抽空闲将Stuart Little听完了，一共15章，并不长。而且比夏洛特的网要简单许多，整体偏冒险性，一章一个小故事，类似舒克贝塔。自然没有夏洛特好看，但作为一个童话还真是推荐，入门读物必备。有声书不是作者朗读，而是Julie Harris，开始觉得一般，越听越有意思。有声书质量还可以。很短，三天睡前半个多小时听完了。
玛蒂尔达是没忍住，搭配着亨利休格一起读，广播剧依旧是bbc儿童剧风格，生动但是太过吵闹，也是不大喜爱bbc儿童剧的原因。同名音乐剧倒是挺有名的，爱奇艺上有电影，暂时还没有看。昨天除了读到一首limerick，还有一段很有意思的段落。
亨利休格故事2-The Hitch-hiker
没想到七八十年代就已经有了特价99.9的操作了，想笑。
回到正文，之所以拉扯这么多，是因为笔记逐渐赶不上读书的速度了。也想做出些调整，有时候读完书也真不想再过笔记，也是一个阶段一个阶段的感受。这一个故事本身也没太多难点，主要讲了一个搭便车客的故事。和成寒里的搭便车客不同，这不是灵异故事而是怪盗奇侠，一个长相像是老鼠(包括玛蒂尔达的爸爸也是这种描写)的蹭车客，怂恿"我"(也是第一人称)开快车，遇到警察，开罚单。路上展示了其神乎其技各种手技，包括作者的钱包，日记，驾驶证，戒指当然还有警察开罚单的记录本。然后就结束了，有点美国西部风格。很有趣的故事。
所以笔记今天就大概出一部分，算是学习记录，顺便这个阶段调整一下。把语法和口语补一补。
I had a new car. It was an exciting toy, a big BMW 3.3 Li, which means 3.3 litre, long wheelbase, fuel injection. It had a top speed of 129 m.p.h. and terrific acceleration. The body was pale blue. The seats inside were darker blue and they were made of leather, genuine soft leather of the finest quality. The windows were electrically operated and so was the sun-roof. The radio aerial 天线popped up when I switched on the radio, and disappeared when I switched it off. The powerful engine growled and grunted impatiently at slow speeds, but at sixty miles an hour the growling stopped and the motor began to purr with pleasure.
这一段全贴下来是因为很少见到对车的描写，比较稀罕。
我买了一辆新车，一部大功率的宝马3.3Li，意思是说3.3立升，长轴距，燃油喷射。它的最高速度是每小时129英里，加速度快得惊人。车身是淡蓝色的。车内的座位是深蓝色的，都是皮制品，真正的软皮，最最高级的质量。车窗都是用电开启的，车顶也是如此。当我打开收音机时，天线自己竖起来，关掉的时候，天线自己消失。大功率的发动机在低速度的时候，发出轰隆轰隆的吼声，但是到达每小时六十英里的速度，轰隆声停止了，马达发出愉快的嗡嗡声。
(偷懒直接找的中文版本，侵删)
The wheelbase of a car or other vehicle is the distance between its front and back wheels. (汽车或其他交通工具前后轮之间的) 轴距
说到汽车，在玛蒂尔达中玛蒂尔达的爸爸就在汽车厂工作，贩卖二手车，里面出现了speedometer速率计，mileage里程数等，算是不同阅读同义复现。还真是相互映照。
Ahead of me I saw a man thumbing a lift. I touched the footbrake and brought the car to a stop beside him. ...He was a small ratty-faced man with grey teeth. His eyes were dark and quick and clever, like a rat’s eyes, and his ears were slightly pointed at the top.
这就是文章开始部分，搭便车的主角出现了。
‘I expect you help to work the betting machines or something like that,’ I said.
‘That’s even sillier,’ he answered. ‘There’s no fun working them lousy machines and selling tickets to mugs. Any fool could do that.’
There was a long silence. I decided not to question him any more.
很好玩的对话，上车后乘客要去伦敦的埃普索姆去看看赛马，两人就随意聊起了各自的职业。
‘I’m sorry,’ I said. ‘It’s none of my business what you do. The trouble is, I’m a writer, and most writers are terrible nosey parkers.’
‘You write books?’ he asked.
‘Yes.’
‘Writin’ books is okay,’ he said. ‘It’s what I call a skilled trade. I’m in a skilled trade too. The folks I despise is them that spend all their lives doin’ crummy old routine jobs with no skill in ’em at all. You see what I mean?’
哈哈哈，为了不把天聊死，作者说我是写书的。你知道写书的人都是爱打听。谁知对方很给面子，写书能行，技术活。而不是千篇一律的无聊工作生活，生活工作。
当然后面也说不是一个挣钱的作家是开不起这么好的车的。
‘What can she do flat out?’ he asked.
‘One hundred and twenty-nine miles an hour,’ I told him.
flat out 全力以赴，这里是指车的最高上速是多少。在很多文学作品中，车，船，游艇基本就是男人的第二爱人了，常用she来指代。
We came out of the roundabout on to the carriageway and I pressed my foot down on the accelerator. The big car leaped forward as though she’d been stung. In ten seconds or so, we were doing ninety.
‘Lovely!’ he cried. ‘Beautiful! Keep goin’!’
I had the accelerator jammed right down against the floor and I held it there.
出了环路，上了双向车道，"我"开始向这位乘客展示车子的最高时速，一路飚到90，100，120然后警察来了，上速129还没达到就已经被警用小摩托比了下去。
那当然了，好的宝马摩托比宝马还贵…哈哈哈，a BMW R90S--最快的公路摩托车。
Like an executioner approaching his victim, the policeman came strolling slowly towards us. He was a big meaty man with a belly, and his blue breeches were skintight around his enormous thighs. His goggles were pulled up on the helmet, showing a smouldering red face with wide cheeks.
哈哈哈，太生动了。突然想去找一找罗尔德大爷写的You Only Live Twice(007雷霆谷)剧本
meaty这里指身材粗壮
(old-fashioned)Breeches are trousers which reach as far as your knees. 及膝的裤子; 马裤
‘Or perhaps your house is on fire and you’re dashing home to rescue the family from upstairs?’ His voice was dangerously soft and mocking.
‘In that case,’ he said, ‘you’ve got yourself into a nasty mess, haven’t you? Do you know what the speed limit is in this country?’
He turned his head and spat out a big gob of spit. It landed on the wing of my car and started sliding down over my beautiful blue paint.
这几处描写简直了。
因为略讽刺所以就不翻译了，哈哈哈。
'Driving-licence,’ he snapped, holding out his hand.
I gave him my driving-licence.
He unbuttoned the left-hand breast-pocket of his tunic and brought out the dreaded book of tickets. Carefully, he copied the name and address from my licence. Then he gave it back to me. He strolled round to the front of the car and read the number from the number-plate and wrote that down as well. He filled in the date, the time and the details of my offence.违章细节 Then he tore out the top copy of the ticket. But before handing it to me, he checked that all the information had come through clearly on his own carbon copy. Finally, he replaced the book in his tunic pocket and fastened the button.
看到这一段泪目，都是罚单堆出的教训。
A tunic is a sleeveless garment that is worn on the top part of your body. 无袖上衣
I hope they lock you up for a spell into the bargain.
警察不喜欢这位乘客，详细询问了其姓名，地址工作，乘客说自己是水泥工(a hod carrier)，并且一本正经瞎胡扯。警察处理完违章之后，表示没处理完你们就别开车了，还希望司机(我)能被关一段时间。
for a spell 类似for a period of time ,spell这里是名词，这个意思也是在第一本散文集中看到的。算是复习。
‘It’s because I’ve got fantastic fingers. These fingers of mine,’ he said, holding up both hands high in front of him, ‘are quicker and cleverer than the fingers of the best piano player in the world!’
‘Are you a piano player?’
‘Don’t be daft,’ he said. ‘Do I look like a piano player?’
I glanced at his fingers. They were so beautifully shaped, so slim and long and elegant, they didn’t seem to belong to the rest of him at all. They looked more like the fingers of a brain surgeon or a watchmaker.
警察走后，"我"对这位乘客更好奇了。到底他是做什么的？那卷烟的速度和技巧实在超乎常人，手指和整个人形成巨大反差，像是音乐家或者表匠的手。作者又猜测了魔术师，赌场老千，但通通都不是。
‘I don’t like that word,’ he answered. ‘It’s a coarse and vulgar word. Pickpockets is coarse and vulgar people who only do easy little amateur jobs. They lift money from blind old ladies.’
‘What do you call yourself, then?’
‘Me? I’m a fingersmith. I’m a professional fingersmith.’ He spoke the words solemnly and proudly, as though he were telling me he was the President of the Royal College of Surgeons or the Archbishop of Canterbury.
哈哈哈，对自己的职业庄严感。根本不是Pickpocket而是Fingersmith，既然有金匠银匠(agoldsmith and a silversmith)为何不能有手指匠。
In the long delicate fingers of his right hand, the man was holding up in triumph the two books he had taken from the policeman’s pockets. ‘Easiest job I ever done,’ he announced proudly.
I nearly swerved the car into a milk-truck, I was so excited.
‘That copper’s got nothin’ on either of us now,’ he said.
‘You’re a genius!’ I cried.
‘’Ee’s got no names, no addresses, no car number, no nothin’,’ he said.
‘You’re brilliant!’
...‘Thank you, guv’nor,’ he said. ‘It’s always nice to be appreciated.’
结尾有点欧亨利式，总之这是一位有"道德"的手指匠，只从丢的起的肥肉那里揩油。结局很诙谐，两人也没了后顾之忧，就结束了。
第三个故事The Mildenhall Treasure准备今天读完，这是一个纪实故事，应该很好看。明天进行The Swan，发现给自己规定下每天的阅读量就会很好的推进下去。这本书本身也很精彩，真得推荐一读。今天就这样。
网友评论