Lesson9TheBluestEye

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个性内向的：人的特征为兴趣或是盘据脑海的只有自己或是自己的想法；害羞或是排斥; 含蓄的; 内倾的；不爱交际的; introvert vt.使(思想)内向; 使内省extroverted外倾的：对其他的人或环境如与自身相反的或之外的事物感兴趣的；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毁损；残缺；切断; mutilate毁伤；使残废Her arm was mutilated in the accident.她的胳膊在车

4、祸中受了重伤。The pilot was mutilated in the plane crash and now has only one leg."飞行员在飞机失事事故中残废了,现在只剩下了一条腿。" 破坏；把删改得支离破碎You've mutilated the story by making such big changes.你作了这么大的改变，把故事弄得支离破碎了。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察觉；理解；发觉; 把看作；认为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. 你生日时我一定送你一份礼物。, 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 疯狂的；胡乱的; 非常激动的; 狂妄的；不切实际的；异想天开的；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）陷入某一状态 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 接受政府赠地的学院(或大学); land grant政府赠予地：政府准予把公共用地用来建铁路、公路或州立大学, learn how to do the white mans work with refinement (感情、趣味、举止、言谈等的)优雅，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、气质), and project 把(自己的感情、思想等)投射给他人Don't project your guilt feelings onto me!别把你自己内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使作牺牲；使受害，使受苦this helpless black girl, is also a victim herselfa victim of racial prejudice that has penetrated into 进入；(思想、感情等)深入于Thes

15、e new ideas are penetrating into the minds of the younger generation.这些新思想正在渗透到年轻一代人的头脑里。 the minds of black people like her and warped使(性格等)不正常；使乖戾；使有偏见Years of living alone may warp one's personality.长期的孤身生活会使人的性格变得乖戾。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，使内心不平静的. 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. 显著的; 不同寻常的; 突出的, 鲜明的, 引人注目的; 给人深刻印象的prose all contribute to Morrisons effective exploration of complex themes through telling simple stories. Text1. They come from Mobile墨比尔：亚拉巴马州西南的一座城市，在长约61

18、公里(38英里）的墨比尔河 口处，位于墨西哥湾的一个海湾 墨尔比湾 的北海岸。约设立于1710年，该市在1813年为美国军队夺取前曾被法、英和西班牙拥有。在墨比尔湾战役(1864年8月）中，海军上将大卫·法拉革特击溃了一支邦联军舰队主力并确保联邦对该地区的控制。人口196,278. Aiken在南卡罗莱纳西部. From Newport News纽波特纽斯：美国弗吉尼亚东南的独立城市，位于詹姆斯河口的汉普顿海峡外侧，诺福克西北偏北。1620年有人定居。19世纪80年代由于造船工业的兴起而羸得了经济上的重要地位。人口170,045. From Marietta玛利埃塔：美国乔治亚州西北

19、部的一座城市，位于亚特兰大的西北方，是一个发展有飞机工业的居民区。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 斜飞,掠过；擦过 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：以其形状并以其在谱表上的位置表示一定间高的符号of a hymn. Few people can say the names of their home towns with such sly Lacking or marked by a lack of candor.虚伪的：缺乏诚实的或表明缺乏诚意的 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【非正式用语】 吸收：精神上的吸收或接受，尤其是急切地或轻易地 the juiceA substance or quality that imparts identity and vitality; essence精髓：赋予特性或增添活力的物质或性质of their home towns, and it never leaves them. They are thin淡的；浅的a thin color浅色brown girls who have looked long at hollyhocks蜀葵：一种原产于中东地区的（

23、蜀葵 蜀葵属） 高大植物，因长有大而多色的亮丽花束而被广泛培植。 in the backyards of Meridian, Mobile, Aiken, and Baton Rouge巴吞鲁日：美国路易斯安那州的首府，位于该州的中部偏东南，密西西比河上峭壁的东南中心部。此地有许多著名的南北战争前建筑。人口219,531. And like hollyhocks they are narrow, tall, and still. Their roots are deep, their stalks are firm健壮的：表明身体的健康状态和健康组织的机能, and only the top

24、blossom nodssway gently back and forth, as is in a nodding motion上下摆动：弯曲上下来回移动或垂下，如在风中的花朵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：用绳子吊着的椅子，人可以坐在上面前后摆动作为消遣hanging from chains. Where the grass is cut with a scythe长柄大镰刀：有一个长长的、弯曲单刃刀片和一个长长的、弯曲柄的镰刀，用于割草或收割, where rooster combs =cockscomb鸡冠花：一种一年生植物（鸡冠花 青葙属），因有艳丽的扇形或羽毛状红色或黄色花束而广泛栽培 and sunflowers grow in the yards, and pots of bleeding heart荷包

26、牡丹：一种多年生荷包牡丹属 草本植物，尤指东半球 悦目的荷包牡丹， 开鲜艳的粉色到红色，有时白色的心形花朵，花蔟呈拱形, ivy常春藤：常春藤 属中的一种木质的、攀援的或拖曳的常绿植物，原产于欧洲，尤指 洋常春藤 ，有掌状的裂叶、根生的幼茎和伞形花序的绿色小花, and mother-in-law tongue 花叶万年青line the steps and windowsills. Such girls have bought watermelon and snap beans食荚菜豆：一种线状豆类，因其脆嫩的可食性豆子而种植；四季豆，菜豆 from the fruit man's

27、wagon. They have put in the window the cardboard sign牌，标牌，指示牌；招牌 that has a pound measure计量标准；计量单位printed To write (something) in characters similar to those commonly used in print.书写：以类似于通常使用的印刷字体的写（东西）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. 烦躁不安的, nervous, or shrill 喧闹的，充满尖叫声的，以尖叫声为特色的; 过度的，无节制的; they do not have lovely black necks that stretch as t

29、hough against an invisible collar衣领; 颈圈，项链，项饰; 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细长的，修长的，苗条的；纤细的 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，喷撒；喷洒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护肤液. They smell like wood, newspapers, and vanilla 香草，香子兰：兰花科中各种各样香子兰 属的美洲热带藤本植物中的一种，尤其是扁叶香子兰，因其可提取调味剂的细长心皮而培育. They straighten the

31、ir hair with Dixie Peach Dixie Peach Hair Pomade(润发脂；润发油) 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棕色食品纸袋, 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，性行为"nookey Nooky= nookie：slang for sexual intercourse【粗俗俚语】性交, 交配,性交时的女性." They sing second soprano女高音声部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浆硬(衣服等), blue skirts almost purple from ironing. 3. They go to land-grant colleges（以开授有关农业和机械技术课程为条件而)接受政府拨赠土地的学院(或大学), normal schools, and learn how to do the white man's work with refinement: home economics 复数，用作单数或复数 家政学; 家政学指导(或实践) 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使迟钝；使减弱blunting the criticism with a smile用微笑冲淡批评soul. Here they learn the rest of the lesson begun in those soft安稳的；舒适的 houses with porch swings a

35、nd pots of bleeding heart: how to behave. The careful development of thrift, patience, high (性格、品质等)高尚的，崇高的，高洁的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，朴实的，本性的，感官的，非传统的，奇特的，无拘束的，非正式的，即兴的，随意的，朴实无华的, 质朴无华的, 胆战心惊的, 惊恐的；恐慌的; 害怕的; 有恶臭的, 刺

38、鼻的; 有霉臭味的; 感人的（音乐）;古怪的; 时髦的; 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.” 当被问及英语中最难准确定义的是哪些词时，词典编纂者肯定会提到funky 这个词。 Funky 的含义似乎被热纳瓦·史密斯曼在 语言和证明： 美国黑人语言一节中解释得很清楚，她认为 funky 指“主要在爵士乐、布鲁斯歌曲、灵乐这些发自灵魂深处的音乐中创造出的音符式的忧郁； 由此延伸为与生命本质精髓有关的，表现美国黑人及其文化特点到极致的。”Funky 最早可能被记录于1784年，用于指发霉的、过期的奶酪。 后来，funky 引申到这层意思“闻起来强烈或有异味的，” 可以用来形容身体

43、的气味。但funky 也用于指爵士乐方面， 这种用法于1959年在一位名叫F·牛顿的人的书爵士舞台 中有所解释： “批评家们正在找一种有些更象原始的、激情洋溢的老布鲁斯歌曲一样的东西：用来表现后的词就是有气息的（字面意义：有气味的，也就是说，从高高在上的格调降回到自然而率直的风格）。” Funky 一词来自较早出现的名词funk， 意为“一种刺鼻的气味或臭味”。 这个词可能可追溯到拉丁词fumus， “烟”. 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用煮沸方法为消毒(或净化)white, hung out to dry on juniper杜松：任何一种桧 属的常青乔木或灌木，有针状或鳞状的尖叶和气味芳香、色泽蓝灰、形状象浆果、含种子的球果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膨胀或隆起；鼓起，扬起sheets billowing in the breeze.床单被微风吹开on hanger

48、s from the door jamb 边框；门侧柱；jamb门窗的侧柱, stiffly starched 给上浆，使浆硬Starch my shirt's collar, please.请把我的衬衣领浆硬。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 美国黑人俚语食物 with a dollop (粘土、奶油等的)一块, 一

49、团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树枝，枝条；枯枝by stick, make it her own inviolable world, and stand guard守卫，守护 over its every plant, weed, and doily

50、（碗、碟等底下的）小布垫，小纸垫, 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指向一边的；斜向一侧的a sidelong glance斜视的一瞥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 重获；收回；找回He retrieved the important letter from the waste paper basket. 他从废纸篓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有节制的，有保留的；谨慎的and partially. He must enter her surreptitiously偷偷地；秘密地；不正当地, lifting the hem (布、窗帘、帷幕、衣服等的)边、缘，贴边；摆，下脚；褶边，褶缝，缀缝 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卷发夹coming undone from the activity of love; imprints使铭记于心in her mind which one it is that is coming loose so she can quickly secure把(某物)弄牢固；把扎紧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卫生棉，卫生巾

57、slipped free of her sanitary belt月经带，卫生带. 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 (人体)两腿分叉处，胯部；(树的)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、兴趣等)；引起的注意(或兴趣、好感等)；抓牢her affections. A cat, perh

59、aps, who will love her order 有条理，整齐, precision 严谨；刻板; 严格；细致, and constancy 坚定不移；恒久不变; 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紧紧抓住 her shoulder. She can rub the smooth fur and feel the unresisting flesh underneath. At her gentlest touch he will preen (鸟)用嘴整理羽毛；(兽)用嘴(或舌)整理皮毛, stre