L14The Delicatessen.doc

Lesson Fourteen The Delicatessen 熟食店Thomas Mann 汤姆逊曼 1. Down in the town on a corner of what was, comparatively speaking, our busiest street, there was a neat and attractively stocked delicatessenshop selling freshly prepared food store, a branch, if I am not mistaken, of a Wiesbaden firm. It is patronizedvisited, supported by the best society. My way to school led me past this shop daily and I had stopped in many times, coin in hand, to buy cheap candies, fruit drops or barley sugar.Introduction Controlling idea:neat and attractively stocked Help to establish impression1 在我们城镇的相对而言是最热闹，最繁华的街道的拐角，有一个干净的净是俏货的食杂店。如果我没有搞错的话，这是一个韦氏巴顿公司的分店。富裕人家是它的常客。每天上学，我都要从小店门口路过。好多次，我停在门口，手里攥着硬币，打算买点便宜的糖块，水果糖，或麦芽糖。 But on going in one day I found it empty not only of customers but of attendants as well. There was a little bell on a spring over the door, and this had rung as I entered; but either the inner room was empty or it occupants had not heard the bell- I was and remained alone. The glass door at the rear was covered by some pleated arranged in folds material. At first the emptiness surprised and startled me, it even gave me an uncanny peculiarly unsettling, as if of supernatural origin or naturefeelings; but presently I began to look about me, for never before had I been able to contemplate to look at attentively and thoughtfully undisturbed the delights of such a spot. 2 但有一天，我走进店铺，发现里头空无一人，不但没有顾客，也没有售货员。门上的弹簧挂着个小铃铛。我进去的时候，门铃响过来着，但是要么是里屋没有人，要么是房子里头的人没有听见，反正里头只有我一个人。玻璃制的后门挂着打褶的帘子。一开始，这空空荡荡让我惊奇，吓了我一跳。甚至给我一种不可思议的神密感觉。所以我开始审视四周。以前我从来没有机会，在不受干扰的情况下，好好看一看这令人愉悦的地方。 It was a narrow room, with a rather high ceiling, and crowded from floor to ceiling with goodies. good things Actual description& color imageryThere were rows and rows of hams and sausages of all shapes and colours- white, yellow, red, and black; general, then expanding fat and lean and round and long- rows of canned preserves, cocoa and tea, bright translucent transparent glass bottles of honey,coarse marmalade, andfine jam; round bottles and slender bottles, filled with liqueurs alcohol and punch- all these things crowded every inch of the shelves from top to bottom. Then there were glass showcases where smoked mackerel青鱼, lampreys八目鳗, flounders川鲽, and eels 鳝鱼 were displayed on platters to tempt the appetite. 3 这是一间窄条房子，天花板挺高，从地面到房顶，满堆着好东西。一排排的，一层层的，各种各样，各种颜色的火腿和香肠白的，黄的，红的和黑的，肥的，瘦的，圆的，长的 一行行的罐装食品，可可粉和茶。明亮的半透明的瓶子装着蜂蜜，粗果酱和细果酱。圆瓶子，长瓶子装着酒和宾治 所有这些东西，把货架从底到顶塞得满满的。还有玻璃柜，里头摆着盘装的熏鲭鱼，八目鳗，川鲽，和鳝鱼，钓人的胃口。 There were dishes of Italian salad, crayfish 小龙蝦 spreading their claws on blocks of ice, sprats西鲱 pressed flat and gleaming goldenlycrystallizing detailfrom open boxes; choiceclassified fruitscrystallizing detail- gardenopposite of wild strawberries and grapes as beautiful as though they had come from the Promised Land; rows of sardine tins and those fascinating little white earthenware jars of caviar 鱼子酱 of foie grasfwB:grB: 鹅肝.Plump chickens crystallizing detail dangled their necks from the top shelf, and there were trays of cooked meats, general, then expanding ham, tongue, beef, and veal, smoked salmon 大马哈鱼 and breast of goose, with theslender slicing knife crystallizing detail lying ready at hand. There were all sorts of cheese under glass bells, brick-red, milk-white, and marbled, general, then expanding also the creamy ones that overflow their silver foil 箔 in golden waves. Artichokes洋薊, bundles of asparagus芦芛, truffles蕈, little liver sausages in silver paper- all these things lay heaped in rich profusionabundance, great amount; while on other tables stood open tin boxes full of fine biscuits, spice cakes crystallizing detailpiled in criss-cross layers, and glass urns full of dessert candies and candied fruits. crystallizing detail (From Confessions of Felix Krull, Confidence Man) 4 还有一碟碟的意大利色拉，小龙虾在一块块的冰块上伸展着它们的脚。压偏的西鲱鱼在敞开的箱子里闪着金光。还有分了大小的水果 家种草莓果和葡萄，美得就象是从天堂里来的。一排排的沙丁鱼罐头，以及土罐装的鱼子酱和鹅肝。在最高一层架子上，胖乎乎的小鸡把脖子耷拉下来。还有一托盘一托盘的熟肉，火腿，口条（舌头），牛肉和小牛肉，熏大马哈鱼和鹅胸脯，边上放着锋利的切肉刀，垂手可得。在钟形的玻璃罩子下，罩着各种各样的乳酪，土红的，奶白的，白大理石色的，还有一些是奶油状的，溢出盛它们的金属箔，留下一道道的金黄色的波汶。洋蓟，一捆捆的芦荀，块菌，银纸包的小小的肝肠 所有的这些东西都满满地堆放在那里。而在其他的桌面上，摆着打开盖子的箱子，里头满是优质的饼干，加了香料的饼，十字交叉地一层层堆放着，玻璃缸里满满地装着吃甜食用的糖果和果脯。 （摘自费累克斯库入尔的自白，充满信心的人） Reader and purpose Ex.1 Manns paragraph exemplifies one of the simplest kinds of description, the catalogue. To catalogue is to list a series of details, in this case delicacies seen in a fine food shop. Such a list may be used either for objective or for what we have called impressionistic description; this selection is plainly an instance of impressionism. Mr. Mann is trying to convey the impression of the delicatessen asneat and attractively stocked. The second sentence says,It was patronized by the best society. Here,patronized meansfavored oroften visited. In the eyes of a little child, it is a very good shop it is favored or often visited by the rich people. Organization Ex.2 Good cataloguing is less easy than it seems. For one thing, the details cannot be thrown at us with no introduction. The writer must first prepare us for what he is going to set before our eyes. The first sentence of selection serves as an introduction. The actual description begins at the sentenceIt was a narrow room, with a rather high ceiling, and crowded from floor to ceiling with goodies. Ex.3 For another, the details cannot be heaped together helter-skelter hastily. They must be selected some are important to the writers purpose and some are not. The principles thatguide Mann in his choice of details are things and their arrangement that that can show neatness and attractiveness. Ex.4 Finally, the details must be organized. In this selection, Mr Mann starts with a general view of the shop, then groups them according to their shapes and colors white, yellow, red and black; fat and lean and round and long. Mr Mann does not tell us much about the plan of the shop. We do not know the exact order of themackerel, lampreys, flounders, and eels(unless we assume they lay as listed): nor do we know whether these fish were alongside, above, or below thedishes of Italian salad, or even in an entirely different case. In fact, an artist trying to draw an exact picture of the displays, would find his task difficult indeed. Mr Mann does it in this way because it is not an objective description. this selection is mainly an impressionistic one. Mr Mann only intends to convey his impression of the neat and attractively stocked store. Sentences Ex.5 Comment upon the following revisions of Manns sentences: A. the original sentence is an inverted one which puts its emphasis onon a corner of what was to suggest that was a small shop, yetneat and attractively stocked. In the revision, the emphasis shifts. The conditional clause implies that there is someone having the doubts as to whether this is true. B. The revision consists of two coordinate clauses which shift the tone of the original. The original stresses the abundance of goodies while the revised implies a sort of dissatisfaction that the room is narrow and crowded. Ex.6 In the selection, Mann uses the similarThere be pattern to hold together the sentence that make up the actual description. Diction Ex.7 Look up patronized, often visited, supported uncanny, unnatural translucent, semi-opaque liqueurs, liquor, highly fortified alcohol lampreys, see Note6 foie gras, see Note12 truffles, dark brown fungi Ex.8 An important part of good descriptive writing is knowing how to use details. If, for example, you want to make your reader see an ill-kept vacant lot, it is not enough to tell him that it was littered with trash and let it go at that. You must be more specific and bring before his eyes the rusted cans, the yellowing newspapers, the faded candy wrapper. But at the other extreme you must be wary of piling on so many details that the description is flattened by their weight. The trick is to tell enough to enable the reader to see for himself and then to stop. One way to achieve this economic precision is by using what we may call the crystallizing detail, the sharp little image that forces upon us the vision of the thing in its concrete entirety. If you can supply that detail, starting the process of development in the readers mind, so to speak, he will complete the photograph for himself. Some other instances of crystallizing details: plum chickens, spice cakes, candied fruits, sprats pressed flat and gleaming goldenly, choice fruits. Ex.9 Still another way of working with details is by expansion, that is by beginning with a general picture and then expanding it in a series fo more specific images. For instance: There were all sorts of cheese under glass bells, brick-red, milk-white, and marbled,. Other examples are:There were rows and rows of hams and sausages of all shapes and colours- white, yellow, red, and black; fat and lean and ro