散文：夜莺与玫瑰Part 11

【英文原文】

  The daughter of the professor was sitting in the doorway¹ winding² blue silk on a reel, and her little dog was lying at her feet.

  "You said that you would dance with me if I brought you a red rose," cried the student. "Here is the reddest rose in all the world. You will wear it to-night next your heart, and as we dance together it will tell you how I love you." But he girl frowned.

  "I am afraid it will not go with my dress," she answered; "and, besides, the Chamberlain’s nephew had sent me some real jewels, and everybody knows that jewels cost far more than flowers."

  "Well, upon my word, you are very ungrateful," said the student angrily; and he threw the rose onto he street, where it fell into the gutter³ , and a cartwheel went over it.

  "Ungrateful!" said the girl. "I tell you what, you are very rude; and, after all, who are you? Only a student. Why, I don't believe you have even got silver buckles⁵ to your shoes as the Chamberlain’s nephew has;" and she got up from her chair and went into the house.

　"What a silly thing love is!" said the student as he walked away. "It is not half as useful as logic⁶, for it does not prove anything, and it is always telling one of things that are not going to happen, and making one believe things that are not true. In fact, it is quite unpractical, and, as in this age to be practical is everything, I shall go back to philosophy and study metaphysics ." So he returned to his room and pulled out a great dusty book, and began to read.

 

【词汇简析】

doorway n. 门口

reel n. 卷筒，卷轴

frown v. 皱眉，不同意

ungrateful adj. 忘恩负义的，讨厌的

gutter n. 水沟

buckle⁴ n. 搭扣

metaphysics n. 玄学

1 doorway   

n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径

参考例句：

• They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
• Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。

2 winding   

n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈

参考例句：

• A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
• The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。

3 gutter   

n.沟，街沟，水槽，檐槽，贫民窟

参考例句：

• There's a cigarette packet thrown into the gutter.阴沟里有个香烟盒。
• He picked her out of the gutter and made her a great lady.他使她脱离贫苦生活，并成为贵妇。

4 buckle   

n.扣子，带扣；v.把...扣住，由于压力而弯曲

参考例句：

• The two ends buckle at the back.带子两端在背后扣起来。
• She found it hard to buckle down.她很难专心做一件事情。

5 buckles   

搭扣，扣环( buckle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She gazed proudly at the shiny buckles on her shoes. 她骄傲地注视着鞋上闪亮的扣环。
• When the plate becomes unstable, it buckles laterally. 当板失去稳定时，就发生横向屈曲。

6 logic   

n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性

参考例句：

• What sort of logic is that?这是什么逻辑？
• I don't follow the logic of your argument.我不明白你的论点逻辑性何在。