讀李家同學英文02：車票

透過李家同簡潔而寓意深遠的文章，領略用英文表達中文故事的妙趣。

◎知道自己翻譯能力如何嗎？李家同給您一個測試的建議——
我在此給讀者一個建議：你不妨先看看中文文章，先不看英文的翻譯，然後試著將中文翻成英文，我相信你一定會覺得中翻英好困難。翻完以後，再去看英文翻譯，相信可以學到不少。——李家同

許多台灣人學英文，用的方法是死記硬背，今天背文法、明天背單字。我並不否認背是很重要的技巧，可是那絕不是閱讀這本書的理想方式。
當你閱讀本書時，我建議你注意以下幾個重點：
1. 你不需要看得懂每個字或徹底了解每個句子的文法。
2. 要注意動詞的時態。
3. 請注意冠詞的用法。
4. 留意中文的慣用說法，以英文怎麼表達。
5. 如何用文法和標點符號來創造戲劇效果。
Nick Hawkins（郝凱揚）〈閱讀本書的理想方式〉

本冊收錄〈吾愛吾徒〉〈我是誰〉〈視力與偏見〉〈我已長大了〉〈富翁與乞丐〉〈車票〉〈胎記〉〈真面目〉

目次
1.〈吾愛吾徒 I Love My Students〉
古人云：「得天下英才而教之，不亦樂乎」，我卻不在乎我的徒弟是不是英才，對我而言，我的徒弟們一概是「小子」，
The ancients wrote, “To obtain and teach the great talents of the world, is it not a joy?” I, on the other hand, don’t care whether my students are great talents—to me, they’re all “lads”.

2.〈我是誰Who Am I?〉
教宗庇護二世去世了。去世教宗的靈魂悠悠地到達了天堂。走著走著，他看到了一個「天堂報到處」的牌子。他走了進去，裡面的辦事員笑嘻嘻地問他，「請問你是誰」？
Pope Pius II was dead. The soul of the deceased pope floated airily up to heaven. He walked and walked until he saw a sign that said “Heaven Check-in”. He walked in. An employee inside cheerfully asked him, “Who are you?”

3.〈視力與偏見Sight and prejudice〉
在從紐約到波士頓的火車上，我發現我隔壁座的老先生是位盲人……
While riding the train from New York to Boston, I discovered that the elderly man sitting next to me was blind.

4.〈我已長大了Growing Up〉
我提起社會公義的問題，爸爸沒有和我辯論，只說社會該講公義，更該講寬恕。他說：「我們都有希望別人寬恕我們的可能」。
I mentioned the question of social justice. Dad didn’t argue with me—he only said that society ought to revere justice, but it ought to revere forgiveness even more. “Each of us may one day hope to be forgiven by others,” he said.

5.〈富翁與乞丐 The Rich Man and the Beggar〉
在英國，我常看到古怪名字的店，可是叫「富翁與乞丐」的飯店，還是第一次見到，使我大為好奇。
I had often seen shops with strange names in England, but this was the first time I had ever seen a restaurant called “The Rich Man and the Beggar”. My curiosity was aroused.

6.〈車票 Tickets〉
孫修女告訴我，她們通常不喜歡去找出棄嬰的過去身世，因此她們一直保留了這兩張車票，等我長大了再說。她們觀察我很久，最後的結論是我很理智，應該有能力處理這件事了。
Sister Sun told me that they normally preferred not to go digging up the pasts of abandoned babies, so they had kept these two tickets and waited for me to grow up. They had watched me for a long time, eventually concluding that I was rational enough to deal with this on my own.

7.〈胎記 The Birthmark〉
夜已深，小約瑟從他骯髒的背包裡找出了他的十字架，親吻了十字架上的耶穌，喃喃地說：「耶穌，我仍是個好孩子，保佑我平安地度過這一夜，不要讓壞人來殺我。」
It was late at night. Little Joseph pulled his crucifix from his filthy backpack and kissed the Christ on the cross, then muttered, “Jesus, I’m still a good boy. Please bless that I may pass this night in peace, and don’t let the bad men come and murder me.”

8.〈真面目 True Face〉
My boss is one of the most notorious dictators in the world. After the Watergate scandal erupted, he developed a keen interest in audio surveillance systems. On one occasion he told me he wished he had some sort of system that would enable him to know what his visitors were really thinking.
我的老闆是世界上最聲名狼籍的獨裁者之一。水門案件爆發以後，他對監聽系統產生了極大的興趣，有一次，他對我說，他希望能有一種系統，可以讓他知道訪客的真正想法。