第四章略长,基本进入了故事的正轨。很诙谐,有点初读哈利波特的感觉。另外豹豹所说的文中作者其实是法兰威勒太太,本书的结构是以她写给律师Saxonberg的记录形式完成的。
Their stomachs felt like tubes of toothpaste that had been all squeezed out. Giant economy-sized tubes.
他们第二天的肚子和挤空的牙膏没什么两样。还是特大号的牙膏。
这一章出现了不少两个小家伙饿肚子的描写。
比如While Claudia stood crouched down waiting, the emptiness and the hollowness of all the museum corridors filled her stomach. She was starved. She spent her time trying not to remember delicious things to eat.
在他们藏起来的时候Claudia觉得肚子空的就像博物馆宽宽荡荡的走廊一样。
But she hurried less pulling her petticoat down over her head. She took good long whiffs of the wonderful essence of detergent and clean dacron-cotton which floated down with the petticoat.
Claudia虽然害怕在换衣服的时候被抓包,但是套衬裙的时候还是放慢了速度,因为她喜欢干净清新的味道和涤纶棉的触感。
petticoat这个词在大量文学作品中出现,就是衬裙的意思。
detergent就是洗涤剂,上一章中出现过。
Detergent is a chemical substance, usually in the form of a powder or liquid, which is used for washing things such as clothes or dishes. 洗涤剂; 去垢剂
She would have liked to wash everything in a good, strong, sweet-smelling detergent.(第三章)
两人偷偷把行李藏好,姐姐的琴盒放在石棺里(sarcophagus),包放在刺绣屏风后,弟弟则把小号盒塞在一个瓮里,把包放下帘子后面。这些行李早已经去掉各种个人标识。
While still at home they had removed all identification on their cases as well as their clothing. Any child who has watched only one month’s worth of television knows to do that much.
很幽默
It was a janitor filling his bucket.
(mainly AM )A janitor is a person whose job is to look after a building. (建筑物的) 管理人, 看管人, 门房
弟弟糊弄过一个突如其来的工作人员,迫不期待想给姐姐炫耀,奈何姐姐饿得什么心思都没有。
He could hardly wait to tell Claudia. Claudia chose not to be amused on so empty a stomach.
They decided to join a school group for lunch at the snack bar. There were certainly enough to choose from. That way their faces would always be just part of the crowd.
两个孩子相当聪敏,混在来参观的学生团中。这样就不突兀了,也是他们一贯的"伎俩"。
姐姐很懂规矩,对自己的生活或学习一直很有原则。
比如:Breakfast food for breakfast, and lunch food for lunch.
或者Claudia informed Jamie that they should take advantage of the wonderful opportunity they had to learn and to study.
不是谁都有这种机会来学习和开眼界的。好好学习,他们也一直这么做了(虽然弟弟相当不乐意)。
文中提到了几个文化常识点:
(the)Middle Age欧洲中世纪也称为Dark Age,很有名的历史阶段。
Italian Renaissance 意大利文艺复兴
Michelangelo 米开朗基罗
Leonardo da Vinci,达芬奇
But she thought she knew why he chose the Italian Renaissance....Her art teacher had said that the Renaissance was a period of glorification of the human form; as best she could figure out, that meant bare bodies.
bare means naked
其实姐姐误会弟弟了,Claudia还怕弟弟早熟,而一切不过是弟弟觉得无聊透顶想让姐姐也觉得厌烦,结束这次外出罢了。
Claudia and Jamie did not think that there was anything unusual about the size of the crowd. This was New York. Crowded was part of the definition of New York. (To many art experts, Saxonberg, crowded is part of the definition of the Italian Renaissance, too. ...)
这一段很有趣,那天来参观的人很多,他们认为很正常。纽约么,人不多还能哪里人多。(法兰威勒太太写给Saxonberg(应该是这两个孩子的爷爷)的记录中说就像文艺复兴时期一样,"拥挤"是其时代的名词之一,各种艺术活动在那个阶段跌宕起伏)
Ladies’ arms draped with pocketbooks and men’s arms draped with coats formed a barrier as difficult to get through as barbed wire.
两个孩子按照要求排队去了,没人去插队,也没人能插队。女士们的胳膊夹着笔记本,男士们的胳膊上搭着外套,就跟铁丝网一样形成屏障。
barbed wire(美)带刺铁丝网,固定表达
They stood leaning back with their necks stretched and their heads tilted away, way back, making a vain effort to see over the shoulders of the tall adult who always appears in front of them. Jamie could see nothing but the coat of the man in front of him. Claudia could see nothing but a piece of Jamie’s head plus the coat of the man in front of Jamie.
这一段太生动了,也很好笑。
大家伸长脖子,头歪一歪就是为了看一看这座雕像(本文的正角--天使雕像),太多人排队,Jamie只能看到前面大人的外套。Claudia只能看到前面的外套和..Jamie,哈哈哈。
Once when his class had visited the fire department, his picture had been in the paper at home. He had bought seven copies of the paper and used that page for bookcovers. When the bookcovers began to tear, he covered the covers with Saran wrap.
写这一段趣事是因为弟弟太希望上报纸了。所以看到媒体来拍照着急忙慌想往前凑,结果被机敏的姐姐搡了一把。因此相当不忿。
"有一次,他们班到消防队参观时,照片就上过报。杰米买了七份报纸,用有照片的那一版包书皮,等书皮快破掉时,他又用透明的书套把它包起来。"(本段出自中文版)
Claudia was lost in remembrance of the beautiful angel she had seen.
remembrance:
(formal)A remembrance is a memory that you have of someone or something. 记忆; 回忆
be lost in remembrance 念念不忘
He chose to fight Claudia with the one weapon he had—the power of the purse. He answered, “We can’t afford a New York Times. It costs a dime.”
Claudia想买份报纸来看一下关于天使雕像的报道,因为弟弟对于搡的那一下和不能上报纸的怨愤,决定反击--钱包的力量。
a dime :10 cents
Jamie liked the mummies even if he didn’t like lessons, so they walked together to the Egyptian wing.
后来两人又参观了埃及馆。
wing在建筑中表示侧翼楼,边上的。就像主楼的翅膀一样,在哈利波特中相当常见。
The teacher sat on a folding stool.
footstool之前在小王子里见过--脚凳,这里 a folding stool表示折叠椅。
the teacher thought that he was planted in the audience to pep up the discussion;
pep up是动员的意思v.
pep talk就是动员讲话。
这里很有意思,两个人混在一个学校六年级参观团中,导游以为他们是学生,老师以为是特意安排的观众,为了活跃气氛。而只有无聊等着早早结束的学生们才知道这两个是冒牌货(imposters),但他们懒得揭穿。
It caused Claudia to want to embalm Jamie in a vat of mummy fluid right that minute. That would teach him inconspicuous.
姐姐看到弟弟发问"把自己做成木乃伊要花多少钱"气得要命,恨不得拿做木乃伊的液体将他糊起来。他就不知道什么是"不引人注目"。
embalm:
If a dead person is embalmed, their body is preserved using special substances. 对 (尸体) 进行防腐处理
vat就是大桶,缸。
inconspicuous(un-noticeable)出现了好几次,比如搡他那一下的时候Wouldn’t her brother ever learn inconspicuous? She shoved him.
After a short talk there, the guide bid them good-bye and mentioned that they might enjoy buying some of the museum pamphlets on Egypt.
goodbye是很口语的表达,bid sb. goodbye/farewell则很正式,带有文学色彩。
pamphlet小册子(近义词:brochure)
Crackers and roasted chestnuts in bed at night satisfied only a small corner of her hunger. Being hungry was the most inconvenient part of running away. She meant to eat heartily for every cent Jamie gave her. She bought macaroni and cheese casserole, baked beans, and coffee that morning. Jamie got the same.
这一段依旧写到了两个孩子饿狠了。饼干和栗子只是一时不那么饥饿罢了。外出离家唯一不好的就是挨饿。姐姐恨不得把Jamie给的钱花光,其实弟弟也一样,点了很多吃的。
Pasta 意面统称,Spaghetti 意大利面,细长的那种,超市很常见。Macaroni 通心粉(卷卷的那种),Farfalle 蝴蝶面
姐姐看到了报纸上关于天使雕像的报道,原来是博物馆竞拍(225美元)下来的。原主就是法兰威勒太太了,这里提到到场的同行(包括其他博物馆)都是心机婊,为了不让竞价飙升都默口不提有可能是米开朗基罗的作品。顺便介绍了法兰威勒太太。
姐姐对此太感兴趣,却没发现两人的失踪消息就在同一份报纸上。
对比,法兰威勒太太写到You see, Saxonberg, Claudia had found the article about the statue too easily. She didn’t even look at the first section of the paper. I keep telling you that often the search proves more profitable than the goal.搜索的过程比目的更重要。
顺带又调侃了Saxonberg(两人似乎有些什么关系)I’m surprised, Saxonberg, that seeing my name in the paper in connection with Michelangelo didn’t bring even you to the museum. You would have profited more than you would have thought by that trip. Are photo albums of your grandchildren the only pictures you look at? Are you altogether unconscious of the magic of the name of Michelangelo?
"沙松伯格,我很惊讶,报纸将我的名字与米开朗基罗连在一起,也无法让你有到博物馆去的冲动。如果你去了,一定会有意想不到的收获。难道你只注意你孙子、孙女的照片?难道你感受不到米氏散发的魔力吗?"(取自中文版)
这一段很有趣,是说很多人特别喜欢不好的天气里去博物馆,各种倒车询问各种费功夫,报纸刊登雕像消息后去的人更多了,结果沙松伯格(法兰威勒的律师,两个孩子的爷爷)愣是没去。
两个孩子就这样在博物馆又呆了两天,姐姐也终于成功撺掇弟弟寻找天使雕像的线索,究竟是不是米开朗基罗的作品呢?
这一章还是很好读的,就是叙述上稍微有一点散,但整体脉络还是很清晰。今天估计第五章出不来了。一样略有点长……
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