Unit 3B - The Invisible Japanese Gentlemen
The Invisible Japanese Gentlemen
Graham Greene
There were eight Japanese gentlemen having a fish dinner at Bentley's. They spoke to each other rarely in their incomprehensible tongue, but always with a courteous smile and often with a small bow. All but one of them wore glasses. Sometimes the pretty girl who sat in the window beyond gave them a passing glance, but her own problem seemed too serious for her to pay real attention to anyone in the world except herself and her companion.
She had thin blonde hair and her face was pretty and petite in a Regency way, oval like a miniature, though she had a harsh way of speaking—perhaps the accent of the school, Roedean or Cheltenham Ladies' College, which she had not long ago left. She wore a man's signet-ring on her engagement finger, and as I sat down at my table, with the Japanese gentlemen between us, she said, "So you see we could marry next week."
Yes?
Her companion appeared a little distraught. He refilled their glasses with Chablis and said, "Of course, but Mother..." I missed some of the conversation then, because the eldest Japanese gentleman leant across the table, with a smile and a little bow, and uttered a whole paragraph like the mutter from an aviary, while everyone bent towards him and smiled and listened, and I couldn't help attending to him myself.
The girl's fiance resembled her physically. I could see them as two miniatures hanging side by side on white wood panels.
He should have been a young officer in Nelson's navy in the days when a certain weakness and sensitivity were no bar to promotion.
She said, "They are giving me an advance of five hundred pounds, and they've sold the paperback rights already." The hard commercial declaration came as a shock to me; it was a shock too that she was one of my own profession. She couldn't have been more than twenty. She deserved better of life.
He said, "But my uncle..."
You know you don't get on with him. This way we shall be quite independent.
You will be independent," he said grudgingly.
The wine-trade wouldn't really suit you, would it? I spoke to my publisher about you and there's a very good chance... if you began with some reading...
But I don't know a thing about books.
I would help you at the start.
My mother says that writing is a good crutch...
Five hundred pounds and half the paperback rights is a pretty solid crutch, she said.
This Chablis is good, isn't it?
I daresay.
I began to change my opinion of him—he had not the Nelson touch. He was doomed to defeat. She came alongside and raked him fore and aft.
Do you know what Mr. Dwight said?
Who's Dwight?
Darling, you don't listen, do you? My publisher. He said he hadn't read a first novel in the last ten years which showed such powers of observation.
That's wonderful, he said, "wonderful."
Only he wants me to change the title.
Yes?
He doesn't like The Ever-Rolling Stream. He wants to call it The Chelsea Set.
What did you say?
I agreed. I do think that with a first novel one should try to keep one's publisher happy. Especially when, really, he's going to pay for our marriage, isn't he?
I see what you mean. Absent-mindedly he stirred his Chablis with a fork—perhaps before the engagement he had always bought champagne. The Japanese gentlemen had finished their fish and with very little English but with elaborate courtesy they were ordering from the middle-aged waitress a fresh fruit salad. The girl looked at them, and then she looked at me, but I think she saw only the future. I wanted very much to warn her against any future based on a first novel called The Chelsea Set. I was on the side of his mother. It was a humiliating thought, but I was probably about her mother's age.
I wanted to say to her: Are you certain your publisher is telling you the truth? Publishers are human. They may sometimes exaggerate the virtues of the young and the pretty. Will The Chelsea Set be read in five years? Are you prepared for the years of effort, "the long defeat of doing nothing well"? As the years pass writing will not become any easier, the daily effort will grow harder to endure, those "powers of observation" will become enfeebled; you will be judged, when you reach your forties, by performance and not by promise.
My next novel is going to be about St Tropez.
I didn't know you'd ever been there.
I haven't. A fresh eye's terribly important. I thought we might settle down there for six months.
There wouldn't be much left of the advance by that time.
The advance is only an advance. I get fifteen per cent after five thousand copies and twenty per cent after ten. And of course another advance will be due, darling, when the next book's finished. A bigger one if The Chelsea Set sells well.
Suppose it doesn't.
Mr. Dwight says it will. He ought to know.
My uncle would start me at twelve hundred.
But darling, how could you come then to St Tropez?
Perhaps we'd do better to marry when you come back.
She said harshly, "I mightn't come back if The Chelsea Set sells enough."
Oh.
She looked at me and the party of Japanese gentlemen. She finished her wine. She said, "Is this a quarrel?"
No.
I've got the title for the next book—The Azure Blue.
I thought azure was blue.
She looked at him with disappointment. "You don't really want to be married to a novelist, do you?"
You aren't one yet.
I was bom one—Mr. Dwight says. My powers of observation...
Yes. You told me that, but, dear, couldn't you observe a bit nearer home? Here in London.
I've done that in The Chelsea Set. I don't want to repeat myself.
The bill had been lying beside them for some time now. He took out his wallet to pay, but she snatched the paper out of his reach. She said, "This is my celebration."
What of?
The Chelsea Set, of course. Darling, you're awfully decorative, but sometimes—well, you simply don't connect.
I'd rather... if you don't mind...
No, darling, this is on me. And Mr. Dwight, of course.
He submitted just as two of the Japanese gentlemen gave tongue simultaneously, then stopped abruptly and bowed to each other, as though they were blocked in a doorway.
I had thought the two young people matching miniatures, but what a contrast in fact there was. The same type of prettiness could contain weakness and strength. Her Regency counterpart, I suppose, would have borne a dozen children without the aid of anaesthetics, while he would have fallen an easy victim to the first dark eyes in Naples. Would there one day be a dozen books on her shelf? They have to be born without an anaesthetic too. I found myself hoping that The Chelsea Set would prove to be a disaster and that eventually she would take up photographic modeling while he established himself solidly in the wine-trade in St James's. I didn't like to think of her as the Mrs. Humphrey Ward of her generation—not that I would live so long. Old age saves us from the realization of a great many fears. I wondered to which publishing firm Dwight belonged. I could imagine the blurb he would have already written about her abrasive powers of observation. There would be a photo, if he was wise, on the back of the jacket, for reviewers, as well as publishers, are human, and she didn't look like Mrs. Humphrey Ward.
I could hear them talking while they found their coats at the back of the restaurant. He said, "I wonder what all those Japanese are doing here?"
Japanese? she said. "What Japanese, darling? Sometimes you are so evasive think you don't want to marry me at all."
参考译文——视若无睹
视若无睹
格雷厄姆·格林
本特利餐厅里八个日本男人正在享用他们的鱼。他们偶尔用一种难以理解的语言相互交谈；但他们一直谦恭有礼，面带微笑，还时不时地微微鞠躬。他们中只有一人没戴眼镜。离他们不远处，靠窗坐着位漂亮女孩，她朝他们看了一眼；但她似乎已有更重要的事，而没有心思去理会除自己和同伴以外的人。
女孩有着一头金黄的秀发，不是很浓密；瓜子脸精致小巧，漂亮可人，浑然一帧袖珍肖像。不过她说起话来却粗声粗气，这可能是在学校时养成的腔调——也许她不久前刚从罗丁或切尔滕纳姆女子学院毕业。她的中指上戴着一枚男式图案戒指。我在自己的桌子旁坐了下来，中间隔着那八个日本男人。这时只听她说道：“那下个星期我们就要结婚了。”
“啊？”
她的同伴看着显得有些心神恍惚。他又把酒杯倒满了沙布利酒，说：“当然了，只是妈妈她……”后面的谈话我没有听清楚。那个最年长的日本男人向前探了探身子，面带笑意，微微鞠了一躬，说了一大段话，声音很小，就像鸟舍传来的鸟的低鸣声。其他几个日本人都探着身子迎向他，面带笑容倾听着。于是我也不由主地倾听起来。
女孩和她的未婚夫很有夫妻相。我可以想象他俩就像两幅微型画似的并排挂在白木壁板上。
男孩本来可以成为一位年轻的纳尔逊海军军官，在纳尔逊那个时代，有些文弱、敏感并不会成为晋升的障碍。
女孩说他们要预付我五百英镑的稿费，而且他们已经把平装本的版权卖掉了。”那种严肃的商业声明令我震惊。而同样令我震惊万分的是，她竟是我的同行。她最多不过20岁，应该享受更好的生活。
男孩说但是我叔叔……”
“你知道你跟他合不来；而且这样的话我们会很独立。”
“你倒是独立了。”男孩不情愿地说。
“葡萄酒生意并不真正适合你，对吧？我和出版商谈到过你，只要你开始读点书，就有很好的机会……”
“可我对书一窍不通啊。”
“开头我先带着你呀。”
“我妈妈说写作是门不错的副业……”
“五百英镑和平装本一半的版权，这可是相当可观的副业。”她说。
“这沙布利酒还可以吧？”
“还行。”
我对男孩的看法开始改变了，他根本就没有纳尔逊的气质。他是注定了要失败的。她靠过来，从上到下扫视了男孩一通。
“你知道德怀特先生怎么说吗？”
“德怀特是谁啊？”
“亲爱的，你在听吗？他是我的出版商呀。他说十年来这还是他第一次读到这么有观察力的处女作。”
“很好他黯然道，“好极了。”
“只是他希望我把书名改一改。”
“是吗？”
“他不喜欢《潺潺的小溪》这个书名。他想改成《切尔西的名流》。”
“你怎么说的？”
“我同意了。而且我也认为出版处女作的时候千万要迎合出版商。更何况咱俩结婚的钱还得要靠他呢，是吧？”
“我明白你的意思了。”男孩漫不经心地用叉子搅动着沙布利酒——也许订婚前他都是买香槟的吧。日本男士们已经用完鱼肉餐，他们正向那位中年女服务员点一道鲜果沙拉，他们的英语很不流利，但他们却很有礼貌。女孩看了看他们，又向我这边看了看。但我想，她看见的只有未来。我很想去告诫她不要把未来全部寄托在叫《切尔西的名流》的处女作小说上。我同意男孩母亲的说法，这是个令人羞愧的想法，但我可能跟她母亲的年龄差不多。
我想对她说：你能确定出版商跟你说的是实话吗？出版商是普通人，他们有时候会夸大年轻人以及相貌好的人的优点。《切尔西的名流》能流行五年吗？你准备好进行多年的努力和接受长期一事无成的打击了吗？随着时间的推移，写作并不会越来越容易，每日的努力越来越难以忍受，“观察力”也会变弱，你到四十岁时，别人会拿你的成就来评判你而不是拿你的承诺评判你。
“我的下一部小说将是关于圣特罗佩的。”
“我不知道你去过那里。”
“我并没有去过。但我有对事物充满新鲜感的眼睛，这也很重要，我想我们应该去那里居住六个月。”
“到那时，预付的稿费就所剩无几了。”
“预付稿费仅仅是预付稿费。销量达到5000本，我就会得到15%的利润，达到一万本，我就会得到20%。当然了，亲爱的，下一本书完成后，另一笔预付款也会拿到而且会更多，如果《切尔西的名流》畅销的话。”
“如果不畅销呢？”
“德怀特先生说会的，他知道这些事。”
“我叔叔给我的底薪是1200英镑。”
“但是，亲爱的，那你还怎么去圣特罗佩呢？”
“或许我们最好等你回来再结婚。”
她尖叫起来如果《切尔西的名流》销售很好，我可能就不会回来了。”
“哦。”
她看了看我，又看了看那几个日本绅士，将杯中的酒喝光，说道这算是吵架吗？”
“不是。”
“我已经想好下一本书的书名了——《蔚蓝的蓝色》。”
我认为蔚蓝就是蓝色了。
她失望地看了看男孩。“你并不是真的想娶一个小说家，对吧？”
“你目前还不是小说家啊。”
“我天生就是。德怀特先生这么说的，我的洞察力……”
“是的，你告诉过我了。但是，亲爱的，你不能离家近点洞察吗，就在这里——伦敦。”
“我已经在《切尔西的名流》里写过了。我不想再重复了。”
账单已经放在他们旁边有一会儿了。他取出钱包要结账，但是女孩一把抢走了账单。她说：“这是为我庆祝的。”
“庆祝什么啊？”
“当然是《切尔西的名流》啊。亲爱的，你非常可爱，但有时候——呃，你就是转不过弯来。”
“我愿意……如果你不介意……”
“不，亲爱的。由我来付，当然，也算由德怀特先生来付。”
男孩不再争了。这时其中两个日本男人恰好同时开口说话，接着又都缄默不语，相互躬身致意，就像在门口撞到了彼此。
我原想这对年轻人很是般配，但事实却大相径庭。同样漂亮的类型有的人或许无能，有的人或许强大。我在想，如果她处在摄政时期，她可能已经在不需要麻醉的情况下生了十多个孩子，而他将很容易被那不勒斯岸上碰上的第一个女人所降伏。她的书架上有一天会摆满她所写的书吗？（那么）这些书也一定是在她没有打麻醉药的情况下创作的。我希望《切尔西的名流》销量不好，这样，她最终会成为摄影模特，而他会在圣詹姆斯的葡萄酒贸易中站稳脚跟。我不敢想象她会成为她这一代的汉弗莱·沃德太太，这倒不是因为我还能活到那会。年老让我们免于面对许多恐怖的现实。我很好奇德怀特先生是哪个出版社的。我可以想象得到他对于她那洞察力的吹捧短评早已写好。如果他明智的话，应该在书的护封上加上她的照片，评论家和出版商都是普通人，而她可比汉弗莱·沃德太太漂亮得多。
他们在餐厅后面拿外套时，我又听到了他们的谈话。男孩说那些日本人在这干嘛呢？”
“日本人？”女孩问道，“什么日本人啊，亲爱的？有时候我觉得你是有意在闪烁其词，我猜你压根就没想要跟我结婚。”
Key Words:
aviary ['eiviəri]
n. 大鸟笼，鸟舍
invisible [in'vizəbl]
adj. 看不见的，无形的
n. 隐形人(或物
conversation [.kɔnvə'seiʃən]
n. 会话，谈话
distraught [di'strɔ:t]
adj. 烦恼的，发狂的，异常激动的
except [ik'sept]
vt. 除，除外
prep. & conj.
courteous ['kə:tjəs]
adj. 有礼貌的，殷勤的
bent [bent]
bend的过去式和过去分词 adj. 下定决心的，弯曲的
engagement [in'geidʒmənt]
n. 婚约，订婚，约会，约定，交战，雇用，(机器零件等)
harsh [hɑ:ʃ]
adj. 粗糙的，使人不舒服的，刺耳的，严厉的，大约的
spoke [spəuk]
v. 说，说话，演说
doomed [dumd]
adj. 命中注定的 动词doom的过去式和过去分词
certain ['sə:tn]
adj. 确定的，必然的，特定的
promotion [prə'məuʃən]
n. 晋升，促进，提升
deserved [di'zə:vd]
adj. 应得的；理所当然的 v. 值得；应得；应受报答
commercial [kə'mə:ʃəl]
adj. 商业的
n. 商业广告
observation [.ɔbzə'veiʃən]
n. 观察，观察力，评论
adj. 被设计用来
defeat [di'fi:t]
n. 败北，挫败
vt. 战胜，击败
sensitivity [.sensi'tiviti]
n. 敏感，多愁善感，感受性
weakness ['wi:knis]
n. 软弱
performance [pə'fɔ:məns]
n. 表演，表现; 履行，实行
n. 性能，本
defeat [di'fi:t]
n. 败北，挫败
vt. 战胜，击败
courtesy ['kə:tisi]
n. 礼貌，好意，恩惠
observation [.ɔbzə'veiʃən]
n. 观察，观察力，评论
adj. 被设计用来
stream [stri:m]
n. (人，车，气)流，水流，组
v. 流动，
settle ['setl]
v. 安顿，解决，定居
n. 有背的长凳
exaggerate [ig'zædʒəreit]
v. 夸大，夸张
certain ['sə:tn]
adj. 确定的，必然的，特定的
ordering ['ɔ:dəriŋ]
n. [计]定序；排序；订购 v. 命令；指挥；订购（o
haven ['heivn]
n. 港口，避难所，安息所 v. 安置 ... 于港中，
harshly
adv. 严厉地；刺耳地；粗糙地
wallet ['wɔlit]
n. 皮夹，钱包
disappointment [.disə'pɔintmənt]
n. 失望，令人失望的人或事
quarrel ['kwɔrəl]
n. 吵架，争论，怨言
vi. 吵架，争论，挑
observe [əb'zə:v]
v. 观察，遵守，注意到
v. 评论，庆
observation [.ɔbzə'veiʃən]
n. 观察，观察力，评论
adj. 被设计用来
decorative ['dekərətiv]
adj. 装饰的，可作装饰的
abrasive [ə'breisiv]
n. 磨料 adj. 磨损的，生硬粗暴的，恼人的
abruptly [ə'brʌptli]
adv. 突然地，莽撞地，陡峭地，不连贯地
contrast ['kɔntræst,kən'træst]
n. 差别，对比，对照物
v. 对比，成对照<
ward [wɔ:d]
n. 守卫，监护，受监护人，病房，行政区
evasive [i'veisiv]
adj. 逃避的，难以捉摸的
simultaneously [saiməl'teiniəsli]
adv. 同时地(联立地)
established [is'tæbliʃt]
adj. 已被确认的，确定的，建立的，制定的 动词est
doorway ['dɔ:wei]
n. 门口
contain [kən'tein]
vt. 包含，容纳，克制，抑制
参考资料：
- http://www.kekenet.com/daxue/201701/48935shtml
- 现代大学英语精读(第2版)第三册:U3B The Invisible Japanese Gentlemen(2)_大学教材听力 - 可可英语
- 现代大学英语精读(第2版)第三册:U3B The Invisible Japanese Gentlemen(3)_大学教材听力 - 可可英语
- http://www.kekenet.com/daxue/201702/48935shtml
- 现代大学英语精读(第2版)第三册:U3B The Invisible Japanese Gentlemen(5)_大学教材听力 - 可可英语
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