結婚十年來，李先生心廣体胖，太太稱他好丈夫，太太的朋友說他夠朋友。
First sentence of the sequence. I like the expression 夠朋友.
這位尚未出頭的劇作家知道同席有李太太，透明地露出滿腔榮幸⋯⋯上第三道菜時，他蒙李太太惠許上門拜訪⋯⋯沒和他敷衍⋯⋯回家后嘀咕說這年輕人不通世故
We get the impression that the husband is being cuckolded -- and more than once! I thought this character was Jiajun, below, but nope, different guy. 滿腔榮幸 -- full of flattery. 蒙⋯⋯惠許 "enticed her to favor him with permission to..." 沒和他敷衍 didn't expound with her husband, though -- see, he feels jealous...guess that guy doesn't know the meaning of courtesy 世故.
李太太泛泛說過些時候請他喝茶，大家認識認識。他還不走，又轉到淘气身上，說他自己也最愛貓，貓是理智、情感、勇敢三德全備的動物：它扑滅老鼠，象除暴安良的俠客；它靜坐念佛，象沉思悟道的哲學家；它叫春求偶，又象抒情歌唱的詩人；他還說什么暹羅貓和波斯貓最好，可是淘气超過它們。
This is a gentlemen of breeding who knows and loves his pussy. Here the motif of cultural literacy appears again for the practical purpose of dissembling. 暴安良?
從今以后，他不愿借太太的光，要自己有個領域，或做官，或著作。
Jianhou decides to write in reaction to his wife's attention from men. Not sure I completely follow the joke!
一天他忍不住說了，李太太出乎意料地贊成，說：”你要有表現，這也是時候了。我一向太自私，沒顧到耽誤了你的事業！你以后專心著作，不用陪著我外面跑。”
He was hoping she'd stop him, but she cast him off so she can socialize without him.
頭腦不好，沒有思想，沒有理想；可是大著作有時全不需要好頭腦，只需要好屁股，听鄭須溪說，德國人就把“坐臀”（Sitzfleisch）作為知識分子的必具條件。
First multi-lingual wordplay joke about his ignorance of writing.
那時候，這個討厭家伙已算家里的慣客了。他知道自己講究吃，一天帶了初版薩梵冷的名著Physiologiedugout（《口味生理學》）來相送。自己早把法語忘光了，冒失地嚷：“你錯了！我害胃病，不害風痛病，這本講gout的生理學對我毫無用處。”那家伙的笑聲到現在還忘不了。
Second such joke, and a turning point, because Jianhou could really have written about food, I think, if he were not so lacking in self esteem and so desirous of impressing his wife's friends (why doesn't he realize they'll NEVER like him anyway, so he should just do what he really is good at?) (Also, this is the first instance of Chen Jiajun -- he will be described later. Slightly inelegant!)
想來想去，還是寫歐美游記，既有益，更有趣，是兼軟硬性的作品。
His idea of a travel narrative. 軟硬性的作品?
那時候，齊頤谷學校里的愛國分子鬧得凶，給軍警逮捕了一大批去，加上罪名坐監牢。
New scene, but part of the same sequence, I'd say. Political content erupts again. 鬧得凶?
這個十九歲的大孩子，藍布大褂，圓桶西裝褲子，方頭黑皮鞋，習慣把左手插在褲子口袋里，壓得不甚平伏的頭發，頗討人喜歡的臉一進門就紅著，一雙眼睛冒牌地黑而亮，因為他的內心和智力絕對配不上他瞳子的深沉、靈活。
He's like the alien guy who helps the self-deceiving captain in Futurama.
經過這兩天半的工作，頤谷對建侯的敬畏心理消失干淨。青年人的偏激使他對他的主人不留情地鄙視；他看到了建侯的無聊、虛榮、理智上的貧乏，忽視了建侯為人和待人的好處。他該感激建侯肯出相當高的价錢雇自己來干這种不急之務；他只恨建侯倚仗有錢，犧牲青年人的時間和精力來替他寫無意義的東西。
As he becomes disgusted with Jianhou, the sequence comes to a close. Via the pussycat, he will meet Aimo.
No comments:
Post a Comment