156 A DYED-IN-THE-WOOL NONCONFORMIST 顽固不化的叛逆者
Alastair Greaves was a man of highly nontraditional and nonconformist views. He did not even pay nominal regard to society’s norms. What was normal to others most of the time was nothing but bother to him. Frankly, he considered himself to be a notch above the rest, and he was notable, if not to say notorious, for his aloofness, to say the very least. Even when he was sick, he would disdain his doctor’s advice, preferring instead of rely on some nostrum his grandmother had told him about, which he considered both healthful and nourishing.
阿拉斯泰尔·格里夫斯是一个极端反传统、极端不遵照社会常规生活的人。对社会规范他甚至连名义上的尊重都做不到。很多时候，对于其他入来说再正常不过的东西到了他眼里都不过是麻烦而已。坦率说来，他认为自己的水平在其他所有人之上。至少可以这样说，也正因为孤傲，他非常著名，如果不说他臭名昭著的话。甚至生病的时候他也不屑于接纳医生的意见，仍然坚持依靠他祖母告诉他的某种秘方。在他看来，这些秘方既能使人恢复健康又能滋养身体。
Nonetheless, there were people who liked him, perhaps because they admired his sense of freedom. A group of them got together one day and decide to nominate him for some high civic office. When they approached him and requested him to be their nominee, he curtly rejected their offer: “I have no intention of ever becoming some kind of notable, and notably not in this city.
虽然如此，仍然有人喜欢他，这很可能是因为他们钦佩弛那种追求自由的观念。一天，一群他的崇拜者在一起碰面，决定提名他为某个高级市府官员。当他们找到他本人，请求他当被提名人的时候，他却断然拒绝了：“我不想成为任何形式的名人，特别不想成为这个城市的名人。”
At that time, Alastair had already decided to get away from it all and lead a nomadic life. He was filled motto. He was sure he would find plenty of nourishment in the fields and forests, nourish himself on the goodness of berries and wild honey, in other words. He was fond of notating himself as a latter-day Jean-Jacques Rousseau, preferring to live in Mother Nature’s arms, working on a new notation of an oratorio he had written, to dwelling in a civilized place with hot and cold running water.
那时，阿拉斯泰尔已经决定完全离开这个城市，去过一种流浪的生活。对于过去的岁月，地心中总是充满怀旧之情。“回归自然！”是他最喜欢的座右铭。他坚信在田野和森林里能找到足够的营养品，换句话说也就是他完全可以依靠浆果和野蜂蜜的精华来营养自己。他喜欢把自己标榜为新时代的让一雅克·卢梭，宁愿住在自然母亲的怀抱里，给过去写的一部神剧重新记谱，也不愿在一个宥冷热供水设施的文明地方定居。
Words:
nomadic adj. 游牧的，流浪的
nominal adj. 名义上的，有名无实的
nominate vt. 提名；任命
nominee n. 被提名的人，被任命者
nonconformist adj. 不遵照传统生活的人
nonetheless adv. 虽然如此，但是
nontraditional adv. 不遵照传统生活的，反传统的
norm n. 标准
normal adj. 正常的；标准的
nostalgia n. 思家的，怀旧
nostrum n.秘方药，万灵丹
notable adj. 著名的，显要的
notably adv. 显著地，特别地
notate vt. 以符号表示，把…写成记号
notation n.符号
notch n. 刻痕；水平；等级
nourish vt. 养育，滋养
nourishing adj. 有营养的，滋养的
nourishment n. 营养品