现在,置身于鼠疫囹圄之中的人们,开始放弃个人的琐事,不再像从前那般仅限于个体的生活。他们开始你我不分,将兴趣放在别人感兴趣的事情上(they took an interest only in what interested everyone else),也明白鼠疫已经成为与大家休戚相关的事情。加缪曾说,面对荒诞,“个人的命运已不存在了,有的只是集体的遭遇”。鼠疫意味着痛苦和死亡的恐怖、圈禁、流亡、分离,这是个体的感受,同时也是集体的遭遇。 在鼠疫之初,人们不停地唠叨抱怨,不以为然,在街头涌现,甚至控诉封城,但随着死亡人数的不断上升,目睹死者埋葬方式的改变,经历了精神和肉体的相思之苦,到最后记忆模糊、逆来顺受,个体的感受已然消磨殆尽,心灵的空虚也达到极致,似乎进入精神麻痹的状态(they sank back into their lethargy)。
这样一种处于精神“荒原”的境地,使人们失去了能抚慰一切痛苦的温暖,仿佛生命也失去了价值与意义。即使是瞬间的旧梦、短暂的回忆、霎时的清醒,也让他们变得敏感脆弱、痛苦不堪。也因此,人们便索性放弃了更切身个体的私事,转而关心别人的事情,关心集体的命运与走向。现在,人们内心的爱情、亲情、友情的自私心理也已然消逝,失去了议论是非的习惯,换上了泰然自若的神情,他们共同分担着城市的沉寂与骚动,期待着、等待着那将轰动全城的共同重逢和共同安心的日子(waiting for the same reunion)。 熟词生义air
语境示例原文:They lost every trace / of a critical spirit, while gaining an air of sang-froid.
示例:The decorations gave the room a festive air.
练习一下他身上充满神秘感。
betray
语境示例原文:Meanwhile / they drank their beer, nursed their sick, idled, or doped themselves with work, filed documents in offices, or played the phonograph at home, without betraying any difference from the rest of us.
示例:The tone in her voice and look in her eyes betrayed a feeling of sadness.
练习一下他很少表露自己的见解。
take
语境示例原文:Everything was taken as it came.
示例:I find her attitude a little hard to take.
练习一下他受不了批评。
亮点短语fall to
语境示例原文:This happened when, for instance, they fell to making plans / implying / that the plague had ended.
示例:We fell to discussing our days together in the camp.
练习一下她心情很好,所以她开始做饭。
none the less ... for
语境示例原文:Or when, quite unexpectedly, by some kindly chance, they felt a twinge of jealousy, none the less / acute for its objectlessness.
示例:Their decision to have two more children was different than some 50-year-old parents might have made, none the less right for them.
练习一下即使她的衣服破旧(shabby),她仍然不失优雅。
at random
语境示例原文:They seemed to derive fantastic hopes or equally exaggerated fears from reading the lines / that some journalist has scribbled at random, yawning with boredom / at his desk.
示例:She opened the desk drawer and took out a page at random.
练习一下我从书架上随意选择了一本书。
catch sb doing sth
语境示例原文:So completely were they dominated by the plague / that sometimes the one thing / they aspired to / was the long sleep / it brought, and they caught themselves thinking: “A good thing / if I get plague / and have done with it!”
示例:He caught himself saying something he shouldn't reveal.
练习一下他转身很快,以至于看到她在笑。
句子解析Thus, while it is true / that / all / who were parted / came ultimately to this state, we must add / that all did not attain it simultaneously; moreover, once this utter apathy had fallen on them, there were still flashes of lucidity, broken lights of memory / that rekindled / in the exiles / a younger, keener sensibility.老师解读thus ... simultaneously 句子大意因此,我们必须加上一句,尽管所有的离人最后都会走到这一步,但并不是所有人都同时陷入这种境况。此外,即使他们最后变得完全漠然了,突现的清醒和瞬间的回忆还是会给这些背井离乡之人带来新的、更强烈的痛苦。 That evening hour / which / for believers / is the time / to look into their consciences / is hardest of all hours / on the prisoner or exile / who has nothing to look into / but the void.老师解读此句的主干是 that evening hour ... is hardest ... ;which 和 who 引导的定语从句分别修饰 hour 和 prisoner or exile。 句子大意对信徒来说,傍晚正是反省的时刻,但对囚犯和背井离乡之人来说,这是最难熬的一段时间,因为他们除了内心的空虚之外别无他物。 Whereas / in the early days of the plague / they had been struck / by the host of small details / that, while meaning absolutely nothing to others, meant so much to them personally, and thus had realized, perhaps for the first time, the uniqueness of each man's life; now, on the other hand, they took an interest only in what interested everyone else, they had only general ideas, and even their tenderest affections now seemed abstract, items of the common stock.老师解读whereas ... man's life strike 常见义是“罢工”,文中义是“侵袭:如由疾病或伤害使突然痛苦”,英文释义为“to afflict suddenly, as with a disease or an impairment”;短语「host of」表示“大量、许多”,英文释义为“a large number of something”。 now ... common stock 句子大意在鼠疫初期,令他们在意的尽是些与他人毫不相干、与己戚戚相关的个人生活点滴,于是人们那时候第一次意识到每个人的生活都是那么与众不同。而现在,他们的兴趣完全放在别人感兴趣的事情上,头脑里只有大家普遍的想法了,就连他们的爱情,也化为抽象的面貌,不过是种普通的情感而已。 Then, waking with a start, they would run their fingers over the wounds with a sort of absentminded curiosity, twisting their lips, and in a flash / their grief blazed up again, and abruptly / there rose before them / the mournful visage of their love.老师解读start 常见义是“开始(做某事)”,文中义是“突然一惊”,英文释义为“an act of moving your body quickly and suddenly because you are surprised, afraid, etc.”;run 常见义是“跑、奔跑”,文中义为“移动、轻擦”,可以理解为“If you run your hand or an object through something, you move your hand or the object through it.”;「in a flash」意思是“转瞬、一瞬间”。 句子大意惊醒过来之后,带着些许好奇,他们出神地碰触着伤口,咬着嘴唇,痛苦又重新涌上心头,眼前突然浮现出心上人悲伤的面容。 What with the gunshots / echoing at the gates, the punctual thuds of rubber stamps / marking the rhythm of lives and deaths, the files and fires, the panics and formalities, all alike were pledged to an ugly but recorded death, and, amidst noxious fumes and the muted clang of ambulances, all of us ate the same sour bread of exile, unconsciously waiting for the same reunion, the same miracle of peace regained.老师解读what with ... recorded death 句子大意那城门口不断回响着的枪声,那标志着生死节奏的盖印章所发出的有规律的按压声,那些档案与大火,那些恐慌与繁文缛节——所有人都注定会不体面却被登记在册的死亡。在浓浓的毒烟和救护车低沉的笛声中,所有人都在流亡,啃食着发馊的面包,无意识地等待着与亲人的重逢和内心重获安宁的奇迹的出现。 No doubt / our love persisted, but in practice / it served nothing; it was an inert mass within us, sterile as crime or a life sentence. It had declined on a patience that led nowhere, a dogged expectation.老师解读no doubt ... life sentence 句子大意毫无疑问,我们的爱情始终还在,可实际上,却发挥不了作用。我们心中的爱情已失去了活力,就像犯了罪、判了终身监禁那样没有活力的附在我们身上。爱情在疫情面前,完全化为一种没有结果的执拗的期待。 今日短语devote sth to sb/sth 将 ... 贡献给、把 ... 奉献给 参考答案1 There is an air of mystery about him.
2 He rarely betrayed an opinion of his own.
3 He can't take criticism.
4 She was in a good mood so she fell to cooking.
5 She is none the less elegant for her shabby clothing.
6 I chose a book at random from the shelf.
7 He turned so fast that he caught her smiling.
参考资料
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来自: 徐磊806s4ux5e2 > 《待分类》