欧亨利小说《警察与赞美诗》

　　欧亨利小说《警察与赞美诗》

　　On his bench in Madison SquareSoapy moved uneasily. When wild geese honk high of nights, and when women without sealskin coats grow kind to their husbands, and when Soapy moves uneasily on his bench in the park, you may know that winter is near at hand.

　　*Madison Square 麦迪逊广场(位于美国最大的火车站之一宾夕法尼亚火车站上面，被称作为纽约的“门脸”)

　　*uneasily 心神不安地

　　*honk 发出雁鸣声

　　*be near at hand=be approaching 即将来临

　　索丕躺在麦迪逊广场的长凳上辗转不安。当大雁高声嘎叫的夜晚,当没有海豹皮外衣的女人去偎近自己的丈夫的时候,当索丕在公园里的长凳上不安地翻转的时候,你或许知道冬天是近在咫尺了。

　　A dead leaf fell in Soapy's lap. That was Jack Frost's card. Jack is kind to the regular denizens of Madison Square, and gives fair warning of his annual call. At the corners of four streets he hands his pasteboard to the North Wind, footman of the mansion of All Outdoors, so that the inhabitants thereof may make ready.

　　*denizen 居民(尤指享有一定公民权的外籍居民)

　　*pasteboard (俚)名片

　　*footman 男仆

　　*inhabitant 居住者

　　*thereof 在其中

　　*make ready 准备好

　　一片枯叶子落在了索丕的大腿上。那就是杰克-弗洛斯特的名片。杰克对麦迪逊广场的普通居民都很友好,并给他们以一年一度的友好问候。在那个街道十字口,他把名片传给了凛冽的北风,北风就是这个豪宅的全部户外男仆,以便让它的住户们可以做好过冬的准备。

　　Soapy's mind became cognisant of the fact that the time had come for him to resolve himself into a singularCommittee of Ways and Meanstoprovide againstthe coming rigor. And therefore he moved uneasily on his bench.

　　*cognisant=aware 意识到的

　　*singular 奇怪的

　　*Committee of Ways and Means 财政委员会

　　*provide against 预防

　　*rigor 艰苦

　　索丕的头脑里正在酝酿着怎样面对当时他所要面对的事实,必须设法让他自己进入一个奇特的财政委员会以预防正在到来的严酷气候。因此他在长凳上辗转反侧。

　　The hibernatorial ambitions of Soapy were not of the highest. In them there were no considerations of Mediterranean cruises, of soporific Southern skies drifting in the Vesuvian Bay. Three months on the Island was what his soul craved. Three months of assured board and bed and congenial company, safe fromBoreas and bluecoats, seemed to Soapy the essence of things desirable.

　　*hibernatorial 冬眠的

　　*Mediterranean 地中海

　　*cruise 巡游

　　*soporific 想睡觉的

　　*crave 渴求

　　*congenial 意气相投的

　　*safe from 免于……的危险

　　*这句话的主语是three months (of assured board and bed and congenial company)，括号里面是定语成分，谓语在后面seemed to Soapy…safe from Boreas and bluecoats是形容词短语作伴随状语，分析句子主干部分可以先抽去不看。

　　索丕的对于过冬并无奢望。没有考虑乘船在地中海巡游,也没有考虑在维苏威湾南部天空昏昏欲睡地漂浮。能在那个岛上待上三个月就是他灵魂里梦寐以求的。三个月的膳食住宿无忧无虑,还有意气相投的伴侣, 再没有“北风”老儿和警察老爷来纠缠不清，这些对于索丕似乎都是非常称心如意的了。

　　For years the hospitable Blackwell's had been his winter quarters. Just as his more fortunate fellow New Yorkers had bought their tickets to Palm Beach and the Rivieraeach winter, so Soapy had made his humble arrangements for his annual hegira to the Island. And now the time was come. On the previous night three Sabbath newspapers, distributed beneath his coat, about his ankles and over his lap, had failed to repulse the cold as he slept on his bench near the spurting fountain in the ancient square. So the Island loomedbig and timely in Soapy's mind. He scorned the provisions madein the name ofcharity for the city's dependents. In Soapy's opinion the Law was morebenignthan Philanthropy. There was an endless round of institutions, municipal and eleemosynary, on which he might set out and receive lodging and food accordant withthe simple life. But to one of Soapy's proud spirit the gifts of charity are encumbered. If not in coin you must pay in humiliation of spirit for every benefit received at the hands of philanthropy. As Caesar had his Brutus,every bed of charity must have its toll of a bath, every loaf of bread its compensation of a private and personal inquisition.Wherefore it is better to be a guest of the law, which though conducted by rules, does notmeddle unduly with a gentleman's private affairs.

　　*hospitable 热情友好的

　　*quarter 住

　　*Palm Beach 棕榈滩(位于美国佛罗里达州东南部)

　　*Riviera 里维埃拉(南欧沿地中海一地区)

　　*hegira 逃亡(原指穆罕默德从麦加到麦地那的逃亡)

　　*Sabbath 安息日

　　*repulse 击退(这里与cold连用是抵御寒冷的意思)

　　*spurt 喷射

　　*loom 隐约可见

　　*scorn 蔑视

　　*in the name of 以……的名义

　　*dependent 受赡养者

　　*benign 和蔼的，亲切的

　　*Philanthropy 慈善事业

　　*municipal 市政的

　　*eleemosynary 施舍的;慈善的

　　*lodging 寄宿处

　　*accordant with 与……一致

　　*encumbered 妨碍性的

　　*pay in humiliation of spirit for every benefit received at the hands of philanthropy 理解这句话时先把in humiliation of spirit抽去，这是状语成分。Pay后面紧跟着for…(宾语)。

　　*toll 代价

　　*Caesar & Brutus：布鲁图斯杀害了凯撒

　　*every bed of charity must have its toll of a bath, every loaf of bread its compensation of a private and personal inquisition 前后两个分句结构和内容都呈并列关系。every loaf of bread its compensation…补充完整应该是every loaf of bread (must have )its compensation.

　　*wherefore 因此

　　*meddle with 干扰

　　*unduly 过度地，不适当地

　　多年来,好客的布莱克威尔的家一直是他过冬的住处。正如他那运气更好的伙伴纽约人每年冬天都到棕榈滩和里维埃拉买了门票,所以索丕就谦卑地把他一年一度的逃奔计划安排到岛上了。而现在这个时间到了。前一天晚上,他就睡在古老的广场喷水池旁的长椅上,三张安息日报纸平铺在他的外套下,他的踝关节附近和膝盖上,并不能抵挡住严寒,。所以该岛就立即隐约地出现在索丕的梦境里,是那么的辽阔。他蔑视那些以慈善的名义为该市的家属所做的规定。在索丕看来,法律应该比慈善活动更温和。有一个无尽循环的市政的施舍的机构,在其中他可以得到安置,有住宿以及维持简单的生活的食物。但索丕想要得到一个引以为荣的精神上的慈善礼物却处处受阻。如果你没有为每一次收到慈善事业给予的好处时必须支付的硬币,你就得在精神上受到屈辱。正如凯撒有他的布鲁图斯,每张施舍床位就必须有洗澡费,每一块面包都得有它的私人补偿和个人调查。因此，倒不如当个法律的座上宾更好些。虽然法律须按规则办事，但至少不会过分地干涉谦谦君子的私事。

　　Soapy, having decided to go to the Island, at onceset about accomplishinghis desire. There were many easy ways of doing this. The pleasantest was to dine luxuriously at some expensive restaurant; and then, after declaringinsolvency, be handed over quietly and without uproar to a policeman. An accommodating magistrate would do the rest.

　　*having decided to go to the island 是现在分词作表示主动意义的伴随状语，因为“决定去岛上”这个动作发生在“着手完成愿望”之前，所以前面用完成时。

　　*set about doing 开始着手做……

　　*luxuriously 奢侈地

　　*insolvency 破产

　　*hand over 移交

　　*uproar 骚动;喧嚣

　　*magistrate 地方官

　　索丕决定了去该岛后,就立刻着手完成他的愿望。做这事有许多简单的方法。最令人愉快的事情就是在某个昂贵的餐馆奢侈地吃上一顿;然后,就宣布破产,之后,就会被安静而无喧嚣地移交给一个警察。接下来的事情就该由负责收留的地方官去做了。

　　Soapy left his bench and strolled out of the square and across the level sea of asphalt, where Broadway and Fifth Avenue flow together. Up Broadway he turned, and halted at a glittering cafe, where are gathered together nightlythe choicest products of the grape, the silkworm and the protoplasm.

　　*stroll 散步;闲逛

　　*asphalt 沥青

　　*halt 停止

　　*glittering 闪闪发光的

　　*nightly 每夜的

　　*choicest 精选的 (choice的最高级)

　　*protoplasm 原生质

　　*两个划线句子均为地点状语位于句首采用完全倒装。第二句中从句以表示地点的关系副词where开头，因为主语部分比较长，为了避免主语谓语头重脚轻，也采用了倒装句式(一般情况下第二句不需要倒装)

　　索丕离开了长凳,踱出了广场,穿过沥青地面,这里是百老汇和第五大道交汇到一起的地方。他转上百老汇大街,在一家灯火辉煌的咖啡店门前停了下来,在这里每天晚上会堆集着葡萄,蚕和原生质的精品。

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