只有书呆子可以欣赏的10件事

 　　1.You quote literature in normal conversation你在正常的谈话中会引用文学

　　Once, when I was in middle school, a classmate challenged me to a fight. I’d just finished reading Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights so it seemed entirely¹ natural and just to respond to the threat in the manner that Heathcliff once famously responded to Edgar Linton:

　　有一次，当我还上中学的时候，一个同学要跟我决斗。我刚刚读完了艾米丽勃朗特的呼啸山庄，所以很自然地用希刺克厉夫曾经回应埃德加林顿的著名方式回应了他:

　　“I am mortally sorry you are not worth knocking down.”

　　“非常抱歉，但你不值得让我打倒。”

　　This probably explains my lack of popularity in school.

　　这可能解释了为什么我在学校中不太受欢迎。

　　2.You name your pets after literary characters你用文学作品中的人物给你的宠物命名

　　I once agreed to go on a date with a man purely² on the attraction that he had a cat named Sherlock. This seemed an entirely logical basis for a lifetime of love, and I remain convinced that had I owned a cat named John, this man would be the father of my children today.

　　我曾经同意与一个男人交往，纯粹是因为被他有一只猫名叫夏洛克的猫所吸引。这似乎是一个完全符合逻辑基础的爱情，我仍然相信，假如我拥有一只叫约翰的猫，那这个人如今将是我的孩子的父亲。

　　3.You’re everyone’s resource for book recommendations每个人都会让你推荐书籍

　　A few years ago, a friend preparing for vacation called to ask me for book recommendations he could read on the plane. I replied via text and heard nothing for three days. Just when I’d begun to think I might have accidentally killed him, he called back. “Thanks,” he said. “But I told you I’m going on vacation for two weeks, right? Not to spend an eternity³ in purgatory⁴.” I mumbled⁵ something about variety and then quickly ended the call on the pretense⁶ of having to walk the dog.

　　几年前，一位在为度假准备的朋友打电话来问我能在飞机上读些什么书。我通过短信回复了他，然后三天没听到回音。就在我开始想我可能不小心杀死他时，他就回了电话。“谢谢，”他说。“但是我告诉过你，我要去假期2个星期，对吗？不应在炼狱中度过永恒。”我咕哝着，然后很快以要去遛狗的幌子挂掉了电话。

　　4.You consider it a deal-breaker if your date doesn’t read如果你的约会对象不读书的话，你会感觉无法交流People fall back on the “read any good books lately” question as a cliché conversation starter, but we really need to learn to harness the power of this relationship Litmus test. Dating a book nerd is serious business, and only a fellow bibliophile⁷ can keep pace with the obscure Jane Austen references or the conversation sprinkled with the witticism⁸ of Oscar Wilde.

　　人们用“最近读过什么好书吗”的问题作为一个老生常谈的对话开始，但我们真的需要学习如何利用这种关系试金石的力量。和一个书呆子约会是严肃的事情，只有一个藏书家才能听懂晦涩的简奥斯丁引语或与奥斯卡·王尔德的俏皮话并驾齐驱。

　　5.You’ve had crushes on literary characters你已经迷恋上了文学人物

　　Three words: Edward Fairfax Rochester. I read Jane Eyre when I was 12. Nothing seemed more romantic than a dark, brooding hero with a richly furnished mansion⁹ and a mysterious secret. Okay, so there was that tiny problem of keeping his wife locked in the attic¹⁰, but a girl can make a mistake. Live and learn, and next time, choose your heroes more wisely.

　　三个字：爱德华菲尔法科·罗切斯特。当我12岁的时候，我读了<<简·爱>>。似乎没有什么比一个有着陈设豪华的豪宅和一个神秘的秘密地阴郁、忧伤的英雄更浪漫的了。好吧，把妻子锁在阁楼里是个小问题，人都会犯错。生活，学习，下一次，更明智地选择你的英雄。

　　6.You’re everyone’s official grammar checker每个人都会让你检查正式的语法

　　About once a week, someone asks me when and when not to use a semicolon or the difference between a run-on and a fused sentence. (They’re one and the same, by the way. You know, because you asked). It might seem tedious, but the people who make a living as professional editors probably aren’t complaining.

　　每周一次，都会有人问我什么时候使用什么时候不使用分号或不间断句子和融合的句子之间的差异。（顺便说一句，它们是一样的。你知道，因为你问的。）这看起来很乏味，但那些以作为专业编辑谋生的人可能不会抱怨。

　　7.You feel you’re doing things backwards¹¹ if you don’t read a book before watching its film adaptation如果你没有在看一本书的改编电影前看这本书，你会觉得你在倒着做事情。

　　There is a natural order to things, and reading the book before seeing the movie is a cardinal¹² rule of book nerds everywhere. Literary adaptations, when handled well, are often brilliant, masterful works of art in and of themselves, but some familiarity with the original story can lend greater enjoyment¹³ to the viewing experience. Not to mention, it creates fertile ground for debating such questions as the overwhelmingly unnerving presence of all of those shrunken heads in the adaptation of Harry¹⁴ Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

　　对于事物来说，有着天然的顺序，在看改编电影前先看书是任何地方的书呆子的一条准则。文学改编，如果处理得好，往往是是书籍的艺术再现和改进，但熟悉一些原来的故事可以带来更大的观看体验享受。更何况，它给像是在哈利波特与阿兹卡班的囚徒的改编中让人非常不安的皱缩的头这样的问题提供了肥沃的土地。

　　8.You’ve christened your house or apartment after a famous fictional¹⁵ residence你用一处著名的虚构住宅来命名你的放假或寓所I may or may not affectionately refer to my apartment as “Little Pemberley.” Perhaps it doesn’t quite measure up to the size and splendor¹⁶ of an estate in Derbyshire complete with Mr. Darcy, but imagination can work wonders.

　　我可能会亲切地称我为“小彭伯里公寓。“也许它还达不到在达西先生在德比郡完成的地产的规模和辉煌，但是想象可以创造奇迹。

　　9.You own multiple editions of your favorite books你拥有你最爱书籍的多种版本

　　Hardcover, paperback¹⁷, annotated¹⁸, anniversary – name it, you own it. Critical editions are your guilty pleasure with their moderately tangential¹⁹ footnotes and reproductions of original manuscripts in the author’s handwriting. Don’t judge.

　　精装、平装、注释版、纪念版–给它命名，你拥有它。最重要的版本是你欣喜于有着适度注释的版本以及作者手写的原始稿件的复制版本。不要以貌取书。

　　10.You occasionally have a panic attack about dying before finishing a book、在读完一本书之前，你可能会有一种关于死的惊恐感I generally make it known that I want to be buried with a book, probably Charles Dickens’s Bleak²⁰ House because I’m going to need something to pass the time in purgatory. This is irrelevant²¹, however, because I’m convinced that if I continue adding books to my “must read” list, I’m never going to die.

　　我经常想到要和一本书一起埋葬，可能是查尔斯狄更斯的凄凉的房子，因为我需要在炼狱中读些东西来打发时间。然而，这无关紧要，因为我相信，如果我一直想我的“必读书籍”名单添加书籍的话，我就永远不会死。

 

1 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

2 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。

3 eternity   

n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷

参考例句：

• The dull play seemed to last an eternity.这场乏味的剧似乎演个没完没了。
• Finally,Ying Tai and Shan Bo could be together for all of eternity.英台和山伯终能双宿双飞，永世相随。

4 purgatory   

n.炼狱；苦难；adj.净化的，清洗的

参考例句：

• Every step of the last three miles was purgatory.最后3英里时每一步都像是受罪。
• Marriage,with peace,is this world's paradise;with strife,this world's purgatory.和谐的婚姻是尘世的乐园，不和谐的婚姻则是人生的炼狱。

5 mumbled   

含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He mumbled something to me which I did not quite catch. 他对我叽咕了几句话，可我没太听清楚。
• George mumbled incoherently to himself. 乔治语无伦次地喃喃自语。

6 pretense   

n.矫饰，做作，借口

参考例句：

• You can't keep up the pretense any longer.你无法继续伪装下去了。
• Pretense invariably impresses only the pretender.弄虚作假欺骗不了真正的行家。

7 bibliophile   

n.爱书者；藏书家

参考例句：

• Ted loves everything about books.He is a real bibliophile.泰德喜爱所有与书籍有关的事物。他真是一个爱书人。
• Zhou zuoren is not just a famous author and critics in contemporary history of china,but also an influential bibliophile.周作人不仅是中国现代著名的作家和评论家，也是一位有影响的藏书家。

8 witticism   

n.谐语，妙语

参考例句：

• He tries to lighten his lectures with an occasional witticism.他有时想用俏皮话使课堂活跃。
• His witticism was as sharp as a marble.他的打趣话十分枯燥无味。

9 mansion   

n.大厦，大楼；宅第

参考例句：

• The old mansion was built in 1850.这座古宅建于1850年。
• The mansion has extensive grounds.这大厦四周的庭园广阔。

10 attic   

n.顶楼，屋顶室

参考例句：

• Leakiness in the roof caused a damp attic.屋漏使顶楼潮湿。
• What's to be done with all this stuff in the attic?顶楼上的材料怎么处理？

11 backwards   

adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地

参考例句：

• He turned on the light and began to pace backwards and forwards.他打开电灯并开始走来走去。
• All the girls fell over backwards to get the party ready.姑娘们迫不及待地为聚会做准备。

12 cardinal   

n.(天主教的)红衣主教；adj.首要的，基本的

参考例句：

• This is a matter of cardinal significance.这是非常重要的事。
• The Cardinal coloured with vexation. 红衣主教感到恼火，脸涨得通红。

13 enjoyment   

n.乐趣；享有；享用

参考例句：

• Your company adds to the enjoyment of our visit. 有您的陪同，我们这次访问更加愉快了。
• After each joke the old man cackled his enjoyment.每逢讲完一个笑话，这老人就呵呵笑着表示他的高兴。

14 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

15 fictional   

adj.小说的，虚构的

参考例句：

• The names of the shops are entirely fictional.那些商店的名字完全是虚构的。
• The two authors represent the opposite poles of fictional genius.这两位作者代表了天才小说家两个极端。

16 splendor   

n.光彩；壮丽，华丽；显赫，辉煌

参考例句：

• Never in his life had he gazed on such splendor.他生平从没有见过如此辉煌壮丽的场面。
• All the splendor in the world is not worth a good friend.人世间所有的荣华富贵不如一个好朋友。

17 paperback   

n.平装本，简装本

参考例句：

• A paperback edition is now available at bookshops.平装本现在在书店可以买到。
• Many books that are out of print are reissued in paperback form.许多绝版的书籍又以平装本形式重新出现。

18 annotated   

v.注解，注释( annotate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Thematic maps should always be annotated with the source and date of the topical information. 各类专题地图，均应注明专题资料来源和日期。 来自辞典例句
• And this is the version annotated by Umberto de Bologna. 并且这是有安博多-德-波罗格那注释的版本。 来自电影对白

19 tangential   

adj.离题的，切线的

参考例句：

• Too much time was spent discussing tangential issues.太多的时间花在了讨论那些无关紧要的问题上。
• They thought the whole thing was a side-show, tangential to the real world of business.他们认为整件事情只是一个插曲，和真正的商界没有多大关系。

20 bleak   

adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的

参考例句：

• They showed me into a bleak waiting room.他们引我来到一间阴冷的会客室。
• The company's prospects look pretty bleak.这家公司的前景异常暗淡。

21 irrelevant   

adj.不恰当的，无关系的，不相干的

参考例句：

• That is completely irrelevant to the subject under discussion.这跟讨论的主题完全不相关。
• A question about arithmetic is irrelevant in a music lesson.在音乐课上，一个数学的问题是风马牛不相及的。