有声名著之双城记Book1 Chapter01

　　BOOK THE FIRST   RECALLED TO LIFE

       CHAPTER IThe Period

       It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it wasthe age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was theepoch of belief, it was the epoch¹ of incredulity, it was theseason of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was thespring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we hadeverything before us, we had nothing before us, we were allgoing direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the otherway--in short, the period was so. far like the present period,that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its beingreceived, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree ofcomparison only.
There were a king with a large jaw² and a queen with a plainface, on the throne of England; there were a king with a largejaw and a queen with a fair face, on the throne of France. Inboth countries it was clearer than crystal to the lords of theState preserves of loaves and fishes, that things in generalwere settled for ever.
It was the year of Our Lord one thousand seven hundred andseventy-five. Spiritual revelations were conceded to Englandat that favoured period, a sat this. Mrs. Southcott hadrecently attained³ her five-and-twentieth blessed birthday, ofwhom a prophetic private in the Life Guards had heralded⁴ thesublime appearance by announcing that arrangements were madefor the swallowing up of London and Westminster. Even theCock-lane ghost had been laid only a round dozen of years,after rapping out its messages, as the spirits of this veryyear last past (supernaturally deficient⁵ in originality)rapped out theirs. Mere⁶ messages in the earthly order ofevents had lately come to the English Crown and People, from acongress of British subjects in America: which, strange torelate, have proved more important to the human race than anycommunications yet received through any of the chickens of theCock-lane brood.
France, less favoured on the whole as to matters spiritualthan her sister of the shield and trident, rolled withexceeding smoothness down hill, making paper money andspending it. Under the guidance of her Christian⁷ pastors⁸, sheentertained herself besides, with such humane⁹ achievements assentencing a youth to have his hands cut off, his tongue tornout with pincers, and his body burned alive, because he hadnot kneeled down in the rain to do honour to a dirtyprocession of monks¹⁰ which passed within his view, at adistance of some fifty or sixty yards. It is likely enoughthat, rooted in the woods of France and Norway, there weregrowing trees, when that sufferer was put to death, alreadymarked by the Woodman, Fate, to comedown and be sawn intoboards, to make a certain movable framework with a sack and aknife in it, terrible in history. It is likely enough that inthe rough outhouses old some tillers of the heavy landsadjacent to Paris, there were sheltered from the weather thatvery day, rude carts, be spattered with rustic¹¹ mire¹², snuffedabout by pigs, and roosted in by poultry¹³, which the Farmer,Death, had already set apart to be his tumbrils of theRevolution. But that Woodman and that Farmer, though they workunceasingly, work silently, and no one heard them as they wentabout with muffled¹⁴ tread: the rather, for as much as toentertain any suspicion that they were awake, was to beatheistical and traitorous¹⁵.
In England, there was scarcely an amount of order andprotection to justify¹⁶ much national boasting. Daringburglaries by armed men, and highway robberies, took place inthe capital itself every night; families were publiclycautioned not to go out of town without removing theirfurniture to upholsterers' warehouses¹⁷ for security; thehighwayman in the dark was a City tradesman in the light, and,being recognised and challenged by his fellow-tradesman whomhe stopped in his character of `the Captain, ' gallantly<sup>18</sup> shothim through the head and rode away; the mail was waylaid<sup>19</sup> byseven robbers, and the guard shot three dead, and then gotshot dead himself by the other four, `in consequence of thefailure of his ammunition²⁰:' after which the mail was robbed inPeace; that magnificent potentate²¹, the Lord Mayor of London,was made to stand and deliver on Turnham Green, by onehighwayman, who despoiled²² the illustrious creature insight ofall his retinue²³; prisoners in London gaols²⁴ fought battles withtheir turnkeys, and the majesty²⁵ of the law fired blunderbussesin among them, loaded with rounds of shot and ball; thievessnipped off diamond crosses from the necks of noble lords atCourt drawing-rooms; musketeers went into St. Giles's, tosearch for contraband²⁶ goods, and the mob fired on themusketeers, and the musketeers fired on the mob, and nobodythought any of these occurrences much out of the common way.
In the midst of them, the hangman, ever busy and ever worsethan useless, was in constant requisition; now, stringing uplong rows of miscellaneous criminals; now, hanging a house-breaker on Saturday who had been taken on Tuesday; now,burning people in the hand at Newgate by the dozen, and nowburning pamphlets at the door of Westminster Hall; to-day,taking the life of an atrocious murderer, and to-morrow of awretched pilferer²⁷ who had robbed a farmer's boy of sixpence.
All these things, and a thousand like them, came to pass inand close upon the dear old year one thousand seven hundredand seventy-five. Environed by them, while the Woodman and theFarmer worked unheeded, those two of the large jaws²⁸, and thoseother two of the plain and the fair laces, trod with stirenough, and carried their divine rights with a high hand. Thusdid the year one thousand seven hundred and seventy-fiveconduct their Greatnesses, and myriads²⁹ of small creatures--thecreatures of this chronicle among the rest--along the roadsthat lay before them.

1 epoch   

n.(新)时代；历元

参考例句：

• The epoch of revolution creates great figures.革命时代造就伟大的人物。
• We're at the end of the historical epoch,and at the dawn of another.我们正处在一个历史时代的末期，另一个历史时代的开端。

2 jaw   

n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训

参考例句：

• He delivered a right hook to his opponent's jaw.他给了对方下巴一记右钩拳。
• A strong square jaw is a sign of firm character.强健的方下巴是刚毅性格的标志。

3 attained   

（通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况）

参考例句：

• She has attained the degree of Master of Arts. 她已获得文学硕士学位。
• Lu Hsun attained a high position in the republic of letters. 鲁迅在文坛上获得崇高的地位。

4 heralded   

v.预示( herald的过去式和过去分词 )；宣布（好或重要）

参考例句：

• The singing of the birds heralded in the day. 鸟鸣报晓。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A fanfare of trumpets heralded the arrival of the King. 嘹亮的小号声宣告了国王驾到。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 deficient   

adj.不足的，不充份的，有缺陷的

参考例句：

• The crops are suffering from deficient rain.庄稼因雨量不足而遭受损害。
• I always have been deficient in selfconfidence and decision.我向来缺乏自信和果断。

6 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

7 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

8 pastors   

n.（基督教的）牧师( pastor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Do we show respect to our pastors, missionaries, Sunday school teachers? 我们有没有尊敬牧师、宣教士，以及主日学的老师？ 来自互联网
• Should pastors or elders be paid, or serve as a volunteer? 牧师或长老需要付给酬劳，还是志愿的事奉呢？ 来自互联网

9 humane   

adj.人道的，富有同情心的

参考例句：

• Is it humane to kill animals for food?宰杀牲畜来吃合乎人道吗？
• Their aim is for a more just and humane society.他们的目标是建立一个更加公正、博爱的社会。

10 monks   

n.修道士，僧侣( monk的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The monks lived a very ascetic life. 僧侣过着很清苦的生活。
• He had been trained rigorously by the monks. 他接受过修道士的严格训练。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 rustic   

adj.乡村的，有乡村特色的；n.乡下人，乡巴佬

参考例句：

• It was nearly seven months of leisurely rustic living before Michael felt real boredom.这种悠闲的乡村生活过了差不多七个月之后,迈克尔开始感到烦闷。
• We hoped the fresh air and rustic atmosphere would help him adjust.我们希望新鲜的空气和乡村的氛围能帮他调整自己。

12 mire   

n.泥沼，泥泞；v.使...陷于泥泞，使...陷入困境

参考例句：

• I don't want my son's good name dragged through the mire.我不想使我儿子的名誉扫地。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

13 poultry   

n.家禽，禽肉

参考例句：

• There is not much poultry in the shops. 商店里禽肉不太多。
• What do you feed the poultry on? 你们用什么饲料喂养家禽?

14 muffled   

adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己）

参考例句：

• muffled voices from the next room 从隔壁房间里传来的沉闷声音
• There was a muffled explosion somewhere on their right. 在他们的右面什么地方有一声沉闷的爆炸声。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 traitorous   

adj. 叛国的, 不忠的, 背信弃义的

参考例句：

• All traitorous persons and cliques came to no good end. 所有的叛徒及叛徒集团都没好下场。
• Most of the time I keep such traitorous thoughts to myself. 这种叛逆思想我不大向别人暴露。

16 justify   

vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护

参考例句：

• He tried to justify his absence with lame excuses.他想用站不住脚的借口为自己的缺席辩解。
• Can you justify your rude behavior to me?你能向我证明你的粗野行为是有道理的吗？

17 warehouses   

仓库，货栈( warehouse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The whisky was taken to bonded warehouses at Port Dundee. 威士忌酒已送到邓迪港的保稅仓库。
• Row upon row of newly built warehouses line the waterfront. 江岸新建的仓库鳞次栉比。

18 gallantly   

adv. 漂亮地，勇敢地，献殷勤地

参考例句：

• He gallantly offered to carry her cases to the car. 他殷勤地要帮她把箱子拎到车子里去。
• The new fighters behave gallantly under fire. 新战士在炮火下表现得很勇敢。

19 waylaid   

v.拦截，拦路( waylay的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I got waylaid on my way here. 我在来这里的路上遭到了拦路抢劫。
• He was waylaid by thieves. 他在路上被抢了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

20 ammunition   

n.军火，弹药

参考例句：

• A few of the jeeps had run out of ammunition.几辆吉普车上的弹药已经用光了。
• They have expended all their ammunition.他们把弹药用光。

21 potentate   

n.统治者；君主

参考例句：

• People rose up against the despotic rule of their potentate.人们起来反抗君主的专制统治。
• I shall recline here like an oriental potentate.我要像个东方君主一样躺在这.

22 despoiled   

v.掠夺，抢劫( despoil的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They despoiled the villagers of their belongings. 他们夺走了村民的财物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The victorious army despoiled the city of all its treasures. 得胜的军队把城里的财宝劫掠一空。 来自辞典例句

23 retinue   

n.侍从；随员

参考例句：

• The duchess arrived,surrounded by her retinue of servants.公爵夫人在大批随从人马的簇拥下到达了。
• The king's retinue accompanied him on the journey.国王的侍从在旅途上陪伴着他。

24 gaols   

监狱，拘留所( gaol的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The farmed the gaols out to private persons. 当局把监所出租给私人。
• Strikes by prison officers underline the need for reform in our gaols. 监狱工作人员罢工一事，突出地表明我们的监狱制度需要改革。

25 majesty   

n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权

参考例句：

• The king had unspeakable majesty.国王有无法形容的威严。
• Your Majesty must make up your mind quickly!尊贵的陛下，您必须赶快做出决定！

26 contraband   

n.违禁品，走私品

参考例句：

• Most of the city markets were flooded with contraband goods.大多数的城市市场上都充斥着走私货。
• The customs officers rummaged the ship suspected to have contraband goods.海关人员仔细搜查了一艘有走私嫌疑的海轮。

27 pilferer   

n.小偷

参考例句：

28 jaws   

n.口部；嘴

参考例句：

• The antelope could not escape the crocodile's gaping jaws. 那只羚羊无法从鱷鱼张开的大口中逃脱。
• The scored jaws of a vise help it bite the work. 台钳上有刻痕的虎钳牙帮助它紧咬住工件。

29 myriads   

n.无数，极大数量( myriad的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Each galaxy contains myriads of stars. 每一星系都有无数的恒星。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sky was set with myriads of stars. 无数星星点缀着夜空。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》