tranquil：安靜的。timeless：終古常存的。diminutive：很小的。fire：堆木柴而生之火。
● embers：火燼。接著用三個不加to的不定式動詞：blacken（由紅變黑），die（火熄成炭），fall to ashes（炭碎為死灰）。
● sweetened by time約相當於中文「愈陳愈香」之意。當時情境，猶歷歷如在目前，所不同者，唯因歲月推移，回憶益覺甜蜜耳。
● I can remember no spoken words：兩人言語本不通，今別離在即，相對黯然，更沒有話可說。自然也記不起說過什麼話了。
I remember well the yellow and mellow Manila cigar that I gently puffed and rolled between my fingers. I recall how I stretched on the dark, springy earth as the night\'s gauzy warmth caressed me. I can see the ivory of Rosie\'s cheek and Rosie\'s arms that glowed here and there orange-red in the firelight. Her eyes were black and sad like a spaniel\'s eyes. Her soft lips smiled and smiled.
● mellow：煙味醇和的。puffed：以口噴煙。rolled：搓卷。
● stretched：伸臂舒腿地躺下。springy：有彈性如彈簧的。gauzy：輕薄如紗的。夜間暖氣，輕如薄紗，來撫我身。ivory：象牙。彼女臉頰雙臂之色本如象牙，今火光照處，其肌膚乃發桔色紅光。here and there：東一處西一處的。火焰跳躍無定，火光有及有不及，明暗亦不一致。orange-red乃形容詞，用作subjective complement。
● spaniel：西班牙狗，其眼烏黑而有憂鬱之表情。
● Her soft lips smiled and smiled：連用兩smiled，而妙在仍不說話。
She sang me a song whose words I did not understand, and she danced a little round the fire, a lonely slow Lindy with empty arms, hopping barefoot and awkward in the dust.
● whose words=the words of which。song：為無生命之物，照有些語法書規定，這裡應該用of which，但有時為求句法緊湊起見，常有用whose來代替of which的。
● Lindy：即Lindy Loo，是一種黑人舞蹈。hopping：跳躍，為現在分詞，形容主語she。barefoot（赤腳的）可作形容詞或副詞，但awkward（拙劣的）只可作形容詞，如為形容詞，當系形容主語she。露西姑娘的舞姿並不美妙，作者照實寫來，似亦無傷其人之可愛。一個菲律賓姑娘，連英文都不會說的，想必非摩登人物，作者描寫，亦在其樸質處著眼。她的歌喉似乎也沒有什麼了不起。初學作文者描寫美人，往往美得「過火」，結果讚歎多而描寫少，讀此當可悟作文之道。
Then she came to my side and was quiet. She faintly smelled of unscented soap, and her hair was full of wood-smoke. So quaint and small was this odd brown girl, my throat congealed, and had there been anything to say, I could not have said it. But there was nothing to say, and in this deepening night we were happy and sad together.
● smelled of=had the smell of。unscented soap：未加香料之素淨肥皂。美人身上，何必一定要發什麼「蘭麝之香」？這裡據實寫來，不加誇張，而彼女之樸素潔淨，不言自明。wood-smoke：木柴煙味，想是生火時所沾上。
● quaint：別緻，別具風味。congealed原意「凍結」轉作「僵化」。這位古怪的棕膚女郎，如此別有風味，又如此嬌小玲瓏，以致我的喉嚨僵住，說不出話來了。她的嬌小，她的風味，和他的說不出話有何相干？還不是因為別離在即，愈覺其美，便愈不忍離之耶？
● had there been…為一conditional clause，義同if there had been…。本來就無話可說，要是有話可說，此情此境，我也說不出口來。
● deepening night：夜色漸深。用一現在分詞deepening，表示時間進行，便覺長夜漫漫，纏綿無窮。第二段已說：Then through long night hours we watched its embers blacken, die, and fall to ashes。看煙消火滅，相對無語，竟夕相共，黯然神傷，盡在不言中矣。