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Passage 14 自负的怪物 理查德?瓦格纳身村短小，脑袋挺大，与他的身躯极不相称——是个一副病 态的矮个子。他神经脆弱，患有皮肤病。贴身穿的衣服若比丝绸稍微粗糙一点， 便会使他痛苦不堪。他还有夸大妄想的毛病。 他是个非常自负的怪物。他从来不屑对世界或世人瞧上一眼，除非事情与自 己有关。他不但自认为是天下头号重要人物，而且在他眼里惟有他一人生活在世 间。他确信自己是世上最伟大的戏剧家之一，最伟大的思想家之一，最伟大的作 曲家之一。听他侃侃而谈，他就是集莎士比亚、贝多芬、柏拉图三人于一身。你 不难听到他谈话，他是世上论事不厌其烦的健谈者之一。同他度过一个夜晚，就 会听他滔滔不绝讲一个夜晚。有时他妙语连珠，有时却令人厌烦不已。但不管是 妙语连珠还是枯燥乏味，他只有一个话题：他自己。他总是在讲自己想些什么， 做些什么。 他一味坚信自己总是对的。任何人，在最无足轻重的问题上，哪怕露出一丝 异议，也会惹得他大发议论。他也许会说上好几个小时，鼓起自己那如簧之舌， 千方百计证明自己是正确的。听的人被搞得耳朵发聋，不知所措。最后为了图个 太平，别人也只好同意他的说法了。 A Monster of Conceit Richard Wagner was an undersized little man， with a head too big for his body—a sickly little man．His nerves were bad．He had skin trouble．It was an agony for him to wear anything next to his skin coarser than silk．And he had delusions of grandeur ． He was a monster of conceit．Never for one minute did he look at the world or at people， except in relation to himself．He was not only the most important person in the world， to himself；in his own eyes he was the only person who existed．He believed himself to be one of the greatest dramatists in the world，one of the greatest thinkers， one of the greatest composers． hear him talk， he was Shakespeare， and To and Beethoven， Plato ， and rolled into one． And you would have had no difficulty in hearing him talk．He was one of the most exhausting conversationalists that ever lived．An evening with him was an evening spent in listening to a monologue. Sometimes he was brilliant；sometimes he was maddeningly tiresome．But whether he was being brilliant or dull， he had one sole topic of conversation：himself．What he thought and what he did． He had a mania 0 for being in the right．The slightest hint of disagreement， from anyone，on the most trivial point， was enough to set him off on a harangue that might last for hours，in which he proved himself right in so many ways，and with such exhausting volubility ，that in the end his hearer，stunned and deafened，would agree with him，for the sake of peace． Passage 15 不是为了批评，而是为了掌声 理查德?瓦格纳压根儿就没有想过，与他有过交往的人，并不感到他这个人 和他所做的事最富有情趣、 为之倾倒。 他几乎对世间的一切问题都有自己的见解， 包括素食主义、戏剧、政治以及音乐。为了证实自己的观点，他写了小册子、信、 书……连篇累牍，好几百页。他不仅写这些东西拿去出版——所需费用往往是别 人支付——而且常常一连好几个小时坐着读给他的朋友和家人听。 他写歌剧， 常常是刚有一个故事梗概就邀请——或者更确切地说召集——一 群朋友到他家来，把故事梗概读给他们听。不是为了批评，而是为了掌声。整出 戏的歌词写完后，朋友们得再来听他朗诵。然后他就送去发表。有时歌词发表好 几年，配词的乐曲才创作出来。他弹钢琴只是象个作曲家弹得那样（从这句话所 能隐含的最糟糕的意义上讲） ，弹得糟透了，然而，他却常常坐在钢琴旁，面对 包括他那个时代最杰出的钢琴家在内的一群人， 一小时接一小时地为他们弹奏个 不停。不用说，弹的都是他自己创作的音乐作品。他有一副作曲家的歌喉。他常 常把著名的声乐家请到家里，亲自为他们演唱他的歌剧，并且包揽所有角色。 Not for Criticism，but for Applause It never occurred to Richard Wagner that he and his doing were not of the most intense and fascinating interest to anyone with whom he came into contact．He had theories of almost any subject under the sun，including vegetarianism，the drama， politics，and music；and in support of these theories he wrote pamphlets，letters， books… thousands upon thousands of words，hundreds upon hundreds of pages．He not only wrote these things， published them— usually at somebody else's expense and — but he would sit and read them aloud．for hours，to his friends and family． He wrote operas，and no sooner did he have the synopsis of a story，than he would invite— or rather summon — a crowd of his friends to his house and read that it aloud to them． Not for criticism， for applause． but When the complete poem was written， the friends had to come again， and hear that read aloud．Then he would publish the poem，sometimes years before the music that went with it was written．He played the piano like a composer， the worst sense of what that implies， he would sit down in and at the piano before parties that included some of the finest pianists of his time，and play for them，by the hour ，his own music，needless to say ．He had a composer's voice．And he would invite eminent vocalists ．to his house， and sing them his operas，taking all the parts． Passage 16 美国最伟大的运动员 火车站挤得水泄不通。拉斐德学院的学生们一齐拥上站台，热切地等待着卡 莱尔印地安人学校田径队的到来。倘若在几个月前，准没有人相信，一个谁也没 听说过的学校，会在田径场上突然大败许多有名的大学。不用说，这些卡莱尔的 运动员抵达后，准会象一营海军陆战队队员那样，一个接一个冲下火车。 火车终于到站了，两个年轻人——一位，个儿高，体态魁梧；另一位，个儿 矮，长相瘦弱——踏上了站台。 “田径队在哪儿？”一位拉斐德的学生问道。 “就在这儿，”大个子回答道。 “就你们两个？” “不，就我一个，”大个子说。“这位小兄弟是领队。” 拉斐德的学生们诧异地摇摇头。一定有人在和他们开玩笑。如果卡莱尔田径 队就只有大个子一人，那他就得和整个拉斐德田径队比试高低了。 确实如此。他短跑、跨栏、长跑、跳高、跳远。他又投标枪又掷铅球。大个 子赢得八项第一，一个人击败了整个拉斐德田径队。 这位大个子就是美国现代最伟大的运动员吉姆?索普 The Greatest American Athlete1 The railroad station was jammed． Students from Lafayette College were crowding onto the train platform eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Carlisle Indian School's track and field squad ． one would have believed it a few months earlier． school No A that nobody had heard of was suddenly beating big， famous colleges in track meets ．Surely these Carlisle athletes would come charging off the train，one after another，like a Marine battalion． The train finally arrived and two young men—one big and broad，the other small and slight—stepped onto the platform． “Where is the track team？”a Lafayette student asked． “This is the team，” replied the big fellow． “Just the two of you？” “Nope ， just me，” said the big fellow．“This little guy is the manager． The Lafayette students shook their heads in wonder．Some－body must be playing a joke on them． If this big fellow was the whole Carlisle track team， he would be competing against an entire Lafayette squad． He did． ran sprints， he ran hurdles， he ran distant races． high-jumped， he He He broad-jumped． He threw the javelin and the shot．Finishing first in eight events ， the big fellow beat the whole Lafayette team． The big fellow was Jim Thorpe， the greatest American athlete of modern times． Passage 17 悲伤，迷惘的人—吉姆?索普 191北京世博翻译公司2 年斯德哥尔摩奥运会后，吉姆?索普成了英雄，但没过多久，他就成了 一个悲伤和迷惘的人。原来，有人发现，奥运会前两年，他曾经为了几块钱参加 过半职业性的棒球比赛。许多业余运动员使用假名参赛赚钱，而索普却用了自己 的真名。结果，从技术上讲，他在斯德哥尔摩参赛时，已经不是一名业余运动员 了，而根据规定，所有奥林匹克运动员必须是业余选手。于是，他的奥运会奖牌 和奖品被收了回去，发给第二名的获得者。那两人都拒绝接受奖牌和奖品。他们 说，奖章和奖品实际上应该归索普所有。于是那奖章和奖品就存放在瑞士卢塞恩 城博物馆中。索普获胜的记录也从奥运会的历史中删除了。“我对于人情世故不 甚通达，”索普说。于是他决定永远放弃业余运动。 索普的崇拜者们曾经多次试图让国会把索普在 191北京世博翻译公司2 年奥运会上赢得的奖品 退还给他，这一计划从未成功。但当体育新闻记者们告诉报纸读者说吉姆?索普 没有钱买票去观看在洛杉矶举行的 193北京世博翻译公司2 年的奥运会，于是成千上万的人便把自 己的票寄给这位昔日斯德哥尔摩奥运会上的英雄人物， 索普还应邀和美国副总统 一起坐在总统席上观赏运动项目。年当人们得知他急需医疗费不得不动手术时， 从全国各地寄来的赠款使他得到数千美元的基金。 1950 年，美联社曾经组织全国的体育专栏作家和体育节目广播员举行投票， 其中 170 人投票选举吉姆为二十世纪最伟大的橄榄球明星。 据美联社统计在另一 次选举中， 393 个体育专栏作家和体育节目广播员投票选举他为二十世纪前五 有 十年里最伟大的运动员。他的总票数几乎和其次的三个当选者的票数之和一样 多。 大约七十年以后，在 198北京世博翻译公司2 年 10 月，国际奥委会决定恢复这位伟大的美国印 地安人运动员的业余运动员身份并交还两枚金牌。1983 年 1 月，国际奥委会主 席萨马兰奇先生在洛杉矶亲自把这两枚金牌赠还给索普的女儿和他的孙子威 廉?索普。这样吉姆?索普，这位现代最伟大的运动员终于恢复他应得的地位。 Jim Thorpe，a Sad，Bewildered Man Jim Thorpe was a hero after the 191北京世博翻译公司2's Stockholm Olympics and a sad，bewildered man not too much later．Someone discovered that two years before the Olympics he 翻译公司 (责任编辑：北京翻译公司) |