錢(qián)鐘書(shū)是博通古今中外的大學(xué)問(wèn)家,，當(dāng)年他老人家考大學(xué)的時(shí)候數(shù)學(xué)只考了15分,，但是國(guó)文和英文都達(dá)到了讓老師嘆為觀止的水平，其中他的英文更是考到了不可思議的滿(mǎn)分。為了讓大家領(lǐng)略一下大師的英文風(fēng)采,，小編特地找出了錢(qián)鐘書(shū)先生的一封英文書(shū)信,，文字典雅，幽默風(fēng)趣,，用詞考究,，簡(jiǎn)直都能做篇精讀課文了！

第一封信是錢(qián)鐘書(shū)1938年留學(xué)巴黎時(shí)寫(xiě)給外國(guó)友人司徒亞的,，后者是他在牛津大學(xué)的同院同學(xué),。

My Dear Stuart,

親愛(ài)的司徒亞

We are overjoyed at your generously long letter(1). We have been rather worried about you since your reticent Xmas card from Spain. We thought that your indignation(2) at the Fascist terrors might have made you join the Spanish Republican army on leaving Oxford. In that case, the world would certainly gain a hero, but we might (O horrible thought!) lose a friend. You can imagine our relief to hear from you again.

收到你這封慷慨的長(zhǎng)信，我們真是喜出望外,。上次你從西班牙寄來(lái)的圣誕賀卡語(yǔ)焉未詳,，害得我們心里一直忐忑不安。我們以為,，由于你對(duì)法西斯的恐怖行徑出離憤怒,，或許會(huì)在牛津畢業(yè)后投入到西班牙共和軍的隊(duì)伍中。那樣的話(huà),，世界會(huì)多一位英雄,，而我們或許會(huì)（啊，多可怕的想法?。┦ヒ晃慌笥?。我們收到你的信時(shí)的寬慰你可想而知了。

reticent: 謹(jǐn)嚴(yán)的,；含蓄的

indignation: 憤慨

(1) be overjoyed at 既非常生動(dòng)地表達(dá)了“溢于言表的喜悅之情”,，又很好地保持了一份“典雅精致的文風(fēng)“。

(2) indignation的含義中有anger的意思,，但是不同于anger的是indignation強(qiáng)調(diào)“這種憤怒并非出于個(gè)人的感情而是為了他人和集體”,。

We are very, very sorry indeed to hear about your viva. We do hope that it will not be prejudicial to your chances of getting a job. As your favorite Walter Raleigh used to say, Oxford final schools and the Last Judgement are two examinations, not one. You are quite right to take the whole thing lightly(3).

關(guān)于你大學(xué)口語(yǔ)入學(xué)口試的事，我們感到十分遺憾,。真希望它不會(huì)影響你找工作,。正如你的Walter Raleigh曾說(shuō)的，牛津的畢業(yè)考試不等于末日審判,，它們是兩種考試,。你不把這事放在心上是對(duì)的。

viva: [英國(guó)口語(yǔ)]口試

prejudicial: 引起偏見(jiàn)的

(3) take…lightly 意思是“不把……放在心上”

We shall be here for another four or five months yet(4). My scholarship expires this August, and we shall sail home in September. Not that we have homes to return to(5)! Our houses, spared by the shell-fire, have been looted and gutted of all their valuable contents. Our respective families have taken refuge in mountains honeycombed with bandits. My wife lost her mother, and I myself have no prospect whatsoever of getting decent jobs in China. Still, one's lot is with one's own people; I don't mind roughing it a bit. The revolution of the Fortune's wheel might bring us up(6), and, as Goethe was fond of saying, abwarten Sie. You see, I spare my own patriotic heroics.

我們?cè)谶@還要待四五個(gè)月,。我的獎(jiǎng)學(xué)金在八月到期,，九月份我們將坐船回家?？刹皇且?yàn)槲覀冇屑铱蓺w,！我們的房子雖免于戰(zhàn)火,，但值錢(qián)的家當(dāng)被洗劫一空。我們倆各自的家庭也都在滿(mǎn)是土匪的山上尋求避難之處,。我的妻子失去了她的母親,，我對(duì)自己在中國(guó)找到體面的工作也不抱任何希望。但個(gè)人的命運(yùn)是和民族的命運(yùn)連在一起的,。我并不介意生活得艱苦一些,。會(huì)時(shí)來(lái)運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)的，像歌德常說(shuō)的abwarten Sie(德語(yǔ),，等待吧),。你看，我就不說(shuō)那些愛(ài)國(guó)主義豪言壯語(yǔ)了,。

looted: 被洗劫

gutted：被掠奪一空

honeycombed：如蜂巢般

bandits：土匪

(4) yet表明了“還有,、還要”的意思,，一個(gè)簡(jiǎn)單的詞兒就使得這層意思活靈活現(xiàn)地表達(dá)了出來(lái),。

(5) 這句話(huà)強(qiáng)調(diào)了“我們沒(méi)有家回”。

(6) bring us up很生動(dòng)地表達(dá)了“生活有起色”的意思,，富有動(dòng)態(tài),。

Yes, my clairvoyant Stuart, I have been working entirely on my own. I have tried to read French literature systematically downwards, beginning with Villon, and already got as far as the mid-nineteenth century. I have also laboriously tackled the German romantics. I am reading Taine's novel Graindorge and Novalis's Fragmente. Besides, I have not neglected my English and Chinese studies. I am reading——no, I am not going to tell you my reading debauches. This paragraph reads already like a snippet from that model letter of a schoolboy to his parents ('or parent according to circumstances') in Anstey's Vice Versa.

得承認(rèn)，你很有遠(yuǎn)見(jiàn),。我目前完全在自學(xué),。我在系統(tǒng)地用心讀法國(guó)文學(xué)，從維龍開(kāi)始,，已經(jīng)讀到十九世紀(jì)中期,。我也在費(fèi)力地啃一些德國(guó)小說(shuō)。我在讀泰納的 Graindorge和諾瓦利斯的《哲學(xué)片段》,。此外,，我也并未荒廢英語(yǔ)和漢語(yǔ)的學(xué)習(xí)。我在看——不,，我還是不告訴你我縱情閱讀的內(nèi)容了,。這段文字讀來(lái)已然像是摘自Anstey的Vice Versa《父親的教訓(xùn)》中小學(xué)生給父母的（或其中之一的，視情況而定）范例書(shū)信了,。

clairvoyant：千里眼的,；有洞察力的

debauches：縱情聲色

snippet：片段

The baby is burstingly fat(7). She already boasts of six teeth (each tooth meaing a week or so of worries and sleeplessness on her part as well our own). She is very naughty and mutinous and self-willed, altogether an ugly customer to deal with. She will be able to walk a little next month.

小寶寶胖得要爆了。她已經(jīng)了不起地有六顆牙了（每顆牙都代表我們和她一個(gè)星期左右的憂(yōu)慮和失眠）,。她淘氣,，叛逆，任性,，整個(gè)一個(gè)難伺候的主,。下個(gè)月她就會(huì)走路了,。

mutinous：反叛的；暴動(dòng)的

(7) burstingly用得實(shí)在是妙,，小伙伴們看到這里的時(shí)候眼前是不是馬上浮現(xiàn)出一幅“很美的畫(huà)面”呢,？

You are a disquieting feller(8), my dear Stuart. You always give me the impression of some impending catastrophe. Why this sudden 'treachery' to your 'former interests'? You seem to have a 'gout trop facilement degoute'. Your mind seems to slough its idea as frequently as the snakes their skins. No doubt you will call me smug and incorrigible. Do keep me abreast of your lastest developments(9).

親愛(ài)的Stuart,，你是個(gè)不讓人放心的家伙,。你總給人一種大難臨頭的感覺(jué),。這次你對(duì)“舊的愛(ài)好”的“叛變”是怎么回事？仿佛你有種gout trop facilement degoute(法語(yǔ),，有種愛(ài)改變口味的習(xí)慣),，你擺脫舊想法的頻率猶如蛇蛻皮。無(wú)怪乎你稱(chēng)我是不可一世又不可救藥,。請(qǐng)務(wù)必要讓我知道你的最新進(jìn)展,。

catastrophe：驟然而來(lái)的大災(zāi)難

slough：蛻掉

incorrigible：不可救藥

(8) 錢(qián)老這里沒(méi)有用fell來(lái)表達(dá)意思而是用了一個(gè)源于fell的“feller”活潑生動(dòng)地表達(dá)了意義。

(9) abreat of 是一個(gè)表達(dá)“同步,、同心”的很新穎的用法,。

My wife sends you her best wishes, to which I say ditto. Write to me at your earliest convenience.

我妻子與我一并奉上最美好的祝愿。期待你早日來(lái)信,。

ditto：同上

Yours ever,

你永遠(yuǎn)的,，

Chung-shu Tchi'ien

錢(qián)鍾書(shū)

P.S. My wife wants me to tell you that the baby is really 'her father's daughter'. She loves nothing so much as books——to tear and nibble at, certainly not to read. She has already destroyed a German primer, not to mention innumberable tradesmen's circulars and booklets. She throws away her toys to grab at the books we happen to be reading.

又：我妻子讓我告訴你，小寶寶頗有“其父之風(fēng)”,，最?lèi)?ài)的就是書(shū)——撕或咬,，絕不是為了讀。她已毀掉一本德語(yǔ)入門(mén)書(shū),，更不要說(shuō)不可計(jì)數(shù)的商家傳單和手冊(cè),。當(dāng)我們讀書(shū)時(shí)，她常扔掉手上的玩具,，來(lái)抓我們的書(shū),。