第三册第4篇：切斯特菲尔德伯爵给他儿子的信—谈写信
时间：2018-12-28 作者：英语课 分类：陈冠商英语背诵文选合集
4 Lord Chesterfield to His Son About Letter Writing 切斯特菲尔德伯爵给他儿子的信—谈写信
Bath, Oct. 4, 1738
My Dear Child, -By my writing so often, and by the manner in which I write, you will easily see that I do not treat you as alittle child, but as a boy who loves to learn, and is ambitious of receiving instructions. I am even persuaded, that, in reading my letters,you are attentive 1, not only to the subject of which they treat, butlikewise to the orthography 2 and to the style. It is of the greatestimportance to write letters well, as this is a talent which unavoidably occursevery day of one's life, as well in business as in pleasure; andinaccuracies in orthography or in style are never pardoned but in ladies. Whenyou are older, you will read the "Epistles" (that is to say Letters)of Cicero, which are the most perfect models of good writing. Apropos 3 of Cicero, I must give you some account of him. He was an old Roman, wholived eighteen hundred years ago, a man of great genius, and the most celebrated 4 orator 5 that ever was. Will it not be necessary toexplain to you what an orator is ? I believe I must. An orator is a man who harangues 6 in a public assembly, and who speaks with eloquence 7,that is to say,who reasons well, has a fine style and chooses his wordsproperly. Now never a man succeeded better than Cicero in all thosedifferent points; he used sometimes to speak to the whole people of Rome assembled, and by the force of his eloquence, persuaded them to whatever he pleased. At other times, he used to undertake causes,and plead for his clients in courts of judicature; and in thosecauses he generally had all the suffrages 8, that is to say, all theopinions, all the decisions. in his favour. While the Roman republic enjoyed its freedom, he did very signal services to his country, but afterit was enslaved by Julius Cacsar, the first Emperor of the Romans,Cicero became suspected by the tyrants 9, and was at last put to death byorder of Mark Antony, who hated him for the severity of his orations 10 against him, at the time that he endeavored to obtain thesovereignty of Rome.
In case there should be any words in my Ietters which you do not perfectly 11 understand, remember always to inquire theexplanation from your mamma, or else to seek for them in the dictionary.Adieu.
by Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield
- She was very attentive to her guests.她对客人招待得十分周到。
- The speaker likes to have an attentive audience.演讲者喜欢注意力集中的听众。
- In dictionaries,words are listed according to their orthography.在词典中，词是按照字母拼写顺序排列的。
- American and English orthography are very much alike.美语与英语的拼字方法非常相像。
- I thought he spoke very apropos.我认为他说得很中肯。
- He arrived very apropos.他来得很及时。
- He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
- The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。
- He was so eloquent that he cut down the finest orator.他能言善辩，胜过最好的演说家。
- The orator gestured vigorously while speaking.这位演讲者讲话时用力地做手势。
- "This so aggravated Hitler's pent-up feelings that he burst forth into one of his old harangues. 这下可激发了希特勒憋在心里的情绪，他居然故伎重演，破口大骂起来。 来自名作英译部分
- There is, however, a new self-confidence these days in China's familiar harangues anything it deems sovereign. 然而近来中国在针对认为涉及到其主权问题的说辞上表现出一种新的自信。 来自互联网
- I am afraid my eloquence did not avail against the facts.恐怕我的雄辩也无补于事实了。
- The people were charmed by his eloquence.人们被他的口才迷住了。
- The country was ruled by a succession of tyrants. 这个国家接连遭受暴君的统治。
- The people suffered under foreign tyrants. 人民在异族暴君的统治下受苦受难。