Many brave sights we saw. Fair fields; the whole island a garden; green hedges all round; neat lodges3, thick as white mice in the landscape; old oak woods, hale and hearty4 as ever; old temples buried in ivy5; old shrines6 of old heroes, deep buried in broad groves7 of bay trees; old rivers laden9 down with heavy-freighted canoes; humped hills, like droves of camels, piled up with harvests; every sign and token of a glorious abundance, every sign and token of generations of renown10. Rare sight! fine sight! none rarer, none finer in Mardi.
But roving on through this ravishing region, we passed through a corn- field in full beard, where a haggard old reaper11 laid down his hook, beseeching12 charity for the sake of the gods.—"Bread, bread! or I die mid13 these sheaves!"
"Thrash out your grain, and want not."
"Alas14, masters, this grain is not mine; I plough, I sow, I reap, I. — bind15, I stack,—Lord Primo garners16."
Rambling17 on, we came to a hamlet, hidden in a hollow; and beneath weeping willows18 saw many mournful maidens19 seated on a bank; beside each, a wheel that was broken. "Lo, we starve," they cried, "our distaffs are snapped; no more may we weave and spin!"
Then forth issued from vaults20 clamorous21 crowds of men, hands tied to their backs.—"Bread! Bread!" they cried. "The magician hath turned us out from our glen, where we labored22 of yore in the days of the merry Green Queen. He has pinioned23 us hip24 and arm that we starve. Like sheep we die off with the rot.—Curse on the magician. A curse on his spell."
Bending our steps toward the glen, roaring down the rocks we descried25 a stream from the mountains. But ere those waters gained the sea, vassal26 tribute they rendered. Conducted through culverts and moats, they turned great wheels, giving life to ten thousand fangs27 and fingers, whose gripe no power could withstand, yet whose touch was soft as the velvet28 paw of a kitten. With brute29 force, they heaved down great weights, then daintily wove and spun30; like the trunk of the elephant, which lays lifeless a river-horse, and counts the pulses of a moth31. On all sides, the place seemed alive with its spindles. Round and round, round and round; throwing off wondrous32 births at every revolving33; ceaseless as the cycles that circle in heaven. Loud hummed the loom34, flew the shuttle like lightning, red roared the grim forge, rung anvil35 and sledge36; yet no mortal was seen.
"What ho, magician! Come forth from thy cave!"
But all deaf were the spindles, as the mutes, that mutely wait on the Sultan.
"Since we are born, we will live!" so we read on a crimson37 banner, flouting38 the crimson clouds, in the van of a riotous39 red-bonneted mob, racing40 by us as we came from the glen. Many more followed: black, or blood-stained:—.
"Mardi is man's!"
"Down with landholders!"
"Our turn now!"
"Up rights! Down wrongs!"
"Bread! Bread!"
"Take the tide, ere it turns!"
Waving their banners, and flourishing aloft clubs, hammers, and sickles41, with fierce yells the crowd ran on toward the palace of Bello. Foremost, and inciting42 the rest by mad outcries and gestures, were six masks; "This way! This way!" they cried,—"by the wood; by the dark wood!" Whereupon all darted43 into the groves; when of a sudden, the masks leaped forward, clearing a long covered trench44, into which fell many of those they led. But on raced the masks; and gaining Bello's palace, and raising the alarm, there sallied from thence a woodland of spears, which charged upon the disordered ranks in the grove8. A crash as of icicles against icebergs45 round Zembla, and down went the hammers and sickles. The host fled, hotly pursued. Meanwhile brave heralds46 from Bello advanced, and with chaplets crowned the six masks.—"Welcome, heroes! worthy47 and valiant48!" they cried. "Thus our lord Bello rewards all those, who to do him a service, for hire betray their kith and their kin1."
Still pursuing our quest, wide we wandered through all the sun and shade of Dominora; but nowhere was Yillah found.
点击收听单词发音
1 kin | |
n.家族,亲属,血缘关系;adj.亲属关系的,同类的 | |
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2 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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3 lodges | |
v.存放( lodge的第三人称单数 );暂住;埋入;(权利、权威等)归属 | |
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4 hearty | |
adj.热情友好的;衷心的;尽情的,纵情的 | |
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5 ivy | |
n.常青藤,常春藤 | |
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6 shrines | |
圣地,圣坛,神圣场所( shrine的名词复数 ) | |
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7 groves | |
树丛,小树林( grove的名词复数 ) | |
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8 grove | |
n.林子,小树林,园林 | |
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9 laden | |
adj.装满了的;充满了的;负了重担的;苦恼的 | |
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10 renown | |
n.声誉,名望 | |
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11 reaper | |
n.收割者,收割机 | |
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12 beseeching | |
adj.恳求似的v.恳求,乞求(某事物)( beseech的现在分词 ) | |
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13 mid | |
adj.中央的,中间的 | |
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14 alas | |
int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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15 bind | |
vt.捆,包扎;装订;约束;使凝固;vi.变硬 | |
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16 garners | |
v.收集并(通常)贮藏(某物),取得,获得( garner的第三人称单数 ) | |
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17 rambling | |
adj.[建]凌乱的,杂乱的 | |
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18 willows | |
n.柳树( willow的名词复数 );柳木 | |
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19 maidens | |
处女( maiden的名词复数 ); 少女; 未婚女子; (板球运动)未得分的一轮投球 | |
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20 vaults | |
n.拱顶( vault的名词复数 );地下室;撑物跳高;墓穴 | |
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21 clamorous | |
adj.吵闹的,喧哗的 | |
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22 labored | |
adj.吃力的,谨慎的v.努力争取(for)( labor的过去式和过去分词 );苦干;详细分析;(指引擎)缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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23 pinioned | |
v.抓住[捆住](双臂)( pinion的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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24 hip | |
n.臀部,髋;屋脊 | |
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25 descried | |
adj.被注意到的,被发现的,被看到的 | |
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26 vassal | |
n.附庸的;属下;adj.奴仆的 | |
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27 fangs | |
n.(尤指狗和狼的)长而尖的牙( fang的名词复数 );(蛇的)毒牙;罐座 | |
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28 velvet | |
n.丝绒,天鹅绒;adj.丝绒制的,柔软的 | |
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29 brute | |
n.野兽,兽性 | |
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30 spun | |
v.纺,杜撰,急转身 | |
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31 moth | |
n.蛾,蛀虫 | |
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32 wondrous | |
adj.令人惊奇的,奇妙的;adv.惊人地;异乎寻常地;令人惊叹地 | |
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33 revolving | |
adj.旋转的,轮转式的;循环的v.(使)旋转( revolve的现在分词 );细想 | |
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34 loom | |
n.织布机,织机;v.隐现,(危险、忧虑等)迫近 | |
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35 anvil | |
n.铁钻 | |
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36 sledge | |
n.雪橇,大锤;v.用雪橇搬运,坐雪橇往 | |
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37 crimson | |
n./adj.深(绯)红色(的);vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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38 flouting | |
v.藐视,轻视( flout的现在分词 ) | |
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39 riotous | |
adj.骚乱的;狂欢的 | |
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40 racing | |
n.竞赛,赛马;adj.竞赛用的,赛马用的 | |
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41 sickles | |
n.镰刀( sickle的名词复数 ) | |
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42 inciting | |
刺激的,煽动的 | |
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43 darted | |
v.投掷,投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 );向前冲,飞奔 | |
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44 trench | |
n./v.(挖)沟,(挖)战壕 | |
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45 icebergs | |
n.冰山,流冰( iceberg的名词复数 ) | |
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46 heralds | |
n.使者( herald的名词复数 );预报者;预兆;传令官v.预示( herald的第三人称单数 );宣布(好或重要) | |
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47 worthy | |
adj.(of)值得的,配得上的;有价值的 | |
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48 valiant | |
adj.勇敢的,英勇的;n.勇士,勇敢的人 | |
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