PREFACE

It has become the fashion among novelists to introduce their hero in knee pants, their heroine in pinafore and pigtails. Time was when we were rushed up to a stalwart young man of twenty-four, who was presented as the pivot¹ about whom the plot would revolve². Now we are led, protesting, up to a grubby urchin³ of five and are invited to watch him through twenty years of intimate minutiae⁴. In extreme cases we have been obliged to witness his evolution from swaddling clothes to dresses, from dresses to shorts (he is so often English), from shorts to Etons.

The thrill we get for our pains is when, at twenty-five, he jumps over the traces and marries the young lady we met in her cradle on page two. The process is known as a psychological study. A publisher's note on page five hundred and seventy-three assures us that the author is now at work on Volume Two, dealing⁵ with the hero's adult life. A third volume will present his pleasing senility. The whole is known as a trilogy. If the chief character is of the other sex we are dragged through her dreamy girlhood, or hoydenish⁶. We see her in her graduation white, in her bridal finery. By the time she is twenty we know her better than her mother ever will, and are infinitely⁷ more bored by her.

Yet who would exchange one page in the life of the boy, David Copperfield, for whole chapters dealing with Trotwood Copperfield, the man? Who would relinquish⁸ the button-bursting Peggotty for the saintly Agnes? And that other David—he of the slingshot; one could not love him so well in his psalm-singing days had one not known him first as the gallant⁹, dauntless vanquisher¹⁰ of giants. As for Becky Sharp, with her treachery, her cruelty, her vindicativeness, perhaps we could better have understood and forgiven her had we known her lonely and neglected childhood, with the drunken artist father and her mother, the French opera girl.

With which modest preamble¹¹ you are asked to be patient with Miss Fanny Brandeis, aged¹² thirteen. Not only must you suffer Fanny, but Fanny's mother as well, without whom there could be no understanding Fanny. For that matter, we shouldn't wonder if Mrs. Brandeis were to turn out the heroine in the end. She is that kind of person.

1 pivot   

v.在枢轴上转动；装枢轴，枢轴；adj.枢轴的

参考例句：

• She is the central pivot of creation and represents the feminine aspect in all things.她是创造的中心枢轴，表现出万物的女性面貌。
• If a spring is present,the hand wheel will pivot on the spring.如果有弹簧，手轮的枢轴会装在弹簧上。

2 revolve   

vi.(使)旋转；循环出现

参考例句：

• The planets revolve around the sun.行星绕着太阳运转。
• The wheels began to revolve slowly.车轮开始慢慢转动。

3 urchin   

n.顽童；海胆

参考例句：

• You should sheer off the urchin.你应该躲避这顽童。
• He is a most wicked urchin.他是个非常调皮的顽童。

4 minutiae   

n.微小的细节，细枝末节；（常复数）细节，小事( minutia的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the minutiae of the contract 合同细节
• He had memorized the many minutiae of the legal code. 他们讨论旅行的所有细节。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

6 hoydenish   

adj.顽皮的，爱嬉闹的，男孩子气的

参考例句：

7 infinitely   

adv.无限地，无穷地

参考例句：

• There is an infinitely bright future ahead of us.我们有无限光明的前途。
• The universe is infinitely large.宇宙是无限大的。

8 relinquish   

v.放弃，撤回，让与，放手

参考例句：

• He was forced to relinquish control of the company.他被迫放弃公司的掌控权。
• They will never voluntarily relinquish their independence.他们绝对不会自动放弃独立。

9 gallant   

adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的

参考例句：

• Huang Jiguang's gallant deed is known by all men. 黄继光的英勇事迹尽人皆知。
• These gallant soldiers will protect our country.这些勇敢的士兵会保卫我们的国家的。

10 vanquisher   

征服者，胜利者

参考例句：

• Petty assignments often signal the end of a Vanquisher's career. 琐碎的任务常常代表着征服者职业生涯的结束。 来自互联网
• Gate of the Vanquisher of all Evil Spells, Hearken and Open! 一切邪咒征服者之门，聆听并开启！ 来自互联网

11 preamble   

n.前言；序文

参考例句：

• He spoke without preamble.他没有开场白地讲起来。
• The controversy has arisen over the text of the preamble to the unification treaty.针对统一条约的序文出现了争论。

12 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。