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My Personal Manager
http://www.sina.com.cn 2002/04/25 09:33  《英语学习》

  " I 'm getting a great idea,"Carlos said to me. We were standing on the steps outside Galeton High. It was one of those golden days in late October. "Why not let me be your manager? I can promise you'll soon be cool, pretty, and popular."

  "You sound like a soap commercial,"I said.

  "It's funny you should say that. It is pretty close to my aim in life. I'm going to be a promotion man. I may be short, but I can promote big things."

  "Like me."

  Which is how little Carlos Herrera took me and turned me into, well—

  The first time I saw Carlos I would never have believed he was going to change my life. I had my arms full of books and I was tearing into the classroom when I ran into something solid. It was Carlos.

  He looked up at me.

  "My, you're tall,"he said.

  Of course, the class began to laugh. Angry, I walked to my seat without a word.

  I glanced back to see if Reed Harrington was laughing with the rest. That would be the last straw. But Reed was studying chemistry and did not seem to be aware of anything else. I didn't know why I considered Reed my friend. Maybe just because he was a good two inches taller than I. Anyway, every time I blew out my birthday candles and made a wish, it was for a date with Reed Harrington.

  I came back to earth to see the cocky newcomer standing in front of Mr. McCarthy's desk. He was telling him that his name was Carlos Herrera and that he'd moved to Galeton from New York.

  "Take that seat,"Mr. McCarthy told Carlos, pointing to the only empty one, in the back of the room.

  Carlos grinned. "But I need a couple of dictionaries."Again the class laughed, but now they were laughing with Carlos, not at him. He had been here only 10 minutes and already he had them on his side.

  The bell rang for classes. As I stood up to go I saw Carlos coming toward me.

  "I'm sorry I embarrassed you,"he said.

  I looked straight ahead over the top of his black hair. "That's all right."

  "I ought to know better."He was still blocking my way. "What's your name?"

  "Karen Forbes."

  "You probably heard me say, I'm Carlos Herrera."He held out his hand. Unwillingly, I shook hands with him. He looked up at me seriously with his brown eyes. "I don't see why you're so touchy."

  I brushed by him and said sharply, "You wouldn't understand."

  He followed me a few steps. "I'm just the one who should, Karen,"he said. "You and I have a lot in common."

  It was the school elections that made me think of Carlos again. They were held the last of October. Reed Harrington was voted president and Carlos vice-president. "How come?"I kept asking myself. "How come this shrimp who's only been in town for a little over a month gets to be so popular?"

  So on that perfect October morning, I stopped Carlos and said, point blank, "It doesn't seem to bother you—being short, I mean."He looked up at me. "Of course I mind being short. I get a stiff neck every day from looking up at people like you."

  "I might have known I couldn't get a sensible answer from you."I started up the steps.

  "Hey, don't go away. Please."

  I stopped.

  Carlos was through kidding. "Sure, it bothers me, being knee-high to a flea. But there isn't anything I can do about it. When I realized I was going to have to spend my life in this undersized skin, I just decided to make the best of it and concentrate on being myself.""You seem to get along great,"I admitted. "But what about me? Nobody wants to date a girl taller than he is.""The trouble with you is you're afraid to be yourself. You're smart. And you could be pretty. In fact, you might be more than pretty."I felt myself turning red.

  "I am getting a great idea."said Carlos, and right then he suggested being my manager.

  I wasn't sure. "W-e-ll—"

  "Look,"He almost fell off the steps in his eagerness, "Prize fighters have managers. And movie stars. Besides, what have you got to lose?"I shrugged. "OK."Soon after that, he had my new life planned. I was to let my hair grow, wear a fitted sweater and neat skirt, and lift my head and say "Hi"to everyone. I was to volunteer to work on the school paper and go out for dramatics.

  "Dramatics!"I protested. "I can't act. And anyway, they don't have parts for giants.""You won't be alone,"he told me. "I, too, am joining the Dramatics Club."Four months went by—four months of being almost a puppet, with Carlos pulling the strings.

  Then one day, he told me about his latest brain wave. It seemed my acting career was about to burst into flower with the lead part in a play Carlos had dug up. It was about a six-foot model who falls in love with a jockey.

  "You, I suppose, are the jockey,"I said.

  He grinned.

  "No way,"I said. "That story has been done so many times it has lost its humor. The coach would never let us put on a play like that.""That's where you're wrong, Karen,"said Carlos. "It's all arranged and that plot is still funny."

  "But I don't want to be funny,"I groaned.

  Carlos gave me a pleading look. "Karen, I've never asked you for a thing for myself, have I?"He had't.

  "And now, I want you to do this for me. I want to play that jockey. And we can't do this play without you in it."What could I do? He had given hours—months—to me. I knew it was the most foolish move of my life, but I said yes.

  I could not put my heart into that play. It was pure nonsense from beginning to end. The tall model and the jockey were in every foolish situation ever invented.

  The night of the play I felt lowest of all. I didn't see how I could go out on that stage and make a laughing stock of myself right in front of my parents and Reed Harrington.

  "I can't do it,"I groaned to Carlos.

  He reached up and patted me on the back. "Stage fright. All the best actors have it. You'll be fine."I could see he could hardly wait for the curtains to open. His brown eyes, shining with eagerness. I had to go through with it for him.

  "I'm with you,"I said, "to the end."Carlos took my hand in both of his. "We'll celebrate after the play. OK, Karen?"I managed to smile down at him. "It's a date."The band stopped playing, and the curtains opened.

  Carlos as the jockey and I, the model, were seated at a table. From our talk the audience could tell we were falling in love. There was no comedy yet. Then as we stood up the awful difference in our sizes became clear. There was a chuckle all over the auditorium. Carlos wanted to kiss me good-bye, but he couldn't reach my face. I bent over and he stood on tiptoe to give me a peck on the chin. A shout of laughter burst from hundreds of throats. I walked off the stage with an exaggerated model's walk. More laughs.

  From then on I let loose and acted for all I was worth. Carlos was better than ever, and so was the rest of the cast. Again and again we had to hold up our lines while the people laughed.

  As the curtains closed, Carlos threw his arms around my waist. "You were terrific!"he said. "Bend over and I'll give you a kiss."The house lights went up and people began pouring backstage to congratulate us.

  Mother and Dad were flushed and happy-looking. "I'm proud of you, dear,"Mother said.

  Mobs of my friends crowded around, but I was looking for one person who would tower above the others. At last he came.

  "You're a real comedian,"he said, taking my hand and looking me straight in the eyes. Then he cleared his throat. "I was wondering—that is,

  if you don't have something else planned, would you go out with me for something to eat?"Here it was at last—my chance. But somehow, now that I had the chance, I knew there was something more important than going out with Reed.

  "Thank you,"I said, smiling at him. "Some other time I'd love to, but tonight I have a date with Carlos.”

我的私人经理

  -北京外国语大学英语系 魏峥 讲评

  在生活中,每个人都应该摆正心态,正确对待自身的不足、缺陷和所面临的各种不利条件,积极勇敢地创造美好生活。这就是本文作者通过发生在普通人身上的普通事、以平易的语言向我们揭示的道理。

  Carlos和Karen是故事的两个主要人物。Carlos是个身材矮小的男孩子,拿他自己的话来说就是being knee-high to a flea。他深知自身这个无法弥补的缺陷I realized I was going to have to spend my life in this undersized skin,但是他没有自惭形秽,妄自菲薄,而是决心面对现实,尽力而为,创造成功和快乐:I just decided to make the best of it and concentrate on being myself。Karen是个与Carlos有类似问题的女孩子,她身材高大,显得鹤立鸡群,她为之而烦恼,认为没有哪个男孩子愿意与一个比自己高一截的女孩子约会:No boy wants to date a girl taller than he is,因此她对于自己的外观非常敏感,自信心不足,生活得十分消极。文章是以在Carlos的帮助下,Karen重新找回了自我和自信作为结局的。但是文章的开头并不是整个事件的开始,作者是以事件发生过程中的某一场景作为文章的开头段落的,并且在这个段落的最后交代了事件的结果:Which is how little Carlos Herrera took me and turned me into,well—。这句话没有说完,但是意思已经不言而喻了,应该是Which is how little Carlos Herrera took me and turned me into what I am now,或者Which is how little Carlos Herrera took me and turned me into a cool, pretty, and popular girl。

  从文章的第二段作者开始按照时间先后顺序叙述事件的经过。Carlos和Karen第一次相遇时,Karen怀抱一堆书撞在了Carlos身上。文章使用了ran into something solid,而不是ran into someone,这说明Carlos太矮了,不在Karen的视线之内,Karen没有低头看,竟然不知道自己撞到了一个人身上,这个夸张的写法间接地展现了Carlos的矮小身材。Carlos看到Karen时不由自主地说My, you're tall,引得全班学生哄堂大笑,这使Karen对Carlos没有什么好印象。其后Karen发现Carlos不但没有因身材过于矮小受到其他同学的嘲笑,反而赢得了他们的欢迎,并当选为副主席,Karen感到奇怪,便决定直截了当去问Carlos为什么他从不在意自己的身高、为什么他能过得那么愉快。这时Carlos自告奋勇担当Karen的personal manager,帮助她改变她的生活。Carlos采取了一系列步骤,促使Karen逐渐改变自己:首先他建议Karen改变形象(let my hair grow,wear a fitted sweater and neat skirt),然后他让Karen改变行为方式(lift my head and say“Hi”to everyone),接下来他让Karen主动参加学校的社团活动(I was to volunteer to work on the school paper and go out for dramtics),四个月后Carlos为Karen选定了一部话剧,动员她扮演其中的女主角。在Carlos的鼓励下,Karen尽自己最大的努力成功地在舞台上扮演了她的角色,正如Carlos所言,Karen真的成了在学校里引人注目的漂亮女生。从Carlos改变Karen的过程中我们可以看出一个人所具有的客观条件并不能决定他是否生活的幸福快乐、成功如意,大多数人都有自己的缺点不足或者坎坷不幸,真正起决定作用的是对待自己和生活的正确态度。

  文章的结尾也耐人寻味。Karen一直梦想得到Reed的爱,因为他个头高,是学生会主席,Karen在演出成功后真的得到了Reed的约会邀请,而这时Karen却毫不犹豫地回绝了Reed,决定与Carlos一起吃晚餐。但是我们似乎不能推测Karen从此与Carlos相爱,可以肯定的是她从心底感激Carlos为自己所做的一切,由于Carlos的真诚帮助,她才拥有了崭新的生活。

  文章中几处人物的对话风趣幽默,认真体会能够加深我们对人物及其关系的理解。例如:“... I'm going to be a promotion man. I may be short, but I can promote big things.”“Like me.”

  这段对话中Karen故意歪曲Carlos的意思,使人读来发笑。Carlos所说promote big things的意思是promote big ideas or activities。而Karen由于自己身材高大,也可算作是big thing了,所以对big一词十分敏感,接话茬道Like me.即Do you mean you can promote big things like me?

  另一处Carlos与Mr. McCarthy的对话体现了Carlos的幽默与自嘲精神。“Take that seat,"Mr. McCarthy told Carlos, pointing to the only empty one, in the back of the room. Carlos grinned.“But I need a couple of dictionaries.”当老师指定他坐在教室后排某一个位子上时,他说他个子太矮了,前面的同学肯定会挡着他的视线),他需要几本字典垫在位子上才行。可见Carlos不掩饰自己的缺陷,他自我揭短的效果是赢得了同学们对他的喜爱。

  体现Carlos幽默乐观性格的另一处对话是当Karen说“It doesn't seem to bother you—being short, I mean.”时,Carlos故意开玩笑地说“Of course I mind being short. I get a stiff neck every day from looking up at people like you.”即由于每天伸长脖子看你们这些高个子的人,我累得脖子发酸。

  这篇文章的语言通俗简练,接近生活,便于我们学习模仿。作者使用的是简单常用的词汇,通过它们组成的词组表达了准确、丰富的意思。这些词组值得我们英语学习者学习和记忆。下面是其中的几个例子:

  1.to come back to earth也可以说to come down to earth,意思是to return to reality, suddenly or with a shock; to return to a normal way of thinking after a time when you are excited(回到现实,不再幻想)。例如我们可以说I'm glad Mary has come down to earth and stopped dreaming of being rich.

  2. to make the best of it也可以说to make the best of a bad job或者说to make the best of a bad situation意思是to accept a sad or unsatisfactory situation that you cannot change and do the best that you can in the circumstances(在逆境、困难中尽力而为,以乐观的、随遇而安的态度面对困难或不利)。这个词组在文章中非常重要,它传达了作者意在传达的中心思想。例句:We'll have to spend the night in this awful place, so we might as well make the best of it.

  3. to go through with sth.意思是to carry out; refuse to be prevented from sth.(完成)。例句:I can't go through with this performance. I'm so nervous.

  4. to know better在这里不是to be more well-informed about sth.(知道得更多,更了解)的意思,而是be wise enough to behave in a more responsible and acceptable way (懂事一些,明白一些,不至于做……),有时也用在to know better than to do sth.这个结构中。例句:She's only six, but she's old enough to know better than to run out into the traffic. I'm surprised at your behaving so badly—you ought to know better.

  在语言上我们还应该注意have和consider的用法,这两个词看似简单,但是如果不注意观察它们的用法,实际应用起来就很容易出错。have常使用在以下三种结构中:

  1.have sb. do sth.

  They had an old man act as their guide.

  2.have sb. doing sth.

  Soon the short boy had the whole class laughing.

  3.have sth. done

  My husband have had the house painted twice last year.

  consider一词的用法是to consider sb./sth. (to be) +adj.或者+ n.,也可以说to consider sb/sth as...。例如:

  1. I didn't know why I considered him my friend.

  2.They consider themselves (to be) very lucky.

  3.They do not consider a child as important.

  通过以上对本篇文章语言特点的讨论我们可以看出,在我们学习英语过程中不能忽视简单常用的“小词”,因为“小词”也能派上大用场。-




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