Lesson 9 The Bluest Eye

1、The Bluest Eye(Excerpts)by Toni MorrisonGuide to ReadingWhen we discuss contemporary American literature, it is impossible not to mention the name and works of Toni Morrison. A Nobel Prize winner for literature, she has written up to now seven novels, making significant contributions to the depictio

2、n of African American experience. Unlike some African American writers who expose white racism against the blacks in a direct way, Morrisons exploration tends to be introverted個性內向的：人的特征為興趣或是盤據(jù)腦海的只有自己或是自己的想法；害羞或是排斥; 含蓄的; 內傾的；不愛交際的; introvert vt.使(思想)內向; 使內省extroverted外傾的：對其他的人或環(huán)境如與自身相反的或之外的事物感興趣的；喜群

3、居的或外出的：, focusing on the relationships within the black community. Her novels often reveal how the dominant white culture has deprived the black people of their own cultural values and the destructive impact this cultural mutilation毀損；殘缺；切斷; mutilate毀傷；使殘廢Her arm was mutilated in the accident.她的胳膊在車

4、禍中受了重傷。The pilot was mutilated in the plane crash and now has only one leg."飛行員在飛機失事事故中殘廢了,現(xiàn)在只剩下了一條腿。" 破壞；把刪改得支離破碎You've mutilated the story by making such big changes.你作了這么大的改變，把故事弄得支離破碎了。has brought about among the black people. Although most of her novels are apparently set in her h

5、ome town in Ohio, they not only depict the black experience in that region, but tell about shared human conditions with universal themes of love, death, betrayal, and the individuals responsibility for his or her own fate. Morrisons first novel The Bluest Eye, from which the following text is taken,

6、 tells the heartbreaking story of Pecola Breedlove, a vulnerable black girl, living in Lorain, Ohio, in the early 1940s. In a society where blue eyes and whiteness are equated with beauty, and therefore, goodness Goodness is the quality of being kind, helpful, and honest. 善良and happiness while black

7、ness is perceived察覺；理解；發(fā)覺; 把看作；認為ugliness, Pecolas greatest desire is to have blue eyes. Each night, without fail一定，必定I will give you a present on your birthday without fail. 你生日時我一定送你一份禮物。, she prays for pretty blue eyes. She believes that having blue eyes is the key to wiping out all the unbearabl

8、e miseries for her familytheir hopeless poverty, the constant fighting between the parents, the contempt of other children, etc. She imagines that with blue eyes, she will become a beautiful girl loved by everyone. In her wild 瘋狂的；胡亂的; 非常激動的; 狂妄的；不切實際的；異想天開的；不合常理的imagination Pecola feels that the co

9、lor of her eyes has been finally transformed. Ironically, instead of love, what she gets in the end is the violence of her fathers rape. Rather than happiness, she sinks deeper into the abyss of misery. Her dream of finding shelter in her fantasy of whiteness mercilessly destroyed, the girl is throw

10、n into使（突然）陷入某一狀態(tài) madness. Following is one of the most vivid scenes in the novel. In this part the author describes a particular type of blacksbrown-skinned people. They hold themselves high above the other blacks. These sugar-brown or milk-brown girls are from better families, “go to land-grant co

11、lleges 接受政府贈地的學院(或大學); land grant政府贈予地：政府準予把公共用地用來建鐵路、公路或州立大學, learn how to do the white mans work with refinement (感情、趣味、舉止、言談等的)優(yōu)雅，高尚，文雅,” marry successfully, living in their own inviolable worlds in quiet, black neighborhoods. With a certain proportion of white blood in them, they feel superior t

12、o other black people. Like the whites, they detest blackness黑人的特征(或特性、氣質), and project 把(自己的感情、思想等)投射給他人Don't project your guilt feelings onto me!別把你自己內疚的感情往我身上搬。their hatred and contempt for it onto Negroes with darker skins. They blindly believe in the mainstream white cultural values and imit

13、ate the white middle class in every possible way. They are unable to establish healthy relationships with their own people. Geraldine is such a woman, and her son Junior is on the way of becoming one like her. Incapable of human love, Geraldine finds comfort in her cat. So when her cat is killed (by

14、 her son), she pours all her anger onto Pecola and cruelly drives the poor girl from her home. Once again, Pecola is made a victim. Yet, Geraldine, who has victimized使作犧牲；使受害，使受苦this helpless black girl, is also a victim herselfa victim of racial prejudice that has penetrated into 進入；(思想、感情等)深入于Thes

15、e new ideas are penetrating into the minds of the younger generation.這些新思想正在滲透到年輕一代人的頭腦里。 the minds of black people like her and warped使(性格等)不正常；使乖戾；使有偏見Years of living alone may warp one's personality.長期的孤身生活會使人的性格變得乖戾。their true identity. This scene is vivid and disturbingSomething that is dis

16、turbing makes you feel worried or upset令人不安的，使內心不平靜的. After reading the story the reader finds it hard to forget the characters and their fate. Realistic You say that a painting, story, or movie is realistic when the people and things in it are like people and things in real life. 逼真的details, metaph

17、orical language and the freshest and most strikingSomething that is striking is very noticeable or unusual. 顯著的; 不同尋常的; 突出的, 鮮明的, 引人注目的; 給人深刻印象的prose all contribute to Morrisons effective exploration of complex themes through telling simple stories. Text1. They come from Mobile墨比爾：亞拉巴馬州西南的一座城市，在長約61

18、公里(38英里）的墨比爾河 口處，位于墨西哥灣的一個海灣 墨爾比灣 的北海岸。約設立于1710年，該市在1813年為美國軍隊奪取前曾被法、英和西班牙擁有。在墨比爾灣戰(zhàn)役(1864年8月）中，海軍上將大衛(wèi)·法拉革特擊潰了一支邦聯(lián)軍艦隊主力并確保聯(lián)邦對該地區(qū)的控制。人口196,278. Aiken在南卡羅萊納西部. From Newport News紐波特紐斯：美國弗吉尼亞東南的獨立城市，位于詹姆斯河口的漢普頓海峽外側，諾?？宋鞅逼?。1620年有人定居。19世紀80年代由于造船工業(yè)的興起而羸得了經濟上的重要地位。人口170,045. From Marietta瑪利埃塔：美國喬治亞州西北

19、部的一座城市，位于亞特蘭大的西北方，是一個發(fā)展有飛機工業(yè)的居民區(qū)。人口44,129. From Meridian. And the sounds of these places in their mouths make you think of love. When you ask them where they are from, they tilt their heads and say "Mobile" and you think you've been kissed. They say "Aiken" and you see a whit

20、e butterfly glance off 斜飛,掠過；擦過 a fence with a torn wing. They say "Nagadoches" and you want to say "Yes, I will." You don't know what these towns are like, but you love what happens to the air when they open their lips and let the names ease out. 2. Meridian. The sound of it

21、 opens the windows of a room like the first four notes音符：以其形狀并以其在譜表上的位置表示一定間高的符號of a hymn. Few people can say the names of their home towns with such sly Lacking or marked by a lack of candor.虛偽的：缺乏誠實的或表明缺乏誠意的 affection. Perhaps because they don't have home towns, just places where they were bor

22、n. But these girls soak up吸收,吸取；soak【非正式用語】 吸收：精神上的吸收或接受，尤其是急切地或輕易地 the juiceA substance or quality that imparts identity and vitality; essence精髓：賦予特性或增添活力的物質或性質of their home towns, and it never leaves them. They are thin淡的；淺的a thin color淺色brown girls who have looked long at hollyhocks蜀葵：一種原產于中東地區(qū)的（

23、蜀葵 蜀葵屬） 高大植物，因長有大而多色的亮麗花束而被廣泛培植。 in the backyards of Meridian, Mobile, Aiken, and Baton Rouge巴吞魯日：美國路易斯安那州的首府，位于該州的中部偏東南，密西西比河上峭壁的東南中心部。此地有許多著名的南北戰(zhàn)爭前建筑。人口219,531. And like hollyhocks they are narrow, tall, and still. Their roots are deep, their stalks are firm健壯的：表明身體的健康狀態(tài)和健康組織的機能, and only the top

24、blossom nodssway gently back and forth, as is in a nodding motion上下擺動：彎曲上下來回移動或垂下，如在風中的花朵the flowers were nodding in the breeze in the wind. They have the eyes of people who can tell what time it is by the color of the sky. Such girls live in quiet black neighborhoods where everybody is gainfully em

25、ployed. Where there are porch swings 秋千：用繩子吊著的椅子，人可以坐在上面前后擺動作為消遣hanging from chains. Where the grass is cut with a scythe長柄大鐮刀：有一個長長的、彎曲單刃刀片和一個長長的、彎曲柄的鐮刀，用于割草或收割, where rooster combs =cockscomb雞冠花：一種一年生植物（雞冠花 青葙屬），因有艷麗的扇形或羽毛狀紅色或黃色花束而廣泛栽培 and sunflowers grow in the yards, and pots of bleeding heart荷包

26、牡丹：一種多年生荷包牡丹屬 草本植物，尤指東半球 悅目的荷包牡丹， 開鮮艷的粉色到紅色，有時白色的心形花朵，花蔟呈拱形, ivy常春藤：常春藤 屬中的一種木質的、攀援的或拖曳的常綠植物，原產于歐洲，尤指 洋常春藤 ，有掌狀的裂葉、根生的幼莖和傘形花序的綠色小花, and mother-in-law tongue 花葉萬年青l(xiāng)ine the steps and windowsills. Such girls have bought watermelon and snap beans食莢菜豆：一種線狀豆類，因其脆嫩的可食性豆子而種植；四季豆，菜豆 from the fruit man's

27、wagon. They have put in the window the cardboard sign牌，標牌，指示牌；招牌 that has a pound measure計量標準；計量單位printed To write (something) in characters similar to those commonly used in print.書寫：以類似于通常使用的印刷字體的寫（東西）on each of three edges-10 lbs., 25 lbs., 50 lbs.-and no ice on the fourth. These particular brown

28、 girls from Mobile and Aiken are not like some of their sisters. They are not fretfulIf someone is fretful, they behave in a way that shows that they are worried or unhappy about something. 煩躁不安的, nervous, or shrill 喧鬧的，充滿尖叫聲的，以尖叫聲為特色的; 過度的，無節(jié)制的; they do not have lovely black necks that stretch as t

29、hough against an invisible collar衣領; 頸圈，項鏈，項飾; their eyes do not bite. These sugar-brown Mobile girls move through the streets without a stir. They are as sweet and plain as butter cake奶油蛋糕. Slim細長的，修長的，苗條的；纖細的 ankles; long, narrow feet. They wash themselves with orange-colored Lifebuoy soap, dust撒(

30、粉等)；把(粉末等)撒于上面，播撒，噴撒；噴灑themselves with Cashmere Bouquet talc滑石粉;爽身粉亦作 talcum powder, clean their teeth with salt on a piece of rag, soften their skin with Jergens Lotion護膚液. They smell like wood, newspapers, and vanilla 香草，香子蘭：蘭花科中各種各樣香子蘭 屬的美洲熱帶藤本植物中的一種，尤其是扁葉香子蘭，因其可提取調味劑的細長心皮而培育. They straighten the

31、ir hair with Dixie Peach Dixie Peach Hair Pomade(潤發(fā)脂；潤發(fā)油) was a popular pomade in the USA from World War II through the 1960s with teenage boys., and part it on the side. At night they curl it in paper from brown bags棕色食品紙袋, tie a print scarf around their heads, and sleep with hands folded acro

32、ss their stomachs. They do not drink, smoke, or swear, and they still call sex性交，性行為"nookey Nooky= nookie：slang for sexual intercourse【粗俗俚語】性交, 交配,性交時的女性." They sing second soprano女高音聲部in the choir, and although their voices are clear and steady, they are never picked to solo. They are in

33、the second row, white blouses starched漿硬(衣服等), blue skirts almost purple from ironing. 3. They go to land-grant colleges（以開授有關農業(yè)和機械技術課程為條件而)接受政府撥贈土地的學院(或大學), normal schools, and learn how to do the white man's work with refinement: home economics 復數(shù)，用作單數(shù)或復數(shù) 家政學; 家政學指導(或實踐) to prepare his food; t

34、eacher education to instruct black children in obedience; music to soothe the weary master and entertain his blunted Blunt：To make less effective; weaken使遲鈍；使減弱blunting the criticism with a smile用微笑沖淡批評soul. Here they learn the rest of the lesson begun in those soft安穩(wěn)的；舒適的 houses with porch swings a

35、nd pots of bleeding heart: how to behave. The careful development of thrift, patience, high (性格、品質等)高尚的，崇高的，高潔的morals, and good manners. In short, how to get rid of the funkiness “Funkiness” is obviously an important word in our text. It is repeated three times in the next sentence, and the word “fu

36、nk” is capitalized in Para. 4. Yet, it is hard to explain the exact meaning of this term, and even harder to find a single Chinese equivalent for it. “Funky” has several meanings. It is associated with a jazz style having an earthy quality derived from early blues or gospel music. It may mean unconv

37、entional, eccentric, offbeat, etc. It also may mean very emotional, informal, relaxed, casual, etc. Funk is associated with spontaneity and sensuality. A number of Chinese terms may be applied to describe “funky”：自然原始的，樸實的，本性的，感官的，非傳統(tǒng)的，奇特的，無拘束的，非正式的，即興的，隨意的，樸實無華的, 質樸無華的, 膽戰(zhàn)心驚的, 驚恐的；恐慌的; 害怕的; 有惡臭的, 刺

38、鼻的; 有霉臭味的; 感人的（音樂）;古怪的; 時髦的; etc. When asked which words in the English language are the most difficult to define precisely, a lexicographer would surely mention funky. The meaning of funky seems well captured by Geneva Smitherman in Talkin and Testifyin: The Language of Black America, where she sta

39、tes that funky means “related to the blue notes or blue mood created in jazz, blues, and soul music generally, down-to-earth soulfully expressed sounds; by extension related to the real nitty-gritty or fundamental essence of life, soul to the max.”Be that as it may, funky is first recorded in 1784 i

40、n a reference to musty, old, moldy cheese. Funky then developed the sense “smelling strong or bad,” which could be used to describe body odor. But funky was applied to jazz, tooa usage explained in 1959 by one F. Newton in Jazz Scene : “Critics are on the search for something a little more like the

41、old, original, passion-laden blues: the trade-name which has been suggested for it is funky(literally: smelly, i.e. symbolizing the return from the upper atmosphere to the physical, down-to-earth reality).” Funky comes from the earlier noun funk, which meant “a strong smell or stink.” This noun can

42、probably be traced back to the Latin word, “smoke.” 當被問及英語中最難準確定義的是哪些詞時，詞典編纂者肯定會提到funky 這個詞。 Funky 的含義似乎被熱納瓦·史密斯曼在 語言和證明： 美國黑人語言一節(jié)中解釋得很清楚，她認為 funky 指“主要在爵士樂、布魯斯歌曲、靈樂這些發(fā)自靈魂深處的音樂中創(chuàng)造出的音符式的憂郁； 由此延伸為與生命本質精髓有關的，表現(xiàn)美國黑人及其文化特點到極致的?！盕unky 最早可能被記錄于1784年，用于指發(fā)霉的、過期的奶酪。 后來，funky 引申到這層意思“聞起來強烈或有異味的，” 可以用來形容身體

43、的氣味。但funky 也用于指爵士樂方面， 這種用法于1959年在一位名叫F·牛頓的人的書爵士舞臺 中有所解釋： “批評家們正在找一種有些更象原始的、激情洋溢的老布魯斯歌曲一樣的東西：用來表現(xiàn)后的詞就是有氣息的（字面意義：有氣味的，也就是說，從高高在上的格調降回到自然而率直的風格）。” Funky 一詞來自較早出現(xiàn)的名詞funk， 意為“一種刺鼻的氣味或臭味”。 這個詞可能可追溯到拉丁詞fumus， “煙”. The dreadful funkiness of passion, the funkiness of nature, the funkiness of the wide ra

44、nge of human emotions. 4. Wherever it erupts, this Funk, they wipe it away; where it crusts, they dissolve it; wherever it drips, flowers, or clings, they find it and fight it until it dies. They fight this battle all the way to the grave. The laugh that is a little too loud; the enunciation a littl

45、e too round; the gesture a little too generous. They hold their behind in for fear of a sway too free; when they wear lipstick, they never cover the entire mouth for fear of lips too thick, and they worry, worry, worry about the edges of their hair.5. They never seem to have boyfriends, but they alw

46、ays marry. Certain men watch them, without seeming to, and know that if such a girl is in his house, he will sleep on sheets boiledboil用煮沸方法為消毒(或凈化)white, hung out to dry on juniper杜松：任何一種檜 屬的常青喬木或灌木，有針狀或鱗狀的尖葉和氣味芳香、色澤藍灰、形狀象漿果、含種子的球果bushes, and pressed flat with a heavy iron. There will be pretty pap

47、er flowers decorating the picture of his mother, a large Bible in the front room 前屋；尤指起居室. They feel secure. They know their work clothes will be mended, washed, and ironed on Monday, that their Sunday shirts will billow To swell out or bulge膨脹或隆起；鼓起，揚起sheets billowing in the breeze.床單被微風吹開on hanger

48、s from the door jamb 邊框；門側柱；jamb門窗的側柱, stiffly starched 給上漿，使?jié){硬Starch my shirt's collar, please.請把我的襯衣領漿硬。and white. They look at her hands and know what she will do with biscuit dough; they smell the coffee and the fried ham; see the white, smoky grits Grit 美國黑人俚語食物 with a dollop (粘土、奶油等的)一塊, 一

49、團of butter on top. Her hips assure them that she will bear children easily and painlessly. And they are right.6. What they do not know is that this plain brown girl will build her nest stick樹枝，枝條；枯枝by stick, make it her own inviolable world, and stand guard守衛(wèi)，守護 over its every plant, weed, and doily

50、（碗、碟等底下的）小布墊，小紙墊, even against him. In silence will she return the lamp to where she put it in the first place; remove the dishes from the table as soon as the last bite is taken; wipe the doorknob after a greasy hand has touched it. A sidelong指向一邊的；斜向一側的a sidelong glance斜視的一瞥look will be enough to

51、tell him to smoke on the back porch后沿. Children will sense instantly that they cannot come into her yard to retrieve 重獲；收回；找回He retrieved the important letter from the waste paper basket. 他從廢紙簍里找回了那封重要的信。a ball. But the men do not know these things. Nor do they know that she will give him her body s

52、paringly sparing有節(jié)制的，有保留的；謹慎的and partially. He must enter her surreptitiously偷偷地；秘密地；不正當?shù)? lifting the hem (布、窗簾、帷幕、衣服等的)邊、緣，貼邊；擺，下腳；褶邊，褶縫，綴縫 of her nightgown only to her navel. He must rest his weight on his elbows when they make love, ostensibly to avoid hurting her breasts but actually to keep he

53、r from having to touch or feel too much of him. While he moves inside her, she will wonder why they didn't put the necessary but private parts of the body in some more convenient place -like the armpit, for example, or the palm of the hand. Someplace one could get to easily, and quickly, without

54、 undressing. She stiffens when she feels one of her paper curlers卷發(fā)夾coming undone from the activity of love; imprints使銘記于心in her mind which one it is that is coming loose so she can quickly secure把(某物)弄牢固；把扎緊it once he is through. She hopes he will not sweat- the damp may get into her hair; and that

55、 she will remain dry between her legs-she hates the glucking Gluck or glug is the light repetitive gurgling sound of liquid being poured from a bottlesound they make when she is moist. When she senses some spasm about to grip him, she will make rapid movements with her hips, press her fingernails in

56、to his back, suck in her breath, and pretend she is having an orgasm. She might wonder again, for the six hundredth time, what it would be like to have that feeling while her husband's penis is inside her. The closest thing to it was the time she was walking down the street and her napkin衛(wèi)生棉，衛(wèi)生巾

57、slipped free of her sanitary belt月經帶，衛(wèi)生帶. It moved gently between her legs as she walked. Gently, ever so gently. And then a slight and distinctly delicious sensation collected in her crotch (人體)兩腿分叉處，胯部；(樹的)丫叉. As the delight grew, she had to stop in the street, hold her thighs together to contain

58、it. That must be what it is like, she thinks, but it never happens while he is inside her. When he withdraws, she pulls her nightgown down, slips out of the bed and into the bathroom with relief. 7. Occasionally some living thing will engage 吸引或引起(注意、興趣等)；引起的注意(或興趣、好感等)；抓牢her affections. A cat, perh

59、aps, who will love her order 有條理，整齊, precision 嚴謹；刻板; 嚴格；細致, and constancy 堅定不移；恒久不變; who will be as clean and quiet as she is. The cat will settle quietly on the windowsill and caress her with his eyes. She can hold him in her arms, letting his back paws struggle for footing on her breast and his forepaws cling to緊緊抓住 her shoulder. She can rub the smooth fur and feel the unresisting flesh underneath. At her gentlest touch he will preen (鳥)用嘴整理羽毛；(獸)用嘴(或舌)整理皮毛, stre