Alfred Tennyson
Tennyson’s pipe was almost indispensable to him, and I remember one time when I and several friends were staying at his house, the question of tobacco turned up.1 Some of his friends taunted Tennyson that he could never give up tobacco. “Anybody can do that,” he said, “if he chooses2 to do it.” When his friends still continued to doubt and tease him, “Well,” he said, “I shall give up smoking from tonight.” The very same evening I was told that he threw his tobacco and pipe out of the window of his bedroom. The next day he became very moody and captious, the third day no one knew what to do with him. But after a disturbed night I was told that he got3 out of bed in the morning, went3 quietly into the garden, picked up one of his pipes, stuffed it with the remains of the tobacco scattered about, and then having had a few puffs came to breakfast all right again.
— M. Mueller
10
pipe n. 煙鬥
indispensable adj. 必不可少的
taunt v. 嘲笑；奚落
tease v. 戲弄
moody adj. 悶悶不樂的
captious adj. 好找岔子的
stuff v. 把……裝滿
scatter v. 使散布在各處
puff n. （抽）一口煙
中譯 戒煙（丁尼生）
煙鬥對丁尼生來說幾乎是必不可少的。記得有一次，我和幾個朋友留住他家時，議論到吸煙的問題。他的朋友中有人譏笑他，說他永遠也戒不了煙。他說：“如果決意要做的話，任何人都做得到。”在朋友們繼續懷疑和戲弄他的時候，他便說：“我今晚就戒煙。”就在當天晚上，有人告訴我，他把煙絲和煙鬥從他臥室的窗口扔了出去。第二天他變得鬱鬱寡歡，吹毛求疵。到了第三天，大家都拿他沒辦法了。可是，又一個不安的夜晚之後，我獲悉，他早晨起了床便悄悄地走進花園，揀起一隻煙鬥，把散落的剩餘煙絲裝進煙鬥。他噴出幾團煙霧之後，便過來用早餐，情緒恢複如初。