听名著练听力之简爱篇 第84期

I had twenty village girls to teach. Some of them spoke¹ in such a strong, country speech that I could barely² understand them. Their wods did not seem like the English language. Only three of the girls could read, and none could write. At the end of my first day, I knew there would be much hard work to do. But I told myself that I was lucky to have any kind of work. "Besides, [-----1-----], just like I did when I was their age," I thought.

Ever since I had left Thornfield I had thought of Mr. Rochester every day and night. That evening, i stood at the door of my house, looking at the sunset³ and the quiet fields. I allowed myself to imagine again the life I could have had with Mr. Rochester. He would have loved my very much for a while. "[-----2-----]," I thought, "nobody will ever love me like that again." But I knew that I would only have been his mistress⁴, not his wife. One day, he would have become tired of me. In time, I would be happier here as a schoolteacher. I would be alone, but at least I would be honest.

But when he came to visit me, St. John River found me crying. He asked me.

"[-----3-----]?"

"Oh no," I said,"I know I will enjoy it. And I'm so grateful⁵ to have a home, and work to do. A few weeks ago, I had nothing."

1 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

2 barely   

adv.仅仅，几乎没有，几乎不

参考例句：

• The male bird is barely distinguishable from the female.雄鸟和雌鸟几乎无法辨别。
• He took barely enough money to keep the children in bread.他赚很少的钱仅够孩子们勉强糊口。

3 sunset   

n.日落；衰落时期(尤指人的晚年)

参考例句：

• They'll work on till sunset.他们将继续工作，直到日落。
• The sunset was a very beautiful sight.那落日真是一幅美景。

4 mistress   

n.（文学用语）使男子为之倾倒的女人，女主人

参考例句：

• Does his wife know he has a mistress?他的妻子知道他有一个情妇吗？
• Is your mistress at home?你家女主人在家吗？

5 grateful   

adj.感谢的，感激的，受欢迎的，表示谢意的

参考例句：

• If you will help us, we shall be very grateful.如果你愿意帮助我们，我们会很感激你。
• He closed his letter with expression of grateful thanks.他在那封信的结尾表达了自己的感激之情。