彭蒙惠英语：Much Ado about Shakespeare’s Hometown

Much Ado about Shakespeare’s Hometown

 

By Anne Chalfant

  ©2004 Contra Costa Times,

Knight¹ Ridder Newspapers.

Distributed by Tribune Media Services

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The man peppered his writing with unspeakable violence and feverish² desire. He then stirred in noble enterprise and romance, creating a famous recipe: the most enduringly popular works in English literature, otherwise known as the writings of William Shakespeare.

 

So where did all that turmoil³ come from? When reaching Stratford-upon-Avon, travelers will find few clues to Shakespeare’s love of probing the recesses⁴ of human nature. The swans bobbing along the pretty River Avon are mute. Nothing about the softly rolling green hills points to the origins of murderous Macbeth.

 

Who was Shakespeare?

 

Even 400 years after he lived here, William Shakespeare’s footsteps are surprisingly easy to trace in Stratford. He was a well-schooled middle-class lad, the son of a prosperous merchant. Though the seeker will not see roots of the playwright⁵’s subjects, it is a quieting experience to walk the stone floors of his home, where the worn path once felt his footfall. It is also startling to see this man’s simple grave, just a few feet in front of the altar in the town’s Holy Trinity Church.

 

Since no likeness⁶ of the playwright was made in his lifetime, a statue above his gravestone is the closest we have. It is the basis for all his images today.

 

Birthplace

 

Shakespeare’s Birthplace, an attractive two-story home, feeds the visitor’s curiosity. The shop attached to the home, where young William worked with his father, may reveal one clue to the writer’s careful sculpting⁷ of words and sentences until they fit a plot like a glove. John Shakespeare was a glove maker⁸, and fancy gloves indicated high status in the 16th century. Queen Elizabeth I, an enormously powerful monarch⁹, loved this fashion for the hands. Fine crafting and precision fitting were skills young William learned at his father’s side. Perhaps these standards were later applied¹⁰ to crafting words.

 

Vocabulary Focus

pepper (v) [5pepE] to include a lot of one particular thing in something

recess (n) [ri5ses] a secret or hidden place

likeness (n) [5laiknis] a painting or other representation of a person that looks very like him or her

fit like a glove (idiom) to fit perfectly or be perfectly suited to something else; a perfect match

 

Specialized Terms

playwright (n) 剧作家 a person who writes plays

monarch (n) 君主 a nation’s king or queen

 

 

1 knight   

n.骑士，武士；爵士

参考例句：

• He was made an honourary knight.他被授予荣誉爵士称号。
• A knight rode on his richly caparisoned steed.一个骑士骑在装饰华丽的马上。

2 feverish   

adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的

参考例句：

• He is too feverish to rest.他兴奋得安静不下来。
• They worked with feverish haste to finish the job.为了完成此事他们以狂热的速度工作着。

3 turmoil   

n.骚乱，混乱，动乱

参考例句：

• His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
• The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。

4 recesses   

n.壁凹( recess的名词复数 )；（工作或业务活动的）中止或暂停期间；学校的课间休息；某物内部的凹形空间v.把某物放在墙壁的凹处( recess的第三人称单数 )；将（墙）做成凹形，在（墙）上做壁龛；休息，休会，休庭

参考例句：

• I could see the inmost recesses. 我能看见最深处。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I had continually pushed my doubts to the darker recesses of my mind. 我一直把怀疑深深地隐藏在心中。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 playwright   

n.剧作家，编写剧本的人

参考例句：

• Gwyn Thomas was a famous playwright.格温·托马斯是著名的剧作家。
• The playwright was slaughtered by the press.这位剧作家受到新闻界的无情批判。

6 likeness   

n.相像，相似（之处）

参考例句：

• I think the painter has produced a very true likeness.我认为这位画家画得非常逼真。
• She treasured the painted likeness of her son.她珍藏她儿子的画像。

7 sculpting   

雕刻( sculpt的现在分词 )； 雕塑； 做（头发）； 梳（发式）

参考例句：

• The quality of the result is determined by a Craft( sculpting) check. 由手艺（刻）定决定结果质量如何。
• Another difficulty in the process of ice sculpting is time control. 冰雕过程中的另一项困难是时间的掌控。

8 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

9 monarch   

n.帝王，君主，最高统治者

参考例句：

• The monarch's role is purely ceremonial.君主纯粹是个礼仪职位。
• I think myself happier now than the greatest monarch upon earth.我觉得这个时候比世界上什么帝王都快乐。

10 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。