David Copperfield （《大卫.科波菲尔》）读书笔记

早段时间我听了 David Copperfield 的有声书，播讲者 Nicholas Boulton 演绎得特别好，让各个人物角色都呈现鲜明的特点。而且，他把书中抒发感慨的地方读得深情感人，让听众融入到作品的情绪之中。感谢 Nicholas Boulton 的朗读，让我用心体会 Charles Dickens （狄更斯）作品的精彩。读到狄更斯的作品，我忽然有一种相见恨晚的感觉，很喜欢狄更斯描写的细致入微、抒情时善用排比。我摘抄一些片段，与您一起欣赏学习。

我尤其钟爱这本书的前半部分，写 David Copperfield 童年时。特别是那些儿童特有的视角和想象力，天真、无邪、有趣，我读到的时候很好奇狄更斯是如何想到这些描述的。

1.David 回忆他的保姆 Peggotty 时，写了她红红的皮肤，然后就想象，她皮肤比苹果都要红，爱啄苹果的鸟儿为啥不啄她呢？

The first objects that assume a distinct presence before me, as I look far back, into the blank of my infancy, are my mother with her pretty hair and youthful shape, and Peggotty, with no shape at all, and eyes so dark that they seemed to darken their whole neighbourhood in her face, and cheeks and arms so hard and red that I wondered the birds didn’t peck her in preference to apples.

2.小 David 跟着 Peggotty 去她哥哥家做客。他们是坐马车去的，这一段对于马儿的描写实在是太有趣了，我感觉这真的是儿童才会有的奇妙想象力。小 David 说马儿好像在偷懒，就想让目的地的人们等着，而且，这马儿好像为自己的想法而得意地轻声笑呢，估计 David 把这个天真的想法告诉车夫了，结果车夫告诉他，马儿只是在咳嗽呢（孩子，你想多了...）。

THE CARRIER’S horse was the laziest horse in the world, I should hope, and shuffled along, with his head down, as if he liked to keep people waiting to whom the packages were directed. I fancied, indeed, that he sometimes chuckled audibly over this reflection, but the carrier said he was only troubled with a cough.

3.他们到达海边 Peggotty 哥哥 Mr. Peggott 家。Mr. Peggott 是一个渔夫，回家后热情地同 David 打招呼，然后说要出去用热水洗一下脸，因为凉水洗不掉污渍。不一会儿，他回来了，脸是干净了，但也洗得通红，这让小 David 联想到了虾、蟹等海鲜，进热水时是黑的，出来（煮熟时）却是通红的。

Having done the honours of his house in this hospitable manner, Mr. Peggotty went out to wash himself in a kettleful of hot water, remarking that ‘cold would never get his muck off.’ He soon returned, greatly improved in appearance; but so rubicund, that I couldn’t help thinking his face had this in common with the lobsters, crabs, and crawfish—that it went into the hot water very black and came out very red.

4.书的开篇提到，David 是遗腹子，他的父亲在他出生前就去世了。几年后， David 的母亲嫁给了 Mr. Murdstone。Mr. Murdstone 和他妹妹住进来，对 David 并不好。比如这里背课文学习就是这样，他们很严厉，吓得小 David 更背不出来，本来记住一点，见到他们也全都忘了。这里就用了一个生动形象的描写，这些课文内容快速溜走，还不是一个词一个词或是一行行，而是一整页一整页地从他的脑子里溜走，就像穿上了溜冰鞋一样。

I felt the words of my lessons slipping off, not one by one, or line by line, but by the entire page; I tried to lay hold of them; but they seemed, if I may so express it, to have put skates on, and to skim away from me with a smoothness there was no checking.

书中有两次分别的情景也让我印象深刻。这两次分别之后不久，David 的生活都发生了重大变化。在分别时，他的母亲知道或者说有预感，而小 David 对此一无所知。一次是小 David 跟着 Peggotty 去她哥哥家做客，他不知道的是，他的母亲即将要和 Mr.Murdstone 结婚。另一次是小 David 学校的假期结束，他要返校了，此时，他的母亲身体不好。可能她自己预感到时日无多，而天真的小 David 并没多想。

1.小 David 跟着 Peggotty 去她哥哥家做客，出发前他和母亲的分别。

It touches me nearly now, although I tell it lightly, to recollect how eager I was to leave my happy home; to think how little I suspected what I did leave for ever.

现在回想起来，David 才想到当初的自己一无所知，小孩子只是急切地想出去玩，却不知道自己将要离开或者说是失去什么。

I am glad to recollect that when the carrier’s cart was at the gate, and my mother stood there kissing me, a grateful fondness for her and for the old place I had never turned my back upon before, made me cry. I am glad to know that my mother cried too, and that I felt her heart beat against mine.I am glad to recollect that when the carrier began to move, my mother ran out at the gate, and called to him to stop, that she might kiss me once more. I am glad to dwell upon the earnestness and love with which she lifted up her face to mine, and did so.

David 的母亲没有告诉 David 即将发生的变化，只是将感情融入到深情的吻、依依惜别之中。

2.小 David 假期结束，返校前和母亲的分别。

I kissed her, and my baby brother, and was very sorry then; but not sorry to go away, for the gulf between us was there, and the parting was there, every day. And it is not so much the embrace she gave me, that lives in my mind, though it was as fervent as could be, as what followed the embrace.

David 与母亲、弟弟告别，心中虽有不舍，但是同时他也知道 Murdstone 兄妹容不下他，他们让他和母亲之间也有了距离。

I was in the carrier’s cart when I heard her calling to me. I looked out, and she stood at the garden-gate alone, holding her baby up in her arms for me to see. It was cold still weather; and not a hair on her head, nor a fold of her dress, was stirred, as she looked intently at me, holding up her child.So I lost her. So I saw her afterwards, in my sleep at school—a silent presence near my bed—looking at me with the same intent face—holding up her baby in her arms.

我读到这两段时很心酸。这描写的是一个母亲和孩子分别的场景，母亲想让 David 记住她和他弟弟的样子，一直在门口高高抱起婴儿，让 David 回过头能看到。紧接着的一句 So I lost her. 更是让人落泪，以后 David 只能在梦里见到她。这一段也让我回想起文学作品和生活中常见的一个场景：在外工作的孩子回乡看父母，要回去时，母亲也是这样一路送到路口。孩子都走出很远了，一回头，还能看到老母亲微微佝偻的身影在远处看着，见到孩子回头，又挥挥手。