[134]
So looks Anthea, when in bed she lyes,
Orecome, or halfe betray'd by Tiffanies.
Our fields now have the rich, tawny16 colour of a panther's hide. Along the little path are scattered17 sumac leaves, dark scarlet18. It is as though Summer had been wounded by the hunter Jack19 Frost, and had crept away down that secret track, leaving a trail of bloodstains behind her.
This tract20 of placid21 and enchanted22 woodland, field, brake, glen, and coppice, has always seemed to us so amazingly like the magical Forest of Arden that we believe Shakespeare must have written "As You Like It" somewhere near here. One visitor, who was here when the woods were whispering blackly in autumn moonlight, thought them akin23 to George Meredith's "The Woods of Westermain"—
Enter these enchanted woods,
You who dare.
Nothing harms beneath the leaves
Foot at peace with mouse and worm.
Fair you fare.
Quaver, and they quit their form:
Have you by the hair.
Enter these enchanted woods,
You who dare.
But in winter, and in such a noonday of clear sunshine as the present, when all the naked grace of trunks and [135]hillsides lies open to eyeshot, the woodland has less of that secrecy29 and brooding horror that Meredith found in "Westermain." It has the very breath of that golden-bathed magic that moved in Shakespeare's tenderest haunt of comedy. Momently, looking out toward the gray ruin on the hill (which was once, most likely, the very "sheepcote fenced about with olive trees" where Aliena dwelt and Ganymede found hose and doublet give such pleasing freedom to her limbs and her wit) one expects to hear the merry note of a horn; the moralizing Duke would come striding thoughtfully through the thicket3 down by the tiny pool (or shall we call it a mere24?). He would sit under those two knotty30 old oaks and begin to pluck the burrs from his jerkin. Then would come his cheerful tanned followers31, carrying the dappled burgher they had ambushed32; and, last, the pensive33 Jacques (so very like Mr. Joseph Pennell in bearing and humour) distilling34 his meridian35 melancholy36 into pentameter paragraphs, like any colyumist. A bonfire is quickly kindled37, and the hiss38 and fume39 of venison collops whiff to us across the blue air. Against that stump40—is it a real stump, or only a painted canvas affair from the property man's warehouse41?—surely that is a demijohn of cider? And we can hear, presently, that most piercingly tremulous of all songs rising in rich chorus, with the plenitude of pathos42 that masculines best compass after a full meal—
Blow, blow, thou winter wind,
Thou art not so unkind
As man's ingratitude—
[136]We hum the air over to ourself, and are stricken with the most perfect iridescent43 sorrow. We even ransack44 our memory to try to think of someone who has been ungrateful to us, so that we can throw a little vigorous bitterness into our tone.
Yes, the sunshine that gilds45 our Salamis thickets seems to us to have very much the amber46 glow of footlights.
In another part of this our "forest"—it is so truly a forest in the Shakespearean sense, as all Long Island forests are (e.g., Forest Hills), where even the lioness and the green and gilded47 snake have their suburban48 analogues49, which we will not be laborious50 to explain—we see Time standing51 still while Ganymede and Aliena are out foraging52 with the burly Touchstone (so very like that well-loved sage53 Mr. Don Marquis, we protest!). And, to consider, what a place for a colyumist was the Forest of Arden. See how zealous54 contributors hung their poems round on trees so that he could not miss them. Is it not all the very core and heartbeat of what we call "romance," that endearing convention that submits the harsh realities and interruptions of life to a golden purge55 of fancy? How, we sometimes wonder, can any one grow old as long as he can still read "As You Like It," and feel the magic of that best-loved and most magical of stage directions—The Forest of Arden.
And now, while we are still in the soft Shakespearean mood, comes "Twelfth Night"—traditionally devoted56 to dismantling57 the Christmas Tree; and indeed there is no task so replete58 with luxurious59 and gentle melancholy. For by that time the toys which erst were so splendid [137]are battered60 and bashed; the cornucopias61 empty of candy (save one or two striped sticky shards62 of peppermint63 which elude64 the thrusting index, and will be found again next December); the dining-room floor is thick with fallen needles; the gay little candles are burnt down to a small gutter65 of wax in the tin holders66. The floor sparkles here and there with the fragments of tinsel balls or popcorn67 chains that were injudiciously hung within leap of puppy or grasp of urchin68. And so you see him, the diligent69 parent, brooding with a tender mournfulness and sniffing70 the faint whiff of that fine Christmas tree odour—balsam and burning candles and fist-warmed peppermint—as he undresses the prickly boughs71. Here they go into the boxes, red, green, and golden balls, tinkling72 glass bells, stars, paper angels, cotton-wool Santa Claus, blue birds, celluloid goldfish, mosquito netting, counterfeit73 stockings, nickel-plated horns, and all the comical accumulation of oddities that gathers from year to year in the box labelled CHRISTMAS TREE THINGS, FRAGILE. The box goes up to the attic74, and the parent blows a faint diminuendo, achingly prolonged, on a toy horn. Titania is almost reduced to tears as he explains it is the halloo of Santa Claus fading away into the distance.
点击收听单词发音
1 enchantments | |
n.魅力( enchantment的名词复数 );迷人之处;施魔法;着魔 | |
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2 thickets | |
n.灌木丛( thicket的名词复数 );丛状物 | |
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3 thicket | |
n.灌木丛,树林 | |
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4 vistas | |
长条形景色( vista的名词复数 ); 回顾; 展望; (未来可能发生的)一系列情景 | |
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5 imprisoned | |
下狱,监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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6 foliage | |
n.叶子,树叶,簇叶 | |
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7 shredded | |
shred的过去式和过去分词 | |
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8 penetrable | |
adj.可穿透的 | |
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9 farmhouse | |
n.农场住宅(尤指主要住房) | |
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10 plumes | |
羽毛( plume的名词复数 ); 羽毛饰; 羽毛状物; 升上空中的羽状物 | |
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11 tints | |
色彩( tint的名词复数 ); 带白的颜色; (淡色)染发剂; 痕迹 | |
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12 fawn | |
n.未满周岁的小鹿;v.巴结,奉承 | |
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13 withered | |
adj. 枯萎的,干瘪的,(人身体的部分器官)因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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14 translucent | |
adj.半透明的;透明的 | |
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15 robin | |
n.知更鸟,红襟鸟 | |
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16 tawny | |
adj.茶色的,黄褐色的;n.黄褐色 | |
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17 scattered | |
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
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18 scarlet | |
n.深红色,绯红色,红衣;adj.绯红色的 | |
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19 jack | |
n.插座,千斤顶,男人;v.抬起,提醒,扛举;n.(Jake)杰克 | |
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20 tract | |
n.传单,小册子,大片(土地或森林) | |
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21 placid | |
adj.安静的,平和的 | |
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22 enchanted | |
adj. 被施魔法的,陶醉的,入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词 | |
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23 akin | |
adj.同族的,类似的 | |
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24 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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25 cleaves | |
v.劈开,剁开,割开( cleave的第三人称单数 ) | |
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26 lark | |
n.云雀,百灵鸟;n.嬉戏,玩笑;vi.嬉戏 | |
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27 dread | |
vt.担忧,忧虑;惧怕,不敢;n.担忧,畏惧 | |
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28 hoods | |
n.兜帽( hood的名词复数 );头巾;(汽车、童车等的)折合式车篷;汽车发动机罩v.兜帽( hood的第三人称单数 );头巾;(汽车、童车等的)折合式车篷;汽车发动机罩 | |
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29 secrecy | |
n.秘密,保密,隐蔽 | |
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30 knotty | |
adj.有结的,多节的,多瘤的,棘手的 | |
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31 followers | |
追随者( follower的名词复数 ); 用户; 契据的附面; 从动件 | |
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32 ambushed | |
v.埋伏( ambush的过去式和过去分词 );埋伏着 | |
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33 pensive | |
a.沉思的,哀思的,忧沉的 | |
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34 distilling | |
n.蒸馏(作用)v.蒸馏( distil的过去式和过去分词 )( distilled的过去分词 );从…提取精华 | |
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35 meridian | |
adj.子午线的;全盛期的 | |
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36 melancholy | |
n.忧郁,愁思;adj.令人感伤(沮丧)的,忧郁的 | |
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37 kindled | |
(使某物)燃烧,着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 ); 激起(感情等); 发亮,放光 | |
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38 hiss | |
v.发出嘶嘶声;发嘘声表示不满 | |
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39 fume | |
n.(usu pl.)(浓烈或难闻的)烟,气,汽 | |
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40 stump | |
n.残株,烟蒂,讲演台;v.砍断,蹒跚而走 | |
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41 warehouse | |
n.仓库;vt.存入仓库 | |
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42 pathos | |
n.哀婉,悲怆 | |
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43 iridescent | |
adj.彩虹色的,闪色的 | |
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44 ransack | |
v.彻底搜索,洗劫 | |
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45 gilds | |
把…镀金( gild的第三人称单数 ); 给…上金色; 作多余的修饰(反而破坏原已完美的东西); 画蛇添足 | |
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46 amber | |
n.琥珀;琥珀色;adj.琥珀制的 | |
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47 gilded | |
a.镀金的,富有的 | |
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48 suburban | |
adj.城郊的,在郊区的 | |
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49 analogues | |
相似物( analogue的名词复数 ); 类似物; 类比; 同源词 | |
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50 laborious | |
adj.吃力的,努力的,不流畅 | |
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51 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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52 foraging | |
v.搜寻(食物),尤指动物觅(食)( forage的现在分词 );(尤指用手)搜寻(东西) | |
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53 sage | |
n.圣人,哲人;adj.贤明的,明智的 | |
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54 zealous | |
adj.狂热的,热心的 | |
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55 purge | |
n.整肃,清除,泻药,净化;vt.净化,清除,摆脱;vi.清除,通便,腹泻,变得清洁 | |
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56 devoted | |
adj.忠诚的,忠实的,热心的,献身于...的 | |
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57 dismantling | |
(枪支)分解 | |
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58 replete | |
adj.饱满的,塞满的;n.贮蜜蚁 | |
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59 luxurious | |
adj.精美而昂贵的;豪华的 | |
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60 battered | |
adj.磨损的;v.连续猛击;磨损 | |
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61 cornucopias | |
n.丰饶角(象征丰饶的羊角,角内呈现满溢的鲜花、水果等)( cornucopia的名词复数 ) | |
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62 shards | |
n.(玻璃、金属或其他硬物的)尖利的碎片( shard的名词复数 ) | |
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63 peppermint | |
n.薄荷,薄荷油,薄荷糖 | |
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64 elude | |
v.躲避,困惑 | |
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65 gutter | |
n.沟,街沟,水槽,檐槽,贫民窟 | |
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66 holders | |
支持物( holder的名词复数 ); 持有者; (支票等)持有人; 支托(或握持)…之物 | |
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67 popcorn | |
n.爆米花 | |
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68 urchin | |
n.顽童;海胆 | |
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69 diligent | |
adj.勤勉的,勤奋的 | |
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70 sniffing | |
n.探查法v.以鼻吸气,嗅,闻( sniff的现在分词 );抽鼻子(尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气);抱怨,不以为然地说 | |
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71 boughs | |
大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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72 tinkling | |
n.丁当作响声 | |
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73 counterfeit | |
vt.伪造,仿造;adj.伪造的,假冒的 | |
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74 attic | |
n.顶楼,屋顶室 | |
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