英語美文摘錄

Antique shops exert a peculiar fascination on a great many people. The more expensive kind of antique shop where rare objects are beautifully displayed in glass cases to keep them free from dust is usually a forbidding place. But no one has to muster up courage to enter a less pretentious antique shop. There is always hope that in its labyrinth of musty, dark, disordered rooms a real rarity will be found amongst the piles of assorted junk that litter the floors.

No one discovers a rarity by chance. A truly dedicated searcher for art treasures must have patience, and above all, the ability to recognize the worth of something when he sees it. To do this, he must be at least as knowledgeable as the dealer. Like a scientist bent on making a discovery, he must cherish the hope that one day he will be amply rewarded.

My old friend, Frank Halliday, is just such a person. He has often described to me how he picked up a masterpiece for a mere &5. One Saturday morning, Frank visited an antique shop in my neighbourhood. As he had never been there before, he found a great deal to interest him. The morning passed rapidly and Frank was about to leave when he noticed a large packing-case lying on the floor. The dealer told him that it had just come in, but that he could not be bothered to open it. Frank begged him to do so and the dealer reluctantly prised it open. The contents were disappointing. Apart from an interesting-looking carved dagger, the box was full of crockery, much of it broken. Frank gently lifted the crockery out of the box and suddenly noticed a miniature Painting at the bottom of the packing-case. As its composition and line reminded him of an Italian painting he knew well, he decided to buy it. Glancing at it briefly, the dealer told him that it was worth &5. Frank could hardly conceal his excitement, for he knew that he had made a real discovery. The tiny painting proved to be an unknown masterpiece by Correggio and was worth thousands of pounds.

古玩店對許多人來説有一種特殊的魅力。高檔一點的古玩店為了防塵，把文物漂亮地陳列在玻璃櫃子裏，那裏往往令人望而卻步。而對不太裝腔作勢的古玩店，無論是誰都不用壯着膽子才敢往裏進。人們還常常有希望在發黴、陰暗、雜亂無章、迷宮般的店堂裏，從雜亂地擺放在地面上的、一堆堆各式各樣的破爛貨裏找到一件稀世珍品。

無論是誰都不會一下子就發現一件珍品。一個到處找便宜的人必須具有耐心，而且最重要的是看到珍品時要有鑑別珍品的'能力。要做到這一點，他至少要像古董商一樣懂行。他必須像一個專心致志進行探索的科學家那樣抱有這樣的希望，即終有一天，他的努力會取得豐碩的成果。

我的老朋友弗蘭克。哈利戴正是這樣一個人。他多次向我詳細講他如何只花50英鎊便買到一位名家的傑作。一個星期六的上午，弗蘭克去了我家附近的一家古玩店。