千真万确是时髦女郎勾引劳力汉。Vladimir Nabokov的Lolita更是娇滴滴春情早发，色迷迷雨打梨花，浪荡荡一“榻”胡涂：

Then gradually the place wakes up

What s happened？ ﹣ Bugger all.

这本一夜致博的指南倒是黄黑红白依样画葫芦，不太加油添酱。吴霭仪引过劳伦斯《查泰莱夫人的情人》给缩成两行诗：

We hear the locals gossiping，

Pert， pubescent九_九_藏_书_网 child，

Then off they go to bed again.

How still we see thee lie，

At the working classes.

英国人社交聊天靠肚子里的杂料撑场面，这种书内容浅浅寓意深深，最能助人稳操胜券。全书共有三十一位作者执笔，各显奇才，也如比赛。事实上，这些作家的确喜欢比赛；编者自己是“entries in various literary competitions”；作者有的“has been a literary competition winner for many years”；有的“was joint www.99lib.netwinner of the 1973 Daily Mail competition”；有的“Has been a regular literary competition winner since 1950s”。有的似乎是上了瘾：“An inveterate weekend literary competitor”；有的一九四零年就参赛到现在。书后的作者简介也有趣，有的说讨厌旅行，讨厌谈论自己作品的作家；有的说有四名孙子和八枚还相当管用的牙齿（“four grand children and eight fairly sound teeth”）！

Smart girls make pass九九藏书网es

O little town of Llareggub，

Is defiled by perve with nerve，

Till Quilty gets wild...

And， as the day goes by，

they prattle till nightfall，

Dylan Thomas 的 Under Milk Wood说的是寂寂小城，无风作浪；说三道四，蜚短流长；从早到晚，上床始忘；所为何事？一片空茫！

我真想一夜致博，问了好几家书店都没有吴霭仪说的那本妙书：How To Become Ridiｗwｗ.９９ｌib.ｎetculously Well Read in One Evening。问她，她说不必买了，她找出来给我。今天果然送来了。薄薄一本企鹅，一九八五年初版，编者E O Parrott一九九零年六十六岁就去世了。视力衰退，辞去教职，专心写作，编撰过好几本很俏皮的妙书：How to Become Absurdly Well Informed About The Famous And The Infamous；How to be Tremendously Tuned In to Opera；How to be Well Versed in Poetry。他的《前言》一上来就说博览群书，梦寐以求（“To be well-read is shttp://www.99lib.neturely highly desirable”），而生也有涯，书也无穷，总不能放弃电视节目放弃酒馆啤酒去死啃名着。他说想当年散文家蓝姆早就想出简化名着的绝招，编写《莎士比亚故事集》（Tales from Shakespeare），后人於是纷纷续貂，有的狗尾，有的貂尾，弄到后来，明明是正襟危坐的作品，都作兴羼入非非之想了（“It is now the fashion to seek for sexual meanings and pornographic undertones even in passages where almost certainly the author intended nothing of the kind”）。