A love letterGerald Durrell wrote to his future wife
2017年4月19日（讲师：姜百爽）
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作者简介：
杰拉尔德·达雷尔，英国作家，物种拯救家。
6岁立志建造属于自己的动物园；
22岁开始组织采集动物远征队，足迹横跨亚、非、澳、美洲大陆；
34岁在泽西岛上成立泽西动物园；
51岁，他在泽西动物园旁创建“迷你大学”；
67岁英国坎特伯雷肯特大学为肯定他的成就，成立了“达雷尔动物保护及生态学院”；
2006为纪念他设立“杰拉尔德·达雷尔濒危野生动物奖”。
传奇的是杰拉尔德只读过一年的小学，却是耶鲁、杜伦、肯特三所知名学府的荣誉博士；是“不列颠帝国勋章”获得者。
一生完成38本著作，代表作《希腊三部曲》被译为31种文字，所以他又被誉为影响全世界的大自然作家。
这是55岁的杰拉尔德写给未婚妻的一封情书。
两人1977年结识，2年后结婚，婚后携手探索世界，拯救濒危物种，共同出书。直到1995年杰拉尔德离世，两人都非常恩爱。
比起其他肉麻情书，杰拉尔德这封情书少了几分缠绵，多了几分意气，却不失美感。
全文从头到尾都透露出对爱人的爱慕与渴望，信的前半部分相对冷静、理性，后半部分却唯美得无边无际，浩浩汤汤的排比一气呵成，分分钟地把你点亮。
不仅让我们耳朵怀孕了，还带着我们超升一起飞，让我们脑内起伏不断，内心汹涌澎湃！
PART1【1】白纸黑字更清楚
July 31st,1978
My darling/ McGeorge,
[1]You said that things seemed clearer/ when theywere written down.
Well,/ herewith a very boring letter in which I will try/ and puteverything down/** so that** you mayread and re-read it in horror** at your folly** in getting involved with me.
Deep breath.
【讲解1】
·You said that thingsseemed clearer when they were written down.
白纸黑字看得清楚。
·Put it in writing
偏向于法律效应
·I.O.U
借条缩写
·Get involved with sb/sth.
与某人扯上关系，有瓜葛
EG: Don’tget yourself involved with more than one person.
不要与多个人扯上关系
·One-woman man
从一而终的绝世好男人
I’m a one-man kind of girl, and I only want a man who’s aone-woman man.
我是一个专一的女生，只想找一个专一的恋人。
【单词】
Herewith：adv. <书>随同此信〔书、文件〕
Folly：n. 愚蠢;蠢笨
PART2【2-4】爱的五个理由
[2] To begin with I love you with a depth and passion that I havefelt for no one else in this life/ and if it astonishesyou/it astonishes me as well.
Not, I hasten to say, /because you arenot worth loving. Far from it.
It’s just that, first of all, /Iswore I would not get involved with another woman.
Secondly, I have never had such a feeling before/ and it is almost frightening.
Thirdly, I would never havethought it possible /that another human being could occupymywaking (and sleeping) thoughts /to the exclusion of almost everything else.
[3] Fourthly, I never thoughtthat/ — even if one was in love/ — one could getsocompletely besottedwithanother person,/ **so that **a minute away from them /feltlike a thousand years.
[4] Fifthly, I never hoped, aspired, dreamed /that one could findeverything one wanted in a person. I was not suchanidiot as tobelievethis was possible.
Yet in you I have found everything Iwant/:
you are beautiful, /gay, /giving, / gentle, idiotically and deliciously feminine,/ sexy, wonderfullyintelligent /and wonderfully sillyas well.
I want nothing else inthis life** than to **be with you,
/ to listen and watch you(your beautiful voice, your beauty),
/ to argue with you,
/to laugh with you,
/ to show you things and sharethings with you,
/to explore your magnificentmind,
/ to explore your wonderfulbody,
/ to help you, protect you ,serve you, and bash you on the head when I think you are wrong…
not to put too fine a point on it/ I consider that I am the only man/ outside mythology /to have found the crock of gold /at the rainbow’s end.彩虹尽头找到了爱人
【讲解2】
·Astonish
vt.使吃惊, /t/浊化成/d/，程度比surprise深
EG: Oncethat bird starts to fly and sing, it will astonish the world.
谚语：不鸣则已一鸣惊人。
·Occupy
vt. (时空)占据
Eg: All the seats on the bus were occupied.
车上没有空座位了
·Occupy sb’s mind/ thoughts/ attention
占据所有的思绪
Eg: Work will occupy your mind and help you forget mind and help youforget about him.
工作将占据你所有的心思，帮助你忘记他。
·Not, I hasten to say, because you are not worth loving.
双重否定：你并非因为不值得爱。
·Be worth of doing值得做……
·Far from it远非如此
·Be/get besotted with sb为……痴迷
·Not to put too fine apoint on it
= Frankly speaking
【单词】
Hasten: vt. 催促；使赶紧；加速vi. 赶快；急忙
Exclusion: n.排他
Besot: vt. 使烂醉,使迷糊,使沉醉
Aspire：vi. 渴望, 追求
Idiot：n. 傻子, 笨蛋
Gay: adj. 快乐的
Feminine: adj. 有女性气质的, 女子气的, 适于女子
Silly: adj. 蠢的, 傻的; 糊涂的, 可笑的
Magnificent: adj. 壮丽的, 伟大的, 华丽的, 高贵的
Bash: vt. 猛击
Mythology: n. 神话学
Crock: n. 瓦罐；碎瓦片；[口]老朽的人
PART3【5-7】三个缺点
[5] But /— having said allthat/ — let us consider things in detail.
Don’t let this become publicbut/… well, I have one or two faults.
Minor ones, I hasten to say.
For example, I am inclined to**** be overbearing.
I do it for the best possible motives (all tyrants say that)/ but I do tend(withoutthinking) /to****tread people underfoot.
You must tell me when I amdoing it to you, my sweet, /because it can be a very bad thing in a marriage.
[6] Right. Second blemish.
This, actually, is** not so much** a blemish of character/ asa blemish of circumstance.
Darling I want you to be you in your ownright, /and I will do everything I can to help you in this.
But you must take into consideration/that I am also me /in my own right /and that I have a head starton you… /what I am trying to say is that you must not** feel offended **if you are sometimes treated simply as my wife.
Always remember /that what you lose on the swings, /you gain on the roundabouts.
But I am an established‘creature’ in the world,/ and so /— on occasions —/you will have to live in my shadow.
Nothing gives me less pleasurethan this/ but it is a fact of life to be faced.
[7] Third/ (and very importantand nasty) blemish: jealousy.
I don’t think you know whatjealousy is/ (thank God) /in the real sense of the word.
I know you have felt jealousyover Lincoln’s wife and child/ but this is what I call normal jealousy, andthis — to my regret/ — is not whatI’ve got.
What I have got/ is a black monster that can pervertmy good sense, /my good humour and any goodness that I have in mymake-up（性格品性）.
It is really a Jekyll and Hydesituation… my Hyde is stronger than my good sense and defeats me, /hard thoughI try.
As I told you, /I have alwaysknown that this lurks within me,/but I couldn’t control it, /and my monster slumbered/ and nothing happened to awake it.
Then I met you /and I felt mymonster stir and become half awake/when you told me of Lincoln and others you have known, /and with your letter mymonster came out of its lair, black,irrational, bigoted, stupid, evil, malevolent.
You will never know howterribly corrosive jealousy is; /itis a physical pain as though you had swallowed acid or red hot coals.
It is the most terrible offeelings.
But you can’t help it — atleast I can’t,/ and God knows I’ve tried.
I don’t want any ex-boyfriends/sitting in church when I marry you.
On our wedding day, I wantnothing but happiness, for both you and me, and I know I won’t be happy ifthere is a church full of your ex-conquests.
When I marry you I will haveno past, /only a future: I don’t want to **dragmy past into our future **/and I don’t want you to do it, either.
Remember I am jealous of youbecause I love you.
You are never jealous ofsomething you don’t care about.
OK, enough about jealousy.
【讲解3】
·Having said all that
话虽如此，虽然我很爱你
·Consider things in detail
把事情说得具体一点
·Incline to = tend to
倾向，容易做出某种举动
·Not so much …… as……
与其说A，不如说B
EG: Thegreatuse of a school education is not so much to teach you things asto teach you the art of learning.
学校的最大用途不是教你知识，而是教你学习方法。
In one’s ownright:不依附于别人
·Head start: 本有的优势
·Take into consideration：考虑到
EG: People seem to fail to take into consideration on the fact thatdoes not end with education.
人们忽视了教育不应该随着教育结束这一事实。
·What you lose on theswings, /you gain on the roundabouts.
失之东隅，收之桑榆
·Established ‘creature’
已经定型
·Make-up本性，性格
EG: The final act exposes the fatal flaws in his make-up.
最后的举动暴露了他性格中的致命缺陷。
EG: Jealousy is not part of his make-up.
嫉妒不是他性格中的一部分。
·Jekyll and Hyde
有善恶两种性格的人
·Green-eyes monster
绿眼怪兽，妒忌的人
EG: Jealousy is the art of injuring ourselves more than others.
妒忌害人害己。（大仲马）
【单词】
Overbearing: adj. 专横的,傲慢的,难忍的
Tyrant: n. 专制统治者;暴君;暴君似的人;专横的人
Tread: vt.踩，踏
Underfoot: adv. 在脚下；在地上
Blemish=fault (道德，个人习惯)小瑕疵
Swing：秋千
Roundabouts: 旋转木马
Monster: n. 怪物；巨人，巨兽；残忍的人adj.巨大的，庞大的
Pervert: t. 使堕落, 把…引入邪路, 使变坏
Lurk: vi. 潜伏；埋伏；潜藏
Slumber: vt. 睡眠；睡着度过
Lair: n. （野兽的）巢穴；躲藏处vi.进入兽穴；在穴中休息vt. 使陷入泥潭；放于穴中
Bigoted: adj. 顽固的；心地狭窄的；盲从的
Malevolent: adj. 有恶意的;恶毒的
Corrosive: adj. 腐蚀性的;侵蚀性的; (对社会、个人情感等)有害的, 逐步起损害作用的; (语言)激烈的, 刻薄的
Conquest: n. 攻取, 征服, 克服
PART4【8-12】奇妙的大自然
[8] Now, let me tell yousomething…
I have seena thousand sunsets and sunrises,
/on land where it floods forestand mountains with honey-coloured light,
/at sea where it rises and sets like a blood orange /in a multi-colourednest of cloud,
/slipping in and out of the vast ocean.
I have seen a thousand moons:
/harvest moons like gold coins,
/ winter moons as white asice chips,
/new moons like babyswans’ feathers.
[9] I have seen seas as smoothas if painted,
/ coloured like shot silk orblue as a kingfisher(****翠鸟)
/or transparent as glass orblack and **crumpled **with foam,
/moving ponderously and murderously.
I have felt winds /straightfrom the South Pole, bleak and wailing like a lost child;
/winds as tender and warm/ asa lover’s breath;
/winds that carried the **astringent **smell of salt and the death of seaweeds;
/winds that carried the moist rich smell of a forest floor, thesmell of a million flowers.
Fierce winds /that churned and moved the sea like yeast,
/or winds that made the waterslap at the shore /like a kitten.
[11]I have heard summer cicadas cry/ so that the sound seems stitched into your bones.
I have heard tree frogs in an orchestration
/as complicated as Bach singing in a forest
/lit by a million emerald fireflies.
I have heard the Keas calling over grey glaciers
/that groaned to themselves like old people
/as they inched their way to the sea.
I have heardthe hoarse street vendor cries of the mating Fur seals（海狗）as they sangto their sleek golden wives,
/the crisp staccato****admonishment of the Rattlesnake,
/the cobweb squeak of the Batand the belling roar
/ of the Red deer knee-deep in purple heather.
I have heard Wolves baying at a winter’s moon,
/Red Howlers making the forest vibratewith their roaring cries.
I have heard the squeak, purr and grunt of a hundred multi-coloured reef fishes.
[10] I have known silence:
the cold, earthy silence atthe bottom of a newly dug well;
/the implacable stony silence of a deep cave;
/the hot, drugged middaysilence
/ when everything is hypnotized and stilled into silence /bythe eye of the sun;
/ the silence when great musicends.
[12] I have seen hummingbirds flashing like opals round a tree of scarlet blooms, humming like a top.
I have seen** flying fish**, skittering like quicksilveracross the blue waves, drawing silver lines on the surface with their tails.
I have seen Spoonbills flying home to roost like a scarlet banner across the sky.
I have seen Whales, black as tar, cushioned on a cornflower blue sea, creating a Versaillesof fountain with their breath.
I have watched butterflies emerge and sit, trembling, while the sunirons their wings smooth.
I have watched Tigers, like flames, mating in the longgrass.
I have been dive-bombed by an angry Raven, black and glossy as the Devil’s hoof.
I have lain in water warm asmilk, soft as silk, while around me played a host of Dolphins.
I have met a thousand animalsand seen a thousand wonderful things…
【讲解4】
EG：The fight comes into the room.
EG：I open the curtain and the light floodsintothe room.
我拉开窗帘，阳光照进房间。
·Crumple 弄皱，压皱
EG:She crumpled the letter up into a ball and threw it on the fire.
她把信团成球，扔到火上烧掉了。
EG:Silk crumples very easily.
EG:Her face crumpled up and she burst into tears.
她的脸皱起来了，突然哭起来了。
·Astringent 严酷的；收敛性的
EG:Winds that carried the astringent smell of salt and the darth of seaweeds
·Astringent lotion 收敛水(化妆水)
·Astringent remarks尖酸刻薄的语言
·Stitch: vt. 缝合
EG：The cut over his left eye needed 12 stiches.
·Have someone in stitches
EG:Dawson’s brand of humor had hisaudiences in stitches.
D的独树一帜的幽默让观众捧腹大笑。
【单词】
Slipping: adj. 〈美俚〉渐渐松驰的;渐渐不行了的,渐渐变懒的
Kingfisher：n.翠鸟
Crumpled: adj. 摺皱的，弄皱的
Foam: n. 泡沫
Ponderously：adj. 沉重的, 笨重的
Murderously: adj. 蓄意谋杀的;杀人的;凶残的
Bleak: adj. 荒凉的，无遮蔽的；
Wail: vi. 悲叹；哀号
Moist: adj. 潮湿的, 微湿的
Churn: vt. 搅拌(牛奶或乳脂)以制黄油,搅动,扰乱某物
Kitten: n. 小猫
Cicada: n.蝉
Orchestration：n. 管弦乐编曲；和谐的结合
Bach: n. 巴赫（德国作曲家）
Emerald: n. 绿宝石，翡翠；祖母绿；翠绿色adj. 翠绿色的；翡翠的
Kea: n. 食肉鹦鹉
Groan: vi. 呻吟；抱怨；发吱嘎声
Inched: adj. 有英寸刻度的；英寸的
Hoarse: adj. (指声音)粗哑的, 嘶哑的
Vendor: n. 小贩；卖主；自动售货机
Sleek: adj. 圆滑的；井然有序的
Crisp：adj. 脆的；易碎的；新鲜的
staccato：n. 断奏，断音
Admonishment ：n. 警告
Cobweb：n. 蜘蛛网；蛛丝；圈套
Squeak：vi. 告密；吱吱叫；侥幸成功
Heather: adj. 杂色的；似石南的n. [植]石南属植物
Howler: n.嚎叫的人或动物
Purr: n. 咕噜咕噜声；（猫的）呜呜声；（机器等）颤动声vi. 发出喉音；猫发出呜呜声
Grunt: vi. (猪等)作呼噜声
Implacable：adj. (指愤怒、仇恨、敌意等)难和解的,难平息的
Hypnotized: vt. 对…施催眠术,使着迷;使精神恍惚
Opal: n.猫眼石
Scarlet: a.深红的
Skitter: v. 掠过水面,沿水面拉动鱼钩钓鱼;使掠过水面
Quicksilver: adj. <文>变化〔移动〕极快的;瞬息万变的
Cornflower: n.矢车菊
Fountain: n.喷泉
Tremble: vi. 战栗；焦虑；发抖；摇晃
Dive-bomb: v. 俯冲轰炸
PART5 【13】惟愿有你相伴
[13]But –All this I did without you.
This was my loss.
All this I want to do with you.
This will be my gain.
All this I would gladly have forgone
/ for the sake of one minute of yourcompany,
/ for your laugh, your voice, your eyes,hair, lips, body,
/and above all for your sweet,
/ ever surprising mind /which is an enchanting quarry
/ in which it is my privilegetodelve.
【讲解】
·Forgone=give up 放弃
EG:No one was prepared to forgo their lunch hour to attend the meeting.
·The privilege to do sth/ of doing sth
有幸做某事
EG:It was a privilege to work with such a great scientist.
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