By J.D. Salinger

　　I am the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It’s awful. If I’m on my way to the store to buy a magazine, even, and somebody asks meswheresI’m going, I’m liable to say I’m going to the opera. It’s terrible. So when I told old Spencer I had to go to the gym to get my equipment and stuff, that was a sheer lie. I don’t even keep my goddam equipment in the gym.Where I lived at Pencey, I lived in the Ossenburger Memorial Wing of the new dorms. It was only for Juniors and Seniors. I was a Junior. My room-mate was a Senior. It was named after this guy Ossenburger that went to Pencey. He made a pot of dough in the undertaking business after he got out of Pencey. What he did, he started these undertaking parlors all over the country that you could get members of your family buried for about five bucks apiece. You should see old Ossenburger. He probably just shoves them in a sack and dumps them in the river. Anyway, he gave Pencey a pile of dough, and they named our wing after him. The first football game of the year, he came up to school in this big goddam Cadillac, and we all had to stand up in the grandstand and give him a locomotive—that’s a cheer. Then, the next morning, in chapel, he made a speech that lasted about ten hours. He started off with about fifty corny jokes, just to show us what a regular guy he was. Very big deal. Then he started telling us how he was never ashamed, when he was in some kind of trouble or something, to get right down on his knees and pray to God. He told us we should always pray to God—talk to Him and all—wherever we were. He told us we ought to think of Jesus as our buddy and all. He said he talked to Jesus all the time. Even when he was driving his car. That killed me. I can just see the big phoney bastard shiftingsintosfirst gear and asking Jesus to send him a few more stiffs. The only good part of his speech was right in the middle of it. He was telling us all about what a swell guy he was, what a hot-shot and all, then all of a sudden this guy sitting in the row in front of me, Edgar Marsalla, laid this terrific fart. It was a very crude thing to do, in chapel and all, but it was also quite amusing. Old Marsalla. He damn near blew the roof off. Hardly anybody laughed out loud, and old Ossenburger made out like he didn’t even hear it, but old Thurmer, the headmaster, was sitting right next to him on the rostrum and all, and you could tell he heard it. Boy, was he sore. He didn’t say anything then, but the next night he made us have compulsory study all in the academic building and he came up and made a speech. He said that the boy that had created the disturbance in chapel wasn’t fit to go to Pencey. We tried to get old Marsalla to rip off another one, right while old Thurmer was making his speech, but he wasn’t in the right mood. Anyway, that’sswheresI lived at Pencey. Old Ossenburger Memorial Wing, in the new dorms.

　　It was pretty nice to get back to my room, after I left old Spencer, because everybody was down at the game, and the heat was on in our room, for a change. It felt sort of cosy. I took off my coat and my tie and unbuttoned my shirt collar and then I put on this hat that I had bought in New York that morning. It was this red hunting hat, with one of those very, very long peaks. I saw it in the window of this sports store when we got out of the subway, just after I noticed I had lost all the goddam foils. It only cost me a buck. The way I wore it, I swung the old peak way around to the back—very corny, l admit, but I liked it that way. I looked good in it that way. Then I got this book I was reading and sat down in my chair. There were two chairs in every room. I had one and my room-mate, Ward Stradlater, had one. The arms were in sad shape, because everybody was always sitting on them, but they were pretty comfortable chairs.

　　此文选自美国当代作家塞林格

　　(J. D. Salinger)的作品《麦田守望者》(The Catcher in the Rye)。这里所选的是这本书第三章的前三段。文章的主人公是一个中学生，名字叫霍藤(Holden)，在一个名叫Pencey的中学上学。

　　这是一篇自述体小说。作者以一个中学生的视角，写了一个中学生校内外多层面的生活经历、所见所闻，并由此折射出一幅美国社会的众生相。第三章第一句话就与众不同：I’m the most terrific liar.(我特别会骗人，我是一个几乎没有一句真话的人，我靠撒谎过日子，……。)你不认为这一句话就能让你感到这本书的内容会与众不同吗？

　　往下看，你会发现文章字里行间渗透着自嘲自讽，流露着对社会的冷嘲热讽、鞭挞批判。它的这一风格使你想起王朔、梁左的粗俗、夸张、辛辣、诙谐、吹嘘和调侃。

　　主人公身在学校，但除了英语，其他5、6门课都不及格，但他似乎毫不在乎，他与杰克·伦敦笔下那勤奋好学、挑灯夜战、指望有朝一日能立足于社会的马丁·伊登的生活态度可谓南辕北辙。他不讲究时尚穿着，喜欢把帽舌推到脸袋后面去。他满口脏话，goddam、bastard这些脏话脱口而出，给人一个十足小痞子的印象。

　　读惯了“雅文学”的人们曾对这本书报以鄙视的眼光，但它最终挤入了当代美国文学代表作的行列，进入了中国大学的美国文学名著选篇的课堂。

　　第一段一上来的自我介绍的率真使人震惊：I’m the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It’s awful.接着说如果“我”在去买杂志的路上，有人问“我”要去哪儿，“我”也可能会说我去看歌剧，这又怎么讲呢？这短短一个转折，一句话是否影射了当代社会道德虚伪的一个侧面，别人能不讲真话、喜欢吹嘘，“我”为什么不能呢？

　　说假话已成了家常便饭，不是吗？“我”对人说“我”是去体育馆拿“我”的体育器材用品，其实是欺骗，因为体育馆根本没有“我”的东西，“我”从来不在那里放东西。

　　是小痞子，用的词就与一般人不一样，不是吗？I had to go to the gym (不是gymnasium)to get my equipument and stuff, and that was a sheer lie.他有他的口头语，他的简略式gym(但现在这个词的使用已经较为普遍了)。

　　我们这个主人公是个住校生。从文章看来，不是所有住校生都住在一个楼里。他住的楼是the Ossenburger Memorial Wing of the new dorms。请注意，这里又是一个缩略词，这里不是用dormitory而用了dorm。Wing是指一个楼的一翼、一侧，此楼以Ossenburger为名以表示对Ossenburger此君出资的感谢。

　　谁是Ossenburger？从下面一句来看，应该是这个学校的毕业生吧！一个毕业生从事殡葬行业，发财挣了钱，向学校捐钱才有了新宿舍的这一部分。给学校捐钱盖楼当然是好事，如今又有哪一个学校不指望从发财致富的毕业生手中掏出一点捐款呢？

　　a pot of dough在美国俚语里指很多钱。那么这个成了百万富翁的殡葬公司头头的这些钱是怎么挣来的呢？为什么人们愿意找他的公司安排殡葬呢？哦，明白了！上他那里去是因为价格低廉。buried for five bucks apiece。注意这里每人变成apiece，再之，下层社会，互相称兄道弟关系好的人中间才用buck一词，也属俚语。接着，描写殡葬具体做法的几个字更是引起了人们对当今社会某些不择手段敛财致富的人的一种无情的斥责。...probably just shoves them in a sack and dumbs them in the river.(……很可能就是用铲子把他们铲进麻袋，扔进河里了事。)句子用的是现在时，那就不是一次两次，而是惯例了。

　　Anyway, he gave Pencey a pile of dough, and they named our wing after him.有名有利，何乐不为？给学校塞一大把钱，换取以他的名字给宿舍楼命名的荣誉。

　　挣了钱就可以大摆阔气，学校有足球赛，此人就开了一个卡迪拉克车来风光一番，让人给他行注目礼。注意作者用的是this big goddam Cadillac, and we all had to stand up in the grandstand and give him a locomotive——that’s a cheer.

　　英语里讲到文体时有一个修辞手段用的是hyperbole(夸张)。下面这件事你能相信吗?“...he made a speech that lasted about ten hours. He started off with about fifty corny jokes, just to show us what a regular guy he was. Very big deal.”Regular?这怎么讲，他绝对鹤立鸡群，与众不同。guy现在美国口语里用得很多，各阶层人都用，过去粗俗，现在则不乏亲切感。不能保证大老板之间、政府官员之间绝对不用这个词。corny是一个俚语味较强的词，其意思是朴素的，粗野的，带乡土气息的，你可以到一般词典里去查，也可以去查The Concise Dictionary of American Slang(商务印书馆出版，1986年第一版，中文释义)。至于very big deal这一句话所指什么很模糊，指他讲演这种事还是指别的？可以有不同理解呢，还是绝对只有一种解释呢？请读者一起考虑回答。

　　既然是在学校小教堂里，面对的听众不能说所有，但起码90%以上都是同校学友。当然Ossenburger讲话可以很随便，另外，不管他用什么不道德的手段聚敛财富，他还必须装出一种异乎寻常的虔诚的姿态，不但自己虔诚，还必须劝诫别人以他为榜样。

　　最有意思的是下面这一句话：He told us we ought to think of Jesus as our buddy and all.劝诫、布道难道有用buddy这样粗俗的词吗？是夸张？是反意讽刺？是为了表示亲切？这里大家不妨看一下前面所提的俚语词典中关于buddy的释义：buddy (=bud)与bud一样普通，而且用法也完全相同。bud的释义是:[口语]朋友，伙计。

　　接着下面一句感叹句：That killed me.“kill”这里当然不是“杀”，它可以是中学生嘴里的“真恶心！”“让我恶心死了！”

　　I can just see the big phoney bastard shiftingsintosfirst gear and asking Jesus to send him a few more stiffs. phoney一词意思是伪，假；bastard当然是骂人的词，它们表示作者对这类伪君子的鄙视。shiftingsintosfirst gear是开车用语：把车速定在第一档上，这里也可以理解成讲话人声嘶力竭。至于下面的send him a few more stiffs里的stiff一词在美国俚语里第一个释义是“死尸”。I can’t just see this big phoney bastard…a few more stiffs.充分表现了作者认为此人在教堂中的一席虚伪之言不堪入耳，令人十分厌恶。

　　下面a swell guy, hot-shot and all无非都是令人作呕的自我吹嘘之词。下面...Edgar Marsalla, laid his terrific fart. It was a very crude thing to do, in chapel and all, but it was quite amusing.就留给读者根据上下文来猜测吧，你如果非要知道fart什么意思，最可靠的是查郑易里主编的《英华大辞典》。

　　后面接着有一些短语如：blew the roof off, made out like he didn’t even hear it及the boy that had created the disturbance, rip off another one等就留给读者去看、去猜想了。反正都和fart一词有关的。你看懂了，当然会捧腹大笑。

　　下一段讲的是霍藤回到宿舍里脱下去教堂穿的大衣，解下领带，解开衬衣领子、扣子，然后戴上他新买的帽子，坐下来读书的惬意之感。在这里，在这张破椅子上他感到无拘无束，摆脱了那些虚伪的场面，看不见那些故作姿态的行为，听不见那些夸夸其谈的言词了。我们的主人公就可以让神经松弛下来，静静地享受一下人生了。