AVARICE.

Avarities, amor habendi — desire of having, avidity, covetousness¹. Properly speaking, avarice² is the desire of accumulating, whether in grain, movables, money, or curiosities. There were avaricious³ men long before coin was invented.

We do not call a man avaricious who has four and twenty coach horses, yet will not lend one to his friend: or who, having two thousand bottles of Burgundy in his cellar, will not send you half a dozen, when he knows you to be in want of them. If he show you a hundred thousand crowns’ worth of diamonds you do not think of asking him to present you with one worth twenty livres; you consider him as a man of great magnificence, but not at all avaricious.

He who in finance, in army contracts, and great undertakings⁴ gained two millions each year, and who, when possessed⁵ of forty-three millions, besides his houses at Paris and his movables, expended⁶ fifty thousand crowns per annum for his table, and sometimes lent money to noblemen at five per cent. interest, did not pass, in the minds of the people, for an avaricious man. He had, however, all his life burned with the thirst of gain; the demon⁸ of covetousness was perpetually tormenting⁹ him; he continued to accumulate to the last day of his life. This passion, which was constantly gratified, has never been called avarice. He did not expend⁷ a tenth part of his income, yet he had the reputation of a generous man, too fond of splendor¹⁰.

A father of a family who, with an income of twenty thousand livres, expends¹¹ only five or six, and accumulates his savings¹² to portion his children, has the reputation among his neighbors of being avaricious, mean, stingy, a niggard, a miser¹³, a gripfarthing; and every abusive epithet¹⁴ that can be thought of is bestowed¹⁵ upon him.

Nevertheless this good citizen is much more to be honored than the Cr?sus I have just mentioned; he expends three times as much in proportion. But the cause of the great difference between their reputations is this:

Men hate the individual whom they call avaricious only because there is nothing to be gained by him. The physician, the apothecary¹⁶, the wine-merchant, the draper, the grocer, the saddler, and a few girls gain a good deal by our Cr?sus, who is truly avaricious. But with our close and economical citizen there is nothing to be done. Therefore he is loaded with maledictions.

As for those among the avaricious who deprive themselves of the necessaries of life, we leave them to Plautus and Molière.

1 covetousness   

参考例句：

• As covetousness is the root of all evil, so poverty is the worst of all snares. 正如贪婪是万恶之源一样，贫穷是最坏的陷阱。 来自辞典例句
• Poverty want many thing, but covetousness all. 贫穷可满足；欲望却难填。 来自互联网

2 avarice   

n.贪婪；贪心

参考例句：

• Avarice is the bane to happiness.贪婪是损毁幸福的祸根。
• Their avarice knows no bounds and you can never satisfy them.他们贪得无厌，你永远无法满足他们。

3 avaricious   

adj.贪婪的，贪心的

参考例句：

• I call on your own memory as witness:remember we have avaricious hearts.假使你想要保证和证明，你可以回忆一下我们贪婪的心。
• He is so avaricious that we call him a blood sucker.他如此贪婪，我们都叫他吸血鬼。

4 undertakings   

企业( undertaking的名词复数 )； 保证； 殡仪业； 任务

参考例句：

• The principle of diligence and frugality applies to all undertakings. 勤俭节约的原则适用于一切事业。
• Such undertakings require the precise planning and foresight of military operations. 此举要求军事上战役中所需要的准确布置和预见。

5 possessed   

adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的

参考例句：

• He flew out of the room like a man possessed.他像着了魔似地猛然冲出房门。
• He behaved like someone possessed.他行为举止像是魔怔了。

6 expended   

v.花费( expend的过去式和过去分词 )；使用（钱等）做某事；用光；耗尽

参考例句：

• She expended all her efforts on the care of home and children. 她把所有精力都花在料理家务和照顾孩子上。
• The enemy had expended all their ammunition. 敌人已耗尽所有的弹药。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 expend   

vt.花费，消费，消耗

参考例句：

• Don't expend all your time on such a useless job.不要把时间消耗在这种无用的工作上。
• They expend all their strength in trying to climb out.他们费尽全力想爬出来。

8 demon   

n.魔鬼，恶魔

参考例句：

• The demon of greed ruined the miser's happiness.贪得无厌的恶习毁掉了那个守财奴的幸福。
• He has been possessed by the demon of disease for years.他多年来病魔缠身。

9 tormenting   

使痛苦的，使苦恼的

参考例句：

• He took too much pleasure in tormenting an ugly monster called Caliban. 他喜欢一味捉弄一个名叫凯列班的丑妖怪。
• The children were scolded for tormenting animals. 孩子们因折磨动物而受到责骂。

10 splendor   

n.光彩；壮丽，华丽；显赫，辉煌

参考例句：

• Never in his life had he gazed on such splendor.他生平从没有见过如此辉煌壮丽的场面。
• All the splendor in the world is not worth a good friend.人世间所有的荣华富贵不如一个好朋友。

11 expends   

v.花费( expend的第三人称单数 )；使用（钱等）做某事；用光；耗尽

参考例句：

• The commercial value height also expends demand how many! 商业价值高低也就是消费需求多少！ 来自互联网
• The stimulation expends basis, also lies in enhances the resident income. 刺激消费的根本，还在于提高居民收入。 来自互联网

12 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

13 miser   

n.守财奴，吝啬鬼 (adj.miserly)

参考例句：

• The miser doesn't like to part with his money.守财奴舍不得花他的钱。
• The demon of greed ruined the miser's happiness.贪得无厌的恶习毁掉了那个守财奴的幸福。

14 epithet   

n.（用于褒贬人物等的）表述形容词，修饰语

参考例句：

• In "Alfred the Great","the Great"is an epithet.“阿尔弗雷德大帝”中的“大帝”是个称号。
• It is an epithet that sums up my feelings.这是一个简洁地表达了我思想感情的形容词。

15 bestowed   

赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• It was a title bestowed upon him by the king. 那是国王赐给他的头衔。
• He considered himself unworthy of the honour they had bestowed on him. 他认为自己不配得到大家赋予他的荣誉。

16 apothecary   

n.药剂师

参考例句：

• I am an apothecary of that hospital.我是那家医院的一名药剂师。
• He was the usual cut and dry apothecary,of no particular age and color.他是那种再普通不过的行医者，说不出多大年纪，相貌也没什么值得一提的。