Prose
今天美文看点：第一篇，爱的离别，很多时候无声无息。第二篇，关于梦，关于爱，耐看。第三篇，盲人有福了，仿生眼横空出世。
由于词数的限制，第二篇的评析删除了一半，甚为遗憾，完整未删节在苏派名师爱心授课群 264883904里。
老读者新读者，可以先加微信公共号（biaojienglish)关注,点击右上方“历史信息”关注前几期的。或加我的私人微信xuetang100。
假如我知道
If I Knew
佚名／Anonymous
一个朝鲜老人送别自己的韩国兄弟,这一别不知道何时能再见
If I knew it would be the last time I’d see you fall asleep, I would tuck【tuck [tʌk] v.把……塞进；把……藏入；把……舒服地裹好】 you in more tightly and “pray the Lord, your soul to keep.”
If I knew it would be the last time I’d see you walk out the door, I would give you a hug and kiss you, and call you back for more.
If I knew it would be the last time I’d hear your voice lifted up in praise【praise [preiz] n.赞美；称赞；崇拜】, I would video tape each action and word, so I could play them back day after day.
If I knew it would be the last time I could spare an extra minute or so to stop and say “I love you,” instead of assuming【assume [ə′sju:m] v.假定；设想；承担】 you would know I do.
If I knew it would be the last time I would be there to share your day, I’m sure you’ll have so many more, so I can let just this one slip away.
For surely there’s always tomorrow to make up for an oversight【oversight [′əuvəsait] n.失察；疏忽出错；监督；照管】, and we always get a second chance to make everything right.
There will always be another day, to say our “I love you”, and certainly there’s another chance to say our “Anything I can do?”
But, just in case I might be wrong, and today is all I get, I’d like to say how much I love you, and I hope we never forget.
Tomorrow is not promised to anyone, young or old alike, and today may be the last chance you get to hold your loved one tight.
So, if you’re waiting for tomorrow, why not do it today? For, if tomorrow never comes, you’ll surely regret【regret [ri′gret] n.遗憾；后悔；抱歉】 the day...
That you didn’t take that extra time for a smile, a hug, or a kiss, and you were too busy to grant【grant [grɑ:nt] v.同意；准予；给予；授予；承认】 someone, what turned out to be their one last wish.
So, hold your loved ones close today, and whisper【whisper [′(h)wispə] n.耳语；密谈；飒飒的声音】 in their ear, that you love them very much and you’ll always hold them dear.
Take time to say “I’m sorry,” “Please forgive me,” “Thank you,” or “It’s okay”.
And if tomorrow never comes, you’ll have no regrets about today.
假如我知道这将是最后一次看你入眠，我会给你把被子掖得更紧，并“恳求上帝，让你的灵魂留下”。
假如我知道这将是最后一次看你走出家门，我会拥抱你，亲吻你，一遍遍呼唤你归来。
假如我知道这将是最后一次听到你的声音在赞扬中高亢，我会录下你的每一个举动，每一句言语，这样我可以日日不停重放。
假如我知道这将是最后一次说“我爱你”，我会腾出时间或停下手头的事来告诉你，而不会自负地以为你已经知道了。
假如我知道这将是最后的时光，我会在你身边。我总以为你还有更多的时间，所以总让这天悄然流逝。
因为我总以为还有明天可以弥补疏漏，我们还有下一次机会让一切变得美好。
总以为还有另一个日子，去说“我爱你”，也总以为还有下一次机会，去说“我能帮你什么吗？”
但是，万一我错了，我只能拥有今天，我愿意说一千遍一万遍“我爱你”，让我们永不相忘。
明天没有向任何人承诺，年轻人也好，老年人也罢。今天也许是你紧紧拥抱爱人的最后一次机会。
所以，如果你在等待明天，为什么不在今天就行动？因为，如果明天永不来临，你必定会为今天后悔……
你后悔没有腾出更多的时间去微笑，拥抱，亲吻。后悔自己如此忙碌，没有帮别人实现他们最后的愿望。
所以，今天就紧紧拥抱你心爱的人吧，对他们耳语，告诉他们，你深深地爱着他们，并将永远珍惜。
腾出一些时间说句“对不起”，“请原谅”，“谢谢”，“没关系”。
即使明天永不来临，你也不会为今天后悔。
心灵小语
时光一去不复还，不要等到“假如我知道……”之时，才追悔莫及。
In Dreams Begin Responsibilities
君子好逑
Delmore Schwartz (1913—1966)
本文题目应该译作“责任于梦想中开始”，然文中所谓的梦想，似指恋爱，所谓责任，似指婚姻，故暂译为“君子好逑”。
I think it is the year 1909. I feel as if I were in a motion picture theatre, the long arm of light crossing the darkness and spinning, my eyes fixed on the screen. This is a silent picture, in which the actors are dressed in ridiculously old-fashioned clothes, and one flash succeeds another with sudden jumps. The actors too seem to jump about and walk too fast. The shots themselves are full of dots and rays, as if it were raining when the picture was photographed. The light is bad.
● 责任于梦想中开始，整个故事亦是“南柯一梦”。
● 小说中的主人公自称似乎置身于1909年，又像是在看电影。long arm of light：放映机射至银幕上的一道白光。spinning：旋转。fixed是过去分词：眼睛全神贯注地看着银幕。
● silent picture：无声电影。ridiculously：可笑地。one flash succeeds another：银幕上的光线，一闪一闪的很不稳定；一亮之后，突然一跳，接着又是一亮。
● jump about：东跳西跳，旧时电影的摄制和放映技术均恶劣，演员的一举一动似乎都在跳跃。
● shots：一幕一幕的镜头。dots：斑点。rays：光线；大约指乱七八糟的光线。
It is Sunday afternoon, June 12, 1909, and my father is walking down the quiet streets of Brooklyn on his way to visit my mother. His clothes are newly pressed and his tie is too tight in his high collar. He jingles the coins in his pockets, thinking of the witty things he will say. He walks from street to street of trees, lawns and houses, once in a while coming to an avenue on which a streetcar skates and gnaws, slowly progressing. It is obviously Sunday, for everyone is wearing Sunday clothes, and the streetcar's noises emphasize the quiet of the holiday.
● 银幕上的人物出现了，第一个人是他的父亲。
● Brooklyn：纽约市之一区，在Long Island上。
● pressed：压平，烫平。tight：紧。collar：领子。
● jingles：玩弄而使叮当发响。witty things：俏皮话；父亲去看母亲，路上先准备好一套巧妙的言语。
My father has chosen to take this long walk because he likes to walk and think. He thinks about himself in the future. He thinks of my mother, of how nice it will be to introduce her to his family. But he is not yet sure that he wants to marry her, and once in a while he becomes panicky about the bond already established. He reassures himself by thinking of the big men he admires who are married: William Randolph Hearst, and William Howard Taft, who has just become President of the United States.
●略（词数限制）
My father arrives at my mother's house. He has come too early and so is suddenly embarrassed. My aunt, my mother's sister, answers the loud bell with her napkin in her hand, for the family is still at dinner. As my father enters, my grandfather rises from the table and shakes hands with him. My mother has run upstairs to tidy herself. My grandmother asks my father if he has had dinner, and tells him that Rose will be downstairs soon. My grandfather opens the conversation by remarking on the mild June weather. My father sits uncomfortably near the table, holding his hat in his hand. My grandmother tells my aunt to take my father's hat. My uncle, twelve years old, runs into the house, his hair tousled. He shouts a greeting to my father, who has often given him a nickel, and then runs upstairs.
● embarrassed：窘迫。answers the bell：听见铃响，出去开门。napkin：餐巾。女方家里还在进午餐，小姐的妹妹匆匆忙忙提了餐巾出来开门。情郎到得太早了，突然觉得很窘。
● grandfather=father of one's father or mother，此处乃外祖父。
● tidy herself：打扮。注意此句时态用的是现在完成式has run：小姐一听见门外的人声，就躲到楼上去化妆了，故此人进屋时，小姐已经在楼上了。
● Rose：小姐的名字。
Finally my mother comes downstairs, all dressed up, and my father being engaged in conversation with my grandfather becomes uneasy, not knowing whether to greet my mother or continue the conversation. He gets up from the chair clumsily and says "hello" gruffly. My grandfather watches, examining their congruence, such as it is, with a critical eye, and meanwhile rubbing his bearded cheek roughly, as he always does when he reflects. He is worried; he is afraid that my father will not make a good husband for his oldest daughter.
● 其人之母打扮好下楼来了，其人之父正在同外祖父谈天，一时变得很尴尬，不知道该同小姐打招呼呢，还是继续聊下去。
● clumsily：笨手笨脚地。gruffly：粗嗄地。他这样打了一个招呼，足见同外祖父聊天的话锋是打断了。
● congruence：合适；相称，和谐。外祖父也不聊天了，索性冷眼（critical eye）旁观，看看这对情侣究竟能够琴瑟协调到什么程度，未来的事情他看不到，就拿目前他们俩在一起的情形来说吧：究竟是“一对璧人”呢？还是“彩凤随鸦”呢？such as it is=such congruence as now exists。
● bearded cheek：长有胡子的脸庞。he always does when he reflects：他思索的时候，手就在自己毛茸茸的脸颊上使劲地摸。
● worried：担忧。外祖父择婿甚苛，还怕这位情郎不能做个好丈夫呢。
At this point something happens to the film, just as my father is saying something funny to my mother. The audience begins to clap impatiently. Then the trouble is cared for but the film has been returned to a portion just shown, and once more I see my grandfather rubbing his bearded cheek and pondering my father's character.
●略（词数限制）
My father and mother depart from the house. They walk down the same quiet streets once more. My mother is holding my father's arm and telling him of the novel which she has been reading, and my father utters judgments of the characters as the plot is made clear to him. My mother feels very satisfied by the interest which she has awakened; she is showing my father how intelligent she is and how interesting.
● the same quiet streets：就是他父亲的来路。
● the novel which she has been reading：这几天她正在看的那本小说（注意动词的时态）。（telling a person of something：跟他讲这件事。）
● characters：小说中的人物。plot：布局。他母亲把故事情节说明（made clear）后，他父亲就开口评论书中的人物。
● satisfied：满意。他母亲的谈话，果然引起他父亲的兴趣，心里很是得意。她同他讨论那本小说，正是要让他看看：她是多么的聪明，为人又是多么的有趣。how interesting=how interesting she is。
They reach the avenue, and the streetcar leisurely arrives. They are going to Coney Island this afternoon, although my mother considers that such pleasures are inferior. My father tells my mother how much money he has made in the past week, exaggerating an amount which need not have been exaggerated. But my father has always felt that actualities somehow fall short.
● leisurely：懒洋洋地。
● Coney Island：Brooklyn之南的一个海滨游乐中心，但品格不高，故他的母亲认为那边的玩意儿都是低级趣味（inferior）的。可是他们还是坐电车上那边去了，这大约是屈从男方的旨意了。
● an amount which need not have been exaggerated：这笔数目本来就相当大，用不着再夸大的了。need在这里是助动词，故虽然主语是第三人称单数，也不加s。
● actualities：现实情形。fall short=are insufficient。父亲总觉得实际数目不大够似的，非得要夸张一下不可。
Suddenly I begin to weep. The old lady who sits next to me in the theatre is annoyed and looks at me with an angry face, and being intimidated, I stop. I drag out my handkerchief and dry my face, licking the drop which has fallen near my lips. Meanwhile I have missed something, for here are my mother and father alighting at the last stop, Coney Island.
● 最煞风景的是电影院里坐在他隔壁的一个老太婆，她看他哭得讨厌，对他怒目相向，其人被她一吓（intimidated），赶快忍气吞声把眼泪擦干，一颗已经掉到他嘴边的泪珠，也用舌头舔去，可是电车上的爱情镜头他大多没有看见，等到他眼泪擦干，电车已经到了最后一站（stop），他的父母二人也在Coney Island下车（alighting）了。
They walk toward the boardwalk, and my father tells my mother to inhale the pungent air from the sea. They both breathe in deeply, both of them laughing as they do so. On the boardwalk's flagpole, the American flag is pulsing in an intermittent wind from the sea.
● boardwalk：海滨沙滩上铺有木板（boards），供人散步的道路。inhale：吸入。pungent：浓烈、刺激性的。凡是“钻鼻子，冲脑门”的怪味俱可适用此字，通常指“辛辣”，此处指“咸腥”之味。海风大约有醒脑健身之功，所以男的劝女的多吸些进去。
● flagpole：旗杆。pulsing（pulse）原指脉搏的跳动，转作一切有规律的动作，此处乃“飘动”。intermittent：时发时歇的；吹吹停停的。
My father and mother go to the rail of the boardwalk and look down on the beach where a good many bathers are casually walking about. A few are in the surf. The boardwalk is full of people dressed in their Sunday clothes and idly strolling. My father and mother lean on the rail of the boardwalk and absently stare at the ocean.
● rail：栏杆。beach：沙滩。bathers：不一定是洗浴的人，凡是在水里游泳，或是浸浸泡泡的人，此字都可适用。casually：随随便便地。surf：拍岸之浪。
● Sunday clothes：平日舍不得穿，专在星期日或重要场合穿着的衣服。strolling：漫步。
● lean：倚凭。absently：心不在焉地。
The ocean is becoming rough. The waves come in slowly, and then crack, dashing fiercely upon the sand, bouncing upward and forward, and at last petering out into a small stream which races up the beach and then is recalled. My parents gaze absentmindedly at the ocean, scarcely interested in its harshness. The sun overhead does not disturb them. But as I stared at the terrible sun and the fatal, merciless ocean, I forget my parents. I stare fascinated and finally, shocked by the indifference of my father and mother, I burst out weeping once more. The old lady next to me pats me on the shoulder and says, "There, there, all of this is only a movie, young man, only a movie," but I look up once more at the terrifying sun and the terrifying ocean, and being unable to control my tears, I get up and go to the men's room, stumbling over the feet of the other people seated in my row.
● rough：波涛起伏。crack：碎裂，浪花迸发。bouncing：跳跃。petering out：势力转弱，归于消沉。海水往岸上打来，其势初颇迟缓，继而浪花四溅，声势汹涌，直上沙滩，平地凌空，一跃而前，但终于力竭消沉，化为细流一条，余势未歇，仍向沙滩上方奔去（races up the beach），迅即急流勇退，召归大海（recalled）。
● harshness：波涛汹涌之状。
● disturb them：扰乱他们的心神。
● fatal, merciless ocean：操生杀之权的无情的海洋。
● fascinated：出神（过去分词，形容主语I）。indifference：漠然，不感兴趣。顶上日光灼目，脚下怒潮澎湃，可是其人之父母只是凭栏眺望，悠然若有所思，对于眼前景物不感兴趣。这样把银幕下的这位看客气坏了。他自己看太阳看海水看出神了，他的父母为什么这样漠不关心呢？想是两人心心相印，神思专一，无暇再顾及外物了。
When I return, several hours have apparently passed and my parents are looking for a place to have dinner. My father suggests the best one on the boardwalk and my mother demurs, in accordance with her principles.
However they do go to the best place, asking for a table near the window, so that they can look out on the boardwalk and the mobile ocean. The place is crowded and there is music from a kind of string trio. My father orders dinner with a fine confidence.
● 他从厕所里回来，银幕上显然（apparently）又是好几个钟头过去了，他的父母正在找地方吃晚饭。他父亲提议到路边最好的馆子去吃，可是他母亲反对（demurs）。反对也没有什么理由，只是根据她的原则，她大约是不赞成进豪华的餐馆，花费太多的。
● mobile：流动的，荡漾的。
● string trio：弦乐三重奏；普通由第一第二小提琴和大提琴各一组织而成，这里是a kind of string trio（某一种的弦乐三重奏），可能似是而非，并不照此规定。
● orders：点菜。with a fine confidence：态度很有自信；不慌不忙，指挥若定。
As the dinner is eaten, my father tells of his plans for the future, and my mother shows with expressive face how interested she is, and how impressed. My father becomes exultant. He is lifted up by the waltz that is being played, and his own future begins to intoxicate him. My father tells my mother that he is going to expand his business, for there is a great deal of money to be made. He wants to settle down. After all, he is twenty-nine, he is making more and more money, and he is envious of his married friends, and then as the waltz reaches the moment when all the dancers swing madly, then, then with awful daring, then he asks my mother to marry him, although awkwardly enough and puzzled even in his excitement, at how he had arrived at the proposal, and she, to make the whole business worse, begins to cry, and my father looks nervously about, not knowing at all what to do now, and my mother says: "It's all I've wanted from the moment I saw you."
● expressive face：善于表情的脸。impressed：听后印象很深。how interested she is, and how impressed这一种句法上文已用过一次：how intelligent she is, and how interesting。
● exultant：十分高兴。
● waltz：一种舞曲，普通译作“华尔兹”。lifted up：音乐把人“举”起来了？应该是听得飘飘然而已。intoxicate him：使他陶醉。
● expand：扩张。
● settle down：成家立业，不再飘荡。
● 描写求婚的这一句很长，句法略嫌噜苏，但非如此不足尽这位情郎的兴奋与尴尬之妙。请注意连用四个then（then as the waltz…, then, then…, then he asks my mother…），读者读到这里，当可想象这位情郎吞吞吐吐，欲说又止的神情。
● envious of：羡慕。swing madly：疯狂地旋转。with awful daring：提起了可怕的勇气。
● awkwardly enough：情形够窘了。puzzled连后面的at：迷惑不解；即使说他那时很兴奋吧，但是他自己也不明白怎么会走到（arrived at）求婚这条路上来的。
● to make the whole business worse：他本来已经窘不堪言，她这么一哭，事情更糟了。looks nervously about：慌慌张张地东张西望。
It was then that I stood up in the theatre and shouted, "Don't do it. It's not too late to change your minds, both of you. Nothing good will come of it." The whole audience turned to look at me, annoyed, the usher came hurrying down the aisle flashing his searchlight, and the old lady next to me tugged me down into my seat, saying: "Be quiet. You'll be put out, and you paid thirty-five cents to come in." And so I shut my eyes because I could not bear to see what was happening. I sat there quietly.
● 他父母的爱情愈增进，痴人的神情也愈紧张。
● Nothing good will come of it：不会有好结果的。
● annoyed：觉得很讨厌（过去分词，形容The whole audience）。usher：电影院里领人入坐的职员；“带座的”。aisle：座位之间的大通道（此字s不读音，ai读i长音/ai/）。searchlight：电筒（探照灯亦是此字）。tugged：用力地拉。put out：驱逐出去。thirty-five cent：戏票之价（注意paid用过去式，因为买票已经是过去的事）。
● bear：忍受。
But after a while I begin to take brief glimpses, and at length I watch again with thirsty interest. My parents have passed a fortune-teller's booth, and my mother wishes to go in, but my father does not. They begin to argue about it. My mother becomes stubborn, and then they begin to quarrel. My mother refuses to budge. She is near to tears, but she feels an uncontrollable desire to hear what the palm-reader will say. My father consents angrily, and they both go into a booth which is draped in black cloth and its light is shadowed. The fortune-teller, a fat, short woman, comes into the room from the back and greets them.
● take brief glimpses：偶然偷瞧几眼。at length：终于。with thirsty interest：兴趣极大。
● fortune-teller's booth：算命术士的木棚。
● budge：让步（本解作“细微的移动”，大多用在否定句中；相当于中文的“决不移动分毫”、“丝毫不肯移动”等说法）。
● near to tears：要哭出来了。palm-reader：看手相的。
● draped：（墙上）围（以黑布）。
● greets：打招呼（如说“good evening”）。
But suddenly my father feels that the whole thing is intolerable; he tugs at my mother's arm, but my mother refuses to budge. And then, in terrible anger, my father lets go of my mother's arm and strides out, leaving my mother stunned. She moves to go after my father, but the fortune-teller holds her arm tightly and begs her not to do so, and I in my seat am shocked more than ever, and I get up from my seat and begin to shout and once more the usher comes hurrying down the aisle flashing his searchlight, and the old lady pleads with me, and the shocked audience has turned to stare at me, and I keep shouting: "What are they doing? Don't they know what they are doing? Why doesn't my mother go after my father? If she does not do that, what will she do? Doesn't my father know what he is doing now?"
● intolerable：令人不能忍受。
● lets go of my mother's arm：把她手臂放走（注意中间的of）。strides out：大踏步跨将出去。stunned：怔住了。
● pleads with me：恳求我。
But the usher has seized my arm and is dragging me away and as he does so, he says: "What are you doing? Don't you know that you can't do whatever you want to do? Why should a young man like you, with your whole life before you, get hysterical like this? Why don't you think of what you're doing?" and he said that dragging me through the lobby of the theatre into the cold light, and I woke up into the bleak winter morning of my 21st birthday, the windowsill shining with its lip of snow, and the morning already begun.
● 到了外面，人就惊醒了。醒来正是此人的二十一岁生辰，冬天的早晨，景物萧索（bleak），窗槛上面堆了一层雪（lip of snow），闪闪发光，黑夜已尽，时间已经早晨了。（begun：过去分词，形容morning。又请注意said和woke改用过去式，表示梦醒以后已进入另一境界。梦醒以前用的都是historical present。）
BBC新闻 - 开启失明患者的新时代。
BBC News - The start of a new era for patients with sight loss.
BBC news - Surgeons in Manchester have performed the first bionic eye implant in a patient with the most common cause of sight loss in the developed world.
Ray Flynn, 80, has dry age-related macular degeneration which has led to the total loss of his central vision. He is using a retinal implant which converts video images from a miniature video camera worn on his glasses.
Mr Flynn can now make out the direction of white lines on a computer screen using the retinal implant. He was "delighted" with the implant and hoped in time it would improve his vision sufficiently to help him with day-to-day tasks like gardening and shopping.
The Argus II implant, manufactured by the US firm Second Sight, has previously been used to restore some vision to patients who are blind as a result of a rare condition known as retinitis pigmentosa.
The operation at Manchester Royal Eye Hospital is the first time it has been implanted in a patient with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) which affects at least half a million people in the UK to some extent.
It took four hours and was led by Paulo Stanga, professor of ophthalmology and retinal regeneration at the University of Manchester.
He said: "Mr Flynn's progress is truly remarkable, he is seeing the outline of people and objects very effectively.” "I think this could be the beginning of a new era for patients with sight loss."
How does the bionic eye work? The implant receives its visual information from a miniature camera mounted on glasses worn by the patient. The images are converted into electrical pulses and transmitted wirelessly to an array of electrodes attached to the retina. The electrodes stimulate the remaining retina's remaining cells which send the information to the brain.
The Argus II implant cannot provide any highly detailed vision - but previous studies have shown it can help patients to detect distinct patterns such as door frames and shapes. It costs about £150,000, including treatment costs.
曼彻斯特的外科大夫为一名患者做了首例仿生眼睛植入，治疗其发达世界最普遍的失明原因。
80岁的弗林得了干性老年性黄斑退化，导致中心视觉完全丧失。他使用了视网膜植入体，能把他眼镜上的微型摄像机传来的视频图像转成视觉。
目前, 弗林先生已经能用视网膜假体辨认出电脑屏幕上白色线条的方向。他对假眼的植入感到欣喜，并希望届时能改善其视力、足以帮助他应付园艺、购物等日常事务。
美国公司“第二视觉”生产的阿古斯 2代植入体，过去曾被用于部分恢复因罕见病情 - “视网膜炎色素病变" - 而致失明的人的视觉。
在曼彻斯特皇家眼科医院进行的这次手术，是阿古斯 2代假眼在老年性黄斑退化病人中的首次被植。老年黄斑退化在某种程度上影响到的英国人至少有50万人。
此次手术共花4小时，主刀大夫是曼彻斯特大学眼科学和视网膜再生教授斯坦加。
他说：“弗林先生的进展非常令人瞩目，他现在可以非常有效地看到人和物体的轮廓。”“我认为，这或将成为失明患者新时代的开端。”
仿生眼的工作原理是什么？植入体从患者所戴的眼镜上安装的微型摄像机接收视觉信号，视觉信号又被转换成电脉冲，然后无线传输到附着在视网膜上的一组电极。电极又刺激剩余视网膜的剩余细胞，细胞再把信息发送给大脑。
阿古斯 2代植入体，无法提供任何高清视觉 - 但此前的研究显示，它能帮助患者看见突出的特征 - 如门框、门形等图案。其花费约为15万英镑，包括治疗费用。