Chapter 20 Part Three: The Charm of Our Golden Key Original English Works

The Fascination of English Original The charm of English original works Like many people, when I first started learning English, I thought, when will I be able to read a thick book in the original language?At that time, I didn't dare to think about whether I could translate a thick original English work in the future. I knew it would take time and more experience.But I can't wait to read a book in English.The first is an old book given to me by my friend N. It is a British novel The Moonstone ("Moon Gem").I flipped through the dictionary and read it very hard, and often I couldn't read it anymore.At that time, I seemed to have just finished the third English textbook in college. In fact, I didn't know how long it took to learn a foreign language to be able to read the original.I used to think that learning English is to start with 26 letters and 48 phonetic symbols, then read, write, listen, and speak.At that time, I didn't know the heights of the sky and the depths of the earth, and my mind was burning with an inextinguishable passion for learning all day long. I just wanted to work harder and harder.But my learning process is like a small road, winding, bumpy and muddy. I am my own pathfinder, and I keep stumbling forward.

I use the only "English-Chinese Dictionary" to help me read The Moonstone. I learn too few phrases, so I always break the phrases into individual words to understand the sentences.Every night I try to translate a novel. After several months, I reread the "translated" handwriting, but I can't express the story clearly and smoothly. The hat was put on for John. So, I had to start from the beginning and read it over and over again. I don't know how many times I read it before I figured out the ins and outs of the whole story. The Moonstone is a detective novel written by the British writer William Wilkie Collins (William Wilkie Collins). It tells about the twists and turns, the thrilling and cruel struggle around the unique gemstone "Moonstone".It is said that this gem was originally worn on the forehead of the ancient Indian moon god. It is yellow, so it is called the moon gem.Before the eleventh century A.D., moon gemstones have been worshiped by people from generation to generation along with the moon god in Indian temples.However, in the eleventh century A.D., the Arabs invaded India. From then on, the moon gemstone began a catastrophe that lasted for centuries. It changed hands several times, and finally fell into the hands of an officer of the British army who invaded India...

After reading The Moonstone, I think that to learn a foreign language well, in addition to rich vocabulary and solid grammar knowledge, you also need to read a lot and read as many English materials as possible.At that time, my other friend H once said, how can we learn English well without an English environment?I said that it is precisely because there is no English environment that I need to study hard and make up for my own shortcomings through a lot of reading, that is, to replace the shortcomings of not having a language environment through reading. Of course, language knowledge alone is not enough to learn a foreign language, and it is not comprehensive. In addition to a good foundation in one's mother tongue, extensive knowledge is also inseparable. At the same time, one must also train one's comprehensive imagination and writing ability.In the final analysis, a foreign language is a tool, which is used to convey certain information, knowledge, thoughts, and emotions... Learning a foreign language requires a desire to express, and then a lot of reading, such as reading English books, newspapers, and literature , letters, etc., accumulate a wealth of knowledge, understand by analogy, only in this way, when you pick up an English book, you can have a kind of joy of reading.

After several years of study, my English has improved.In the winter of that year, I was admitted to the hospital, and my friend N sent me a copy of The Great Expectation () by Charles Dickens, which was a simplified version.The days in the hospital bed were hard, but with that book, I seemed to feel the sunshine of winter.With the help of a small English-Chinese dictionary, I found that I can read this book smoothly! Later, there were several English books on my bedside, including Jane Eyre ("Jane Eyre") in simplified form, Silas Marner ("The Weaver Manan"), and Anthology of American Short Stories in photocopy ( Selected American Short Stories), etc.These books make me temporarily forget my own situation, enter the world in the novel, and share happiness, pain and tears with those characters...

In Jane Eyre's book, the passage that moved me the most is that after Jane Eyre and Rochester were separated for several years, one day she suddenly heard the call of Rochester from afar... All the house was still, for I believe all except St. John and myself had now gone to rest. The one candle was burnt out, the room was full of moonlight. My heart beat fast and thick, I heard its movement. Suddenly it stood still to an inexpressible feeling that ran through it. The feeling was not like an electric shock, but it was as sharp and as strange. It acted on my senses: eye and ear waited while the flesh trembled on my bones.

(The whole house is very quiet, for I know that St. John and I have rested, and there is no one else in the house. The candles are burnt out, and the room is full of moonlight. My heart beats fast, It was very intense, and I could hear its beating. Suddenly, it stopped, and an indescribable feeling came to my heart, it was not like an electric shock, it was tearing, and I had never felt such a feeling. It stimulates my senses: my eyes and ears wait, but my whole body, down to my bones, trembles.) What have you heard? What do you see? asked St. John. I saw nothing, but I heard a voice somewhere cry:

It did not seem to be in the room, nor in the house, nor in the garden. It did not come out of the air, nor from under the earth, nor from overhead. I heard it, and it was the voice of a human being—a known, loved, well-remembered voice—that of Edward Rochester, and it spoke in pain, wildly and urgently. I am coming! I cried. Wait for me! Oh, I will come! The distant hills echoed my cry, but all was lonely. (What did you hear? What did you see? St. John asked. I saw nothing, but I did hear a voice calling from somewhere. The call seemed not to come from the room, nor the house, nor the garden.It doesn't come from the sky, it doesn't come from the ground, it doesn't come from the zenith.I heard it, and it was the voice of a man I knew, loved, and remembered well, the voice of Edward Rochester, speaking in agony, hoarse and impatient.

I am coming!I shouted.wait for me!I will come! Only the distant mountains responded to my call, so lonely and so desolate. ) I was moved by the original text, as if I heard the echo of the nineteenth century. It was the call of an English woman. I didn't find it strange, and I understood her cry from the heart. Later, I read more and more books, and reading English originals became my hobby.Over time, I found that my comprehension has naturally improved.At the beginning, I could only read abbreviated and annotated books. In such books, because of editing by the editor, many difficult and long sentences became short sentences that are easy to understand, or many places were deleted and edited, and the novel became shorter. , Many places related to the background of the times or cultural background have also been annotated.However, it is necessary to read the abbreviated version and the annotated version. It can not only lay the foundation for reading the real original work in the future, but also enhance the reading ability of those who do not have enough English comprehension.However, this kind of reading is still learning reading, that is, reading for learning English. It is still far from appreciating and translating original English works, but this is the basis for moving towards the stage of appreciating and translating.

Literary works include and cover a wide range of social life, such as A Passage to India ("A Passage to India") by the British writer EM Foster, and Out of Africa ("Out of Africa") by the Danish female writer Denison.In such works, there are many places involving complex backgrounds and realities such as religion, history, and ethnic traditions. This is the most difficult thing for most self-taught English learners.Reading such works is a new challenge.For this reason, I used special time to read history, especially world history, and read multi-volume "History of World Civilization", "History of Science and Technology", "History of Astronomy", and "Ancient Greek Myths and Legends". ", "Bible", "The Story of Music", "The Stream of Civilization", "The Birth of Christianity" and so on.

I read the Bible ("Bible") because in many classic English literary works, the stories and characters in the Bible are often mentioned. For example, Westerners have many surnames, but the names are always so limited, like David (David), William (William), John (John), Lawrence (Lawrence), Katherine (Katherine), Jane (Jenny), Peter (Peter), Martin (Martin), Abraham (Abraham), Richard (Richard Germany), after reading the "Bible", I suddenly realized that most Westerners use the names of characters in the "Bible" for their names. No wonder they have so few names. After years of hard work, I can finally read the English original.

One year, I read an original English book, Rusty — A True Story ("Rusty—A True Story") by American writer Carol Gino.This book describes a touching story about Rusty, a nurse suffering from severe epilepsy, who stubbornly overcomes the disease with the help of her colleague Carol.Rusty was born in an unfortunate family and was treated unfairly when she was a child. When she grew up, because she suffered from paroxysmal epilepsy and was abused by others, she was sent to a nut house with extremely poor conditions many times. , locked up with real mental patients and perverts, physically and mentally devastated.Later, through hard work, she worked as an assistant nurse in a nursing home specializing in caring for the elderly. With her diligence, patience and meticulous care for patients, she won the care and love of her colleague, the nurse Carol. Carol took Rusty back to her home when she was sick, and took good care of her, finally enabling her to overcome the disease and return to a good life. The following passage is Carol's impression of meeting Rusty for the first time. A girl dressed in a green nursing assistant's uniform stepped out from one of the rooms in front of me. Something in her stance let me know she was the one the nurse been calling. Rusty. She was attractive with blonde, short hair, which fell in place perfectly. I figured she must about twenty. Her uniform was immaculate, obviously pressed carefully, and her white shoes were not only polished but buffed to a high shine. She was thin, her arms muscular, not in a way a man's were but as though she had worked hard. She wore her watch low on her wrist on a thick leather band, the face turned in. She began to walk quickly towards what was now a real commotion. (A girl in the green assistant nurse uniform comes out of a room in front of me. I know from her hurried gesture that the nurse on duty is calling her—Lusty. She is attractive, blond, with short hair Draped neatly behind her head. I would guess she was about twenty years old. Her uniform was immaculate, obviously carefully ironed, and her white shoes were not only polished but polished. She was slender, but her arms Her upper body is muscular, not as muscular as a man's, but you can see that she has worked hard. Her watch is worn low on the wrist, and the strap is a thick leather strap with the dial on the inside of the wrist. .She starts walking quickly towards the now chaotic place.) This is Rusty.With a few simple and simple words, the author presents the image of Rusty to the readers.She is young and beautiful, with blond hair; her uniform is clean and neat, and even her white leather shoes are polished; she even explained the watch she wears, and the thick leather strap shows that she is not rich... The expressive power of English makes her I lamented that I used to think that Chinese had an advantage in shaping characters, but after reading Rusty, I felt that my English vision was too narrow, and English has its own unique features in terms of expressiveness.In the following paragraph, there are some usages that I did not understand before, especially a few parallel phrases, which left a deep impression on me. The only constant in my life for all the years was nursing. No matter how harrowing and painful my regular life was, as soon as I walked on to a hospital floor dressed in white uniform, I felt like Cinderella at the ball. one place I could be totally me. The place I could be as smart, as kind, as giving, and as real as I was capable of being. My patients and I had an understanding past words; and neither of us judged the other. There was no mask, no pretence, we were just human beings who because of circumstances had to learn to trust each other and so were allowed to really touch each other. And I had gotten used to that kind of closeness. Regular relationships compared to those special ones were like to trying to talk to someone through a glass barrier and trying to touch through a wire mesh divider. (During all these years, the only constant in my life was nursing. No matter how scary and painful my ordinary life was, as soon as I walked into the nursing home and put on my white nurse uniform, I immediately felt like I was on the dance floor Cinderella. Only here I am complete. Only here I can be relaxed, kind, and take care of my patients to the best of my ability. There is a mutual understanding language between me and my patients, we need each other, we heal each other We don't judge anyone. There are no masks, no pretense. We are just human beings. Because of our respective situations, we have learned to trust each other. Only in this way can we be considerate of each other. I am used to this kind of close relationship. This is different from the usual relationship, which is like talking to someone through a glass, shaking hands through a barbed wire.) This is the first-person narration of the protagonist Carol in Rusty's book. She expresses her attitude towards work and patients as a nurse.She has connected everything about herself to the patient. You know, in the nursing home where Carroll works, those patients are aggressive drug addicts and alcoholics. When their illness flares up, they will refuse treatment, and even beat and scold the nursing staff at will, making them grow up. Their nails dug deep into the beautiful faces of the nurses... But what they got was a hundred times more patience, love and sincerity. These young and beautiful nurses used their hearts to warm them and influence them... Rusty herself is also a patient with epilepsy, which is a disease that may attack at any time, causing fainting, shock, or even death. Moreover, there are no very effective drugs to control its seizures, and all the drugs that can be used are psychotropic drugs. would seriously damage her health.Rusty's illness broke out again and again, in the car on the way to work, on the stairs, in the bathroom... But because of her strong will and Carol's careful care, she sticks to her belief in overcoming the disease . Among the novels I have read about people fighting against diseases, Rusty impressed me the most.I feel that reading this novel is like reading an English nursing diary, unknowingly following the most plain expressions in English.Those sentences in the book, as if you can say it with just one mouth, this is a kind of joy of reading. Here I would like to specifically mention the novel Silas Marner ("The Weaver Manan") by the British female writer George Eliot in the 19th century. This is also the earliest English original work I read. I was simply mesmerized by this story.Silas Manan, a weaver, is simple, kind, industrious and frugal, but he is bullied everywhere. First, he is framed and forced to leave his hometown, and later his hard-earned money is stolen.As a result, he became gray and indifferent, living alone in a small room with no one to associate with him, and he didn't know what year, month and day it was today, but on a snowy New Year's Eve, He unexpectedly got a surprise... This morning he has been told by some of his neighbors that it was New Year's Eve, and that he must sit up and hear the old year rung out and the new rung in, because that was good luck, and might bring his money back again … (This morning the neighbor told him that it was New Year's Eve, and he had to sit up and listen to the bells to say goodbye to the old year and usher in the new year, because that would bring good luck, and maybe he would get his money back...) When Marner's sensitivity returned he continued the action, which had been arrested, and closed his door unaware of the chasm in his consciousness, unaware of any intermediate change, except that the light had grown dim, and that he was chilled and faint. he had too long standing at the door and looking out. Turning towards the hearth, where the two logs had fallen apart, and sent forth only a red uncertain glimmer, he seated himself on his fireside chair, and was stooping to push his logs together , when to his blurred vision it seemed as if there were gold on the floor in front of the hearth. Gold —— his own gold—brought back to him as mysteriously as it had been taken away! He felt his heart begin to beat violently , and for a few moments he was unable to stretch his hand and grasp the restored treasure. The heap of gold seemed to glow and get larger beneath his agitated gaze. He leaned forward at last, and stretched forth his hand; hard coin with family r resisting outline, his fingers encountered soft warm curls. In utter amazement Silas fell on his knees and bent his head low to examine the marvel; it was a sleeping child —— a round, fair thing, with soft yellow rings all over his head …Was it a dream? He rose his feet again, pushed his logs together, and, throwing on some dried leaves and sticks, raised a flame. But the flame did not diffuse the vision; it only lit up distinctly the little round form of the child, and its shabby clothing. (Manan's consciousness regains consciousness, and he continues to do that unstoppable movement, opening and closing the door, not at all aware of the gap in his perception, nor of any changes that have taken place in between, he only feels The light gradually dimmed, and he shivered and was very weak. He remembered that he had stood at the door for a long time and looked at it. When he returned to the stove, he saw that the two pieces of wood had burned down and collapsed, and there was only a sound. There were dim red lights. He sat down on the chair by the fire, and stooped to prop them up again. At this moment, to his dim vision, there seemed to be a golden spot on the ground in front of the stove. Stuff. Gold—his own gold—it was brought back as if it had been smuggled away! He felt his heart beating violently, and for a moment he could not stretch He reached out to grab the lost and found treasure. The heap of gold seemed to glisten in his anxious gaze, growing bigger and bigger. At last he bent down and held out his hand, but his fingers touched Not the hard outlines of the gold coins he was familiar with, but warm, soft curls. Stunned, Silas knelt down and looked down at the strange thing: it was a sleeping child —a chubby, pretty little thing with those soft yellow curls all over it...was it a dream? He got up and pushed the wood into the stove and threw some more Dried leaves and twigs were set on fire. But the flames, instead of obliterating the scene before his eyes, brought into sharper focus the small, round shape of the child, and his shabby clothes.) Apparently, the baby had been sent to Manan's small house on purpose, and Manan had been told that the door would have to be opened and closed incessantly in order for the good luck to return to the house.When Manan was unconscious, he didn't notice the change in the room, so this unfortunate life was thrown to this lonely and desolate person.Abandoners give up all responsibility for this little life in order to relieve the burden in their hearts.However, the abandoned person may not have thought that this baby was like a flame, igniting a cold heart, resurrecting a soul that was almost dead, and making him regain life.Since then, the two weak fires of life have been burning continuously in the wind and rain, growing up... The female writer Eliot uses unique descriptions and delicate brushstrokes to describe the ordinary and miserable life of this poor weaver, which makes people shed tears of sympathy.Reading the original English version of this book is a real artistic enjoyment. I seem to be living in Manan's world while reading. This is the charm of English reading. I like to read English novels, especially when some translated works are not of high quality, reading the original may be a good choice.However, reading the original work is laborious, and does it violate the original intention of artistic enjoyment?I think that even the best translation cannot reveal the full connotation of the original work. After all, no one can replace the original author's native language expression!Therefore, if you want to truly feel the charm of English literature, you still have to read the original works.