双语有声阅读：郁金香(2)

Among the pleasant villages and farms

 

乡间万物孕育着乐趣，

Adjoin'd from each thing met conceived delight

谷物、干草、黄牛、牛乳，

The smell of grain, or tended grass, or kine

每一处农家美景，

Or dairy, each rural sight, each rural sound

每一处乡间乐赋。

Those who are conversant¹ in the writings of polite authors receive an additional entertainment from the country，as it revives in their memories those charming descriptions, with which such authors do frequently abound².

那些熟悉这些名人佳作的人，在他们的脑海里总能浮现出名人笔下反复出现的娇媚景色，因此他们更能从乡间美景中获得一份意外的乐趣。

I was thinking of the foregoing beautiful simile³ in Milton, and applying, it to myself，when I observed to the windward of me a black cloud, falling to the earth in long trails of rain, which made me betake myself for shelter to a house saw at a little distance from the place where I was walking.

正当我独自品味着弥尔顿的诗句时，忽然发现迎面飘来一团乌云，刹那间绵长的雨丝急坠而下。我赶忙起身，举目四望，向不远处的一座农合跑去。

 

As I sat in the porch, I heard the voices of two or three persons, who seemed very earnest in discourse⁴.

 

当我坐在门廊中时，听到两三个人谈话的声音。他们似乎正在十分认真地争论着什么。

My curiosity was raised when I heard the names of Alexander the Great and Artaxerxes;and as their talk seemed to run on ancient heroes, I concluded there could not be any secret in it;for which reason thought I might very fairly listen to what they said.

听他们提到亚历山大大帝和阿塔克西斯的名字，我的好奇心立即被吸引了出来。因为他们争论的好像是古代英雄和伟人，我想里面应该不会有任何秘密。想到这儿，我想或许可以仔细地听一下他们的谈话。

After several parallels between great men, which appeared to me altogether groundless and chimerical⁵, I was surprised to hear one say, that he valued the Black Prince more than the Duke of Venoms⁶.

他们先是比较了几个伟人。在我看来，这种比较根本毫无根据，纯属虚构。我十分诧异地听到其中一个人说，他认为黑色王子远比旺多姆公爵好得多。

How Duke of Vendos should become a rival of Black Prince, I couldn't conceive.

旺多姆公爵和黑色王子怎么能作比较呢？我感到非常不解。

1 conversant   

adj.亲近的，有交情的，熟悉的

参考例句：

• Mr.Taylor is thoroughly conversant with modern music.泰勒先生对现代音乐很精通。
• We become the most conversant stranger in the world.我们变成了世界上最熟悉的陌生人。

2 abound   

vi.大量存在；(in，with)充满，富于

参考例句：

• Oranges abound here all the year round.这里一年到头都有很多橙子。
• But problems abound in the management of State-owned companies.但是在国有企业的管理中仍然存在不少问题。

3 simile   

n.直喻，明喻

参考例句：

• I believe this simile largely speaks the truth.我相信这种比拟在很大程度上道出了真实。
• It is a trite simile to compare her teeth to pearls.把她的牙齿比做珍珠是陈腐的比喻。

4 discourse   

n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述

参考例句：

• We'll discourse on the subject tonight.我们今晚要谈论这个问题。
• He fell into discourse with the customers who were drinking at the counter.他和站在柜台旁的酒客谈了起来。

5 chimerical   

adj.荒诞不经的，梦幻的

参考例句：

• His Utopia is not a chimerical commonwealth but a practical improvement on what already exists.他的乌托邦不是空想的联邦，而是对那些已经存在的联邦事实上的改进。
• Most interpret the information from the victims as chimerical thinking.大多数来自于受害者的解释是被当作空想。

6 venoms   

n.（某些蛇、蝎子等分泌的）毒液( venom的名词复数 )；愤恨的感情或语言；毒物

参考例句：

• Spider venoms are exquisitely refined to interfere with the nervous systems of insects. 蜘蛛的毒液非常微妙，专门损坏昆虫的神经系统。 来自百科语句
• Venoms (especially upgraded) are the ideal unit for taking out husks. 毒液（特别是升级后的）是消灭外壳的理想单位。 来自互联网