Max Beerbohm (1872—1956)
麥克斯·比亞卜姆出生於維多利亞女王統治下的英國，逝於意大利。比氏壽登耄耋，久無作品問世，很多讀者以為他早已不在人世了。事實上，按他的文章風格和生活趣味來說，他和十九世紀末葉所謂唯美主義作家如王爾德等比較接近，同我們這一代，確是疏遠了。他的文章，大抵近乎「遊戲人間」一路，俏皮，幽默，機智，但不一定深刻。他有過人的聰明，在文字修飾上所用的功夫卻極大，作品數量不多，大多是經過精心雕琢之作。
比氏的小品文最有名，但他也寫小說。這裡所選的幾段采自他的長篇小說Zuleika Dobson（1911）的第二章。Zuleika Dobson是一部胡鬧的諷刺小說，Zuleika是個十分美麗的姑娘，她在牛津住了一個時候，牛津的大學生都被她弄得神魂顛倒，但是誰也得不到她的青睞，結果大家跳河自殺，集體殉情以死！學生都死完了，牛津大學也開不下去了。
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：希臘神話中的女仙，常借用作「年輕貌美的女子」。men\'s admiration：男人的愛慕。這種女子，生活中主要的事情（greater part），就是給男人愛慕。
● no man passed her without a stare：路人看見她，都要張大眼睛，對她注視。no…without：兩重否定，等於一重肯定。passed her：在她身旁走過。
● this consciousness照應前面的was conscious。她知道人家都要看她，出門游散（outings）時，分外有勁。zest：（很濃的）興味。
● she was followed：從這一句裡，可以看出被動語態勝過主動語態的地方。「她被跟隨」——（by whom?）誰在跟？這可不必說了，總是街上那些男子。crude flattery：這一個短語用得很見功夫。男人覺得女人長得美，這是一種恭維（flattery），但是用眼睛看看，或嘴上讚美足矣，那種人尾隨不捨，一直盯到她的家門，未免顯得粗野（crude）。crude flattery即指此句之main clause（Sometimes…door），總括說明這一種人的行為。innocent：盯梢的人可能不懷好意，但是小姐一派天真，只引以為得意，並不覺得恐懼。
● haberdasher：販賣針線等小件裝飾品的雜貨商。他的「店」，英文裡不用說，只要加apostrophe s（\'s）即可。同樣的，販賣食品的雜貨商是grocer，這一種店就是the grocer\'s。tape：扁帶。riband：是ribbon（絲帶）較古的拼法。to make some little purchase of：這一個短語相當古雅，我們普通說話作文，只要用to buy some (tape or ribbon)就夠了。
● epicure：講究飲食的人。in her humble way：那個時候，她並沒有錢，可是在她的經濟範圍之內，她還是很講究的。young men behind the counter：櫃檯後面的青年人、夥計。homage：大恭敬。exhilarate：使（她）高興。
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：當然之事，沒有什麼希罕的了。第一句中的主句的主語置於動詞之後，正當的次序是it (=the homage) was necessary to her happiness。the more的the是副詞，有「因此」（on that account）之意。這種用法很常見，如nevertheless即為never the less（並不因此減少）三字合成的。subtly：subtle的副詞形式，解作「微妙地，神秘地，不可捉摸地」。她的快樂，更不可思議地有賴於男人對她的恭敬了。
● 第二句的The more…the more也是常見的句法結構：第一個The=in whatever degree；第二個the=in that degree。那邊增加，這邊也同樣地增加。of it連前面的The more，it代替the homage，她所得到的恭敬愈多，她對於這個恭敬也愈為珍視。it saved的it仍是代替the homage。有了男人獻慇勤，她也用不著為身世興悲了。
● For her：對她來說。squalor：污穢（此字的形容詞是squalid，squalid比dirty更多「未經掃除，無人清理」之意）。paced在這裡是及物動詞，「走過」。paced them=paced the streets。nimbus：（神佛頭上的）光輪。她走在街上，遍體似有彩雲環繞，令人目移神奪（fascinations），她自己因此也看不出街上的污穢了。
● mean：寒酸相。她的臥室本來是寒酸而又寂寞的，但是現在看來卻並不如此，因為洗臉架子上面，釘了一面方鏡子，常得美人照看；鏡中玉容，就足使陋室生春了。
● Thereinto=into that (glass)。indeed：說真的；indeed這個字很常見，但是不易應用。這裡大約是怕讀者不相信上面一句所說的the…glass…was ever there to reflect her face，特再補充說明一句：「這是真的」，這位小姐老是在照（peer into）鏡子的。ever本來和always一樣，解作「無論何時，永遠如此」，但是這種副詞（另外的例子如perpetually, constantly等）倘若和進行式動詞一起用，那就表示「常常，老是這麼做」了。she ever peered (into the glass)：那是說不通的，因為一個人不可能什麼事情不做，「永遠」看著鏡子的。she was ever peering：那就表示她「常常」這麼做，現在看一下，過一會又看一下，再過一會又看一下。
● peer解作「凝視」，意義大致同gaze相仿。但gaze常常指看的人因愛慕而看得出神，peer則指仔細地看，或吃力地看，或帶著好奇心地看，或看的人和所看的東西中間隔了一層什麼東西。人和鏡中反影之間隔了一層玻璃，用peer是很合適的。
● frown：皺眉。pout：撅嘴。languish：作出嬌慵之態。這些動詞前面的助動詞would表示「習慣」。let=she would let。hover本指鳥類不振翼遠飛，而在某一地點拍翅盤旋；或雲霧等浮掛在一個地方。現在她故意對鏡子做出各種「表情」，那些情感也好像在她臉上低回飛翔。
● lovelier：每對鏡子看一次，總覺得自己比以前更可愛了。注意時態seemed和had been之間的先後關係。
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的形容詞。Narcissus是水仙花，據希臘神話，此花原是一美少年，見水中自身反影而悅之，顧影自憐，憔悴不堪，天神將他化身為花，俾得永遠臨泉自照也。變態心理學中有一種病，叫做Narcissism。這位小姐可沒有這種「自戀」的病。
● aestheticism：唯美主義。前面所以加形容詞cold者，表示唯美主義不注重情感；看見美的東西心裡用不著激動，美是應該冷靜地欣賞的。
● for its own sake：只因為這個影子的美，才覺得它寶貴，此外別無其他情感攙雜在內。這位小姐並不如此。她長得美，博得無數男人的追求，她為了這種「光榮」，才對於鏡子裡自己的影子看個不厭的。
● it always won for her：定語從句。
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，陷入情網。
● 第一句中主句又是例裝的，動詞were在前，主語the desire and the need在後。這許多男人愛慕她，她沒有愛慕過任何男人，可是她很想戀愛，也很需要戀愛。it (the heart) should be given：她的心該「奉獻給」一個男人。
● Whithersoever she had fared：她不論走到哪裡。fare=go，這是比較古雅的字眼。fatuously：癡呆的。prostrate：匍匐在地。事實上當然不一定有人向她三跪九叩首，這不過引伸前面的homage（青年男子都對她臣服）而已。one upright figure：一個站直的身軀；有自尊心不向她表示愛慕的男人，這種人才是使她尊敬的。
● bow down：還是引伸homage的意思。eld=old age，這是個古字。我們現在只有elder和eldest這兩個形容詞，名詞eld很少有人用了。sanguine在這裡應該解作「熱誠的」（warm or ardent），也即是strong。aversion連前面的兩個from（from middle-age，from eld）；中年人老年人對她不一定「服貼」，但她也很討厭中年人、老年人的。
● 中年人、老年人她不要，青年人毫無骨氣，對她恭而敬之，俯首貼耳，這種人她也是不能（Nor could）愛的。prone是形容詞，解作「俯伏的」，是subjective complement，形容who。fall prone二字常連用，是idiom。
● before her：在她面前。did fall prone的did用以加強語氣。
● bondage：奴役。
● But no empress一句，用現在時態，表示一般情形。adore：敬愛，崇拜。love的含義廣泛，adore一定是一種很崇高的情感。
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?
● 她老是受人家的愛，她到底還能不能愛別人呢？不一定見了男人就愛，只要她能愛一個男人，只要她能主動地愛一次——這不是比全世界的恭敬都集中在她一人身上還要強嗎？To be able to love once：不定式，作名詞用。這句的主語that，就是代替這個infinitive phrase的。
● 後面一句的語法結構，也是比較古的用法。照現代通用說法，應該說But would she ever meet the man whom…，但是按古時的用法，the man這個antecedent是可以省掉的。
● looking up to him：participial phrase，形容從句中的主語she。looking up：她要「仰首」才看見他，足見這個男人是不向她俯首稱臣的。she, the omnisubjugant：she是重複she could love中的she。omnisubjugant是個罕見的字，字典裡都不一定查得到，但意義不難瞭解。omni：是個接頭語，表示「全體」（如omnipotent，omniscient……等，這些字的解釋請查字典）。subjugant是subjugate（征服）的形容詞形式，-ant是個接尾語，表示present participle的意思（如defiant，pliant……等）。連在一起，這個字的解釋應作「征服一切的」。
● 最後一句ever重複地用，非但是為了音調好聽，而且也加強情感上絕望的意義。這樣一個男人，「這一輩子」還找得到嗎？
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是一種「若有所思」的神態。她心裡思量，能不能找到一位如意郎君的時候，眼睛裡就露出這種表情了。這種表情不是一種快樂的表情，它像一種「陰影」。現在她憑窗閒坐，這種陰影又回到她眼睛裡來了。