Ariel 英语手账
Movie/book：Memoirs of a geisha
Author: Arthur Golden
女主人公小百合出生在一个贫穷的渔村，长着一双灰蓝色的眼睛，也许这就注定了她那不平凡的一生......
因母亲病重，小百合被卖到京都一家著名的艺妓馆。学艺期间却不断受到当红艺伎初桃的羞辱和诬陷。
就在小百合最绝望无助时，一位神秘男子的善意鼓励给予了她重生的勇气......
而全日本最美丽的艺妓真善羽在此时提出认小百合为“妹妹”，从此改变了小百合的悲惨命运……
我是看完英文原版书后再去看的电影。
看完电影更觉作者Arthur Golden文笔之精妙，他的文思在时间有限的视觉空间是无法展现得淋漓尽致的。
甚至有的读者如果没有看原小说，是难以理解女主人公的一些举动的......
终其一生，女主人公好像都不是在为自己而活，当然，她也没有选择权。一场最美丽的邂逅，让她为此倾尽全力去争取，去靠近......
当她为自己的幸福费尽心机却换来彻底的绝望，殊不知“柳暗花明又一村”......
我的一生最美好的场景
就是遇见你
在人海茫茫中静静凝望着你
陌生又熟悉
尽管呼吸着同一天空的气息
却无法拥抱到你
如果转换了时空身份和姓名
但愿认得你眼睛
——《星月神话》
这首《星月神话》可以说完美地诠释了小百合与男主人公的相遇后的心境:
"Every step I have taken in my life since I was a child in Gion, I have taken in the hope of bringing myself closer to you.”
"从我在祗园还是个孩子开始，我生命中所走的每一步，都是为了让自己更接近你。”
在观看电影之余，不妨拿起Memoirs of a geisha的原版小说学习英语。这本书无疑是良好的阅读和写作学习材料。
1.日本文化词：
Geisha：( ˈgeisha girl ) a Japanese woman who is trained to entertain men with conversation, dancing and singing 艺伎（陪男子说话、表演歌舞的日本女子）
以上来源于: 牛津词典
Zori: (pl：zoris)a traditional Japanese style of flip-flop,origianlly made with a straw sole 草履（一种传统日式人字拖鞋，初时鞋底用稻草制成）。
以上来源于：《新牛津英汉双解大词典》
Futon:a Japanese mattress , often on a wooden frame, that can be used for sitting on or rolled out to make a bed 日本床垫（折叠时可坐，铺开时可卧）
以上来源于: 牛津词典
Kimono:( from Japanese) a traditional Japanese piece of clothing like a long loose dress with wide sleeves, worn on formal occasions; a dressing gown or robe in this style （日本的）和服；和服式晨衣
以上来源于: 牛津词典
Tabi:a sock with a separation for the big toe; worn with thong sandals by the Japanese日本式厚底短袜
以上来源于 WordNet
（注：由于小说作者Arthur Golden是美国人，对日本艺伎文化无法做到原汁原味还原，同名电影主创也是美国导演和中国主演，所以文化层面的内容需要辩证看待。）
2.小词用法：
a.穿/脱衣：
①脱：When I opened the door for him, he slipped out of his shoes and stepped right past me into the house.
我给他开门后，他便迅速脱下鞋子，从我身边走进屋去。
（同“step out of ”）
②穿：“dress sb” “help sb into shoes”
b.“哭”：
①Perhaps this is why when he spoke to me, tears came stinging to my eyes.
也许这就是为什么当他对我说话时，泪水刺痛了我的眼睛。
（巧用无灵主语“tears”，类似用法见《面纱》:从原版书到电影,值得细品的地道英文）
②I didn’t want Mother to see me crying, but the tears pooled in my eyes before I could think of how to stop them.
我不想让姆妈看到我哭，但在我思考如何止住眼泪之前，眼泪就在我的眼睛里打转了。
③Long before Auntie had finished reading this letter, the tears had begun to flow out of me just like water from a pot that boils over.
姨婆还没读完这封信，我的眼泪就像沸腾的锅里直淌出来的水一样夺眶而出。
c.其他小词：
①I froze there to listen to them.
我僵在那里听他们说话。
②“I can’t picture the girls living anywhere else.”
“我无法想象这些女孩生活在其他地方的样子。”
③I lunch with a friend most days.
我大部分时间和朋友一起吃午饭。
④When friends bring photographs from their trips to Kyoto, I often think that Gion has thinned out like a poorly kept garden, increasingly overrun with weeds.
当朋友们带来他们去京都旅行的照片时，我常常以为祗园就像一个被人荒废的花园一样杂草丛生。
⑤After Mr. Tanaka had left, I tried to busy myself in the kitchen, but I felt a bit like Satsu, for I could hardly see the things before me.
田中先生走后，我试着在厨房里忙活，但我感觉自己有点像Satsu，因为我几乎看不见眼前的事物。
⑥To me, he seemed to see the sap bleeding from the trunks of the pine trees, and the circle of brightness in the sky where the sun was smothered by clouds.
在我看来，他似乎看到了松树树干渗出的汁液，也看到了天空中被云遮住的太阳发出的光圈。
（“block”一词可足以传达原文之意，但是要逊色不少。“smother”用在此处无比生动，赋予“clouds”人化动感，可见作者用词之巧妙。）
3.修辞：
a.Simile（明喻）:
①Probably it(our tipsy house) would have collapsed if my father hadn’t cut a timber from a wrecked fishing boat to prop up the eaves, which made the house look like a tipsy old man leaning on his crutch.
如果不是我父亲从一艘失事的渔船上砍下一根木头来支撑屋檐，它(我们“醉醺醺的”房子)很可能早就倒塌了。这样一来房子看起来像一个手拄拐杖醉酒老人。
（将“house”比喻成“a tipsy old man”）
②The sea was violent, with waves like stones chipped into blades, sharp enough to cut.
大海如此狂暴，海浪就像被凿成刀片的石头，锋利得足以切割。
（将“waves”比喻成“stones”）
Simile：a word or phrase that compares sth to sth else, using the words like or as , for example a face like a mask or as white as snow ; the use of such words and phrases 明喻；明喻的运用
以上来源于: 牛津词典
b.Metaphor（暗喻）
①One day I asked him, “Daddy, why are you so old?” He hoisted up his eyebrows at this, so that they formed little sagging umbrellas over his eyes.
有一天我问他，“爸爸，为什么你这么老?”听了这话他扬起的眉毛形成了一把把耷拉着的小伞，遮住眼睛。
（将“eyebrows”比喻成“little sagging umbrellas”）
②His spine was a path of knobs. His head, with its discolored splotches, might have been a bruised fruit. His arms were sticks wrapped in old leather, dangling from two bumps.
他的脊梁骨是一条凹凸不平的小径。他的头上因为有色斑的缘故看起来像一个淤青的果实。他的双臂像裹着旧皮革的木棍，挂在两个肿块上摇摇晃晃。
（将“spine”比喻成“a path of knobs”，将“head”比喻成“a bruised fruit”，将“arms”比喻成“sticks”）
Metaphor：a word or phrase used to describe sb/sth else, in a way that is different from its normal use, in order to show that the two things have the same qualities and to make the description more powerful, for example She has a heart of stone ; the use of such words and phrases 暗喻；隐喻
以上来源于: 牛津词典
c.Rhetoric question:
Was life nothing more than a storm that constantly washed away what had been there only a moment before, and left behind something barren and unrecognizable?
难道生命只不过是一场风暴，不断地冲刷掉片刻之前还在那里的东西，留下的是一片荒芜，令人无法辨认?
Rhetoric question: a question to which no answer is required: used esp for dramatic effect. An example is Who knows? (with the implication Nobody knows) 不必回答, 只为加强语气及效果的反问
以上来源于《柯林斯英汉双解大词典》
d.Hyperbole(夸张）
Her face was drooping with exhaustion, and the weight of all her clothing seemed as if it might pull her right onto the ground.
她的脸累得耷拉下来，全身衣服的重量似乎足以把她拽到地上。
Hyperbole: a way of speaking or writing that makes sth sound better, more exciting, dangerous, etc. than it really is 夸张
以上来源于: 牛津词典
本期分享结束，祝：观影愉快！学习愉快！
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