C. D. 莫利/C. D. Morley

　　The opening and closing of doors are the most significant actions of man's life. What a mystery lies in doors!

　　No man knows what awaits him when he opens a door. Even the most familiar room, where the clock ticks and the hearth glows red at dusk, may harbor surprise. The plumber may actually have called (while you were out) and fixed that leaking faucet. The cook may have had a fit of the vapors and demanded her passports. The wise man opens his front door with humility and a spirit of acceptance.

　　Which one of us has not sat in some anteroom and watched the inscrutable panels of a door that was full of meaning? Perhaps you were waiting to apply for a job; perhaps you had some“deal”you were ambitious to put over. You watched the confidential stenographer flit in and out, carelessly turning that mystic portal which, to you, revolved on hinges of fate. And then the young woman said, “Mr. Cranberry will see you now.”As you grasped the knob the thought flashed, “When I open this door again, what will have happened?”

　　There are many kinds of doors. Revolving doors for hotels, shops, and public buildings that are typical of the brisk, bustling ways of modern life. Can you imagine John Milton or William Penn skipping through a revolving door? Then there are the curious little slanted doors that still swing outside denatured bar-rooms and extend only from shoulder to knee. There are trapdoors, sliding doors, double doors, stage doors, prison doors, glass doors. But the symbol and mystery of a door resides in its quality of concealment. A glass door is not a door at all, but a window. The meaning of a door is to hide what lies inside; to keep the heart in suspense.

　　Also, there are many ways of opening doors. There is a cheery push of an elbow with which the waiter shoves open the kitchen door when he bears in your tray of supper. There is the suspicious and tentative withdrawal of a door before the unhappy book agent or peddler. There is the genteel and carefully modulated recession with which footmen swing wide the oaken barriers of the great. There is the sympathetic and awful silence of the dentist's maid who opens the door into the operating room, and, without speaking, implies that the doctor is ready for you. There is the brisk cataclysmic opening of a door when the nurses come in, very early in the morning—“It's a boy!”

　　Doors are the symbol of privacy, of retreat, of the mind's escape into blissful quietude or sad secret struggle. A room without doors is not a room, but a hallway. No matter where he is, a man can make himself at home behind a closed door. The mind works best behind closed doors. Men are not horses to be herded together. Dogs know the meaning and anguish of doors. Have you ever noticed a puppy yearning at a shut portal ? It is a symbol of human life.

　　The opening of doors is a mystic act: it has in it some flavor of the unknown, some sense of moving into a new moment, a new pattern of human rigmarole. It includes the highest glimpses of mortal gladness: reunions, reconciliations, the bliss of lovers long parted. Even in sadness, the opening of a door may bring relief: it changes and redistributes human forces. But the closing of doors is far more terrible. It is a confession of finality. Every door closed brings something to an end. And there are degrees of sadness in the closing of doors. A door slammed is a confession of weakness. A door gently shut is often the most tragic gesture in life. Every one knows the seizure of anguish that comes just after the closing of a door, when the loved one is still near, with sound of voice, and yet already far away.

　　The opening and closing of doors is a part of the stern fluency of life. Life will not stay still and let us alone. We are continually opening doors with hope, closing them with despair. Life lasts not much longer than a pipe of tobacco, and destiny knocks us out like ashes.

　　The closing of a door is irrevocable. It snaps the pack-thread of the heart. It is no avail to reopen, to go back. Pinero spoke nonsense when he made Paula Tanqueray say, “The future is only the past entered through another gate.”Alas，there is no other gate. When the door is shut, it is shut forever. There is no other entrance to that vanished pulse of time. “The moving finger writes, and have writ……”

　　There is a certain kind of door shutting that will come to us all. The kind of door shutting that is done very quietly, with the sharp click of the latch to break the stillness. They will think then, one hopes, of our unfulfilled decencies rather than of our pluperfected misdemeanors. Then they will go out and……

　　人生最有意义的动作就是开门和关门。门内将会是怎样的神秘景象啊！

　　没有人知道当他推开一扇门，等待他的是什么。即便是最熟悉的房间，时钟滴答滴答地走着，壁炉的红色火焰在暮色中闪烁，也有可能会发生令人吃惊的事。水管工人可能已经拜访过（就在你不在家的时候），把坏了的水龙头修好了。厨娘没准儿正烦恼郁闷，想请你准予她离开。有头脑的人总是抱着谦虚接受的态度推开他面前的那扇门。

　　哪个人没有在某间接待室坐过，双眼紧盯着那扇无法预测的意味深长的门？或许你要应聘，或许你迫切地想要成交一笔生意。你看着机密速记员出来进去，毫不在意地旋转着那扇关系着你命运铰链的神秘大门。然后，那个年轻女人说：“克雷伯里先生现在想要见你。”就在你抓住门柄的时候，一个念头一闪而过：“当我再次推开这扇门的时候，将会发生什么呢？”

　　门的种类有许多。有旅馆、商店和公共建筑的十字形旋转门，这是轻快且繁忙的现代生活方式的象征。你能想象得出约翰·弥尔顿或威廉·佩恩从一扇旋转门匆匆走过吗？还有一些古怪而倾斜的小门，依然在变了质的酒吧外摇摆，并且只有膝盖到肩膀这么高。还有活板门、滑门、双折门、舞台门、监狱门和玻璃门。但是一扇门的象征和神秘之处就体现在它的隐蔽性上。玻璃门仅仅是一扇窗，根本就不是门。门的意义就是把门内的一切隐藏起来，让你的心处于焦虑之中。

　　与此同时，开门的方式也有许多。其中一种是用胳膊肘轻快地一推，比如服务员端着你的晚餐，打开厨房的门时。一个不开心的书商或小贩拉开门时，是犹豫和存有戒心的。上流社会细心、谨慎的男仆会退步而出为重要人物敞开栎木大门。或者富有同情心的女牙医助手轻轻推开手术室的门，然后什么也不说，暗示你医生已经准备好了。此外还有，大清早，护士轻快且忽然地推开门进来，喊道：“是个男孩！”

　　门意味着隐私、退却、心灵退避到幸福的平静或伤心的秘密挣扎。一个房间没有门就不算房间，只是一个走廊。一个人待在一扇关闭着的门后，不管是在哪儿，他都能让自己感觉像是在家里。人的思维在关闭着的门后状态最为活跃。人不是马，要成群地在一起。狗知道门所带来的意义和苦恼。你是否留意到一只小狗对一扇关着的门充满向往？这象征着人类的生活。

　　开门的动作是神秘的，充满着一些不可预知的滋味，投进新的一瞬的感觉，一种人类冗长繁乱的新形式。它显示出最高境界的快乐：团圆、和解、久别重逢的恋人的欣喜。即使是悲哀，打开的门也会给你以安慰，它改变并重组人的力量。可是，关门是骇人的，它彰显的是结束。每一扇门的关闭都意味着一些事情的终结。关门也有着不同程度的悲哀。“砰”地把门关上是虚弱的象征，轻轻把门带上往往是一生中最悲壮的动作。每个人都明白，苦痛随后即到。就在关上门后，深爱的人虽近在咫尺，仍能听到声音，却已渐渐远去。

　　开门和关门是严肃且匆匆而逝的一生中的一部分。生命不会停滞不前，弃我们于不顾。我们满怀希望不断地开门，却常常带着失望关门。人的一生不过一管烟的长度，我们就像烟灰一样被命运击倒。

　　关上一扇门是不可避免的。它猛然折断心脏的血管，重新打开，再放回去，也是徒劳。皮尼罗让波拉·坦克瑞说：“未来只是过去通过另一道门进来了。”这简直是谬论。唉，没有其他的门！当这扇门关上了，它就永远地闭上了。那消失了脉搏的时间，再也没有其他的入口。“手指运动，在纸上写下字迹……”

　　我们都会遇到这么一类关门。这种门是静静关上的，打破寂静的只有弹簧锁的咔嗒声。但愿当时他们所想的不是我们曾经做过的坏事，而是我们尚未完成的正事。那么，他们将会走出去……

　　心灵小语

　　门，象征着隐私，意味着神秘。一扇门的开启，总给我们以无限遐想。人的一生有无数次的开门关门，有的门开了可以关，关了还可以再开。但有一扇门开了，就再也关不上了，这就是死亡之门。所以，我们要珍惜活着的每分每秒，珍爱生命。

　　词汇笔记

　　significant [sig?nifik?nt] adj. 有意义的；有效的；值得注意的

　　例 He gave me a significant smile.

　　他给我一个意味深长的微笑。

　　demand [di?mɑ:nd] v. 要求；需要；查询

　　例 I demanded that I should be allowed to call my lawyer.

　　我要求允许我打电话给我的律师。

　　ambitious [?m?bi??s] adj. 有雄心的；野心勃勃的；热望的

　　例 You are really an ambitious boy. But don't expect too high.

　　你真是个有野心的男孩子，但是不要期盼太高。

　　oaken [??uk?n] adj. 用橡木制的

　　例 There are two oaken tables in our house.

　　我们家有两张橡木制的桌子。

　　小试身手

　　开门的动作是神秘的，充满着一些不可预知的滋味，投进新的一瞬的感觉，一种人类冗长繁乱的新形式。

　　译_______________

　　可是，关门是骇人的，它彰显的是结束。

　　译_______________

　　开门和关门是严肃且匆匆而逝的一生中的一部分。

　　译_______________

　　短语家族

　　……perhaps you were waiting to apply for a job;perhaps you had some“deal”you were ambitious to put over.

　　put over：推迟；驶过

　　造_______________

　　No matter where he is, a man can make himself at home behind a closed door.

　　no matter where：无论在哪里

　　造_______________