【阅读银行】84，Charing Cross Road

为期一周的读书活动进行得很顺利，不少圈友在看了介绍以后去阅读了《查令十字街84号》，并且有一部分圈友被感动了。

看了喜爱的书，我通常会有冲动看原版书，但总是因为各种原因无法看到。

也曾经因为担心英文单词太难，而没有下决心去努力看。

今天看了一个爸爸教孩子英语，十多年如一日地看电影，读对白，背对白，给我这个学了15年英语而词汇量相当可怜的人，如同当头棒喝。

如果随着时间的增长，只有年龄在增加，而学识没有相应增加的话，是虚度时光。

籍由这次读书活动的契机，我下决心把这本书的英文版好好读读，把不认识的地方标出来，读书，并且进步。

有兴趣的圈友们，欢迎加入到“读书”行列，呵呵。

英文版的下载地址：【读书有奖】为庆祝读书版新开张，百度有奖活动现在开始！
http://www.yaoq.net/forum.php?mo ... 0&fromuid=26342

免费链接：http://ishare.iask.sina.com.cn/f/6915701.html



以下为文字版本：

14 East 95th St.
New York City
October 5, 1949【此为第一道题的答案，1949年10月5日，这是海莲给MARKS & CO的第一封信】

MARKS & CO., Booksellers 【书商】
Booksellers
84, Charing Cross Road
London, W.C. 2
England 【先写的是收信人，再到具体的街名，再到城市，WC2是什么意思？最后是国家。】

Gentlemen:

Your ad in the Saturday Review of Literature says that you specialize【vi/vt,专业，专门，专攻】 in out-of-print【绝版】 books. The phrase "antiquarian【古物收藏者】 booksellers" scares【a/n/v,使……受惊】 me somewhat【n/a/pron，稍微，几分】, as I equate【v，等同于，使……相等】 "antique"【n/a，古董，过时的】 with expensive. I am a poor writer with an antiquarian taste in books and all the things I want are impossible to get over【恢复，复原】 here except in very expensive rare【极少的，罕有的】 editions【版本】, or in Barnes & Noble's grimy【a,肮脏的，布满灰尘的】, marked-up【醒目标记】 schoolboy copies【泛指书】. I enclose【v，附入，封进】 a list of my most pressing【a，迫切的】 problems. If you have clean secondhand copies of any of the books on the list, for no more than $5.00 each, will you consider this a purchase order and send them to me?

Very truly yours,
Helene Hanff (Miss)


整理生疏的词汇：
Saturday Review of Literature/星期六文学评论
specialize/special：独特的，特别的，变为动词后依旧“特别“，即专门的，专攻的，专业化的；
antiquarian booksellers/这里翻译为古书
somewhat/稍微，几分
equate/equal为等于，相等，equate为等同于
antiquarian taste/对书籍有着古老胃口
get over/恢复，复原，这里的意思只是”得不到“
very expensive rare editions/昂贵的珍贵版本
grimy/肮脏的，布满灰尘的
copy/泛指书
enclose/把……放进里面，即附入，封入

小结：海莲率性的用词，读起来很有意思。她既不掩饰自己的贫穷，也不掩饰自己对珍贵书的向往。

面对着英文版，我真的无语了，一点都看不懂

day 2
MARKS & CO., Booksellers   
84, Charing Cross Road
London, W.C. 2
25th October, 1949

Miss Helene Hanff
14 East 95th St.
New York City
U. S. A.

Dear Madam,

In reply to your letter of October 5th, we have managed to clear up two thirds of your problem. The three Hazlitt essays you want are contained in the Nonesuch Press edition of his Selected Essays and the Stevenson is found in Virginibus Puerisque. We are sending nice copies of both these by Book Post and we trust they will arrive safely in due course and that you will be pleased with them. Our invoice is enclosed with the books. The Leigh Hunt essays are not going to be so easy but we will see if we can find an attractive volume with them all in. We haven't the Latin Bible you describe but we have a Latin New Testament, also a Greek New Testament, ordinary modern editions in cloth binding. Would you like these?

Yours faithfully,
FPD For MARKS & CO.

生词：
managed to/设法，达成
clear up/整理，放晴，澄清
Nonesuch Press edition/无以伦比的版本
in due course/在适当的时候
Latin Bible/拉丁文圣经
Latin New Testamen/拉丁新约圣经
in cloth binding/布面精装本

不错，谢谢分享