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经典名著:弗洛斯河上的磨坊29
添加时间:2024-05-07 15:36:32 浏览次数: 作者:未知
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  • An Item Added to the Family Register

    That first moment of renunciation and submission1 was followed by days of violent struggle in the miller’s mind, as the gradual access of bodily strength brought with it increasing ability to embrace in one view all the conflicting conditions under which he found himself. Feeble limbs easily resign themselves to be tethered, and when we are subdued2 by sickness it seems possible to us to fulfil pledges which the old vigor3 comes back and breaks. There were times when poor Tulliver thought the fulfilment of his promise to Bessy was something quite too hard for human nature; he had promised her without knowing what she was going to say,—she might as well have asked him to carry a ton weight on his back. But again, there were many feelings arguing on her side, besides the sense that life had been made hard to her by having married him. He saw a possibility, by much pinching, of saving money out of his salary toward paying a second dividend4 to his creditors5, and it would not be easy elsewhere to get a situation such as he could fill.

    He had led an easy life, ordering much and working little, and had no aptitude6 for any new business. He must perhaps take to day-labour, and his wife must have help from her sisters,—a prospect7 doubly bitter to him, now they had let all Bessy’s precious things be sold, probably because they liked to set her against him, by making her feel that he had brought her to that pass. He listened to their admonitory talk, when they came to urge on him what he was bound to do for poor Bessy’s sake, with averted8 eyes, that every now and then flashed on them furtively9 when their backs were turned. Nothing but the dread10 of needing their help could have made it an easier alternative to take their advice.

    But the strongest influence of all was the love of the old premises11 where he had run about when he was a boy, just as Tom had done after him. The Tullivers had lived on this spot for generations, and he had sat listening on a low stool on winter evenings while his father talked of the old half-timbered mill that had been there before the last great floods which damaged it so that his grandfather pulled it down and built the new one. It was when he got able to walk about and look at all the old objects that he felt the strain of his clinging affection for the old home as part of his life, part of himself. He couldn’t bear to think of himself living on any other spot than this, where he knew the sound of every gate door, and felt that the shape and colour of every roof and weather-stain and broken hillock was good, because his growing senses had been fed on them. Our instructed vagrancy12, which has hardly time to linger by the hedgerows, but runs away early to the tropics, and is at home with palms and banyans,—which is nourished on books of travel and stretches the theatre of its imagination to the Zambesi,—can hardly get a dim notion of what an old-fashioned man like Tulliver felt for this spot, where all his memories centred, and where life seemed like a familiar smooth-handled tool that the fingers clutch with loving ease. And just now he was living in that freshened memory of the far-off time which comes to us in the passive hours of recovery from sickness.

    “Ay, Luke,” he said one afternoon, as he stood looking over the orchard13 gate, “I remember the day they planted those apple-trees. My father was a huge man for planting,—it was like a merry-making to him to get a cart full o’ young trees; and I used to stand i’ the cold with him, and follow him about like a dog.”

    Then he turned round, and leaning against the gate-post, looked at the opposite buildings.

    “The old mill ’ud miss me, I think, Luke. There’s a story as when the mill changes hands, the river’s angry; I’ve heard my father say it many a time. There’s no telling whether there mayn’t be summat in the story, for this is a puzzling world, and Old Harry14’s got a finger in it—it’s been too many for me, I know.”

    “Ay, sir,” said Luke, with soothing15 sympathy, “what wi’ the rust16 on the wheat, an’ the firin’ o’ the ricks an’ that, as I’ve seen i’ my time,—things often looks comical; there’s the bacon fat wi’ our last pig run away like butter,—it leaves nought17 but a scratchin’.”

    “It’s just as if it was yesterday, now,” Mr Tulliver went on, “when my father began the malting. I remember, the day they finished the malt-house, I thought summat great was to come of it; for we’d a plum-pudding that day and a bit of a feast, and I said to my mother,—she was a fine dark-eyed woman, my mother was,—the little wench ’ull be as like her as two peas.” Here Mr Tulliver put his stick between his legs, and took out his snuff-box, for the greater enjoyment of this anecdote18, which dropped from him in fragments, as if he every other moment lost narration19 in vision. “I was a little chap no higher much than my mother’s knee,—she was sore fond of us children, Gritty and me,—and so I said to her, ‘Mother,’ I said, ‘shall we have plum-pudding every day because o’ the malt-house? She used to tell me o’ that till her dying day. She was but a young woman when she died, my mother was. But it’s forty good year since they finished the malt-house, and it isn’t many days out of ’em all as I haven’t looked out into the yard there, the first thing in the morning,—all weathers, from year’s end to year’s end. I should go off my head in a new place. I should be like as if I’d lost my way. It’s all hard, whichever way I look at it,—the harness ’ull gall20 me, but it ’ud be summat to draw along the old road, instead of a new un.”

    “Ay, sir,” said Luke, “you’d be a deal better here nor in some new place. I can’t abide21 new places mysen: things is allays22 awk’ard,—narrow-wheeled waggins, belike, and the stiles all another sort, an’ oat-cake i’ some places, tow’rt th’ head o’ the Floss, there. It’s poor work, changing your country-side.”

    “But I doubt, Luke, they’ll be for getting rid o’ Ben, and making you do with a lad; and I must help a bit wi’ the mill. You’ll have a worse place.”

    “Ne’er mind, sir,” said Luke, “I sha’n’t plague mysen. I’n been wi’ you twenty year, an’ you can’t get twenty year wi’ whistlin’ for ’em, no more nor you can make the trees grow: you mun wait till God A’mighty sends ’em. I can’t abide new victual nor new faces, I can’t,—you niver know but what they’ll gripe you.”

    The walk was finished in silence after this, for Luke had disburthened himself of thoughts to an extent that left his conversational23 resources quite barren, and Mr Tulliver had relapsed from his recollections into a painful meditation24 on the choice of hardships before him. Maggie noticed that he was unusually absent that evening at tea; and afterward25 he sat leaning forward in his chair, looking at the ground, moving his lips, and shaking his head from time to time. Then he looked hard at Mrs Tulliver, who was knitting opposite him, then at Maggie, who, as she bent26 over her sewing, was intensely conscious of some drama going forward in her father’s mind. Suddenly he took up the poker27 and broke the large coal fiercely.

    “Dear heart, Mr Tulliver, what can you be thinking of?” said his wife, looking up in alarm; “it’s very wasteful28, breaking the coal, and we’ve got hardly any large coal left, and I don’t know where the rest is to come from.”

    “I don’t think you’re quite so well to-night, are you, father?” said Maggie; “you seem uneasy.”

    “Why, how is it Tom doesn’t come?” said Mr Tulliver, impatiently.

    “Dear heart! is it time? I must go and get his supper,” said Mrs Tulliver, laying down her knitting, and leaving the room.

    “It’s nigh upon half-past eight,” said Mr Tulliver. “He’ll be here soon. Go, go and get the big Bible, and open it at the beginning, where everything’s set down. And get the pen and ink.”

    Maggie obeyed, wondering; but her father gave no further orders, and only sat listening for Tom’s footfall on the gravel29, apparently30 irritated by the wind, which had risen, and was roaring so as to drown all other sounds. There was a strange light in his eyes that rather frightened Maggie; she began to wish that Tom would come, too.

    “There he is, then,” said Mr Tulliver, in an excited way, when the knock came at last. Maggie went to open the door, but her mother came out of the kitchen hurriedly, saying, “Stop a bit, Maggie; I’ll open it.”

    Mrs Tulliver had begun to be a little frightened at her boy, but she was jealous of every office others did for him.

    “Your supper’s ready by the kitchen-fire, my boy,” she said, as he took off his hat and coat. “You shall have it by yourself, just as you like, and I won’t speak to you.”

    “I think my father wants Tom, mother,” said Maggie; “he must come into the parlour first.”

    Tom entered with his usual saddened evening face, but his eyes fell immediately on the open Bible and the inkstand, and he glanced with a look of anxious surprise at his father, who was saying,—

    “Come, come, you’re late; I want you.”

    “Is there anything the matter, father?” said Tom.

    “You sit down, all of you,” said Mr Tulliver, peremptorily31.

    “And, Tom, sit down here; I’ve got something for you to write i’ the Bible.”

    They all three sat down, looking at him. He began to speak slowly, looking first at his wife.

    “I’ve made up my mind, Bessy, and I’ll be as good as my word to you. There’ll be the same grave made for us to lie down in, and we mustn’t be bearing one another ill-will. I’ll stop in the old place, and I’ll serve under Wakem, and I’ll serve him like an honest man; there’s no Tulliver but what’s honest, mind that, Tom,”—here his voice rose,—“they’ll have it to throw up against me as I paid a dividend, but it wasn’t my fault; it was because there’s raskills in the world. They’ve been too many for me, and I must give in. I’ll put my neck in harness,—for you’ve a right to say as I’ve brought you into trouble, Bessy,—and I’ll serve him as honest as if he was no raskill; I’m an honest man, though I shall never hold my head up no more. I’m a tree as is broke—a tree as is broke.”

    He paused and looked on the ground. Then suddenly raising his head, he said, in a louder yet deeper tone:

    “But I won’t forgive him! I know what they say, he never meant me any harm. That’s the way Old Harry props32 up the rascals33. He’s been at the bottom of everything; but he’s a fine gentleman,—I know, I know. I shouldn’t ha’ gone to law, they say. But who made it so as there was no arbitratin’, and no justice to be got? It signifies nothing to him, I know that; he’s one o’ them fine gentlemen as get money by doing business for poorer folks, and when he’s made beggars of ’em he’ll give ’em charity. I won’t forgive him! I wish he might be punished with shame till his own son ’ud like to forget him. I wish he may do summat as they’d make him work at the treadmill34! But he won’t,—he’s too big a raskill to let the law lay hold on him. And you mind this, Tom,—you never forgive him neither, if you mean to be my son. There’ll maybe come a time when you may make him feel; it’ll never come to me; I’n got my head under the yoke35. Now write—write it i’ the Bible.”

    “Oh, father, what?” said Maggie, sinking down by his knee, pale and trembling. “It’s wicked to curse and bear malice36.”

    “It isn’t wicked, I tell you,” said her father, fiercely. “It’s wicked as the raskills should prosper37; it’s the Devil’s doing. Do as I tell you, Tom. Write.”

    “What am I to write?” said Tom, with gloomy submission.

    “Write as your father, Edward Tulliver, took service under John Wakem, the man as had helped to ruin him, because I’d promised my wife to make her what amends38 I could for her trouble, and because I wanted to die in th’ old place where I was born and my father was born. Put that i’ the right words—you know how—and then write, as I don’t forgive Wakem for all that; and for all I’ll serve him honest, I wish evil may befall him. Write that.”

    There was a dead silence as Tom’s pen moved along the paper; Mrs Tulliver looked scared, and Maggie trembled like a leaf.

    “Now let me hear what you’ve wrote,” said Mr Tulliver. Tom read aloud slowly.

    “Now write—write as you’ll remember what Wakem’s done to your father, and you’ll make him and his feel it, if ever the day comes. And sign your name Thomas Tulliver.”

    “Oh no, father, dear father!” said Maggie, almost choked with fear. “You shouldn’t make Tom write that.”

    “Be quiet, Maggie!” said Tom. “I shall write it.”



    点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

    1 submission [səbˈmɪʃn] lUVzr   第9级
    n.服从,投降;温顺,谦虚;提出
    参考例句:
    • The defeated general showed his submission by giving up his sword. 战败将军缴剑表示投降。
    • No enemy can frighten us into submission. 任何敌人的恐吓都不能使我们屈服。
    2 subdued [səbˈdju:d] 76419335ce506a486af8913f13b8981d   第7级
    adj. 屈服的,柔和的,减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词
    参考例句:
    • He seemed a bit subdued to me. 我觉得他当时有点闷闷不乐。
    • I felt strangely subdued when it was all over. 一切都结束的时候,我却有一种奇怪的压抑感。
    3 vigor ['vɪgə] yLHz0   第7级
    n.活力,精力,元气
    参考例句:
    • The choir sang the words out with great vigor. 合唱团以极大的热情唱出了歌词。
    • She didn't want to be reminded of her beauty or her former vigor. 现在,她不愿人们提起她昔日的美丽和以前的精力充沛。
    4 dividend [ˈdɪvɪdend] Fk7zv   第8级
    n.红利,股息;回报,效益
    参考例句:
    • The company was forced to pass its dividend. 该公司被迫到期不分红。
    • The first quarter dividend has been increased by nearly 4 per cent. 第一季度的股息增长了近 4%。
    5 creditors [k'redɪtəz] 6cb54c34971e9a505f7a0572f600684b   第8级
    n.债权人,债主( creditor的名词复数 )
    参考例句:
    • They agreed to repay their creditors over a period of three years. 他们同意3年内向债主还清欠款。 来自《简明英汉词典》
    • Creditors could obtain a writ for the arrest of their debtors. 债权人可以获得逮捕债务人的令状。 来自《简明英汉词典》
    6 aptitude [ˈæptɪtju:d] 0vPzn   第7级
    n.(学习方面的)才能,资质,天资
    参考例句:
    • That student has an aptitude for mathematics. 那个学生有数学方面的天赋。
    • As a child, he showed an aptitude for the piano. 在孩提时代,他显露出对于钢琴的天赋。
    7 prospect [ˈprɒspekt] P01zn   第7级
    n.前景,前途;景色,视野
    参考例句:
    • This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect. 事态呈现出可喜的前景。
    • The prospect became more evident. 前景变得更加明朗了。
    8 averted [əˈvə:tid] 35a87fab0bbc43636fcac41969ed458a   第7级
    防止,避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 ); 转移
    参考例句:
    • A disaster was narrowly averted. 及时防止了一场灾难。
    • Thanks to her skilful handling of the affair, the problem was averted. 多亏她对事情处理得巧妙,才避免了麻烦。
    9 furtively ['fɜ:tɪvlɪ] furtively   第9级
    adv. 偷偷地, 暗中地
    参考例句:
    • At this some of the others furtively exchanged significant glances. 听他这样说,有几个人心照不宣地彼此对望了一眼。
    • Remembering my presence, he furtively dropped it under his chair. 后来想起我在,他便偷偷地把书丢在椅子下。
    10 dread [dred] Ekpz8   第7级
    vt.担忧,忧虑;惧怕,不敢;n.担忧,畏惧
    参考例句:
    • We all dread to think what will happen if the company closes. 我们都不敢去想一旦公司关门我们该怎么办。
    • Her heart was relieved of its blankest dread. 她极度恐惧的心理消除了。
    11 premises [ˈpremɪsɪz] 6l1zWN   第11级
    n.建筑物,房屋
    参考例句:
    • According to the rules, no alcohol can be consumed on the premises. 按照规定,场内不准饮酒。
    • All repairs are done on the premises and not put out. 全部修缮都在家里进行,不用送到外面去做。
    12 vagrancy ['veɪɡrənsɪ] 873e973b3f6eb07f179cf6bd646958dd   第11级
    (说话的,思想的)游移不定; 漂泊; 流浪; 离题
    参考例句:
    • The tramp was arrested for vagrancy. 这个流浪汉因流浪而被捕。
    • Vagrancy and begging has become commonplace in London. 流浪和乞讨在伦敦已变得很常见。
    13 orchard [ˈɔ:tʃəd] UJzxu   第8级
    n.果园,果园里的全部果树,(美俚)棒球场
    参考例句:
    • My orchard is bearing well this year. 今年我的果园果实累累。
    • Each bamboo house was surrounded by a thriving orchard. 每座竹楼周围都是茂密的果园。
    14 harry [ˈhæri] heBxS   第8级
    vt.掠夺,蹂躏,使苦恼
    参考例句:
    • Today, people feel more hurried and harried. 今天,人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
    • Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan. 奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。
    15 soothing [su:ðɪŋ] soothing   第12级
    adj.慰藉的;使人宽心的;镇静的
    参考例句:
    • Put on some nice soothing music. 播放一些柔和舒缓的音乐。
    • His casual, relaxed manner was very soothing. 他随意而放松的举动让人很快便平静下来。
    16 rust [rʌst] XYIxu   第7级
    n.锈;vi.生锈;(脑子)衰退;vt.使生锈;腐蚀
    参考例句:
    • She scraped the rust off the kitchen knife. 她擦掉了菜刀上的锈。
    • The rain will rust the iron roof. 雨水会使铁皮屋顶生锈。
    17 nought [nɔ:t] gHGx3   第9级
    n./adj.无,零
    参考例句:
    • We must bring their schemes to nought. 我们必须使他们的阴谋彻底破产。
    • One minus one leaves nought. 一减一等于零。
    18 anecdote [ˈænɪkdəʊt] 7wRzd   第7级
    n.轶事,趣闻,短故事
    参考例句:
    • He departed from the text to tell an anecdote. 他偏离课文讲起了一则轶事。
    • It had never been more than a family anecdote. 那不过是个家庭趣谈罢了。
    19 narration [nəˈreɪʃn] tFvxS   第9级
    n.讲述,叙述;故事;记叙体
    参考例句:
    • The richness of his novel comes from his narration of it. 他小说的丰富多采得益于他的叙述。
    • Narration should become a basic approach to preschool education. 叙事应是幼儿教育的基本途径。
    20 gall [gɔ:l] jhXxC   第11级
    vt.使烦恼,使焦躁,难堪;vi.被磨伤;n.磨难
    参考例句:
    • It galled him to have to ask for a loan. 必须向人借钱使他感到难堪。
    • No gall, no glory. 没有磨难,何来荣耀。
    21 abide [əˈbaɪd] UfVyk   第7级
    vi.遵守;坚持;vt.忍受
    参考例句:
    • You must abide by the results of your mistakes. 你必须承担你的错误所造成的后果。
    • If you join the club, you have to abide by its rules. 如果你参加俱乐部,你就得遵守它的规章。
    22 allays [əˈleɪz] f45fdd769a96a81776867dc31c85398d   第10级
    v.减轻,缓和( allay的第三人称单数 )
    参考例句:
    • This leads to better leak integrity and allays contamination concerns. 这导致了更好的泄露完整性,减少了对污染的担心。 来自互联网
    • And from a security standpoint the act raises as many fears as allays. 而从安全角度来说,该法案消除恐惧的同时也增加了担忧。 来自互联网
    23 conversational [ˌkɒnvəˈseɪʃənl] SZ2yH   第7级
    adj.对话的,会话的
    参考例句:
    • The article is written in a conversational style. 该文是以对话的形式写成的。
    • She values herself on her conversational powers. 她常夸耀自己的能言善辩。
    24 meditation [ˌmedɪˈteɪʃn] yjXyr   第8级
    n.熟虑,(尤指宗教的)默想,沉思,(pl.)冥想录
    参考例句:
    • This peaceful garden lends itself to meditation. 这个恬静的花园适于冥想。
    • I'm sorry to interrupt your meditation. 很抱歉,我打断了你的沉思。
    25 afterward ['ɑ:ftəwəd] fK6y3   第7级
    adv.后来;以后
    参考例句:
    • Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏,然后吃饭。
    • Afterward, the boy became a very famous artist. 后来,这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。
    26 bent [bent] QQ8yD   第7级
    n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的;v.(使)弯曲,屈身(bend的过去式和过去分词)
    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。
    27 poker [ˈpəʊkə(r)] ilozCG   第10级
    n.扑克;vt.烙制
    参考例句:
    • He was cleared out in the poker game. 他打扑克牌,把钱都输光了。
    • I'm old enough to play poker and do something with it. 我打扑克是老手了,可以玩些花样。
    28 wasteful [ˈweɪstfl] ogdwu   第8级
    adj.(造成)浪费的,挥霍的
    参考例句:
    • It is a shame to be so wasteful. 这样浪费太可惜了。
    • Duties have been reassigned to avoid wasteful duplication of work. 为避免重复劳动浪费资源,任务已经重新分派。
    29 gravel [ˈgrævl] s6hyT   第7级
    n.砂跞;砂砾层;结石
    参考例句:
    • We bought six bags of gravel for the garden path. 我们购买了六袋碎石用来铺花园的小路。
    • More gravel is needed to fill the hollow in the drive. 需要更多的砾石来填平车道上的坑洼。
    30 apparently [əˈpærəntli] tMmyQ   第7级
    adv.显然地;表面上,似乎
    参考例句:
    • An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space. 山穷水尽,豁然开朗。
    • He was apparently much surprised at the news. 他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。
    31 peremptorily [pəˈremptrəli] dbf9fb7e6236647e2b3396fe01f8d47a   第11级
    adv.紧急地,不容分说地,专横地
    参考例句:
    • She peremptorily rejected the request. 她断然拒绝了请求。
    • Their propaganda was peremptorily switched to an anti-Western line. 他们的宣传断然地转而持反对西方的路线。 来自辞典例句
    32 props [prɒps] 50fe03ab7bf37089a7e88da9b31ffb3b   第7级
    小道具; 支柱( prop的名词复数 ); 支持者; 道具; (橄榄球中的)支柱前锋
    参考例句:
    • Rescuers used props to stop the roof of the tunnel collapsing. 救援人员用支柱防止隧道顶塌陷。
    • The government props up the prices of farm products to support farmers' incomes. 政府保持农产品价格不变以保障农民们的收入。
    33 rascals [ˈræskəlz] 5ab37438604a153e085caf5811049ebb   第9级
    流氓( rascal的名词复数 ); 无赖; (开玩笑说法)淘气的人(尤指小孩); 恶作剧的人
    参考例句:
    • "Oh, but I like rascals. "唔,不过我喜欢流氓。
    • "They're all second-raters, black sheep, rascals. "他们都是二流人物,是流氓,是恶棍。
    34 treadmill [ˈtredmɪl] 1pOyz   第12级
    n.踏车;单调的工作
    参考例句:
    • The treadmill has a heart rate monitor. 跑步机上有个脉搏监视器。
    • Drugs remove man from the treadmill of routine. 药物可以使人摆脱日常单调的工作带来的疲劳。
    35 yoke [jəʊk] oeTzRa   第9级
    n.轭;支配;vt.给...上轭,连接,使成配偶;vi.结合;匹配
    参考例句:
    • An ass and an ox, fastened to the same yoke, were drawing a wagon. 驴子和公牛一起套在轭上拉车。
    • The defeated army passed under the yoke. 败军在轭门下通过。
    36 malice [ˈmælɪs] P8LzW   第9级
    n.恶意,怨恨,蓄意;[律]预谋
    参考例句:
    • I detected a suggestion of malice in his remarks. 我觉察出他说的话略带恶意。
    • There was a strong current of malice in many of his portraits. 他的许多肖像画中都透着一股强烈的怨恨。
    37 prosper [ˈprɒspə(r)] iRrxC   第7级
    vi.成功,兴隆,昌盛;荣vt.使……成功;使……昌盛;使……繁荣
    参考例句:
    • With her at the wheel, the company began to prosper. 有了她当主管,公司开始兴旺起来。
    • It is my earnest wish that this company will continue to prosper. 我真诚希望这家公司会继续兴旺发达。
    38 amends [ə'mendz] AzlzCR   第7级
    n. 赔偿
    参考例句:
    • He made amends for his rudeness by giving her some flowers. 他送给她一些花,为他自己的鲁莽赔罪。
    • This country refuses stubbornly to make amends for its past war crimes. 该国顽固地拒绝为其过去的战争罪行赔罪。

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