在《歌犬》中遇到这么一句话：

"...(Cici) said nothing as she climbed, a long green stare from her." 爬瞭望塔的时候，她一声不吭，眼神愣愣的，绿绿的。

一开始我并不明白为什么特意强调眼神是绿的，所以我写信问我们老师Barbara. 她回答说：：

McCann certainly likes to use colors in unusual ways. The long green stare comes from Cici. Despite her pretense of not caring that Delhart has impregnated another woman, Cici is hurt and angry, as earlier and later events prove. The "stare" implies to me that she is lost in thought. She is not really seeing the scenery through which she walks because she is thinking about Delhart's betrayal. "Green" in English is often used of jealousy and envy. I think McCann is trying to show us a jealous woman who has been betrayed in love. ：

这么一分析，里头门道还颇多。所以说我们有时候看小说，一些小小的细节看似无关，其实里头颇有讲究。我以前读书，老师常拿出一篇文章来，比如康纳德的《黑暗之心》，跟我们一句话一句话地下死功夫分析。我发觉一些大学校老师一上来就是一大套理论，反倒失去了对这些小小细节地赏析了。而当初下地这些笨功夫，对于日后的翻译倒是一个好事，因为我们遇到一个词，一个陌生的表述，不会那么囫囵吞枣地一带而过了。

Barbara老师强调，英文中“绿色”有吃醋这层意思。这真是有趣，一旦过了太平洋，我们因为妒忌而发绿的眼神会开始变色，开始发红。一旦说妒忌，我们就说“眼红”，“红眼病”。

无独有偶，我们说人妒忌，说“吃醋”，“醋性大发”，“打翻了醋坛子”，因为醋是酸的（sour), 但是我发觉英文里形容妒忌，则说一个人是“妒忌而苦涩”（Jealous and Bitter), 不酸，是苦的了。唯有在性感问题上，两种语言的描述是一致的，英文中说人hot， 中文歌中唱到：辣妹子辣呀辣呀辣呀辣呀辣。