白領(lǐng)英語晨讀經(jīng)典365 076 The Conceited Wagner 自負(fù)的瓦格納
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The Conceited Wagner
Richard Wagner was an undersized little man，with a head too big for his body—a sickly little man．His nerves were bad．And he had delusions of grandeur．
He was a monster of conceit．Never for one minute did helook at the world or at people， except in relation to himself．He was not only the most important person in the world，to himself；in his own eyes he was the only person who existed．He believed himself to be one of the greatest dramatists in the world，one of the greatest thinkers，and one of the greatest composers．To hearhim talk，he was Shakespeare，and Beethoven，and Plato ，rolledinto one．And you would have had no difficulty in hearing himtalk．He was one of the most exhausting conversationalists thatever lived．An evening with him was an evening spent in listeningto a monologue．Sometimes he was brilliant；sometimes he wasmaddeningly tiresome．But whether he was being brilliant ordull，he had one sole topic of conversation：himself．What hethought and what he did．
He had a mania for being in the right．The slightest hint ofdisagreement，from anyone，on the most trivial point， was enough to set him off on a harangue that might last for hours，inwhich he proved himself right in so many ways，and with suchexhausting volubility，that in the end his hearer，stunned anddeafened，would agree with him，for the sake of peace．
自負(fù)的瓦格納
理查德·瓦格納身村短小，腦袋挺大，與他的身軀極不相稱——是個(gè)一副病態(tài)的矮個(gè)子。他神經(jīng)脆弱，患有皮膚病。貼身穿的衣服若比絲綢稍微粗糙一點(diǎn)，便會(huì)使他痛苦不堪。他還有夸大妄想的毛病。
他是個(gè)非常自負(fù)的怪物。他從來不屑對(duì)世界或世人瞧上一眼，除非事情與自己有關(guān)。他不但自認(rèn)為是天下頭號(hào)重要人物，而且在他眼里惟有他一人生活在世間。他確信自己是世上最偉大的戲劇家之一，最偉大的思想家之一，最偉大的作曲家之一。聽他侃侃而談，他就是集莎士比亞、貝多芬、柏拉圖三人于一身。你不難聽到他談話，他是世上論事不厭其煩的健談?wù)咧?。同他度過一個(gè)夜晚，就會(huì)聽他滔滔不絕講一個(gè)夜晚。有時(shí)他妙語連珠，有時(shí)卻令人厭煩不已。但不管是妙語連珠還是枯燥乏味，他只有一個(gè)話題：他自己。他總是在講自己想些什么，做些什么。
他一味堅(jiān)信自己總是對(duì)的。任何人，在最無足輕重的問題上，哪怕露出一絲異議，也會(huì)惹得他大發(fā)議論。他也許會(huì)說上好幾個(gè)小時(shí)，鼓起自己那如簧之舌，千方百計(jì)證明自己是正確的。聽的人被搞得耳朵發(fā)聾，不知所措。最后為了圖個(gè)太平，別人也只好同意他的說法了。
