美国语文第五册 第223期:斯格威尔的手段(5)

 　　"Please, sir, he is weeding the garden," replied a small voice. “先生，他在花园里拔草。”一个声音低声回答。

　　"To be sure," said Squeers, by no means disconcerted,  “怎么回事。”斯格威尔说道，声音坦然，没有丝毫困窘不安。

　　so he is. B-o-t, bot, t-i-n, tin, n-e-y, ney, bottinney, noun substantive¹, a knowledge of plants.  哦，他在拔草， B-o-t， bot， t-i-n， tin， n-e-y，ney， bottinney，名词性质，植物学知识。

　　When he has learned that bottinney means a knowledge of plants, he goes and knows 'em.  学生们学习植物学，这词表示植物类知识，学生学习后了解植物，

　　That's our system, Nickleby: what do you think of it?  这就是我们的学习体系，尼克贝，你觉得呢？

　　"It's a very useful one, at any rate," answered Nicholas, significantly.  “无论如何，这门功课非常有用。”尼古拉斯意味深长地回答。

　　"I believe you," rejoined Squeers, not remarking the emphasis of his usher². "Third boy, what's a horse?" “我相信你。”斯格威尔接着说，并未觉察到尼克贝的弦外之音。“第三个回答的孩子，马是什么？”

　　"A beast, sir," replied the boy.  “一种动物，先生。”那男孩答道。

　　"So it is," said Squeers. "Ain't it, Nickleby?"  “正是。”斯格威尔说。“莫非马不是动物？尼克贝？”

　　"I believe there is no doubt of that, sir," answered Nicholas.  “毫无疑问，马是动物，先生。”尼克贝答道。

　　"Of course there is n't," said Squeers.  “当然，这里没有马，”斯格威尔说，

　　A horse is a quadruped, and quadruped's Latin for beast,  马是一种四脚兽，四脚兽的拉丁语就是兽类，

　　as everybody that's gone through the grammar knows, or else where's the use of having grammars at all? 这一点，每个学过语法的学生都知道，不然的话，学些语法还有什么用呢？

　　"Where, indeed!" said Nicholas, abstractedly. “这究竟哪对哪，真是！”尼古拉斯心不在焉地小声嘀咕。

　　"As you're perfect in that," resumed Squeers, turning to the boy,  “既然你们表现都还不错，”斯格威尔接着转向对那个男生说，

　　go and look after my horse, and rub him down well, or I'll rub you down.  现在就去照看我的马匹，好好将它全身擦洗干净，否则，仔细我修理你。

　　The rest of the class go and draw water up till somebody tells you to leave off,  其他的学生去提水，没有吩咐不得停下休息，

　　for it's washing day to-morrow, and they want the coppers³ filled.  明天是清洗日，所有大缸小盆都要统统装满。

1 substantive   

adj.表示实在的；本质的、实质性的；独立的；n.实词，实名词；独立存在的实体

参考例句：

• They plan to meet again in Rome very soon to begin substantive negotiations.他们计划不久在罗马再次会晤以开始实质性的谈判。
• A president needs substantive advice,but he also requires emotional succor. 一个总统需要实质性的建议，但也需要感情上的支持。

2 usher   

n.带位员，招待员；vt.引导，护送；vi.做招待，担任引座员

参考例句：

• The usher seated us in the front row.引座员让我们在前排就座。
• They were quickly ushered away.他们被迅速领开。

3 coppers   

铜( copper的名词复数 )； 铜币

参考例句：

• I only paid a few coppers for it. 我只花了几个铜板买下这东西。
• He had only a few coppers in his pocket. 他兜里仅有几个铜板。