Day 6 Loneliness（chapter 4）6.1 Loneliness

《夏洛的网》Day 6 讲义

Chapter 4 Loneliness

6.1 Loneliness

一、故事大纲

阴沉的雨天，Fern没有来看望小猪，而在农场里，除了Fern，小猪也没有其他真正的朋友，想到这儿，小猪就觉得绝望和难过。他试着去找母鹅、小羊羔、耗子玩耍，都被拒绝了。然而，就在小猪觉得伤心时，他的新朋友出现了。

二、精彩片段

片段1

“I do not play when there are eggs to hatch. I’m expecting goslings.” 

“Well, I didn’t think you were expecting woodpeckers,” said Wilbur, bitterly.

翻译

“我孵蛋时不能玩儿。我盼望着早点孵出小鹅来。”

“当然，我也没想过你会盼望着孵出一堆啄木鸟。”威尔伯酸溜溜地说。

赏析

“bitterly”意为“尖刻地”，带有挖苦性质。鹅妈妈拒绝陪小猪玩，小猪觉得忧伤，但用他的“神逻辑”挖苦鹅妈妈以反击。小猪幽默的回答体现了作者“段子手”的特质。

片段2

“Certainly not,” said the lamb. “In the first place, I cannot get into your pen, as I am not old enough to jump over the fence. In the second place, I am not interested in pigs. Pigs mean less than nothing to me.”

翻译

“当然不能”，小羊羔说。“首先，我无法进入你的院子，因为我还太小，跳不过这篱笆。其次，我对猪一点儿也不感兴趣。猪对于我来说一文不值。”

赏析

雄辩的第一个要素：有层次。利用句型“In the first place…In the second place…”清晰表达自己的观点。雄辩的第二个要素：因果关系明确。“因为以上种种原因，我就是不想和你玩”，小羊羔有着清晰的因果逻辑。

片段3

“What do you mean, less than nothing?” replied Wilbur. “I don't think there is any such thing as less than nothing. Nothing is absolutely the limit of nothingness. It's the lowest you can go. It's the end of the line. How can something be less than nothing? If there were something that was less than nothing, then nothing would not be nothing, it would be something—even though it's just a very little bit of something. But if nothing is nothing, then nothing has nothing that is less than it is.”

翻译

威尔伯回答道：“你什么意思？比没有还少？我不认为什么东西比没有还少。没有就是没有。没有就是最少了。没有就是底线。你怎么能说比没有还少呢？如果有东西比没有还少，那么没有就不是真正的没有，而是有——哪怕数量极少。但如果没有就是没有，那么就没有比没有还少的东西。”

赏析

在本章里，小猪的孤独和忧伤所营造出的黑暗气氛，被他的“神回答”冲淡了不少。