chapter 4

The Ball-Room Door.

A hundred of knocks follow Frederick Minchin’s: in half an hour Messrs. Spoff, Pinch, and Clapperton have begun their music, and Mulligan, with one of the Miss Bacons, is dancing majestically¹ in the first quadrille. My young friends Giles and Tom prefer the landing-place to the drawing-rooms, where they stop all night, robbing the refreshment-trays as they come up or down. Giles has eaten fourteen ices: he will have a dreadful stomach-ache tomorrow. Tom has eaten twelve, but he has had four more glasses of negus than Giles. Grundsell, the occasional waiter, from whom Master Tom buys quantities of ginger-beer, can of course deny him nothing. That is Grundsell, in the tights, with the tray. Meanwhile direct your attention to the three gentlemen at the door: they are conversing².

1st Gent. — Who’s the man of the house — the bald man?

2nd Gent. — Of course. The man of the house is always bald. He’s a stockbroker³, I believe. Snooks brought me.

1st Gent. — Have you been to the tea-room? There’s a pretty girl in the tea-room; blue eyes, pink ribbons, that kind of thing.

2nd Gent. — Who the deuce is that girl with those tremendous shoulders? Gad⁴! I do wish somebody would smack⁵ ’em.

3rd Gent. — Sir — that young lady is my niece, sir — my niece — my name is Blades, sir.

2nd Gent. — Well, Blades! smack your niece’s shoulders: she deserves it, begad! she does. Come in, Jinks, present me to the Perkinses. — Hullo! here’s an old country acquaintance — Lady Bacon, as I live! with all the piglings; she never goes out without the whole litter. (Exeunt 1st and 2nd Gents.)

1 majestically   

雄伟地； 庄重地； 威严地； 崇高地

参考例句：

• The waters of the Changjiang River rolled to the east on majestically. 雄伟的长江滚滚东流。
• Towering snowcapped peaks rise majestically. 白雪皑皑的山峰耸入云霄。

2 conversing   

v.交谈，谈话( converse的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I find that conversing with her is quite difficult. 和她交谈实在很困难。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They were conversing in the parlor. 他们正在客厅谈话。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

3 stockbroker   

n.股票（或证券），经纪人（或机构）

参考例句：

• The main business of stockbroker is to help clients buy and sell shares.股票经纪人的主要业务是帮客户买卖股票。
• My stockbroker manages my portfolio for me.我的证券经纪人替我管理投资组合。

4 gad   

n.闲逛；v.闲逛

参考例句：

• He is always on the gad.他老是闲荡作乐。
• Let it go back into the gloaming and gad with a lot of longing.就让它回到暮色中，满怀憧憬地游荡吧。

5 smack   

vt.拍，打，掴；咂嘴；vi.含有…意味；n.拍

参考例句：

• She gave him a smack on the face.她打了他一个嘴巴。
• I gave the fly a smack with the magazine.我用杂志拍了一下苍蝇。