I am reading a novel at the moment, a story set in Britain and India in the 19th century. It was written by an Indian author who now lives in Denmark, but neither in the language of Hindi nor Danish. Although the paperback edition 1,m holding was published in New Delhi, India, four years ago, I (an American) purchased it recently from a second-hand bookshop in Tokyo, Japan.
That’s quite a history already. But there’s more.
The novel is a tale of various mysteries, all expertly put into a well-structured story by a very skillful author. Yet my particular copy presents even more mysteries than the tale.
One summer morning in the year of my paperback’s publication — on July 15,2012 - someone else was reading it while eating breakfast in a restaurant in Mumbai, India.
I know this because I found a receipt (欠据)of coffee and bread inside. I also know that this person was not the owner of the paperback immediately before me.
In fact, the owner before me was not Indian at all,but Japanese.
I know this because in the book there are handwritten notes in Japanese — translations of English words with which the reader was unfamiliar.
Japanese being a language of characters, not letters, it is not easy to determine if the note writer was a man or a woman. But the care taken to write the translations neatly in the limited spaces available on each page bespeaks a woman’s hand.
So let us agree that it is a woman. What can we say of her? Well educated, clearly, and probably a university student, who would keep a dictionary at hand while reading a novel.
But why did she suddenly stop reading? The last translation in my paperback appears on Page 83, less than a third of the way through the novel. Did she give up because the book was proving too difficult? Or was there some other reason?
Many a novel presents mysteries, all of which are solved by the end of the tale. The mysteries presented by my little paperback, however, remain mysteries, all expertly put into a well-structured story, not by a skillful writer, but this time by the numberless vagaries (变幻莫测)of life itself.
目前,在 19 世纪在英国和印度的故事,我在读小说。它是作者写的印度人现在生活在丹麦,但既没有在语言中的北印度语和丹麦语。虽然平装版 1,m 控股刊登在新德里,印度,四年前,我 (美国人) 从购买了它最近在东京,日本的二手书店。这已经是相当的历史。但还有更多。这部小说是一个故事的各种奥秘,都熟练地放入一个结构良好的故事由一个非常熟练的作家。然而我特定副本提出了比故事更多未解之谜。一个夏日的早晨我平装书出版年 — — 7 日 15,2012-别人在印度孟买的一家餐厅吃早餐时来阅读。我知道这是因为我发现一张收据 (欠据) 的咖啡和面包里面。我也知道这个人不是所有者的平装书立刻在我面前。事实上,主人面前我不是印度,而日本。我知道这是因为书中有手写的笔记在日本 — — 读者是陌生的英语单词翻译。日本是一种语言的字符不是字母,很不容易确定是否便笺书写器是一个男人或女人。但注意到写翻译能够得工整车位有限,每个页面上预示着一个女人的手。So let us agree that it is a woman. What can we say of her? Well educated, clearly, and probably a university student, who would keep a dictionary at hand while reading a novel.But why did she suddenly stop reading? The last translation in my paperback appears on Page 83, less than a third of the way through the novel. Did she give up because the book was proving too difficult? Or was there some other reason?Many a novel presents mysteries, all of which are solved by the end of the tale. The mysteries presented by my little paperback, however, remain mysteries, all expertly put into a well-structured story, not by a skillful writer, but this time by the numberless vagaries (变幻莫测)of life itself.
正在翻譯中..
I am reading a novel at the moment, a story set in Britain and India in the 19th century. It was written by an Indian author who now lives in Denmark, but neither in the language of Hindi nor Danish. Although the paperback edition 1,m holding was published in New Delhi, India, four years ago, I (an American) purchased it recently from a second-hand bookshop in Tokyo, Japan.
That’s quite a history already. But there’s more.
The novel is a tale of various mysteries, all expertly put into a well-structured story by a very skillful author. Yet my particular copy presents even more mysteries than the tale.
One summer morning in the year of my paperback’s publication — on July 15,2012 - someone else was reading it while eating breakfast in a restaurant in Mumbai, India.
I know this because I found a receipt (欠据)of coffee and bread inside. I also know that this person was not the owner of the paperback immediately before me.
In fact, the owner before me was not Indian at all,but Japanese.
I know this because in the book there are handwritten notes in Japanese — translations of English words with which the reader was unfamiliar.
Japanese being a language of characters, not letters, it is not easy to determine if the note writer was a man or a woman. But the care taken to write the translations neatly in the limited spaces available on each page bespeaks a woman’s hand.
So let us agree that it is a woman. What can we say of her? Well educated, clearly, and probably a university student, who would keep a dictionary at hand while reading a novel.
But why did she suddenly stop reading? The last translation in my paperback appears on Page 83, less than a third of the way through the novel. Did she give up because the book was proving too difficult? Or was there some other reason?
Many a novel presents mysteries, all of which are solved by the end of the tale. The mysteries presented by my little paperback, however, remain mysteries, all expertly put into a well-structured story, not by a skillful writer, but this time by the numberless vagaries (变幻莫测)of life itself.
正在翻譯中..