BELHS CAVALIERS

 "For this RAIMBAUT DE VAQUIERAS lived at a time when prolonged habits of extra-mundane contemplation, combined with the decay of real knowledge, were apt to volatilize the thoughts and aspirations¹ of the best and wisest into dreamy unrealities, and to lend a false air of mysticism to love.… It is as if the intellect and the will had become used to moving paralytically² among visions, dreams, and mystic terrors, weighed down with torpor³."

 

Fair friend, since that hour I took leave of thee

I have not slept nor stirred from off my knee,

But prayed alway to God, S. Mary's Son,

To give me back my true companion;

        And soon it will be Dawn.

 

Fair friend, at parting, thy behest to me

Was that all sloth⁴ I should eschew⁵ and flee,

And keep good Watch until the Night was done:

Now must my Song and Service pass for none?

        For soon it will be Dawn.

 

RAIMBAUT DE VAQUIERAS.—Aubade, from F. York Powell's version.

1 aspirations   

强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 )； 志向； 发送气音； 发 h 音

参考例句：

• I didn't realize you had political aspirations. 我没有意识到你有政治上的抱负。
• The new treaty embodies the aspirations of most nonaligned countries. 新条约体现了大多数不结盟国家的愿望。

2 paralytically   

Paralytically

参考例句：

3 torpor   

n.迟钝；麻木；（动物的）冬眠

参考例句：

• The sick person gradually falls into a torpor.病人逐渐变得迟钝。
• He fell into a deep torpor.他一下子进入了深度麻痹状态。

4 sloth   

n.[动]树懒；懒惰，懒散

参考例句：

• Absence of competition makes for sloth.没有竞争会导致懒惰。
• The sloth spends most of its time hanging upside down from the branches.大部分时间里树懒都是倒挂在树枝上。

5 eschew   

v.避开，戒绝

参考例句：

• Eschew fattening foods if you want to lose weight.你如想减肥，就不要吃致肥的食物。
• Good kid should eschew bad company.好孩子应避免交坏朋友。