It is a bell。伊莎貝爾

D. H. Lawrence’s "The Rocking-Horse Winner"

"The Rocking-Horse Winner":

"The Rocking-Horse Winner" is a short story by D. H. Lawrence. It was first published in July 1926, in Harper's Bazaar and subsequently appeared in the first volume of Lawrence's collected short stories. It was made into a full-length film directed by Anthony Pelissier and starring John Howard Davies, Valerie Hobson and John Mills; the film was released in the United Kingdom in 1949 and in 1950 in the United States.

Plot:

The story describes a young middle-class Englishwoman who "had no luck." Though outwardly successful, she is haunted by a sense of failure; her husband is a ne'er-do-well and her work as a commercial artist doesn't earn as much as she'd like. The family's lifestyle exceeds its income and unspoken anxiety about money permeates the household. Her children, a son Paul and his two sisters, sense this anxiety; moreover, the kids even claim they can hear the house whispering "There must be more money."

Paul tells his Uncle Oscar Cresswell about betting on horse races with Bassett, the gardener. He's been placing bets using his pocket money and has won and saved three hundred and twenty pounds. Sometimes he says he is "sure" of a winner for an upcoming race, and the horses he names do in fact win, sometimes at remarkable odds. Uncle Oscar and Bassett both place large bets on the horses Paul names.

After further winning, Paul and Oscar arrange to give the mother a gift of five thousand pounds, but the gift only lets her spend more. Disappointed, Paul tries harder than ever to be "lucky". As the Derby approaches, Paul is determined to learn the winner. Concerned about his health, his mother rushes home from a party and discovers his secret. He has been spending hours riding his rocking horse, sometimes all night long, until he "gets there", into a clairvoyant state where he can be sure of the winner's name.

Paul remains ill through the day of the Derby. Informed by Cresswell, Bassett has placed Paul's bet on Malabar, at fourteen to one. When he is informed by Bassett that he now has 80,000 pounds, Paul says to his mother:

"I never told you, mother, that if I can ride my horse, and get there, then I'm absolutely sure – oh absolutely! Mother, did I ever tell you? I am lucky!"

"No, you never did," said his mother.

But the boy died in the night.

And even as he lay dead, his mother heard her brother's voice saying to her, "My God, Hester, you're eighty-odd thousand to the good, and a poor devil of a son to the bad. But, poor devil, poor devil, he's best gone out of a life where he rides his rocking-horse to find a winner."

D. H. Lawrence:

David Herbert Richards Lawrence was an English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter who published as D. H. Lawrence. His collected works, among other things, represent an extended reflection upon the dehumanising effects of modernity and industrialisation. In them, some of the issues Lawrence explores are emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct.

D. H. Lawrence

五段論證法 Tutami Learning

張愛玲《花凋》

《花凋》敘說故事的主人公是患病去世的一個美麗的少女鄭川嫦。“小小的鼻峰，薄薄的紅嘴唇，清炯炯的大眼睛，長睫毛，滿臉的‘顫抖的靈魂’，充滿了深邃洋溢的熱情與智慧”，尤其美的是那一雙華澤的白肩膀。鄭川嫦本應該向她姐姐一樣，戀愛、結婚、生子，然而不幸的她患了重病。美麗的川嫦因沒有及時得到有效醫治而身亡，這不能不說是她父母親的錯。死後家裡為他修葺了一個華麗的墓園，不過是他們為了維護自己作為長輩的一點顏面，是父權制文化威嚴的一種表現。故事開頭的那個墓誌銘就已經道出“美麗的悲哀”的實質，川嫦不過是一座“沒點燈的燈塔”。父親的虛偽勢利、母親的自私自利葬送了川嫦的美麗，連同她的愛情也悄悄隱退。她感到無限的絕望：她自己一寸一寸地死去了，這可愛的世界也一寸一寸地死去了。在病逝之前，她“對於整個的世界，她是個拖累”的想法把她深深地往死亡裡拖曳。病沒有得到有效治療，川嫦沒有反抗，只有自責；沒有希望，只有絕望的悲哀；這就是宗法社會規訓出來的典型女兒形象！

lucre 金錢；財富

smirk n. 嘻嘻笑

          vi. 1. 嘻嘻作笑

               2. 裝出不自然的笑