【有声英语文学名著】CHAPTER ONE(5)
时间:2018-12-31 作者:英语课 分类:有声英语文学名著
英语课
In his last four years he had seen any number of bedrooms like this, dotted round the city like crime scenes, rooms where you were never more than six feet from a Nina Simone album, and though he‘d rarely seen the same bedroom twice, it was all too familiar. The burnt out nightlights and desolate 1 pot plants, the smell of washing powder on cheap, ill-fitting sheets. She had that arty girl‘s passion for photomontage too; flash-lit snaps of college friends and family jumbled in amongst the Chagalls and Vermeers and Kandinskys, the Che Guevaras and Woody Allens and Samuel Becketts. Nothing here was neutral, everything displayed an allegiance or a point of view. The room was a manifesto 2, and with a sigh Dexter recognised her as one of those girls who used "bourgeois‘ as a term of abuse. He could understand why "fascist‘ might have negative connotations, but he liked the word "bourgeois‘ and all that it implied. Security, travel, nice food, good manners, ambition; what was he meant to be apologising for?
He watched the smoke curl from his mouth. Feeling for an ashtray 3, he found a book at the side of the bed. The Unbearable 4 Lightness of Being, spine 5 creased 6 at the "erotic‘ bits. The problem with these fiercely individualistic girls was that they were all exactly the same. Another book: The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. Silly bloody fool, he thought, confident that it was not a mistake he would ever make.
At twenty-three, Dexter Mayhew‘s vision of his future was no clearer than Emma Morley‘s. He hoped to be successful, to make his parents proud and to sleep with more than one woman at the same time, but how to make these all compatible? He wanted to feature in magazine articles, and hoped one day for a retrospective of his work, without having any clear notion of what that work might be. He wanted to live life to the extreme, but without any mess or complications. He wanted to live life in such a way that if a photograph were taken at random 7, it would be a cool photograph. Things should look right. Fun; there should be a lot of fun and no more sadness than absolutely necessary.
It wasn‘t much of a plan, and already there had been mistakes. Tonight, for instance, was bound to have repercussions: tears and awkward phone-calls and accusations. He should probably get out of here as soon as possible, and he glanced at his discarded clothes in preparation for his escape.
过去的四年里,这样的卧室他见得多了,它们犹如一处处罪案现场,星罗棋布在城市各处。环顾房间六英尺之内你一定找得到妮娜·西蒙的专辑。尽管雷同的房间他从未见过,但对其中的一切都再熟悉不过:烧坏的夜灯灯泡,凋零的盆栽,散发出洗衣粉味道的大小不合的廉价床单。她也怀有文艺女青年对蒙太奇照片的热情—大学同学和亲人们的快照同夏加尔、维梅尔、康定斯基的作品以及切·格瓦拉、伍迪·艾伦、萨缪尔·贝克特的肖像拼接在一起。这个地方没有中立的元素,一切都在宣示某个信念,表达某种立场。房间就是一道宣言,德克斯特读懂了它的寓意:对她这种女孩而言,“中产阶级”这样的词汇是一种侮辱。他不由叹了口气,他可以理解“法西斯”为何是个贬义词,却喜欢“中产阶级”这个词从内涵到外延的一切。有保障的生活、旅游美食、良好的教养、勃勃雄心,莫非他还要为拥有这些而抱歉?
他望着嘴里吐出的缭绕烟圈,伸手去摸烟灰缸,却在床边发现了一本书。《不能承受的生命之轻》,“情色”部分的书脊处已折出了皱痕。这些激烈的个人主义女青年的共同症结就在于,她们是一个模子刻出来的。还有一本书,《错把妻子当帽子》。蠢透了的傻瓜,他想着,确信这样的错误自己决不会犯。
二十三岁的德克斯特·梅休对自己未来的设想并不比爱玛·莫利描述的更清晰。他想成功,想让父母为他自豪,并能同时和不止一个女人上床。然而这一切如何和谐并存?他希望能上杂志,有朝一日办出个人事业回顾展,至于是什么事业,他一片茫然。他想享受生命,活出极致,但不愿承受任何麻烦和纠缠。他理想的生活应该是,无论何时被抓拍,都无可挑剔;一切都该光鲜体面;还要有乐趣,一定要欢乐满满,除非万不得已,否则绝不要一丝哀愁。
这算不上什么规划,况且已经出了差错。比如今夜,一定会引起余波:哭哭啼啼、恶言相向的电话、彼此的责难……大概该尽快离开此地。于是他瞥了一眼脱甩在各处的衣物,准备逃离。
He watched the smoke curl from his mouth. Feeling for an ashtray 3, he found a book at the side of the bed. The Unbearable 4 Lightness of Being, spine 5 creased 6 at the "erotic‘ bits. The problem with these fiercely individualistic girls was that they were all exactly the same. Another book: The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. Silly bloody fool, he thought, confident that it was not a mistake he would ever make.
At twenty-three, Dexter Mayhew‘s vision of his future was no clearer than Emma Morley‘s. He hoped to be successful, to make his parents proud and to sleep with more than one woman at the same time, but how to make these all compatible? He wanted to feature in magazine articles, and hoped one day for a retrospective of his work, without having any clear notion of what that work might be. He wanted to live life to the extreme, but without any mess or complications. He wanted to live life in such a way that if a photograph were taken at random 7, it would be a cool photograph. Things should look right. Fun; there should be a lot of fun and no more sadness than absolutely necessary.
It wasn‘t much of a plan, and already there had been mistakes. Tonight, for instance, was bound to have repercussions: tears and awkward phone-calls and accusations. He should probably get out of here as soon as possible, and he glanced at his discarded clothes in preparation for his escape.
过去的四年里,这样的卧室他见得多了,它们犹如一处处罪案现场,星罗棋布在城市各处。环顾房间六英尺之内你一定找得到妮娜·西蒙的专辑。尽管雷同的房间他从未见过,但对其中的一切都再熟悉不过:烧坏的夜灯灯泡,凋零的盆栽,散发出洗衣粉味道的大小不合的廉价床单。她也怀有文艺女青年对蒙太奇照片的热情—大学同学和亲人们的快照同夏加尔、维梅尔、康定斯基的作品以及切·格瓦拉、伍迪·艾伦、萨缪尔·贝克特的肖像拼接在一起。这个地方没有中立的元素,一切都在宣示某个信念,表达某种立场。房间就是一道宣言,德克斯特读懂了它的寓意:对她这种女孩而言,“中产阶级”这样的词汇是一种侮辱。他不由叹了口气,他可以理解“法西斯”为何是个贬义词,却喜欢“中产阶级”这个词从内涵到外延的一切。有保障的生活、旅游美食、良好的教养、勃勃雄心,莫非他还要为拥有这些而抱歉?
他望着嘴里吐出的缭绕烟圈,伸手去摸烟灰缸,却在床边发现了一本书。《不能承受的生命之轻》,“情色”部分的书脊处已折出了皱痕。这些激烈的个人主义女青年的共同症结就在于,她们是一个模子刻出来的。还有一本书,《错把妻子当帽子》。蠢透了的傻瓜,他想着,确信这样的错误自己决不会犯。
二十三岁的德克斯特·梅休对自己未来的设想并不比爱玛·莫利描述的更清晰。他想成功,想让父母为他自豪,并能同时和不止一个女人上床。然而这一切如何和谐并存?他希望能上杂志,有朝一日办出个人事业回顾展,至于是什么事业,他一片茫然。他想享受生命,活出极致,但不愿承受任何麻烦和纠缠。他理想的生活应该是,无论何时被抓拍,都无可挑剔;一切都该光鲜体面;还要有乐趣,一定要欢乐满满,除非万不得已,否则绝不要一丝哀愁。
这算不上什么规划,况且已经出了差错。比如今夜,一定会引起余波:哭哭啼啼、恶言相向的电话、彼此的责难……大概该尽快离开此地。于是他瞥了一眼脱甩在各处的衣物,准备逃离。
adj.荒凉的,荒芜的;孤独的,凄凉的;v.使荒芜,使孤寂
- The city was burned into a desolate waste.那座城市被烧成一片废墟。
- We all felt absolutely desolate when she left.她走后,我们都觉得万分孤寂。
n.宣言,声明
- I was involved in the preparation of Labour's manifesto.我参与了工党宣言的起草工作。
- His manifesto promised measures to protect them.他在宣言里保证要为他们采取保护措施。
n.烟灰缸
- He knocked out his pipe in the big glass ashtray.他在大玻璃烟灰缸里磕净烟斗。
- She threw the cigarette butt into the ashtray.她把烟头扔进烟灰缸。
adj.不能容忍的;忍受不住的
- It is unbearable to be always on thorns.老是处于焦虑不安的情况中是受不了的。
- The more he thought of it the more unbearable it became.他越想越觉得无法忍受。
n.脊柱,脊椎;(动植物的)刺;书脊
- He broke his spine in a fall from a horse.他从马上跌下摔断了脊梁骨。
- His spine developed a slight curve.他的脊柱有点弯曲。
(使…)起折痕,弄皱( crease的过去式和过去分词 ); (皮肤)皱起,使起皱纹; 皱皱巴巴
- You've creased my newspaper. 你把我的报纸弄皱了。
- The bullet merely creased his shoulder. 子弹只不过擦破了他肩部的皮肤。