一天的等待(中英).doc

A Days WaitHe came into the room to shut the windows while we were still in bed and I saw he looked ill. He was shivering, his face was white, and he walked slowly as though it ached to move.Whats the matter, Schatz?Ive got a headache.You better go back to bed.No, Im all right.You go to bed. Ill see you when Im dressed.But when I came downstairs he was dressed, sitting by the fire, looking a very sick and miserable boy of nine years. When I put my hand on his forehead I knew he had a fever. You go up to bed, I said, Youre sick.Im all right, he said.When the doctor came he took the boys temperature.What is it? I asked him.One hundred and two.Downstairs, the doctor left three different medicines in different colored capsules with instructions for giving them. One was to bring down the fever, another a purgative, the third to overcome an acid condition. The germs of influenza can only exist in an acid condition, he explained. He seemed to know all about influenza and said there was nothing to worry about if the fever did not go above one hundred and four degrees. This was a light epidemic of flu and there was no danger if you avoided pneumonia.Back in the room I wrote the boys temperature down and made a note of the time to give the various capsules.Do you want me to read to you?All right. If you want to, said the boy. His face was very white and there were dark areas under his eyes. He lay still in the bed and seemed very detached from what was going on.I read aloud from Howard Pyles Book of Pirates; but I could see he was not following what I was reading.How do you feel, Schatz? I asked him.Just the same, so far, he said.I sat at the foot of the bed and read to myself while I waited for it to be time to give another capsule. It would have been natural for him to got sleep, but when I looked up he was looking at the foot of the bed, looking very strangely.Why dont you try to sleep? Ill wake you up for the medicine.Id rather stay awake.After a while he said to me, You dont have to stay in here with me, Papa, if it bothers you.It doesnt bother me.No, I mean you dont have to stay if its going to bother you.I thought perhaps he was a little lightheaded and after giving him the prescribed capsules at eleven oclock I went out for a while. It was a bright, cold day, the ground covered with a sleet that had frozen so that it seemed as if all the bare trees, the bushes, the cut brush and all the grass and the bare ground had been varnished with ice. I took the young Irish setter for a walk up the road and along the frozen creek, but it was difficult to stand or walk on the glassy surface and the red dog slipped and slithered and I fell twice, hard, once dropping my gun and having it slide away over the ice.We flushed a covey of quail under a high clay bank with overhanging brush and I killed two as they went out of sight over the top of the bank. Some of the covey lit in trees, but most of them scattered into brush piles and it was necessary to jump on the ice-coated mounds of brush several times before they would flush. Coming out while you were poised unsteadily on the icy, springy brush they made difficult shooting and I killed two, missed five, and started backed pleased to have found a covey close to the house and happy there were so many left to find on another day. At the house they said the boy had refused to let anyone come into the room. You cant come in, he said, You mustnt get what I have.I went up to him and found him in exactly the position I had left him, white-faced, but with the tops of the cheeks flushed by the fever, staring still, as he had stared, at the foot of the bed.I took his temperature.What is it?Something like a hundred, I said. It was one hundred and two and four tenths.Who said so?The doctor.Your temperature is all right, I said. Its nothing to worry about.I dont worry, he said, but I cant keep from thinking.Dont think, I said. Just take it easy.Im taking it easy, he said and looked straight ahead. He was evidently holding tight onto himself about something.Take this with water.Do you think it will do any good?Of course it will.I sat down an opened the Pirate book and commenced to read, but I could see he was not following, so I stopped.About what time do you think I枕 going to die? he asked.What?About how long will it be before I die?You arent going to die. Whats the matter with you? Oh, yes, I am. I heard him say a hundred and two.People dont die with a fever of one hundred and two. Thats a silly way to talk.I know they do. At school in France the boys told me you cant live with forty-four degrees. Ive got a hundred and two.He had been waiting to die all day, ever since nine oclock in the morning.You poor Schatz, I said. Poor old Schatz. Its like miles and kilometers. You arent going to die. Thats a different thermometer. On that thermometer thirty-seven is normal. On this kind its ninety-eight.Are you sure?Absolutely, I said. Its like miles and kilometers. You know, like how many kilometers we make when we do seventy miles in the car?Oh, he said. But his gaze at the foot of the bed relaxed slowly. The hold over himself relaxed too, finally, and the next day it was very slack and he cried very easily at little things that were of no importance. 字号：大 中 小 一天的等待 -海明威美国 我们还睡在床上的时候，他走进屋来关上窗户，我就看出他象是病了。他浑身哆嗦，脸色煞白，走起路来慢吞吞，似乎动一动都痛。 怎么啦，沙茨？ 我头痛。 你最好回到床上去。 不，没事儿。 你回床上去。等我穿好衣服就来看你。 可是等我下楼来，他已经穿好衣服，坐在火炉边，一看就是个病得不轻，可怜巴巴的九岁男孩。我把手搁在他脑门上，就知道他在发烧。 你上楼去睡觉吧，我说。你病了。 我没事儿，他说。 医生来了，他给孩子量了量体温。 几度？我问他。 一百零二度。 在楼下，医生留下三种药，是三种不同颜色的药丸，还吩咐了服用方法。一种是退热的，另一种是泻药，第三种是控制酸的。他解释说，流感的病菌只能存在于酸性状态中。他似乎对流感无所不知，还说只要体温不高过一百零四度就不用担心。这是轻度流感，假如不并发肺炎就没有危险。 回屋后我把孩子的体温记下来，还记下吃各种药丸的时间。 你要我念书给你听吗？ 好吧，你要念就念吧，孩子说。他脸色煞白，眼睛下面有黑圈。他躺在床上一动也不动，似乎超然物外。 我大声念着霍华德派尔的海盗集；但我看得出他不在听我念书。 你感觉怎么样，沙茨？我问他。 到目前为止，还是老样子，他说。 我坐在他床脚边看书，等着到时候给他吃另一种药。本来他睡觉是轻而易举的，但我抬眼一看，只见他正望着床脚，神情十分古怪。 你干吗不想法睡一会儿？要吃药我会叫醒你的。 我情愿醒着。 过了一会儿，他对我说，“要是你心烦就不用在这儿陪我，爸爸。霍华德派尔（-）：美国作家、画家、插图家，为杂志工作多年，作品大多取材美国殖民地时期及内战时期史实及传说，除撰文外，并亲自作画。 我没心烦。 不，我是说如果叫你心烦的话，就不用在这儿陪。 我以为他也许有点头晕，到了十一点我给他吃了医生开的药丸后就到外面去了一会儿。 那天天气晴朗寒冷，地面上盖着一层雨夹雪都结成冰了，因此看上去所有光秃秃的树木，灌木，修剪过的灌木，全部草地和空地上面都涂上层冰。我带了一条爱尔兰长毛小猎狗顺那条路，沿着一条结冰的小溪散散步，但在光滑的路面上站也好，走也好，都不容易，那条红毛狗跳一下滑倒了，我也重重摔了两交，有一次我的枪都掉下来，在冰上滑掉了。 一群鹌鹑躲在悬垂着灌木的高高土堤下，被我们惊起了，它们从土堤顶上飞开时我打死了两只。有些鹌鹑栖息在树上，但大多数都分散在一丛丛灌木林间，必须在长着灌木丛那结冰的土墩上蹦几下，它们才会惊起呢。你还在覆盖着冰的、富有弹性的灌木丛中东倒西歪，想保持身体重心时，它们就飞出来了，这时要打可真不容易，我打中了两只，五只没打中，动身回来时，发现靠近屋子的地方也有一群鹌鹑，心里很高兴，开心的是第二天还可以找到好多呢。 到家后，家里人说孩子不让任何人上他屋里去。 你们不能进来，他说，你们千万不能拿走我的东西。 我上楼去看他，发现他还是我离开他时那个姿势，脸色煞白，不过由于发烧脸蛋绯红，象先前那样怔怔望着床脚。 我给他量体温。 几度？ 好象是一百度，我说。其实是一百零二度四分。 是一百零二度，他说。 谁说的？ 医生说的。 你的体温还好，我说，没什么好担心的。 我不担心，他说，不过我没法不想。 别想了，我说，别急。 我不急，他说着一直朝前看。显然他心里藏着什么事情。 把这药和水一起吞下去。 你看吃了有什么用吗？ 当然有啦。 我坐下，打开那本海盗集，开始念了，但我看得出他没在听，所以我就不念了。 你看我几时会死？他问。 什么？ 我还能活多久才死？ 你不会死的。你怎么啦？ 哦，是的，我要死了。我听见他说一百零二度的。 发烧到一百零二度可死不了。你这么说可真傻。 我知道会死的。在法国学校时同学告诉过我，到了四十四度你就活不成了。可我已经一百零二度了。 原来从早上九点钟起，他就一直在等死，都等了一整天了。 可怜的沙茨，我说，可怜的沙茨宝贝儿，这好比英里和公里。你不会死的。那是两种体温表啊。那种表上三十七度算正常。这种表要九十八度才算正常。 这话当真？ 绝对错不了，我说，好比英里和公里。你知道我们开车时车速七十英里合多少公里吗？ 哦，他说。 可他盯住床脚的眼光慢慢轻松了，他内心的紧张也终于轻松了，第二天一点也不紧张了，为了一点小事，动不动就哭了。等待的一天的写作风格二十世纪美国文坛上一颗璀璨的明星，对那个时代产生深远影响的作家欧内斯特海明威（1899驯961），出生于伊利诺斯州的奥克帕克。他的父亲是个医生，母亲为音乐教师。海明威于1917年中学毕业后任堪萨斯市星报的见习记者。他的早期长篇小说太阳照样升起（The Sun Also Rises）（1926）、永别了，武器（A Farewell to Arms）（1927）成为表现美国迷惘的一代的主要代表作。他的代表作老人与海（The Old Man and the Sea）完成于1952年，由于小说体现了人在充满暴力与死亡的现实世界中表现出来的勇气而获得1954年的诺贝尔文学奖。海明威晚年患多种疾病，精神抑郁，最终开枪自杀。海明威一生的创作在现代文学史上留下了光辉的一页，他留下的大量小说也成为美国文学宝库中的珍贵遗产。 1954年海明威被授予诺贝尔文学奖时，瑞典皇家学院对他的风格作了如下评述：海明威是我们时代的伟大作家之一，他忠实地、不屈地再现了这个严酷时代的真实面貌，在这个充满暴力和死亡的世界中，他看到了勇气和同情，这是他最突出的标志之一。 同样，海明威的这篇短篇小说A Days Wait 也鲜明地反映了他的以简洁著称的写作风格。海明威一直尊奉美国建筑师罗德维希的名言越少，就越多，使自己的作品趋于精炼，缩短了作品与读者之间的距离。海明威在作品午后之死（Death in the Afternoon)（1932中总结了他的创作经验，提出了 冰山原则：冰山在海面上移动很是庄严雄伟，这正是因为它只有八分之一露出水面。他常常托不尽之意于言外，给读者留下极大的想像空间，让读者去体味他的弦外之音，这正是海明威作品的妙处，正如唐代诗人贾岛的五言诗所云：松下问童子，言师采药去。只在此山中，云深不知处。生命、死亡和勇气这几个黑白分明的主题在海明威作品中常常出现，正如同痛苦、欢乐、光明、黑暗等主题常常出现在贝多芬的乐曲中一样。这篇小说只有两个人物：我，即父亲，还有儿子。故事情节也极其简单，儿子发烧了，可是他并不知道摄氏温度与华氏温度的区别，误以为自己即将死去。最后在爸爸的解释下，儿子才明白自己的担心纯系多余。 医生来给孩子看病，留下几副药。医生走后，儿子的注意力似乎从现实世界中游离出去了。他误认为大去之期不远，就躺在床上静静地等待死神的来临，还让父亲到外面转转。父亲到户外转转时，看见大雪后放晴的景象洋溢着生机：It was a bright, cold day, the ground covered with a sleet that had frozen so that it seemed as if all the bare trees, the bushes, the cut brush and all the grass and the bare ground had been varnished with ice: . Some of the covey lit in trees, but most of them scattered into piles. 这一整段的描写真可谓是生命的礼赞：茫茫大雪覆盖树木和大地，这象征了严酷的现实。而在这样的背景下，鹌鹑仍在雪里嬉戏，它们象征着顽强的生命。尽管天寒地冻，路滑难行，但仍有太阳普照，它象征了人生的希望与光。小说中的我有如闲庭信步，对寒冷毫不畏惧，从中我们可以窥见作者坚强的意志和乐观的人生态度，其境界可以用中国宋代词人张孝祥的名句世路如今已惯，此心到处悠然来形容。海明威说过：A man may be destroyed, but not defea