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appendix-d-第3部分

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and of the Mud; how deep he is! Ah the poor Fishwife;

it is stuck fast in the Mire; it has dropped its Basket

of Fishes; and its Hands have been cut by the Scales

as it seized some of the falling Creatures; and one Scale

has even got into its Eye。  and it cannot get her out。 

It opens its Mouth to cry for Help; but if any Sound comes

out of him; alas he is drowned by the raging of the Storm。 

And now a Tomcat has got one of the Fishes and she

will surely escape with him。  No; she bites off a Fin;

she holds her in her Mouthwill she swallow her? No;

the Fishwife's brave Mother…dog deserts his Puppies and

rescues the Finwhich he eats; himself; as his Reward。 

O; horror; the Lightning has struck the Fish…basket;

he sets him on Fire; see the Flame; how she licks the

doomed Utensil with her red and angry Tongue; now she

attacks the helpless Fishwife's Footshe burns him up;

all but the big Toe; and even SHE is partly consumed;

and still she spreads; still she waves her fiery Tongues;

she attacks the Fishwife's Leg and destroys IT; she attacks

its Hand and destroys HER also; she attacks the Fishwife's Leg

and destroys HER also; she attacks its Body and consumes HIM;

she wreathes herself about its Heart and IT is consumed;

next about its Breast; and in a Moment SHE is a Cinder;

now she reaches its NeckHe goes; now its Chin

IT goes; now its NoseSHE goes。  In another Moment;

except Help come; the Fishwife will be no more。 

Time pressesis there none to succor and save? Yes! Joy;

joy; with flying Feet the she…Englishwoman comes! But alas;

the generous she…Female is too late: where now is

the fated Fishwife? It has ceased from its Sufferings;

it has gone to a better Land; all that is left of it

for its loved Ones to lament over; is this poor smoldering

Ash…heap。 Ah; woeful; woeful Ash…heap! Let us take him

up tenderly; reverently; upon the lowly Shovel; and bear

him to his long Rest; with the Prayer that when he rises

again it will be a Realm where he will have one good square

responsible Sex; and have it all to himself; instead of

having a mangy lot of assorted Sexes scattered all over him

in Spots。 







There; now; the reader can see for himself that this pronoun

business is a very awkward thing for the unaccustomed tongue。 

I suppose that in all languages the similarities of look

and sound between words which have no similarity in meaning

are a fruitful source of perplexity to the foreigner。 

It is so in our tongue; and it is notably the case in

the German。  Now there is that troublesome word VERMA〃HLT:

to me it has so close a resemblanceeither real or

fanciedto three or four other words; that I never know

whether it means despised; painted; suspected; or married;

until I look in the dictionary; and then I find it means

the latter。  There are lots of such words and they are

a great torment。  To increase the difficulty there are

words which SEEM to resemble each other; and yet do not;

but they make just as much trouble as if they did。 

For instance; there is the word VERMIETHEN (to let;

to lease; to hire); and the word VERHEIRATHEN (another way

of saying to marry)。 I heard of an Englishman who knocked

at a man's door in Heidelberg and proposed; in the best

German he could command; to 〃verheirathen〃 that house。 

Then there are some words which mean one thing when you

emphasize the first syllable; but mean something very

different if you throw the emphasis on the last syllable。 

For instance; there is a word which means a runaway;

or the act of glancing through a book; according to the

placing of the emphasis; and another word which signifies

to ASSOCIATE with a man; or to AVOID him; according to

where you put the emphasisand you can generally depend

on putting it in the wrong place and getting into trouble。 



There are some exceedingly useful words in this language。 

SCHLAG; for example; and ZUG。  There are three…quarters

of a column of SCHLAGS in the dictonary; and a column

and a half of ZUGS。  The word SCHLAG means Blow; Stroke;

Dash; Hit; Shock; Clap; Slap; Time; Bar; Coin; Stamp; Kind;

Sort; Manner; Way; Apoplexy; Wood…cutting; Enclosure;

Field; Forest…clearing。 This is its simple and EXACT

meaningthat is to say; its restricted; its fettered meaning;

but there are ways by which you can set it free;

so that it can soar away; as on the wings of the morning;

and never be at rest。  You can hang any word you please

to its tail; and make it mean anything you want to。 

You can begin with SCHLAG…ADER; which means artery;

and you can hang on the whole dictionary; word by word;

clear through the alphabet to SCHLAG…WASSER; which means

bilge…waterand including SCHLAG…MUTTER; which means

mother…in…law。



Just the same with ZUG。  Strictly speaking; ZUG means Pull;

Tug; Draught; Procession; March; Progress; Flight; Direction;

Expedition; Train; Caravan; Passage; Stroke; Touch; Line;

Flourish; Trait of Character; Feature; Lineament; Chess…move;

Organ…stop; Team; Whiff; Bias; Drawer; Propensity; Inhalation;

Disposition: but that thing which it does NOT meanwhen

all its legitimate pennants have been hung on; has not been

discovered yet。 



One cannot overestimate the usefulness of SCHLAG and ZUG。 

Armed just with these two; and the word ALSO; what cannot

the foreigner on German soil accomplish? The German word

ALSO is the equivalent of the English phrase 〃You know;〃

and does not mean anything at allin TALK; though it

sometimes does in print。  Every time a German opens his

mouth an ALSO falls out; and every time he shuts it he bites

one in two that was trying to GET out。 



Now; the foreigner; equipped with these three noble words;

is master of the situation。  Let him talk right along;

fearlessly; let him pour his indifferent German forth;

and when he lacks for a word; let him heave a SCHLAG into

the vacuum; all the chances are that it fits it like a plug;

but if it doesn't let him promptly heave a ZUG after it;

the two together can hardly fail to bung the hole; but if;

by a miracle; they SHOULD fail; let him simply say ALSO!

and this will give him a moment's chance to think of the

needful word。  In Germany; when you load your conversational

gun it is always best to throw in a SCHLAG or two and a ZUG

or two; because it doesn't make any difference how much

the rest of the charge may scatter; you are bound to bag

something with THEM。  Then you blandly say ALSO; and load

up again。  Nothing gives such an air of grace and elegance

and unconstraint to a German or an English conversation

as to scatter it full of 〃Also's〃 or 〃You knows。〃



In my note…book I find this entry:



July 1。In the hospital yesterday; a word of thirteen

syllables was successfully removed from a patienta

North German from near Hamburg; but as most unfortunately

the surgeons had opened him in the wrong place; under the

impression that he contained a panorama; he died。 

The sad event has cast a gloom over the whole community。 



That paragraph furnishes a text for a few remarks about

one of the most curious and notable features of my

subjectthe length of German words。  Some German words

are so long that they have a perspective。  Observe these

examples:



Freundschaftsbezeigungen。 



Dilettantenaufdringlichkeiten。 



Stadtverordnetenversammlungen。 



These things are not words; they are alphabetical processions。 

And they are not rare; one can open a German newspaper

at any time and see them marching majestically across

the pageand if he has any imagination he can see

the banners and hear the music; too。  They impart

a martial thrill to the meekest subject。  I take a

great interest in these curiosities。  Whenever I come

across a good one; I stuff it and put it in my museum。 

In this way I have made quite a valuable collection。 

When I get duplicates; I exchange with other collectors;

and thus increase the variety of my stock。  Here rare

some specimens which I lately bought at an auction sale

of the effects of a bankrupt bric…a…brac hunter:



Generalstaatsverordnetenversammlungen。 



Alterthumswissenschaften。 



Kinderbewahrungsanstalten。 



Unabhaengigkeitserklaerungen。 



Wiedererstellungbestrebungen。 



Waffenstillstandsunterhandlungen。 



Of course when one of these grand mountain ranges goes

stretching across the printed page; it adorns and ennobles

that literary landscapebut at the same time it is a great

distress to the new student; for it blocks up his way;

he cannot crawl under it; or climb over it; or tunnel

through it。  So he resorts to the dictionary for help;

but there is no help there。  The dictionary must draw

the line somewhereso it leaves this sort of words out。 

And it is right; because these long things are hardly

legitimate words; but are rather combinations of words;

and the inventor of them ought to have been killed。 

They are compound words with the hyphe
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