英文小说佳句欣赏

洋八路

57. ‘Do you want to be a gentleman, to spite her or gain her over?’ Biddy quietly asked me, after a pause.
‘I don’t know,’ I moodily answered.
‘Because, if it is to spite her,’ Biddy pursued, ‘I should think – but you know best – that might be better and more independently done by carrying nothing for her words. And if it is to gain her over, I should think – but you know best – she was not worth gaining over.’
Exactly what myself had thought, many times. Exactly what was perfectly manifest to me at the moment. But how could I, a poor dazed village lad, avoid that wonderful inconsistency into which the best and wisest of men fall every day?
'It may be quite true,’ said I to Biddy, ‘but I admire her dreadfully.’   Charles Dickens [Great Expectation]


-- I (主人公) 被一个贵族女孩（her) 看不起, 说他 coarse and common, 他感到很屈辱，他的朋友 Biddy 帮他开脱.. 可是他还是没有办法，他就是 admire her dreadfully...   单相思，‘爱’不符合逻辑。。

[ 本帖最后由 洋八路 于 2011-5-26 10:40 编辑 ]

洋八路

58. Down in the west the setting sun had left a streak of fiery red, which glared upon, the desolation for an instant, like a sullen eye, and frowning lower, lower, lower yet, was lost in the thick gloom of darkest night. -- Charles Dickens [ A Christmas carol]

-- 夕阳西下。。

Grange

洋8路是狄更斯的忠实粉丝啊，呵呵，最喜欢大卫科波菲尔。

osborne99

学习和膜拜一下，我想学英语

洋八路

原帖由 Grange 于 2011-5-27 12:13 发表
洋8路是狄更斯的忠实粉丝啊，呵呵，最喜欢大卫科波菲尔。

找出点句子分享一下嘛。。大卫的好看吗？接下来，就要看这本了。。现在觉得看名著可以最大程度“炒作”单词和句型。。。倒不是粉丝啥的，我从来不作粉丝，呵呵。。

Grange

我好久没看小说了，上次看的一本是ANGELA'S ASHES，大约一年前了。  下次找出来分享一下。

老实讲，我觉得这些古典名著里用的语法和词汇有点过时了，就好像三国水浒一样。

洋八路

原帖由 Grange 于 2011-5-27 13:03 发表
我好久没看小说了，上次看的一本是ANGELA'S ASHES，大约一年前了。  下次找出来分享一下。

老实讲，我觉得这些古典名著里用的语法和词汇有点过时了，就好像三国水浒一样。

但是，看了三国水浒， 再看现代的东西，会不会觉得容易点呢？这叫先难后易。。dickens的东西，思维和文句的流动性很好，单词量和句子形式也变换多端，而且还有点‘高贵和绅士’风度，一般流行小说很难比得上（我也老实讲了，呵呵）。。

Grange

明白

洋八路

59. 'I'll tell you, ' said she, in the same hurried passionate whisper, 'what real love is. It is blind devotion, unquestioning self-humiliation, utter submission, trust and belief against yourself and against the whole world, giving up your whole heart and soul to the smiter -- as I did!'   - Charles Dickens [Great Expectation]

-- 爱 = 受虐？

floraz

原帖由 洋八路 于 2011-5-28 12:41 发表
59. 'I'll tell you, ' said she, in the same hurried passionate whisper, 'what real love is. It is blind devotion, unquestioning self-humiliation, utter submission, trust and belief against yourself an ...

umm这种love鸭梨好大

拙泥

我这才注意到, "subdue"  (vt.)是有意的bring under control, or make less intense; "subside" (vi) 是自然的 sink to a lower level.

By the way,  what do they change horses for?

暖暖

每句都好美啊！
可是。。。好多都需要翻译才能看清楚啊。。。昏。。～

拙泥

原帖由 洋八路 于 2011-5-26 08:29 发表
57. ‘Do you want to be a gentleman, to spite her or gain her over?’ Biddy quietly asked me, after a pause.
‘I don’t know,’ I moodily answered.
‘Because, if it is to spite her,’ Biddy pursued, ...

Another example of admiration in spite himself (尽管社会地位正好相反)-

"In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed" ....His sense of her inferority- of its being a degradation- of the family obstacles which judgment has always opposed to inclnation... He concluded with representing to her the strength of that attachment which, in spite of all his endeavours, he had found impossible to conquer...

在遭到拒绝之后,他反思了很多 ( She had quite some self-reproach too.)

"I cannot be so easily reconciled to myself. The recollection of what I then said, of my conduct, my manners, my expressions during the whole of it, is now and has been many months, inexpressibly painful to me" "By you, I was properly humbled. I came to you wihtout a doubt of my reception. You showed me how insufficient were all my pretensions to please a woman worthy of being pleased" ( Jane Austin- Pride& Predudice)

拙泥

Stressful for her or for him, or whoever takes it as a "standard"?

Intuitively I often tend to think "happiness" means to to 'love' effortlessly (Think of the tenderness you have for your new-born baby,  or the thrill you had in the days of your first few dates).

But I DO agree with her statement: 'what real love is. It is blind devotion, unquestioning self-humiliation, utter submission, trust ..." ( What a striking statement it sounds, I know)  "That's exactly what Jesus Christ has shown us!" was my first response. (There is no intension to initiate a discussion about Christianity which is not encouraged by this site, but it seems impossible to avoid this subject when one appreciates western literature, music or paintings)

I remember how absud it sounded  when I first heard "Love is patient ( which means 'long suffering)'". As years go by, I find more and more tureth in it.

[ 本帖最后由 拙泥 于 2011-5-31 20:04 编辑 ]

拙泥

I would probably call it "challenging" rather thank "stressful":)

洋八路

原帖由 拙泥 于 2011-5-28 23:47 发表
我这才注意到, "subdue"  (vt.)是有意的bring under control, or make less intense; "subside" (vi) 是自然的 sink to a lower level.

By the way,  what do they change horses for?

subdue, subside, subsidize, 可以一起记了。。

By the way,  what do they change horses for?  -- I re-checked the chapter, and couldn't read of an explicit answer to your question  -- so I would assume the journey to London to be a long one, during which changes of carriage horse are needed to make up for the distance......

洋八路

60. Preserving her unmoved countenance, and with her fingers still going, Estella shook her head.
'I know,' said I, in answer to that action; 'I know. I have no hope that I shall ever call you mine, Estella. I am ignorant what may become of me very soon, how poor I may be, or where I may go. Still, I love you. I have loved you ever since I first saw you in this house.'
Looking at me perfectly unmoved and with her fingers busy, she shook her head again.  - Charles Dickens [Great Expectations]

-- 这种表白也太勇敢了，要是我的话，我早溜了（装着不在乎的样子）。。

Grange

还有SUBWAY, 我说的是快餐

floraz

原帖由 拙泥 于 2011-5-29 03:45 发表
Stressful for her or for him, or whoever takes it as a "standard"?

Intuitively I often tend to think "happiness" means to to 'love' effortlessly (Think of the tenderness you have for your new-born ba ...

I think love should be no burden, tho the consequences of what people do for love can be...

洋八路

61. It is impossible to express with what acuteness I felt the convict’s breathing, not only on the back of my head, but all along my spine. The sensation was like being touched in the marrow with some pungent and searching acid, and it set my very teeth on edge.  - Charles Dickens [Great Expectations]

-- 味道。。

洋八路

62. The silvery mist was touched by the first rays of the moonlight, and the same rays touched the tears that dropped from her eyes.  -- Charles Dickens  [Great Expectations]

-- 雾，月光和眼泪

拙泥

It seems that "she" is worshiping her lover. I forgot to mention that her statement for 'real love' is what I understand as "real love for God" not "real love between lovers".

洋八路

63. As the elms bent to one another, like giants who were whispering secrets, and after a few seconds of such repose, fell into a violent flurry, tossing their wild arms about, as if their late confidence were really too wicked for their peace of mind, some weather-beaten ragged old rooks’-nests, burdening their higher branches, swung like wrecks upon a storm sea.  – Charles Dickens [David Copperfield]

-- 大树，大风和鸟巢。。

Grange

这句话好长

洋八路

64. There is nothing half so green that I know anywhere, as the grass of that churchyard; nothing half so shady as its trees; nothing half so quiet as its tombstones. – Charles Dickens [David Copperfield]

-- 绿草，树荫和宁静的墓碑。。-- nothing half so interesting as the usage of 'nothing half' in his description ..:)

洋八路

65. He was a twinkling-eyed, pimple-faced man, with his hair standing upright all over his head; and as he stood with one arm a-kimbo, holding up the glass to the light with the other hand, he looked quite friendly.  – Charles Dickens [David Copperfield]

-- 眼睛 -- 贼亮(不妥，太贬义）闪烁（也不妥，太褒义），脸 -- 青春痘；头发 -- 短直；一手 -- 叉腰； 另一手 -- 握着酒杯。。

洋八路

66.  I went in, and found there a stoutish, middle-aged person, in a brown surtout and black tights and shoes, with no more hair upon his head (which was a large one, and very shining) than there is upon an egg, and with a very extensive face, which he turned full upon me. – Charles Dickens [David Copperfield]

-- 鸡蛋头。。

洋八路

67. Ah, how I loved her! What happiness (I thought) if we were married, and were going away anywhere to live among the trees and in the fields, never growing older, never growing wiser, children ever, rambling hand in hand through sunshine and among flowery meadows, laying down our heads on moss at night, in a sweet sleep of purity and peace, and buried by the birds when we were dead!  -- Charles Dickens [David Copperfiled]

--.......................................!

floraz

原帖由 洋八路 于 2011-6-4 14:54 发表
66.  I went in, and found there a stoutish, middle-aged person, in a brown surtout and black tights and shoes, with no more hair upon his head (which was a large one, and very shining) than there is u ...

这个形容挺有趣
Extensive face

洋八路

68. A mist rose between Mrs Creakle and me, and her figure seemed to move in it for an instant.  --  Charles Dickens [David Copperfield]

--  猜一下，如何理解？