XXXIII. THAT OF THE UNFORTUNATE LOVER.

 I often heave a sigh to think

Of poor young A. McDougal,

And his disastrous¹ bold attempt

To learn to play the bugle²

(Which, judging from the sad result,

Must be, I fancy, difficult).

It happened thus: McDougal took

His charming young fiancée[3]

One evening to a "Monday Pop."

(Her Christian³ name was Nancy.)

And there they heard—he and this maid,—

A solo on the bugle played.

Fair Nancy was enraptured⁴, and

Said: "Dearest A. McDougal,

I'd love you more than ever if

You'd learn to play the bugle."

McDougal, as a lover should,

Remarked, he'd learn it—"if he could."

That very night, as they walked home,

McDougal was deluded⁵

A bugle into purchasing

(With leather case included),

At more than twice its proper price,

Because it looked "so very nice."

He little thought, poor wretched man,

As he this bargain fixed⁶ on,

How it would wreck⁷ his future life.

He took it home to Brixton,

And, from that hour, with much concern,

To play upon it tried to learn.

His efforts—so I understand—

At first were not successful.

His landladies⁸ objected—which,

Of course, was most distressful⁹;

Then neighbours much annoyed him, for

They sued him in a court of law.

Said he: "'Tis strange, where'er I go

Opprobrium¹⁰ and hooting¹¹

My efforts greet. I'd better try

The common, out at Tooting,"

Where,—on his bugle-tootling bent,—

He most appropriately went.

Each evening after business hours

He'd practice—'twas his fancy—

Till he thought he played well enough

To serenade Miss Nancy,

Though (this must be well understood)

His playing really was not good.

He had no ear for music, and

Made discords¹² which were racking;

While as for time, his sense of that

Was quite, entirely¹³, lacking.

Still, excellent was his intent

As unto Nancy's house he went.

"That tune¹⁴," he thought, "which we first heard,

'Twould doubtless, much engage her,

If I performed the self-same piece"

('Twas something in D major),

Which, knowing nought¹⁵ of C's and D's,

He played in quite a bunch of keys.

* * *

"Who is it making all this noise?"

A voice inquired quite crossly

Above his head. "'Tis I, my love,"

Said A. McDougal, hoarsely¹⁶.

"Then go away; I've never heard,"

Said Nancy, "noises so absurd."

 

"My playing—don't you like it?" "No;

And, till you're more proficient¹⁷,

I will not marry you at all:

I've said it,—that's sufficient."

She closed the window with a bang.

A wild note from the bugle rang—

 

A wildly, weirdly¹⁸, wailing¹⁹ note

To set one's blood a-freezing;

A compound 'twixt nocturnal cats,

And wheels which want a-greasing—

For A. McDougal—ah! how sad—

Her heartlessness had driven mad.

And Tooting Common, now, at night

None cross but the undaunted,

For people, living thereabout,

Declare the place is haunted

By one who serenades the moon

With jangled bugle, out of tune.

3.  Cockney pronunciation please.

1 disastrous   

adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的

参考例句：

• The heavy rainstorm caused a disastrous flood.暴雨成灾。
• Her investment had disastrous consequences.She lost everything she owned.她的投资结果很惨，血本无归。

2 bugle   

n.军号，号角，喇叭；v.吹号，吹号召集

参考例句：

• When he heard the bugle call, he caught up his gun and dashed out.他一听到军号声就抓起枪冲了出去。
• As the bugle sounded we ran to the sports ground and fell in.军号一响，我们就跑到运动场集合站队。

3 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

4 enraptured   

v.使狂喜( enrapture的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was enraptured that she had smiled at him. 她对他的微笑使他心荡神驰。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They were enraptured to meet the great singer. 他们和大名鼎鼎的歌手见面，欣喜若狂。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 deluded   

v.欺骗，哄骗( delude的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Don't be deluded into thinking that we are out of danger yet. 不要误以为我们已脱离危险。
• She deluded everyone into following her. 她骗得每个人都听信她的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

7 wreck   

n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难

参考例句：

• Weather may have been a factor in the wreck.天气可能是造成这次失事的原因之一。
• No one can wreck the friendship between us.没有人能够破坏我们之间的友谊。

8 landladies   

n.女房东，女店主，女地主( landlady的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The landladies paid court to her, in the obsequious way landladies have. 女店主们以她们特有的谄媚方式向她献殷勤。 来自辞典例句

9 distressful   

adj.苦难重重的，不幸的，使苦恼的

参考例句：

• The whole hall is filled with joy and laughter -- there is only one who feels distressful. 满堂欢笑，一人向隅。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Under these distressful circumstances it was resolved to slow down the process of reconstruction. 在这种令人痛苦的情况下，他们决定减慢重建的进程。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史

10 opprobrium   

n.耻辱，责难

参考例句：

• The opprobrium and enmity he incurred were caused by his outspoken brashness.他招致的轻蔑和敌意是由于他出言过于粗率而造成的。
• That drunkard was the opprobrium of our community.那个酒鬼是我们社区里可耻的人物。

11 hooting   

（使）作汽笛声响，作汽车喇叭声( hoot的现在分词 )； 倒好儿； 倒彩

参考例句：

• He had the audience hooting with laughter . 他令观众哄堂大笑。
• The owl was hooting. 猫头鹰在叫。

12 discords   

不和（discord的复数形式）

参考例句：

• There are many discords in this family. 在这个家庭里有许多争吵。
• The speaker's opinion discords with the principles of this society. 演讲者的意见与本会的原则不符。

13 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

14 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

15 nought   

n.／adj.无，零

参考例句：

• We must bring their schemes to nought.我们必须使他们的阴谋彻底破产。
• One minus one leaves nought.一减一等于零。

16 hoarsely   

adv.嘶哑地

参考例句：

• "Excuse me," he said hoarsely. “对不起。”他用嘶哑的嗓子说。
• Jerry hoarsely professed himself at Miss Pross's service. 杰瑞嘶声嘶气地表示愿为普洛丝小姐效劳。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

17 proficient   

adj.熟练的，精通的；n.能手，专家

参考例句：

• She is proficient at swimming.她精通游泳。
• I think I'm quite proficient in both written and spoken English.我认为我在英语读写方面相当熟练。

18 weirdly   

古怪地

参考例句：

• Another special characteristic of Kweilin is its weirdly-shaped mountain grottoes. 桂林的另一特点是其形态怪异的岩洞。
• The country was weirdly transformed. 地势古怪地变了样。

19 wailing   

v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱

参考例句：

• A police car raced past with its siren wailing. 一辆警车鸣着警报器飞驰而过。
• The little girl was wailing miserably. 那小女孩难过得号啕大哭。