Chapter 8 The Necessary Veil

When night comes on, we light two hanging lamps of religious symbolism, which burn till daylight, before our gilded¹ idol².

We sleep on the floor, on a thin cotton mattress³, which is unfolded and laid out over our white matting. Chrysanthème’s pillow is a little wooden block, cut so as to fit exactly the nape of her neck, without disturbing the elaborate head-dress, which must never be taken down; the pretty black hair I shall probably never see undone⁴. My pillow, a Chinese model, is a kind of little square drum covered over with serpent-skin.

We sleep under a gauze mosquito-net of sombre greenish-blue, dark as the shades of night, stretched out on an orange-colored ribbon. (These are the traditional colors, and all respectable families of Nagasaki possess a similar net.) It envelops⁵ us like a tent; the mosquitoes and the night-moths whirl around it.

This sounds very pretty, and written down looks very well. In reality, however, it is not so; something, I know not what, is lacking, and everything is very paltry⁶. In other lands, in the delightful⁷ isles⁸ of Oceania, in the old, lifeless quarters of Stamboul, it seemed as if mere⁹ words could never express all I felt, and I struggled vainly against my own inability to render, in human language, the penetrating¹⁰ charm surrounding me.

Here, on the contrary, words exact and truthful¹¹ in themselves seem always too thrilling, too great for the subject; seem to embellish¹² it unduly¹³. I feel as if I were acting¹⁴, for my own benefit, some wretchedly trivial and third-rate comedy; and whenever I try to consider my home in a serious spirit, the scoffing¹⁵ figure of M. Kangourou rises before me — the matrimonial agent, to whom I am indebted for my happiness.

1 gilded   

a.镀金的，富有的

参考例句：

• The golden light gilded the sea. 金色的阳光使大海如金子般闪闪发光。
• "Friends, they are only gilded disks of lead!" "朋友们，这只不过是些镀金的铅饼！ 来自英汉文学 - 败坏赫德莱堡

2 idol   

n.偶像，红人，宠儿

参考例句：

• As an only child he was the idol of his parents.作为独子，他是父母的宠儿。
• Blind worship of this idol must be ended.对这个偶像的盲目崇拜应该结束了。

3 mattress   

n.床垫，床褥

参考例句：

• The straw mattress needs to be aired.草垫子该晾一晾了。
• The new mattress I bought sags in the middle.我买的新床垫中间陷了下去。

4 undone   

a.未做完的，未完成的

参考例句：

• He left nothing undone that needed attention.所有需要注意的事他都注意到了。

5 envelops   

v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He glued many envelops yesterday. 他昨天用胶粘了许多信封。 来自辞典例句
• Ask your friends or mother and father to save used envelops for you. 让你的朋友或父母为你留下用过的信封。 来自英语晨读30分（高二）

6 paltry   

adj.无价值的，微不足道的

参考例句：

• The parents had little interest in paltry domestic concerns.那些家长对家里鸡毛蒜皮的小事没什么兴趣。
• I'm getting angry;and if you don't command that paltry spirit of yours.我要生气了，如果你不能振作你那点元气。

7 delightful   

adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的

参考例句：

• We had a delightful time by the seashore last Sunday.上星期天我们在海滨玩得真痛快。
• Peter played a delightful melody on his flute.彼得用笛子吹奏了一支欢快的曲子。

8 isles   

岛( isle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the geology of the British Isles 不列颠群岛的地质
• The boat left for the isles. 小船驶向那些小岛。

9 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

10 penetrating   

adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的

参考例句：

• He had an extraordinarily penetrating gaze. 他的目光有股异乎寻常的洞察力。
• He examined the man with a penetrating gaze. 他以锐利的目光仔细观察了那个人。

11 truthful   

adj.真实的，说实话的，诚实的

参考例句：

• You can count on him for a truthful report of the accident.你放心，他会对事故作出如实的报告的。
• I don't think you are being entirely truthful.我认为你并没全讲真话。

12 embellish   

v.装饰，布置；给…添加细节，润饰

参考例句：

• I asked him not to embellish the truth with ideas of his own.我要他不对事实添油加醋。
• Can you embellish your refusal just a little bit?你可以对你的婉拒之辞略加修饰吗？

13 unduly   

adv.过度地，不适当地

参考例句：

• He did not sound unduly worried at the prospect.他的口气听上去对前景并不十分担忧。
• He argued that the law was unduly restrictive.他辩称法律的约束性有些过分了。

14 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

15 scoffing   

n. 嘲笑, 笑柄, 愚弄 v. 嘲笑, 嘲弄, 愚弄, 狼吞虎咽

参考例句：

• They were sitting around the table scoffing. 他们围坐在桌子旁狼吞虎咽地吃着。
• He the lid and showed the wonderful the scoffing visitors. 他打开盖子给嘲笑他们的老人看这些丰富的收获。