<img src="http://english.glendale.cc.ca.us/unicorn2.gif" style="float:left">这一篇,粉是可爱的
也算是世界范围内有名的现代短篇小说了(微型小说?)。
不可相信这么大一个网上居然没有这篇小说的中文版,
只好自己又打了出来,幸亏不是很长。
其实这个“麒麟”应该是“独角兽”——Unicorn。我不知为什么译者把它当作“麒麟”。
因为麒麟好像也有两只角的。而且中国的麒麟是红头金身绿尾,而不是纯白的。
小说的最后一段一直有争议,我看也是那样,画蛇添足的东西,删掉不足惜。
从前,有一个阳光灿烂的早晨,有个男人坐在厨房角落的小饭桌旁吃炒鸡蛋。偶尔一抬眼,他看到花园里来了一只麒麟,全身洁白,头顶上长着一个金色的角,正在安静地嚼着玫瑰。这个男人登上楼,来到卧室,看到妻子还在酣睡。他叫醒了妻子。“花园里有只麒麟,”他说,“正在吃玫瑰哩。”她睁开了一只眼,敌意地看了看他。“麒麟在神话才有。”她说。然后转过身去,背对着他。男子慢慢地下了楼,走出房间,来到花园。麒麟还在那儿,正在郁金香丛中慢腾腾地吃着花叶。“吃吧,麒麟。”男人说,拔起一棵百合花递给它。麒麟严肃地吃了百合花。由于花园里有只麒麟,男人十分高兴,又跑到楼上叫醒了妻子。“麒麟又吃了一棵百合花哩。”他说。他的妻子坐了起来,冷冰冰地看着他。“你是个神经病,”她说,“我要把你送到疯人院去。”男人从来都不喜欢“神经病”“疯人院”之类的字眼,尤其是在这个阳光灿烂的早晨,花园里有只麒麟的时候听起来更加刺耳。男人沉默了一会儿说:“咱们等着瞧吧。”他走到门口时又说:“它额头中间有一只金色的角。”然后他又回到花园去看麒麟,可是麒麟已经走了。于是男人就坐在玫瑰丛中睡着了。
丈夫一离开房间,妻子便飞快地起床,穿衣。她激动万分,眼里闪烁着幸灾乐祸的光芒。她先给警察打电话,然后给精神病医生打电话,叫他们赶快来她家,带上一件给疯子穿的紧身衣。警察和精神病医生赶到后,坐在椅子里,饶有兴致地看着她。“我丈夫今天早晨看见了一只麒麟。”她说。警察看看精神病医生,精神病医生看了看警察。“他告诉我,麒麟吃了一棵百合花”。她说。精神病医生看了看警察,警察看看精神病医生。“他告诉我,麒麟额头中间有一只金色的角。”她说。警察看到精神病医生发出严肃的暗号,便从椅子里一跃而起,一把抓住了这个妻子。由于她拼命挣扎,他们费了好大的劲才制服了她。就在他们给她穿带来的紧身衣的时候,丈夫进来了。
“你对你妻子说过你看见过麒麟吗?”警察问道。“当然没有,”丈夫说,“麒麟是神话里才有的。”“这就是我想知道的一切。”精神病医生说,“把她带走。很对不起,先生,可是你的妻子疯得像鲣鸟一样。”于是他们把她带走了。一路上她骂不绝口,尖声大叫。他们把她关进了疯人院。从此,丈夫过得很快活。
喻义:鸟未孵,勿点数。
E文原版,爱钻研的及对译文不爽的就读吧:
<div align=center><b>The Unicorn in the Garden</b></div>
Once upon a sunny morning a man who sat in a breakfast nook looked up from his scrambled eggs to see a white unicorn with a golden horn quietly cropping the roses in the garden. The man wnet up to the bedroom where his wife was still asleep and woke her. "There's a unicorn in the garden," he said. "Eating roses." She opened one unfriendly eye and looked at him. "The unicorn is a mythical beast," she said, and turned her back on him. The man walked slowly downstairs and out into the garden. The unicorn was still there; he was now browsing among the tulips. "Here, unicorn," said the man and pulled up a lily and gave it to him. The unicorn ate it gravely. With a high heart, because there was a unicorn in his garden, the man went upstairs and roused his wife again. "The unicorn," he said, "ate a lily." His wife sat up in bed and looked at him, coldly. "You are a booby," she said, "and I am going to have you put in a booby-hatch." The man, who never liked the words "booby" and "booby-hatch," and who liked them even less on a shining morning when there was a unicorn in the garden, thought for a moment. "We'll see about that," he said. He walked over to the door. "He has a golden horn in the middle of his forehead," he told her. Then he went back to the garden to watch the unicorn; but the unicorn had gone away. The man sat among the roses and went to sleep.
And as soon as the husband had gone out of the house, the wife got up and dressed as fast as she could. She was very excited and there was a gloat in her eye. She telephoned the police and she telephoned the psychiatrist; she told them to hurry to her house and bring a strait-jacket. When the police and the psychiatrist looked at her with great interest. "My husband," she said, "saw a unicorn this morning." The police looked at the psychiatrist and the psychiatrist looked at the police. "He told me it ate a lily," she said. The psychiatrist looked at the police and the police looked at the psychiatrist. "He told me it had a golden horn in the middle of its forehead," she said. At a solemn signal from the psychiatrist, the police leaped from their chairs and seized the wife. They had a hard time subduing her, for she put up a terrific struggle, but they finally subdued her. Just as they got her into the strait-jacket, the husband came back into the house.
"Did you tell your wife you saw a unicorn?" asked the police. "Of course not," said the husband. "The unicorn is a mythical beast." "That's all I wanted to know," said the psychiatrist. "Take her away. I'm sorry, sir, but your wife is as crazy as a jay bird." So they took her away, cursing and screaming, and shut her up in an institution. The husband lived happily ever after.
Moral: Don't count your boobies until they are hatched.
差点忘了,作者介绍:
James Thurber(1894-1961),美国现代幽默作家。生于俄亥俄州哥伦布城,毕业于俄亥俄州立大学。先后在哥伦布城、巴黎和纽约当报社记者,后成为《纽约客》杂志编辑、作家、专栏作家。他善于在扑朔迷离的世界中捕捉时代的特征,以擅写纽约市中产阶级市民的生活与精神状态而著称。他的作品风格幽默,于平淡中求机智。其主要作品:《性是必需的吗》、《阁楼上的猫头鹰及其他唯题》、《我的生活与困难时期》、《你不要自寻烦恼》、《男人、女人与狗》等。剧本有《雄性动物》、《瑟伯狂欢节》。《花园里的麒麟》及《沃尔特米蒂的秘史》这篇小说曾被搬上银幕。 |