英语小达人 397 Balzac as Handwriting Expert

 　　Balzac as Handwriting Expert

　　手迹专家巴尔扎克

　　Balzac, the famous French writer, was a man of great talent. But he himself was proud of his ability to tell a person's character by his or her handwriting. He often told his friends that he could tell anybody's character exactly by his handwriting.

　　法国著名作家巴尔扎克很有才华。但他最自豪的是它能根据一个人的笔记来断定其性格。他常对他的朋友说，他能评笔迹准确地说出任何一个人的品性来。

　　One day a woman friend brought him a young boy's exercise book. She said that she wanted to know what Balzac thought of the boy's character.

　　一天，与他相熟的一位女士拿来一本男孩的练习册，说他想知道巴尔扎克对这个男孩的看法。

　　Balzac studied the handwriting carefully for a few minutes. The woman, however, told him the boy was not her son and that he might tell her the truth.

　　巴尔扎克将笔迹研究了几分钟。那女士告诉他这男孩儿并不是他的儿子，因此他可以直言不讳。

　　"All right," said Balzac. "I shall tell you the truth." And he said that the boy was a bad, lazy fellow.

　　巴尔扎克说：“好吧。那我就实话实说了。”他说这男孩儿是个又坏又懒的家伙。

　　"It is very strange." said the woman smiling. "This is a page from your own exercise book, which you used when you were a boy."

　　“这就奇怪了”那女士微笑道，“这是你小时候用过的练习本中的一页。”