NettlesAliceMunro讲解

NettlesBy Alice MunroGuide to Read ingAlice Munro is a prolific writer, who has made a major career （事业的）成就，成功out of short fictionDescribed by The New York Times as the only liv ing writer in the En glish Ian guage to have made a major career out of short fiction alone, Munros work has been compared to that of Flannery OConner, George Eliot, and Anton Chekhov. Mona Simps on, writi ng in The Atla ntic Mon thly, described Hateship, Frie ndship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage as a book that must be owned.The highest complime nt a critic can pay a short-story writer is to say that he or she is our Chekhov. More than one writer has made that claim for Alice Mun ro. In the past 35 years, she has produced nu merous short stories that are read in and outside of Canada, often appearing in such prestigious magazines as The New Yorker and The Atlantic Monthly . Today she is still active in her writing career.Like her many other stories, the subject of the story “ Nettles i about the problem of a middle-aged woman the passions, confusions and dilemmas that any woma n in a moder n society might be confronted with, regardless of race, color or nationality. In this story, the narrator meets her childhood frie nd by cha nee at the very stage of her life when she is caught up catch up: To become involved with, oftenunwillingly牵涉，牵连：被卷入，经常是不情愿地；使 陷入 was caught up in the scandal 涉及丑闻 in a troubled relati on ship with her husba nd and her childre n. She is delighted with this reunion. This joy quickly turns into a tender and ambiguous feeling toward this man-a desire and passi on she herself is not sure of. The two of them go through a wild 狂暴的 打倒，击倒；撞倒；击落storm.In order5to protect themselves from being kno cked dow n by the violent wind, they hold each other firmly. When the wind passes 终止；消失（常与away连用）, they kiss and press together in a gesture of recognition of survival. At this moment the man tells her his deepest secret. She realizes that“ he wan wpe had hit rockbottom also reach rock bottom: to reach the lowest possible level or be in the worst possible situati on. She used illegal drugs for eight years and quit before she hit rock bottom. The department has reached rock bottom, with employees being fired and supervisors facing criminal charges. Usage notes: also used in the form be at rock bottom : Grain prices are now at rock bottom. ” She is happy that he treats her as a“ personhe had, on his own, who knew. ” What happened or rather 确切地说,说得更准确些 , what does not happenbetwee n them gives her a new percepti on 感受；知觉；了解of love, “ Love that was not usable, that knew its place. Not risk ing a thi ng yet stay ing alive as a sweet trickle 细流；涓流, an un dergr ound resource.”The n arrati on of this story is marked by a clear regional identity and shifts in time with a prominent eleme nt ofretrospecti on回顾,回想,追溯 reveali ng theprotagonist s ambiguous ortbthe past, throwinglight on 阐明，有助于说明,使明白;使人理解某事;使 某事更为清楚亦作shed （或throw a flood of） light on （或 upon） the present. The author employs a skillful but n atural n arrative voice, which effortlessly leads the reader on toward an ope n 正在考虑的，尚未决定的，悬而未决的，仍需要考 虑的an open question 悬而未决的问题a nd yet con clusive ending. While readi ng the story, the reader is likely to forget that this is only a fiction and that the protagonist is but a character created by art. The author succeeds in bridging the gap between 消除（之间的）隔阂；弥合（之间的）差别 art and reality and presenting the fictional character as an acqua intance or eve n a frie nd. Thus the reader is apt to 往往；易于；动辄；有倾向；有可能 identify with跟产生共鸣 the protagonist, feelingwhat she feels and worryi ng about what worries her.In this short story the author addresses 处理，对付；讨论，论述 1.幻觉的，错觉的；梦幻似的；迷惑人的2.虚幻的；虚假的；不实际的 several esse ntial problems of everyday life such as friendship and love, marriage and divorce. Once again “ Nettles displays Munro s lasti ng stre ngth that arises from her ability to create an illusory simplicity that combines the telling of a simple plot and the prob ing of complicated feeli ngs and subtle meanings of life.Text1. In the summer of 1979, I walked into the kitchenof my friend Sunny dnouse near Uxbridge, On tario, and saw a man sta nding at the coun ter A flat surface on which money is counted, bus in ess is tran sacted, or food is prepared or served 柜台，餐桌：数钱，进行交易，准备食物或放食物的 平面；（厨房中的）长台面，案子, making himself a ketchup san dwich.2. I have driven around in the hills northeast ofToron to, with my husba nd mysec ondhusband , not the one I had left behind that summer and I have looked for the house, i n an idly persiste nt way, I have tried to locate the roadit was on, but I have never succeeded. It has probably bee n torn dow n. Sunny and her husba nd sold it a few years after I visited them. It was too far from Ottawa, where they lived, to serve as a convenient summer place. Their childre n, as theybecame teenagers, balked （遇到障碍时）停止并拒绝向前，中止并拒绝做（指定 的事情）；在面前犹豫，踌躇，畏缩，从 退缩，回 避（通常与at连用） （建筑物、设备等的）维护；维修；保养；维修费； 保养费 at going there. And21there was too much upkeep work for Joh nston Sunny s husband who liked to spend his weeke nds golfi ng.(Rewritte n as: Years afterward, driv ing around in the hills northeast of Toronto with another man 丈夫，情夫，情郎，男朋友, I looked for the house. I tried to locate the road it was on, but I n ever succeeded. It had probably bee n torn dow n 扯开；拆卸；拆毁 The old cinema was torn down and replaced by a restaura nt.老电影院被拆毁，取而代之 的是一个饭店。 高尔夫球场亦作golf links. Sunny and her husba nd sold it a few years after I visited them. It was too far from Ottawa, where they lived, to serve as a convenient summer place.)24I have found the golf course I think it the right one, though the ragged 衣衫褴褛的；粗糙的；参差不齐的；锯齿状的；刺 耳的；不规则的verges have been cleaned up and there is a fancier fancy特级的，高档的 clubhouse 俱乐部会所.3. In the countryside where I lived as a child, wellswould go dry in the summer.This happe ned oncein about every five or six years, whe n there wasnot eno ugh rain. These wells were holes dug in the ground. Our well was a deeper hole than most, but we needed a good supply of 大批,一大批的 water for our penned Pen把围入栏圈；把关起来 animals my father raised silver foxes and mink 水貂 so one day the well driller 钻孔者，钻孔机 arrived with impressive 给人深刻印象的；令人难忘的equipment, and the hole was exte nded dow n, dow n, deep into the earth un til it found the water in the rock. From that time on we could pump 用泵抽的水；用抽机抽吸的液体out pure, cold water no matter what the time of year and no matter how dry the weather. That was something to be proud of. There was a tin mug hanging on the pump, and when I drank from it on a burning 高热的，火热的，火辣辣的，辛辣的；灼热的，发 热的，滚热的；烫的；白炽的 day, I thought of black rocks where the water ran sparkli ng sparkle （钻石）闪闪发光；闪耀like diam on ds.4. The well driller he was sometimes called the well digger, as if no body could be bothered to be precise about what he did and the older description was the more comfortable was a man n amed Mike McCallum. He lived in the tow n close by our farm but he did not have a house there. He lived in the Clark Hotel he had come there in the spring, and he would stay until he fini shed up whatever work he found to do in this part of the country. Then he would move on 动身,出发；离开；继续前进,（交通警察用语）走开, 不要逗留；不要站看.5. Mike McCallum was a younger man than my father, but he had a son who was a year and two mon ths older tha n I was. This boy lived with his father (him) in hotel rooms or board in ghouses寄宿公寓；供膳食的寄宿处wherever his father was work ing, and he went to whatever school was at hand 在附近,即将到来. His name was Mike McCallum too.I know exactly how old he was because that is somethi ng childre n establish immediately, it is one of the esse ntial matters on which they n egotiate whether to be frie nds or not. He was nine and I was eight. His birthday was in April, mine in June.The summer holidays were well under way 在进行中 when he arrived at our house with his father.6. His father drove a dark-red truck that was always muddy or dusty. Mike and I climbed into thecab驾驶室；出租汽车；出租马车 when it rained. I don t remember whether his father went into our kitche n the n, for a smoke and a cup of tea, or stood un der a tree, or went right on working. The rain washed down洗清；冲洗；冲下 thewindows of the cab and made a racket 喧哗；吵闹；make a racket大声喧闹；发出丁丁当 当的声音 like stones 雹子，冰雹on the roof. The smell was of men their work clothes and tools and tobacco and mucky 粪肥的,肮脏的；muck粪肥,垃圾boots and sour酸臭的 别管我；不要打扰我；让我一个人呆会儿 -cheese socks. Also of damp Iong-haired dog, because we had taken Ran ger in with us. I took Ran ger for gra nted, I was used to having him follow me around and sometimes for no good reas on I would order him to stay home, go off to the barn, leave me46alone . But Mike was fond of him and always addressed him kin dly and by n ame, telli ng him our plans and waiting for him when hetook off 离开 onone of his dog-projects, chas ing a groundhog （美国产的）土拨鼠or a rabbit. Living as he did with his father, Mike could n ever have a dog of his own.One day whe n Ran ger was with us he chased a skunk 臭鼬, and the skunk turned and sprayed him. Mike and I were held to be somewhat to blame.My mother had to stop whatever she was doing and drive into town and get several large tins of tomato juice. Mike persuaded Ran ger to get into a tub and we poured the tomato juice over him and brushed it into his hair. It looked as if we were wash ing him in blood. How many people would it take to supply that much blood? We wondered. How many horses? Elepha nts?I had more acqua intance with blood and animal-killing than Mike did. I took him to see the spot in the corner of the pasture 草地；山坡；牧场 畜棚场；谷仓旁的场地：谷仓周围的地方，常围有 篱笆 near the 51barnyard gate where my father shot and butchered the horses that were fed to the foxes and mink. The ground was trodden bare and appeared to have a deep blood- stain 污染处，污点；blood-stain血迹, an iron-red cast to it. Then I took him to the meat-house a small house （on a farm） where meat is stored in the barnyard where the horse carcasses （鸟、兽等动物的）尸体；（屠宰后除去内脏的）屠体， 畜体 were hung before being ground55up for feed. The meat-house was just a shed with wire walls and the walls were black with flies, drunk on the smell of carrion 磨碎 （尸体的）腐肉（尤指食腐肉动物吃的腐肉） . We got shingles 海滨鹅圆卵石；砂石；砂砾and smashed 狠打，猛击；打碎，打破，打烂them dead.7. Our farm was small nine acres 英亩（=40.47公亩或6.07亩或43560平方英尺 或4047平方米）. It was small eno ugh for me to have explored every part of it, and every part had a particular look and character, which I could not have put into words 用语言表达. It is easy to see what would be special about the wire shed with the long, pale horse carcasses hung from brutal hooks, or about the trodden blood-soaked ground where they had changed from live horses into those supplies of meat. But there were other things, such as the stones on either side of the barn 牲口棚，畜棚，畜舍gangway （进出的）通路；（工地等处）木板搭成的临时过道, that had just as much to say to me, though no thi ng memorable had ever occurred there. On one side there was a big smooth whitish stone that bulged out and dominated 高耸（或耸立、高居）于（他物）之上，比高，屹立； 俯瞰，俯临，俯视all the others, and so that side had to me an expansive andpublic air外观：独特或特有的印象, and I would always choose to climb that way rather tha n on the other side, where the stones were darker and clung together in a more mean-spirited 气量小的；心胸狭窄的；卑鄙的 态度；仪容；风采；风度；气质 serene （心境、态度等）安详的 way. Each of the trees on the place had likewise an attitude and a presenee the elm looked serene andthe oak threatening,the maples friendlyand workaday workaday平常的，普通的；平淡无奇的 , the hawthornold andcrabby crabby脾气坏的，易怒的，暴躁的，爱抱怨的. Even the pits 坑；地坑；深洼；地洞on the river flats = alluvial flat河漫滩；冲积滩 where my father had sold off several years ago had their distinct character, perhaps easiest to spot if you saw them full of water at the recedi ng 退；后退of the spri ng floods 春汛；春洪；春泛（春天时节发生的河水暴涨）. There was the one that was small and round and deep and perfect; the one that was spread out like a tail; and the one that was wide and irresolute 无决断的,犹豫不决的,动摇的；优柔寡断的；无决 断力的；摇摆不定的in shape and always with a chop 碎浪；被风吹皱的海面on it because the water was so shallow.Mike saw all these thi ngs from a differe nt an gle. And so did I, now that I was with him. I saw them his way and mine, and my way was by its very n ature in com muni cable76, so that it had to staysecret. His had to do with immediate adva ntage.The large pale stone in the gangway was for jumping off, taking a short hard run and then launching yourself out into the air, to clear 越过the smaller stones in the slope ben eath and land on the packed earth by the stable door. All the trees were for climb ing, but particularly the maple n ext to the house, with the branch that you could crawl out on, so as to drop yourself onto the verandah 美国中南部和南部英语游廊，走廊；阳台 roof. And the gravel 碎石；砂砾 pits were simply for leap ing in to, with the shouts of an imals leaping on their prey, after a furious 激烈的；狂怒的；热烈兴奋的；喧闹的 run through the long grass. If it had been earlier in the year, Mike said, when these held more water, we could have built a raft 木筏；木排.That project was considered, with regard to the river. But the river in August was almost as much a stony road as it was a watercourse, and in stead of tryi ng to float dow n it or swim in it we took off82our shoes and waded jumping from one baret recall orbone- white rock to ano ther and slipp ing on the scummy 涉水；踵水（玩耍） 满是浮渣的,浮渣般的 rocks below the surface, plowing 艰难地前进；沉重慢步地走 through mats 密集的东西；丛；团；簇：织得密的或厚厚缠绕的 一团a mat of hair 一头乱发 of flat-leafed water lilies 睡莲：几种睡莲 科广泛种植的水生草本植物任一 种，生有浮叶和绚丽的各色花朵，尤指香睡莲，开芳香，多瓣的白色或粉色花朵也作 pond lily and other water pla nts whose n ames I cann everknew (wild pars nip 欧洲防风草 , waterhemlock 毒芹；hemlock铁杉；毒芹属植物；毒胡萝卜?). These grew so thick they looked asif they must be rooted on isla nds, on dry land, but they were actually growing out of rivermuck 淤泥；垃圾；肥料and trapped 使受限制；使陷入困境 蛇状的，弯弯曲曲的 (trapping ) our legs in their snaky 91roots.This river was the same one that ran publicly through the town, and walking upstream, we came in sight of the double-spa n highway bridge. Whe n I was by myself or just with Ran ger I had never gone as far as the bridge, because there were usually tow n people there. They came to fish over the side, and when the water was higheno ugh boys jumped from the raili ng 栏杆；扶手. They wouldn t be doing that now, but it was more than likely some of them would be splashing around down below loudmouthed 嗓门大的；大叫大嚷的；高谈阔论的；叽叽呱呱的 and hostile as tow n childre n always were.Tramps were another possibility. But I said no thi ng of this to Mike, who went ahead of me as if the bridge was an ordinary destination and there was nothing un pleasa nt or forbidde n 被禁止的，严禁的，不许的，不准的about it. Voices reached us, and as I expected they were the voices of boys yell ing you would think the bridge belonged to them. Ran ger had followed us this far, unen thusiastically, but now he veered off突然转向 towards the bank. He was an old dog by this time, and he had never bee n in discrim in ately不加选择地；任意地fond of childre n.There was a man fish ing, not off the bridge but from the bank, and he sworeat 98骚扰；喧闹；混乱 thecommoti on 98 Ran ger made gett ing out of the water. He asked us whether we couldn t keep ourarse of a dog at home. Mike went straight on as if this man had only whistled at us, and then wepassed into the shadow of the bridge itself, where I had n ever bee n in my life.The floor of the bridge was our roof, with streaks 光线，光带 of sun light show ing betwee n the planks 板（条）;厚板. And now a car passed over, with a sound of thunder and a blotting out blot out把弄模糊，把弄得不清楚，使模糊； 遮蔽 （空间上的）延伸，连绵；连绵的一片；一段距离（或 路程）；（时间上的）连续；一段时间 of the light. We stood still for this eve nt, look ing up. Under-the-bridge was a place on its own, not just102a short stretch of the river. When the car had passed and the sun shone through the cracks aga in, its reflecti on on the water cast 投射（光、影、视线等）waves of light, queer bubbles of light, high on the ceme nt pili ngs 桩,桩基，桩结构：由桩组成的结构. Mike yelled to test the echo, and I did the same, but faintly, because the boys on the shore, the strangers, on the other side of the bridge scared me more tha n tramps would have done.8. I went to the country school beyond our farm.Enrollment there had dwindled 减少；变小to the pointwhere I was the only child in my class. But Mikehad been going to the town school since spring爺豊q t丄孚雄q学（uodn 養）uo ;u8；ui IHG金阴竿雄Q金伽翱鞍P旦阴缶孝（昜H豊眾）仙（fM眾）爭T -（ia）M （昜庠豊眾 回朗 耳彌）辛T械思f豊眾-B ”股眾您尿f冋朗”易朗”垦朗90.aye 6uo|e aiuoo 8Aeq iqSiiu sXoq 。屮o MO|OJ OJJOU 6uipU313Jd UMO； IUOJJ 川 0 sXoq sqi p8/v0|0j 8Aeq iqSiiu Aei|丄6uiqiXjbiuojsno e se8q；86o; paXeid s|ji6 pue sXoq josdno6 qoiq/v ;e 86e eq; jsed |e 8J8/v 8/v i|6no屮 sssuisnq umo Jisq; uo刚 屮。屮！ |ueq。屮 uo dn aqiej S|ji6 8J8/v aie屮 s|ji6 pepnQU! XpoqXj8A8puy uoiiusiie |e;ZO Lse/v qoiq/v uo 6uio6 8iue6 e pej ui se/v eei|丄J8q jsneAuu-eAunJ8q jsnApoqoN乙noA 屮!m ;o6 noA e屮 s oi|M BuimoN Buiop 3J noA ”U!UJ noA op ;eq/ BuimoN乙eei| Buiop 3J |e;jo espi。屮 peq ;ou peq。屮引 siqPin 屮!m ;ou pue luaq; qji/w 6uiXe|d ussq 8Aeq X|qeqojd p|no/v 3|-l iuiq o; sjqBubjjs ;ou 8J8/v sXoq ese屮 puethem, intending someharassme nt,butsomehowwhen they had all got togetherthis game had taken shape and had needed everybody in it, so the usual restrictions had broke n dow n. And the more people who were in it, the better the game was, so it was easy for Mike to become involved, and bring me in after him.It was a game of war. The boys had divided themselves into two armies who fought each other from beh ind barricades 障碍（物），街垒，路障roughly made of tree branches, and also from the shelter of the coarse, sharp grass, and of the bulrushes 芦苇；灯心草a nd water weeds that were higher than our heads. The chief weap ons were balls of clay, mud balls, about the size of baseballs. There happe ned to be a special source of clay, a gray pit hollowed out 挖空（挖洞；开凿）, half hidde n by weeds,partway 不完全地；部分地；到某种程度；中途 结实的up thebank (discovery of this might have been what suggested the game), and it was there that the girls were working, preparing the ammunition. You squeezed and patted the sticky clay into as113hard a ball as you could make there could be some gravel in it and binding material 粘结材料,粘结物料,粘合剂 of grass, leaves, bits of twigs gathered at the spot,but no stones added on purpose and there had to be a great many of these balls, because they were good for only one throw. There was no possibility of pick ing up the balls that had missed and packing them together and throwing them over aga in.The rules of the war were simple. If you were hit by a ball the official name for them was cannon balls 炮弹 in the face, head, or body, you had to fall dow n dead. If you were hit in the arms or legs you had to fall dow n, but you were only woun ded. Then ano ther thi ng that girls had to do was crawl out and drag the wounded soldiers back to a trampled trample 踩（烂、碎）;踏（坏、倒）;摧残place that was the hospital. Leaves were plastered 敷膏药于；贴橡皮膏于on their wounds and they were supposed to lie still till they coun ted to one hundred. When they d done that they could get up and fight aga in. The dead soldiers were not supposed to get up un til the war was over, and the war was not over till everybody on one side was dead.9. The girls as well as the boys wer