Department of English

Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University

2202124  Introduction to Translation

Expressive Text (English-Thai) Discussion

จงแปลเรื่องแต่งต่อไปนี้เป็นภาษาไทย

“This is the place,” he said. “I thought you might get the sort of thing you liked here.”

Helen nodded, but there were tears in her eyes as she looked through the shop-window. The new hat had been his idea, not hers.

“What about the black one?” He pointed. “It would go with your suit!”

Her lips trembled. One of the little things she loved so much about him was the really genuine interest he had always taken in what she wore. It had made you feel young, somehow, loved, though in your heart you knew you were young no longer.

“Yes. Yes, it would, wouldn’t it?” She carefully avoided meeting his eyes, because there was so much in her own eyes that he must never see.

They went into the shop. A clerk appeared to wait on them.

Helen described the hat. It was in the window.

She was wishing now that they had never come into the shop. But Greg had been insistent. He wanted to give her something. A parting gift, he had called it.

He was smiling now out of blue, untroubled eyes. Which surprised her. And yet why should it, she asked herself, as she took the hat from the clerk and placed it on her blue-gray hair?

She had always tried to be modern, and part of modernity was to see these things through bravely, when and if they came.

Discussion

• appear (Oxford Dictionaries)
  verb
  [NO OBJECT]
  1 Come into sight; become visible or noticeable, especially without apparent cause:
  smoke appeared on the horizon
  
  1.1 Come into existence or use:
  the major life forms appeared on earth
  
  1.2 Be published or offered for sale:
  the paperback edition didn’t appear for another two years
  
  1.3 Feature or be shown:
  the symbol appears in many paintings of the period
  
  1.4 informal Arrive at a place:
  by ten o’clock Bill still hadn’t appeared
  
  2 Present oneself formally in a court or tribunal:
  he appeared on six charges of theft
  
  3 Perform publicly in a film, play, etc.
  he appeared on Broadway
  
  4 Seem; give the impression of being:
  [WITH INFINITIVE]: she appeared not to know what was happening
  [WITH CLAUSE]: it appears unlikely that interest rates will fall

-  wait on someone – บริการ

• wait (Oxford Dictionaries)
  verb
  [NO OBJECT]
  1 Stay where one is or delay action until a particular time or event:
  he did not wait for a reply
  we’re waiting for Allan to get back
  Vera did not wait on a Home Office ruling
  [WITH INFINITIVE]: Ben stood on the street corner waiting to cross
  [WITH OBJECT]: I had to wait my turn to play
  
  1.1 (wait for or on) Stay where one is or delay action until (someone) arrives or is ready:
  he sits on the corner waiting for Mary
  she was waiting on her boyfriend
  
  1.2 Be left until a later time before being dealt with:
  we shall need a statement later, but that will have to wait
  
  1.3 [WITH OBJECT] informal Defer (a meal) until a person’s arrival:
  I told my parents not to wait supper
  
  2 Remain in readiness for a purpose:
  he found the train waiting on the platform
  
  2.1 (Of a vehicle) be parked for a short time at the side of a road.
  The firm must stop vehicles waiting at the junction of Hill Top Lane and Chorley Old Road by putting yellow lines down.
  The landscaping scheme will link in with a new footpath and cycleway at the back of the Fox and a new bus waiting area on Holgate Road.
  Motorists can wait for free until arriving passengers call to say they are ready to be picked up.
  
  3 (cannot wait) Used to indicate that one is eagerly impatient to do something or for something to happen:
  I can’t wait to tell Nick what happened
  
  4 Act as a waiter or waitress, serving food and drink:
  a local man was employed to wait on them at table
  [WITH OBJECT]: we had to wait tables in the mess hall 

-  troubled –กังวล ขุ่น ขุ่นมัว ขุ่นหมอง

• troubled (Oxford Dictionaries)
  adjective
  1 Beset by problems or difficulties:
  his troubled private life
  
  1.1 Showing distress or anxiety:
  his troubled face 

Vocabulary

 - to see something through

• see something through (Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary)
  — phrasal verb with see  US    /si/ verb (past tense saw  /sɔ/ , past participle seen  /sin/ )       
  (CONTINUE DOING)
  › to continue until something is finished:
  She saw the project through to the end.
• see something through (Collins English Thesaurus)
  = persevere (with), keep at, follow through, persist, stick out (informal), carry on with, see out, hang in, continue to the end, stay to the bitter end • He will not be credited with seeing the project through.
• see something through (Macmillan Dictionary)
  2 to continue doing something until it is finished, especially something unpleasant or difficult
  Having come this far, she was determined to see things through.
  Synonyms and related words
  To continue something, or to continue to do something:
  continue, go on, follow through...
• see something through (Oxford Dictionaries)
  Persist with an undertaking until it is completed.
  EXAMPLE SENTENCES
  Dutiful as ever, he will remain at Carlton until January to see the deal through.
  We're going to accept the risks, and we're going to see it through until the job is done.
  But the Dumbarton MSP will probably have to stay in place to see the campaign through.

Reference

This excerpt is adapted from Ian S. Thompson's short story "Final Break."

Source

They had been walking along Oxford Street. Now they stopped, Greg's hand on her arm.

"This is the place," he said. "I thought you might get the sort of thing you liked here."

Helen nodded, but there were tears in her eyes as she looked through the shop-window. The new hat had been his idea, not hers.

"What about the black one?" He pointed. "It would go with your suit!"

Her lips trembled. One of the little things she loved so much about him was the really genuine interest he had always taken in what she wore. It had made you feel young, somehow, loved, though in your heart you knew you were young no longer.

"Yes. Yes, it would, wouldn't it?" She carefully avoided meeting his eyes, because there was so much in her own eyes that he must never see.

They went into the shop. A clerk appeared to wait on them.

Helen described the hat. It was in the window.

She was wishing now that they had never come into the shop. But Greg had been insistent. He wanted to give her something. A parting gift, he had called it.

He was smiling now out of blue, untroubled eyes. Which surprised her. And yet why should it, she asked herself, as she took the hat from the clerk and placed it on her blue-gray hair?

She had always tried to be modern, and part of modernity was to see these things through bravely, when and if they came.

Her mind turned back. And she saw herself in the hat shop mirror, not as someone in a black tailored suit, but as a bride. Smiling, radiant, on Greg's arm. At least they had said she had looked like that. She had never thought of it, never cared. She had been so completely, so blindly happy.

Five minutes later they were out again in the sunshine of the street and Greg, after looking at his watch, suggested tea.

"I know a place—" There was an expression of excitement in his eyes which she could not understand. "You'll like it there."

It was a small, very ordinary café in one of the side streets off Oxford Street. He ordered for them both, and then leaned back.

He didn't speak, but his hand came out across the table and took hers.

"Please, God, don't let me cry," she prayed. "Not now. Not so long as he's with me."

The tea arrived. He drank one cup quickly, lit himself a cigarette, and then said:

"You're quite certain that you want to stay on in that house alone? I mean—well, I feel rather badly about the whole thing, and if there's anything I could do—"
There was one thing, but it would have been hysterical weakness to have suggested it. She shook her head. She didn't want him to have any feelings of regret, any pains of conscience. It had been wonderful having him for all those years.

"No, really," she said. "It'll be all right."

But he still didn't seem satisfied.

"There's another thing I'd like to mention," he said. "I didn't say anything about it before because I know—well, I know how sensitive you are about that sort of thing—" He broke off and then went hurriedly on, his eyes avoiding hers. "It's money. I've arranged with the bank..."

The color came at once to her cheeks. Not because of any false pride. That was a luxury you couldn't afford if you had no one to support you. But— "Oh, Greg, you shouldn't," she said with embarrassment.

He brushed that aside. Angrily almost.

"Why not? It's something I want to do. And Sandra—" He mentioned the girl's name— "She agrees. We were talking about it last night."

Sandra.... We.... How easily, familiarly, he spoke of her. Helen thought with an ache. And yet two months ago they hadn't even met. Two months.... Was it really only that time since he'd gone up to London on that business trip?

She had realized, of course, after he came back, that there was something, although he hadn't actually said a word then. Some deep-rooted woman's instinct had warned her that he wasn't all hers any longer, that she was sharing him with someone else.

A girl. Young, fresh, and lovely. The imagined picture had filled her with a sense of panic. He had changed his job for a better one and gone up to live in London. For a month she hadn't seen him. And she had never met the girl.

Sandra... She worked in the advertising business, he had told her. And very clever. But that didn't matter to Helen. When you have loved somebody with every part of you, you did not think of cleverness in considering that younger person to whom you were losing him.

Was she really nice? Would she work to keep him happy as you had tried to do?

But Sandra,... The name had a sharp quality. You couldn't imagine a girl with a name like that being—Helen's eyes were drawn to a girl who had just walked into the café, who was looking around hesitantly—well like that, for instance.

Then the girl turned. She was beautiful, with a shy, sweet loveliness that caught at your heart. Helen stared, quite unconscious that she was staring. And then her eyes widened in surprise as she saw Greg rise to his feet. The girl was hurrying towards their table.

"So you were able to get here, darling!" She heard Greg's voice and then he had turned, was smiling down at her. "A little surprise," he said. "This is Sandra, Mother. Tomorrow's happy bride!"

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Last updated February 29, 2015