《围城》（Fortress Besieged）英文原版经典段落赏（二）

-----------语言特色

After a long, hard life on the road, this bus should have been celebrating its golden anniversary(金婚), but it obviously could not retire during the War of Resistance（抗战）. A machine has no temperamental（性情的） idiosyncrasies（特质）, but this bus presuming（假定，好像） on its old age, have developed a disposition（性情） that was cranky（怪癖的） and intractable（倔强的）, eccentric（古怪的） and unfathomable（深不可测的）. Sometimes it behaved arrogantly（傲慢地） like a powerful official, other times pettishly（易怒的） like a little girl. Don’t think that the bus driver, coarse（粗俗的） oaf（白痴，呆子） that he was, understood anything about driving it.

The bus driver, who had been thinking of throwing up his hands and saying, “I quit!”  suddenly remembered that the government employee and the military officer had both been escorted（护送） to the garage by the stationmaster（站长） so they could get first choice of seats. Both had brand new（崭新的） attaché（随员，专员）cases（行李箱） and were said to be on official assignments for the provincial governments. Realizing that he could not get the better of them, he stifled（抑制） his anger and muttered（咕哝）under his breath, “I, your father, just like to cuss（咒骂）. What’s it to you? If you don’t like it, then plug（塞住） up your ears and go deaf!”

一、   语法与词汇解析：

1.    anniversary：周年的，周年纪念日 we are celebrating our tenth wedding anniversary.我们在庆祝我们的十周年纪念日。结婚后每一年的纪念日都有不同意义，金婚是五十年。（至高无上，婚后第二大庆典，情比金坚，爱情历久弥新）golden wedding（第一年是纸婚paper wedding 意思是婚姻像纸一样薄，需要好好呵护和经营）

2.    retire：退休，撤退，隐退。You should retire（就寝） as early as you can to catch the early train tomorrow. /He retired to his bedroom after supper.

3.    temperamental：喜怒无常的，易怒的，性情的。Temperament

 Your predestination depends on your temperament. 性格决定命运。

4.    idiosyncrasy：气质，风格，特征。One of her idiosyncrasies is keeping a pet dog.她的癖好之一是养狗。

5.    presume：假定，推测，意味着。Presumable（可能的）

I presume（guess/think/appreciate） that this is your final answer.我想这就是你的最后答复了。

6. disposition：性情，配置，处置，性格。He is a man with a cheerful disposition.（他性格开朗）A leopard（美洲豹） cannot change it s spots.江山易改本性难移。

7. cranky易暴躁的，古怪的。Intractable：倔强的，不听话的。

Eccentric：古怪的，反常的。Unfathomable：高深莫测的。

8. official和officer：official指官方的，正式的，做名词（文/行政的）公务员，官员。These numbers comes from official agencies.这些数据来自官方机构。Officer：（武）军官，警官。

The police officer locked up the criminal.警察把罪犯铐起来。

9. pettishly：任性地，易怒地。Pettish（adj.爱闹情绪的）in pettish to sb.（对某人撒娇）Hon，I won’t act in pettish to you anymore.亲爱的，我再也不对你撒娇了。

10. had been doing：过去完成进行时。I didn’t know what he had been doing all these years.我不知道他这些日子都在做什么。（过去一直在做）

延伸：现在完成时和现在完成进行时的区别。

现在完成时：动作从过去某一点发生，到现在已经结束，但是对现在有影响，并且是强调对现在所造成的影响。

现在完成进行时：从过去某一刻发生，可能动作正在发生或者会一直延续下去。

I have written a book recently.（我已经写了一本书，动作已完）

I have been writing a book.（我已经开始写一本书了，动作可能未完，并且可能一直延续）

11. quit：离开，辞职，结束。Why did you quit your previous job为什么辞去先前的工作？quit oneself（表现得）He quit himself like an old man.他表现得像个老人一样。

12. brand：商标，牌子，铭记（Engrave）brand new崭新的：My father bought me a brand new suitcase for my coming travel.父亲为我即将到来的旅行买了一个新旅行箱。No one can go back and make a brand new start.没有人能回到过去重新开始。

13：case：情况，案件，柜子，事情，箱子。In this case, you should say, “I beg you pardon”.  Time is an important consideration in this case.时间在这里是个重要的因素。

14. stifle：抑制，扼杀，藏匿。He was killed by stifling.他因窒息而死。Stifle the opportunity in the cradle.把希望扼杀在摇篮里。

15. mutter：咕哝，喃喃自语。The little muttered to himself.小男孩喃喃自语。对谁发牢骚：（与against/at连用）She muttered against her husband.她对她丈夫发牢骚。

16. plug：塞住，堵住（与up连用），【俚】无能的人，无用的人。Since the noise makes me so upset, I think there is no choice but to plug up my ears.

二、   语言特色赏析：

第一段写bus的时候，用了拟人（personification）的修辞手法，例如一些词语arrogant，disposition，pettish，eccentric等，使得表达上更传神，绘声绘色，把一个事物写活了，这也是钱钟书先生的语言发表方式的精妙所在。

第二段在描写the bus driver的时候，把他的心理活动传达得妙趣横生。首先是quit，然后是think，最后是cuss和mutter。心理活动随着时间的退移和转变，把bus driver粗野，庸俗，令人鄙夷的人格形象展现得精妙绝伦。

围城最突出的就是语言特色，幽默俏皮，让人在掩卷大笑之余令人沉思。它是一部充满悲剧意味的讽刺小说，又不乏浓郁的喜剧成份。（讽刺satire, 比喻metaphor，幽默humor）