Medusa

 How did Medusa do her hair?

The question fills me with despair.

It must have caused her sore distress¹

That head of curling snakes to dress.

Whenever after endless toil²

She coaxed³ it finally to coil,

The music of a Passing Band

Would cause each separate hair to stand

On end and sway and writhe⁴ and spit,—

She couldn't "do a thing with it."

And, being woman and aware

Of such disaster to her hair,

What could she do but petrify⁵

All whom she met, with freezing eye?

1 distress   

n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛

参考例句：

• Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。
• Please don't distress yourself.请你不要忧愁了。

2 toil   

vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事

参考例句：

• The wealth comes from the toil of the masses.财富来自大众的辛勤劳动。
• Every single grain is the result of toil.每一粒粮食都来之不易。

3 coaxed   

v.哄，用好话劝说( coax的过去式和过去分词 )；巧言骗取；哄劝，劝诱

参考例句：

• She coaxed the horse into coming a little closer. 她哄着那匹马让它再靠近了一点。
• I coaxed my sister into taking me to the theatre. 我用好话哄姐姐带我去看戏。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 writhe   

vt.挣扎，痛苦地扭曲；vi.扭曲，翻腾，受苦；n.翻腾，苦恼

参考例句：

• They surely writhe under this pressure.他们肯定对这种压力感到苦恼。
• Her words made him writhe with shame.她的话使他惭愧地感到浑身不自在。

5 petrify   

vt.使发呆；使…变成化石

参考例句：

• A political deadlock may petrify economic initiatives.政治僵局可能会使经济发展停滞。
• Slogans petrify our thinking.口号僵化了我们的思想。