Charles Jackson (1903—1968)
本文作者查爾斯·傑克遜是一個謹慎用心的作家，他在四十歲的時候方才出版他的第一部作品 《失去了的週末》（The Lost Weekend, 1944）。這部描寫酒徒心理的小說，至今仍被公認是一部傑出的作品。
傑克遜生於美國紐澤西州，早年曾因患肺病，在療養院休養六年之久。傑氏著有長篇小說四種，短篇小說若干篇，他不是一個多產的作家。
這篇《大情人》采自他的短篇小說集《眾生相》（Earthly Creatures, 1953）。原文有很多處描寫精彩的地方，因為篇幅所限，不能備錄，這是要向讀者道歉的。我們在這裡所讀到的，只是故事的輪廓。故事的主題是一個夢想的幻滅（disillusionment），題目「大情人」是一個「反語」（irony）。
As Alice Harvey hung up the receiver, her first thought, luckily, was a practical one: Now I've got to really do something about dinner.
● receiver：電話聽筒。hung up：掛好。luckily：僥倖。電話裡所聽到的是什麼消息，讀者暫時並不知曉。可以猜測得到的是：消息很不平常，引起了那個女人很多思想；很僥倖地，第一個思想只是一個實際問題的考慮（a practical one=a practical thought），並沒有牽涉到別的問題，否則的話，她恐怕要頓失常態，連說話的氣力都沒有的。
● I've got to=I have to：不得不。to really do：副詞放在不定式to和do的中間，語法家稱為split infinitive，引為大忌。事實上，英美人說話作文時，常這麼用，這裡只是那個女人心裡的思想，更不可以談嚴格的語法規則了。dinner：我們可以猜想，電話裡所說的大約是有人要來吃晚飯。
She stepped into the tiny kitchen.
"Gladys," she said, "I hate telling you so late, but Ralph just phoned from uptown that he's bringing somebody home. He's a kind of, well, celebrity. Could you run over to Gristede's and get some steak or something?"
● Gladys：女傭之名。
● I hate：沒有早通知你，害得你臨時張羅，有道歉之意。Ralph：是那個女人的親人，關係在稍後即有說明。uptown：上城。小說發生於紐約市曼哈頓區（Manhattan）。五十九街（59th St.）以上皆為上城，包括哥倫比亞大學、林肯演奏中心在內。五十八街至二十三街為中城（midtown）；二十二街以下為下城（downtown）。
● well：說到這裡，想不到一個適當的字眼，語氣在這裡停頓一下。celebrity：有名人物。a kind of celebrity：可以說相當有名的人物。
● could：這樣說比用can客氣，主人對於傭人用這種說法，足以表示說話者的修養，無損說話者的尊嚴，勝過頤指氣使的命令句也。Gristede's：市場，超級市場； 曼哈頓有好多家Gristede Bros Food Markets同Gristede's supermarkets。steak：牛排。此字母音讀a長音/ei/。臨時來了客人，菜餚還需添購。
Back in the living room, she sat on the sofa and lit a cigarette. Perhaps now I can let myself think about it, she thought.
What does a woman do when faced with the prospect of seeing the man she fell in love with more than twenty years ago, fell in love with but never met?
● lit是light（點燃）的過去式。
● 她的第一個念頭只是廚房添菜的問題，現在一個人靜靜地坐下，想起主要的問題來了。
● What does a woman do：動詞用現在式，表示一般情形。
● faced：過去分詞，前面省略了she is二字。prospect期待或期待中的事情。這個男人，她二十多年前曾經愛過（愛過，但是沒有見過面），現在面臨著同他見面的機會了，在這種情形之下做女人的該怎麼辦呢？
Ralph had phoned that he'd run into Gavin Douglas and could he bring him home to dinner. She had cried, "Who did you say? You can't mean the actor!" and he had replied in that infuriating unimaginative way he had, so like his father: "Why can't I mean the actor?" If the prospect of meeting and knowing Gavin Douglas had arisen when she was eighteen, she would have died. Now, after some twenty years, here he was, about to walk into her living room, the dream made flesh…
● 這一段是補敘電話裡的話。但是這並不是小說家在這裡補充說明，這裡仍舊是那個女人的心理活動——她坐在沙發上的回憶。
● run into：碰到，不期而遇。could he bring him home to dinner：這句話語法有問題，但是為了要模仿打電話的口吻，這樣說也未尚不可。（按規矩來說，大約應該如此：and had asked whether he could bring him home to dinner。）
● the actor：天下同名同姓的很多，Gavin Douglas是位名伶，但是現在這位Douglas可能另有其人。
● in that…way：這幾個字說明了Ralph的個性，也說明了他父親（so like his father：多麼的像他的父親!）的個性。他們父子二人都是缺乏想像力的（unimaginative），令人氣惱（infuriating）。這幾個字又暗示：她對於她丈夫，並不完全滿意。母親聽到Gavin Douglas這個名字，情不自禁，大叫出聲，可是兒子不覺察到母親的音調有異，還侃侃地在電話裡答辯：「為什麼不可以就是舞台名伶Douglas呢？」不能替別人設想，這就是做人缺乏想像力的地方。
● If the prospect…had arisen：這樣一個機會假如在她十八歲時候發生的話，她會死掉的。這是一句很標準的假定句子，請注意動詞的形式。（prospect並不解釋作「機會」，這裡為湊中文的方便，勉強譯作「機會」。）
● some twenty years：約摸二十年。about to：將要。the dream made flesh：這是一個nominative absolute phrase，made是過去分詞，flesh是subjective complement。夢想實現，夢中人將以血肉之軀和她相見了。
She had no idea that anyone she knew would actually know Gavin Douglas, least of all her son. But she didn't need to think twice to know where and how her son had met him.
During the past summer Ralph had had his first job. He had been assistant stage manager at a summer theater on the Cape, as a kind of apprenticeship for the work that he thought he wanted to take up later. He was eighteen but he was interested in the theater as a business. And that is how he must have met Gavin Douglas; the Cape playhouse was famous for its guest-stars, though these were usually tired or retired actors, stars of the past rather than the present. Odd that Ralph had never mentioned him before; but how could he have known what it would mean to his mother? He was too young to appreciate the name and fame of the great matinee idol of twenty and thirty years ago, the star who had been an idol of hers when she was Ralph's age.
● 她不知道，任何她所認識的人，會真的認識這位名伶；她尤其不能（least of all）相信，她兒子會認識他。
● didn't need to think twice：用不著想兩遍，一猜就中。
● the past summer：過去的夏季，可能仍舊是今年。his first job：美國學生暑假期間多有做短工賺錢的。
● assistant stage manager：助理舞台經理。注意前面不用冠詞the，冠詞最為難用，不容易用規則來概括說明。大抵predicate nominative（主語之補足詞）的名詞，前面可以不加the，如Wordsworth的名句：
The Child is father of the Man.
此句中的father前面就沒有冠詞。又，職位前面，常有無需冠詞the者，如Queen of England，headmaster of a school等，這裡的manager這個字，既然用在動詞had been之後，是個主語補足詞，又是一個職位的名稱（經理），不加the，並不是一種奇怪的用法。但這種用法並不是一定的規則，讀者還得於讀書時隨時留意為要。
● summer theater：美國的夏季是戲劇季節，平常不大演戲的小城小鎮，到了夏天就會有劇團租場演出，這種戲院就叫做summer theater（恐怕是為吸引避暑遊客而設的）。the Cape：cape原意是海岬。這篇小說的背景大約是美國東北部一帶，所指海岬恐怕是麻薩諸塞州的避暑勝地Cape Cod。
● a kind of apprenticeship：一種實習。這位青年希望干戲劇活動（the theater），暑假裡先實習起來。
● He was eighteen：十八歲。請參照本段最後一句：when she was Ralph's age。人不就是年齡，可是中間可以用動詞was。
● guest-stars：客串明星。tired or retired actors：厭倦舞台生涯或業已退隱的伶人，廣東話有個較能傳神的說法：過氣老倌。（tired和retired兩個字連用，很巧妙。）那些小劇院所能請到的大明星，無非是些過時人物。
● Odd：當系It was odd的簡略，「這是很奇怪的。」
● what it would mean：這個人的名字有什麼意義呢？
● appreciate：欣賞，瞭解。matinee idol：舞台名伶，尤其是擁有女性觀眾的男明星。在英美各國看下午上演的matinee「日戲」觀眾，過去以女性佔大多數。故她們的舞台偶像稱為matinee idols。
● 文章寫到這裡，一個是母親，一個是兒子，已經說得明明白白了。
Idol was not the word. She had fallen in love with him. And it was not too much to say that she had never really fallen out of love. Her love had never been requited or fulfilled, had never even been communicated. Gavin Douglas had been unaware of her very existence—except as a pair of clapping hands among all those other clapping hands that had become routine to him.
● 說他是她的偶像，還不完全對。她不僅是像普通女學生那樣崇拜這位大明星而已，她是真「愛」他的。
● it was not too much to say：說這樣的話也不算過分，事實的確如此。她於二十年前陷入情網，迄今猶未自拔。
● requited：得到報答。「單戀」是unrequited love。fulfilled：圓滿實現。communicated：表達出來。這一句裡三個動詞用得都很有勁。
● unaware of her very existence：根本不知這天下有她這麼一個女人。very是形容詞。
● 她雖然盲目癡戀，台上人只知道台下紛紛鼓掌，在掌聲雷動之中，有她這麼一雙手掌，他怎麼能分別出來呢？假如他知道有她這麼一個人，也無非是知道台下有一雙手掌而已。
● other：這個字在邏輯上是說得通的。among=in or into the midst of。在許多「其他」手掌之間，她的那雙也在鼓掌。routine：習以為常的事情，「家常便飯」。
She never told her love except to Smith Harvey, the boy she married. She had had to tell someone and it was Smith she told inevitably. Smith was a junior at the University of Rochester when she was a freshman. They had met during her first year and, with no thought of the marriage that was to take place later, had started going together. One Saturday he took her to the matinee at the Lyceum to see the famous Constance Hope and her leading man Gavin Douglas in Romeo and Juliet. She had fallen in love at sight with the handsome actor, and through him (though no two men in the world could have been more unlike) with Smith Harvey.
● 她私下戀慕之情，不得不對人說。她那時有一個男朋友，很自然地（inevitably）她就對他說了。
● junior：三年級學生。University of Rochester：在紐約州的Rochester。
● started going together：開始一同出去玩。他們以後結為夫婦，但是在開始的時候，他們並沒有想到婚姻之事。take place：發生或舉行。「婚姻發生」是很壞的中文，可是這是合口語習慣的英文的。
● the Lyceum：戲院名。以前上海有家同名的戲院，中文譯名為「蘭心」，此字原指雅典一處花園，當年亞里斯多德講學之所。注意：戲院的Theater可以不寫出來，但冠詞the非加不可。同樣的，揚子江的英文名稱，可以不說River，但是冠詞the非加不可。
● Constance Hope想是比Douglas更有名的女伶，leading man：男主角。
● through him：因為愛舞台上的羅密歐，也連帶地愛上了台下的男同學。雖然這兩個人絕不相像：天下人之間個性的不同，無有過於他們兩個人者。一個是熱情奔放的羅密歐，至於另外一個，我們前面已經有了一點認識，他同他的兒子一樣，是缺乏想像力的。
She loved her husband and had always loved him, but somehow married love had never quite come up to what she had seen and felt that afternoon across the footlights. What puzzled her was the question that baffled her to this day: What was the nature of that youthful ardor, what did love of that kind really consist of, what was it? Illusion, perhaps; poetry and Shakespeare and the actor's art. But could make-believe—make-believe and nothing more—cause her to experience love, really experience it, so powerfully that it still held after twenty years of a marriage which, at its worst, had never been unhappy? No, she could not believe it had been illusion merely. It was something in the nature of Gavin Douglas, a special ardor he possessed that other men did not, a mysterious and ineffable quality in the artist. What she and Smith had together had lasted and would always last; it was durable and sound. Yet the other was durable, too; how else could she respond to, and even feel again, at this very moment, that powerful emotion that Romeo had given her from the stage?—pure, heart-piercing, like the poetry he spoke…
● 這一段分析夫妻之愛和浪漫的愛之間的不同。但這不是說理文章（小說中最好不要插入說理文章），這裡仍舊是在描寫女主角的心理，她覺得愛情有兩種，夫妻間的恩愛似乎還不能滿足她心裡的要求。
● somehow：不知怎麼的。married love：夫妻之愛。come up to：達到（她所見所感的那種熱烈的情形）。footlights：舞台前面的一排照明燈。across the footlights：隔了這麼一排的燈；（台下人）所看到的台上。
● that baffled her to this day：這個問題她至今不能索解。
● 這個問題作者用三種方式來表達：那種青春熱情（youthful ardor）的性質是什麼？那一種的愛到底是什麼東西所組成的？它到底是什麼東西？
● Illusion：幻覺。
● make-believe：假戲，以假作真的東西。台上所看到的只是演員的藝術，所聽到的只是莎士比亞的詩句，這些並不是真人真事——但是這種以假作真的東西竟能使她經驗到「愛」嗎？
● really experience it, so powerfully (experience it)：這種話重複地說，更可以表示女主角強烈的感情。held（不及物動詞）：保持不失。at its worst：二十年的婚姻，當然不能說一無陰翳，但是在最壞的時候，她的婚姻並不是不快樂的。a marriage：冠詞a用得很好。先用不定冠詞，範圍不加限制；然後接著用一個限制性的定語從句（restrictive clause），把性質確定。這一種用法是很常見的。
● No：這一段是心理描寫，難免有自問自答的話。戲台上的愛情只是幻覺嗎？不是的。it had been illusion：動詞時態表示，這是專指「那天下午」所看到的戲。
● It was something中的It，仍是代替love。這種愛是那演員性格（nature）裡的某種性質（something）。a special ardor和something是同位語。other men did not=other men did not possess。
● something這個字用處很大。凡是抽像的性質，作者怕一下子說不清楚，都可暫時用這個字來代替，多用抽像的名詞和形容詞，文章可能成為古板；something是一個容易為讀者所接受的字，用了它，文章就較流暢。但是something意義廣泛，作者仍舊應該設法用比較確定的字眼把意義說明白。這裡作者用了兩個同位格的詞，加以說明補充：一個是a special ardor，第二個是a mysterious and ineffable（言語難以表達的）quality。
● 代替抽像名詞的除something外，更可以用「what」clasue。本段第一句what she had seen and felt就是一個例子。這裡What she and Smith had together也是一樣。「她和她丈夫所共有」，是什麼東西呢？當然是夫妻之間的恩愛。但是作者為了避免多用love之類的抽像名詞，用了這樣一個名詞性從句。讀者諸君於習作英文論說文時，如覺得抽像名詞運用不易，這裡所介紹的補救辦法，不妨一試。
● 他們夫妻間的愛情，歷久不衰（had lasted）；以後始終如一，也是在意料之中。這無疑是一種持久（durable）健全（sound）的愛。
● respond to：感應。請注意：英文逗點的用法和中文不同。我們寫中文時，很少把動詞和它的賓語用逗點分開來的。這裡respond to的賓語是that powerful emotion，但是二者隔得很遠，中間用了三個逗點。
● 舞台上那種浪漫的愛，也是能持久不變的；要不然的話（else），她怎麼此刻（at this very moment）對於那種強烈的感情，仍舊能發生感應呢？非但發生感應而已，她心裡還能夠體會到那種感情。
● 最後幾個字形容emotion：純潔而摧人肝腸的感情，如同他所念的（劇中的）詩句一般。（按：莎士比亞的戲劇中的對白大半均系詩句。）
To this day she had only to pick up the play at any time and read again that passionate but plaintive plea
O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?
to remember how, shivering in the half-dark of the theater, she had turned compulsively toward Smith at her side, holding her hand absently, as he thought was expected of him—unaware, and sweet, but not Romeo!—and how she felt at the time such a strange, such a confused and confusing fear that love of that kind was not to be given to her; that, so to speak, art was one thing and life was another….
● plaintive：悲傷的，悲訴的。plea：懇求。這裡連用三個p開首的字，後兩個又都是pl開首的，這在韻律學裡稱為「頭韻」（alliteration）。這裡要描寫一種強烈的感情，句法和普通口語式的散文不同，音調起伏，已經接近莎翁的無韻詩了。
● O, wilt thou…原句是《羅密歐與朱麗葉》第二幕第二場，這就是最有名的「後花園私訂終身」那一場。朱麗葉在懇求羅密歐：「你就這樣不讓我滿足地離開我嗎？」
● She had only to pick up the play…to remember：她只要檢出莎翁原劇，重讀到這個地方，心裡就會記起兩件事情。這兩件事情是用how連結的兩個名詞性從句。
第一，在光線黯淡的戲院裡面，她身體顫抖，不由自主地（compulsively）靠向（恐怕是心理上的靠向）她身旁的男同學。男同學心不在焉地握住她的手（他知道她所求於他者為此），他情意纏綿（sweet），但是他不是羅密歐！
第二，她在那時候有一種恐懼之感（奇怪的恐懼之感），它本身是混亂不清的（confused），同時卻使她心思更為昏亂（confusing），她覺得像戲台上的那種愛情是沒有人會給她的。
● 最後一個「that」clasue仍是說明fear。她覺得可以這麼說（so to speak）。藝術是一回事，人生是另一回事。
The door opened and Smith came in. He crossed to the sofa, bent down and kissed her. Then he stood up and gazed at her in a curious way. "What's eating you?" he said.
"Me? Why nothing. Why?"
"You look all…" He shrugged.
"All what"
"…Peculiar."
"Smith. Listen to me. Sit down. Who do you suppose is coming to dinner tonight?"
"Alice, what the hell's the matter with you?"
"Gavin Douglas, Ralph called up. He's bringing him home for dinner."
"Who did you say?"
"Gavin Douglas. The actor. Romeo."
"My God…."
"Why do you say that?"
He laughed. "I'm saying it for you."
"Well, you can stop it right now. This isn't a bit funny!"
"The dream made flesh…."
In spite of herself, she smiled. It was exactly she had thought, to the very words. "But what am I going to do?" she all but cried. "What under heaven am I going to do?…"
● 剛才是回憶，是情感的起伏，現在又回復到現實生活來了，文字也幾乎換了一種。
● eating：用文言來說，當是「嚙蝕」；譯成白話，該是「傷你的腦筋」。
● what the hell's the matter=what is the matter。the hell為咒罵之詞，但咒罵之意可強可弱，視語氣而定，這裡咒罵之意當然很弱。
● Ralph called up. He's bringing：注意時態的用法。雖然是家常談話，也一點不可馬虎。
● to the very words：字都用得一樣的。她聽說那伶人要來吃飯時，曾經想到過the dream made flesh（見前面本文）。現在她丈夫也有同感，把她的思想一字不易地說出來。
● all but cried：幾乎要哭。
● under heaven：用以加強what，別無他意。
Her attention was drawn to a car just driving up below. The apartment was on the third floor, and she stood close to the window behind the curtains, and looked down.
It was a Ford convertible. Her son Ralph got out, from the other side stepped a hatless youngish man in a reversible overcoat. It couldn't be Gavin Douglas; it was certainly not Romeo. He rounded the rear of the car and disappeared with Ralph into the small foyer.
● attention was drawn：注意力被吸引。driving up：開到門口。
● the apartment：他們所住的那套客寓房間。
● convertible：篷車。這一切都是從她眼睛裡看到的。
● from the other side：她的兒子從一邊下車，另外一個人從另一邊下車。youngish：年紀不算大。reversible overcoat：正反可穿的晴雨兩用大衣（反穿就是雨衣）。
● It couldn't be：這樣一個人怎麼可能是她心目中的大情人呢？
● rounded the rear：從車子後面繞過來。foyer：公寓房子進口的小門廳。他們兩人走進來了（disappeared）。
She heard them in the living room, heard Smith being hearty and cordial. A minute later her bedroom door opened and Ralph came in.
"Thank God you didn't dress up," he said.
"And why would I dress up?" she replied airily. "It isn't a dinner party, after all."
"Come on out. Dad's making drinks…."
When she came into the living room, Gavin Douglas sprang up from the chair.
"I'm Ralph's mother," she said. "How do you do…."
● living room：上了樓進了房了。being hearty and cordial：正在熱誠招待。verb to be通常並沒有動作的意思，但是being這個現在分詞也表示一點動作。例如：
I am being a fool.（我正在說傻話，或做傻事。）
cordial其實和hearty同一意義，都解作「懇切」，不過cordial的字源是拉丁文的「心」，hearty的字源是盎格魯薩克遜文的「心」；cordial比較近於文言，意義亦較弱。
● dress up：穿上禮服。西俗婦人參加正式宴會（dinner party），當穿晚禮服（evening dress）。
● airily：輕快地。
● making drinks：調酒。美國人晚餐之前如家有客人，通常要為他們準備飲料的。最普通的為威士忌加冰塊或蘇打水，或加馬鐵尼（Martini）等的雞尾酒。
Was it truly Gavin Douglas? Why, he looked no more like an actor than—why, than her husband did; and scarcely older. With inexpressible relief she noted that he was still handsome, very masculine-looking, and he might have been—anybody; anybody, that is, with a certain background and breeding. He was of medium height; his complexion was ruddy and healthy; his eyes were blue as a robin's egg. His voice was resonant and deep but not thrilling—not as it had been in the theater; his diction was no better than it should be. But what amazed her most of all was his dress. He looked just like Smith on a weekend in Connecticut.
● 這是她第一次正式見到在台下的大情人。他的模樣可真不像個演員。本段首二句是模仿口語的，這位主婦雖不開口，但心裡自問自答卻如同說話一般。第二句的兩個why就是說話時才用得到的感歎詞。why作感歎詞用，據《簡明牛津字典》解釋，至少有五種意義（詳情請查該字典）。此處第一個why用以表示一種「使人驚訝的發現或認識」（surprised discovery or recognition），相當於中文的「啊」（原來如此！）。第二個why用以表示「停頓而加以思索」（pause for reflection），相當於中文的「嗯」（讓我想想看）。她丈夫既不類伶人，客人看來也不像，兩人年齡似乎也相仿。
● relief：心頭覺得說不出的安慰。她只怕她心目中的大情人已經白髮蒼蒼，老態龍鍾，破壞了她的美麗的夢想。
● might have been：後面跟一破折號，表示她想到這裡，又停頓了一下。anybody：照那人的樣子看來，她決看不出他的身份；他可能是任何人，但先說任何人，又嫌太泛，她又替自己做註解，那就是說（that is），任何有某種生活背景（background）和高尚教養的人。
● robin's egg：知更雀的蛋。知更雀在美國東北部是很常見的一種鳥，它的蛋有一種特殊的藍色，作者拿來和那人的眼睛顏色相比，是很好的譬喻。
● resonant：響亮的，餘音裊裊的。deep：深沉的。thrilling：動人的。
● diction：所用的字，措辭。（dictionary就是從這個字衍化來的）。no better than it should be：恰到分寸，並不見得特別出色。
● on a weekend：美國男子大約有幾套服裝。上寫字間是一套，正式宴會是一套，度週末假期又是一套。她丈夫週末去康州（離紐約非常近的一個州）時所穿的衣服並沒有什麼出奇之處，現在來客所穿的也不過這麼一套，並無大明星派頭。
"It's delightful meeting Rafe's parents," he said. "I can scarcely believe it. Neither of you seem old enough to have produced such a strapping young man."
Rafe? Had she heard correctly? But of course! It was the British pronunciation.
"Are you English, Mr. Douglas?"
"Heavens no. I was born and brought up in the tiny town of Two Buttes, Colorado. My father had a small mine. I used to say that after I left, they changed the name to One Butte, but I've long since gotten over such lousy jokes—I hope."
● 第一句主語It代替動名詞meeting Rafe's parents。
● Neither of you後面的動詞用複數式seem，不用單數式seems，這是合乎語法的。strapping：高大的。這一句話是在恭維他們夫妻二人長得年輕，看不出老。
● Rafe：兒子的名字是Ralph，這個字在美國的讀音，讀者不難從字面上猜測得之。可是英國人把它讀成Rafe（讀a長音），聽來很特別。
● Heavens no：Heavens恐怕是Good heavens！之略。good heavens沒有中文「天呀！」那麼嚴重，語氣相當於北平話的「是英國人才怪哪」。
● mine：礦。
● Butte：美國西部用語，解作「山崗」。他的家鄉就是科羅拉多的雙崗鎮了。接著他還講一個笑話，他說他離開家鄉之後，家鄉人士就把鎮名改為單崗鎮。注者猜他的幽默所在，恐怕他是把butte（u長音/ju:/）當作butt（u短音/^/）來瀆。butt者，是大眾嘲笑作弄的對象；中國人笑人為「土包子」，這裡也許可以勉強應用。（土做的包子，有沒有山崗的意義？）鎮名改成單崗鎮了，因為少了一個土包子。這種幽默很難翻譯，何況注者不敢自信已經捉住文中幽默的要點。這兩句主要表示的是：此人有他的幽默感，而且不惜拿自己來挖苦的。
● gotten：照有些語法書規定，get的過去分詞是got，不是gotten，但是美國人常有用gotten的。《英漢四用字典》說：英國人用got，美國人用gotten，想必有它的根據。gotten over：有超越或克服之意。「我已經有很久（long since）不說這種低級笑話了。」lousy：這是一個應用很廣的American slang字眼。相當於北平話的「陋」或「糟」，上海話的「蹩腳」。
● 這個人的說話，既然按英國音讀Rafe，又用美國人的gotten和lousy。我們可以說他所表現的有兩方面，一是他的藝術家與眾不同的一方面，一是他平易近人善於「做人」的一方面。
"Really a mining town?" she said. "How did you happen to go on the stage, Mr. Douglas?"
"After all, one has to do something. And one night in Pueblo, when I was sixteen, I saw a road company of Way Down East. After that there was no holding me. My father kicked like a steer but it was no use. Green as I was, the stage was for me, from then on."
"When you were sixteen? It doesn't seem possible…."
"Why not?"
● to go on the stage：從事舞台生活。
● After all：說來說去，人總得要做事（我就挑選了戲劇）。
● Pueblo：科羅拉多州的城市名。
● road company：走江湖跑碼頭的戲班。Way Down East：美國本世紀初很有名的戲，為Lottie Blair Parker（1858—1937）所作。該戲拍成無聲電影後在中國映出，片名為《賴婚》。
● there was no holding me：there is的後面跟一個動名詞，解作「從此以後，沒有辦法管得住我了」。我就想投身戲劇界了。
● steer：小公牛。kicked：舉腳亂踢；發脾氣。Green：嫩，沒有經驗。
"You seemed hardly sixteen when my husband and I saw you in Romeo and Juliet."
"Oh, did you see that? Imagine!"
"I've never forgotten it, Mr. Douglas."
"Well, I was twice sixteen during my Romeo period," he said, and smiled charmingly. "Do you know how old I am now? Fifty-three, no less."
…Twice sixteen, she was thinking. That youth—that slim young lover? A Romeo of thirty-two? Incredible it seemed; it was possible, perhaps, but not probable.
She got up. "I—think it's time for dinner," she said. "Mr. Douglas, won't you bring your drink in to the table?"
● Imagine：請想想看！怪不怪？
● during my Romeo period：我演羅密歐那個時期。
● That youth—that slim young lover：這是舞台上所看見的羅密歐，演員本人則是已經三十二歲了。
● Incredible：令人難信。not probable：不近情理。
● bring your drink in：把酒一塊兒帶來。
"So you saw our Romeo and Juliet," he said. "Fancy that. You must have been kids."
"We weren't. We were both in college at the time."
'About Rafe's age. I should imagine," he said. "Wouldn't you call him a kid?"
● Fancy that：同上文的Imagine一樣，是一種自言自語。
● must have been：「從現在的立場，猜度過去的事情」所用的動詞形式。
● kids：小孩子。
● I should imagine和Wouldn't you兩個虛擬式動詞，都是比較客氣而不武斷的說法。
● call him a kid：大學生還算是小孩子，其人顯然有點倚老賣老。
"…We played Romeo and Juliet thirty consecutive weeks at the Morosco," he was saying, "and then took it on the road for another whole season. You can imagine the bang it gave me when we played Pueblo, Colorado. After the American tour, there was a three months' run at the Haymarket in London. I'm telling you, I was never so sick of anything in my life as I was of Romeo when we finally quit. Bored stiff."
"Bored? But you couldn't have been! I can't believe it, Mr. Douglas?"
● he was saying：只聽他在那裡滔滔不絕地說。
● thirty consecutive weeks：連續演三十個星期（莎翁名劇重演，賣座如此持久不衰，在紐約百老匯也很難得）。Morosco：百老匯的戲院名。上文說Alice和Smith是在「蘭心」戲院看的戲，「蘭心」戲院想是在紐約州Rochester，那時候戲班已經出發巡迴表演了。
● took it on the road：各處巡迴公演。road有一個特別意義，專指戲班跑碼頭而言。請參照上文road company。
● bang：美俚，突然而來的或強烈的歡欣、興奮。他自己是十六歲的時候，看見了戲班子在那裡演出，而決心獻身戲劇的，現在自己的戲班也在那裡演出了，當然興奮異常。played：play作及物動詞用，這種用法比較特別。根據The American College Dictionary，此字的解釋是：（戲班）在（某地）公演，（to give performance in, as a theatrical company does），該字典並舉了一個例子：
to play the larger cities（在大城市公演）
這裡We played Pueblo, Colorado用地名做played的賓語，意義亦不難瞭解了。
● run：連續演出。the Haymarket：倫敦劇院名；該戲院有悠久的歷史，1705年落成，首任經理為William Congreve，在英國文學史上是有它的地位的。
● sick of：厭倦。as I was of=as I was sick of。so sick連後面的as。quit：這個字是quit的過去形式（用quitted亦可）。各處巡迴演出之後，他對於羅密歐這個角色厭煩到了極點了。
● Bored stiff：恐怕是I was bored stiff的省略。stiff當是subjective complement，形容主語。bored：厭煩（到使人要命的程度）。
"Sorry to disillusion you, Mrs. Harvey, but I was thoroughly bored by that time. Forcing myself, putting it on, faking. But then, art is nothing if it's not make-believe. You build a performance out of artifice and tricks, and then you bring into play whatever skills you have, to make it true, convincing, or if you will, realistic." He laughed, that pleasant, hearty laugh. "The world of art is different from the actual, the facts. As for the artist himself—or the actor or writer or whatever—well, the less said about him, perhaps, the better."
● disillusion you：使你的迷夢幻滅。
● Forcing等三個字是現在分詞呢？還是動名詞？句子沒有做完，很難下判斷。假如是現在分詞，那麼這三個字可以說是形容上一句的主語I的。假如是動名詞，那麼這三個字前面大約省了What I had been doing was…這幾個字。Forcing myself：強迫自己（做戲背台詞）。putting it on：裝做像煞有介事。（putting on是假裝，it大約是指演戲那一套，所指較泛）。faking：偽造偽裝。所作所為，無非如此，怎不叫人厭倦呢？
● make-believe：上文已有解釋。「可是藝術就是以假作真，假如藝術不是如此，藝術根本就一無所有了。」
● artifice：人工，技巧。tricks：手法。演戲就是利用種種技巧手法（從種種技巧手法裡面，建立你的演技）。bring into play是個成語，解作「發揮作用」。play在這裡並不作「戲」解。artifice和tricks是演戲的基本條件，此外演員各人有不同的演技才能，你就把你所有的技能全拿出來，使你的表情（it=your performance）宛然像真的一般使人見了信服；或者你喜歡用這種字眼（or if you will），我們可以說你的表情可以更「現實化」（realistic）。（這裡的「你」，當然是泛指，並不是指聽話的人。）
● 這許多話無非要表示，演戲雖然是作假，但是「假」裡面還有道理。
● He laughed後面跟一個逗點，這表示that pleasant, hearty laugh並不是laughed的賓語，（沒有那個逗點，laugh就成了laughed的賓語）。現在這樣標點法，that pleasant, hearty laugh該是一個補充說明（parenthetical）的短語，說明laughed的。
● the less said：關於藝術家本人，愈少講起他愈好。藝術家的貢獻是他的藝術，我們只須注意他的藝術，不必注意他的本人。
All but breathless, thrilled to her fingertips, Alice Harvey was only able to ask: "Why do you say that?"
"Well, I don't mean to hold the floor too much, but the artist is both scoundrel and angel." He's gifted and cursed, happy and in despair, parasitic and productive, neurotic and brilliant, antisocial and socially aware to the very heart of him—and always intensely interesting, because there's a little of the artist in us all. Biddy used to say "Give me the man of talent to act with, but the mediocrity to live with—every time."
● All but：差不多，幾乎（作副詞用）。breathless：透不過氣來。她並沒有真的透不過氣來的，但是除此以外，一切透不過氣來的現象都有了。又例：all but drowned（幾乎淹死）。
● thrilled：激動。前面那個伶人的一段話，在她是聞所未聞，她聽見了全身顫動，一直到手指尖都有一種異樣的感覺。她開不出口，只能問這麼一句話。
● floor：國會裡發表議論的地方。take the floor：發言，參加討論。hold the floor：老是一個人在講，不讓別人發言。scoundrel：壞人。注意：scoundrel和angel連用，因此前面沒有冠詞a。在兩個或兩個以上的noun連用時，通常不用a或an，例如：We are brother and sister.
● 藝術家（the artist中的冠詞the並不表示某一個藝術家，而是表示這一類的人）是有矛盾的性格的，說他可恨（scoundrel）固然可以，說他可愛（angel）也可以。
● gifted和cursed二字都是從過去分詞轉化而成的形容詞。假如問：By whom is he gifted and cursed? 我看是by God。gifted：天賦獨厚的。cursed：受詛咒的，上帝規定藝術家不得過好日子。
● 藝術家是幸福的人，也是沒有希望的人；他是社會的寄生蟲，同時也是有創造天才的人；他神經失常，可是又是才華出眾；他離群索居，不喜社交，可是心底裡決丟不掉社會。socially aware：有「社會意識」；明白個人對於社會的責任等等。
● interesting：藝術家總是可以引起人家很大的興趣，因為我們誰都有一點兒「藝術家的氣質」（a little of the artist）。
● Biddy那句話可以這麼譯：「同我一起演戲的，我希望是一個天才；和我共同生活的，我希望是個庸人。」藝術家或天才固然有趣，但是平常是很難處的。mediocrity=a person of but moderate ability：才藝平庸之人。
"Biddy? Was she your wife?"
"Good heavens no! Biddy was the glamorous, the beauteous Constance Hope. Juliet herself."
"But—why Biddy? Was that really her nickname?"
"It's what I called her. You see, Biddy was fifteen years older than I. Forty-seven when we played Shakespeare."
● 這位伶人脫口而出地說起了Biddy這個名字。這是個暱稱，又像是個女人的名字，無怪聽的人以為是他太太的名字了。
● glamorous：美得迷人的。glamorous原義是「有魔力的」，有些出版較早的字典，恐怕還只列這樣一個解釋。近年來這個字似乎專指「惑陽城，迷下蔡」的那種「妖艷」，和「魔法，妖法」已經脫離關係了。beauteous用作「美」解，則古人詩中常見，是一個比較有書卷氣的字眼。總之，glamorous（作這個解釋）是個通俗的新字，beauteous是個古雅的老字，這位伶人是這兩種字都喜歡用。
Alice Harvey shook her head in bewilderment, and then, in spite of herself, she laughed; but only because it was also fantastic, beyond belief. "About that business of make-believe," she managed to say, "do you really, Mr. Douglas, do you actually expect me to take you seriously when—" She flushed, trying to find an illustration for what she meant. "Well, for instance, the thrilling scene where Juliet comes on alone and launches that long speech that ends with something like
Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,…
I mean, do you actually mean to sit there and tell us, Mr. Douglas, that—that Constance Hope wasn't moved when she spoke those lines? Wasn't carried away?"
● 舞台上的朱麗葉，事實上已經是四十七歲的中年婦人了，難怪我們這位女主人搖搖她的頭，不知所措了。
● in spite of herself：不能控制自己。
● 四十七歲的婦人能演十四歲的朱麗葉，而且演得非常之好，看戲的人大受感動，現在想想，未免好笑。但是另外還有一點可笑之處（because…also）：雖然這位伶人不會騙人，但事情畢竟荒唐（fantastic），令人難以置信。
● make-believe：演戲本來是以假作真的。she managed to say：好容易才想出這句話來說。她雖然想了這句話來說，但是話說得還是斷斷續續。這句話很長，句法轉了好幾次：
● do you actually是重複do you really。to take you seriously相信你不是在開玩笑。when以後，句子做不下去了，她就換一種說法。flushed：臉紅。an illustration：用以說明的例子。
● thrilling scene：動人的一場戲。原劇第三幕第二場，朱麗葉一個人出場，開始（launches）大段獨白。這段話是朱麗葉的禱告，她求太陽快些下去，夜快些來。「把羅密歐賞賜給我！他死後，你再把他帶到天上去，分散成為點點繁星……」
● Well, for instance…這句話沒有說完，她又換了一句。I mean：這兩個字是很有用的成語，自己覺得話說不清楚，不得不反覆說明時，這兩個字就用得著。
● sit there：坐在那裡（餐廳的那張椅子上）。
● 朱麗葉那一段話很動人的，豈有演員自己反不受感動之理？carried away：出神，著迷。
"I'll tell you how carried away she was," he said. "Naturally I remember that scene well—God, I hear it in my sleep, to this day, Capulet's orchard, just before intermission. Biddy hadn't been in the previous scene, but I was. When I came off-stage, I always found her standing there in the wings waiting, smoking a cigarette—against all the rules, of course, but that was Biddy, a law unto herself. When she heard the cue, she handed me the cigarette and went on. It was a long scene, with the Nurse. Biddy kept on hoping, but in vain. She always had to light a new one, and cursed the Nurse for being so slow with her lines that she wasted a whole cigarette."
● hear it：這一段戲詞，他念念不忘，現在時隔多年，他在睡夢中似乎還聽得見。
● Capulet's orchard：Capulet是朱麗葉的姓氏，他們家的果園，是那場戲的背景。intermission：休息時間。
● the previous scene：第三幕第一場，即羅密歐擊斃Tybalt的那一場。那場戲中沒有朱麗葉的戲。
● off-stage：這是個形容詞（這裡應該是形容主語I）；解作「在後台」。
● wings：舞台的側面（此字用複數形式）。against all the rules：翻遍後台管理規則，沒有一條是容許演員在那種地方抽煙的。可是這位演員與眾不同：她是Biddy，她可以率性行事。unto就是to，這是個古字。（類似的例子：until就是till，但till和until是一樣適用的。）a law unto oneself是成語，解作「不可以常理來規定」。例如：A child is often a law unto itself. 小孩常有小孩自己的辦法。
● cue：上一場的最後幾句話（朱麗葉聽見了，就預備出場。此字也可解作同一場另一演員一段對白的最後幾個字，演員聽見了，就預備接口說話。）
● Nurse：朱麗葉的乳娘是戲裡一個重要角色。
● kept on hoping：這句話意義不大清楚，但看後面兩句，便知她是希望這場戲早點結束，回去抽那枝香煙！
● to light a new one：重新點一枝香煙。原來那一枝已經燒完了。
● so slow with her lines：乳娘背台詞（lines）背得太慢，害得朱麗葉糟蹋一枝香煙。
Poor Alice Harvey—her head was swimming. She didn't believe, almost didn't dare listen; and certainly didn't dare to glance at her husband by now, who was probably grinning at her with his own particular brand of fiendish delight. "But if Constance Hope," she faltered, "wasn't affected by the scene, wasn't deeply moved inside, then why…how…why was I moved?"
● her head was swimming：眩暈。
● dare listen二字之間，原文沒有to，這種用法很奇怪。照普通用法，用dared not listen時不用to，用didn't dare後面就得用to。本段接著就是didn't dare to glance，用to是不錯的。
● 她一向所崇拜的演員，原來把演戲看得如此隨便，她怕她丈夫在竊笑。grinning：露齒而笑。brand：種類。她丈夫有一種特別的「惡毒的取笑」，所謂「惡毒」者（fiendish：魔鬼的），就是看見別人窘迫了，他就引以為樂。
● faltered：吞吞吐吐地說。
"My dear Mrs. Harvey," he said, with his gentlest, his most intimate smile. "If Biddy had been moved herself—carried away by the emotion of the scene, swept off her feet, whatever you want to call it—you wouldn't have been moved at all. You'd have sat there cold and impassive, resisting it with your whole being, irritated, in fact, by the spectacle of a woman making a holy show of herself.」
● gentlest：最溫柔的。most intimate：最親切的。
● If Biddy…herself中的herself用以加強主語Biddy。moved是「感動」，說話的人怕這個字意義不夠清楚，換了兩種說法：「假定她被戲裡的情感所支配了，假定她演得忘其所以了……。」swept off one's feet：（成語）感動得忘其所以，興奮過度。
● whatever you want to call it：不論你用moved也好，用別種說法也好。假如演員自己大受感動，觀眾就不受感動了。
● impassive：不感痛癢，無動於衷（形容詞，形容主語You）。
● resisting it中的it即上一句whatever you want to call it中的it——指Biddy真動了情感去做戲。with your whole being：用你全力來反抗，你就要看不下去了。being：要素，本性，「存在」。your whole being：精神身體統統算進去。
● irritated：仍是形容主語You。「你看見了要生氣的」此字連後面的by。in fact是插進去補充說明的。spectacle：奇觀，慘相，「好戲」。making a…show of herself：炫耀，表現自己。holy原義是「神聖」，這裡是反語。a holy show該是「出醜，出洋相」。一個女人當著大庭廣眾，真正地大哭大笑起來，別人是忍受不了的。
Shortly after ten, Gavin Douglas rose to leave.
He was at the open door leading to the hall and the stairs, his reversible coat over his arm. He turned back momentarily, then, and Alice Harvey was delighted to see that he was about to make an exit, so to speak. He took her outstretched hand in both of his and gave her a long, searching, and very complimentary look. She waited, pleased.
"Mrs. Harvey," he said, his voice dropping a full octave lower and thrilling her through and through, "all summer long I've wondered where Rafe got those eyes. Now I know…."
● open door：公寓的大門，不是房間的門，所以這裡說是「通到門堂（hall）和樓梯的那扇門」。over his arm：挽在臂上。
● then：那時候他本來已經預備跨步外出，現在忽然回轉身來。to make an exit：（演員）下場。下場的時候演員常常要念兩句「下場詩」。現在當然不在舞台上，但是在女主人心目中，他現在的姿勢，可以說（so to speak）是在準備下場，正要說什麼精彩的話，或者做什麼精彩的表情。
● outstretched：伸出來的。both of his=both of his hands。look前面有三個形容詞：long（時間長），searching（仔細——似乎在尋些什麼東西），complimentary（帶著恭維的意義）。
● pleased：過去分詞作形容詞用。
● dropping a full octave lower：聲音忽然下降了整整一個音階，即本來唱do re mi的，現在唱低音的do re mi。thrilling：這個字又出現了，這裡可以解作「使她心神蕩漾，全身的汗毛孔都覺得異樣的舒服」。
● where Rafe got those eyes：我一直猜不透令郎怎麼會有這樣一雙美的眼睛，現在我明白了……。