主题：名篇欣赏 （走近纯正英语）

"We know," said Mr. Leopold, "that Bayleaf can get the mile;

there must
have been a lot of weight between them.

Besides, I should think that the
trial was at the three-quarters of the mile.

The mile was so much kid."

"I should say," replied Mr. Swindles, "that the 'orses were tried at
twenty-one pounds, and

if Silver Braid can beat Bayleaf at that weight,
he'll take a deal of beating at Goodwood."

And leaning forward, their arms on the table,

with large pieces of cheese
at the end of their knives, the maid-servants and the jockey

listened
while Mr. Leopold and Mr. Swindles

discussed the chances the stable had of
pulling off the Stewards' Cup with Silver Braid.

"But he will always keep on trying them," said Mr. Swindles,

"and what's
the use, says I, of trying 'orses that are no more than 'alf fit?

And them
downs is just rotten with 'orse watchers;

it has just come to this, that
you can't comb out an 'orse's mane without seeing

it in the papers the day
after. If I had my way with them gentry----"

绅士（的身分、地位）

Mr. Swindles finished his
beer at a gulp, and he put down his glass as firmly

狼吞虎咽

抑制(呜咽); 忍气

as he desired to put
down the horse watchers.

.....

..............

.............................

At the end of a long silence

At the end of a long silence

At the end of a long silence  

。
餐具室; 食品室; 配膳室
。。。。。。。。
。。。。。。。

"Cunning old bird," said Mr. Swindles,

狡猾的, 阴险的
巧妙的, 精巧的; 熟练的
[美口](孩子等)伶俐的, 可爱的, 迷人的
as cunning as a fox
象狐狸一样狡猾

as he rose from the table and wiped
his shaven lips with the back of his hand;

"and you'd have us believe that
you didn't know, would you?

You'd have us believe, would you, that the
Gaffer don't tell you everything

when you bring up his hot water in the
morning, would you?"


Mr. Leopold laughed under his breath,

and looking mysterious and very
rat-like he led the way to his pantry.

Esther watched them in strange
trouble of soul.


赛马场    racecourse
跑马场,赛马场


She had heard of racecourses as shameful places where men
were led to their ruin, and betting

she had always understood to be
sinful, but in this house no one seemed

to think of anything else.

Christian   
adj.
信基督教的；基督教的
基督的；基督徒的
有基督精神的
词性变化 n.
基督教徒
高尚的人
Christian   

基督徒, 信徒


It was
no place for a Christian girl.

"Let's have some more of the story," Margaret said.

"You've got the new
number.

The last piece was where he is going to ask the opera-singer to
run away with him."


Sarah took an illustrated journal

out of her pocket and began to read
aloud.


。。。
。。。。。。
。。。。。。。。。
。。。。。。。

III

She turned them over, wondering what were the mysteries that this print
held from her.
》》》》》》
》》》》》》》》》》》》
。。。。。。。。。。。

It was to her mysterious as the stars.


Esther Waters came from Barnstaple.

She had been brought up in the
strictness of the Plymouth Brethren, and her earliest memories were of
prayers, of narrow, peaceful family life.

This early life had lasted till
she was ten years old. Then her father died.
》》》》》》
》》》》》》》》》》》》
。。。。。。。。。。。

He had been a house-painter,
but in early youth he had been led into intemperance by some wild
companions.

无节制, 放纵; 过度
饮酒过度   intemperance

He was often not in a fit state to go to work, and one day the
fumes of the beer he had drunk overpowered him as he sat in the strong
sunlight on his scaffolding.


搭脚手架用的支柱与木板
scaffolding    
n.
脚手架


In the hospital he called upon God to relieve
him of his suffering; then the Brethren said,
"You never thought of God
before.
》》》》》》
》》》》》》》》》》》》
。。。。。。。。。。。

Be patient, your health is coming back;

it is a present from God;
you would like to know Him and

thank Him from the bottom of your heart?"

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


John Waters' heart was touched.

He became one of the Brethren, renouncing
those companions who refused to follow into the glory of God.

His
conversion and subsequent grace won for him the sympathies of Mary
Thornby.

But Mary's father would not consent to the marriage unless John
abandoned his dangerous trade of house-painter.

John Waters consented to
do this, and old James Thornby,

who had made a competence in the curiosity
line, offered to make over his shop

to the young couple on certain
conditions;

these conditions were accepted, and

under his father-in-law's
direction John drove a successful trade in old glass,

old jewellery, and
old furniture.


The Brethren liked not this trade, and they often came to John to speak
with him on the subject, and their words were----


"Of course this is between you and the Lord, but these things"

(pointing
to the old glass and jewellery) "

often are but snares for the feet, and
lead weaker brethren into temptation.

Of course, it is between you and the
Lord."


》》》
》》》

was tormented with scruples

was tormented with scruples

was tormented with scruples

So John Waters was tormented with scruples

1.    What a little torment that child is!
这孩子真烦人!

concerning the righteousness of
his trade, but his wife's gentle voice and eyes, and the limitations that
his accident, from which he had never wholly recovered, had

III

Mother and
daughter were seen in the evenings, one with a baby at her breast, the
other with an eighteen months old child in her arms.

Esther did not dare
leave her mother, and to protect her she gave up school, and

this was why
she had never learnt how to read.

One of the many causes of quarrel between Mrs. Saunders and her husband
was her attendance at prayer-meetings

when he said she should be at home
minding her children.

He used to accuse her of carrying on with the
Scripture-readers, and to punish her he would say,

"This week I'll spend
five bob more in the public--that'll teach you,

if beating won't, that I
don't want none of your hypocritical folk hanging round my place."

So it
befell the Saunders family to have little to eat; and

Esther often
wondered how she should get a bit of dinner

for her sick mother and

her
hungry little brothers and sisters.

...

III

Once they passed nearly thirty hours
without food. She called them round her, and knelt down amid them: they
prayed that God might help them; and their prayers were answered, for at
half-past twelve a Scripture lady came in with flowers in her hands.

She
asked Mrs. Saunders how her appetite was.

Mrs. Saunders answered that it
was more than she could afford, for there was nothing to eat in the house.
Then the Scripture lady gave them eighteen pence, and they all knelt down
and thanked God together.

But although Saunders spent a great deal of his money

in the public-house,

he rarely got drunk and always kept his employment.

He was a painter of
engines, a first-rate hand, earning good money, from twenty-five to thirty
shillings a week.

He was a proud man, but so avaricious that he stopped at
nothing to get money.

大雨迫使我们呆在户内。

The heavy rain compelled us to stay indoors.

He was an ardent politician, yet he would sell his
vote to the highest bidder, and when Esther was seventeen he compelled her

>>>>>>

They had left Barnstaple many months

III

They had left Barnstaple many months, and were now living
in a little street off the Vauxhall Bridge Road, near the factory where
Saunders worked;

and since they had been in London Esther had been
constantly in service.

Why should he keep her? She wasn't one of his
children,

he had quite enough of his own.

Sometimes of an evening, when

Esther could escape from her drudgery for a few minutes,

洗衣机把洗衣工作带出了洗衣房。

Washing machines take the drudgery out of laundry.

her mother would
step round, and mother and daughter, wrapped in the same shawl, would

walk
to and fro telling each other their troubles, just as in old times.

But
these moments were few. In grimy lodging-houses she worked from early

His whistling grated on her nerves.

morning till late at night, scrubbinggrates,

Please put the chops down to my account.

请把排骨钱记在我账上。

preparing bacon and eggs,

cooking chops, and making beds.

After scrubbing away for half an hour I still couldn't get the mark off.

我不停地擦了半小时，还是不能擦掉这个斑点。

She had become one of those London girls
to whom rest, not to say pleasure, is unknown, who if they should sit down
for a few moments hear the mistress's voice, "Now, Eliza, have you nothing
to do, that you are sitting there idle?"

Two of her mistresses, one after
the other, had been sold up, and now all the rooms

slavey

公寓里的打杂的女佣人

a female domestic servant who does all kinds of menial work

in the neighbourhood
were unlet, no one wanted a "slavey,"

unlet [.ʌn'let]  

and Esther was obliged to return
home. It was on the last of these occasions that her father had taken her
by the shoulders, saying----
'

''

'

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


...

III

"No lodging-houses that want a slavey? I'll see about that. Tell me,
first, have you been to 78?"

"Yes, but another girl was before me, and the place was taken when I
arrived."

"I wonder what you were doing that you didn't get there sooner; dangling
about after your mother, I suppose! Well, what about 27 in the Crescent?"

"I couldn't go there--that Mrs. Dunbar is a bad woman."

"Bad woman! Who are you, I should like to know, that you can take a lady's
character away? Who told you she was a bad woman? One of the
Scripture-readers, I suppose! I knew it was. Well, then, just get out of
my house."

"Where shall I go?"

"Go to hell for all I care. Do you hear me? Get out!"

Esther did not move--words, and then blows. Esther's escape from her
stepfather seemed a miracle, and his anger was only appeased by Mrs.
Saunders promising that Esther should accept the situation.

"Only for a little while. Perhaps Mrs. Dunbar is a better woman than you
think for. For my sake, dearie.

III

Esther looked at her one moment, then she said, "Very well, mother,
to-morrow I'll take the place."

No longer was the girl starved, no longer was she made to drudge till the
thought of another day was a despair and a terror.

And seeing that she was
a good girl, Mrs. Dunbar respected her scruples.

Indeed, she was very
kind, and Esther soon learnt to like her, and, through her affection for
her, to think less of the life she led.

If I‘ve gone from stud to spud, then you’ve gone from doll to drudge.

如果说我从猛男变成了懒蛋，那你就是从美女变成了苦工。

drudge

A dangerous point is this in a
young girl's life.

Esther was young, and pretty, and weary, and out of
health;

and it was at this critical moment that Lady Elwin, who, while
visiting, had heard her story, promised Mrs. Saunders to find Esther
another place.

III

And now, as she turned over her books--the books she could not read--her
pure and passionate mind was filled with the story of her life.

The emperor was a tyrant.

那皇帝是个暴君。

She
remembered her poor little brothers and sisters and her dear mother, and
that tyrant revenging himself upon them because of the little she might
eat and drink.

No, she must bear with all insults and scorn, and forget
that they thought her as dirt under their feet.

But what were such
sufferings compared to those she would endure were she to return home?

In
truth they were as nothing.

And yet the girl longed to leave Woodview.

She
had never been out of sight of home before.

Amid the violences of her
stepfather there had always been her mother and the meeting-house.

In
Woodview there was nothing, only Margaret, who had come to console and
persuade her to come downstairs.

The resolution she had to call out of her
soul to do this exhausted her, and she went downstairs heedless of what
anyone might say.

Two and three days passed without anything occurring that might suggest
that the Fates were for or against her remaining.

Mrs. Barfield continued
to be indisposed, but at the end of the week Esther, while she was at work
in the scullery, heard a new voice speaking with Mrs. Latch. This must be
Mrs. Barfield. She heard Mrs. Latch tell the story of her refusal to go to
work the evening she arrived.

She whistled for her maid.

她朝她的仆人吹口哨。

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

,,,

listen to no further complaints

III  

But Mrs. Barfield told her that she would
listen to no further complaints;

this was the third kitchen-maid in four
months, and Mrs. Latch must make up her mind to bear with the faults and
failings of this last one, whatever they were.

Then Mrs. Barfield called
Esther; and when she entered the kitchen she found herself face to face
with a little red-haired woman, with a pretty, pointed face.

"I hear, Waters--that is your name, I think--that you refused to obey
cook, and walked out of the kitchen the night you arrived."

"I said, ma'am, that I would wait till my box came up from the station,

so
that I might change my dress.

Mrs. Latch said my dress didn't matter, but
when one is poor and hasn't many dresses----"

"Are you short of clothes, then?"

"I have not many, ma'am, and the dress I had on the day I came----"

"Never mind about that. Tell me, are you short of clothes?--for if you are
I daresay my daughter might find you something—

you are about the same
height--with a little alteration----"

"Oh, ma'am, you are too good. I shall be most grateful. But I think I
shall be able to manage till my first quarter's wages come to me."

I feel truly grateful.我由衷地感谢。

And the scowl upon Mrs. Latch's long face did not kill the pleasure which
the little interview with that kind, sweet woman, Mrs. Barfield, had
created in her.

She answered my smile with a scowl.她以怒视回报我的微笑。

Her grin changed to scowl.她的笑容变成愁容。

She moved about her work, happy at heart, singing to
herself as she washed the vegetables.

Even Mrs. Latch's harshness didn't
trouble her much.

She felt it to be a manner under which。。。

III

She felt it to be a manner under which there might be a
kind heart, and she hoped by her willingness to work to gain at least the
cook's toleration.

We'll have to induce her.我们得给她引产.

The medicine will induce sleep.这种药使人入睡。

Margaret suggested that Esther should give up her beer.
A solid pint extra a day could not fail, she said, to win the old woman's
gratitude, and perhaps induce her to teach Esther how to make pastry and
jellies.

This pastry is quite crisp.这个糕饼相当脆。

currant-like berry used primarily in jams and jellies.黑醋栗般的浆果，主要用果酱和果冻中。

jellies

fragrant oval yellowish tropical fruit used in jellies and confections.芬芳的、椭圆形、淡黄色热带水果，用来做果冻和糖果。

True that Margaret joined in the common laugh and jeer that the knowledge
that Esther said her prayers morning and evening inspired.

She sometimes
united with Grover and Sarah in perplexing Esther with questions regarding
her previous situations, but her hostilities were, on the whole, gentle,
and Esther felt that this almost neutral position was the best that
Margaret could have adopted.

She defended her without seeming to do so,
and seemed genuinely fond of her, helping her sometimes even with her
work, which Mrs. Latch made as heavy as possible.

The whole affair is very perplexing.

整件事令人感到莫名其妙.

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

,,

Don't impose yourself on people who don't want you.

III

The judge imposed a fine of ten dollars on him.

法官判他罚款10 美元。

Don't impose yourself on people who don't want you.

不要缠着不愿和你在一起的人。

But Esther was now
determined to put up with every task they might impose upon her; she would
give them no excuse for sending her away; she would remain at Woodview
until she had learned sufficient cooking to enable her to get another
place.

So as to thwart, obstruct, or oppose; perversely.

以便对抗，阻碍，或反对地；任性地  http://dict.cn/search/?q=thwart

Our plan for a football match was thwarted by the heavy rain.  

我们的足球比赛计划因大雨而受阻。

French fries served with gravy.

http://dict.iciba.com/gravy/

配有肉卤的炸薯条

But Mrs. Latch had the power to thwart her in this.

Before
beginning on her jellies and gravies Mrs. Latch was sure to find some
saucepans that had not been sufficiently cleaned with white sand, and, if
her search proved abortive, she would send Esther upstairs to scrub out
her bedroom.

"I cannot think why she is so down upon me," Esther often said to
Margaret.

"She isn't more down upon you than she was on the others.

That was an abortive attempt.

这是一种失败的尝试。

It would be an abortive effort to try to close this wide price gap.

设法缩小这样大的价格差距将是徒劳的。

In her haste she clashed the saucepans against the stove.

她匆忙中把锅当啷一声撞在炉子上。

Trams in London have been supplanted by buses.

III

You needn't
expect to learn any cooking from her; her plan has always been to take
care that she shall not be supplanted by any of her kitchen-maids.

Trams in London have been supplanted by buses.

伦敦的电车已经由公共汽车取代了。

http://dict.iciba.com/supplant/

1.    TV and computers shouldn't supplant time with others and cyberchats don't develop social skills."
电视和电脑不应取代与他人共度的时光，而且，网上聊天并不能提高社交技巧。”

But I
don't see why she should be always sending you upstairs to clean out her
bedroom. If Grover wasn't so stand-offish, we might tell her about it, and
she could tell the Saint--that's what we call the missis; the Saint would
soon put a stop to all that nonsense. I will say that for the Saint, she
do like everyone to have fair play."

Mrs. Barfield, or the Saint, as she was called, belonged, like Esther, to
the sect known as the Plymouth Brethren. She was the daughter of one of
the farmers on the estate--a very old man called Elliot.

Each religious sect in the town have its own church.

该城每一个宗教教派都有自己的教堂。

It's useless to continue such a barren argument.

继续这种无聊的争辩是无用的。

He had spent his
life on his barren down farm, becoming intimate with no one, driving hard
bargains with all, especially the squire and the poor flint-pickers.

He

1.    What can I get you, squire?
您要点儿什麽,先生?

He has a heart of flint.

他有一副铁石心肠。

A piece of flint used as a tool by primitive human beings.

打火石  原始人作为工具用的一块打火石。

could be seen still on the hill-sides, his long black coat buttoned
strictly about him, his soft felt hat crushed over the thin, grey face.

Pretty Fanny Elliot had won the squire's heart as he rode across the down.

.

Do you not see the shy figure

IIIDo you not see the shy figure of the Puritan maiden tripping through the
gorse, hastening the hoofs of the squire's cob? And, furnished with some
pretext of estate business, he often rode to the farm that lay under the
shaws at the end of the coombe.

人们说，要是荆豆过了花期，那接吻也就不合时尚了。

People say that when gorse is out of bloom, kissing is out of fashion.

(三面皆山的)深陷的山谷, coombe n. 狭谷

cob［常用复］（煤、石头、矿石等的）圆块； (面包等的)小圆块

玉米棒子［穗轴］cob

【动】雄天鹅，雄鹄

（供骑乘的）结实的短脚马

［英口］蜘蛛

［英方］大人物，要人

cob coal    圆煤块。

I think I recognize your hoof in it.

n. 蹄,人的脚hoof

我看出你在这里面插了一手。

The farmer was pleased to see his piles of corns on the cob.

农夫很高兴地看着成堆的玉米。

The squire had to promise to become one of
the Brethren and he had to promise never to bet again, before Fanny Elliot
agreed to become Mrs. Barfield.

The ambitious members of the Barfield
family declared that the marriage was social ruin, but more dispassionate
critics called it a very suitable match;

for it was not forgotten that
three generations ago the Barfields were livery-stable keepers; they had
risen in the late squire's time to the level of county families, and the
envious were now saying that the Barfield family was sinking back whence
it came.

He was faithful to his promises for a time.

Race-horses disappeared from
the Woodview stables.

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


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