名篇背诵：The Song of Life 生命之歌

The Song of Life 生命之歌

凯瑟琳·曼斯菲尔德(Katherine Mansfield)

At that moment he noticed that a fly had fallen into his broad inkpot, and was trying feebly but desperately to clamber out again. Help! Help! said those struggling legs. But the sides of the inkpot were wet and slippery; it fell back again and began to swim. He took up a pen, picked the fly out of the ink, and shook it on to a piece of blotting paper . For a fraction of a second it lay still on the dark patch that oozed round it. Then the front legs waved, took hold, and, pulling its small, sodden body up, it began the immense task of cleaning the ink from its wings. Over and under, over and under, went a leg along a wing as the stone goes over and under the scythe . Then there was a pause, while the fly, seeming to stand on the tips of its toes, tried to expand first one wing and then the other. It succeeded at last, and sitting down, it began, like a minute cat, to clean its face. Now one could imagine that the little front legs rubbed against each other lightly, joyfully. The horrible danger was over; it had escaped; it was ready for life again.

- clamber [ˈklæmbə] v. 爬，攀

blotting paper 吸墨水纸

- ooze [uːz] v. 渗出

- scythe [saɪð] n. 长柄大镰刀

- rub [rʌb] vi. 摩擦

就在那时，他注意到一只苍蝇掉进了他敞口的墨水瓶里，微弱但却拼命地挣扎着，想再次爬出来。救命啊！救命啊！那些挣扎着的小腿似乎在说。但是墨水瓶内的四壁又湿又滑，它一次次落回去，游动着。他拿起一支笔，把苍蝇从墨水里挑出来，摇了摇，把它放在一张吸墨纸上。一瞬间，它一动不动地躺在它周围洇开的一个黑块上。接着，它前腿摇晃着，抓住了吸墨纸，把它那微小的湿透的身子撑了起来，着手把墨水从它的翅膀上清理掉这项巨大的工作。一条腿在一个翅膀上来回反复刮擦着，就像石头磨镰刀那样。而后停顿了一下，此时那只苍蝇似乎踮起脚尖站了起来，设法张开一个翅膀，然后另一个。它终于成功了，坐了下来，像一只微型猫洗起脸来。现在人们能够想得到那双小前腿轻松快乐地相互搓着。可怕的危险过去了，它侥幸生还，准备好重新生活。

凯瑟琳·曼斯菲尔德(1888—1923)，新西兰女小说家，生于惠灵顿。作品有短篇小说集《在一个德国公寓里》(In a German Pension ，1911)，《幸福集》(Bliss, and Other Stories ，1921)，《园会集》(The Garden Party and Other Stories ，1922)，《鸽巢》(The Dove's Nest ，1923)，《幼稚可也很自然》(Something Childish But Very Natural ，1924)，《芦荟》(The Aloe ，1930)，评论集有《小说和小说家》(Novels and Novelists ，1930)。常以新西兰的大自然生活为创作背景，被新西兰人看成自己珍贵文化遗产的一部分。她了解儿童心理，熟练掌握儿童语言，是出色的儿童读物作家。她受契诃夫影响，描写人物用素描方法，以意识流方式展开故事情节，有戏剧效果。

不幸的是，曼斯菲尔德一生遭受了结核病的困扰，并于1923年在法国逝世，享年仅34岁。虽然她的生命是短暂的，但她留下的作品至今仍然被广大读者和文学评论家所推崇。在她去世后，她的丈夫约翰·米德尔顿·墨利（John Middleton Murry）出版了她的信件、日记和其他未完成的作品，帮助人们更好地理解她的文学成就和生活经历。