高中英语人教版必修第三册26

[00:07.89]A housemaid worked very long hours and only had half a day off each week.
[00:12.93]Rosanna had to start work at 5:00 am in order to light the fires before the family of the house woke up.
[00:20.79]Then she laid the table for breakfast while other servants took Rachel and her mother cups of tea and helped them to get dressed.
[00:28.45]After the family had finished breakfast, the servants would eat theirs downstairs in the servants’ hall.
[00:33.91]This was usually a plain room with simple wooden furniture.
[00:37.75]The food “downstairs” was basic,
[00:40.49]not the rich food from the “upstairs” dining room.
[00:42.25]After breakfast Rosanna would clean the rooms,
[00:45.60]serve meals and be “on call” whenever she was needed.
[00:48.97]Her day would end after she had served evening tea a about 9:30 pm.
[00:53.62]She might sit in the servants’ hall to play cards or chat for a while before going to bed.
[00:59.02]Servants had little private life or free time of their own,
[01:02.79]so they were interested in everything that happened “upstairs” and would gossip¹ about the family and their guests.
[01:08.69]Despite the hard word required of them,
[01:10.94]servants were paid little, and there were some families who treated their servants badly.
[01:16.11]However, in many houses the servants had great affection² for the “upstairs” family,
[01:20.84]and felt part of a “downstairs” family too.
[01:23.40]Most servants had a safe environment to work in,
[01:26.64]plenty of food and a clean bed to sleep in.
[01:29.09]This was very different from the dirt and poverty that thousands of unemployed³ people were living in at the time.
[01:35.57]It was also different from the dangerous conditions in many of the factories.
[01:39.91]In fact, a lot of people thought that working as a servant for a kind family was good job.
[01:45.65]READING
[01:50.02]THE FATHER OR THE MODERN ENGLISH DETECTIVE NOEL
[01:54.38]Wilkie Collins was born in London in 1824 and his first novel-a historical romance⁴ called Anatonia-was published when he was 26.
[02:05.32]Shortly after this he met Charles dickens,
[02:08.88]and they formed a close friendship that lasted for ten years and influenced both men’s writing.
[02:15.30]Collins went on to publish 25 novels are well as many short stories,
[02:20.34]play and works⁵ of non-fiction.
[02:22.88]However, he is most well known for the two mystery novels The woman is White and The Moonstone.
[02:30.45]Collins published both mysteries as serials⁶ in All the Year Round.
[02:36.20]When it appeared in the magazine in 1860,
[02:39.57]The Woman in White was so popular that it became the subject of a song and a play.
[02:45.60]It even influenced fashion,
[02:47.56]and many women started to dress in white.
[02:50.49]Eight years later The Moonstone was published and earned Collins the title “the father or the modern English detective novel”.
[02:59.11]TS Elliot, another famous writer,
[03:02.14]said that The Moonstone was the “first and greatest of English detective novels”,
[03:08.02]and it is still admired by modern crime writers today.
[03:11.47]An author of many mysteries,
[03:13.50]Dorothy L Sayers considered The Moonstone to be “probably the very finest detective story ever written”,
[03:22.33]and many people agree with her.
[03:24.19]There are several reasons why they think so.
[03:26.64]One is the way the events in the novel are revealed⁷ to the reader.
[03:30.20]Collins uses different characters to tell each section of the story.
[03:34.24]The characters have very different personalities⁸ and voices,
[03:38.01]which are interesting and often amusing⁹.
[03:40.72]There are also several features of the plot which started trends in mystery writing.
[03:46.00]For example, many detective stores are set in a country house,
[03:50.70]in a situation where the theft must have been committed by one of the people in the house.
[03:56.40]The character of a famous detective with an unusual appearance and habits occurs in many books

1 gossip   

n.流言蜚语，爱说长道短的人；vi.传播流言

参考例句：

• She broadcast the gossip all over the town.她将这个流言传遍全镇。
• They spread a lot of tacky gossip about his love life.关于他的爱情生活，他们散播了许多不堪的闲言闲语。

2 affection   

n.喜爱；爱慕，感情；倾向，意向

参考例句：

• The handsome young man excited affection in a girl.那位英俊的年轻男子引起了一个女孩的爱慕之情。
• He has a deep affection for his old friend.他对老朋友感情很深。

3 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

4 romance   

n.恋爱关系，浪漫气氛，爱情小说，传奇

参考例句：

• She wrote a romance about an artist's life in Tokyo.她写了一个关于一位艺术家在东京生活的浪漫故事。
• They tried to rekindle the flames of romance.他们试图重燃爱火。

5 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。

6 serials   

n.连载小说，电视连续剧( serial的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The computer can alter the serials librarian and produce a bindery notice. 计算机可提醒管理连续出版物的馆员，并制作装订通知。 来自辞典例句
• I realized I have started to like a few of their serials. 我意识到我已开始喜欢上了不少他们的连续剧。 来自互联网

7 revealed   

v.显示( reveal的过去式和过去分词 )；揭示；泄露；[神学]启示

参考例句：

• They revealed to me that the experiment had failed. 他们向我透露试验失败了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His insincerity is revealed by the quick goggle of his eyes. 他眼睛的快速转动泄露了他的不诚。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 personalities   

n. 诽谤，（对某人容貌、性格等所进行的）人身攻击； 人身攻击；人格, 个性, 名人( personality的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There seemed to be a degree of personalities in her remarks.她话里有些人身攻击的成分。
• Personalities are not in good taste in general conversation.在一般的谈话中诽谤他人是不高尚的。

9 amusing   

adj.有有趣的，好玩的

参考例句：

• The girl was amusing herself with a doll.那女孩在玩洋娃娃自娱。
• He related some amusing stories in his childhood to his children.他向孩子们述说了他少年时代的一些趣事。