A short walk from my house in Hampshire, on a hill overlooking theheathland(石南灌丛), is a plaque marking the spot where Richard Pryce Jones deliberately crashed his Halifax bomber during the war. He could haveparachuted(跳伞)to safety, but that would have meant crashing into the village. The epitaph(碑文,墓志铭)reads: "He died that others might live."
It never fails to move me. Not to tears, you understand. That would be disrespectful. But I do usually manage a lump in the throat and that film of moisture over the eyes that men have in their emotional armoury. Gordon Brown demonstrated the non-crying cry beautifully when he made his farewell speech on the steps of Number 10. That catch in the throat. The determination not to weep in public. At that moment, if at no other, he had nobility.
Not everyone can carry it off. I don't think Paul Gascoigne ever quite got the hang of it, for example. But I like to think I have it down to an art, my techniquehoned(磨光)from years of watching The Railway Children, Sleepless in Seattle and that scene in Dumbo when the mother elephant is locked away. "Daddy!" my sons will say, pointing the accusing finger. "You're crying!"
"Me? Over Dumbo? Ha ha ha. No, boys, what I am doing is man-crying, a sort of non-crying cry. I'll teach you it one day. Very useful."
They are too young to appreciate thenuance(细微差别)yet, but when they are older I will explain that open sobbing is associated with being female, and so inappropriate for men. The Charlie Chaplinanalogy(类比)might be useful here. He once said that the way to act drunk is to imagine yourself a drunk man trying to act sober. The same is true when a man learns the non-crying cry. To be convincing, you must look as if you are trying to avoid tears.
In this respect, it is important for a young man to appreciate the difference between male tears and female. I remember once asking the actress Emilia Fox if she could cry at will, right there and then, over lunch. To my astonishment, she could – from a standing start. Fat tears rolling down her cheeks. When she had finished, she resumed her smilingcountenance(面容,表情).
Those are female tears, and the reason you never hear anyone say: "It's enough to make a grown woman cry." That expression only works when it refers to "grown men" and though that may seem tautological, the "grown" is justified. Not all men are grown. The emotionally incontinent exhibitionists who cry when they are kicked off talent shows such as The X Factor are not grown men, for example. Men have to be careful what they cry at, because some subjects are more worthy of tears than others. Grief, obviously. But not self-pity. And rarely should a man cry in pain. And never at the death of a princess he didn't know. Those are the rules.
I suspect my colleague Matt Pritchett might be with me on this. One of his cartoons this past week showed a father next to a television tuned to the World Cup, explaining to his children that "at some point in the next few weeks, you are going to see me cry". And the day after the last survivor of the Great Escape died, he did a cartoon showing a gravestone with amound(堆,高地)of tunnelled earth trailing away from it. I seemed to have something in my eye when I saw that, and I expect he had the same something in his eye when he drew it.
国内英语资讯:Senior Chinese, U.S. officials exchange views on Korean Peninsula situation
2017届高三一轮英语 单元验收试题11 新人教版
2017高考英语二轮复习限时训练19 完形填空第二节(1)
2017高考英语二轮复习限时训练30 科普知识型阅读理解(2)
2017高考英语二轮复习限时训练31 阅读填空(1)
北京:力争2020年告别四月杨柳飞絮
2017高考英语二轮复习限时训练27 社会生活型阅读理解(1)
广东省2017高考英语二轮限时训练:13 非谓语动词(1)不定式
2017高考英语二轮复习限时训练18 说明文型完形填空
2017高考英语二轮复习限时训练24 广告应用型阅读理解
2017高考英语二轮复习限时训练25 文化教育型阅读理解
国际英语资讯:Turkish president says constitutional amendments accepted in referendum
2017高考英语二轮复习限时训练28 社会生活型阅读理解(2)
2017高考英语二轮复习限时训练22 故事记叙型阅读理解
国内英语资讯:Feature: Chinese technology supports rescue network in Ecuador
2017届高三一轮英语 单元验收试题2 新人教版
体坛英语资讯:Bremen beat Hamburg, Darmstadt upset Schalke in German Bundesliga
国内英语资讯:Xi urges strengthened party education campaign
广东省2017高考英语二轮限时训练:18 定语从句
国内英语资讯:China, Lithuania agree to build stronger ties
广东省2017高考英语二轮限时训练:12 情态动词与虚拟语气
广东省2017高考英语二轮限时训练:5 议论文型完形填空
2017届高三一轮英语 单元验收试题12 新人教版
2017高考英语二轮复习限时训练17 议论文型完形填空
广东省2017高考英语二轮限时训练:15 非谓语动词(3)动名词
国际英语资讯:22 killed in blast targeting buses evacuating Syrian Shiites
国际英语资讯:50 buses of Shiite evacuees enter Aleppo following massive explosion
国内英语资讯:Eritrean FM to visit China
国际英语资讯:President Trump plays down nationwide protests demanding release of his tax returns
2017届高三一轮英语 单元验收试题8 新人教版
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |