unit35 Rebel Wild Rose 叛逆的野玫瑰

Rebel Wild Rose

叛逆的野玫瑰

本文看点

罗斯?奥尼尔?格林豪是美国内战时期南部联盟的著名间谍,被称为“叛逆的野玫瑰”。她利用华盛顿社交名媛的身份以及个人的魅力与才智，渗入北方联邦政府的高层政治、军事机构，并多次将重要情报藏在女人的发髻里，交给南部作战将领，并因此两次被北方政府监禁。获释后，罗斯前往英国、欧洲为南部联盟的事业进行游说募捐。1864年，她乘坐一艘英国战舰偷越北方封锁线，在华盛顿附近的费尔岬河口船只搁浅。她登上一只小划艇逃避北方联军炮艇的追击，不幸船翻澧水身亡，死时年仅47岁。

 

Rose O'Neal Greenhow (1817 – 1864) was born in Montgomery County, Maryland. “Rebel Wild Rose", as she was sometimes called, was a distinguished¹ hostess in Washington society, a passionate² secessionist (分离论者), and one of the most renowned³ spies in the Civil War.

“I am a Southern woman," she wrote, "born with revolutionary blood in my veins”. It was this fervor⁵--along with her many intimate connections in the capital--that made Greenhow, a prime rebel recruit when the Civil War finally broke out in April 1861. She proved her worth as a spy in a very short time. From her home on 16th Street NW, Greenhow was running a spy ring meant to undermine the Union war effort. Her efforts on behalf of the South were relentless⁶. "She did a better job than most in infiltrating⁷ (渗透) the political and military elite⁸ of Washington," says Tyler Anbinder, associate professor of history at George Washington University. "She flattered men into revealing sensitive information." With her charm, intellect and ambition, as well as through her husband, Robert, a State Department official whom she married in 1835, Rose Greenhow came to know virtually everyone of importance in Washington. Among her accomplishments¹⁰ was the ten-word secret message she sent to General Pierre G.T. Beauregard which ultimately caused him to win the battle of Bull Run. She spied so successfully for the Confederacy that Jefferson Davis credited her with winning the battle of Manassas.

Her courier, a young woman named Betty Duvall, rode out of Washington dressed as a country girl. Meeting Gen. Milledge L. Bonham at the Fairfax County Courthouse, Duvall advised him that she had an urgent message for Gen. Beauregard. "Upon my announcing that I would have it faithfully forwarded at once," Bonham later recalled, "she took out her tucking comb and let fall the longest and most beautiful roll of hair I have ever seen. She took from the back of her head, where it had been safely tied, a small package, not larger than a silver dollar, sewed up in silk."

Washington has seen plenty of covert¹¹ operatives, as well as highly connected grand dames¹³, but Greenhow managed to unite the two professions in herself. Indeed Greenhow's covert activities did attract unfavorable attention in Washington. She was imprisoned¹⁵ for her efforts first in her own home and then in the Old Capital Prison. Despite her confinement¹⁶, Greenhow continued getting messages to the Confederacy by means of cryptic¹⁷ (秘密的) notes which traveled in unlikely places such as the inside of a woman's bun of hair. After her second prison term, she was exiled to the Confederate states where she was received warmly by President Jefferson Davis.

Her next mission was to tour Britain and France as a propagandist for the Confederate cause. Two months after her arrival in London, her memoirs¹⁹ were published and enjoyed a wide sale throughout the British Isles²⁰. In Europe, Greenhow found a strong sympathy for the South, especially among the ruling classes. In 1864, after a year abroad, she boarded the Condor²¹, a British blockade-runner (偷越封锁线的船) which was to take her home. Just before reaching her destination, the vessel²² ran aground at the mouth of the Cape²³ Fear River near Wilmington, North Carolina. In order to avoid the Union gunboat that pursued her ship, Rose fled in a rowboat, but never made it to shore. Her little boat capsized (倾覆) and she was dragged down by the weight of the gold she received in royalties²⁴ (版税) for her book.

In October 1864, Rose was buried with full military honors in the Oakdale Cemetery²⁵ in Wilmington. Her coffin²⁶ was wrapped in the Confederate flag and carried by Confederate troops. The marker for her grave, a marble cross, bears the epitaph (墓志铭), "Mrs. Rose O'N. Greenhow, a bearer of dispatches to the Confederate Government."

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经典句型

1. From her home on 16th Street NW, Greenhow was running a spy ring meant to undermine the Union war effort. 克林豪夫人在自己西北第16街的府邸，操纵着一个旨在颠覆北部联军军事行动的间谍机构。

2. She took out her tucking comb and let fall the longest and most beautiful roll of hair I have ever seen. She took from the back of her head, where it had been safely tied, a small package, not larger than a silver dollar, sewed up in silk. 她取下插在头发上的木梳，放下我所见过的最长最美丽的一卷头发，然后从头发里拿出一个小包裹。这个不如一个银元大的小包裹是用丝绸缝制的，被安全地捆扎在脑后的发髻里。

 

速记生词

accomplishment⁹ n. 成就 bear vt. 携带，带有

bearer n. 送信人 board vt. 登上(车、船、飞机)

coffin n. 棺材 courier n. 信使

covert adj. 隐蔽的 credit vt. [+ sb with…] 认为某人具有……

destination n. 目的地 dispatch n. 急件

exile vt. 流放 fervor n. 热情，狂热

flatter vt. 奉承 imprison¹⁴ vt. 监禁

intimate adj. 亲密的 marble n. 大理石

memoir¹⁸ n. 备忘录 passionate adj. 充满激情的

propagandist n. 宣传员 rowboat n. 划艇

undermine vt. (暗中)破坏 vein⁴ n. 血管

wrap vt. 包裹

 

流行短语

grand dame¹² 名媛 on behalf of 代表

make it to…成功抵达 run aground 搁浅

the British Isles 英伦诸岛 the ruling class 统治阶层

 

知识链接 ―― 南北战争时期的几个重要人物(Important Figures in American Civil War)

1. Harriet Beecher Stowe哈瑞特?比切尔?斯托(1811-1896)

美国女作家斯托夫人，是另一位对美国南北战争有着重大影响的女人，她的成名作《汤姆叔叔的小屋》（Uncle Tom's Cabin, 1851）引起了美国乃至世界其他国家对黑人奴隶制的关注与争议。1862年林肯总统接见她时说“So you are the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war!”（“您就是那为引发这场伟大真正的小妇人！”）

1 distinguished   

adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的

参考例句：

• Elephants are distinguished from other animals by their long noses.大象以其长长的鼻子显示出与其他动物的不同。
• A banquet was given in honor of the distinguished guests.宴会是为了向贵宾们致敬而举行的。

2 passionate   

adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的

参考例句：

• He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
• He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。

3 renowned   

adj.著名的，有名望的，声誉鹊起的

参考例句：

• He is one of the world's renowned writers.他是世界上知名的作家之一。
• She is renowned for her advocacy of human rights.她以提倡人权而闻名。

4 vein   

n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络

参考例句：

• The girl is not in the vein for singing today.那女孩今天没有心情唱歌。
• The doctor injects glucose into the patient's vein.医生把葡萄糖注射入病人的静脉。

5 fervor   

n.热诚；热心；炽热

参考例句：

• They were concerned only with their own religious fervor.他们只关心自己的宗教热诚。
• The speech aroused nationalist fervor.这个演讲喚起了民族主义热情。

6 relentless   

adj.残酷的，不留情的，无怜悯心的

参考例句：

• The traffic noise is relentless.交通车辆的噪音一刻也不停止。
• Their training has to be relentless.他们的训练必须是无情的。

7 infiltrating   

v.（使）渗透，（指思想）渗入人的心中( infiltrate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Be vigilant against the danger of enemy agents infiltrating the government and boring from within. 要警惕敌特渗入政府内部进行暗中破坏。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The metastatic melanoma is seen here to be infiltrating into the myocardium. 图示转移性黑色素瘤浸润到心肌。 来自互联网

8 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

9 accomplishment   

n.完成，成就，（pl.）造诣，技能

参考例句：

• The series of paintings is quite an accomplishment.这一系列的绘画真是了不起的成就。
• Money will be crucial to the accomplishment of our objectives.要实现我们的目标，钱是至关重要的。

10 accomplishments   

n.造诣；完成( accomplishment的名词复数 )；技能；成绩；成就

参考例句：

• It was one of the President's greatest accomplishments. 那是总统最伟大的成就之一。
• Among her accomplishments were sewing,cooking,playing the piano and dancing. 她的才能包括缝纫、烹调、弹钢琴和跳舞。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

11 covert   

adj.隐藏的；暗地里的

参考例句：

• We should learn to fight with enemy in an overt and covert way.我们应学会同敌人做公开和隐蔽的斗争。
• The army carried out covert surveillance of the building for several months.军队对这座建筑物进行了数月的秘密监视。

12 dame   

n.女士

参考例句：

• The dame tell of her experience as a wife and mother.这位年长妇女讲了她作妻子和母亲的经验。
• If you stick around,you'll have to marry that dame.如果再逗留多一会，你就要跟那个夫人结婚。

13 dames   

n.（在英国）夫人（一种封号），夫人（爵士妻子的称号）( dame的名词复数 )；女人

参考例句：

• Dames would not comment any further. Dames将不再更多的评论。 来自互联网
• Flowers, candy, jewelry, seemed the principal things in which the elegant dames were interested. 鲜花、糖果和珠宝看来是那些贵妇人的主要兴趣所在。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

14 imprison   

vt.监禁，关押，限制，束缚

参考例句：

• The effect of this one is going to imprison you for life.而这件事的影响力则会让你被终身监禁。
• Dutch colonial authorities imprisoned him for his part in the independence movement.荷兰殖民当局因他参加独立运动而把他关押了起来。

15 imprisoned   

下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was imprisoned for two concurrent terms of 30 months and 18 months. 他被判处30个月和18个月的监禁，合并执行。
• They were imprisoned for possession of drugs. 他们因拥有毒品而被监禁。

16 confinement   

n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限

参考例句：

• He spent eleven years in solitary confinement.他度过了11年的单独监禁。
• The date for my wife's confinement was approaching closer and closer.妻子分娩的日子越来越近了。

17 cryptic   

adj.秘密的，神秘的，含义模糊的

参考例句：

• She made a cryptic comment about how the film mirrored her life.她隐晦地表示说这部电影是她人生的写照。
• The new insurance policy is written without cryptic or mysterious terms.新的保险单在编写时没有隐秘条款或秘密条款。

18 memoir   

n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录

参考例句：

• He has just published a memoir in honour of his captain.他刚刚出了一本传记来纪念他的队长。
• In her memoir,the actress wrote about the bittersweet memories of her first love.在那个女演员的自传中，她写到了自己苦乐掺半的初恋。

19 memoirs   

n.回忆录；回忆录传( mem,自oir的名词复数)

参考例句：

• Her memoirs were ghostwritten. 她的回忆录是由别人代写的。
• I watched a trailer for the screenplay of his memoirs. 我看过以他的回忆录改编成电影的预告片。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 isles   

岛( isle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the geology of the British Isles 不列颠群岛的地质
• The boat left for the isles. 小船驶向那些小岛。

21 condor   

n.秃鹰；秃鹰金币

参考例句：

• The condor soars above the mountain heights.禿鹰翱翔于高山之上。
• A condor prepares to fly in Colombia.一只兀鹰在哥伦比亚准备振翅高飞。

22 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。

23 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

24 royalties   

特许权使用费

参考例句：

• I lived on about £3,000 a year from the royalties on my book. 我靠着写书得来的每年约3，000英镑的版税生活。 来自辞典例句
• Payments shall generally be made in the form of royalties. 一般应采取提成方式支付。 来自经济法规部分

25 cemetery   

n.坟墓，墓地，坟场

参考例句：

• He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
• His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。

26 coffin   

n.棺材，灵柩

参考例句：

• When one's coffin is covered,all discussion about him can be settled.盖棺论定。
• The coffin was placed in the grave.那口棺材已安放到坟墓里去了。