主题：名篇欣赏 （走近纯正英语）

a snub nose 短平而上翘(鼻子) a snub nose 短平而上翘(鼻子)
a snub nose 短平而上翘(鼻子) a snub nose 短平而上翘(鼻子)

"There's only one thing to be said for Woodview, and that is the eating;
we have anything we want, and we'd have more than we want if it weren't
for the old cook: she must have her little bit out of everything and she
cuts us short in our bacon  咸肉,熏肉   in the morning. But that reminds me!
You have set the cook against you; you'll have to bring her over to your side if
you want to remain here."
a snub nose 短平而上翘(鼻子) a snub nose 短平而上翘(鼻子)
a snub nose 短平而上翘(鼻子) a snub nose 短平而上翘(鼻子)
"Why should I be asked to wash up the moment I came in the house, before
even I had time to change my dress."
"It was hard on you. She always gets as much as she can out of her
kitchen-maid. But last night she was pressed, there was company to dinner.
I'd have lent you an apron, and the dress you had on wasn't of much
account."
a snub nose 短平而上翘(鼻子) a snub nose 短平而上翘(鼻子)
a snub nose 短平而上翘(鼻子) a snub nose 短平而上翘(鼻子)
"It isn't because a girl is poor----"
"Oh, I didn't mean that; I know well enough what it is to be hard up."
Margaret clasped her stays across her plump 圆胖 丰满的 figure and walked to the door
for her dress. She was a pretty girl, with a snub nose 短平而上翘(鼻子) and large, clear
eyes. Her hair was lighter in tone than Esther's, and she had brushed it
from her forehead so as to obviate 掩饰 the defect of her face, which was too
short.
Esther was on her knees saying her prayers when Margaret turned to the
light to button her boots  扣住她的靴子.
"Well, I never!" she exclaimed. "Do you think prayers any good?"
Esther looked up angrily.
obviate 掩饰
obviate 掩饰
obviate 掩饰

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>
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"I don't want to say anything against saying prayers,
>
>  
but I wouldn't before the others if I was you--
>
>
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they'll chaff 开玩笑 dreadful 令人生畏的,
and call you Creeping 爬行的 Jesus."

"Oh, Margaret, I hope they won't do anything so wicked. But I am afraid

I shan't be long here, so it doesn't matter what they think of _me_."

>


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http://sl.iciba.com/viewthread-2-340760-1.shtml    名篇欣赏 （走近纯正英语）   12  楼    起

http://sl.iciba.com/viewthread-2-415875-1.shtml    名篇欣赏 （走近纯正英语） [续1]
http://sl.iciba.com/viewthread-2-428804-1.shtml    名篇欣赏 （走近纯正英语） [续2]
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最后由 小小诗鬼 于 2008-04-17 06:49:37编辑

>>>>>>>>>

When they got downstairs they opened the windows and doors, and Margaret
took Esther round, showing her where the things were kept, and telling her
for how many she must lay the table 摆设餐具(准备吃饭).
>>>>>>>>>
At that moment a number of boys and

men came clattering 发出哗啦声 卡搭卡搭的响 喧闹的谈笑 up the passage.
>>>>>>>>>
They cried to Esther to hurry up,
declaring that they were late.
>>>>>>>>>
Esther did not know who they were, but she
served them as best she might.
>>>>>>>>>
They breakfasted hastily and rushed away to
the stables马厩 马棚 ; and they had not been long gone
when the squire 护卫 侍从 乡绅 and his son
Arthur appeared in the yard.
>>>>>>>>>

.
.

The Gaffer, as he was called, was a man of
about medium height.
.
He wore breeches and gaiters 穿短裤和绑腿套, and in them his legs
seemed grotesquely 奇特地 thick.
.
His son was a narrow-chested, undersized young
man, absurdly 荒诞地 thin and 短柄小斧 hatchet-faced.
.
He was also in breeches and gaiters,
and to his boots were attached long-necked spurs 马刺 .
.
His pale yellow hair
gave him a somewhat ludicrous appearance, as he stood talking to his
father, but the moment he prepared to get into the saddle he seemed quite
different.
.
He rode a beautiful chestnut horse, a little too thin, Esther
thought, and the ugly little boys were mounted on horses equally thin.
.
The squire rode a stout 烈啤酒 强壮 稳重的 grey cob 玉米棒子 穗轴, and
he watched the chestnut, and was also
.
interested in the brown horse that walked with its head in the air,
.
pulling at the smallest of all the boys, a little freckled 雀斑 , red-headed
fellow.
.
.
.
.

He became stout as he grew older.
.
.
随着年龄的增长，他发胖了。
.
..
.

butler 仆役长司膳总管 男管家 .

"That's Silver Braid, the brown horse 棕色马, the one that the Demon is riding;
the chestnut 栗子 栗色的 is Bayleaf, Ginger is riding him: he won the City and

Suburban. Oh, we did have a fine time then, for we all had a bit on.
The betting 打赌 was twenty to one, and I won twelve and six pence.

Grover won thirty shillings. They say that John--that's the butler
（ butler仆役长 男管家 司膳总管） --won a little
fortune; but he is so close no one knows what he has on. Cook wouldn't
have anything on; she says that betting is the curse 符[诅]咒 of servants
--you know what is said,
that it was through betting that Mrs. Latch's husband got
into trouble. He was steward 干事 管宴席的 here, you know,
in the late squire's 护卫 侍从 乡绅 time."

.
.

最后由 小小诗鬼 于 2008-02-04 09:55:07编辑

steward  管事
Then Margaret told all she had heard on the subject. The late Mr. Latch
had been a confidential steward  管事, and large sums of money were constantly
passing through his hands for which he was never asked for any exact
account. Contrary to all expectation, Marksman was beaten for the Chester
Cup, and the squire's property was placed under the charge of a receiver.
Under the new management things were gone into more closely, and it was
then discovered that Mr. Latch's accounts were incapable of satisfactory
explanation. The defeat of Marksman had hit Mr. Latch as hard as it had
hit 击,碰撞 偶然发现 the squire, and to pay his debts of honour he had to
take from the money placed in his charge,

.

jockey 赛马的骑师 骑手.
confidently hoping to return it in a few
months. The squire's misfortunes anticipated the realization of his
intentions; proceedings were threatened, but were withdrawn when Mrs.
Latch came forward with all her savings and volunteered to
forego 放弃 在...之前  居先  her wages
for a term of years. Old Latch died soon after, some lucky bets set
the squire on his legs again, the matter was half forgotten, and in the
next generation it became the legend 传说 传奇 of the Latch family. But to Mrs.
Latch it was an incurable grief, and to remove her son from influences
which, in her opinion, had caused his father's death, Mrs. Latch had
always refused Mr. Barfield's offers to do something for William. It was
against her will that he had been taught to ride; but to her great joy he
soon grew out of all possibility of becoming a jockey 赛马的骑师 骑手.
She had then placed him in an office in Brighton;
but the young man's height and shape marked
him out for livery  侍从 （贵族家中规定仆人穿的衣服）制服 特定服装,
and Mrs. Latch was pained when Mr. Barfield proposed
it. "Why cannot they leave me my son?" she cried; for it seemed to her
that in that hateful cloth, buttons and cockade 帽章 帽上的花结,

.

breathe (人)低语 one syllable 只言片语
he would be no more her son, and she could not forget
what the Latches had been long ago.
"I believe there's going to be a trial this morning," said Margaret;
"Silver Braid was stripped--you noticed that--and Ginger always rides in
the trials."
"I don't know what a trial is," said Esther. "They are not
carriage-horses, are they? They look too slight."
"Carriage-horses, you ninny! Where have you been to all this while--can't
you see that they are race-horses?"
Esther hung down her head and murmured something which Margaret didn't
catch.
"To tell the truth, I didn't know much about them when I came, but then
one never hears anything else here. And that reminds me--it is as much as
your place is worth to breathe (人)低语 one syllable 只言片语 about them horses; you must
know nothing when you are asked. That's what Jim Story got sacked
for--saying in the 'Red Lion' that Valentine pulled up lame(金属)薄板[片].

.

they needn't have sent him away as they did
.

We don't know how it came to the Gaffer's ears. I believe that it was Mr. Leopold that
told; he finds out everything. But I was telling you how I learnt about
the race-horses. It was from Jim Story--Jim was my pal--Sarah is after
William, you know, the fellow who brought you into the kitchen last night.
Jim could never talk about anything but the 'osses. We'd go every night
and sit in the wood-shed, that's to say if it was wet; if it was fine we'd
walk in the drove-way. I'd have married Jim, I know I should, if he hadn't
been sent away. That's the worst of being a servant. They sent Jim away
just as if he was a dog. It was wrong of him to say the horse pulled up
lame; I admit that, but they needn't have sent him away as they did."
.

Esther was absorbed in the consideration of her own perilous position.
Would they send her away at the end of the week, or that very
afternoon?
Would they give her a week's wages, or would they turn her out
destitute
destitute: [ 'destitju:t ] a. 困穷的,缺乏,无


to find her way back to London as best she might? What should she do if
they turned her out-of-doors that very afternoon? Walk back to London?
She
did not know if that was possible. She did not know how far she had
come--a long distance, no doubt. She had seen woods, hills, rivers, and
towns flying past. Never would she be able to find her way back through
that endless country; besides, she could not carry her box on her
back....
What was she to do? Not a friend, not a penny in the world. Oh, why did
such misfortune fall on a poor little girl who had never harmed anyone
in
the world! And if they did give her her fare back--what then?... Should
she go home?... To her mother--to her poor mother, who would burst into
tears, who would say, "Oh, my poor darling, I don't know what we shall
do;
your father will never let you stay here."
For Mrs. Latch had not spoken to her since she had come into the
kitchen,
and it seemed to Esther that she had looked round with the air of one
anxious to discover something that might serve as a pretext for blame.
She
had told Esther to make haste and lay the table afresh. Those who had
gone
were the stable folk, and breakfast had now to be prepared for the
other
servants. The person in the dark green dress who spoke with her chin in
the air, whose nose had been pinched to purple just above the nostrils,

pinch: [ pintʃ ]

n. 捏,撮,困苦
v. 掐,使...困苦,节俭



was Miss Grover, the lady's-maid. Grover addressed an occasional remark
to
Sarah Tucker, a tall girl with a thin freckled face and dark-red hair.
最后由 小小诗鬼 于 2008-02-07 15:31:35编辑

II
Esther was absorbed in the consideration of her own perilous position.

Would they send her away at the end of the week, or that very The
butler, who was not feeling well, did not appear at breakfast, and Esther
was sent to him with a cup of tea.
There were the plates to wash and the knives to clean, and when they were
done there were potatoes, cabbage, onions to prepare, saucepans to fill
with water, coal to fetch for the fire. S

he worked steadily without
flagging, fearful of Mrs. Barfield, who would come down, no doubt, about
ten o'clock to order dinner. T

he race-horses were coming through the
paddock-gate; Margaret called to Mr. Randal, a little man, wizen, with a
face sallow with frequent 消化不良(症); 胃弱
indigestions.
http://www.fullbooks.com/Esther-Waters1.html


...

"Well, do you think the Gaffer's satisfied?" said Margaret.

John made no
articulate reply, but he muttered something, and his manner showed that he
strongly deprecated all female interest in racing; a

nd when Sarah and
Grover came running down the passage and overwhelmed him with questions,
crowding around him, asking both together if Silver Braid had won his
trial, he testily pushed them aside,

declaring that if he had a race-horse
he would not have a woman-servant in the place....


"A positive curse, this
chatter, chatter. Won his trial, indeed!

What business had a lot of female
folk----"

The rest of John's sarcasm was lost in his shirt collar as he
hurried away to his pantry, closing the door after him.

http://www.fullbooks.com/Esther-Waters1.html
.

"What a testy little man he is!" said Sarah; "he might have told us which
won. He has known the Gaffer so long that he knows the moment he looks at
him whether the gees are all right."
"One can't speak to a chap in the lane that he doesn't know all about it
next day," said Margaret. "Peggy hates him; you know the way she skulks
about the back garden and up the 'ill so that she may meet young Johnson
as he is ridin' home."
"I'll have none of this scandal-mongering going on in my kitchen," said
Mrs. Latch. "Do you see that girl there? She can't get past to her
scullery."

http://www.fullbooks.com/Esther-Waters1.html

.

Esther would have managed pretty well if it had not been for the
dining-room lunch. Miss Mary was expecting some friends to play tennis
with her, and, besides the roast chicken, there were


the cotelettes a la
Soubise and a curry. There was for dessert a jelly and a blancmange, and
Esther did not know where any of the things were, and a great deal of time
was wasted. "Don't you move, I might as well get it myself," said the old
woman. Mr. Randal, too, lost his temper,


for she had no hot plates ready,
nor could she distinguish between those that were to go to the dining-room
and those that were to go to the servants' hall.


She understood, however,
that it would not be wise to give way to her feeling, and that the only
way she could hope to retain her situation was by doing nothing to attract
attention.

She must learn to control that temper of hers--she must and
would. And it was in this frame of mind and with this determination that
she entered the servants' hall.


http://www.fullbooks.com/Esther-Waters1.html

Esther thought him a nice little fellow, and tried to persuade him to
forego 在前, 居先, 先行

his resolution not to touch pudding,

until Mr. Swindles told her to   停止; 结束
desist. The attention of the whole table being thus drawn towards the boy,
Esther was still further surprised at the admiration he seemed so easily
to command and the important position he seemed to occupy,
尽管; 虽然:
notwithstanding
his diminutive stature, whereas the bigger boys were treated with very
little consideration. The long-nosed lad, with weak eyes and

sloping  向 倾斜；走开（尤指溜走以逃避工作等）.
shoulders, who sat on the other side of the table on Mr. Swindles' left,
was everybody's laughing-stock, 笑柄


especially Mr. Swindles', who did not
cease to poke fun at him. Mr. Swindles was now telling poor Jim's
misadventures with the Gaffer.

"But why do you call him Mr. Leopold when his name is Mr. Randal?" Esther
ventured to inquire of the Demon.

"On account of Leopold Rothschild," said the Demon; "he's pretty near as
rich, if the truth was known--won a pile over the City and Sub. Pity you
weren't there; might have had a bit on."

》》》》》》
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》》》》》》
》》》》》》》》》》》》

》》》》》》》》》》》》

Esther looked in amazement
Esther looked in amazement

Esther looked in amazement

Esther looked in amazement at the little boy at her side. Swindles had
overheard the question and burst into a roar of laughter. Everyone wanted
to know what the joke was, and, feeling they were poking fun at her,
Esther refused to answer.

The first helpings of pudding or mutton had taken the edge off their
appetites, and before sending their plates for more they leaned over the
table listening and laughing open-mouthed. It was a bare room, lit with
one window, against which Mrs.

Latch's austere
严峻的,简朴的

figure appeared in

dark-grey silhouette.

n. 黑色半身侧面影,影子,轮廓

v. 描绘成侧面影,照出影子来,仅仅显出轮廓

The window looked on one of the little back courts
and tiled ways which had been built at the back of the house; and the
shadowed northern light softened the listening faces with grey tints.



Esther looked in amazement
Esther looked in amazement
http://www.fullbooks.com/Esther-Waters1.html
Esther looked in amazement