月亮和六便士 第三十八章(2)

 Her kitchen was a miracle of clean brightness. 厨房收拾得干干净净、锃光瓦亮，简直是个奇迹。

Everything was always in its place, and no where could you see a speck¹ of dust. 锅碗瓢盆都放得有条不紊，任何地方也找不出一星灰尘。

Cleanliness, indeed, was a mania² with her. 说实在的，他母亲爱好清洁简直有些过头了。

I saw a neat little old woman, with cheeks like apples, toiling³ away from morning to night, through the long years, to keep her house trim and spruce. 我仿佛看到了一个干净利落的小老太太，生着红里透白的面颊，从早到晚手脚不停闲，终生劬劳，把屋子收拾得井井有条，一尘不染。

His father was a spare old man, his hands gnarled after the work of a lifetime, silent and upright; 施特略夫的父亲是个瘦削的老人，因为终生劳动，两手骨节扭结，不言不语，诚实耿直。

in the evening he read the paper aloud, while his wife and daughter (now married to the captain of a fishing smack), 晚饭后他大声读着报纸，妻子和女儿（现在已经嫁给一个小渔船船长了）

unwilling⁴ to lose a moment, bent⁵ over their sewing. 珍惜时间，埋头做针线活。

Nothing ever happened in that little town, left behind by the advance of civilisation⁶, 文明日新月异，这个小城却好象被抛在后面，永远也不会发生什么事情，

and one year followed the next till death came, like a friend, to give rest to those who had laboured so diligently⁷. 如此年复一年，直到死亡最后来临，象个老友似地给那些勤苦劳动一生的人带来永久的安息。

My father wished me to become a carpenter like himself. For five generations we've carried on the same trade, from father to son. “我父亲希望我象他一样做个木匠。我们家五代人都是干的这个行业，总是父一代子一代地传下去。

Perhaps that is the wisdom of life, to tread in your father's steps, and look neither to the right nor to the left. 也许这就是生活的智慧——永远踩着父亲的脚印走下去，既不左顾也不右盼。

When I was a little boy I said I would marry the daughter of the harness-maker who lived next door. 小的时候我对别人说我要同隔壁一家做马具人家的女儿结婚。

She was a little girl with blue eyes and a flaxen pigtail. 她是一个蓝眼睛的小女孩，亚麻色的头发梳着一根小辫。

She would have kept my house like a new pin, and I should have had a son to carry on the business after me. 要是同这个人结了婚，她也会把我的家收拾得井井有条，还会给我生个孩子接替我的行业。”

1 speck   

n.微粒，小污点，小斑点

参考例句：

• I have not a speck of interest in it.我对它没有任何兴趣。
• The sky is clear and bright without a speck of cloud.天空晴朗，一星星云彩也没有。

2 mania   

n.疯狂；躁狂症，狂热，癖好

参考例句：

• Football mania is sweeping the country.足球热正风靡全国。
• Collecting small items can easily become a mania.收藏零星物品往往容易变成一种癖好。

3 toiling   

长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的现在分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉

参考例句：

• The fiery orator contrasted the idle rich with the toiling working classes. 这位激昂的演说家把无所事事的富人同终日辛劳的工人阶级进行了对比。
• She felt like a beetle toiling in the dust. She was filled with repulsion. 她觉得自己像只甲虫在地里挣扎，心中涌满愤恨。

4 unwilling   

adj.不情愿的

参考例句：

• The natives were unwilling to be bent by colonial power.土著居民不愿受殖民势力的摆布。
• His tightfisted employer was unwilling to give him a raise.他那吝啬的雇主不肯给他加薪。

5 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

6 civilisation   

n.文明，文化，开化，教化

参考例句：

• Energy and ideas are the twin bases of our civilisation.能源和思想是我们文明的两大基石。
• This opera is one of the cultural totems of Western civilisation.这部歌剧是西方文明的文化标志物之一。

7 diligently   

ad.industriously;carefully

参考例句：

• He applied himself diligently to learning French. 他孜孜不倦地学法语。
• He had studied diligently at college. 他在大学里勤奋学习。