萨基,英国最杰出的短篇小说家之一。他的作品多以20世纪初英国上层社会和中产阶级有闲无聊人的生活为题材,讽刺他们的浅薄、庸俗、势利和装腔作势。这群人中大多数游手好闲、穷极无聊,用宴乐、清谈、吹牛、养病、争风吃醋、无事生非来填补生活的空虚。
帕克尔泰德太太打虎 终结篇
“What do you mean?” asked Mrs. Packletide quickly.
“How you shot the goat and frightened the tiger to death,” said Miss Mebbin, with her disagreeably pleasant laugh.
“No one would believe it,” said Mrs. Packletide, her face changing colour as rapidly as though it were going through a book of patterns before post-time.
“Loona Bimberton would,” said Miss Mebbin. Mrs. Packletide’s face settled on an unbecoming shade of greenish white.
“You surely wouldn’t give me away?” she asked.
“I’ve seen a week-end cottage near Dorking that I should rather like to buy,” said Miss Mebbin with seeming irrelevance. “Six hundred and eighty, freehold. Quite a bargain, only I don’t happen to have the money.”
Louisa Mebbin’s pretty week-end cottage, christened by her “Les Fauves,” and gay in summertime with its garden borders of tiger-lilies, is the wonder and admiration of her friends.
“It is a marvel how Louisa manages to do it,” is the general verdict.
Mrs. Packletide indulges in no more big-game shooting.
“The incidental expenses are so heavy,” she confides to inquiring friends.
这篇小说总得来说,篇幅随短,但难度大于上一篇,断断续续的终于坚持下来翻译完了。
这篇小说给我的感悟就是:我们活着的目的不是为了和他人攀比,活出自己的样子才是最重要的。这样也不会让有的小人有机可图。