A Day’s Wait
Ernest Hemingway
“人生的意义就在于一种精神，即敢于承受痛苦，蔑视死亡”。
这篇《一整天的等待》讲的是一个九岁的男孩，由于不了解“华氏”(Fahrenheit)和“摄氏”(Celsius)换算方法，误以为自己快要发烧烧“死”了。小说形象、具体、细致地刻画了在“一天的等待死亡”过程中，小男孩所表现出来的不畏死神的勇气。
海明威力求生动而精确地表达印象深刻的重大尖锐时刻，表达那种“对事物真谛的顿悟”的经历。有读者认为，在这篇小说中，“父亲象征了知识和力量，儿子则象征了天真和无知”。可以说这是从一个视角来诠释该处的象征意义。但我以为海明威在这里的笔墨并不是着重于表现儿子的“天真和无知”，而是着重于他面对死亡所表现出的勇气以及对父母的体谅。他具体形象地把一个九岁的小孩，压抑情感的过程，刻画得淋漓尽致。这些对压抑的情绪的描写在本篇小说中随处可见。
He came into the room to shut the windows while we were still in bed and I saw he looked ill. He was shivering, his face was white, and he walked slowly as though it ached to move.
8216;What 8217;s the matter, Schatz? 8217;
8216;I 8217;ve got a headache. 8217;
8216;You better go back to bed. 8217;
8216;No, I 8217;m all right. 8217;
8216;You go to bed. I 8217;ll see you when I 8217;m dressed. 8217;
But when I came downstairs he was dressed, sitting by the fire, looking a very sick and miserable boy of nine years. When I put my hand on his forehead I knew he had a fever.
8216;You go up to bed, 8217; I said, 8216;you 8217;re sick. 8217;
8216;I 8217;m all right, 8217; he said.
When the doctor came he took the boy 8217;s temperature.
8216;What is it? 8217; I asked him.
8216;One hundred and two. 8217;