时间:2018-12-18 作者:英语课 分类:有声英语文学名著


英语课

 Chapter 9 - Christmas at Otrádnoe


 
Christmas came and except for the ceremonial Mass, the solemn and wearisome Christmas congratulations from neighbors and servants, and the new dresses everyone put on, there were no special festivities, though the calm frost of twenty degrees Reaumur, the dazzling sunshine by day, and the starlight of the winter nights seemed to call for some special celebration of the season.
On the third day of Christmas week, after the midday dinner, all the inmates 1 of the house dispersed 2 to various rooms. It was the dullest time of the day. Nikolai, who had been visiting some neighbors that morning, was asleep on the sitting-room 3 sofa. The old count was resting in his study. Sonya sat in the drawing room at the round table, copying a design for embroidery 4. The countess was playing patience. Nastasya Ivanovna the buffoon 5 sat with a sad face at the window with two old ladies. Natasha came into the room, went up to Sonya, glanced at what she was doing, and then went up to her mother and stood without speaking.
“Why are you wandering about like an outcast?” asked her mother. “What do you want?”
“Him . . . I want him . . . now, this minute! I want him!” said Natasha, with glittering eyes and no sign of a smile.
The countess lifted her head and looked attentively 6 at her daughter.
“Don’t look at me, Mamma! Don’t look; I shall cry directly.”
“Sit down with me a little,” said the countess.
“Mamma, I want him. Why should I be wasted like this, Mamma?”
Her voice broke, tears gushed 7 from her eyes, and she turned quickly to hide them and left the room.
She passed into the sitting room, stood there thinking awhile, and then went into the maids’ room. There an old maidservant was grumbling 8 at a young girl who stood panting, having just run in through the cold from the serfs’ quarters.
“Stop playing — there’s a time for everything,” said the old woman.
“Let her alone, Kondratevna,” said Natasha. “Go, Mavrushka, go.”
Having released Mavrushka, Natasha crossed the dancing hall and went to the vestibule. There an old footman and two young ones were playing cards. They broke off and rose as she entered.
“What can I do with them?” thought Natasha.
“Oh, Nikita, please go . . . where can I send him? . . . Yes, go to the yard and fetch a fowl 9, please, a cock, and you, Misha, bring me some oats.”
“Just a few oats?” said Misha, cheerfully and readily.
“Go, go quickly,” the old man urged him.
“And you, Theodore, get me a piece of chalk.”
On her way past the butler’s pantry she told them to set a samovar, though it was not at all the time for tea.
Foka, the butler, was the most ill-tempered person in the house. Natasha liked to test her power over him. He distrusted the order and asked whether the samovar was really wanted.
“Oh dear, what a young lady!” said Foka, pretending to frown at Natasha.
No one in the house sent people about or gave them as much trouble as Natasha did. She could not see people unconcernedly, but had to send them on some errand. She seemed to be trying whether any of them would get angry or sulky with her; but the serfs fulfilled no one’s orders so readily as they did hers. “What can I do, where can I go?” thought she, as she went slowly along the passage.
“Nastasya Ivanovna, what sort of children shall I have?” she asked the buffoon, who was coming toward her in a woman’s jacket.
“Why, fleas 10, crickets, grasshoppers,” answered the buffoon.
“O Lord, O Lord, it’s always the same! Oh, where am I to go? What am I to do with myself?” And tapping with her heels, she ran quickly upstairs to see Vogel and his wife who lived on the upper story.
Two governesses were sitting with the Vogels at a table, on which were plates of raisins 11, walnuts 12, and almonds. The governesses were discussing whether it was cheaper to live in Moscow or Odessa. Natasha sat down, listened to their talk with a serious and thoughtful air, and then got up again.
“The island of Madagascar,” she said, “Ma-da-gas-car,” she repeated, articulating each syllable 13 distinctly, and, not replying to Madame Schoss who asked her what she was saying, she went out of the room.
Her brother Petya was upstairs too; with the man in attendance on him he was preparing fireworks to let off that night.
“Petya! Petya!” she called to him. “Carry me downstairs.”
Petya ran up and offered her his back. She jumped on it, putting her arms round his neck, and he pranced 14 along with her.
“No, don’t . . . the island of Madagascar!” she said, and jumping off his back she went downstairs.
Having as it were reviewed her kingdom, tested her power, and made sure that everyone was submissive, but that all the same it was dull, Natasha betook herself to the ballroom 15, picked up her guitar, sat down in a dark corner behind a bookcase, and began to run her fingers over the strings 16 in the bass 17, picking out a passage she recalled from an opera she had heard in Petersburg with Prince Andrey. What she drew from the guitar would have had no meaning for other listeners, but in her imagination a whole series of reminiscences arose from those sounds. She sat behind the bookcase with her eyes fixed 18 on a streak 19 of light escaping from the pantry door and listened to herself and pondered. She was in a mood for brooding on the past.
Sonya passed to the pantry with a glass in her hand. Natasha glanced at her and at the crack in the pantry door, and it seemed to her that she remembered the light failing through that crack once before and Sonya passing with a glass in her hand. “Yes it was exactly the same,” thought Natasha.
“Sonya, what is this?” she cried, twanging a thick string.
“Oh, you are there!” said Sonya with a start, and came near and listened. “I don’t know. A storm?” she ventured timidly, afraid of being wrong.
“There! That’s just how she started and just how she came up smiling timidly when all this happened before,” thought Natasha, “and in just the same way I thought there was something lacking in her.”
“No, it’s the chorus from The Water-Carrier, listen! “ and Natasha sang the air of the chorus so that Sonya should catch it. “Where were you going?” she asked.
“To change the water in this glass. I am just finishing the design.”
“You always find something to do, but I can’t,” said Natasha. “And where’s Nikolai?”
“Asleep, I think.”
“Sonya, go and wake him,” said Natasha. “Tell him I want him to come and sing.”
She sat awhile, wondering what the meaning of it all having happened before could be, and without solving this problem, or at all regretting not having done so, she again passed in fancy to the time when she was with him and he was looking at her with a lover’s eyes.
“Oh, if only he would come quicker! I am so afraid it will never be! And, worst of all, I am growing old — that’s the thing! There won’t then be in me what there is now. But perhaps he’ll come today, will come immediately. Perhaps he has come and is sitting in the drawing room. Perhaps he came yesterday and I have forgotten it.” She rose, put down the guitar, and went to the drawing room.
All the domestic circle, tutors, governesses, and guests, were already at the tea table. The servants stood round the table — but Prince Andrey was not there and life was going on as before.
“Ah, here she is!” said the old count, when he saw Natasha enter. “Well, sit down by me.” But Natasha stayed by her mother and glanced round as if looking for something.
“Mamma!” she muttered, “give him to me, give him, Mamma, quickly, quickly!” and she again had difficulty in repressing her sobs 20.
She sat down at the table and listened to the conversation between the elders and Nikolai, who had also come to the table. “My God, my God! The same faces, the same talk, Papa holding his cup and blowing in the same way!” thought Natasha, feeling with horror a sense of repulsion rising up in her for the whole household, because they were always the same.
After tea, Nikolai, Sonya, and Natasha went to the sitting room, to their favorite corner where their most intimate talks always began.

1 inmates
n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 )
  • One of the inmates has escaped. 被收容的人中有一个逃跑了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The inmates were moved to an undisclosed location. 监狱里的囚犯被转移到一个秘密处所。 来自《简明英汉词典》
2 dispersed
adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的
  • The clouds dispersed themselves. 云散了。
  • After school the children dispersed to their homes. 放学后,孩子们四散回家了。
3 sitting-room
n.(BrE)客厅,起居室
  • The sitting-room is clean.起居室很清洁。
  • Each villa has a separate sitting-room.每栋别墅都有一间独立的起居室。
4 embroidery
n.绣花,刺绣;绣制品
  • This exquisite embroidery won people's great admiration.这件精美的绣品,使人惊叹不已。
  • This is Jane's first attempt at embroidery.这是简第一次试着绣花。
5 buffoon
n.演出时的丑角
  • They pictured their manager as a buffoon.他们把经理描绘成一个小丑。
  • That politician acted like a buffoon during that debate.这个政客在那场辩论中真是丑态百出。
6 attentively
adv.聚精会神地;周到地;谛;凝神
  • She listened attentively while I poured out my problems. 我倾吐心中的烦恼时,她一直在注意听。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • She listened attentively and set down every word he said. 她专心听着,把他说的话一字不漏地记下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
7 gushed
v.喷,涌( gush的过去式和过去分词 );滔滔不绝地说话
  • Oil gushed from the well. 石油从井口喷了出来。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • Clear water gushed into the irrigational channel. 清澈的水涌进了灌溉渠道。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
8 grumbling
adj. 喃喃鸣不平的, 出怨言的
  • She's always grumbling to me about how badly she's treated at work. 她总是向我抱怨她在工作中如何受亏待。
  • We didn't hear any grumbling about the food. 我们没听到过对食物的抱怨。
9 fowl
n.家禽,鸡,禽肉
  • Fowl is not part of a traditional brunch.禽肉不是传统的早午餐的一部分。
  • Since my heart attack,I've eaten more fish and fowl and less red meat.自从我患了心脏病后,我就多吃鱼肉和禽肉,少吃红色肉类。
10 fleas
n.跳蚤( flea的名词复数 );爱财如命;没好气地(拒绝某人的要求)
  • The dog has fleas. 这条狗有跳蚤。
  • Nothing must be done hastily but killing of fleas. 除非要捉跳蚤,做事不可匆忙。 来自《简明英汉词典》
11 raisins
n.葡萄干( raisin的名词复数 )
  • These raisins come from Xinjiang,they taste delicious. 这些葡萄干产自新疆,味道很甜。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Mother put some raisins in the cake. 母亲在糕饼中放了一些葡萄干。 来自辞典例句
12 walnuts
胡桃(树)( walnut的名词复数 ); 胡桃木
  • Are there walnuts in this sauce? 这沙司里面有核桃吗?
  • We ate eggs and bacon, pickled walnuts and cheese. 我们吃鸡蛋,火腿,腌胡桃仁和干酪。
13 syllable
n.音节;vt.分音节
  • You put too much emphasis on the last syllable.你把最后一个音节读得太重。
  • The stress on the last syllable is light.最后一个音节是轻音节。
14 pranced
v.(马)腾跃( prance的过去式和过去分词 )
  • Their horses pranced and whinnied. 他们的马奔腾着、嘶鸣着。 来自辞典例句
  • The little girl pranced about the room in her new clothes. 小女孩穿着新衣在屋里雀跃。 来自辞典例句
15 ballroom
n.舞厅
  • The boss of the ballroom excused them the fee.舞厅老板给他们免费。
  • I go ballroom dancing twice a week.我一个星期跳两次交际舞。
16 strings
n.弦
  • He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上,随意地拨着吉他的弦。
  • She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。
17 bass
n.男低音(歌手);低音乐器;低音大提琴
  • He answered my question in a surprisingly deep bass.他用一种低得出奇的声音回答我的问题。
  • The bass was to give a concert in the park.那位男低音歌唱家将在公园中举行音乐会。
18 fixed
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的
  • Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗?
  • Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定,我们就不应该随意改变。
19 streak
n.条理,斑纹,倾向,少许,痕迹;v.加条纹,变成条纹,奔驰,快速移动
  • The Indians used to streak their faces with paint.印第安人过去常用颜料在脸上涂条纹。
  • Why did you streak the tree?你为什么在树上刻条纹?
20 sobs
啜泣(声),呜咽(声)( sob的名词复数 )
  • She was struggling to suppress her sobs. 她拼命不让自己哭出来。
  • She burst into a convulsive sobs. 她突然抽泣起来。
学英语单词
abortiva variola
allegan
amblyeleotris periophthalma
animal husbandry
application for drawback
autoselecting
basic atomic group
be a scorn to
bear-trap
beechy
bepraising
brans-dicke
break-even point
British Radio Communication
broglies
Brumado
Buendia, Embalse de
can-carrier
catch lever
cinoas
clathtate
clowning around
copper stripping electrolysis
Crotalus viridis
decking level
deconjugations
dennisonite (davisonite)
Derrick City
differentiabilities
diplococcus of Morax-Axenfeld
double-current method
El Bejuco
end-of-field marker
equity-warrants
finds oneself
flash of wit
force due of viscosity
gate current degradation
give tongue
glooming
half yearly account
hexaferrite
huskershredder
inertinites
inomyxoma fibromyxoma
Isonin
kerak
kolstad
lay of rope
Lena Trough
limit position of a link
lining method
mafes
malonyl thiourea
megalithic age
methidium
mixed sleep apnea
modem connection
mushroom cloud
notacaphylla chinensiae
occipitoiliac
older sisters
one bath two stage process
overpraises
pay honor to
pentamethazene
Phospatidylcholine
play close to the vest
premonitory pains
primary productivity
proxy attribute
psychic deafness
quarter wave length
queue type
reheating cycle
rim blight
Sabbathesque
sagueiro
sand shell moulding
sand stargazer
saracenis
sillenite
simultaneous prosperity
softball
spread oneself
Stellaria irrigua
stellasteropsis colubrinus
strategic communication
student experience
succinanilide
sunnyside up
take-up bearing
terminal wire
turbo fan
twin engined
unpathetic
vibration ramming
virtual disk system
wack
woodburners
zero power level
zero-water