She's quite pretty except for a looking like a potato

"正經"事擱著讀張愛玲《The Book of Change》 (易經)-- 除非是要比對她在不同的作品裡如何寫同一件事,否則不算是很吸引人的作品.

張愛玲寫"she and I are river water and well water, we don't come up against each other" (河水不犯井水) 和"deaf-mute who swallowed a bitter herb and can't tell about it" (啞子吃黃蓮), 被譏英文不好. 但她寫的是小說, 故此保留某程度上的中式英文就當是特色也未嘗不可; 其實如果我這種混飯吃的可以這樣譯就好鳥--找出相對的英諺太痛苦. 要不然為何我們要忍受"不是我杯茶"和"大自然媽媽"(某作家好中意)等必須先識了英文才明的中文. 令洋讀者抓狂的應該是像鬼魂般彈出來的人物. (搞半天才知Uncle Fisher是誰)還有, say lo say lo (港大的廣東女孩喊叫的"死囉")也夠他們找破頭皮, 不過我覺得他們是沒可能過渡Lute赴港留前半段奶奶爺爺外婆Cousin Bright Marquis Lo Premier Lo Marquise...亂成一團的故事.

換了英語的張雖然欠了靈活, 但尖銳的形容也還不少, 刻薄得來又帶點悲涼的傷感。 "... Stooping down she could not help seeing her mother's stick legs ...A pair of white beach slippers hid the humped feet but looked a little clumsy like rain boots. She tried not to look. They were the same kind of feet whose every step gave birth to a lotus flower. The ancient compliment probably referred to the tip of a little red slipper coming out of the skirt at every step like a lotus petal on the floor. Here in the glare of the seaside and at the extremity of thin bare legs they were the cloven hoofs of Pan".

《小團圓》裡有提過她母親「纏足的人腿細而直, 更顯得鞋太大」, 但沒有如「羊人的蹄」這麼嚇人, 還要跟「三寸金蓮」的想像對比, 把她母親從留洋美婦人徹底拉下來成為一個褪色的不堪女人.

還有在她寄宿的修道院打工的阿馬利:

"She's quite pretty except for a looking like a potato. All the girls at the orphanage have figures like that. It comes from what they eat."

一個人怎麼可以長得像一只馬玲薯?