现代大学英语精读第二版（第四册）学习笔记（原文及全文翻译）——12B - The Rivals（棋逢对手）

Unit 12 - The Rivals

The Rivals

Martin Armstrong

The train was about three-quarters of an hour from its destination and was travelling at a good sixty miles an hour

when Mr Harraby-Ribston, a prosperous businessman, rose from his seat, lifted his suitcase down from the rack and threw it out of the window.

The only other occupant of the carriage, a small, thin man, a Mr Crowther, had raised his eyes from his book when his travelling- companion stirred from his seat and had noticed the occurrence.

Then the two men exchanged a sharp glance and immediately Mr Crowther continued his reading, while Mr Harraby-Ribston resumed his seat and sat for a while puffing a little

and with a heightened colour as a result of his exertion.

The glance that his companion had given him worried him extremely, for Mr Crowther's glance had betrayed not the smallest emotion.

It had shown no alarm, no surprise, not even a mild interest, and that, surely, was very extraordinary. Mr Harraby-Ribston's curiosity was violently aroused.

And not only that. He was by nature a sociable, chatty man

and he had reckoned that his action would infallibly produce conversation.

But no conversation had followed and,

that being so, he had had no opportunity of explaining his behaviour

and he began to feel that he had merely made a fool of himself in the eyes of his companion,

or, worse, that his companion might conclude that the suitcase contained a corpse,

in which event he would perhaps inform the police when they reached their destination and all sorts of troublesome and humiliating enquiries would follow.

Such were the thoughts that buzzed round Mr Harraby-Ribston, robbing him of the satisfaction and refreshment that were his due.

Mr Crowther, for his part, had also suffered some distraction.

Though he was pretending to read, he was actually unable to do so.

For all his appearance of indifference, the sight of a well-to-do gentleman pitching a suitcase from the window of a moving train had surprised him very much.

But he had not betrayed his surprise.

The fellow was obviously counting on him for a violent reaction, and so Mr Crowther made a point of not reacting.

Whether the thing was a practical joke or not, Mr Crowther considered it an annoying infringement of his privacy.

It was as if the fellow had burst a paper bag in the hope of making him jump.

Well, he wasn't going to jump, he wasn't going to give that fellow the satisfaction.

If the fellow imagined that to throw a suitcase out of the window gave him some sort of importance, well, he was mistaken.

But Mr Harraby-Ribston had reached a point at which he must either speak or burst and, preferring the former alternative,

he said: "Excuse me, sir, but I must say, you surprise me."

Mr Crowther raised a languid eye from his book.

"Surprise you?" he said.

"Does reading in the train surprise you?"

"No, no!" said Mr Harraby-Ribston.

"I wasn't referring to that.

What surprises me is that you weren't surprised when I threw my suitcase out of the window."

"Indeed? That surprised you? You're very easily surprised."

"I don't know about that.

Surely, surely, my dear sir, it was, to say the least of it, an unusual sight.

I dare bet you've never before seen a man throw a suitcase from the window of a moving train."

Mr Crowther reflected.

"I don't know that I have; but then, to the best of my recollection, I've never seen a man eat a raw turnip in the train or dance a Highland Fling during family prayers for that matter.

But what of it?

If one allowed oneself to be surprised at anything, however insignificant, one's whole life would consist of a series of trivial astonishments."

"And you think it an insignificant act to throw one's suitcase out of a railway-carriage window?"

"Totally!" said Mr Crowther, and his eyes again sought his book.

"Then what, if I may ask," said the other, evidently somewhat nettled, "would you consider a significant act?"

Mr Crowther shrugged his shoulders wearily.

"Perhaps I would have thought it significant if the suitcase had been mine."

"I see.

You think yourself more important than me."

"I am not aware," said Mr Crowther,

"that I mentioned myself, but I certainly consider my suitcase more important than yours, and in saying this I make no reference to the quality of the leather, but merely to the fact that I am myself, while you are a total stranger."

"And the affairs of strangers don't interest you?"

"Only in so far as they affect mine."

"Well," said Mr Harraby-Ribston, "I should certainly have thought that when I threw my suitcase out of the window it could hardly have failed to affect somewhat..."

"Not in the least!" said Mr Crowther coldly.

"It only shows," Mr Harraby-Ribston remarked, "how people differ.

Now if you had thrown your suitcase out of the window, I should have been extremely curious to know why you did it."

"I gather," replied Mr Crowther with complete detachment, "that you are anxious to tell me why you did it."

"Not if it wouldn't interest you, though, I must say, I find it hard to believe that anyone could fail to be interested."

He paused, but Mr Crowther made no reply; on the contrary, he showed every sign of resuming his reading.

To prevent this, Mr Harraby-Ribston leaned back in his seat and launched out.

"The truth of the matter is that I have just, an hour and a half ago, abandoned home and wife and I am starting life afresh,

and the reason why I threw my suitcase out of the window just now was that I had suddenly realized that in it I was taking some of the old life with me.

Clothes, hairbrushes and so on all have their associations, and associations are precisely what I want to be rid of.

Hence my rather unusual action.

I'm no chicken, I admit; I'm a man of nearly fifty, I've been married for twenty-one years, and yet here I am, starting life afresh.

Well, that may seem to you a very extraordinary thing to do."

"On the contrary," said Mr Crowther, "nothing could be more natural."

Mr Harraby-Ribston was somewhat taken aback.

"Natural? You think it natural? I must say, you surprise me."

"You seem to me," said Mr Crowther, "a man much given to surprise."

"While you, I take it," Mr Harraby-Ribston snapped back, "pride yourself on being surprised by nothing."

"Not at all!" replied Mr Crowther.

"The point is, I think that we are surprised by different things.

You tell me you've been married for twenty-one years and then expect me to be surprised when you add that you're now leaving your wife.

But, my dear sir, I find nothing surprising about that.

What does surprise me is that you've been so long in doing so."

Mr Harraby-Ribston considered this view.

"I take it," he said at last, "that you're not, yourself, a married man."

"Not now," Mr Crowther replied.

"Not now? You mean you've been married and you've left your wife?"

"Not quite that.

Leaving one's wife involves leaving one's home, and that was out of the question.

I'm very fond of my home;

a charming house, a charming garden, and doubly charming nowadays when I have them to myself."

"You mean, then, that you turned your wife out?"

"O no, no! That would have involved all sorts of unpleasantness."

"Then what," asked Mr Harraby-Ribston, all curiosity once more, "what did you do?"

The other waved his hand airily.

"There are other ways, simpler ways."

"I should like to know them," said Mr Harraby-Ribston.

"I don't think," said Mr Crowther, "that my particular method would be quite in your line."

"But why not?"

Mr Harraby-Ribston was simply bubbling with curiosity.

"Why not? Well, my method requires...

what shall I say? ...reticence, tact, and a lot of very careful planning."

"And you think I'm incapable of that?"

"Well," said Mr Crowther, "I should have said that reticence was not your strong point;

and your evident desire to arouse surprise in others—that, if you were to adopt my method, might land you in a very uncomfortable position."

"You interest me enormously," said Mr Harraby-Ribston.

"Now do, please, just tell me what you did."

Mr Crowther seemed to hesitate, then to make up his mind.

"If I tell you, I trust you won't accuse me of any wish to surprise you.

I've never had the slightest desire to surprise anybody.

Observe, please, that I haven't forced the information on you.

If you hadn't spoken to me, we should have travelled in complete silence.

I have a book here which interests me greatly and if you hadn't, if I may say so, dragged me into conversation..."

"Quite! Quite!" said Mr Harraby-Ribston, who, by now, was worked up to a dangerous pitch of excitement.

"I admit it; I admit it entirely.

And I promise you I'll do my best not to appear in the least surprised."

"Well," said Mr Crowther, "what I did was simply this.

Forgive me if it seems to you a little sensational, and remember, please, that I shall deeply resent any appearance of astonishment on your part.

Well, as I was saying, I simply murdered my wife."

Mr Harraby-Ribston took the disclosure remarkably well.

He did, it's true, flinch and turn a little pale, but in a few moments he had recovered himself.

"Thank you, sir," he said, "and let me say how much I appreciate your openness.

In fact, you tempt me to be equally frank with you.

Let me confess, then, that as a matter of fact I haven't left my wife, for the simple reason that I'm a bachelor.

I grow vegetables on rather a large scale and once a week business takes me to London.

As for the matter of the suitcase, I have some friends whose house we passed a few miles back and every week fill a suitcase with vegetables, bring it with me, and throw it out of the carriage-window as the train passes their house.

It rolls down the embankment and lands up against their railings.

It's a primitive method, I know, but it saves postage and you can have no idea how much entertaining conversation it provokes with my fellow-passengers.

You, if I may say so, are no exception."

参考译文——棋逢对手

棋逢对手

马丁•阿姆斯特朗

火车离终点大概还有45分钟的路程，正以每小时至少60英里的速度行驶着。

这时候哈利比-里伯斯顿先生，一个富有的商人，从他的座位上站了起来，取下行李架上的手提箱，然后把它扔出了窗外。

当这位旅伴离开座位时，这个车厢里仅有的另一位乘客，一个又瘦又矮的男人——克劳瑟先生，把目光从书本上移开，抬起头，正好目睹了这一过程。

这两个男人很快对视了一下，克劳瑟先生随即继续他的阅读，而哈利比-里伯斯顿先生重新坐回到自己的座位上。

由于刚才的用力，他喘息了一会儿并且脸色绯红。

那位旅伴对他匆匆的一瞥使他极为不安，因为克劳瑟先生的一瞥没有显露出一丁点儿的感情。

它没有显示出惊恐、诧异，甚至没有显示出一点点的兴趣，实在是非常不寻常。

这强烈地激起了哈利比-里伯斯顿先生的好奇心。

不仅如此，他天生是个好交际、爱闲聊的人。

并且他认为他刚才的行为必然会引起他们之间的一段对话。

但是对话却没有发生，

因此，他没有机会去解释他的行为，

并且他开始感觉他在这位旅伴眼中只是一个傻瓜，

或者更糟的是，他的同伴可能会认为他的手提箱里装的是一具尸体，

那样的话，当他们到达目的地时，他可能会通知警察，各种各样讨厌而有侮辱性的质问将会接踵而来。

这些想法在哈利比-里伯斯顿先生的脑中嗡嗡作响，使他本应有的满足和爽快消失殆尽。

至于克劳瑟先生，同样也是心神不安。

尽管他仍装着在看书，但实际上他根本就读不进去。

表面上他似乎漠不关心，但是当看到一位富有的绅士把一个手提箱扔出正在行驶的火车车窗时，那场景令他非常吃惊。

但他并没有表现出惊讶。

那位旅伴显然在期待他会有强烈的反应。因此，克劳瑟先生故意没有做出反应。

无论这件事是否是一个恶作剧，克劳瑟先生都认为这是对他独处权利的一种恼人的侵犯。

就好像那个家伙突然拍破了一个纸袋子以希望吓他一跳一样。

然而，他就是不打算跳起来，他不打算让这家伙满意。

如果这家伙幻想把一个手提箱扔出车窗就能得到别人的重视的话，那么，他错了。

但是，哈利比-里怕斯顿先生却已到了不说出来就要爆发的地步，因此，他还是发话了。

他说：“打扰了，先生，但是我不得不说，你使我感到惊奇。”

克劳瑟先生从他的书上抬起了倦怠的眼睛。

“让你惊奇？ ”他说，

“在火车上读书让你感到惊奇？”

“不，不！ ”哈利比-里伯斯顿回答道，

“我不是指那个，

让我惊奇的是当我把手提箱扔出窗外时，你却没有感到惊奇。”

“真的吗？让你感到吃惊了？你也太容易吃惊了。”

“这我倒没有意识到。

不过，我敢肯定，亲爱的先生，这至少可以说是不寻常的一幕吧。

我敢打赌你以前从未见过一个人在行驶的火车上往窗外扔手提箱吧。”

克劳瑟先生想了一想说：

“我没见过；但是据我回忆，我也从未看见过一个人在火车上吃生萝卜，或者在家人祷告时跳苏格兰高地舞。

但是，那又怎样？

如果一个人允许自己对任何无关紧要的事都惊奇的话，那么他的整个生命都将由一系列微不足道的惊奇构成。”

“那你认为把手提箱扔出火车窗外是一件微不足道的事情吗？”

“完全正确！ ”克劳瑟先生回答道，接着他的目光又投向了书本。

“那么，我是否可以问一下，”对方说道，明显有点儿被激怒了，“你认为什么是重要的事？”

克劳瑟先生厌倦地耸了耸肩：

“如果那个手提箱是我的，我可能会认为它很重要。”

“我明白了。

你认为你自己比我重要。”

“我没觉得我提到了我自己，”克劳瑟先生说，

“但是我很确定我的手提箱比你的更重要，我这样说并不是考虑到皮革的质量，只是针对我是我自己，而你是一个完全陌生的人这个事实。”

“那么，陌生人的事你就完全不感兴趣？”

“只有在当这些事影响到我时。”

“好吧，”哈利比-里伯斯顿先生说， “我早该想到的，当我把手提箱扔出窗外时，我认为这几乎不可能一点也没有影响到……”

“丝毫没有！ ”克劳瑟先生冷冷地说。

“这只是表明，”哈利比-里伯斯顿先生说，“人们是多么的不同，

如果当时是你把手提箱扔出了窗外，我会非常好奇想要知道你为什么那么做。”

“我猜想，”克劳瑟先生以一种非常冷静、客观的语气回答道，“你很急切地想要告诉我你为什么那么做。”

“如果它不令你感到好奇的话，我不会说的，但是我必须说，我认为很难去相信有人会对这个不感兴趣。”

他停了下来，但是克劳瑟先生没有回答；相反，他却表现出想要继续看书的样子。

为了阻止他这样做，哈利比-里伯斯顿先生背箱在座位上，大谈特谈起来。

“我所做的那件事的真相是，一个半小时前，我刚刚抛弃了家庭和妻子，要开始新的生活，

而我刚才把手提箱抛出窗外是因为我突然意识到我把过去的生活带到了箱子里。

衣服、梳子等这些东西都会使我联想到过去，而这些联想恰恰是我想抛弃的。

因此，我做出了那个不寻常的举动。

我承认我不是个年轻人；我是一个将近50岁的男人，我已经结婚21年了，而现在我要重新开始生活。

那么，在你看来这应该是一件很不寻常的事吧。”

“正好相反，”克劳瑟先生说，“没有比这更正常的事了。”

哈利比-里伯斯顿先生有点惊讶：“正常？

你认为这很正常？我不得不说，你让我吃惊。”

“在我看来，”克劳瑟先生说，“你是一个很爱吃惊的人。”

“而你呢？在我看来，”哈利比-里伯斯顿先生反驳道，“是以不对任何事情感到惊讶而自豪的人。”

“根本不是，”克罗德先生回答说，

“问题在于我认为我们会因为不同的事物而感到惊讶。

你告诉我你已经结婚21年了，在你又说到你正在离开你的妻子时你期望我能够感到惊讶。

但是，亲爱的先生，对于这种事情我一点也不感到惊讶，

而真正使我吃惊的是，你结婚这么久之后才决定离开妻子。”

哈利比-里伯斯顿先生想了想他说的话。

“我想，”他最后说，“你不是一个已婚男人。”

“现在不是了，”克劳瑟先生回答道。

“现在不是？你的意思是说你结过婚，而现在离开了你的妻子？”

“不完全是那样。

离开自己的妻子就要离开家，那是不可能的，

我很爱我的家，

一所很漂亮的房子、一个美丽的花园，而现在当我独自拥有时，它们就加倍美丽了。”

“那么你的意思是，你赶走了你的妻子？”

“哦，不，不，那样做会涉及各种各样不快的事。”

“那是什么，”哈利比-里伯斯顿先生问道，他又一次表现出极大的好奇，“你做了什么？”

对方得意地挥了挥手：

“用其他的方法，更简单的方法。”

“我很想知道是什么方法，”哈利比-里伯斯顿先生说。

克劳瑟先生回答说：“我认为我的那种特殊的方法不适合你。”

“但是为什么不适合我呢？”

哈利比-里伯斯顿先生简直抑制不住内心的好奇。

“为什么不？噢，我的方法需要……

我该怎么说呢？……缄默、老练，还要有许多周密的计划。”

“你认为我做不到吗？”

“好吧！”克劳瑟先生说，“我应该说缄默不是你的强项，

显然你有很强的欲望去使别人惊奇——如果你采用我的方法的话，会把自己置于一个很不利的境地。”

“你激起了我的强烈兴趣，”哈利比-里伯斯顿先生说，

“现在就说出来吧，拜托，只告诉我你做了什么。”

克劳瑟先生看起来有些犹豫，然后他还是下定了决心：

“如果我告诉你，我相信你不会责怪我存心让你吃惊。

我从未有过半点让别人惊讶的欲望。

请注意，并不是我强迫你听我说这些。

如果你不跟我说话，我们的旅程会相当安静。

请原谅我这么说，如果你没有将我拉进这场谈话，我会在看这本我非常感兴趣的书……”

“当然！完全正确！”哈利比-里伯斯顿先生说，现在他的兴趣已被激发到了危险的边缘，

“我承认，我完全承认。

我向你保证，我将尽我最大的努力不表现出丝毫的惊奇。”

“好吧！ ”克劳瑟先生说道，“我所做的就是这么简单，

如果对你来说有点耸人听闻的话，请你原谅，但是请记住，我将会深深地厌恶你所表现出的任何吃惊的表情。

正如我所说的那样简单，我杀了我的妻子。”

哈利比-里伯斯顿先生对同伴的这种坦白的反应非常好。

的确，他有点儿畏缩并且脸色苍白，但很快就恢复了常态。

“谢谢你，先生，”他说，“我不得不说我是多么欣赏你的坦白，事实上，你使我也要像你一样坦白。

我承认，其实我并没有离开我的妻子，原因很简单，我是个单身汉。

我种了一片相当大面积的蔬菜，而且由于业务关系，我每周都要去一次伦敦。

至于手提箱的事，因为我有一些朋友，他们的房子就在我们刚路过的几英里后。

每周我都带着一个装有蔬菜的手提箱，当火车路过他们的房子时，我就扔出窗外。

它会滚下路堤，停靠在他们家的围栏旁。

这是一个很原始的方法，我知道，但是这样可以节省邮资。

你一定想象不到，这引起了多少我和旅伴的有趣的谈话，可以这么说，你也包括在内。”

Key Words:

extraordinary [iks'trɔ:dnri]

adj. 非凡的，特别的，特派的

companion [kəm'pænjən]

n. 同伴，同事，成对物品之一，(船的)甲板间扶梯

languid ['læŋgwid]

adj. 不活泼的，无精打采的，迟缓的

insignificant [.insig'nifikənt]

adj. 无关紧要的，可忽略的，不重要的，无用的

trivial ['triviəl]

adj. 琐碎的，不重要的

arouse [ə'rauz]

vt. 唤醒，叫醒，激起

tact [tækt]

n. 机智，手法

sensational [sen'seiʃənəl]

adj. 使人感动的，非常好的，轰动的，耸人听闻的

primitive ['primitiv]

adj. 原始的

参考资料：