And first for Media: a gallant1 gentleman and king. From a goodly stock he came. In his endless pedigree, reckoning deities2 by decimals, innumerable kings, and scores of great heroes, chiefs, and priests. Nor in person, did he belie3 his origin. No far-descended dwarf4 was he, the least of a receding5 race. He stood like a palm tree; about whose acanthus capital droops6 not more gracefully7 the silken fringes, than Media's locks upon his noble brow. Strong was his arm to wield8 the club, or hurl9 the javelin10; and potent11, I ween, round a maiden's waist.
Our pleasant ramble13 found it a little round world by itself; full of beauties as a garden; chequered by charming groves14; watered by roving brooks15; and fringed all round by a border of palm trees, whose roots drew nourishment16 from the water. But though abounding17 in other quarters of the Archipelago, not a solitary18 bread-fruit grew in Odo. A noteworthy circumstance, observable in these regions, where islands close adjoining, so differ in their soil, that certain fruits growing genially19 in one, are foreign to another. But Odo was famed for its guavas, whose flavor was likened to the flavor of new-blown lips; and for its grapes, whose juices prompted many a laugh and many a groan20.
Beside the city where Media dwelt, there were few other clusters of habitations in Odo. The higher classes living, here and there, in separate households; but not as eremites. Some buried themselves in the cool, quivering bosoms21 of the groves. Others, fancying a marine22 vicinity, dwelt hard by the beach in little cages of bamboo; whence of mornings they sallied out with jocund23 cries, and went plunging24 into the refreshing25 bath, whose frothy margin26 was the threshold of their dwellings27. Others still, like birds, built their nests among the sylvan28 nooks of the elevated interior; whence all below, and hazy29 green, lay steeped in languor30 the island's throbbing31 heart.
Thus dwelt the chiefs and merry men of mark. The common sort, including serfs, and Helots, war-captives held in bondage32, lived in secret places, hard to find. Whence it came, that, to a stranger, the whole isle looked care-free and beautiful. Deep among the ravines and the rocks, these beings lived in noisome33 caves, lairs34 for beasts, not human homes; or built them coops of rotten boughs—living trees were banned them—whose mouldy hearts hatched vermin. Fearing infection of some plague, born of this filth35, the chiefs of Odo seldom passed that way and looking round within their green retreats, and pouring out their wine, and plucking from orchards36 of the best, marveled how these swine could grovel38 in the mire39, and wear such sallow cheeks. But they offered no sweet homes; from that mire they never sought to drag them out; they open threw no orchard37; and intermitted not the mandates40 that condemned41 their drudges42 to a life of deaths. Sad sight! to see those round-shouldered Helots, stooping in their trenches43: artificial, three in number, and concentric: the isle well nigh surrounding. And herein, fed by oozy44 loam45, and kindly46 dew from heaven, and bitter sweat from men, grew as in hot-beds the nutritious47 Taro48.
Toil49 is man's allotment; toil of brain, or toil of hands, or a grief that's more than either, the grief and sin of idleness. But when man toils50 and slays51 himself for masters who withhold52 the life he gives to them—then, then, the soul screams out, and every sinew cracks. So with these poor serfs. And few of them could choose but be the brutes53 they seemed.
Now needs it to be said, that Odo was no land of pleasure unalloyed, and plenty without a pause?—Odo, in whose lurking-places infants turned from breasts, whence flowed no nourishment.—Odo, in whose inmost haunts, dark groves were brooding, passing which you heard most dismal55 cries, and voices cursing Media. There, men were scourged56; their crime, a heresy57; the heresy, that Media was no demigod. For this they shrieked58. Their fathers shrieked before; their fathers, who, tormented59, said, "Happy we to groan, that our children's children may be glad." But their children's children howled. Yet these, too, echoed previous generations, and loudly swore, "The pit that's dug for us may prove another's grave."
But let all pass. To look at, and to roam about of holidays, Odo seemed a happy land. The palm-trees waved—though here and there you marked one sear and palsy-smitten; the flowers bloomed—though dead ones moldered in decay; the waves ran up the strand60 in glee—though, receding, they sometimes left behind bones mixed with shells.
But else than these, no sign of death was seen throughout the isle. Did men in Odo live for aye? Was Ponce de Leon's fountain there? For near and far, you saw no ranks and files of graves, no generations harvested in winrows. In Odo, no hard-hearted nabob slept beneath a gentle epitaph; no requiescat-in-pace mocked a sinner damned; no memento-mori admonished61 men to live while yet they might. Here Death hid his skull62; and hid it in the sea, the common sepulcher63 of Odo. Not dust to dust, but dust to brine; not hearses but canoes. For all who died upon that isle were carried out beyond the outer reef, and there were buried with their sires' sires. Hence came the thought, that of gusty64 nights, when round the isles65, and high toward heaven, flew the white reef's rack and foam67, that then and there, kept chattering68 watch and ward66, the myriads69 that were ocean- tombed.
Odo was but a little isle, and must the living make way for the dead, and Life's small colony be dislodged by Death's grim hosts; as the gaunt tribes of Tamerlane o'erspread the tented pastures of the Khan?
And now, what follows, said these Islanders: "Why sow corruption71 in the soil which yields us life? We would not pluck our grapes from over graves. This earth's an urn54 for flowers, not for ashes."
And what more glorious grave? Was Mausolus more sublimely74 urned? Or do the minster-lamps that burn before the tomb of Charlemagne, show more of pomp, than all the stars, that blaze above the shipwrecked mariner75?
But no more of the dead; men shrug76 their shoulders, and love not their company; though full soon we shall all have them for fellows.
点击收听单词发音
1 gallant | |
adj.英勇的,豪侠的;(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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2 deities | |
n.神,女神( deity的名词复数 );神祗;神灵;神明 | |
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3 belie | |
v.掩饰,证明为假 | |
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4 dwarf | |
n.矮子,侏儒,矮小的动植物;vt.使…矮小 | |
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5 receding | |
v.逐渐远离( recede的现在分词 );向后倾斜;自原处后退或避开别人的注视;尤指问题 | |
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6 droops | |
弯曲或下垂,发蔫( droop的名词复数 ) | |
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7 gracefully | |
ad.大大方方地;优美地 | |
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8 wield | |
vt.行使,运用,支配;挥,使用(武器等) | |
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9 hurl | |
vt.猛投,力掷,声叫骂 | |
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10 javelin | |
n.标枪,投枪 | |
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11 potent | |
adj.强有力的,有权势的;有效力的 | |
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12 isle | |
n.小岛,岛 | |
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13 ramble | |
v.漫步,漫谈,漫游;n.漫步,闲谈,蔓延 | |
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14 groves | |
树丛,小树林( grove的名词复数 ) | |
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15 brooks | |
n.小溪( brook的名词复数 ) | |
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16 nourishment | |
n.食物,营养品;营养情况 | |
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17 abounding | |
adj.丰富的,大量的v.大量存在,充满,富于( abound的现在分词 ) | |
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18 solitary | |
adj.孤独的,独立的,荒凉的;n.隐士 | |
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19 genially | |
adv.亲切地,和蔼地;快活地 | |
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20 groan | |
vi./n.呻吟,抱怨;(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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21 bosoms | |
胸部( bosom的名词复数 ); 胸怀; 女衣胸部(或胸襟); 和爱护自己的人在一起的情形 | |
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22 marine | |
adj.海的;海生的;航海的;海事的;n.水兵 | |
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23 jocund | |
adj.快乐的,高兴的 | |
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24 plunging | |
adj.跳进的,突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 );暴跌;骤降;突降 | |
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25 refreshing | |
adj.使精神振作的,使人清爽的,使人喜欢的 | |
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26 margin | |
n.页边空白;差额;余地,余裕;边,边缘 | |
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27 dwellings | |
n.住处,处所( dwelling的名词复数 ) | |
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28 sylvan | |
adj.森林的 | |
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29 hazy | |
adj.有薄雾的,朦胧的;不肯定的,模糊的 | |
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30 languor | |
n.无精力,倦怠 | |
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31 throbbing | |
a. 跳动的,悸动的 | |
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32 bondage | |
n.奴役,束缚 | |
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33 noisome | |
adj.有害的,可厌的 | |
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34 lairs | |
n.(野兽的)巢穴,窝( lair的名词复数 );(人的)藏身处 | |
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35 filth | |
n.肮脏,污物,污秽;淫猥 | |
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36 orchards | |
(通常指围起来的)果园( orchard的名词复数 ) | |
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37 orchard | |
n.果园,果园里的全部果树,(美俚)棒球场 | |
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38 grovel | |
vi.卑躬屈膝,奴颜婢膝 | |
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39 mire | |
n.泥沼,泥泞;v.使...陷于泥泞,使...陷入困境 | |
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40 mandates | |
托管(mandate的第三人称单数形式) | |
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41 condemned | |
adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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42 drudges | |
n.做苦工的人,劳碌的人( drudge的名词复数 ) | |
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43 trenches | |
深沟,地沟( trench的名词复数 ); 战壕 | |
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44 oozy | |
adj.软泥的 | |
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45 loam | |
n.沃土 | |
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46 kindly | |
adj.和蔼的,温和的,爽快的;adv.温和地,亲切地 | |
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47 nutritious | |
adj.有营养的,营养价值高的 | |
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48 taro | |
n.芋,芋头 | |
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49 toil | |
vi.辛劳工作,艰难地行动;n.苦工,难事 | |
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50 toils | |
网 | |
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51 slays | |
杀死,宰杀,杀戮( slay的第三人称单数 ) | |
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52 withhold | |
v.拒绝,不给;使停止,阻挡 | |
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53 brutes | |
兽( brute的名词复数 ); 畜生; 残酷无情的人; 兽性 | |
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54 urn | |
n.(有座脚的)瓮;坟墓;骨灰瓮 | |
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55 dismal | |
adj.阴沉的,凄凉的,令人忧郁的,差劲的 | |
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56 scourged | |
鞭打( scourge的过去式和过去分词 ); 惩罚,压迫 | |
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57 heresy | |
n.异端邪说;异教 | |
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58 shrieked | |
v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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59 tormented | |
饱受折磨的 | |
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60 strand | |
vt.使(船)搁浅,使(某人)困于(某地) | |
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61 admonished | |
v.劝告( admonish的过去式和过去分词 );训诫;(温和地)责备;轻责 | |
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62 skull | |
n.头骨;颅骨 | |
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63 sepulcher | |
n.坟墓 | |
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64 gusty | |
adj.起大风的 | |
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65 isles | |
岛( isle的名词复数 ) | |
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66 ward | |
n.守卫,监护,病房,行政区,由监护人或法院保护的人(尤指儿童);vt.守护,躲开 | |
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67 foam | |
v./n.泡沫,起泡沫 | |
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68 chattering | |
n. (机器振动发出的)咔嗒声,(鸟等)鸣,啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的,啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
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69 myriads | |
n.无数,极大数量( myriad的名词复数 ) | |
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70 watery | |
adj.有水的,水汪汪的;湿的,湿润的 | |
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71 corruption | |
n.腐败,堕落,贪污 | |
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72 supreme | |
adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的 | |
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73 cemetery | |
n.坟墓,墓地,坟场 | |
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74 sublimely | |
高尚地,卓越地 | |
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75 mariner | |
n.水手号不载人航天探测器,海员,航海者 | |
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76 shrug | |
v.耸肩(表示怀疑、冷漠、不知等) | |
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