1、实际上,用“自由奔放”的字眼来形容这篇文章并不十分确切,或许用“柔软”、“轻松”或“轻软而富有弹性”更为恰如其分。2 Vague though its category, it is without doubt an essay. It develops an argument; it cites instances; it reaches a conclusion. Could Carlyle do more?Could Ruskin? 尽管很难说清这篇文章是属于哪一类,但可以肯定它是一篇散文小品文。它提出了论点。引用了许多例证,并得出了结论。卡菜尔能写得更好吗?罗斯金呢?3 Read, t
2、hen, the following essay which undertakes attempts担任 to demonstrate that logic, far from being a dry, pedantic 迂腐的学究式的academic (over-concerned with correctness) discipline有条理, is a living, breathing thing, full of beauty, passion, and trauma创伤. Consider this: Logic is not at all dry, learned branch
3、of learning. It is like a living human being, full of beauty, passion and painful emotional shocks. Authors Note 这篇文章意在论证逻辑学非但不枯燥乏味而且活泼、清新、富于关感和激情,并给人以启迪。诸位不妨一读。 作者注4 Cool was I and logical. Keen, calculating, perspicacious, acute and astuteI was all of these. My brain was as powerful as a dynamo, p
4、recise as a chemists scales, as penetrating as a scalpel. Andthink of it!I only eighteen. 我这个人头脑冷静,逻辑思维能力强。敏锐、慎重、聪慧、深刻、机智一一这些就是我的特点。我的大脑像发电机一样发达,像化学家的天平一样精确,像手术刀一样锋利。一一你知道吗?我才十八岁呀。 It is not often that one so young has such a giant intellect. Take, for example, Petey Bellows, my roommate at the univ
5、ersity. Same age, same background, but dumb as an ox. A nice enough fellow, you understand, but nothing upstairs. Emotional type. Unstable. Impressionable. Worst of all, a faddist. Fads, I submit, are the very negation of reason. To be swept up in every new craze that comes along, to surrender onese
6、lf to idiocy just because everybody else is doing itthis, to me, is the acme of mindlessness. Not, however, to Petey. 年纪这么轻而智力又如此非凡的人并不常有。就拿在明尼苏达大学跟我同住一个房间的皮蒂伯奇来说吧,他跟我年龄相仿,经历一样,可他笨得像头驴。小伙子长得年轻漂亮,可惜脑子里却空空如也。他易于激动,情绪反复无常,容易受别人的影响。最糟的是他爱赶时髦。我认为,赶时髦就是最缺乏理智的表现。见到一种新鲜的东西就跟着学,以为别人都在那么干,自己也就卷进去傻干这在我看来,简直愚蠢至
7、极,但皮蒂却不以为然。6 One afternoon I found Petey lying on his bed with an expression of such distress on his face that I immediately diagnosed appendicitis. “Dont move,” I said, “Dont take a laxative. Ill get a doctor.” 7“Raccoon,” he mumbled thickly. 8“Raccoon?” I said, pausing in my flight. 9 “I want a ra
8、ccoon coat,” he wailed. 10 I perceived that his trouble was not physical, but mental. “Why do you want a raccoon coat?” 一天下午我看见皮蒂躺在床上,脸上显露出一种痛苦不堪的表情,我立刻断定他是得了阑尾炎。“别动,”我说,“别吃泻药,我就请医生来。”“浣熊,”他咕哝着说。“浣熊?”我停下来问道。“我要一件浣熊皮大衣,”他痛苦地哭叫着。 我明白了,他不是身体不舒服,而是精神上不太正常。“你为什么要浣熊皮大衣?11“I should have known it,” he cried
9、, pounding his temples. “I should have known theyd come back when the Charleston came back. Like a fool I spent all my money for textbooks, and now I cant get a raccoon coat.” “我本早该知道,”他哭叫着,用拳头捶打着太阳穴,“我早该知道查尔斯登舞再度流行时,浣熊皮大衣也会时兴起来的。我真傻,钱都买了课本,可现在不能买浣熊皮大衣了。12 “Can you mean,” I said incredulously, “that
10、 people are actually wearing raccoon coats again?13 “All the Big Men on Campus are wearing them. Whereve you been?14 In the library,” I said, naming a place not frequented by Big Men on Campus. 15 He leaped from the bed and paced the room. “Ive got to have a raccoon coat,” he said passionately. “Ive
11、 got to!我带着怀疑的眼神问道:“你是说人们真的又要穿浣熊皮大衣吗?“校园里有身分的人哪个不穿?你刚从哪儿来?“图书馆,”我说了一个有身分的人不常去的地方。他从床上一跃而起,在房间里踱来踱去。“我一定要弄到一件浣熊皮大衣,”他激动地说,“非弄到不可!16“Petey, why? Look at it rationally. Raccoon coats are unsanitary. They shed. They smell bad. They weigh too much. Theyre unsightly. They” 17 “You dont understand,” he int
12、errupted impatiently. “Its the thing to do. Dont you want to be in the swim?18“No,” I said truthfully. 19“Well, I do,” he declared. “Id give anything for a raccoon coat. Anything!20 My brain, that precision instrument, slipped into high gear. “Anything?” I asked, looking at him narrowly. 21 “Anythin
13、g,” he affirmed in ringing tones. “皮蒂,你怎么啦?冷静地想一想吧,浣熊皮大衣不卫生,掉毛,味道难闻,既笨重又不好看,而且 17“你不懂,”他不耐烦地打断我的话。“这就叫时髦。难道你不想赶时髦吗?” Dont you want to be fashion-wise (chase fads and fashion追逐时尚与潮流)?“不想,”我坦率地回答。“好啦,我可想着呢!”他肯定地说。“只要有浣熊皮大衣,要我什么我都给,什么都行! 我的大脑一一这件精密的仪器一一即刻运转起来high gear高档位。我仔细地打量着他,问道:“什么都行?” slipped int
14、o: began to work very fast. “什么都行!”他斩钉截铁地说。22 I stroked my chin thoughtfully. It so happened that I knew where to get my hands on a raccoon coat. My father had had one in his undergraduate days; it lay now in a trunk in the attic back home. It also happened that Petey had something I wanted. He didn
15、t have it exactly, but at least he had first rights on it. I refer to his girl, Polly Espy. 我若有所思地抚着下巴。好极了,我知道哪儿能弄到浣熊皮大衣。我父亲在大学读书时就穿过一件,现在还放在家里顶楼attic的箱子里。恰好皮蒂也有我需要的东西。尽管他还没有弄到手,但至少他有优先权。我说的是他的女朋友波利埃斯皮。23 I had long coveted Polly Espy. Let me emphasize that my desire for this young woman was not emo
16、tional in nature. She was, to be sure, a girl who excited the emotions, but I was not one to let my heart rule my head. I wanted Polly for a shrewdly calculated, entirely cerebral reason. 我早已钟情coveted梦寐以求的于波利埃斯皮了。我要特别说明的是,我想得到这妙龄少女【in nature本质上】并不是由于感情的驱使。她确实是个易于使人动情的姑娘。可我不是那种让感情统治理智的人,我想得到波利是经过了慎重考
17、虑的,完全是出于理智上的原因。24 I was a freshman in law school. In a few years I would be out in practice. I was well aware of the importance of the right kind of wife in furthering a lawyers career. The successful lawyers I had observed were, almost without exception, married to beautiful, gracious, intelligent
18、women. With one omission, Polly fitted these specifications perfectly. 我是法学院一年级的学生,过不了几年就要挂牌当律师了。In a few years I would graduate and pick up a job as a lawyer.我很清楚,一个合适的妻子对一个律师的前途来说是非常重要的。我发现大凡有成就的律师几乎都是和美丽、文雅、聪明的女子结婚的。波利只差【omission省略】一条就完全符合这些条件了。25 Beautiful she was. She was not yet of pin-up prop
19、ortions, but I felt that time would supply the lack. She already had the makings. 她漂亮。尽管她的身材还没有挂在墙上的美女pin-up照片那么苗条,但我相信时间会弥补这个不足。她已经大致不差了。She was not yet as beautiful as a pin-up girl but I felt sure she would become beautiful enough after some time. She already had all the physical qualities needed
20、 for developing into a very beautiful woman. 26 Gracious she was. By gracious I mean full of graces. She had an erectness of carriage, an ease of bearing, a poise that clearly indicated the best of breeding. At table her manners were exquisite. I had seen her at the Kozy Kampus Korner eating the spe
21、cialty of the housea sandwich that contained scraps of pot roast, gravy, chopped nuts, and a dipper of sauerkrautwithout even getting her fingers moist. 她温文尔雅我这里是指她很有风度。她婷婷玉立Erectness: Uprightness of posture or form,落落大方,泰然自若,一眼就看得出她很有教养exquisite优美的。她进餐时,动作是那样的优美。我曾看见过她在“舒适的校园之角(Kozy Kampus Korner)”
22、吃名点一块夹有几片带汁的炖肉和碎核桃仁的三明治,还有一小杯泡菜手指儿一点儿也没有沾湿。27 Intelligent she was not. In fact, she veered in the opposite direction. But I believed that under my guidance she would smarten up. At any rate, it was worth a try. It is, after all, easier to make a beautiful dumb girl smart than to make an ugly smart g
23、irl beautiful. 她不聪明intelligent:clever, smart ,实际上恰好相反veered改变方向。但我相信有我的指导,她会变得聪明的。无论如何可以试一试,使一个漂亮的笨姑娘变得聪明比使一个聪明的丑姑娘变得漂亮毕竟要容易些。28 “Petey,” I said, “are you in love with Polly Espy?29“I think shes a keen kid,” he replied, “but I dont know if youd call it love. Why?30 “Do you,” I asked, “have any kind
24、of formal arrangement with her? I mean are you going steady or anything like that?31 “No. We see each other quite a bit, but we both have other dates. Why?32 “Is there,” I asked, “any other man for whom she has a particular fondness?“皮蒂,”我说,“你在跟波利谈恋爱吧?“我觉得她是一个讨人喜欢的姑娘,”他回答说,“但我不知道这是不是就叫做爱情。你问这个干吗?“你和
25、她有什么正式的安排吗?我是说你们是不是常有约会,或者有诸如此类的事情?”我问。“没有,我们常常见面。但我们俩各自有别的约会。你问这个干嘛?“还有没有别人使她特别喜欢呢?”我问道。33“Not that I know of. Why?34 I nodded with satisfaction. “In other words, if you were out of the picture, the field would be open. Is that right?” (if you stop dating her), other would be free to compete for he
26、r friendship. 35“I guess so. What are you getting at?36“Nothing , nothing,” I said innocently, and took my suitcase out the closet. 37“Where are you going?” asked Petey. 38“Home for weekend.” I threw a few things into the bag. “那我可不知道。你问这些干吗? 我满意地点点头说:“这就是说。如果你不在,场地就是空着的。你说是吗?“我想是这样。你这话是什么意思?“没什么,没什
27、么,”我若无其事地说,接着把手提皮箱从壁橱里拿了出来。“你去哪儿?”皮蒂问。“回家过周末。”我把几件衣服扔进了提箱。39 “Listen,” he said, clutching my arm eagerly, “while youre home, you couldnt get some money from your old man, could you, and lend it to me so I can buy a raccoon coat?40“I may do better than that,” I said with a mysterious wink and closed
28、my bag and left. “听着,”他焦急的抓住clutching我的胳膊说,“你回家后,从你父亲那儿弄点钱来借给我买一件浣熊皮大衣,好吗? “也许不仅只是这样呢。”我神秘地眨着眼睛说,随后关上皮箱就走了。41“Look,” I said to Petey when I got back Monday morning. I threw open the suitcase and revealed the huge, hairy, gamy object that my father had worn in his Stutz Bearcat in 1925. 星期一上午我回到学校时对皮
29、蒂说:“你瞧!”我猛地打开皮箱,那件肥大、毛茸茸、散发着怪味的东西露了出来,这就是我父亲。1925年在施图茨比尔凯特汽车里穿过的那一件浣熊皮大衣。42“Holy Toledo!”Slang said Petey reverently. He plunged his hands into the raccoon coat and then his face. “Holy Toledo!” he repeated fifteen or twenty times. 43“Would you like it?” I asked. 44 “Oh yes!” he cried, clutching the greasy pelt to him. Then a canny look came into his eyes. “What do you want for it?45“Your
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