彼得·阿伯拉汉姆斯(Peter Abrahams)
He strolled slowly up the High Street , feeling empty, dried up, the unalive husk of a human being. No feeling. No thought. Moving, living, following the human behaviour pattern by instinct. He realized, uninterestedly , that this was what people meant by unhappiness. Not feeling hurt or pain. Hurt and pain were hurt and pain but unhappiness was something different. People who were hurt were not necessarily unhappy. Nor were people in pain necessarily unhappy. Unhappiness was something different. A dull deadness with a streak of yearning in it. That was unhappiness. Being unable to cry or laugh and not caring very much but caring like hell underneath.
- stroll [strəʊl] v. 闲逛，漫步
High Street 繁华的商业大街
- uninterestedly [ˌʌnˈɪntrɪstɪdlɪ] ad. 厌烦地
- deadness [ˈdednɪs] n. 麻木，无感觉
- yearning [ˈjɜːnɪŋ] n. 向往，渴望
他沿着大街走着，感到空虚、精疲力竭，只是一具失去活力的躯壳。没有感情，没有思想。本能地运动，活着，仿照人们的行为。他心灰意冷，觉得这就是人们说的愁苦不悦。没有伤痛之感。伤痛是一码事，而愁苦是另一码事。人们受伤而心痛，这不一定就是愁苦。痛苦熬煎的人也不一定愁苦。愁苦是全然不同的感受。愁苦是死气沉沉，单调乏味，夹杂着一丝渴求，不能哭，不能笑，不太在乎可心里又非常在乎。
彼得·阿伯拉汉姆斯(1919— )，南非阿托尼亚小说家、诗人，在贫民窟长大。1975年移居牙买加之前一直在美国工作。小说《矿工》(Mine Boy ，1946)是他的成名作，此外他还写了《霹雳前程》(The Path of Thunder ，1948)，《野蛮的征服》(Wild Conquest ，1950)，《他们自己的一晚》(A Night of Their Own ，1965)等多部小说。半自传体小说有《讲自由，非洲的回忆》(Tell Freedom, Memories of Africa ，1954)，短篇小说集《黑约》(Dark Testament ，1942)和诗歌《黑人讲自由》(A Black Man Speaks of Freedom ,1941)。