英文短篇小说欣赏- 理发

Haircut

Ring Lardner

理发

通过讲述恶作剧者吉姆被他经常做弄的对象——傻瓜保尔打死的故事,小说《理发》不仅仅向读者阐明善恶终有报的道理,更引起读者对自己、对自己身边的人与事、对现实社会的深深思考。拉德纳的声音是与众不同的,它摒去你周围的喧嚣,让你听到他那有个性的话语,他讲述着我们最熟悉的故事,而他的说话方式又是如此坦诚与直接。尤为突出的是拉德纳的克制:他创造的人物如此平易近人,接近生活,在显得可笑时,也不会忘了提醒我们在笑他们时也是在笑我们自己。

林•拉德纳(Ring Lardner，1885-1933年)，美国体育新闻记者，幽默作家。为拉德纳赢得文学声誉的主要是他的短篇小说，他总共创作了130篇左右，刻画了众 多逼真的美国生活场景及人物肖像。他的这些短篇小说获得了英美文学界中如F.S.费茨杰拉德、H.L.门肯、埃德蒙•威尔逊、弗吉尼亚•伍尔夫、V.S. 普里切特等人的激赏，被称为是乔纳森•斯威夫特以来下笔最一针见血的讽刺作家，也被认为是美国文学史上马克•吐温之后最优秀的幽默作家。

I got another barber that comes over from Carterville and helps me out Saturdays, but the rest of the time I can get along all right alone. You can see for yourself that this ain’t no New York: City and besides that, the most of the boys works all day and don’t have no leisure to drop in here and get themselves prettied up.

You’re a newcomer, ain’t you? I thought I hadn’t seen you round before. I hope you like it good enough to stay. As I say, we ain’t no New York City or Chicago, but we have pretty good times. Not as good, though, since Jim Kendall got killed. When he was alive, him and Hod Meyers used to keep this town in an uproar. I bet they was more laughin’ done here than any town its size in America.

Jim was comical, and Hod was pretty near a match for him. Since Jim’s gone, Hod tries to hold his end up just the same as ever, but it’s tough goin’ when you ain’t got nobody to kind of work with.

They used to be plenty fun in here Saturdays. This place is jampacked Saturdays, from four o’clock on. Jim and Hod would show up right after their supper round six o’clock. Jim would set himself down in that big chair, nearest the blue spittoon. Whoever had been settin’ in that chair, why they’d get up when Jim come in and at" it to him.

You’d of thought it was a reserved seat like they have sometimes in a theaytre. Hod would generally always stand or walk up and down or some Saturdays, of course, he’d be settin’ in this chair part of the time, gettin’ a haircut.

Well, Jim would set there a w’ile without opening his mouth only to spit, and then finally he’d say to me, "Whitey,"--my right name, that is, my right first name, is Dick, but everybody round here calls me Whitey--Jim would say, "Whitey, your nose looks like a rosebud tonight. You must of been drinkin’ some of your aw de cologne."

So I’d say, "No, Jim, but you look like you’d been drinkin’ something of that kind or somethin’ worse."

Jim would have to laugh at that, but then he’d speak up and say, "No, I ain’t had nothin’ to drink, but that ain’t sayin’ I wouldn’t like somethin’. I wouldn’t even mind if it was wood alcohol."

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