Chapter 19 second quarter

He was fourteen years old now, but he looked two or three years older—not because he was lanky and nearly six feet tall, but because of his ugly, sharp features This kind of amiable demeanor, which is indifferent to the world, has a leisurely demeanor, which does not appear to be clumsy or nervous at all. This demeanor is not only calm and steady, but on the contrary adds a little cheerfulness to his shyness, quiet demeanor Exudes a detached style.Under his left eye was a brown mole, about the size of a penny, which added to the pallor of his face.I don't think he loves anyone. As for his attitude towards his mother, the warm feelings of his childhood had long since been replaced by subtle accommodating.In fluent and pompous New York English, with a harsh nasal voice and a heavy Russian accent that slipped inadvertently, she told strangers in his presence amusing stories he didn't know he had heard before. How many times, he was either being embellished by her or being unreliable. Whenever he encountered this kind of moment, he could only sigh secretly, resigned to the mercy of fate and had no other choice.And sometimes it's even more embarrassing when Dr. Eric Wind, a bookworm with no sense of humor, thinks that his English (acquired in a German high school) is perfect and pure, and will spit out a corny and ridiculous sentence among strangers. Phrases, calling the ocean "ponds," with a sly look on his face as if he were speaking a rare and very witty dialect to his audience.The parents, in their psychotherapist credentials, tried to pretend to be Laios and Jocasta, but the child proved to be a very mediocre little Oedipus.In order not to complicate Freud's fashionable love triangle (between father, mother, and son), Lisa's first husband is not mentioned at all.It wasn't until the Wendes' marriage began to break down and Victor entered St. Bartos' school that Lisa told the children that she was Mrs. Pnin before leaving Europe.She also told him that her ex-husband had immigrated to America too—really, he would meet Victor soon; Lisa (opened her beaming blue eyes with black lashes) ) alluded to in euphemisms, always has a cloak of magic and fascination, so the great, wonderful man who taught an almost dead language at the famous Wendell College, three hundred miles northwest of St. The image of the famous scholar and gentleman Timofey Pnin produced a strange fascination in the credulous Victor's mind, and he imagined that he must look like those Bulgarian kings or Mediterranean princes. Those princes and dignitaries were often world-renowned experts in collecting butterflies and sea shells.Victor was therefore delighted when Professor Pnin entered into serious and polite correspondence with him; the first of which Pnin wrote in beautiful French, though badly typed.This was followed by a postcard with a picture of a gray squirrel.It is one of a set of educational postcards on Our Mammals and Birds; Pnin bought a whole set just for this correspondence.Victor was pleased to learn that the word "squirrel" originated from a Greek word originally meaning "shadow tail".Pnin invited Victor to visit him on his next holiday and said he would pick him up at the Wendale bus station. "For legibility," he wrote in English. “I would wear a pair of dark glasses and carry a black briefcase with my initials stamped in silver.”