Walter Fane in "The Painted Veil"

读书, 尤其是读小说的愉悦感之一, 是这些文字表达了你想说而说不出的感受, 或者以一种更生动的手法刻画了你的生活以及身边人, 读到这些文字, 常常让人忍不住感叹, 啊, 这说的不就是我吗?

最近, 给我带来这种感觉的是毛姆的<面纱>, 毛姆从妻子kitty的视角刻画了丈夫Walter Fane的木讷寡言, 这些文字一下子击中了我, 因为它们看上去就像是我的朋友会对我说的话. 

<面纱>剧照 (帅帅的诺顿)

He had a way which exasperated her of retuning no answer to some casual remark of hers. It was true that it needed no answer, but an answer all the same would have been pleasant.

朋友, 夫妻之间还需不需要寒暄? 如果对方抛出一个答案显而易见的问题, 你要回应吗? 这里给出了答案: 回应不是必要的, 但有回应总是让人感觉愉悦.  想起书中一个片段. 女主看着窗外的大雨, 说it's raining dogs and cats, isn't it? 男主默默, 女人心想: 你至少应该说句 yes, it is啊 (自我检讨一下, 很多时候我都是那个懒得回应的人~)

He did not speak because he had nothing to say. But if nobody spoke unless he had something to say, Kitty reflected, with a smile, the human race would very soon lose the use of speech.

如果人们都是有事才说话, "废话"都不说, 那么估计整个人类的语言功能很快就丧失了 (某于也跟我说过类似的观点)

She had the wit to see that he did not care to reply because he had anything to hide from her, but merely from a natural secretiveness. She supposed he was clever, every one seemed to think he was, but except very occasionally when he was with two or three people he liked and was in the mood, she had never found him entertaining.

他是聪明的, 这一点大家都不否认, 但是只有在和三两密友交谈的时候, 才会电光火石, 智慧的火花四溅(对这一点简直不能认同更多, 聊得来才会聊得high嘛)

“Don’t you like him?”

“I neither like him nor dislike him.”

It was not the first time that Walter’s moderation had exasperated her. She asked herself whey it was necessary to be so prudent: you either liked people or you didn’t.

这一点就非常让人恼火了, 凡事中庸得有点过, 难免让人感觉乏味透顶