As soon as[2] you enter a barber's shop,you lose your freedom.[3] You are not to regain[4] it till you have paid for it after a full hour's slavery.[5]
Well,[6]you may not wish to call it slavery.You may call it enjoyment.Many persons call it enjoyment; perhaps they enjoy slavery.Drunkards[7] enjoy being slaves to drink.[8] Young lovers enjoy being slaves of their sweethearts' caprices.[9]And many persons enjoy being slaves to a barber once a week!
I,for one,[10] do not enjoy being a slave to a barber.As soon as I enter a barber's shop,I feel I lose both my freedom and my dignity.[11] For I have to resign[12] myself,and especially that important part of myself,the head,to the control of an ignorant[13] or at least ill-educated[14]barber(I beg barbers' pardon).He turns about my head as though[15] it were his own instead of mine.He sometimes offers me a newspaper as much as to say,[16] "While I improve the outside of your head for you,you ought to improve its inside[17]yourself".But in fact[18],he does not care a bit[19] about what is in my head.He treats my head,which contains a knowledge of English grammar,rhetoric,[20] phonetics,[21] literary history,[22] versification,[23]etc.,in the same way as any head that does not contain a single word of English.
Talking of [24] English,I wonder[25] why the barbers in some fashionable shops in Shanghai often speak English - surely pidgin English[26]- among themselves.But this is by the way.[27]
To return to[28] the question of slavery.I feel my slavery more keenly as often as[29]I look into the glass before me.Is it not enough to make a slave of me? Is it necessary to remind[30]me that I am a slave?
I am glad that I do not make so much of [31] my hair as to require it to be shampooed[32] or singed[33]in a barber's shop.I want to have my hair cut,and have it cut,that's all.[34] Thus,if[35] I have to be a slave once every three or four weeks,my period of slavery is always a short one.
Emerging[36] from a barber's shop,I often heave a sigh of relief.[37]
注释
[1]barber's shop：理发店
[2]as soon as：一俟
[3]lose my freedom：失去我之自由
[4]are not to regain：不可复得
[5]a full hour's slavery：足有一小时之奴隶生活
[6]well：语气助词
[7]drunkards：酒徒
[8]enjoy being slaves to drink：以耽于狂饮为乐
[9]their sweethearts’ caprices：彼等之情人之任性
[10]for one：就我个人而言
[11]dignity：尊严
[12]resign：抛弃
[13]ignorant：无知识的
[14]ill-educated：教育不良的
[15]as though：宛如
[16]as much as to say：若曰
[17]improve its inside：改善其内部（意即增加知识）
[18]in fact：在事实上
[19]does not care a bit：毫不留意
[20]rhetoric：修辞学
[21]phonetics：语音学
[22]literary history：文学史
[23]versification：诗学
[24]Talking of：今既论及……
[25]wonder：不知；不解
[26]pidgin English：洋泾浜英语（一种中国人与欧美人间所用之极不纯正之英语，“pidgin”原系“business”之转误）
[27]by the way：偶然说及
[28]To return to：回至；再说
[29]as often as：每次
[30]remind：提醒
[31]make so much of：如是重视
[32]shampooed：用洗发水洗
[33]singed：烫
[34]that's（= that is）all：如是而已
[35]if：虽
[36]Emerging：走出
[37]heave a sigh of relief：因得安慰而叹息