美国语文第六册 第17期:大扫除(6)

 　　His train of reasoning is whimsical and ingenious, but I am not at leisure to give you the detail. 他一系列相关的推理堪称异想天开和匠心独运，不过我无暇详述。

　　The result was, that he found the distemper to be incurable¹; 结果，他发现病异状无法治愈，

　　but after much study, he thought he had discovered a method to divert the evil he could not subdue². 经过下工夫研究后，他以为自己发现了一种能让他无法制服的魔鬼分心的方法。

　　For this purpose, he caused a small building, about twelve feet square, to be erected³ in his garden, 为此，他建了一幢很小的建筑物，有十二平方英尺，就伫立在他家花园里，

　　and furnished with some ordinary chairs and tables, and a few prints of the cheapest sort. 里面安置了几把正常尺寸的椅子和桌子，还有几幅很廉价的画。

　　His hope was, that when the whitewashing⁴ frenzy⁵ seized the females of his family, 他希望当粉刷房子这个极度冲动的念头攫住了他家女主人时，

　　they might repair to this apartment, and scrub, and scour⁶, and smear⁷ to their hearts' content; 她们能拿这个小建筑物作为发泄的出口，用力擦洗，擦亮和弄脏了她们的心爱之物，

　　and so spend the violence of the disease in this outpost, whilst he enjoyed himself in quiet at headquarters. 就这样病害导致的暴力在这个远离主宅的小屋里消耗殆尽了，而他则在主宅里悠然自得。

　　But the experiment did not answer his expectation. 然而，这个实验并不能满足他的期望。

　　It was impossible it should, since a principal part of the gratification consists in the lady's having an uncontrolled right to torment⁸ her husband at least once in every year; 由于这种满足的主要部分体现在女性握有无法遏制的每年至少一次折磨自己丈夫的权利，

　　to turn him out of doors, and take the reins⁹ of government into her own hands. 不可能将他关在门外，而将家中的大权统揽于自己手上。

　　There is a much better contrivance than this of the philosopher's; which is, to cover the walls of the house with paper. 还有比这种哲学上的思辨更好的变通之法；那就是用纸来糊墙。

1 incurable   

adj.不能医治的，不能矫正的，无救的；n.不治的病人，无救的人

参考例句：

• All three babies were born with an incurable heart condition.三个婴儿都有不可治瘉的先天性心脏病。
• He has an incurable and widespread nepotism.他们有不可救药的，到处蔓延的裙带主义。

2 subdue   

vt.制服，使顺从，征服；抑制，克制

参考例句：

• She tried to subdue her anger.她尽力压制自己的怒火。
• He forced himself to subdue and overcome his fears.他强迫自己克制并战胜恐惧心理。

3 ERECTED   

adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立

参考例句：

• A monument to him was erected in St Paul's Cathedral. 在圣保罗大教堂为他修了一座纪念碑。
• A monument was erected to the memory of that great scientist. 树立了一块纪念碑纪念那位伟大的科学家。

4 whitewashing   

粉饰，美化，掩饰( whitewash的现在分词 )； 喷浆

参考例句：

• Tom went on whitewashing the fence, paying no attention to Ben. 汤姆没有理睬本，继续在粉刷着篱笆。
• When whitewashing the wall, he painted with a roller in his hand. 刷墙的时候，他手里拿个辊子，挥舞着胳膊。

5 frenzy   

n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动

参考例句：

• He was able to work the young students up into a frenzy.他能激起青年学生的狂热。
• They were singing in a frenzy of joy.他们欣喜若狂地高声歌唱。

6 scour   

v.搜索；擦，洗，腹泻，冲刷

参考例句：

• Mother made me scour the family silver.母亲让我擦洗家里的银器。
• We scoured the telephone directory for clues.我们仔细查阅电话簿以寻找线索。

7 smear   

v.涂抹；诽谤，玷污；n.污点；诽谤，污蔑

参考例句：

• He has been spreading false stories in an attempt to smear us.他一直在散布谎言企图诽谤我们。
• There's a smear on your shirt.你衬衫上有个污点。

8 torment   

n.折磨；令人痛苦的东西(人)；vt.折磨；纠缠

参考例句：

• He has never suffered the torment of rejection.他从未经受过遭人拒绝的痛苦。
• Now nothing aggravates me more than when people torment each other.没有什么东西比人们的互相折磨更使我愤怒。

9 reins   

感情，激情； 缰( rein的名词复数 )； 控制手段； 掌管； （成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的）保护带

参考例句：

• She pulled gently on the reins. 她轻轻地拉着缰绳。
• The government has imposed strict reins on the import of luxury goods. 政府对奢侈品的进口有严格的控制手段。