马克吐温最佳短篇小说 15 Extracts from Adams Diary
时间:2018-12-06 作者:英语课 分类:马克吐温最佳短篇小说
英语课
MONDAY.--This new creature with the long hair is a good deal in the way. It is always hanging around and following me about. I don't like this; I am not used to company. I wish it would stay with the other animals.... Cloudy today, wind in the east; think we shall have rain.... WE? Where did I get that word--the new creature uses it.
TUESDAY.--Been examining the great waterfall. It is the finest thing on the estate, I think. The new creature calls it Niagara Falls-- why, I am sure I do not know. Says it LOOKS like Niagara Falls. That is not a reason, it is mere 1 waywardness and imbecility. I get no chance to name anything myself. The new creature names everything that comes along, before I can get in a protest. And always that same pretext 2 is offered--it LOOKS like the thing.
There is a dodo, for instance. Says the moment one looks at it one sees at a glance that it "looks like a dodo." It will have to keep that name, no doubt. It wearies me to fret 3 about it, and it does no good, anyway. Dodo! It looks no more like a dodo than I do.
WEDNESDAY.--Built me a shelter against the rain, but could not have it to myself in peace. The new creature intruded 4. When I tried to put it out it shed water out of the holes it looks with, and wiped it away with the back of its paws, and made a noise such as some of the other animals make when they are in distress 5. I wish it would not talk; it is always talking. That sounds like a cheap fling at the poor creature, a slur 6; but I do not mean it so. I have never heard the human voice before, and any new and strange sound intruding 7 itself here upon the solemn hush 8 of these dreaming solitudes 9 offends my ear and seems a false note. And this new sound is so close to me; it is right at my shoulder, right at my ear, first on one side and then on the other, and I am used only to sounds that are more or less distant from me.
FRIDAY. The naming goes recklessly on, in spite of anything I can do. I had a very good name for the estate, and it was musical and pretty-- GARDEN OF EDEN. Privately 10, I continue to call it that, but not any longer publicly. The new creature says it is all woods and rocks and scenery, and therefore has no resemblance to a garden. Says it LOOKS like a park, and does not look like anything BUT a park. Consequently, without consulting me, it has been new-named NIAGARA FALLS PARK. This is sufficiently 11 high-handed, it seems to me. And already there is a sign up:
KEEP OFFTHE GRASSMy life is not as happy as it was.
SATURDAY.--The new creature eats too much fruit. We are going to run short, most likely. "We" again--that is ITS word; mine, too, now, from hearing it so much. Good deal of fog this morning. I do not go out in the fog myself. This new creature does. It goes out in all weathers, and stumps 12 right in with its muddy feet. And talks. It used to be so pleasant and quiet here.
1 mere
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过
- That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
- It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。
2 pretext
n.借口,托词
- He used his headache as a pretext for not going to school.他借口头疼而不去上学。
- He didn't attend that meeting under the pretext of sickness.他以生病为借口,没参加那个会议。
3 fret
v.(使)烦恼;(使)焦急;(使)腐蚀,(使)磨损
- Don't fret.We'll get there on time.别着急,我们能准时到那里。
- She'll fret herself to death one of these days.她总有一天会愁死的.
4 intruded
n.侵入的,推进的v.侵入,侵扰,打扰( intrude的过去式和过去分词 );把…强加于
- One could believe that human creatures had never intruded there before. 你简直会以为那是从来没有人到过的地方。 来自辞典例句
- The speaker intruded a thin smile into his seriousness. 演说人严肃的脸上掠过一丝笑影。 来自辞典例句
5 distress
n.苦恼,痛苦,不舒适;不幸;vt.使悲痛
- Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。
- Please don't distress yourself.请你不要忧愁了。
6 slur
v.含糊地说;诋毁;连唱;n.诋毁;含糊的发音
- He took the remarks as a slur on his reputation.他把这些话当作是对他的名誉的中伤。
- The drug made her speak with a slur.药物使她口齿不清。
7 intruding
v.侵入,侵扰,打扰( intrude的现在分词);把…强加于
- Does he find his new celebrity intruding on his private life? 他是否感觉到他最近的成名侵扰了他的私生活?
- After a few hours of fierce fighting,we saw the intruding bandits off. 经过几小时的激烈战斗,我们赶走了入侵的匪徒。 来自《简明英汉词典》
8 hush
int.嘘,别出声;n.沉默,静寂;v.使安静
- A hush fell over the onlookers.旁观者们突然静了下来。
- Do hush up the scandal!不要把这丑事声张出去!
9 solitudes
n.独居( solitude的名词复数 );孤独;荒僻的地方;人迹罕至的地方
- Africa is going at last to give up the secret of its vast solitudes. 非洲无边无际的荒野的秘密就要被揭穿了。 来自辞典例句
- The scientist has spent six months in the solitudes of the Antarctic. 这位科学家已经在人迹罕至的南极待了六个月了。 来自互联网
10 privately
adv.以私人的身份,悄悄地,私下地
- Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
- The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。
11 sufficiently
adv.足够地,充分地
- It turned out he had not insured the house sufficiently.原来他没有给房屋投足保险。
- The new policy was sufficiently elastic to accommodate both views.新政策充分灵活地适用两种观点。