Blackmail Arthur Hailey

Blackmail ( n.) :the obtaining of money or advancement by threatening to make known unpleasant facts about a person or group敲诈；勒索 ;(盗匪征收的)保护费;免 抢税 ( vt. )胁迫;勒索;敲诈;讹诈 随着故事的发展,作者对“讹诈”的对象进行巧妙 置换,从而使故事结局发生戏剧性逆转--由“侦探 长对公爵夫妇的讹诈”转为“公爵夫妇对侦探长 的讹诈”,旅馆警长由掌握罪证主动出击的强势 交际角色到被动服从的弱势社会角色的转换， 公爵夫人由被讹诈的弱势交际角色到强势社会 角色的回归,揭露社会权力拥有者对弱势阶层的 统治和控制。

Detailed Study of the Text第三人称是短篇小说中最常见的叙述手段。叙述 者不是小说中的一个人物，而是作家的“代言人 ”。他处于“无所不知”的地位，可以不受小说 情节发展的时间和地点的限制而根据故事发展的 需要自由地进行叙述或描写。这样的第三人称叙 述者被称做全知叙述者。 《讹诈》中除了人物对话，作者还通过对人物外貌 和外表活动以及人物独自的描写，读者可以体会 到他们的思维意识和喜怒哀乐等情感。比如在这 场讹诈与反讹诈的较量中，对旅馆警长和公爵夫 人各自眼神的描写，对刻画鲜明的人物形象起到 了画龙点睛的作用。

① The chief house officer, Ogilvie, who had declared he would appear at the Croydons suite an hour after his cryptic telephone call actually took twice that time. As a result the nerves of both the Duke and Duchess were excessively frayed when the muted buzzer of the outer door eventually sounded. 负责饭店保安工作的奥格尔维探长打了那个神秘 的电话，本来说好一个小时后光临克罗伊敦夫妇 所住的套房的，可实际上却过了两个小时才到。 结果，当外间门上的电铃终于发出沉闷的嗡嗡声 时，公爵夫妇的神经都紧张到了极点。

1.The chief house officer……suite an hour after his cryptic telephone call actually took twice that time : (line.1-4) suite ( n.) :a group of connected rooms used as a unit,such as an apartment一套房间;(同类物 的)系列 eg. a suite of dining-room furniture一套餐厅家具 cryptic ( adj.) :having a hidden meaning; mysterious隐蔽的，秘密的；神秘的 eg .a cryptic remark含义隐晦的话 Ogilvie :(notice that the name itself sounds awkward, awful):他故弄玄虚，在警察还没有行动 逮捕之前，亲自来访敲诈公爵夫妇，玩弄伎俩， 一副小人得志的嘴脸。

Twice time ①奥格尔维自认为掌握了物证(丢在车库的 捷豹车沾满血迹和碎车灯),知道公爵犯事 后来对公爵勒索，他一副小人得志的心理， 故意拖延时间。可见，在第一个见面回合较 量中，他控制着局面，掌握着主动权，处于

强势交际角色。 ②公爵夫妇犯下了罪行，内心惶恐，认为等 待的时间难熬，此时为弱势地位。

2.the nerves of both the Duke and Duchess were excessively frayed:(line.4-5) 公爵夫妇的神经都紧张到了极点。 fray ( v.) make or become strained (使)紧张； Tempers began to fray in the heat.天热时人容易脾 气急躁。 (v.)磨损 This cloth frays easily.这块布太不经磨. the nerves were frayed 是本句主干，用了暗喻手法。 将nerves 比喻为可以磨损的东西，fray指磨损布 边等，在此引申为“(使)紧张”。这是一段隐 喻，它很明显的向我们透漏了公爵夫人有自己不 可告人的秘密，同时为下文做了铺垫。.

. Metaphor:以此物隐喻彼物，将某一事物以另一 个与其相似的事物来表达，是一种含蓄的比喻， 暗示有比较，但又不充分说出这种比较。 the key to the mystery(即解开奥秘的方法就像开 门的钥匙一样); the light of knowledge(知识之光); to have a stone face(表情呆板) 隐喻不用比喻词，但可以用be动词或者只用逗号、 破折号将本体和喻体连起来。 The green plant is a kind of food factory. (把绿色 植物说成一种食物工厂。)

3. the muted :(line5) mute adj.无声的，哑的 muted P.P作adj. 声音减轻的 a muted voice 轻的声音 Muted to render the noise of the bell less harsh and strident沉闷的嗡嗡声

② The Duchess went to the door herself. Earlier she had dispatched her maid on an invented errand and, cruelly, instructed the moon-faced male secretary – who was terrified of dogs – to exercise the Bedlington terriers. Her own tension was not lessened by the knowledge that both might return at any moment. 公爵夫人亲自去开门。此前她早已借故把女仆支 开，并且狠心地给那位脸儿圆圆的、见到狗就怕 得要死的男秘书派了一个要命的差事，让他牵着 贝德林顿狼犬出去散步。想到这两个人随时都会 回来，她自己的紧张情绪怎么也松弛不下来。

4. she had dispatched her maid on an invented errand: (line.7-8) 她已借故把女仆支开 dispatch ( v.) :send off or out promptly,usually on a specific errand or official business(迅速地)派遣，派 出(常指特别差事或公事) errand ( n.) :a trip to carry a message or do a definite thing,esp. for someone else差事(尤指为别人送信 或办事); . 5. cruelly instructed: (line.8) “cruel”(狠心的) because they knew the secretary was terrified of dogs. They could easily have found some other errand for him.

6. the moon-faced male secretary: (line.9) the moon – faced male用了暗喻的修辞。 在此暗指男秘书比较怯懦阴柔， 公爵夫妇 可以随时把他解雇。 The use of male before secretary is to avoid possibility of the reader s assuming otherwise, for commonly in the U.S. secretaryship is the f

emale profession.