Expectation, Comparison and Motive · 预期、比较与动机
A description sets a bar
- The description of a character creates certain expectations for that character's behaviours.
- How a character does or does not meet those expectations affects a reader's interpretation.
- So a description is a promise, and the interesting cases are the broken ones.
A description is a promise; when the “patient” character slams a door, the promise wants a meeting.
一段描写立下一道标准
- 对人物的描写,为其行为制造出某种期待。
- 人物是否达到这些期待,影响读者对他的阐释。
- 因此描写是一种承诺,而有意思的情形正是那些被打破的承诺。
人物描写像个承诺；那个“有耐心的人”突然摔门，承诺就想开会了。
A description of a character matters partly because it... · 性格描述之所以重要，部分原因在于它……
The interesting cases are the broken promises. · 有趣的情况在于被打破的承诺。
Associated details count too
- Details associated with a character — as well as those used to describe them — contribute to a reader's interpretation.
- A room, an object, a habit, a job: none of these is a description, and all of them are evidence.
- In a long novel this is often the strongest evidence available, because it accumulates.
与人物相关联的细节同样重要
- 与人物相关联的细节——以及用来描写他们的细节——参与构成读者的阐释。
- 一个房间、一件物品、一个习惯、一份工作:这些都不是描写,却全都是证据。
- 在长篇小说中,这往往是最有力的证据,因为它会累积。
Match each evidence type to what it is. · 将每种证据类型与其含义匹配。
In a long novel, associated details are often the strongest, because they accumulate. · 在长篇小说中，关联细节往往是最有力的，因为它们会累积。
Perspective comes through the narrator
- Readers' understanding of a character's perspective may depend on the perspective of the narrator or speaker.
- You never meet a character directly; you meet them through whoever is telling.
- And a character's perspective may shift during the course of a narrative — so a reading taken from chapter two may be out of date by chapter twenty.
视角经由叙述者而来
- 读者对人物视角的理解,可能取决于叙述者或说话者的视角。
- 你从不直接遇见一个人物;你是通过讲述者遇见他们的。
- 而且人物的视角可能在叙事过程中发生转变——因此取自第二章的解读,到第二十章可能已经过时。
What kind of character evidence is this? · 这是哪种性格证据？
Sort each observation by the CED's category. · 按CED的分类对每项观察结果进行排序。
A character's perspective stays the same throughout a narrative. · 人物的视角在整个叙事中保持不变。
It may shift — so an essay must say when in the narrative its evidence comes from. · 它可能会转变——因此文章必须说明其证据来自叙事的哪个阶段。
A character's perspective may shift during a narrative. An interpretation built on how they appeared in the opening chapters can be flatly wrong about the ending — which is why an essay on a long text must say when in the narrative its evidence comes from.
**人物的视角可能在叙事过程中发生转变。**基于他们在开头几章中的样子所建立的阐释,对结尾可能完全是错的——这正是关于长篇文本的文章必须说明其证据来自叙事中何时的原因。
Select all · 所有 the things a comparison to another character can reveal. · 选择所有将另一角色进行比较可以揭示的内容。
The CED names exactly those two; the author's opinion is outside the text. · CED明确指出了这两点；作者的观点超出了文本范围。
Comparisons reveal twice
- When narrators, characters or speakers compare another character to something or someone else, they reveal their perspective on the compared character — and may also reveal something innate about that character.
- So a comparison is evidence about the comparer and about the compared.
- Both readings are legitimate, and the strongest answers take both.
比较揭示两次
- 当叙述者、人物或说话者把另一个人物比作某物或某人时,他们揭示了自己对被比人物的视角——同时也可能揭示出该人物某种内在的东西。
- 因此比较既是关于比较者的证据,也是关于被比者的证据。
- 两种解读都成立,而最好的答案两者兼取。
Readers can infer motives from a character's actions or ____. · 读者可以从人物的行为或____推断出动机。
A refusal to act is often the clearest motive evidence a novel supplies. · 拒绝行动往往是小说提供的最清晰的动机证据。
Motive is inferred from action or inaction
- Readers can infer a character's motives from that character's actions or inactions.
- Inactions is the word students skip: not writing back, not attending, not objecting.
- A refusal to act is often the clearest evidence of motive a novel supplies.
动机从行动或不行动中推出
- 读者可以从人物的行动或不行动中推出其动机。
- 不行动是学生会跳过的那个词:没有回信、没有出席、没有反对。
- 拒绝行动,往往是一部小说所能提供的最清楚的动机证据。
A narrator calls his cousin "a small clerk of a man." As evidence about the cousin, it suggests caution and narrow horizons. As evidence about the narrator, it shows he ranks people by occupation — and the novel spends four hundred pages proving that ranking wrong.
一位叙述者称他的表弟是*"一个小职员似的人"*。作为关于表弟的证据,这暗示了谨慎与狭窄的眼界。而作为关于叙述者的证据,它显示出他以职业给人排序——而这部小说用四百页证明了这种排序是错的。
A description creates expectations, and meeting or failing them shapes interpretation. Associated details count as evidence. A character's perspective reaches you through the narrator's and may shift. A comparison reveals the comparer and the compared. Motives are inferred from actions or inactions.
描写制造期待,而达到或未达到这些期待,塑造着阐释。相关联的细节同样算作证据。人物的视角经由叙述者的视角到达你,并且可能发生转变。比较同时揭示比较者与被比者。动机从行动或不行动中推出。