【荆棘鸟】第四章 14

羊群回到了它们正常的牧场上，克利里一家不得不学习内地午睡的习惯了。他们5点钟起床，中午之前把一切都安排妥贴，然后便大汗淋漓地倒身睡去，直到下午5点钟。在家的女人和围场上的男人全部一样。5点钟以后，他们便干那些早些时候无法干的零杂活，太阳西沉以后、就在走廊外的一张桌子上吃饭。所有的床铺也搬到了外面，因为通夜都炎热难耐。几个星期以来，似乎不论是白天或黑夜，温度计的水银柱都没下过100度。吃牛肉已经是很久以前的事了，现在吃的只是小块的、在吃完前不至于腐烂的；绵羊肉。他们希望能换换口昧，不再吃那老一套的烤羊排、炖羊内、绵羊肉做的羊馅馅饼、咖哩羊肉、烤羊腿、水煮腌羊肉和蒸羊肉了。

　　但是，二月初，梅吉和斯图尔特的生活有了突变。他们被送到了基兰博的女修道院寄宿，因为再没有比这更近的学校了。帕迪说，等哈尔够了年龄，可以接受悉尼"黑色男修士"学校的函授教育，但在此期间，由于梅吉和斯图尔特一直习惯有老师教他们，于是玛丽·卡森就慷慨解囊，供他们在"圣士字架"女修道院寄宿和就学。再说，菲要忙着照看哈尔，无法监督函授的课程了。杰克和休吉不能再继续读书了，这在一开始就是不言而喻的。德罗海达需要他们在工地上出力，而这也是他们所喜欢做的事。

　　经过了德罗海达，尤其是在韦汉的圣心修道院里的日子，梅吉和斯图尔特发觉"圣十字架"修道院里的生活是陌生而又平静的。拉尔夫神父曾经用心良深地告诉过修女们，这两个孩子是由他保护的，而他们的姑妈是新南威尔士最富有的女人。于是，梅吉的腼腆从缺点变成了美德，斯图尔待的孤僻以及他那一连几个钟头凝望远方发呆的习惯则被称之为“圣洁”。

　　生活的确十分宁静，因为这里只有寥寥可数的几个寄宿生；这个地区有钱供得起了女上寄宿学校的人无一例外地都宁可把子女送到悉尼去。女修道院里散发着上光漆和花的香味，黑暗而高大的走廊里笼罩着宁温和极为神圣肃穆的气氛。声静响息，生活是在一层薄薄的黑纱背后进行的，没有人用藤条打他们，没有人冲他们大呼小叫，事事都有拉尔夫神父呢。

　　他常常来看他们，并且定期让他们留住在神父宅邸里。他决定用精美的苹果绿来油漆梅吉住的房间。

 

The sheep were moved back to their normal pasture and the Clearys were forced to learn the Outback habit of siesta¹. They rose at five, got everything done before midday, then collapsed² in twitching³, sweating heaps until five in the afternoon. This applied⁴ both to the women at the house and the men in the paddocks. Chores which could not be done early were done after five, and the evening meal eaten after the sun had gone down at a table outside on the veranda⁵. All the beds had been moved outside as well for the heat persisted through the night. It seemed as if the mercury had not gone below a century in weeks, day or night. Beef was a forgotten memory, only a sheep small enough to last without tainting⁶ until it was all eaten. Their palates longed for a change from the eternal round of baked mutton chops, mutton stew⁷, shepherd's pie made of minced⁸ mutton, curried⁹ mutton, roast leg of mutton, boiled pickled mutton, mutton casserole. But at the beginning of February life changed abruptly¹⁰ for Meggie and Stuart. They were sent to the convent in Gillanbone to board, for there was no school closer. Hal, said Paddy, could learn by correspondence from Blackfriars School in Sydney when he was old enough, but in the meantime, since Meggie and Stuart were used to teachers, Mary Carson had generously offered to pay for their board and tuition at the Holy Cross convent. Besides, Fee was too busy with Hal to supervise correspondence lessons as well. It had been tacitly understood from the beginning that Jack¹¹ and Hughie would go no further with their educations; Drogheda needed them on the land, and the land was what they wanted. Meggie and Stuart found it a strange, peaceful existence at Holy Cross after their life on Drogheda, but especially after the Sacred Heart in Wahine. Father Ralph had subtly indicated to the nuns¹² that this pair of children were his protégés, their aunt the richest woman in New South Wales. So Meggie's shyness was transformed from a vice¹³ into a virtue¹⁴, and Stuart's odd isolation¹⁵, his habit of staring for hours into illimitable distances, earned him the epithet¹⁶ "saintly."

It was very peaceful indeed, for there were very few boarders; people of the district wealthy enough to send their offspring to boarding school invariably preferred Sydney. The convent smelled of polish and flowers, its dark high corridors awash with quietness and a tangible¹⁷ holiness. Voices were muted, life went on behind a black thin veil. No one caned¹⁸ them, no one shouted at them, and there was always Father Ralph. He came to see them often, and had them to stay at the presbytery so regularly he decided to paint the bedroom Meggie used a delicate apple green,

1 siesta   

n.午睡

参考例句：

• Lots of people were taking a short siesta in the shade.午后很多人在阴凉处小睡。
• He had acquired the knack of snatching his siesta in the most unfavourable circumstance.他学会了在最喧闹的场合下抓紧时间睡觉的诀窍。

2 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

3 twitching   

n.颤搐

参考例句：

• The child in a spasm kept twitching his arms and legs. 那个害痉挛的孩子四肢不断地抽搐。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• My eyelids keep twitching all the time. 我眼皮老是跳。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 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。

5 veranda   

n.走廊；阳台

参考例句：

• She sat in the shade on the veranda.她坐在阳台上的遮荫处。
• They were strolling up and down the veranda.他们在走廊上来回徜徉。

6 tainting   

v.使变质( taint的现在分词 )；使污染；败坏；被污染，腐坏，败坏

参考例句：

7 stew   

n.炖汤，焖，烦恼；v.炖汤，焖，忧虑

参考例句：

• The stew must be boiled up before serving.炖肉必须煮熟才能上桌。
• There's no need to get in a stew.没有必要烦恼。

8 minced   

v.切碎( mince的过去式和过去分词 )；剁碎；绞碎；用绞肉机绞（食物，尤指肉）

参考例句：

• He minced over to serve us. 他迈着碎步过来招待我们。
• A young fop minced up to George and introduced himself. 一个花花公子扭扭捏捏地走到乔治面前并作了自我介绍。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 curried   

adj.加了咖喱（或咖喱粉的），用咖哩粉调理的

参考例句：

• She curried favor with the leader by contemptible means. 她用卑鄙的手段博取领导的欢心。 来自互联网
• Fresh ham, curried beef? 鲜火腿？咖喱牛肉？ 来自互联网

10 abruptly   

adv.突然地，出其不意地

参考例句：

• He gestured abruptly for Virginia to get in the car.他粗鲁地示意弗吉尼亚上车。
• I was abruptly notified that a half-hour speech was expected of me.我突然被通知要讲半个小时的话。

11 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

12 nuns   

n.（通常指基督教的）修女， （佛教的）尼姑( nun的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Ah Q had always had the greatest contempt for such people as little nuns. 小尼姑之流是阿Q本来视如草芥的。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Nuns are under vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. 修女须立誓保持清贫、贞洁、顺从。 来自辞典例句

13 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

14 virtue   

n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力

参考例句：

• He was considered to be a paragon of virtue.他被认为是品德尽善尽美的典范。
• You need to decorate your mind with virtue.你应该用德行美化心灵。

15 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。

16 epithet   

n.（用于褒贬人物等的）表述形容词，修饰语

参考例句：

• In "Alfred the Great","the Great"is an epithet.“阿尔弗雷德大帝”中的“大帝”是个称号。
• It is an epithet that sums up my feelings.这是一个简洁地表达了我思想感情的形容词。

17 tangible   

adj.有形的，可触摸的，确凿的，实际的

参考例句：

• The policy has not yet brought any tangible benefits.这项政策还没有带来任何实质性的好处。
• There is no tangible proof.没有确凿的证据。

18 caned   

vt.用苔杖打（cane的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The gaoler caned the man. 狱卒用藤条鞭打这个人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I have caned my son when necessary. 必要时，我就用藤条打儿子一顿。 来自辞典例句