Day 11
Tues. Sept. 27
Workshop: metaphor
Homework:
➤ Talk to me about your final project
If you haven’t contacted me yet about your final project, please message me and tell me what you have in mind. Before the end of the week I want everybody to finalize: a) groupings (if you’re working in a group); b) specifically what text you’ll be working on.
➤ Due next class: Translate a paragraph from Eileen Chang or E. B. White
If you are a CSL-track student, please translate this paragraph from Eileen Chang’s essay 《公寓生活记趣》. (Click here to see the paragraph in its original context.)
自从煤贵了之后，热水汀早成了纯粹的装饰品。构成浴室的图案美，热水龙头上的H字样自然是不可少的一部份，实际上呢，如果你放冷水而开错了热水龙头，立刻便有一种空洞而凄怆的轰隆轰隆之声从九泉之下发出来，那是公寓里特别复杂，特别多心的热水管系统在那里发脾气了。即使你不去太岁头上动土，那雷神也随时地要显灵。无缘无故，只听见不怀好意的“嗡……”拉长了半晌之后接着“訇訇” 两声，活像飞机在顶上盘旋了一会，掷了两枚炸弹。在战时香港吓细了胆子的我，初回上海的时候，每每为之魂飞魄散。若是当初它认真工作的时候，艰辛地将热水运到六层楼上来，便是咕噜两声，也还情有可原。现在可是雷声大，雨点小，难得滴下两滴生锈的黄浆……然而也说不得了，失业的人向来是肝火旺的。
If you are an EAP-track student, please translate this paragraph from E. B. White’s essay “Here is New York.” (Click here to see the paragraph in its original context—and to see helpful annotations explaining some of the details!)
Another hot night I stop off at the Goldman Band concert in the Mall in Central Park. The people seated on the benches fanned out in front of the band shell are attentive, appreciative. In the trees the night wind stirs, bring ing the leaves to life, endowing them with speech; the electric lights illuminate the green branches from the underside, translating them into a new language. Overhead a plane passes dreamily, its running lights winking. On the bench directly in front of me, a boy sits with his arm around his girl; they are proud of each other and are swathed in music. The cornetist steps forward for a solo, begins, “Drink to me only with thine eyes…” In the wide, warm night the horn is startlingly pure and magical. Then from the North River another horn solo begins—the Queen Mary announcing her intentions. She is not on key; she is a half tone off. The trumpeter in the bandstand never flinches. The horns quarrel savagely, but no one minds having the intimation of travel injected into the pledge of love. “I leave,’ sobs Mary. “And I will pledge with mine,” sighs the trumpeter. Along the asphalt paths strollers pass to and fro; they behave considerately, respecting the musical atmosphere. Popsicles are moving well. In the warm grass beyond the fence, forms wriggle in the shadows, and the skirts of the girls approaching on the Mall are ballooned by the breeze, and their bare shoulders catch the lamplight. “Drink to me only with thine eyes.” It is a magical occasion, and it's all free.
I would suggest that you consult a native-level speaker of your source language (English for EAP-track students, Chinese for CSL-track students) to understand the nuances of the text and answer any questions you might have about it. You may talk to anyone you wish, but I’ve come up with these recommended groups in the interest of diversifying who you’ve worked with and not having all Chinese students consult a single international student, or vice-versa:
Isaiah, Tianhui, Zoey
Zack, Shutong, Minara
Jason, Simon, Chenzhao
Jonathan, Hester, Yuzhe
Upload your translation in a Word document to SharePoint, to the folder called “12-E.B. White and Eileen Chang excerpts.”
