2023考研英語閱讀英文天堂里的日子
Book Review;Nancy and LawrenceDurrell;Days of heaven
書評;南希和勞倫斯德雷爾;天堂里的日子;
Amateurs in Eden: The Story of a BohemianMarriage, Nancy and Lawrence Durrell. By JoannaHodgkin.
《Amateurs in Eden》：一場波西米亞姻緣的故事，關于南希和勞倫斯德雷爾。Joanna Hodgkin著。
Given Greece s economic woes and role as yetanother Mediterranean holiday destination, it ishard to appreciate the freedom, sunlight andsense of space that it provided 50 or more years ago. Intrepid travellers would come toexplore ruins and ancient villages in solitary peace, and sleep under the stars on emptysandy beaches. The islands were especially enticing, and no books contributed more totheir image as a paradise than those by the Durrell brothers,Lawrence and Gerald. Prospero s Cell , Lawrence s diary of life on Corfu, and My Family and OtherAnimals , Gerald s account of his experiences as a child there, are brilliant,contrasting views of life on this Greek island in the 1930s, and remain popular to this day.
如今，希臘只是個平凡的地中海休假景點，經濟也正處于蕭條時期，讓人很難重溫這里50余年前自由的空氣、美好的陽光和海闊天空的舒暢感覺。當時，膽大的旅行者喜歡探索遺跡，尋找寧靜的古代小鎮，也喜歡在靜謐的海灘上安然入眠，霑沐一身星輝。希臘諸島格外誘人，素有人間天堂的美譽，德雷爾兄弟的著作對此貢獻最大。勞倫斯1945年出版的日記集《Prospero s Cell》講述了他在科孚島上的生活，杰拉德1956年的《My Family and OtherAnimals》，則描述了自己20世紀30年代在那里度過的童年時光;該書才華橫溢，與勞倫斯的書相映成趣，時至今日依然暢銷。
Amateurs in Eden is written by Joanna Hodgkin, the daughter ofLawrence Durrell s first wife Nancy. It tells Nancy s story, complete with a full description ofher unsatisfactory parents and unhappy childhood, and an account of her life after sheleft Lawrence. The heart of the book, and the subject of greatest interest, is a portrait oftheir marriage and their four seemingly idyllic years on Corfu. They met in bohemian Londonwhen she was an art student and he was working for an estate agent and writingpoetry.From the start they were a striking but odd couple. She was tall, willowy, beautiful.He was three inches shorter and stocky; his lack of height a secret sorrow. Yet he had noshortage of charm. He could turn a mundane event into a colourful drama, and she fellunder his spell. After two years together, both 22, they married and left EnglandPuddingIsland, according to Durrell. His widowed mother and her three younger children soon followed them to Greece.
喬安娜霍奇金是勞倫斯的首任妻子南希改嫁后生的女兒，撰寫了《Amateurs in Eden》一書，將南希一生的故事娓娓道來，從她不稱職的父母、不快樂的童年一直講到離開勞倫斯之后的日子。本書的核心部分，便是南希和勞倫斯在科孚島上四年田園牧歌式的伉儷情緣。兩人當年初見時，波西米亞主義正在倫敦盛行。她是個藝術學生，而他是個寫詩的房產經濟人。這奇怪的一對兒從一開始就很引人注目。姑娘很修長，苗條而美麗，小伙子卻挺敦實，足足比她矮了三英寸海拔不夠是個心病。不過身高可不是問題：他能把庸常俗務變成精彩的戲劇，讓她為他的魔力傾心。兩年后，這對22歲的年輕人結了婚，離開了英格蘭。他的寡母很快帶著三個弟妹跟著他倆搬到了希臘。
Their time in Corfu was mainly one of simple happiness: isolated, primitive, strangelyserene, removed from the wider reality of international events. Many years later Durrellsaid: I shall really never, never ever forget a youth spent there, discovered by accident. Itwas pure gold. They swam and sailed and he, finding his voice as a writer, completed hisfirst major novel, The Black Book.
科孚島上的時光是一場簡單的幸福：與世隔絕、簡單淳樸、寧靜異常，遠離世間各國的紛紛擾擾。多年后，他回憶道：驀然回首，發覺當年島上的韶華永難忘卻。彼時歲月純凈如金。那時，他們會一起游泳，一起開船;他也開始作為一名作家嶄露頭角，完成了第一部重要小說《The Black Book》。
Yet Lawrence and Nancy were complicated characters, and the marriage had its problems.Lawrence could be cruel and obsessively jealous, and would use words to lacerate anddestroy. The strains were evident when they met Henry Miller in Paris in 1937. Superficially,the visit was a success. But Lawrence, who was inclined to build a wall of ice to separateintimates from other people, was determined to keep Nancy on the sidelinesdecorativebut insignificantand Nancy retreated into silence.Back in Corfu there were times ofrare and precious content, but the onset of war changed things for ever. They moved tomainland Greece and in 1941 fled to Egypt. With Cairo under threat, Nancy travelled withtheir one-year-old child to Jerusalem; Lawrence was unable to persuade her to return tohim. He would marry three more times. Nancy eventually had over 30 years of lovingcloseness with Teddy Hodgkin.
然而兩人都不是省油的燈，他們的婚姻自有問題。有時，勞倫斯為人冷酷，醋勁十足，還會用言辭傷害并摧毀。1937年，他們在巴黎與亨利米勒會面，緊張局勢就十分明顯。這場會面看起來一切和諧;實際上勞倫斯常常筑起一道冰墻把愛侶和外人隔開，這次便決定只讓南希當個陪襯：無關緊要的裝飾品，于是南希只好黯然陷入沉默。回到科孚島后，珍稀的滿足 余韻尚存;但隨后戰爭爆發，永遠改變了一切。他們搬到希臘本土，又在1941年逃往埃及。后來德軍兵臨開羅城下，南希帶著1歲的孩子去了耶路撒冷。從此，勞倫斯再也沒能喚回她。時光荏苒，他又成婚3次，她則與泰迪霍奇金相依相守30年。
Ms Hodgkin understandably takes her mother s side, but she is at pains to stress that thereare many ways to tell the story of a marriage. Despite some misprints, incorrect dates andverbal infelicities, her account is of interest. Many will agree that Durrell s best work isinfused with his love of Greece, and that his poetry deserves to be better known. The criticalacclaim that greeted the novels of The Alexandria Quartet may have been a bit excessivein the 1950s and early 1960s, but these books deserve more readers now.
人們能夠理解霍奇金女士站在她母親的立場講述這個故事的原因。不過，她在書中盡力強調：要想講述婚姻的故事，可以有很多視角。這本書中有些印刷錯誤、日期錯誤、表述錯誤，但是故事本身還是很有價值。很多人都會同意，德雷爾最好的作品中飽含著他對希臘的深情，他的詩作也應該得到更多賞識。評論家稱，《The Alexandria Quartet》中的幾本書對二十世紀五、六十年代的人可能有點激進;如今，它們值得更多的讀者去欣賞。
Book Review;Nancy and LawrenceDurrell;Days of heaven
書評;南希和勞倫斯德雷爾;天堂里的日子;
Amateurs in Eden: The Story of a BohemianMarriage, Nancy and Lawrence Durrell. By JoannaHodgkin.
《Amateurs in Eden》：一場波西米亞姻緣的故事，關于南希和勞倫斯德雷爾。Joanna Hodgkin著。
Given Greece s economic woes and role as yetanother Mediterranean holiday destination, it ishard to appreciate the freedom, sunlight andsense of space that it provided 50 or more years ago. Intrepid travellers would come toexplore ruins and ancient villages in solitary peace, and sleep under the stars on emptysandy beaches. The islands were especially enticing, and no books contributed more totheir image as a paradise than those by the Durrell brothers,Lawrence and Gerald. Prospero s Cell , Lawrence s diary of life on Corfu, and My Family and OtherAnimals , Gerald s account of his experiences as a child there, are brilliant,contrasting views of life on this Greek island in the 1930s, and remain popular to this day.
如今，希臘只是個平凡的地中海休假景點，經濟也正處于蕭條時期，讓人很難重溫這里50余年前自由的空氣、美好的陽光和海闊天空的舒暢感覺。當時，膽大的旅行者喜歡探索遺跡，尋找寧靜的古代小鎮，也喜歡在靜謐的海灘上安然入眠，霑沐一身星輝。希臘諸島格外誘人，素有人間天堂的美譽，德雷爾兄弟的著作對此貢獻最大。勞倫斯1945年出版的日記集《Prospero s Cell》講述了他在科孚島上的生活，杰拉德1956年的《My Family and OtherAnimals》，則描述了自己20世紀30年代在那里度過的童年時光;該書才華橫溢，與勞倫斯的書相映成趣，時至今日依然暢銷。
Amateurs in Eden is written by Joanna Hodgkin, the daughter ofLawrence Durrell s first wife Nancy. It tells Nancy s story, complete with a full description ofher unsatisfactory parents and unhappy childhood, and an account of her life after sheleft Lawrence. The heart of the book, and the subject of greatest interest, is a portrait oftheir marriage and their four seemingly idyllic years on Corfu. They met in bohemian Londonwhen she was an art student and he was working for an estate agent and writingpoetry.From the start they were a striking but odd couple. She was tall, willowy, beautiful.He was three inches shorter and stocky; his lack of height a secret sorrow. Yet he had noshortage of charm. He could turn a mundane event into a colourful drama, and she fellunder his spell. After two years together, both 22, they married and left EnglandPuddingIsland, according to Durrell. His widowed mother and her three younger children soon followed them to Greece.
喬安娜霍奇金是勞倫斯的首任妻子南希改嫁后生的女兒，撰寫了《Amateurs in Eden》一書，將南希一生的故事娓娓道來，從她不稱職的父母、不快樂的童年一直講到離開勞倫斯之后的日子。本書的核心部分，便是南希和勞倫斯在科孚島上四年田園牧歌式的伉儷情緣。兩人當年初見時，波西米亞主義正在倫敦盛行。她是個藝術學生，而他是個寫詩的房產經濟人。這奇怪的一對兒從一開始就很引人注目。姑娘很修長，苗條而美麗，小伙子卻挺敦實，足足比她矮了三英寸海拔不夠是個心病。不過身高可不是問題：他能把庸常俗務變成精彩的戲劇，讓她為他的魔力傾心。兩年后，這對22歲的年輕人結了婚，離開了英格蘭。他的寡母很快帶著三個弟妹跟著他倆搬到了希臘。
Their time in Corfu was mainly one of simple happiness: isolated, primitive, strangelyserene, removed from the wider reality of international events. Many years later Durrellsaid: I shall really never, never ever forget a youth spent there, discovered by accident. Itwas pure gold. They swam and sailed and he, finding his voice as a writer, completed hisfirst major novel, The Black Book.
科孚島上的時光是一場簡單的幸福：與世隔絕、簡單淳樸、寧靜異常，遠離世間各國的紛紛擾擾。多年后，他回憶道：驀然回首，發覺當年島上的韶華永難忘卻。彼時歲月純凈如金。那時，他們會一起游泳，一起開船;他也開始作為一名作家嶄露頭角，完成了第一部重要小說《The Black Book》。
Yet Lawrence and Nancy were complicated characters, and the marriage had its problems.Lawrence could be cruel and obsessively jealous, and would use words to lacerate anddestroy. The strains were evident when they met Henry Miller in Paris in 1937. Superficially,the visit was a success. But Lawrence, who was inclined to build a wall of ice to separateintimates from other people, was determined to keep Nancy on the sidelinesdecorativebut insignificantand Nancy retreated into silence.Back in Corfu there were times ofrare and precious content, but the onset of war changed things for ever. They moved tomainland Greece and in 1941 fled to Egypt. With Cairo under threat, Nancy travelled withtheir one-year-old child to Jerusalem; Lawrence was unable to persuade her to return tohim. He would marry three more times. Nancy eventually had over 30 years of lovingcloseness with Teddy Hodgkin.
然而兩人都不是省油的燈，他們的婚姻自有問題。有時，勞倫斯為人冷酷，醋勁十足，還會用言辭傷害并摧毀。1937年，他們在巴黎與亨利米勒會面，緊張局勢就十分明顯。這場會面看起來一切和諧;實際上勞倫斯常常筑起一道冰墻把愛侶和外人隔開，這次便決定只讓南希當個陪襯：無關緊要的裝飾品，于是南希只好黯然陷入沉默。回到科孚島后，珍稀的滿足 余韻尚存;但隨后戰爭爆發，永遠改變了一切。他們搬到希臘本土，又在1941年逃往埃及。后來德軍兵臨開羅城下，南希帶著1歲的孩子去了耶路撒冷。從此，勞倫斯再也沒能喚回她。時光荏苒，他又成婚3次，她則與泰迪霍奇金相依相守30年。
Ms Hodgkin understandably takes her mother s side, but she is at pains to stress that thereare many ways to tell the story of a marriage. Despite some misprints, incorrect dates andverbal infelicities, her account is of interest. Many will agree that Durrell s best work isinfused with his love of Greece, and that his poetry deserves to be better known. The criticalacclaim that greeted the novels of The Alexandria Quartet may have been a bit excessivein the 1950s and early 1960s, but these books deserve more readers now.
人們能夠理解霍奇金女士站在她母親的立場講述這個故事的原因。不過，她在書中盡力強調：要想講述婚姻的故事，可以有很多視角。這本書中有些印刷錯誤、日期錯誤、表述錯誤，但是故事本身還是很有價值。很多人都會同意，德雷爾最好的作品中飽含著他對希臘的深情，他的詩作也應該得到更多賞識。評論家稱，《The Alexandria Quartet》中的幾本書對二十世紀五、六十年代的人可能有點激進;如今，它們值得更多的讀者去欣賞。
