很多作家与宠物之间有着深厚的感情,因为作家能够向这些安静忠实的聆听者尽情倾吐他们丰沛的情感。于是便有了很多作家与宠物的经典照片:站在马克•吐温肩膀上的小猫、骑在美国女作家伊迪丝•华顿双肩上的两只小狗、海明威和蹲在桌子上的猫……
To us, it’s always seemed as though pets attach themselves to artists (and vice versa , of course) in greater numbers than to regular folks. Maybe it’s the pull of a constant, silent listener to bounce ideas against, or the boundless soul of the writer. Either way, pictures of famous authors and their pets are humanizing and adorable, so we’ve collected a few of them here.
1. Dorothy Parker and her dog Misty
“Why, that dog is practically a Phi Beta Kappa . She can sit up and beg, and she can give her paw—I don’t say she will but she can.” See also: “Verse for a Certain Dog.”
2. Edith Wharton with double pups
“My little dog—a heartbeat at my feet.”
3. John Steinbeck and Charley
“I've seen a look in dogs’ eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt, and I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are nuts.”
4. Mark Twain and shoulder kitty
“Some people scorn a cat and think it not an essential; but the Clemens tribe are not of these.”
5. Virginia Woolf and her dog Pinka
“This you’ll call sentimental—perhaps—but then a dog somehow represents—no I can’t think of the word—the private side of life—the play side.”
6. Flannery O’Connor with one of her many beloved peacocks
“When the peacock has presented his back, the spectator will usually begin to walk around him to get a front view; but the peacock will continue to turn so that no front view is possible. The thing to do then is to stand still and wait until it pleases him to turn. When it suits him, the peacock will face you. Then you will see in a green-bronze arch around him a galaxy of gazing haloed suns. This is the moment when most people are silent.”
7. Ernest Hemingway with one of his many cats
“A cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not.”
8. Tennessee Williams and his cat Sabbath
“What is the victory of a cat on a hot tin roof? —I wish I knew... Just staying on it, I guess, as long as she can...”
Vocabulary
1. vice versa: 反过来也一样,反之亦然。
2. 也许因为宠物是作家可以向之倾吐心声的安静恒定的聆听者,或是因为作家深广的灵魂。pull: 影响力,吸引力;boundless: 无穷的,无边际的。
3. humanizing: 人性化的。
4. Dorothy Parker: 多萝茜•帕克(1893—1967),美国诗人、作家、批评家,以机智闻名,代表作包括诗歌《足够长的绳索》、《日落枪》,短篇小说《高个金发女郎》等。
5. Phi Beta Kappa: 优等生联谊会,美国著名的荣誉社团,此处用来赞美狗的优秀。
6. verse: 诗篇。
7. Edith Wharton: 伊迪丝•华顿(1862—1937),美国女作家,抒情文笔中夹带着微妙的讽刺,作品有《高尚的嗜好》、《纯真年代》、《快乐之家》等;pup: 小狗,(小狐,小海豹等)幼小的动物。
8. John Steinbeck: 约翰•斯坦贝克(1902—1968),20世纪美国最有影响力的作家之一。其小说是写实与幻想的有机结合,代表作品有小说《人鼠之间》、《愤怒的葡萄》、《伊甸之东》、《烦恼的冬天》等。
9. “我曾经在狗的眼睛里看到过那种眼神,转瞬即逝的惊讶和蔑视,我相信狗狗们大概认为人类都是疯子。”vanishing: 消逝的;contempt: 轻蔑,蔑视;nut: 疯子。
10. Mark Twain: 马克•吐温(1835—1910),美国著名作家和演说家,幽默和讽刺是其写作特点,代表作有《百万英镑》、《哈克贝利•费恩历险记》、《汤姆•索亚历险记》等;kitty: 〈口〉小猫。
11. “有些人对猫咪不屑一顾,认为猫并非什么要紧的东西。但克莱门家族可不是这样的人。”scorn: 藐视;essential: 必需品、必不可少的东西;Clemens: 马克•吐温的原名是萨缪尔•兰亨•克莱门(Samuel Langhorne Clemens)。
12. Virginia Woolf: 弗吉尼亚•伍尔芙(1882—1941),英国女作家、文学批评家和文学理论家,意识流文学代表人物,被誉为20世纪现代主义与女性主义的先锋。其知名小说包括《雅各的房间》、《达洛维夫人》、《到灯塔去》等。
13. “也许你会说这是多愁善感,但狗某种程度上代表了——我也想不出那个词——生活私密的那一面,好玩的那一面。”sentimental: 多愁善感的,富有情感的。
14. Flannery O’Connor: 弗兰纳里•奥康纳(1925—1964),美国著名小说家、短篇小说作家,代表作包括长篇小说《智血》、《暴力夺取》,短篇小说集《好人难寻》等;peacock: 孔雀。
15. 孔雀开屏的时候,观看者通常会跑到前面去看他,但孔雀就会继续转过身,让你看不到他的正面。”spectator: 观众。
16. 然后你会看到它身后开出青铜色的拱形屏,金光闪闪,十分耀眼。arch: 弓形,拱形;a galaxy of: 一批(引人瞩目的东西);haloed: 围以光环的。
17. Ernest Hemingway: 欧内斯特•海明威(1899—1961),美国作家和记者,被认为是20世纪最著名的小说家之一,美国“迷惘的一代”代表作家。代表作品有《老人与海》、《太阳照样升起》、《永别了,武器》等。
18. “猫是绝对忠实于自己情感的动物,人类总是因为某种原因而隐藏自己的感受,而猫就不会。”
19. Tennessee Williams: 田纳西•威廉斯(1911—1983),美国剧作家,他于1948年和1955年分别以《欲望号街车》和《热铁皮屋顶上的猫》赢得普利策戏剧奖。
20. 一只猫坐在热铁皮屋顶上,它赢得了什么呢?tin: 镀锡铁。
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