第三册第4篇：切斯特菲尔德伯爵给他儿子的信—谈写信

4 Lord Chesterfield to His Son About Letter Writing 切斯特菲尔德伯爵给他儿子的信—谈写信

Bath, Oct. 4, 1738

My Dear Child, -By my writing so often, and by the manner in which I write, you will easily see that I do not treat you as alittle child, but as a boy who loves to learn, and is ambitious of receiving instructions. I am even persuaded, that, in reading my letters,you are attentive¹, not only to the subject of which they treat, butlikewise to the orthography² and to the style. It is of the greatestimportance to write letters well, as this is a talent which unavoidably occursevery day of one's life, as well in business as in pleasure; andinaccuracies in orthography or in style are never pardoned but in ladies. Whenyou are older, you will read the "Epistles" (that is to say Letters)of Cicero, which are the most perfect models of good writing. Apropos³ of Cicero, I must give you some account of him. He was an old Roman, wholived eighteen hundred years ago, a man of great genius, and the most celebrated⁴ orator⁵ that ever was. Will it not be necessary toexplain to you what an orator is ? I believe I must. An orator is a man who harangues⁶ in a public assembly, and who speaks with eloquence⁷,that is to say,who reasons well, has a fine style and chooses his wordsproperly. Now never a man succeeded better than Cicero in all thosedifferent points; he used sometimes to speak to the whole people of Rome assembled, and by the force of his eloquence, persuaded them to whatever he pleased. At other times, he used to undertake causes,and plead for his clients in courts of judicature; and in thosecauses he generally had all the suffrages⁸, that is to say, all theopinions, all the decisions. in his favour. While the Roman republic enjoyed its freedom, he did very signal services to his country, but afterit was enslaved by Julius Cacsar, the first Emperor of the Romans,Cicero became suspected by the tyrants⁹, and was at last put to death byorder of Mark Antony, who hated him for the severity of his orations¹⁰ against him, at the time that he endeavored to obtain thesovereignty of Rome.

  In case there should be any words in my Ietters which you do not perfectly¹¹ understand, remember always to inquire theexplanation from your mamma, or else to seek for them in the dictionary.Adieu.
 
by Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield
 

1 attentive   

adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的

参考例句：

• She was very attentive to her guests.她对客人招待得十分周到。
• The speaker likes to have an attentive audience.演讲者喜欢注意力集中的听众。

2 orthography   

n.拼字法，拼字式

参考例句：

• In dictionaries,words are listed according to their orthography.在词典中，词是按照字母拼写顺序排列的。
• American and English orthography are very much alike.美语与英语的拼字方法非常相像。

3 apropos   

adv.恰好地；adj.恰当的；关于

参考例句：

• I thought he spoke very apropos.我认为他说得很中肯。
• He arrived very apropos.他来得很及时。

4 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

5 orator   

n.演说者，演讲者，雄辩家

参考例句：

• He was so eloquent that he cut down the finest orator.他能言善辩，胜过最好的演说家。
• The orator gestured vigorously while speaking.这位演讲者讲话时用力地做手势。

6 harangues   

n.高谈阔论的长篇演讲( harangue的名词复数 )v.高谈阔论( harangue的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• "This so aggravated Hitler's pent-up feelings that he burst forth into one of his old harangues. 这下可激发了希特勒憋在心里的情绪，他居然故伎重演，破口大骂起来。 来自名作英译部分
• There is, however, a new self-confidence these days in China's familiar harangues anything it deems sovereign. 然而近来中国在针对认为涉及到其主权问题的说辞上表现出一种新的自信。 来自互联网

7 eloquence   

n.雄辩；口才，修辞

参考例句：

• I am afraid my eloquence did not avail against the facts.恐怕我的雄辩也无补于事实了。
• The people were charmed by his eloquence.人们被他的口才迷住了。

8 suffrages   

（政治性选举的）选举权，投票权( suffrage的名词复数 )

参考例句：

9 tyrants   

专制统治者( tyrant的名词复数 )； 暴君似的人； （古希腊的）僭主； 严酷的事物

参考例句：

• The country was ruled by a succession of tyrants. 这个国家接连遭受暴君的统治。
• The people suffered under foreign tyrants. 人民在异族暴君的统治下受苦受难。

10 orations   

n.（正式仪式中的）演说，演讲( oration的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The young official added a genuine note of emotion amid the pompous funeral orations. 这位年轻的高级官员，在冗长的葬礼演讲中加了一段充满感情的话。 来自辞典例句
• It has to go down as one of the great orations of all times. 它去作为一个伟大的演讲所有次。 来自互联网

11 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。