Hart Crane in LA, 1927

时间：2014-09-29 05:21:44

（单词翻译:单击）

Hart Crane in LA, 1927
Peter Balakian
 
 
We sat in leather chairs
 around cocktail1 tables and the candidates
 
 came and went with badges on their jackets, proud and scared,
 full of knowledge and uncertainty2.
 
 Everyone was animated3 as the conversation
 drifted toward an idea of the idea of the text.
 
 One colleague pointed4 out in an interview that it was here
 right in this room under this chandelier that a poet
 
 once came for a while in uncertainty and fear;
 that he rode into LA’s great pink vacuum of
 
 sunsets and spewed Rimbaud out on the Boulevard.
 The candidates kept coming and going,
 
 other colleagues dropped over to say hi or to chat about
 the menu at the other hotel; and someone else said
 
 that the poet loved this place and that we should stay here
 where he had come to devour5 pâté and lobster6,
 
 where Ivor Winters met him for old-fashioned cocktails7
 and noted8 later that his hands looked
 
 like a seasoned pugilists’, his face like bad road.
 Another colleague said you couldn’t understand Crane’s big poem
 
 without context, the other said you couldn’t understand
 context without the poem. Another said listen to the
 
 strange sound the words make when you let the silence in.
 
 The first colleague said the words were so clotted9 and glued
 that it was impossible to decipher meaning, real meaning.
 
 But someone else reminded the others that the poet
 was so desperate he pawned10 his grandmother’s watch
 
 and then wrote to Gide “no Paris ever yielded such as this.”
 
 Later when things got worse, when the houses
 turned the color of stale mayonnaise,
 
 he went down to the beach to read Hopkins
 and claimed the drawling mockingbirds drowned out the spondees.
 
 The first colleague said his idea of the poem was
 too big for any life to carry and so the end was inevitable11.
 
 Then the waiter appeared, slightly harassed12, and everyone
 ordered a lobster club and a diet coke, before the next candidate arrived
 
 as another colleague repeated with an edge in her voice, “inevitable?”

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1 cocktail Jw8zNt     
n.鸡尾酒；餐前开胃小吃；混合物
参考例句：
  • We invited some foreign friends for a cocktail party.我们邀请了一些外国朋友参加鸡尾酒会。
  • At a cocktail party in Hollywood,I was introduced to Charlie Chaplin.在好莱坞的一次鸡尾酒会上，人家把我介绍给查理·卓别林。
2 uncertainty NlFwK     
n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物
参考例句：
  • Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
  • After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。
3 animated Cz7zMa     
adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的
参考例句：
  • His observations gave rise to an animated and lively discussion.他的言论引起了一场气氛热烈而活跃的讨论。
  • We had an animated discussion over current events last evening.昨天晚上我们热烈地讨论时事。
4 pointed Il8zB4     
adj.尖的，直截了当的
参考例句：
  • He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
  • She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。
5 devour hlezt     
v.吞没；贪婪地注视或谛听，贪读；使着迷
参考例句：
  • Larger fish devour the smaller ones.大鱼吃小鱼。
  • Beauty is but a flower which wrinkle will devour.美只不过是一朵，终会被皱纹所吞噬。
6 lobster w8Yzm     
n.龙虾，龙虾肉
参考例句：
  • The lobster is a shellfish.龙虾是水生贝壳动物。
  • I like lobster but it does not like me.我喜欢吃龙虾，但它不适宜于我的健康。
7 cocktails a8cac8f94e713cc85d516a6e94112418     
n.鸡尾酒( cocktail的名词复数 )；餐前开胃菜；混合物
参考例句：
  • Come about 4 o'clock. We'll have cocktails and grill steaks. 请四点钟左右来，我们喝鸡尾酒，吃烤牛排。 来自辞典例句
  • Cocktails were a nasty American habit. 喝鸡尾酒是讨厌的美国习惯。 来自辞典例句
8 noted 5n4zXc     
adj.著名的，知名的
参考例句：
  • The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
  • Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。
9 clotted 60ef42e97980d4b0ed8af76ca7e3f1ac     
adj.凝结的v.凝固( clot的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句：
  • scones and jam with clotted cream 夹有凝脂奶油和果酱的烤饼
  • Perspiration clotted his hair. 汗水使他的头发粘在一起。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
10 pawned 4a07cbcf19a45badd623a582bf8ca213     
v.典当，抵押( pawn的过去式和过去分词 )；以（某事物）担保
参考例句：
  • He pawned his gold watch to pay the rent. 他抵当了金表用以交租。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • She has redeemed her pawned jewellery. 她赎回了当掉的珠宝。 来自《简明英汉词典》
11 inevitable 5xcyq     
adj.不可避免的，必然发生的
参考例句：
  • Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
  • The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。
12 harassed 50b529f688471b862d0991a96b6a1e55     
adj. 疲倦的，厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词
参考例句：
  • He has complained of being harassed by the police. 他投诉受到警方侵扰。
  • harassed mothers with their children 带着孩子的疲惫不堪的母亲们

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