名人軼事

【1】向肖伯納求婚
1．Marriage Proposal to Bernard Shaw
Once a beautiful and dissolute British actress wrote to propose marriage to Bernard Shaw． She said she did not mindBernard Shaw's old age and ugliness because he was a genius． And if they could combine the beauty of the woman with the talents of the great man，that would be greatly harmonious． 「With your wisdom and my appearance，our children must be perfect．」
Bernard Shaw answered，in a letter，that her imagination wassplendid，「But，what if the children take my appearance and yourwisdom？」
1．向肖伯納求婚
英國有位美貌風流的女演員，曾寫信向肖伯納求婚。她說，因為他是個天才，她不嫌肖伯納年邁醜陋。假如能使女郎的美貌和超人的天才結合，那該是多麼協調啊。「咱們的後代有你的智慧和我的美貌，那一定是十全十美了。」
肖伯納給她回了一封信說，她的想象很是美妙，「可是，假如生下的孩子外貌象我，而智慧又象你，那又該怎麼辦呢？」

『名人軼事【2】鬧飢荒的原因』
2．The Reason of the  Famine
In one dinner party，a capitalist eyed bony Bernard Shawup and down regretfully， and said in all seriousness，「Look atyour appearance，it really makes people believe that all the Britishare starving．」
Bernard Shaw，examining the potbellied capitalist，said，「But，I know as soon as I saw you the reason why Britain is suf－fering from famine．」
2．鬧飢荒的原因
在一次宴會上，一個資本家用遺憾的目光上下打量著瘦骨嶙峋的肖伯納，一本正經地說：「看看你的模樣，真叫人以為英國人都在挨餓。」
肖伯納審視著大腹便便的資本家說：「但是，我一見到你，就知道英國正在鬧飢荒的原因了。」

『名人軼事【3】開頭寫得差是好事』
3．Good to Write Poorly at the Beginning
Once Chekhov met a young writer．The moment he sawChekhov，the writer said，in great distress，that when he beganwriting，he could not write well no matter how hard he tried．His of writing often went against the expression of his ideas，and he was in deep agony for his clumsiness and his situation．On hearing it，Chekhov，instead of giving slightest comfort，saidsurprisingly，What are you talking about？It is good to writepoorly at the beginning．」
The young writer was astounded after hearing that，and wasat a loss what to do．Chekhov continued，「Of course it's good．You see，if a new writer could write fluently overnight， then hewas over，and he would have no great future in writing．」
3．開頭寫得差是好事
有一次，契訶夫遇到一個青年作家，這個作家一看到契訶夫，便苦惱地說，自己開始寫作時，無論如何也寫不好，文筆和思想的表達常常相悖，他深為自己的笨拙與自己的處境感到痛苦。契訶夫聽后，非但沒有給予絲毫的安慰，反而吃驚地說：「您都說了些什麼呀！開頭寫得差，這是好事么！」
青年作家聽后，大為驚訝，不知該如何是好。契訶夫接著說：「當然是好事了。您得明白，如果初拿筆的作家一下子就寫得順順噹噹，那麼他就完了，他在寫作上是沒有什麼前途的。」

名人軼事【4】一場累人的鬥爭』
4．An Exhausting Struggle
Balzac once said artistic creation was 「an exhausting strug-gle」．He believed that only by tenacious work and fearing not of difficulties could you show your talent．It was just likethe soldiers charging the fortress，not relaxing your effort foreven a moment．
Once Balzac wrote for hours on end， he was so tired that hecould not hold out any longer．He ran to a friend's home andplunged headlong on the sofa．He wanted to sleep，but he told hisfriend he must be woken up within an hour．His friend，seeinghim so tired，did not wake him up on time．After he woke up，Balzac got very angry at his friend．Fortunately his friend had anintimate understanding of him and did not quarrel with him．
Balzac did not smoke cigarettes，nor did he drink any alco－hol． But he got one habit：while he was writing he always drankvery strong coffee that could almost anaesthetize his stomach．Hedidn't add milk，nor did he add sugar in his coffee．It would notsatisfy him until it was made bitter．People generally did not liketo drink such bitter coffee．That had strange stimulus effect tohim，and could help him drive the sleepiness away，according tohimself．
4．一場累人的鬥爭
巴爾扎克說過，藝術創造是「一場累人的鬥爭」。他認為，只有頑強地工作，不怕困難，才能把自己的才華表現出來。這就好象向堡壘衝擊的戰士，一刻也不能鬆勁。
有一次，巴爾扎克一連寫了好幾個小時，累得實在支持不住了，跑到一個朋友家裡，一頭倒在沙發上。他想睡一覺，但他告訴朋友，一定要在一小時之內叫醒他。他的朋友見他非常疲勞，就沒有按時叫醒他。他醒來后，對朋友大發脾氣。幸好他的朋友很了解他，沒有和他爭吵。
巴爾扎克既不抽煙，也不喝酒。但他有個習慣：當他寫作的時候，總是呷著幾乎可以使胃麻痹的濃咖啡。他的咖啡里既不加牛奶，也不加糖，要熬得發苦才滿意。象這樣苦的咖啡，一般人都不願意喝。據他自己說，這樣對他有奇異的刺激作用，可以驅走睡魔。

『名人軼事【5】巴爾扎克的幻覺』
5．Hallucination of Balzac
As soon as he took the pen to start writing，Balzac seemed tohave been possessed so much so that he often had hallucinationsof what he wrote．
Once a friend went to Balzac's home．He knocked the door，and heard Balzac was having a heated argument with someone：「You ruffian， I'll teach you a lesson！」The friend opened the door hurriedly only to find that there was only Balzac in theroom．It turned out that Balzac was bitterly attacking the base conduct of the character that he was exposing in his work．
One day，another friend went to visit him．Suddenly，Balzaccame in front of him and denounced him excitedly，「You，youmake that girl kill herself！」His friend was greatly shocked．Itturned out that the girl mentioned by Balzac was the figure of oneof his novels．
5．巴爾扎克的幻覺
巴爾扎克一拿起筆來寫作，就象著了魔似的，常常對他要寫的東西達到產生幻覺的地步。
有一次，一個朋友到巴爾扎克的家去。他敲了敲門，聽見巴爾扎克好像正在和什麼人激烈地爭吵：「你這個惡棍，我要給你點顏色瞧瞧！」這個朋友急忙推門進去，看見屋裡只有巴爾扎克一個人。原來巴爾扎克在痛罵作品中一個他正在揭露的人物的卑劣行為。
一天，另一個朋友去看望他。突然，巴爾扎克走到他面前，激動地痛斥說：「你，你，使這個不幸的少女自殺的就是你！」他的朋友大吃一驚。原來，巴爾扎克所說的少女是他正在寫的一部小說中的人物。

名人軼事【6】虧損？贏利？』
6．Lose？Gain ？
In his diary entry of August 2，1882，Lewis Carroll （author and publisher）estimated that even if he sold the entire 2,000―copy first printing of Alice in Wonderland he would lose￡200．By selling another 2,000 copies，he would make ￡200．If he sold additional copies，he would then realize a bigger gain， but 「that I can hardly hope for．」Before his death，in 1898，about 180,000 copies had been sold．
6．虧損？贏利？
劉易斯

名人軼事【7】親身體驗現實細節』
7．Experiencing Realistic Details
Novelists sometimes go to great lengths in personally expe－riencing realistic details to enhance the immediacy in their art．Frederick Forsyth（American novelist）may have topped them all．When his novel The Dogs of War appeared in ，few readersknew that this tale of a group of mercenaries who had overthrownan African government was based on Forsyth's own attempt to dojust that―to overthrow，with the help of thirteen men，thegovernment of Equatorial Guinea by kidnapping its president，Francisco Macias Nguema，in ，an attempt on which Forsythhad spent ＄00,000．But unlike his fictional mercenary，CatShannon，in the mythical country of Zangaro―Forsyth failed inEquatorial Guinea when a Spanish co-conspirator did not comethrough with the ammunition． All of Forsyth's books―whichinclude The Day of the Jackal（about an attempt to kill DeGaulle）and The ODESSA File（on S．S ．leaders still at large）―are so meticulously researched that they often read like how-to- manuals rather than novels．His U．S．publishers，the Viking Press and Bantam Books，could not have been too surprised tolearn of Forsyth's Equatorial Guinea caper when the London Timesand the New York Times broke the news in.
7．親身體驗現實細節
小說家們有時候不遺餘力地去親身體驗現實細節以加強其藝術作品中的感染力。弗雷德里克

名人軼事【8】歐文筆下的聖

『名人軼事【9】不同尋常的迴音』
9．Unusual Echoes
Once Mark Twain and two friends were sitting in a restau－rant．One friend had just returned from a trip to Vermont． Thefriend said that the air in the mountains of Vermont was veryclear．In many places the echo of a voice came back five timesstronger than the original voice．The second friend said that wasnothing．In Colorado，where he lived，in many places the echoof a voice spoken in the morning came back in the afternoon．
Mark Twain laughed．Then he said，Listen！The echoeswhich you have told about are very unusual．But in a small churchin Missouri，where I was born，there is an echo more unusualthan those．
「What is so strange about the echo there？」asked one ofthem．
「Well，I will tell you，」said Mark Twain．「The echo in thatchurch is so unusual that if one asks in a loud voice：GoodMorning！How are you？The echo repeats very clearly after amoment：Very well，thank you．And how are you？」
9．不同尋常的迴音
有一次，馬克

名人軼事【10】馬克

『名人軼事【11】馬克

『名人軼事【12】他產生過自殺的念頭』
12．He Once Had Thoughts of Suicide
Theodore Dreiser's  novel Sister Carrie，Which is now con-  sidered an American classic，was an immediate success in Londonwhen it was published at the turn of the century ．But when it waspublished in the U．S．it received no enthusiasm  and was vir-tually  suppressed  because the wife of the publisher so disap－proved of the realistic  story of the deterioration  of a man causedby an immoral  girl．Dreiser had been a successful journalist ，andhe suddenly now found himself persona non grata 0 in magazinepublishing as well；no editor would buy his articles．He suffered anervous breakdown ，had thoughts of suicide，and could notwrite another novel for eleven years．
12．他產生過自殺的念頭
西奧多

『名人軼事【13】四次榮獲普利策獎』
13．Won the Pulitzer Prize Four Times
A prize known as the Pulitzer Prize for poetry is given eachyear in America．Robert Frost（American poet，―）won this prize four times―in ，，，and ．Noother American poet has won it so many times．
President John F．Kennedy invited Frost to read one of hispoems at his inauguration  in January，．It was a cold，windy day，and the ceremony  was held outdoors．The sun andthe wind blinded the old man's eyes，and the papers on which hehad the poem he was to read were blown to the ground．The dis－tinguished guests  on the platform and the large crowd belowwere all wondering whether Frost would be able to continue withthe reading．Unable to see．he repeated from memory，in a strongvoice，some verses he had written in ，a patriotic  poemcaued「The Gift Outright 」．The audience was moved  both bythe poem itself and by the poet who had written it．
13．四次榮獲普利策獎
一種獎勵優秀詩作的普利策獎每年一度在美國頒發。羅伯特

『名人軼事【14】同年同月同日死』
14．Died on the Very Same Day
The greatest writers in their respective language―WilliamShakespeare  and Miguel de Cervantes ―died on the very same day in the very same year，April ，．They probablydid not know of each other．Two men who knew each other well―the second and the third Presidents of the United States，JohnAdams  and Thomas Jefferson ―died on the very same day inthe very same year，the Fourth of July in ．Adams's lastwords were：「Jefferson still lives．」Jefferson had died，however，a few hours earlier．
14．同年同月同日死
兩用各自民族語言寫作的最偉大的作家――威廉

『名人軼事【15】反著寫的筆記』
15．Notes Written Backward
Among the designs left by Leonardo da Vinci almost 500 years ago―with notes written backward to be read with a mirror―were the parachute，life jacket， water pump，swim fins，Well digger，paddle－wheel boat，horseless carriage ，sprocketchain， steam gun， water turbine，lens-grinding0 machine，shrapnel ，machine gun， airplane， helicopter，submarine，and mass production．
15．反著寫的筆記
近500年前列奧納多

『名人軼事【16】密碼寫成的見解』
16．Notions1 Written in Code
Nearly five centuries ago，Leonardo da Vinci had notions．later proved correct．about fossils，about the circulation of theblood，about the Earth not being the center of the universe，aboutfalling bodies，and about anatomy． His close observation andamazing skill at drawing were such that his pictures of waves andbubbles in water could be improved on only by a slow-motioncamera．But his genius went for naught．He kept these ideas tohimself，writing them in code in voluminous notebooks，so thathis contemporaries knew little of his ideas and remained unin－fluenced by them． Most of these writings remained unpublisheduntil the nineteenth century．Two lost works were found in  inthe National Library of Spain in Madrid．
16．密碼寫成的見解
將近個世紀前，列奧納多

『名人軼事【17】畢加索畫上的雅科布的腳印』
17．Jacob's Footprints on Picasso's Paintings
Picasso  and the poet Max jacob ，down but not quite out in Paris，shared a bed in turn．Jacob slept at night while Picassoworked，and Picasso slept by day when Jacob worked as a novelty -shop clerk． On arising in the morning， Jacob often would have towalk on a floor carpeted with drawings． Later， Jacob's footprintshad to be removed by art experts．
17．畢加索畫上的雅科布的腳印
潦而不倒的畢加索和詩人馬克斯

『名人軼事【18】畢加索留下……』
18．Picasso  Left…
Picasso ，when he died in 1973，left in four repositories  inthe south of France the following：1，876 paintings，1，355 sculptures ，2，880 ceramics ，more than 11，000 drawings andsketches ，and some ，27，000 etchings ，engravings ，andlithographs  in various states．His estate  was worth―at theofficial appraisal ―1，251，673，200 French francs ， or ap－proximately＄250 million．
18．畢加索留下……
1973年畢加索去世時，在法國南部四個陳列室里留下了下列作品：1，876幅畫，1，355尊雕塑， 2，880件陶瓷，11，000多幅素描和速寫，還有大約，27，000件各種各樣的版畫、鐫刻和平版畫。根據官方估計，他的遺產價值，1，251，673，200法國法郎，約合2.5億美元。

『名人軼事【19】第一次也是最後一次會面』
19．The First but Also the Last Meeting
So shy was Franz Peter Schubert  that his first meeting withLudwig van Beethoven  was his last．Schubert  had written a set ofvariations  on a French tune for four hands  and dedicated  it toBeethoven，to whom he wanted to present the score  personally．A meeting was arranged．Because he was deaf，Beethoven handeda piece of papor and pencil to Schubert so that a particular bar ofmusic could be explained．Schubert became so nervous at the re－quest that he fled from Beethoven's home and the two composersnever again met．
19．第一次也是最後一次會面
弗朗茨

『名人軼事【20】擺脫不了13的瓦格納』
20．Wagner，Haunted by Number 13
The composer  Richard Wagner（1813―1883） was hauntedall his life by the number 13． There were 13 letters in wagner'sname，and the sum of the figures of the year of his birth was 13．He made his first public appearance in 1831，the unmber of whichagain added up to 13．He completed Tannhauser on April 13， and it was performed in Paris on March 13，1861．On August 13，1876， he began the first presentation  of the Ring of theNibelungen．The year he was made director of the state theater atRiga， the theater opened on September 13．Wagner wrote 13 operas ， was exiled  from Saxony for 13 years，and died onFebruary 13 in the 13th year of the new German confederation．
20．擺脫不了13的瓦格納
作曲家理查德