此書適合喜歡短篇故事並和西方歷史的讀者。
不少學生功課繁忙,沒有時間看英文書,更不用說故事了。曾有學生向我提及,英語故事不但篇幅長,而且學的詞語不實用,不能應用在寫作上,可說事倍功半。 相反,他認為看報紙和聽新聞就實際得多了。 他固然有道理,不過我必須澄清,看英語故事是可以讓同學能夠掌描寫人物的技巧,在寫作故事上得心應手,應付公開試寫作卷時可有更多的選擇。
若同學想用較少時間,有效地看故事學英語,加上對歷史又興趣的話,可以讀讀古德明的《泰西筆記小說選》。古德明中英皆精。我有時候會讀他在蘋果日報寫的征服英語專欄,實在得益不少。
泰西是古時對洋人的稱謂。此書的英文書名是A Treasury of Western Anecdotes. Treasury在這裡解作寶庫,而Anecdote是指以軼事或奇聞。
每篇故事短小精練,字數不多於一百字,中英對照。每篇設有簡單易明的詞語和文法解說,讓讀者容易吸收內容。此外學習翻譯的朋友亦可用這本書練習英譯中的技巧。我現在就是這樣做,效果還不錯呢!以下和大家分享我在書中比較喜歡的一篇,是和雙關語(pun)有關。While serving as governor of New Jersey, Woodrow Wilson (28th
US president) had a most unpleasant experience. Just a few hours after a New
Jersey Senator died, a politician called and said, ‘I ‘d like to take the
Senator’s Place.’Wilson was shocked, but got even with the caller. “It’s all
right with me,” he said, “if the undertaker doesn’t mind.”
Pun出現在Wilson刻意誤解take the Senator’s place的意思。To take somebody’s place 即取代某人的位置,那麼Wilson想說甚便不難猜了。再看一篇雙關語,這是關於畢加索的。不妨自己想一想吧!
One day during World War II, Picasso was visited by the German Gestapo
(蓋世太保,納粹時期秘密警察) in his apartment in Nazi-occupied Paris.One of his visitors,
noticing on the table his depiction (素描) of the destruction of Guernica (一西班牙城市) by German planes, asked, “Did you do that?” “No,” Picasso
replied. “You did.”
沒有留言:
張貼留言