http://hk.news.yahoo.com/article/100526/4/i8op.html
(明報)2010年5月27日 星期四 05:10
【明報專訊】芸芸英國 大文豪中，出名幽默「抵死」的編劇、詩人，首選王爾德Oscar Wilde（1854 - 1900）。他的名劇如The Importance of Being Earnest、Lady Windermere's Fan及The Picture of Dorian Gray，現今還在各國演出，劇本被翻譯為各國語言，成為中、大學必讀的課本。我嘗試分享一些妙句來引證Wilde的幽默，希望讀者也產生共鳴。
1. 真理 —— The truth is rarely pure, and never simple.
2. 無知—— Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone.
3. 婚姻—— In married life three is company and two none.
4. 創作小說——The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily.
5. 隱瞞年齡的婦女——London Society is full of women of the very highest birth who have, of their own free choice, remained 35 for years.——不知道與我在港同窗的許冠傑 是否受了這句的影響而作了「十個女仔，九個認細」的歌詞呢？
另一名劇Lady Windermere's Fan更有以下兩句來描寫一個cynic（憤世嫉俗的人）：
A man who knows the price of everything but the value of nothing及Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.
可能就是Wilde正在自嘲吧。
在比較深沉的悲劇The Picture of Dorian Gray，Oscar Wilde更尖酸地諷刺政治、政客及當時的社會價值觀：
1. There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.
2. A man cannot be too careful in his choice of enemies.
3. It is better to be beautiful than to be good. But... It is better to be good than to be ugly.
在Oscar Wilde的詞中，我還記得The Ballad of Reading Gaol以下這幾句：
I never saw a man who looked with such a wistful eye upon that little tent of blue which prisoners call the sky.
希望大家都學會珍惜自由，不要走上不歸路！另外發人深省的句子是：
Yet each man kills the thing he loves,
By each let this be heard,
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word,
The coward does it with a kiss,
The brave man with a sword.
提到死亡，Oscar Wilde也不忘他的幽默本色。有一次他要動手術，但又不夠錢，所以便說出以下精句：Ah, well then, I suppose that I shall have to die beyond my means.
他曾lived beyond his means，到死也要人為他的身後事操勞！
寫完這篇，要暫別，希望以後再與大家分享欣賞英文的樂趣。
文：李麗娟
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