有声名著之理智与情感 01

Sense and Sensibility

Chapter 1

The Dashwood Family had long been settled¹ in Sussex, in southeastern England. They lived in a grand² home at Norlan Park and owned quite a bit land. The Dashwood was a quite respectable³ family that had lived on the land for generations. Who owned this land was a single man who had lived alone for many years with his sister. But after she died, nearly ten years before he did. He often invited his nephew Henry Dashwood to live with him. The old man decided⁴ that upon his death, he will give the nephew the land and his great home but told him that he must give the land and home to his son upon his own death. The old man leaved quite happily and grew to love his nephew and his wife duely as they treated him quite well with love and respect. Mr Henry Dashwood had one son with this wife before she died, after some time he married a kind woman and they had three daughters. The son, a calm and respectable young man had great fortune that was given to him by his mother. His own wife as well was a quite wealthy woman. So receiving the land at Norlan Park was not great addition to his wealthy fortune. His half sisters, however, had very little fortune for themselves as his father had little more than the land that he owned before he gived the land to his son. Their mother as well had no fortune to offer the girls, either. Just before Mr. Henry Dashwood died, he requested his son John Dashwood promise him to take care of his new mother and his half-sisters. The son then decided to give a present of 1000 pounds to each his sister. He was now receiving 4000 pounds a year from the land he would soon receive in addition to his present income. Besides the remaining half of his wn mother's fortune. This idea made him feel lots generous⁵ to his half-sisters. "Yes, I will give them 3000 pounds and it will be generous and handsome and it will give them freedom from money worries. 3000 pounds! I can't allow myself to give them such great amount although it will cause me a bit of convenience." He thought to himself. He thought with pride in his generous decision to give his sisters 3000 pounds and he did not regret that decision. Soon after his father's funeral⁶ was over, young Mr. John Dashwood, along his wife and child arrived at Norlan Park and announced to Mrs. Dashwood and her three daughters that they would be moving in. The young couple told their mother and daughters that the four would allowed to stay at Norland Park until they were able to find a new home of their own. The mother-in-law and her daughters were quite upset with Mrs.John Dashwood's impolite⁷ behaviors. The home, indeed, now belonged to her and her husband after Mr. Henry's death. But the mother -in-law was quite upset with the such inappropriate and unfeeling behaviors towards them who had just lost their father and her husband. Her hunsband's family never liked Mrs. John Dashwood because she was always cold and bitter⁹ towards them and didn't ask any worthen their opinions of her.The emotional¹⁰ mother didn't stand the inappropriate behaviors of her and wished to leave immediately. However, her oldest daughter Elinor explained calmly that they had not yet to leave because they had no other home to move to. She told her mother that they should begin looking for another home immediately indeed but must wait till they find a appropriate⁸ hom near Norlan Park of course. Her mother then agreed to remain with her disliked daughter-in-law as she cared so deeply¹¹ her three daughters and their happiness. Elinor, the oldest daughter who had persuaded her mother remaining home for a short time had a calm character that guide her spirit. She was quite resonable and mature¹² at the age of 19. For this reason, she was able to give her mother such advice and be respected. But the mother was quite different with her first child and she was passionate¹³ and unexpected¹⁴ just as her second daughter was as well. Elinor had an excellent heart and strong feelings but she knew how to handle these passions¹⁵ better then her mother and sisters. Her mother had not yet learnt this and her younger sister did not wish to learn. Marianne, the second daughter had excellent abilities just as Elinor did. She was clever but too eager in all her emotions. Her sadness and happiness were both extream. She was generous, friendly and interesting but never sensible¹⁶ or careful. She was quite like her mother. Elinor noticed her sister's extream sensibility with a great deal of cencern. To their mother, however, Marianne's sensibility and strong emotion were appriciated. Marinne and her mother encouraged each other in their passions and feelings. They experienced¹⁷ their loss¹⁸ of their father and home with sadness and emotion. Elinor. too, was deeply hurt bur she could manage her pain in a much more modest way. She could speak with her brother about business matters and greet her sister-in-law without being impolite. Margret, the youngest sister, was a friendly girl but watch over her elder sister Marianne carefully and grew to have strong emotions as well although she was only 13 and had much to learn.

1 settled   

a.固定的；稳定的

参考例句：

• The dispute was settled without acrimony. 没有唇枪舌剑，这场纠纷就解决了。
• a settled way of life 安定的生活方式

2 grand   

adj.豪华的，宏伟的，壮丽的，主要的，重大的；n.(美俚)一千美元

参考例句：

• The pianist played several pieces of music on a grand piano.钢琴家在一架大钢琴上弹了几首乐曲。
• Come on,I'll give you the grand tour of the backyard.跟我来，我带你去后院来一次盛大的旅游。

3 respectable   

n.品格高尚的人；adj.值得尊重的，人格高尚的，不少的

参考例句：

• She seems respectable enough.她看上去挺体面的。
• His savings were just enough to pay for a respectable funeral.他的存款刚好够办一个体面的葬礼。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 generous   

adj.慷慨的，大方的，慷慨给予的

参考例句：

• She was kind and generous.她心地善良，宽容大量。
• She was generous with her money.她很乐于仗义疏财。

6 funeral   

n.丧葬，葬礼；adj.丧葬的，出殡的

参考例句：

• Her bright clothes were not appropriate for a funeral.她那身鲜艳的衣服不适合参加葬礼。
• A funeral is a somber occasion.葬礼是个忧郁的场合。

7 impolite   

adj.无礼的，粗鲁的

参考例句：

• It is impolite to get a word in.别人谈话时插嘴是不礼貌的。
• It is very impolite of you to do so to customers.你这样做对顾客太不客气了。

8 appropriate   

adj.适当的，合适的；v.拨出，挪用，盗用

参考例句：

• It is appropriate that he should get the post.由他担任这一职务是恰当的。
• We should take appropriate measures to improve our teaching.我们应当采取适当的措施提高教学质量。

9 bitter   

adj.激烈的，苦涩的，辛酸的，厉害的，悲痛的；n.辛酸，苦味，苦酒

参考例句：

• The bitter winter was coming.寒冬到了。
• The two countries fell out in a bitter wrangle over imports.这两个国家在有关进口问题的激烈争吵中闹翻了。

10 emotional   

adj.令人动情的；易动感情的；感情(上)的

参考例句：

• Emotional people don't stop to calculate.感情容易冲动的人做事往往不加考虑。
• This is an emotional scene in the play.这是剧中动人的一幕。

11 deeply   

adv.深刻地，在深处，深沉地

参考例句：

• I do feel deeply the strength of the collective.我确实深深地感到了集体的力量。
• We're deeply honoured that you should agree to join us.您能同意加入我们，我们感到很荣幸。

12 mature   

adj.成熟的，到期的，充分考虑的；vt.使成熟；vi.成熟，到期

参考例句：

• This is a dress shop for mature women.这是一家成年妇女服装店。
• It's a mature plan.这是个深思熟虑的计划。

13 passionate   

adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的

参考例句：

• He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
• He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。

14 unexpected   

adj.想不到的，意外的

参考例句：

• I always keep some good wine in for unexpected guests.我总保存些好酒，用来招待不速之客。
• His promotion was unexpected.他的升迁出人意料。

15 passions   

激情( passion的名词复数 )； 爱情； [复数]感情（与理智相对而言）； 爱好

参考例句：

• He's a man of violent passions. 他是个性情暴烈的人。
• They exchanged amorous glances and clearly made known their passions. 二人眉来眼去，以目传情。

16 sensible   

adj.可察觉的，意识到的，实用的；n.可感知物

参考例句：

• Are you sensible of the dangers of your position? 你觉察到你处境中的危险了吗？
• He was sensible enough to mind his own business.他颇有见识，不去管闲事。

17 experienced   

adj.有经验的；经验丰富的，熟练的

参考例句：

• Experienced seamen will advise you about sailing in this weather.有经验的海员会告诉你在这种天气下的航行情况。
• Perhaps you and I had better change over;you are more experienced.也许我们的工作还是对换一下好，你比我更有经验。

18 loss   

n.损失，遗失，失败，输，浪费，错过，[军]伤亡，降低

参考例句：

• His death was a great loss to the country.他的逝世对这个国家是一大损失。
• Because of the continued loss,the factory closed down.由于连续亏损，工厂关闭了。