时间:2019-01-18 作者:英语课 分类:有声英语文学名著


英语课

 Chapter 39 - A moral victory


 
Several tens of thousands of the slain 1 lay in diverse postures 2 and various uniforms on the fields and meadows belonging to the Davydov family and to the crown serfs — those fields and meadows where for hundreds of years the peasants of Borodino, Gorki, Shevardino, and Semenovsk had reaped their harvests and pastured their cattle. At the dressing 3 stations the grass and earth were soaked with blood for a space of some three acres around. Crowds of men of various arms, wounded and unwounded, with frightened faces, dragged themselves back to Mozhaysk from the one army and back to Valuevo from the other. Other crowds, exhausted 4 and hungry, went forward led by their officers. Others held their ground and continued to fire.
Over the whole field, previously 5 so gaily 6 beautiful with the glitter of bayonets and cloudlets of smoke in the morning sun, there now spread a mist of damp and smoke and a strange acid smell of saltpeter and blood. Clouds gathered and drops of rain began to fall on the dead and wounded, on the frightened, exhausted, and hesitating men, as if to say: “Enough, men! Enough! Cease . . . bethink yourselves! What are you doing?”
To the men of both sides alike, worn out by want of food and rest, it began equally to appear doubtful whether they should continue to slaughter 7 one another; all the faces expressed hesitation 8, and the question arose in every soul: “For what, for whom, must I kill and be killed? . . . You may go and kill whom you please, but I don’t want to do so anymore!” By evening this thought had ripened 9 in every soul. At any moment these men might have been seized with horror at what they were doing and might have thrown up everything and run away anywhere.
But though toward the end of the battle the men felt all the horror of what they were doing, though they would have been glad to leave off, some incomprehensible, mysterious power continued to control them, and they still brought up the charges, loaded, aimed, and applied 10 the match, though only one artilleryman survived out of every three, and though they stumbled and panted with fatigue 11, perspiring 12 and stained with blood and powder. The cannon 13 balls flew just as swiftly and cruelly from both sides, crushing human bodies, and that terrible work which was not done by the will of a man but at the will of Him who governs men and worlds continued.
Anyone looking at the disorganized rear of the Russian army would have said that, if only the French made one more slight effort, it would disappear; and anyone looking at the rear of the French army would have said that the Russians need only make one more slight effort and the French would be destroyed. But neither the French nor the Russians made that effort, and the flame of battle burned slowly out.
The Russians did not make that effort because they were not attacking the French. At the beginning of the battle they stood blocking the way to Moscow and they still did so at the end of the battle as at the beginning. But even had the aim of the Russians been to drive the French from their positions, they could not have made this last effort, for all the Russian troops had been broken up, there was no part of the Russian army that had not suffered in the battle, and though still holding their positions they had lost ONE HALF of their army.
The French, with the memory of all their former victories during fifteen years, with the assurance of Napoleon’s invincibility 14, with the consciousness that they had captured part of the battlefield and had lost only a quarter of their men and still had their Guards intact, twenty thousand strong, might easily have made that effort. The French had attacked the Russian army in order to drive it from its position ought to have made that effort, for as long as the Russians continued to block the road to Moscow as before, the aim of the French had not been attained 15 and all their efforts and losses were in vain. But the French did not make that effort. Some historians say that Napoleon need only have used his Old Guards, who were intact, and the battle would have been won. To speak of what would have happened had Napoleon sent his Guards is like talking of what would happen if autumn became spring. It could not be. Napoleon did not give his Guards, not because he did not want to, but because it could not be done. All the generals, officers. and soldiers of the French army knew it could not be done, because the flagging spirit of the troops would not permit it.
It was not Napoleon alone who had experienced that nightmare feeling of the mighty 16 arm being stricken powerless, but all the generals and soldiers of his army whether they had taken part in the battle or not, after all their experience of previous battles — when after one tenth of such efforts the enemy had fled — experienced a similar feeling of terror before an enemy who, after losing HALF his men, stood as threateningly at the end as at the beginning of the battle. The moral force of the attacking French army was exhausted. Not that sort of victory which is defined by the capture of pieces of material fastened to sticks, called standards, and of the ground on which the troops had stood and were standing 17, but a moral victory that convinces the enemy of the moral superiority of his opponent and of his own impotence was gained by the Russians at Borodino. The French invaders 18, like an infuriated animal that has in its onslaught received a mortal wound, felt that they were perishing, but could not stop, any more than the Russian army, weaker by one half, could help swerving 19. By impetus 20 gained, the French army was still able to roll forward to Moscow, but there, without further effort on the part of the Russians, it had to perish, bleeding from the mortal wound it had received at Borodino. The direct consequence of the battle of Borodino was Napoleon’s senseless flight from Moscow, his retreat along the old Smolensk road, the destruction of the invading army of five hundred thousand men, and the downfall of Napoleonic France, on which at Borodino for the first time the hand of an opponent of stronger spirit had been laid.

杀死,宰杀,杀戮( slay的过去分词 ); (slay的过去分词)
  • The soldiers slain in the battle were burried that night. 在那天夜晚埋葬了在战斗中牺牲了的战士。
  • His boy was dead, slain by the hand of the false Amulius. 他的儿子被奸诈的阿缪利乌斯杀死了。
姿势( posture的名词复数 ); 看法; 态度; 立场
  • Modern consciousness has this great need to explode its own postures. 现代意识很有这种摧毁本身姿态的需要。
  • They instinctively gathered themselves into more tidy postures. 她们本能地恢复了端庄的姿态。
n.(食物)调料;包扎伤口的用品,敷料
  • Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
  • The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。
adj.极其疲惫的,精疲力尽的
  • It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长,到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
  • Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。
adv.以前,先前(地)
  • The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
  • Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿,解释原先发生了什么。
adv.欢乐地,高兴地
  • The children sing gaily.孩子们欢唱着。
  • She waved goodbye very gaily.她欢快地挥手告别。
n.屠杀,屠宰;vt.屠杀,宰杀
  • I couldn't stand to watch them slaughter the cattle.我不忍看他们宰牛。
  • Wholesale slaughter was carried out in the name of progress.大规模的屠杀在维护进步的名义下进行。
n.犹豫,踌躇
  • After a long hesitation, he told the truth at last.踌躇了半天,他终于直说了。
  • There was a certain hesitation in her manner.她的态度有些犹豫不决。
v.成熟,使熟( ripen的过去式和过去分词 )
  • They're collecting the ripened reddish berries. 他们正采集熟了的淡红草莓。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The branches bent low with ripened fruits. 成熟的果实压弯了树枝。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
adj.应用的;v.应用,适用
  • She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
  • This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。
n.疲劳,劳累
  • The old lady can't bear the fatigue of a long journey.这位老妇人不能忍受长途旅行的疲劳。
  • I have got over my weakness and fatigue.我已从虚弱和疲劳中恢复过来了。
v.出汗,流汗( perspire的现在分词 )
  • He had been working hard and was perspiring profusely. 他一直在努力干活,身上大汗淋漓的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • So they "went it lively," panting and perspiring with the work. 于是他们就“痛痛快快地比一比”了,结果比得两个人气喘吁吁、汗流浃背。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险
n.大炮,火炮;飞机上的机关炮
  • The soldiers fired the cannon.士兵们开炮。
  • The cannon thundered in the hills.大炮在山间轰鸣。
n.无敌,绝对不败
  • The myth of his and Nazi invincibility had been completely destroyed. 过去他本人之神奇传说,以及纳粹之不败言论,至此乃完全破灭。 来自辞典例句
  • Our image of invincibility evaporated. 我们战无不胜的形象化为泡影了。 来自辞典例句
(通常经过努力)实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 ); 达到; 获得; 达到(某年龄、水平、状况)
  • She has attained the degree of Master of Arts. 她已获得文学硕士学位。
  • Lu Hsun attained a high position in the republic of letters. 鲁迅在文坛上获得崇高的地位。
adj.强有力的;巨大的
  • A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
  • The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的
  • After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
  • They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。
入侵者,侵略者,侵入物( invader的名词复数 )
  • They prepared to repel the invaders. 他们准备赶走侵略军。
  • The family has traced its ancestry to the Norman invaders. 这个家族将自己的世系追溯到诺曼征服者。
v.(使)改变方向,改变目的( swerve的现在分词 )
  • It may stand as an example of the fitful swerving of his passion. 这是一个例子,说明他的情绪往往变化不定,忽冷忽热。 来自辞典例句
  • Mrs Merkel would be foolish to placate her base by swerving right. 默克尔夫人如果为了安抚她的根基所在而转到右翼就太愚蠢了。 来自互联网
n.推动,促进,刺激;推动力
  • This is the primary impetus behind the economic recovery.这是促使经济复苏的主要动力。
  • Her speech gave an impetus to my ideas.她的讲话激发了我的思绪。
学英语单词
-just
17-hydroxycorticosteroid
40
absorbent papers
Actinidia polygama
alphanumeric characters
another story
aquileges
Armenophobes
bassen'd
basting brush
berberidaceaes
biennia
Brinell microscope
bung down
chewing insect
co2 incubation
computer simulation for dyeing process
Coogoon R.
Cuttack
definite proportion
dicranella rufescence (dicks.) schimp.
esse
evomitation
EWNP
exhalants
extruded aluminum
final-salary
friction gearing
general bill of lading
germon
grouping of population
hairspring type
helianthus laetifloruss
heterodimerises
high level efficiency
Home Bias
in a ratio of
jumping wheel jumper
keep one's eye upon
kind of work
kiss of life
labeled common block name
liquid penetration inspection
Lučani
m.c.
Machiavel
Malyy Yenisey
mammy wagon
matrix in block form
metaremarks
misrouteing
Mitomi
modal notation
modulo reduction
monniker
multicuspid teeth
national enquiry
olibene
optimal control equation
orbital branch
outsiderhood
overhead counter shaft
overmodulated
pantograph frame
penirolol
plant lectin
plate and tube condenser
plea to indictment
Porm
potassium octaborate
preachership
purpura of the newborn
resmelting
rockallia jongkuei
rustle ... up
sacred kingfisher
sand preparation plant
Sao Jorge do Limpopo
screamadelicas
secting
seppanen
series-parallel starter
shift register generator
shoal detector
social indicators movement
Spurway syndrome
stair turret
steady-state approximation
surface shape
tall gallberry hollies
temporal and spatial variation
tetraphenylborates
throat-paint
to snake
triethylammonium
Tussabid
usles
veggiedog
vestibular branches
yellow trefoil