Love and Friendship

13 Love and Friendship

A

You've been in love,of course!If not,you've got it to come.Love is like the measles;we all have togo through it.Also like the measles,we take itonly once.One never need be afraid of catching ita second time.No,we never sicken with love twice.Cupid spends no second arrow on the same heart.

—Jerome K.Jerome

B

One friend in a lifetime is much;two are many;three are hardly possible.Friendship needs a certain parallelismof life,a community of thought,a rivalry of aim

—Henry Adams

measles n麻疹    parallelism n类似(=similarity)

Cupid n丘比特(爱神) rivalry n竞争(=competition)

中译 恋爱和友谊

A

当然,你们都有过恋爱的经验!如果没有谈过恋爱,你们必然会谈一次的。恋爱宛如麻疹,我们每个人都要经历的。它也如同麻疹一样,一生中只会碰上一次。你不必去担心会碰上第二次。不,我们决不会再度患上恋爱病。爱神不会向同一颗心射上两支箭。

——杰罗姆·K·杰罗姆

B

人生在世,有一友已足矣,若有两友就够多了,如有三友则简直不可能。友谊需有某种相近的生活、共有的思想和共同的竞争目标。

——亨利·亚当斯

原来如此!

A段的作者杰罗姆是英国著名的幽默作家,在“We All Have to Go Through Love”一文中,他以俏皮的口吻把恋爱比作麻疹,并预言要是谁没有谈过恋爱,他必然会谈上一次,如果已谈过一次,就不会碰上第二次。

文中的第一句:You have been in love,of course!好像是在同读者闲谈说笑,增加了亲切感。

B段第一句说明知己不在于多,人生在世,若有一个志同道合的好友已足矣。第二句进一步指出友谊的真谛:朋友间需要有共通的生活、有共有的思想及有共同的竞争目标,反映真正的友谊不同于泛泛之交或酒肉朋友(fair-weather friends)。

增值英语

①all have to go through it

句式 have to与must同义,都是表示“必须”之意。但have to表示外界客观的“要求”,它往往指根据规定应要做某事或由于外来原因迫使“不得不”去做;而must则表示说话人的主观要求或看法,认为“必须”去做。

According to the regulations,all students have toask for leave of absence in advance if they cannot attend lessons.根据校规,所有学生如未能上课必须预先请假。

You mustbe punctual.你必须准时。

注意 must没有过去时态和将来时态,表示过去和将来时态之意时,要用have to,be obliged to,be compelled to等形式代替:

We'll have togo tomorrow.我们明天要离开。

I had to call on a friend yesterday.我昨天要探朋友。

②we all have to go through it…we take it…catching it…

句式 go through it,take it,catching it是表示相同意义的词语,尽管它们形式和用字不同。在修辞学中,此种现象称为“文雅变体”(elegant variation),它是指用另一个词语来代替前面已出现过的词或词组,以避免使用同一个词,给人单调乏味之感。例如,在下句中,films、movies和motion pictures指的同是电影:

The Art Cinema,a movietheater in Hartford,specializes in uncensored films.It is noted for the high quality of its movies;infact,manypeopleconsiderthesemotion picturesgood art.I find the story attractiveand the characters fascinating.我觉得故事和人物都很动人。

Any attempt to dissuade him is uselessand any means to stop him is futile.任何劝阻他的尝试都没用,任何制止他的办法都是徒然。

相反地,在一些平衡或排比句中,故意采用同一个词语,以重复形式来加强对比。也有利用同一句式但不同词汇来达到效果,见32和40页。

③Friendship needs a certain parallelism.

parallelism表示“相似”、“类似”:

There is a striking parallelismbetween these two theories.这两个理论有惊人的相似之处。

The parallelismbetween Hong Kong and Singapore is often exaggerated.香港与新加坡之间的相似地方往往被夸大了。

④…a rivalry of aim

rivalry解作“竞争”、“对抗”,比competition(竞赛)强烈,如:traderivalry商业上的竞争;acute/keenrivalry激烈的角逐。

There will be a bitter rivalrybetween the two competitors.两个竞争对手之间将有一场激烈的竞争。

Political rivalriesbetween different factions have paralyzed the country.各个派系的勾心斗角已使国家瘫痪。