美国语文第六册 第247期:砖石切砖石(7)

"Yes," said the young man, "and I beg your pardon for not having satisfied you sooner: you know the cause. Ask of me what you desire."

“是的，”这位年轻人说，“请原谅我没有尽快让你满意；你晓得原因的。请求我做你希望的事情。”

"What I desire," said Mansour, "is the casket with all its contents.

“我期望的事情，”曼苏尔说，“就是篮子和里面所有的东西。

Illustrious magistrate¹, you have declared that all bargains hold good before the law;

明察秋毫的法官，你声称只要守法所有的交易都会很好地进行下去；

this young man has promised to give me what I please; now I declare that nothing pleases me but these diamonds."

这个年轻人已经承诺给我想要的东西；现在我宣布除了这些钻石以外，没有我想要的东西。”

The cadi raised his head and looked about the assembly, as if to interrogate² the faces, then stroked his beard, and relapsed into his meditations³.

这时，下级法官抬起头，瞥了一眼在场的人，仿佛在质问这些面孔，然后他捋了一下胡子，重新陷入沉思。

"Ali is defeated," said the sheik to Omar, with a smile, "The fox is not yet born more cunning than the worthy⁴ Mansour."

“阿里败了，”酋长对奥马尔说，脸上浮出笑意，“狐狸不是注定比老练的曼苏尔狡猾的。”

"I am lost!" cried the Banian.

“我完蛋了！”印度商人喊道。

"O Omar, have you saved me only to cast me down from the highest pinnacle⁵ of joy to the depths of despair?

“啊，奥马尔，你能把从最高的顶点坠落到失望深渊的我解救出来吗？

Persuade your father to spare me, that I may owe my life to you a second time."

劝你父亲饶了我吧，看来我又得欠你的人情债了。”

1 magistrate   

n.地方行政官，地方法官，治安官

参考例句：

• The magistrate committed him to prison for a month.法官判处他一个月监禁。
• John was fined 1000 dollars by the magistrate.约翰被地方法官罚款1000美元。

2 interrogate   

vt.讯问，审问，盘问

参考例句：

• The lawyer took a long time to interrogate the witness fully.律师花了很长时间仔细询问目击者。
• We will interrogate the two suspects separately.我们要对这两个嫌疑人单独进行审讯。

3 meditations   

默想( meditation的名词复数 )； 默念； 沉思； 冥想

参考例句：

• Each sentence seems a quarry of rich meditations. 每一句话似乎都给人以许多冥思默想。
• I'm sorry to interrupt your meditations. 我很抱歉，打断你思考问题了。

4 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。

5 pinnacle   

n.尖塔，尖顶，山峰；(喻)顶峰

参考例句：

• Now he is at the very pinnacle of his career.现在他正值事业中的顶峰时期。
• It represents the pinnacle of intellectual capability.它代表了智能的顶峰。