Twinkle，twinkle，littlestar，howIwonderwhatyouare。
探访故亲
periodically i go back to a churchyard cemetery on the side of an Appalachian hill in northernVirginia to call on family elders. it slows the juices down something marvelous.
弗吉尼亚北部阿巴拉契亚山脉的一个小山坡上， 有一处教堂墓地。每隔一段日子，我都要回到那里探望先辈们。这种 探访有一种奇妙的力量，能让人的心境归于平静。
they are all situated right behind an imposing brick church with a tall square brick bell-towerbest described as honest but not flossy. some of the family elders did construction repair workon that church and some of them, the real old timer, may even have helped build it ，but icounldn't swear to that because it's been there a long, long time.
先辈们的墓地全都在一座庄严醒目的砖石教堂后面。高高耸立的方形钟楼也是砖石结构的，说它“朴实而不粗糙”在再合适不过了。家族先辈中有些参与过教堂的修缮工作，另一些人，那些真正的老祖宗们，或许还为教堂的建造出过力，但对此我可没有绝对把握，因为教堂建在那里毕竟已经很久很久了。
The view, especially in early summer, is so pleasing that it’s a pity they can’t enjoy it. Wildroses blooming on fieldstone fences, fields white with daisies, that soft languorous air turningthe mountains pastel blue out toward the West.
那儿的景色非常怡人，尤其是在初夏时节。石栅篱上的野蔷薇竞相开放，田野被雏菊染成一片白色，微醺的和风给群山抹上淡淡的蓝色，一直向西边延伸而去。先辈们无法欣赏这些美景，真是一桩憾事。
The tombstones are not much to look at. Tombstones never are in my book, but they do helpin keeping track of the family and, unlike a family, they have the virtue of never chafing at you.
那些墓碑倒是没什么看的。在我看来，墓碑从来就没有什么好看的。但它们确实有助于寻根问祖，而绝不会像现在的家人，总跟你唠叨个没完。
This is not to say they don’t talk after a fashion. Every time I pass Uncle Lewis’s I can hear itsay, “Come around to the barber shop, boy, and I’ll cut that hair.” Uncle Lewis was a barber. Heleft up here for a while and went to the city. Baltimore. But he came back after the end. Almostall of them came back finally, those that left, but most stayed right here all along.
但这儿并不是说他们总是“一声不吭”。每次走过刘易斯大叔的墓前，我都能听见这样的话：“回头到理发店来，孩子，我给你剪剪头。”刘易斯大叔是个理发的，有一段时间他曾离开家乡，到大都市巴尔的摩谋生，但最后还是回来了。几乎所有的人，我是说那些离开过的人们，最终都回来了，但大多数人——一辈子都呆在这里。
Well, not right here in the churchyard, but out there over the fields, two, three, four milesaway. Grandmother was born just over that rolling field out there near the woods the year theCivil War ended, lived most of her life about three miles out the other way there near themountain, and has been right here near this old shade tree for the past 50 years.
对了，“这里”当然不是指这片墓地，而是乡间那边，离墓地二三英里或三四英里的地方。内战结束那年，祖母就出生在树林子附近那片起伏不平的地头。她大半辈子都在离林子大约三英里的大山边生活，如今安躺在这棵绿荫如盖的老树下也有50年了。
We weren’t people who went very far. Uncle Harry, her second child, is right beside her. Acarpenter. He lived 87 years in these parts without ever complaining about not seeing Paris. Toget Uncle Harry to say anything, you have to ask for directions.
先辈们都不大出远门儿。就拿哈里大伯来说吧，他是祖母的二儿子，就葬在她的墓旁。他是个木匠，一辈子87年都在这一带度过，从未抱怨过自己没去过巴黎，见识见识外面的世界。要想让哈里大伯开口说点什么，你得向他问路才行。
“Which way is the schoolhouse?” I ask, though not aloud of course.
“去学堂走哪条路呀？”我问道，当然声音不大。
“Up the road that way a right good piece,” he replies, still the master of indefinite navigationwhom I remember from my boyhood.
“沿那条道一直走就行，还得走好一阵子呢。”他回答道。在我儿时的记忆中，他一直就是这个样子，总是那副好给别人之路却又指不清的含糊口气。
It’s good to call on Uncle Lewis, grandmother and Uncle Harry like this. It improves yourperspective to commune with people who are not alarmed about the condition of NATO orwhining about the flabbiness of the dollar.
像这样探访刘易斯大叔、祖母和哈里大伯，感觉真好。他们既不
The elders take the long view. Of course, you don’t want to indulge too extensively in thatlong a view, but it’s useful to absorb it in short doses. It corrects the blood pressure and putsthings in a more sensible light.
先辈们大都看得开，想得远。当然，你并不想沉迷于用太长远的目光去看问题，但偶尔合理地用上一次却大有裨益。这样可以使你心平气和，更加理智地看待各种事物。
After a healthy dose of it, you realize that having your shins kicked in the subway is not thegravest insult to dignity ever suffered by common humanity.
学会适当地把目光放开一点之后，你就会明白，在地铁里被人踹了一脚并不算是普通人所受的什么奇耻大辱。
Somewhere in the vicinity is my great-grandfather who used to live back there against themountain and make guns, but I could never find him. He was born out that way in 1817—JamesMonroe was President then—and I’d like to find him to commune a bit with somebody of bloodkin who was around when Andrew Jackson was in his heyday.
就在这附近哪个地方埋着我的一个曾祖父。生前他依山而居，还造过枪，但我一直没能找到他的墓。1817年他就出生在那里——当时的总统是詹姆斯·门罗——我极想找到他，好跟这位亲眼目睹了安德鲁·杰克逊鼎盛时期的亲人好好聊上几句。
After Jackson and Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War, he would probably not be very impressedabout much that goes on nowadays, and I would like to get a few resonances off histombstone, a cool frisson of contempt maybe for a great-grandchild who had missed all thereally perilous times.
这位曾祖父生活在杰克逊、亚伯拉罕·林肯当政时期，又经历了内战，对时下发生的事儿可能不会有太大的感触。但我仍想从墓碑中听他讲上几句，哪怕他会对我这个没经历过真正危难时世的曾孙表示出冷漠和不屑，会令我不寒而栗。
Unfortunately, I am never able to find him, but there is Uncle Irvey, grandmother’s oldest boy.An unabashed Hoover Republican. “Eat all those string beans, boy,” I hear as I nod at histombstone.
遗憾的是，我始终没能找到他的墓，却碰到了祖母大儿子欧维大伯的墓。他是个铁杆胡佛派共和党人。“孩子，把那些菜豆全吃了。”我朝他的墓碑点头时，听见他这么说。
And here is a surprise: Uncle Edgar. He has been here for years, but I have never bumped intohim before. I don’t dare disturb him, for he is an important man, the manager of the baseballteam, and his two pitchers, my Uncle Harold and my Cousin-in-law Howard, have both beenshelled on the mound and Uncle Edgar has to decide whether to ask the shortstop if he knowsanything about pitching.
这可是个意外的发现：埃德加大叔的墓，他埋在这里已有好些年了。可今天还是我第一次看见他的墓。我没敢惊动他，因为他是个大人物，棒球队经纪人。记得有一次，他的两个投手——我的哈罗德大叔和霍华德表姐夫，在投球区被对方连连安打得分，他只得决定去找游击手，问他有没有信心上场充当投手去投球。
My great-grandfather who made guns is again not to be found, but on the way out I pass thetombstone of another great-grandfather whose distinction was that he left an estate of$3.87. It is the first time I have passed this way since I learned of this, and I smile his way, butsomething says, “In the long run, boy, we all end up as rich as Rockefeller,” and I get into thecar and drive out onto the main road, gliding through fields white with daisies, past fencesperfumed with roses, and am rather more content with the world.
造枪的曾祖父的墓还是没找到，但离开墓地的时候我却发现了另一个曾祖父的墓。他的与众不同之处就是只留下了3.87美元的遗产，这是我听说这桩事后第一次从这儿经过，我笑他的寒酸，却听见有个声音在说：“从长远看，孩子，到最后我们都会跟洛克菲勒一样有钱的。”于是我钻进汽车，穿过被雏菊染白的田野，经过蔷薇飘香的石栅篱，把车开到大路上。此刻，这对这个世界又多了几许满足。
追寻一段永世难忘的史实
Pauline Kael
波琳·凯尔
Louis Malle's Au Revoir les Enfants" （or "Goodbye, Children"） is set in Occupied France in 1944,when Malle was an eleven-year-old at a Catholic boys' boarding school near Fontainebleau thatsheltered several Jewish boys. The Gestapo learned they were there, and sent the ones theyfound to Auschwitz ， and the headmaster to a work camp c4J One of the Jewish boyswas inMalle's class, but Malle didn't get to know him well and didn't realizethat he was Jewish. For thedramatic purposes of the movie, he has conceived a close friendship between his alter ego,the fairhaired Julien Quentin(Gaspard Manesse)， and the dark boy who is using the false nameJean Bonnet (Raphael Fejto)。 Malle has every right to fantasize and invent, but I'm puzzled bythe kind of fantasizing he does here. The First half of the film is so hushed and enervated thatI kept peering into the schoolyard looking for signs of life. It's full of wealthy boys at play;they're even there on stilts,battling and falling down. But their games-which might clue us intotheir ruling-class assumptions and their snobbery and the limits of their understanding-areshown at a distance. The camera is so discreet it always seems about ten feet too far away,and the boy who plays Julien is directed so that he never engages us; we can't look into him, orinto anyone else.
路易·马尔执导的《再见，孩子们》以1944年的法国被占区为背景，当时他11岁，在枫丹白露附近一所天主教办的寄宿男校上学。学校藏下了好几个犹太孩子。盖世太保探知他们的下落，把搜出来的送往奥斯维辛，校长发配劳动营。孩子当中有一个就在马尔班上，不过马尔跟他不熟，也没看出他是犹太人。在电影里，为求得戏剧性的效果，马尔虚构了自己的化身—金发少年朱利安·昆廷（加斯帕德·马内斯饰）——和化名让·博内的深肤色男孩（拉斐尔·费日托饰）之间的亲密友情。马尔有充分的权利进行想象和虚构，但我对他在这里做出的这种想象大惑不解。影片的前半部抑闷不张，软弱无力，我禁不住朝校园里不断张望，寻找生气。满园都是富家子弟在玩耍；他们还踩起了高跷，互相打斗又摔倒在地。但是，他们的嬉戏——本可以向我们揭示一下他们身上那副统治阶级的装腔作势、那份势利眼和见识短浅——都拍成了远景。摄影机太小心谨慎了，总像是远了十来英尺；饰朱利安的小演员让导演导得毫不动人；我们看不到他的内心活动，也看不到别人的。
As the story is presented, Julien, who is quick, grasps almost at once that this new boy, JeanBonnet, is an impostor, who isn't really Catholic; Julien catches Jean standing by his bed atnight, praying silently, with two lighted candles, and Julien rummages in Jean's books anddiscovers that his realname is the German-sounding Jean Kippelstein. Julien is the only boy inthe class who offers Jean friendship; the others play tricks on Jean and gang upon him, becausehe's different-he's not one of them. Julien, who knows how different Jean actually is, keeps hisdiscovery to himself. He and Jeanare the two brightest boys in the class; they both love toread, and they become best friends. This is a rather moist fantasy of Julien's virtue; it'seventually mixed with a fantasy self-accusation of guilt. When the Gestapo chief comes intothe classroom asking for Jean Kippelstein, the scared, nervous Julien involuntarily turns andlooks at his friend-it's a Judas kiss ，but an unintentional one. And Jean exonerates him: whenhe is packing his gear to go with the Gestapo men, he tells Julien that it didn't matter, that theNazis would have caught him anyway.
烛，立在床边默默祈祷；他翻看让的课本，发现他的真名叫让·基普尔斯坦，听音是个德国姓。朱利安是班上惟一待他友好的同学；别人都捉弄他，合伙欺负他，因为他不一样——跟他们不一路。朱利安明知这不一样的真情，把亲瞍所见藏在心底。他和让是班上两名最聪明的学生；他俩都喜欢读书，还成了最要好的朋友。这里是说朱利安的善良，想象中很有几分伤感；到最后更添了一层，想象他因负疚而自责。只见盖世太保的头子走进教室，来要让·基普尔斯坦，张皇失措的朱利安不由自主转过脸去看了看他的朋友——岂不正是犹大之吻，但并非存心所为。让并不记恨他：他收拾好东西跟盖世太保走，一面对朱利安说没什么，反正纳粹会抓到他的。
In the finest scene of the movie, Jean shakes hands with the boys near him just before he'staken away; it's a well-brought-up young boy's leavetaking,and nothing has prepared you for it.But throughout Lrean is used as an aesthetic objea-spiritual, sensitive, foreign 。 He's oftenshot in profile, with his lips parted, and in one scene he goes to Mass with the other boys andtilts his face, open-mouthed-almost yearning-to receive the holy wafer, whichm is denied him bythe Reverend Father, the headmaster. Is the boy merely seeking acceptance by the otherboys-is he just trying to pass as one of them-or is something else implied? The whole movieseems padded and muted, it's designed to make you understand that Julien is stricken by thehorror of what happens to his friend. But nothing in it comes into clear focus-not the boys'attitudes, not even the images (and certainly not a lengthy sequence in which the two boysare on a treasure hunt in Fontainebleau Forest)。
影片有一场精彩之至。让即将被人带走，他与身边的同学一一握手；一个很有教养的少年跟人话别的做派，事先未做任何铺垫。但让自始至终都用来充当一个审美的对象——超凡脱俗，有灵性，希罕。他往往拍成双唇微启的侧面形象，有一场戏是他随同学去做弥撒，他仰起脸，张着嘴——几乎是渴望着——去领神父大人即校长并没有赐给他的圣饼。这孩子是否只求同学收下他——只求把他当自己人，还是其中别有寓意呢？整部影片显得沉闷压抑，意在要你理解朱利安因见朋友惨遭不幸而深感痛心。不过，影片中一切都看不真切——同学的态度如此，就连图像也如此（两个孩子在枫丹白露森林里寻宝的那一长段穿插，自然也是如此）。
Malle has said that this is the most personal and important film of his career,and I believe thathe thinks that. I also believe that he's wrong. If "Au Revoir"is very personal to him, this may bebecause as an adult he has felt stricken by the recognition that he wasn't stricken then, and itmay involve his feelings of guilt over his own family's safety and prosperity-everything thatthe film barely touches on.
马尔曾说，这是他导演生涯中最富自传色彩也是最重要的一部影片。我认为他是这样想的。我又认为他并没有说对。如果说他自认《再见》一片极富于自传色彩，那也许是因为他成年后认识到当年未感痛心，因而一直深感痛心，其中也许还夹有他自己的家庭当年安富尊荣因而每每内疚于心——这一切在影片中倒是甚少触及。
Malle has said of "Au Revoir." "I reinvented the past in the pursuit of a haunting and timelesstruth." Maybe that's why I felt as if I were watching a faded French classic, something I dimlyrecalled. In pursuit of haunting and timeless truth, Malle has gone back to the anti-Nazi moviesof the forties,and polished and formalized the actions until he's turned melodrama into politereverie.
对《再见》马尔说过：“我这样旧事新编，是在追寻一段永世难忘的史实。”难怪我觉得像是在看一部退了色的法国经典片，依稀中似曾相识，恐怕就是这个缘故。马尔在追寻永世难忘的史实中回到40年代那些反纳粹的电影，他对剧情加工润色，自成一格，终于把情节剧变成了文雅的幻想曲。
Yes, it gets to you by the end. How could it not? But you may feel pretty wom down-by howaccomplished it is, and by all the aching, tender shots of Jean. He's photographed as if hewere a piece of religious art: Christ in his early adolesence. There's something unseemly aboutthe movie's obsession with his exotic beauty-as if the French-German Jews had come from thefar side of the moon. And does he have to be so brilliant, and a gifted pianist, andcourageous? Would the audience not mourn him if he were just an average schmucky kid withpimples?
不错，你看到剧终正是这般感受。岂有他哉？但你也许会感到疲惫不堪——就为它技法如此精湛，就为让有那么些凄楚动人的镜头。他摄下的形象犹如一件宗教艺术品：少年时期的基督。影片一味醉心于他的异族情调之美，总不那么妥当吧——仿佛法德两国的犹太人都是来自天外的月球。再说，他难道就非如此光彩照人不可吗，又有弹钢琴的天赋，又能临危不惧？他若只是个普普通通、呆头呆脑的孩子，长一脸雀斑，观众难道就不哀其不幸了吗？
怎样读书？
Virginia Woolf
弗吉尼亚·伍尔夫
It is simple enough to say that since books have classes——fiction，biography，poetry——weshould separate them and take from each what it is right that each should give us. Yet fewpeople ask from books what books can give us. Most commonly we come to books with blurredand divided minds，asking of fiction that it shall be true，of poetry that it shall be false，ofbiography that it shall be flattering，of history that it shall enforce our own prejudices. If wecould banish all such preconceptions when we read，that would be an admirable beginning. Donot dictate to your author;Try to become him. Be his fellow-worker and accomplice. If youhang back，and reserve and criticize at first，you are preventing yourself from getting thefullest possible value from what you read. But if you open your mind as widely as possible，thesigns and hints of almost imperceptible fineness，from the twist and turn of the firstsentences，will bring you into the presence of a human being unlike any other. Steep yourselfin this，acquaint yourself with this，and soon you will find that your author is giving you，orattempting to give you，something far more definite. The thirty-two chapters of a novel—if weconsider how to read a novel first——are an attempt to make something as formed andcontrolled as a building：but words are more impalpable than bricks;Reading is a longer andmore complicated process than seeing. Perhaps the quickest way to understand the elementsof what a novelist is doing is not to read，but to write;To make your own experiment with thedangers and difficulties of words. Recall，then，some event that has left a distinct impressionon you—how at the corner of the street，perhaps，you passed two people talking. A treeshook;an electric light danced;the tone of the talk was comic，but also tragic;a wholevision;an entire conception，seemed contained in that moment.
书既然有小说，传记，诗歌之分，就应区别对待，从各类书中取其应该给及我们的东西。这话说来很简单。然而很少有人向书索取它能给我们的东西，我们拿起书来往往怀着模糊而又杂乱的想法，要求小说是真是的，诗歌是虚假的，传记要吹捧，史书能加强我们自己的偏见。读书时如能抛开这些先入为主之见，便是极好的开端。不要对作者指手画脚，而要尽力与作者融为一体，共同创作，共同策划。如果你不参与，不投入，而且一开始就百般挑剔，那你就无缘从书中获得最大的益处。你若敞开心扉，虚怀若谷，那么，书中精细入微的寓意和暗示便会把你从一开头就碰上的那些像是山回水转般的句子中带出来，走到一个独特的人物面前。钻进去熟悉它，你很快就会发现，作者展示给你的或想要展示给你的是一些比原先要明确得多的东西。不妨闲来谈谈如何读小说吧。一部长篇小说分成三十二章，是作者的苦心经营，想把它建构得如同一座错落有致的布局合理的大厦。可是词语比砖块更难捉摸，阅读比观看更费时、更复杂。了解作家创作的个中滋味。最有效的途径恐怕不是读而是写，通过写亲自体验一下文字工作的艰难险阻。回想一件你记忆忧新的事吧。比方说，在街道的拐弯处遇到两个人正在谈话，树影婆娑，灯光摇曳，谈话的调子喜中有悲。这一瞬间似乎包含了一种完善的意境，全面的构思。
But when you attempt to reconstruct it in words，you will find that it breaks into a thousandconflicting impressions. Some must be subdued;others emphasized;in the process you willlose，probably，all grasp upon the emotion itself. Then turn from your blurred and litteredpages to the opening pages of some great novelist—Defoe，Jane Austen，or Hardy. Now youwill be better able to appreciate their mastery. It is not merely that we are in the presence ofa different person—Defoe，Jane Austen，or Thomas Hardy—but that we are living in a differentworld. Here，in Robinson Crusoe，we are trudging a plain high road;one thing happens afteranother;the fact and the order of the fact is enough. But if the open air and adventure meaneverything to Defoe they mean nothing to Jane Austen. Hers is the drawing-room，and peopletalking，and by the many mirrors of their talk revealing their characters. And if，when we haveaccustomed ourselves to the drawing-room and its reflections，we turn to Hardy，we are oncemore spun around. The other side of the mind is now exposed—the dark side that comesuppermost in solitude，not the light side that shows in company. Our relations are nottowards people，but towards Nature and destiny. Yet different as these worlds are，each isconsistent with itself. The maker of each is careful to observe the laws of his ownperspective，and however great a strain they may put upon us they will never confuseus，as lesser writers so frequently do，by introducing two different kinds of reality into thesame book. Thus to go from one great novelist to another—from Jane Austen to Hardy，fromPeacock to Trollope，from Scott to Meredith —is to be wrenched and uprooted;to be thrownthis way and then that. To read a novel is a difficult and complex art. You must be capable notonly of great finesse of perception，but of great boldness of imagination if you are going tomake use of all that the novelist—the great artist—gives you.
可是当你打算用文字来重现此情此景的时候。它却化作千头万绪互相冲突的印象。有的必须淡化，有的则应加突出。在处理过程中你可能对整个意境根本把握不住了。这时，还是把你那些写得含糊杂乱的一页页书稿搁到一边，翻开某位小说大师，如笛福，简·奥斯汀或哈代的作品来从头读吧。这时候你就能更深刻地领略大师们驾驭文字的技巧了。因为我们不仅面对一个个不同的人物—笛福、简·奥斯汀或托马斯·哈代，而且置身于不同的世界。阅读《鲁宾逊漂流记》时，我们仿佛跋涉在狂野大道上，事件一个接一个，故事再加上故事情节的安排就足够了。如果说旷野和历险对笛福来说就是一切，那么对简·奥斯汀就毫无意义了。她的世界是客厅和客厅中闲聊的人们。这些人的言谈像一面面的镜子，反映出他们的性格特征。当我们熟悉了奥斯汀的客厅及其反映出来的事物以后再去读哈代的作品，又得转向另一个世界。周围茫茫荒野，头顶一片星空。此时，心灵的另一面，不要聚会结伴时显示出来的轻松愉快的一面，而是孤独时最容易萌生的忧郁阴沉的一面。和我们打交道的不是人，而是自然与命运。虽然这些世界截然不同，它们自身却浑然一体。每一个世界的创造者都小心翼翼地遵循自己观察事物的法则，不管他们的作品读起来如何费力，却不会像蹩脚的作家那样，把格格不入的两种现实塞进一部作品中，使人感到不知所云。因此读完一位伟大作家的小说再去读另一位的，比如说从简·奥斯汀到哈代，从皮科克到特罗洛普，从司各特到梅瑞狄斯，就好像被猛力扭动，连根拔起，抛来抛去。说实在的，读小说是一门困难而又复杂的艺术。要想充分享用小说作者，伟大的艺术家给予你的一切，你不仅要具备高度的感受能力，还得有大胆的想象力。
小小逗号赞
Pico Lyer
皮科·埃尔
The gods, they say, give breath, and they take it away. But the samesaid-could be said-could itnot?-of the humble comma. Add it to the present clause, and, all of a sudden, the mind is,quite literally, given pause to think; take it out if you wish or forget it and the mind is deprivedof a resting place. Yet still the comma gets no respea. It seems just a slip of a thing, apedant's tick, a blip on the edge of our consciousness, a kind of printer's smudge almost.Small, we claim, is beautiful (especially in the age of the microchip)。 Yet what is so often used,and so rarely called, as the comma-unless it be breath itself?
人都说神仙把气赐予生灵，又把气夺走。不过这话用在小小的逗号上，何尝不是如此？给现在这句加上逗号，脑子里真会，突然，停下来想想；若随意去掉，或忘了它，就剥夺了脑子休息的空间。尽管如此，逗号仍然不受人算重。它似乎只是一个小撇，书呆子手下的一个小点儿，是我们意识边缘上的一个记号，甚至排字工人沾上的一点污。我们好说以小为美（尤其在这集成电路时代）。然而，还有什么东西是像逗号那样频频使用而又那样默默无闻的呢？——不就是气吗？
Punctuation, one is taught, has a point: to keep up law and order. Punctuation marks are theroad signs placed along the highway of our communication——to control speeds，providedirections and prevent head-on collisions. A period has the unblinking finality of a red light,the comma is a flashing yellow light that asks us only to slow down, and the semicolon is astop sign that tells us to ease gradually to a halt, before gradually starting up again. Byestablishing the relations between words, punctuation establishes the relations between thepeople using words. That may be one reason why school teachers exalt it and lovers defy it（"we love each other and belong to each other let’s don’t ever hurt each other Nicole let's don'tever hurt each other,” wrote Gary Gilmore to his girlfriend ）A comma ，he must have known, "separate inseparables" ，in the clinching words of H. W. Fowler, King of English Usage.
我们都学过，标点有一个目的：维持法律与秩序。标点符号正是我们交通要道上一路设置的路标——用以控制速度，指示方向，避免迎头相撞。句号具有红灯的一丝不苟，说一不二；逗号是一闪一闪的黄灯，要求我们只是放慢速度；分号则是停车标记，指示我们缓缓煞车，然后再缓缓启动标点建立起词与词之间的关系，从而建立起用词人之间的关系。教师捧它，情人烦它，其原因盖出于此。（盖瑞·基尔摩尔给女友写道：“我爱你你爱我我是你的你是我的我们永远谁也别伤谁的心科尔我们永远谁也别伤谁的心。”）他一定学过英语惯用法大王福勒的断言：逗号是“把不可分开的东西分开”。
Punctuation, then, is a civic prop, a pillar that holds society upright. （A run on sentence, itsphrases piling up without division, is as unsightly as a sink piled high with dirty dishes.）Smallwonder,then,that punctuation was one of the first proprieties of the Victorian age, the age ofthe corset, that the modernists threw off the sexual revolution might be said to have begunwhen Joyce's Molly Bloomis spilled out all her private thoughts in 36 pages of unbridled, almostunperioded and officially censored prose: and another are bellion was surely marked whenE.E.Cummings first felt free to commit "God" to the lower case.
如此说来，标点乃是百姓的支柱，是支撑社会不至于垮掉的栋梁冗长的句子，词组堆砌成赘而不分彼此，就好比洗碗槽堆满了脏碗，很不雅观。)也难怪在维多利亚时代，风行紧身胸衣的时代，标点是讲礼貌的头等大事，而现代派一概弃之门外。性的革命可以说就是始于乔伊斯笔下的莫莉·布鲁姆，她将全部私衷 再就是卡明斯，肯定也算造反，他当初为所欲为，擅自将“Cod”贬为小写。
Punctuation thus becomes the signatrire of cultures. The hot-blooded Spaniard seems to berevealed in the passion and urgency of his doubled exclamation points and question marks （ "iCaramba! LQuien sabe?"）， while the impassive Chinese traditionally added to his so-calledinscrutability by omitting directions from his ideograms. The anarchy and commotion of the60s were given voice in the exploding exclamation marks, riotous capital letters and Day-Gloitalics of Tom Wolfe's spray-paint prose; and in Communist societies, where the State isabsolute, the dignity-and divinity-of capital letters is reserved for Ministries, Sub-Committeesand Secretariats.
于是，标点成了不同文化的标志。西班牙人性好激动，打惊叹号打问号都用双重的（“jCaramba! LQuiensabe?”见鬼啦！谁能明白？）情真意切，如见其人；中国人则不好动声色，表意字的文言自古就不注标点，所谓胸有城府，益见其深。汤姆·沃尔夫那种喷漆式的散文体，惊叹号一哄而起，大写字母泛滥成灾，斜体字像是涂了荧光漆，无不表达了60年代的无法无天和乱作一团；而在共产党当政的社会，国家至上，大写字母的尊严——与神威——只留给政府各部委和书记处享用。
Yet punctuation is something more than a culture's birthmark; it scores the music in ourminds, gets our thoughts moving to the rhythm of our hearts. Punctuation is the notation inthe sheet music of our words, telling us when to rest, or when to raise our voices; itacknowledges that the meaning of our discourse, as of any symphonic composition, lies notonly in the units but in the pauses, the pacing and the phrasing. Punctuation is the way onebats one's eyes, lowers one's voice or blushes demurely. Punctuation adjusts the tone andcolor and volume till the feeling comes into perfea focus: not disgust exactly, but distastes; notlust, or like, but love.
然而，标点又不仅是某一种文化的胎记；它记下我们心中的乐曲，指引我们的思想与我们的心声合拍。标点是我们作词的歌篇上的乐谱，它告诉我们何时休止，何时提高嗓门；它表明，我们说话着文，犹如谱写交响乐曲，情意所至，不仅见于整体段落，也见于起落有间、快慢有节以及长短有致。标点就像人眨眨眼睛，低声细语，或忸怩作态。标点可调整音调、音色和音量，直至找准了感情，万无一失：未必是厌恶，而是厌烦；并非情欲之类，而是情爱。
Punctuation, in short, gives us the human voice, and all the meanings that lie between thewords. "You aren't young, are you?" loses its innocence when it loses the question mark.Every child knows the menace of a dropped apostrophe （the parent's "Don't do that" shiftinginto the more slowly enunciated "Do not do that"）， and every believer, the ignominy of havinghis faith reduced to "faith." Add an exclamation point to "To be or not to be.。." and thegloomy Dane m has all the resolve he needs; add a comma, and the noble sobriety of "Godsave the Queen" becomes a cry of desperation bordering on double sacrilege.
简言之，标点给我们传来话音，传来字里行间的全部含义。“你不小了，是吧？”这话去掉问号，无心便成了有意。做父母的先是说“Don't do that”（“别做那事”），转而又慢声慢气交代清楚：“Do not.dothat”（不要做那事），每个孩子都听得明白，拿掉了撇号可就把话说绝了。每个信徒也都明白，把他的信教加上引号，所谓“信教”，那可是在污辱他。给“生存或者灭亡……”一句添上个惊叹号，那位忧心忡忡的丹麦人便是毅然决然万死不辞之士。在“上帝保佑女王”中间加个逗号，那崇高的庄严则成了绝望的呼号，简直是对双方的亵渎。
Sometimes, of course, our markings may be simply a matter of aesthetics.Popping in a commacan be like slipping on the necklace that gives an outfit quiet elegance, or like catching thesound of running water that complements as it completes the silence of a Japaneselandscape. When VS.
Naipaul ， in his latest novel, writes, "He was a middle-aged man, with glasses," the first commacan seem a little precious. Yet it gives the description a spin, as well as a subtlety, that itotherwise lacks, and it shows that the glasses are not part of the middle-agedness, butsomething else.
当然，’有时我们的标点符号也许只是个审美的问题。插进一个逗号，犹如给一套服装悄然配上项链，使之显得娴静优雅，又如在日本园林的一片幽静之外还听到潺潺流水声，使园景更加充实。奈保尔在他新近的一部小说中写道：“他是个中年人，戴着一副眼镜。”前一个逗号看似有点做作。然而它使描述更为婉转，也更为微妙，否则都显不出来；它还表明，那副眼镜并非人到中年就非戴不可，而是别有由来。
Thus all these tiny scratches give us breadth and heft and depth. A world that has only periodsis a world without inflections. It is a world without shade. It has a music without sharps andflats. It is a martial music. It has a jackboot rhythm. Words cannot bend and curve. Acomma, by comparison,catches the gentle drift of the mind in thought, turning in on itselfand back on itself, reversing, redoubling and returning along the course of its own sweet rivermusic; while the semicolon brings clauses and thoughts together with all the silent discretionof a hostess arranging guests around her dinner table.
可见所有这些小来小去的一深度。只有句点的世界是个千篇撇一点都给我们增加了广度、分量和一律的世界。是个没有差别的世界。它的乐曲不分升调降调。是一首军乐曲。是长筒靴的节奏。文字不能弯曲。相形之下，逗号却能捕捉头脑里思路的涓涓细流，任它沿着自己娓娓动听的河上乐曲的航线，自行蜿蜒曲折，倒流，重叠。分号则将分句与思想融为一体，犹如女主人不露声色地把来宾一一妥善安排入席。
Punctuation, then, is a matter of care. Care for words, yes, but also, and more important, forwhat the words imply. Only a lover notices the small things: the way the afternoon lightcatches the nape of a neck, or how a strand of hair slips out from behind an ear, or the way afinger curls around a cup. And no one scans a letter so closely as a lover, searching for its smallprint, straining to hear its nuances, its gasps, its sighs and hesitations, poring over the secretmessages that lie in every cadence. The difference between"Jane (whom I adore)" and "Jane,whom I adore," and the difference between them both and "Jane-whom I adore-" marks all thedistance between ecstasy and heartache. "No iron can pierce the heart with such force as aperiod put at just the right place," in Isaac Babel's lovely words; a comma can let us hear avoice break, or a heart. Punctuation, in fact, is a labor of love. Which brings us back in a way togods.
由此说来，标点符号又是个要谨慎从事的问题。用词要慎，不错，但更要紧的是对词的涵义尤宜慎重。只有情人才注意到这些细节：下午的阳光如何照在后颈上，一缕发丝如何从耳后根滑下来，手指如何勾住杯子。谁看信也不会像情人那般仔细，苦苦寻觅信中的微小印迹，极力听出其间的细微差别，其中的喘息、感叹和犹豫不决，潜心揣摩那抑扬顿挫中的秘密信息。“简（我深爱她）”与“简，我深爱她”两句之间的差别，以及这两句与“简——我深爱她——”之间的差别，标明了醉心与伤心之间的距离。巴别尔有句话说得多好：“句点用得其所，可穿透人心，虽刀枪力莫能及。”逗号则可使我们听到声咽或心碎。标点符号其实是一项心甘情愿而为之的工作。它多少使我们重新成为主宰。
加拿大爱斯基摩人的石版画
Hela Goetz
海拉·戈也兹
Since the Eskimos of Cape Dorset began making prints in 1959, their graphics have continuedto delight art lovers around the world. Interest has spread, not only in the south but to Arcticcommunities as well. Currently,four other Eskimo settlements are producing prints.
自从1959年多塞特角的爱斯基摩人开始创作版画以来，他们的作品一直为全世界的艺术爱好者所喜闻乐见。这种创作的兴趣已经不限于“南部”，而是遍及北极各个村落。现在，其他四个居住地的爱斯基摩人也在制作版画了。
Cape Dorset is probably the best known of the printmaking communities. For a dozen years,prints of consistently high quality have been produced; successful experiments with stencils,etchings and engravings have addedvariety and interest; individual artists are receivingrecognition and acclaim. As modern technology encroaches upon these formerly isolatedpeople, the prints have become a record of an earlier life style.
多塞特角可能是最有名的版画创作之乡了。多年来，这地方不断出有高质量的版画；不论蜡刻、蚀刻、雕刻，都是成果累累，作品丰富多彩，趣味横生；各路艺人都备受重视，为人赞许。现代技术逐渐渗入这些昔日与世隔绝的人们中间，这些版画也就成了他们早期生括方式的写照。
When one considers the limited means available to these artists, both in obtaining materialsand being exposed to print-making techniques, their success is indeed phenomenal. Graphicimages had been made by Eskimo artists prior to the advent of printmaking in the Arctic,usually in the form of incised figures and designs on ivory carvings, but the idea of reproducingan image many times on paper was totally new. James Houston, then Northern AffairsAdministrator at Cape Dorset, and himself an artist, guided the Eskimo artists in their firstexperiment, and gradually a cooperative print shop was established.
想想这些艺术家工作受到多么大的限制——搞不到设备，不懂印刷技术，竟然能有如此成就，确实非同小可。爱斯基摩艺人在印刷术传到北极之前，就已有各种雕像之作，通常是把人物和图案雕刻在象牙上，但要在纸上多次复制同一图像，却是前所未闻。当时驻多塞特角的北部事务行政官詹姆斯·豪斯顿，本人就是一位艺术家，他指导爱斯基摩艺人初试其道，后来他们逐步建立起了一家合作性质的版画店。
Carving of the image on to a flat stone block was a natural step for artists accustomed toproducing stone carvings; drawing the images to be repro-duced was more radical. Many ofthe women, who were far ouf flumbered as carvers by the men, took readily to the newmedium, and soon drawingsfor possible translation into prints became a major artistic activity.People began to take a great interest in recording everyday activities on paper, realisticallyreproducing the animals and birds which were the objects of the hunt and played such a centralrole in their existence, and drawing images of the spirits and strange creatures which peopledtheir mythology. Economic aspects played an important part, too, in the development of thisnew medium of artistic expression. For a people entering a new phase of civilization, it becamean absolute necessity to replace the older hunting economy with a new form of subsistence.The sale of carvings had, for thepast ten years, been an increasing source of income; thedevelopment of print-making techniques promised another means to survive economically.
把图像刻在平石板上，是制作石雕的艺术家习以为常的一个步骤：把图像描画下来，再复制出来，就非同寻常了。拿雕刻师来说，男人的数量本来远远超过妇女，但这时许多妇女也欣然从事这种新的工艺，于是描图制版很快成为一种主要的艺术活动。大家都开始热衷于把日常的活动记录在纸上：他们逼真地再现了各种飞禽走兽，这些都是猎物，在他们的生活中起着简直是核心的作用；他们还画出了许多精灵鬼怪的形象，这些又都是栖息在他们神话里的生灵。在这种新的艺术表现手段的发展过程中，经济方面也起了重要的作用。一个民族在进入文明的一个新阶段时，势必要用一种新的生存方式来取代旧的狩猎经济。在过去的十年中，出售雕刻品一直是增加收入的一个财源；发展制版工艺，提供了又一种赖以生存的经济手段。
The possibility of recording the old ways of life and the world of the spirits appealed especiallyto the older generation.
老一代人特别感兴趣的是如今可以把古老的生活方式和鬼怪世界记录下来了。
The recurring theme of monsters and spirits is not entirely the choice of theartiststhemselves. They have been encouraged to draw the old ways andto let their imagination runfree in conjuring up spirits, as these subjects areintensely interesting to southerners. Still, theidea of these fantastic crea-tures is a very real part of the Eskimo's spiritual heritage, andthey are asmuch a part of the old ways as was the nomadic existence in igloos andsHn tents.
精灵鬼怪的主题反复出现，并非完全出自艺术家本人的选择。。南方人”对这类题材极有兴趣，艺术家因而也受到鼓舞，情愿画。古老的方式”，任凭自己的想像力呼风唤雨，自由驰骋。不过，构思出这批稀奇古怪的生灵，正是爱斯基摩人精神生活中的一个极为真实的传统，它们构成了“古老的方式”的一个部分，犹如圆顶茅屋和兽皮帐篷体现了游牧生活一样。
Strange species of birds are another favourite subject of the Cape Dorsetartists.
千奇百怪的飞禽是多塞特角的艺术家所钟爱的又一个题材。
One of the marvellous things about carving and print maHng activities inthe Arctic is the numberof artists who take part-from young children tothe very old.
在北极，从事雕刻和版画创作活动的艺术家，下自少年儿童，上至耄耋老人，其人数之众多，蔚为一大奇观。
The old ways are all but gone, but the community spirit remains, support-ing new ideas andwelcoming new art forms without forgetting the heritageof the past.
“古老的方式”已经消失殆尽，但他们那种群体精神今犹长存，它不断支持新的思想，迎来新的艺术形式，而又保住往昔的传统，并不忘本。
一个水手的圣诞礼物
William J·Lederer
威廉·J·莱德勒
Last year at Christmas time my wife，three boys，and I were in France，on our way from Paristo Nice.For five wretched days ererything had gone wrong.Our hotels were“touristtraps”；our rented car broke down;we were all restless and irritable in the crowded Eve，when we checked into a dingy hotel in Nice，there was no Christmas spirit inour hearts.
去年，在圣诞节期间，我和我的妻子以及我们的三个孩子，从法国踏上由巴黎到尼斯的旅途。由于接连五天的恶劣天气，旅途上一切很不顺心。我们下榻的旅馆尽是些敲诈勒索旅客的“陷阱”；我们租用的那辆汽车老是发生故障，在拥挤不堪的车子上大家个个显得烦躁不安。圣诞节前夕，我们住进了尼斯的一家旅店，这家旅店又脏又暗，我们打心眼里感觉不到丝毫的节日气氛。
It was raining and cold when we went out to eat.We found a drab littlejoint shoddily decoratedfor the holiday.It smelled five tables in the restaurant were occupied.Therewere two German couples，two French families，and an American sailor，by himself.In thecorner a piano player listlessly played Christmas music.
我们外出就餐时，天正下着小雨，天气寒冷。我们找到了一家死气沉沉的小餐馆。为点缀一下节日的气氛，这家餐馆刚刚做了番粗劣的装潢。一进门就闻到一股刺鼻的油污气味。整个餐厅只有五张桌子有人就餐：两对德国夫妇，两户法国家庭和一名孑然一身的美国水手。在餐厅的一个角落里，有位钢琴师在无精打采地弹奏着圣诞乐曲。
I was too stubborn and too tired and miserable to leave.I looked around and noticed thatthe other customers were eating in stony silence.The only person who seemed happy was theAmerican sailor.While eating，he was writing a letter，and a half-smile lighted his face.
我情绪低落，加之疲惫不堪，执意不愿离开这儿去找别的餐馆了。我环顾四周，见这里的顾客一个个沉默不语，只顾吃着、喝着，唯独那位美国水手看上去兴高采烈。他一边吃着，一边写信，面带微笑，神采奕奕。
Mywife ordered our meal in French.The waiter brought us the wrong thing.I scolded my wifefor being stupid.She began to cry.The boys defended her，
and I felt even worse.
我的妻子给我们叫来了法国式的饭菜，而服务员给我们端来的却是别的东西。我斥责妻子尽干些蠢事，她哭了起来。孩子们一个个都护着他们的妈妈，于是我的情绪变得更加糟糕。
Then，at the table with the French family on our left，the father slapped one of his children forsome minor infraction，and the boy began to our right，the German wife beganberating her husband.
继而，坐在我们左侧餐桌上的那家法国人父 在我的右边，那个德国妇女不知因何缘故开始喋喋不休地数落、责骂起她的丈夫来。
Allof us were interupted by an unpleasant blast of old air.Through the front door came an oldFrench flower woman.She wore a dripping，tattered overcoat，and shuffled in onwet，rundown shoes.Carrying her basket of flowers，she went from one table to the other."
我们大家都被一阵令人不快、死灰复燃的陈规陋习弄得心烦意乱。这时，从前门进来一个卖花的法国老妪。她浑身湿透，衣衫褴褛，脚穿一双水淋淋的破鞋，手里提着花篮，沿桌叫卖。
Flowers，monsieur?Only one franc."
“买花吗，先生？一束才一个法郎哩。”
No one bought any.
谁也没有答理她。
Wearilyshe sat down at a table between the sailor and the waiter she said，"A bowl ofsuop.I haven't sold aflower all afternoon." To the piano player she said hoarsely，"Can youimagine，Joseph，soup on Christmas Eve?"
她疲惫不堪，在水手和我们之间的那张餐桌旁边坐了下来，对服务员说："请来碗汤吧。整整一下午，我连一朵花也不曾脱手。"接着，她转向那位钢琴师，用嘶哑的声音问，"在圣诞节前夕喝碗汤，约瑟夫，你能设想这种滋味吗？"
He pointed to his empty"tipping plate"。
钢琴师指了指身旁的那只空空如也的"放小费的盘子"。
The young sailor finished his meal and got up to leave.Putting on his coat，he walked over tothe flower woman's table.
那位年轻的海员已用罢晚餐，欠起身来准备离开餐馆。他披上外套，走到卖花老妪的桌前。
"Happy Christmas，" he said，smiling and picking out two orsages."How much are they?"
"祝您圣诞快乐！"说着，他笑嘻嘻地从花篮里挑出两束专供妇女佩带在前胸的鲜，"多少钱？"
"Two francs，monsieur.
"两个法郎，先生。"
Pressing one of the small corsages flat，he put it into the letter he had written，then handedthe woman a twentyfranc note."
他把其中的一束花压平，放进一封已经写好的笺里，然后将一张20法郎面额的钞票递给了老妪。
I don't have change，monsieur，" she said."I'll get some from the waiter."
"我没有零钱找您，先生。"她说，"我这就向服务员去借。"
"No，ma'am，" said the sailor,leaning over and kissing the ancient cheek."This is myChristmas present to you."
"不用了，夫人。"说着，水手俯身吻了吻老太婆那张皱纹褶褶的老脸，"这是我送给您的圣诞礼物。"
Straightening up, he came to our table,holding the other corsage in front of him."Sir," he saidto me,"may I have permission to present these flowers to your beautiful daughter?"In onequick motion he gave my wife the corsage,wished us a Merry Christmas,and departed.
他直起身躯，朝我们的餐桌走来，那另一束鲜花擎在他的胸前。"先生，"他对我说，"我可以将这束花作为礼物送给您漂亮的妻子吗？"说着，他迅速地将那束鲜花塞到我妻子的手中，道了声"圣诞快乐"，便转身走出了餐馆。
Everyonehad stopped eating.Everyone had been watching the sailor.Everyone was silent.Afew seconds later,Christmas exploded throughout the restaurant like a bomb.The old flowerwoman jumped up, waving the twenty franc note.Hobbling to the middle of the floor she did amerry jig and shouted to the piano player, "Joseph, my Christmas present! And you shall havehalf, so you can have a feast, too."
人们都放下手中的餐具，个个目不转睛地看着那位水手，整个餐厅悄无声息。几秒钟后，圣诞节日那固有的欢乐激情像枚***似地爆裂开来。卖花老妪腾身站起，挥动着她手中的那张20法郎的钞票。她跌跌绊绊地走到餐厅的中央，欢快地踏起了舞步，冲着钢琴师大声嚷："约瑟夫，瞧瞧我这份圣诞礼物吧！说什么我也得让你分享其中的一半，让你也能吃上一顿丰盛的圣诞晚餐。"
The piano player began to belt out"Good King Wenceslaus," beating the keys with magic hands,nodding his head in rhythm.
钢琴师急速地弹起了《好国王温西斯劳斯》舞曲，魔术般的指头敲击着琴键，头部和着乐曲的旅律频频点动。
My wife waved her corsage in time to the music.She was radiant and appeared twenty yearsyounger.The tears had left her eyes, and the corners of her mouth turned up in laughter.Shebegan to sing, and our three sons joined her, bellowing the song with uninhibitedenthusiasm.
我的妻子也随着音乐的节奏挥动着那束鲜花。她容光焕发，仿佛一下子年轻了20岁。幸福的泪水夺眶而出，嘴角上绽出青春的笑容。她启动歌喉，放声歌唱，我们的三个孩子随声和了起来。他们纵情高歌，没有一丝半缕的拘谨感。
"Gut! Gut! "shouted the Germans.They jumped on their chairs and began singing the words inGerman. The waiter embraced the flower woman.Waving their arms, they sang inFrench.The Frenchman who had slapped the boy beat rhythm with his fork against abottle.The lad climbed on his lap, singing in a youthful soprano.
"好！好！"德国人高声喝彩。他们跳到椅子上，并用德语唱起这支歌。服务员上前拥抱着卖花的老太太，两人同时挥舞手臂，用法语唱了起来。那个曾打了他的儿子一巴掌的法国男子用餐叉敲击着酒瓶打起了拍子，那男孩爬上他爸爸的膝盖，用童声歌唱起来。
TheGermans ordered wine for everyone.They delivered it themselves, hugging the of the French families called for champagne-made the rounds, kissing each ofus on both cheeks.The owner of the restaurant started "The First Noel," and we all joined in,half of us crying.
德国人请在场的每个人喝酒。人们自斟自饮，相互拥抱。那家法国人当中的一位要来了香槟---到每张桌上给人敬酒，并吻了每个人的双颊。饭馆老板带头唱起圣诞歌，我们大家都跟着唱，其中有半数人是含着眼泪唱的。
Peoplecrowded in from the street until many customers were standing.The walls shook ashands and feet kept time to the Christmas carols.
人们络绎不绝地从街上向餐馆涌来，其中一些顾客由于没有空位而只好站在那里。人们和着圣诞歌的节奏手舞足蹈，声音震得餐厅的四壁阵阵发颤。
Themiserable evening in a shoddy restaurant ended up being the very best Christmas Eve wehad ever experienced just because of a young sailor who had Christmas spirit in his soul.Hereleased the love and joy that had been smothered within us by anger anddisappointment.He gave us Christmas.
没想到在这家简陋的小餐馆里所度过的那个凄凉的夜晚，结果竟变成我们终生难忘的最最美好的圣诞之夜。这全亏那位灵魂中闪烁着圣诞精神的年轻海员。是他把我们由于愤懑和失望而被压抑在内心深处的爱心和欢乐给引发出来的。他赐给了我们圣诞的欢乐。