【THE MAN WITH TWO LEFT FEET怎么样】

【THE MAN WITH TWO LEFT FEET怎么样】

The Man with Two Left Feet是這個短篇集中最後一篇,看不到五六頁,就能大概猜到故事情節,會像《麥琪的禮物》那樣結束,但卻是《談談情,跳跳舞》的內容.有趣的其實是P.G Wodehouse那種英式幽默,前一句是假裝cheesy的談情描寫,一下句就是損得半死的幽默.幽默首先來源於犀利的觀察,將腐朽場景take it as another ways,將“異類”與“日常”對立起來,再倒轉：1,Henry愛好讀大英百科,且喜歡一個詞條一個詞條地慢慢讀：He went after learning with the cold and dispassionate relentlessness of a stoat pursuing a rabbit.The ordinary man who is paying instalments on the Encyclopaedia Britannica is apt to get over-excited and to skip impatiently to Vol XXVIII(VET-ZYM) to see how it all comes out in the end.Not so Henry.His was not a frivolous mind.He intended to read it through,and he was not going to spoil his pleasure by peeping ahead.2,Henry和他同事的對比,兩種類型的男人：It would seems to be inexorable law of Nature that no man shall shine at both ends.If he has a high forehead and a thirst for wisdom,his fox-trotting (if any) shall be as the staggering of the drunken; while,if he is a good dancer,he is nearly always petrified from the ears upward.3,如果同事稍微問起他對婚姻和女人的看法：Henry would look at him in a manner which was a blend of scorn,amusement,and indignation; and would reply with a single word:'Me!' It was the way he said it that impressed you.4,Henry在度假村遇到女主角Minnie,女主角說她在倫敦跳舞跳得半死,所以身子很虛弱,Henry的pick-up lines是：I don't dance myself,he said,but I am fond of reading about it.Did you know that the word 'ballet' incorporated three distinct modern words,'ballet','ball' and 'ballad',and that ballet-dancing was originally accompanied by singing?(我們的男主角有夠nerd的!其實在Wodehouse時代就已經有nerd精神了!) 更神的是女主角的反應：It hit her.It had her weak.she gaped at Henry.5,Henry's soul was expanding like a flower and purring like a well-tickled cat.6,寫男女主角墜入愛河的場景,前一句是慣常的太陽下山銀色湖水紫紅天空,下一句是蚊子瘋狂地叮著這位情郎,但Henry毫不畏懼,或者毫無知覺 The sun was setting.It threw a crimson carpet across the silvery lake.The air was very still.The creatures,unclassified by science,who might have been mistaken for mosquitoes had their presence been possible at Ye Bunnie Nriar-Bush Farm,were biting harder than ever.But Henry heeded them not.其實幽默在於創造一種“眾人皆醒我獨醉”的場景,所以當Henry醒覺他的bore,他想學跳舞之後,就沒那麼好笑了.當Henry終於偷偷上了一年的跳舞課,帶著太太重回舞場,想讓Minnie驚喜一凡時,擠滿了人的舞場讓他醒覺：With that all the knowledge which he had so painfully acquired passed from Henry' mind,leaving it an agitated blank.This was a situation for which his slidings round an empty room had not prepared him.He has a momentary feelingas if he were going down the Niagara Rapids in a barrel.The place was full of demon laughter.這最後一句魔鬼的笑聲,無疑是Wodehouse幽默的最佳注腳耶.

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