The Unicorn in the Garden课文翻译

某甲一出门，

他老婆便匆匆穿

衣，起床下地。她 十分兴奋，眼睛里透着得意的神色。她给警察打了

电话，

又给心 理学家打了电话。

她请他们带一件捆精神病人的紧身衣，

到她家 来。

警察和心理学家来了，

坐在椅子里。

他们带着极大的兴趣，

打量着她。她说：

“我老公今早说他见 过独角兽。”警察看了心理学

家一眼。心理学家也看了警察一眼。她又说：

“他还跟我说它吃了棵

百合花。”心理学家又看了警察一眼。警察也又看了心 理学家一眼。

她进一步说：

“他还说在它的脑门中间儿，

还有一只金黄色的角哩。

”

精神心理学家郑重 给警察发了个信号。警察腾地一下从椅子上跳起

来，一把抓住她。她拼命挣扎。他俩费了 半天劲，才最终把她制服。

刚给她穿上紧身衣，某甲就进了门。

3

警察问道：“你告诉你老婆，

说你 见过独角兽吗？”

某甲道：

“当然没有。

独角兽是寓言传闻嘛！

”

心理学家道：“这就是我们要知道的 。

[

对警察说

]

把她带走！

[

对某

甲说

]

先生，真不好意思，你老婆疯了，我们不得不抓她，上精神病

院。”说完就带起她出去，她破口大骂，大声尖叫，他们把她关进了

疯人院。 某甲从此过得十分幸福。

4

寓意 ：

鸡还未从蛋里孵出来就

数数儿，为时过早。

< br>

READER AND PURPOSE

Ex. 1.

The essential elements of narrative are characters and action. Such thins as

setting, symbols, and imagery may be made more, or less, important, but

ultimately a story stands or falls on action and character. his important fact

is illustrated by Thurber's brief, but perhaps not-so-simple fable. Consider

first his treatment of character. Deftly and quickly he creates the hero and

the villain, but he does not hang signs around their necks; he renders his

characters dramatically, that is, in terms of what they say and do. We must

infer what kind of people these are; the author does not tell us explicitly.

1) The wife is plainly despicable. What does she do that makes her so? We

can see it from what she says and does. First she is a lazy woman. When her

husband had had his breakfast she was still asleep. Secondly, she does not

love her husband. When her husband told her that there was a unicorn in the

garden, she opened one unfriendly eye and turned her back to him. When

her husband told her again that the unicorn was eating a lily, she sat up in

bed and looked at him, coldly. She even wanted to have him put in the

booby-hatch. She telephoned the police and a psychiatrist to hurry to her

house and bring a strait-jacket. All she wanted to do was to shut him up in

an institution.

2) Although the husband is the hero in the sense of being the

is no Achilles. Thurber's husbands are not cast in the mold of the reek hero;

they are mild little men -- patient, gentle, long-suffering. Do you think that

Thurber intends us to like this husband?

We do not think that Thurber intends us to like this husband. This is stated

in

being the 'good guy', he is no Achilles. Thurber's husbands are not cast in

the mold of the Greek hero; they are mild little men-patient, gentle,

long-suffering

sympathy and pity.

3) Thurber's mild little men, however, often reveal another trait: they will be

pushed just so far and then they turn upon their domineering wives and get

even. At what point does this husband begin to turn?

When the husband told his wife again that the unicorn was eating a lily, she

sat up in bed and looked at him, coldly.

am going to have you put in the booby-hatch.

began to turn, which is clarified by his reply to her,

about that.

Ex. 2.

1) Why do you suppose it is a unicorn that the man sees instead of, say, a

pink elephant?

Pink elephants refer to various hallucinations arising especially from heavy

drinking or use of narcotics. The man is neither drinking heavily nor using

narcotics, therefore, a pink elephant is impossible. In fact, we can see that

the man was having his scrambled eggs which had the white color of

albumen and the yellow color of yolk which coincide with the colors of the

unicorn - a white unicorn with a gold horn.

2) Are we supposed to accept the unicorn of the story as real?

We are not supposed to accept the unicorn of the story as real, since it is a

mythical beast, and we also know that the story is a fable.

3) It is clear that the wife, the police, and the psychiatrist do not. But has

Thurber given us any reason to doubt that the unicorn the man sees is a real

unicorn in a real garden, really browsing among the tulips and eating a lily?

(Read the opening sentence carerully if you are unsure about how to answer

this question.)

Thurber has given us reasons to doubt that the unicorn the man sees is a real

unicorn in a real garden, really browsing among the tulips and eating a lily.

The first sentence indicates that the unicorn is the man's vision or his

imagination based on his scrambled eggs as illustrated above.

Ex. 3.

1) Assuming that he intends us to generalize from his couple, what is

Thurber suggesting about marriage?

Thurber is suggesting that wife and husband should love each other, trust

each other, help each other. Otherwise marriage will lose its significance

and become a bitter nut.

2) He is poking fun at other things than lazy, vindictive wives. Do the

psychiatrist and the police arouse our admiration?

No, the psychiatrist and the police do not arouse our admiration. They

subdued the wife only by a misunderstanding.

3) Are they any less liter al-minded than the wife?

Yes, they are. They are as less literal-minded than the wife. The wife should

have thought that when she told the police and the psychiatrist to hurry to

her home to arrest her husband, they would think that she was crazy, since

the unicorn was a mystical beast; the police and the psychiatrist should have

thought that what the wife said was just what her husband had told her. The

wife was subdued because of her own foolishness and the police and the

psychiatrist subdued her because of their own selfwillfulness.

Ex. 4.

The

less easy to distinguish than many people suppose. Has a rough sort of

justice prevailed in this story- has the right booby been hatched?

Yes. The right booby hatched in this story is the wife. She was going to have

her husband put in the booby- hatch, but the re verse happened and she

herself was put there. At this point, we could say, that a rough sort of justice

has prevailed in this story.

Ex. 5.

There is more to the theme of

contained in its closing moral. in your own words discuss everything you

think this story implies about men and women and the values by which they

live.

The readers may discuss it as freely as they can.

ORGANIZATION

Ex. 6.

1) In the first paragraph the dramatic focus is upon which character? Does

the focus shift in the second paragraph?

In the first paragraph the dramatic focus is upon the man.

2) If you think that it does, has Thurber provided an adequate transition?

Yes, it does. The focus shifts in the second paragraph to the woman.

Thurber has provided an adequate transition at the beginning of the second

paragraph,

up and dressed as fast as she could.

Ex. 7.