Part 2 Chapter 3

First StepsThat immense valley filled with brilliant lights and with all thosethousands of people dazzles my sight. Not one of them knowsme, all are superior to me. My head reels.

　　Poemi dell' avvocato, REINAEarly in the morning of the following day, Julien was copying lettersin the library, when Mademoiselle Mathilde entered by a little privatedoor, cleverly concealed¹ with shelves of dummy² books. While Julien wasadmiring this device, Mademoiselle Mathilde appeared greatly surprisedand distinctly annoyed to see him there. Julien decided³ that her curlpapers gave her a hard, haughty⁴, almost masculine air. Mademoiselle de LaMole had a secret habit of stealing books from her father's library, undetected. Julien's presence frustrated⁵ her expedition that morning, whichannoyed her all the more as she had come to secure the second volumeof Voltaire's Princesse de Babylone, a fitting complement⁶ to an eminentlymonarchical and religious education, a triumph on the part of the Sacre-Coeur! This poor girl, at nineteen, already required the spice of wit tomake her interested in a novel.

　　Comte Norbert appeared in the library about three o'clock; he hadcome to study a newspaper, in order to be able to talk politics that evening, and was quite pleased to find Julien, whose existence he had forgotten. He was charming to him, and offered to lend him a horse.

　　'My father is letting us off until dinner.'

　　Julien appreciated this us, and thought it charming.

　　'Heavens, Monsieur le Comte,' said Julien, 'if it were a question offelling an eighty-foot tree, trimming it and sawing it into planks⁷, I venture to say that I should manage it well enough; but riding a horse is athing I haven't done six times in my life.'

　　'Well, this will be the seventh,' said Norbert.

　　 Privately⁸, Julien remembered the entry of the King of —— into Verrieres and imagined himself a superior horseman. But, on their way backfrom the Bois de Boulogne, in the very middle of the Rue⁹ du Bac, he felloff, while trying to avoid a passing cab, and covered himself in mud. Itwas fortunate for him that he had a change of clothes. At the dinner theMarquis, wishing to include him in the conversation, asked him abouthis ride; Norbert made haste to reply in generous language.

　　'Monsieur le Comte is too kind to me,' put in Julien. 'I thank him for it,and fully¹¹ appreciate his kindness. He has been so good as to give me thequietest and handsomest of horses; but after all he could not glue me onto it, and, that being so, I fell off right in the middle of that very longstreet near the bridge.'

　　Mademoiselle Mathilde tried in vain to stifle¹² a peal¹³ of laughter; finallyindiscretion prevailed and she begged for details. Julien emerged fromthe difficulty with great simplicity¹⁴; he had an unconscious grace.

　　'I augur¹⁵ well of this little priest,' the Marquis said to the Academician;'a simple countryman in such a scrape! Such a thing was never yet seenand never will be seen; in addition to which he relates his misadventurebefore the ladies!'

　　Julien set his listeners so thoroughly¹⁶ at ease over his mishap¹⁷ that at theend of dinner, when the general conversation had taken another turn,Mademoiselle Mathilde began to ply¹⁰ her brother with questions as to thedetails of the distressing¹⁸ event. As her inquiry¹⁹ continued, and as Julienmore than once caught her eye, he ventured to reply directly, althoughhe had not been questioned, and all three ended in laughter, just likethree young peasants from a village in the heart of a forest.

　　On the following day Julien attended two lectures on theology, andthen returned to transcribe²⁰ a score of letters. He found ensconced by hisown place in the library a young man dressed with great neatness, buthis general appearance was ignominious²¹ and his expression one of envy.

　　The Marquis entered.

　　'What are you doing here, Monsieur Tanbeau?' he asked the newcomerin a severe tone.

　　'I thought,' the young man began with a servile smile.

　　'No, Sir, you did not think. This is an attempt, but it is an unfortunateone.'

　　Young Tanbeau rose in a fury and left the room. He was a nephew ofthe Academician, Madame de La Mole's friend, and was intended for a literary career. The Academician had persuaded the Marquis to take himas a secretary. Tanbeau, who worked in a room apart, having heard ofthe favour that was being bestowed²² upon Julien, was anxious to share it,and that morning had come and set up his desk in the library.

　　At four o'clock, Julien ventured, after some hesitation²³, to seek outComte Norbert. This young gentleman was going out riding, and wassomewhat embarrassed, for his manners were perfect.

　　'I think,' he said to Julien, 'that presently you might go to the ridingschool; and after a few weeks I shall be delighted to ride with you.'

　　'I wished to have the honour of thanking you for all your kindness tome; pray believe, Sir,' Julien added with a most serious air, 'that I amfully conscious of all that I owe you. If your horse is not injured as a result of my clumsiness yesterday, and if it is free, I should like to ride ittoday.'

　　'Faith, my dear Sorel, on your own head be it! Assume that I haveraised all the objections that prudence²⁴ demands; the fact is that it is fouro'clock, we have no time to lose.'

　　After he was in the saddle:

　　'What must one do, not to fall off?' Julien asked the young Comte.

　　'All sorts of things,' replied Norbert with a shout of laughter: 'for instance, sit well back.'

　　Julien began to trot²⁵. They were crossing the Place Louis XVI.

　　'Ah! Young hothead, there are too many carriages here, and with careless drivers too. Once you are on the ground, their tilburys will go bowling²⁶ over you; they are not going to risk hurting their horses' mouths bypulling up short.'

　　A score of times Norbert saw Julien on the point of falling; but at lasttheir ride ended without mishap. On their return, the young Comte saidto his sister:

　　'Let me introduce a regular dare-devil.'

　　At dinner, speaking to his father, down the length of the table, he didjustice to Julien's courage; it was all that one could praise in his methodof riding. During the day the young Comte had heard the men who weregrooming the horses in the yard make Julien's fall an excuse for the mostoutrageous mockery of him.

　　 In spite of all this kindness, Julien soon felt himself completely isolatedamong this family. All their customs seemed strange to him, and he wasalways making mistakes. His blunders were the delight of the footmen.

　　The abbe Pirard had gone off to his living. 'If Julien is a frail²⁷ reed, lethim perish; if he is a man of courage, let him make his way by himself,'

　　he thought.

1 concealed   

a.隐藏的，隐蔽的

参考例句：

• The paintings were concealed beneath a thick layer of plaster. 那些画被隐藏在厚厚的灰泥层下面。
• I think he had a gun concealed about his person. 我认为他当时身上藏有一支枪。

2 dummy   

n.假的东西；(哄婴儿的)橡皮奶头

参考例句：

• The police suspect that the device is not a real bomb but a dummy.警方怀疑那个装置不是真炸弹，只是一个假货。
• The boys played soldier with dummy swords made of wood.男孩们用木头做的假木剑玩打仗游戏。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 haughty   

adj.傲慢的，高傲的

参考例句：

• He gave me a haughty look and walked away.他向我摆出傲慢的表情后走开。
• They were displeased with her haughty airs.他们讨厌她高傲的派头。

5 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 complement   

n.补足物，船上的定员；补语；vt.补充，补足

参考例句：

• The two suggestions complement each other.这两条建议相互补充。
• They oppose each other also complement each other.它们相辅相成。

7 planks   

（厚）木板( plank的名词复数 )； 政纲条目，政策要点

参考例句：

• The house was built solidly of rough wooden planks. 这房子是用粗木板牢固地建造的。
• We sawed the log into planks. 我们把木头锯成了木板。

8 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

9 rue   

n.懊悔，芸香，后悔；v.后悔，悲伤，懊悔

参考例句：

• You'll rue having failed in the examination.你会悔恨考试失败。
• You're going to rue this the longest day that you live.你要终身悔恨不尽呢。

10 ply   

v.(搬运工等)等候顾客，弯曲

参考例句：

• Taxis licensed to ply for hire at the railway station.许可计程车在火车站候客。
• Ferryboats ply across the English Channel.渡船定期往返于英吉利海峡。

11 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

12 stifle   

vt.使窒息；闷死；扼杀；抑止，阻止

参考例句：

• She tried hard to stifle her laughter.她强忍住笑。
• It was an uninteresting conversation and I had to stifle a yawn.那是一次枯燥无味的交谈，我不得不强忍住自己的呵欠。

13 peal   

n.钟声；v.鸣响

参考例句：

• The bells of the cathedral rang out their loud peal.大教堂响起了响亮的钟声。
• A sudden peal of thunder leaves no time to cover the ears.迅雷不及掩耳。

14 simplicity   

n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯

参考例句：

• She dressed with elegant simplicity.她穿着朴素高雅。
• The beauty of this plan is its simplicity.简明扼要是这个计划的一大特点。

15 augur   

n.占卦师；v.占卦

参考例句：

• Does this news augur war?这消息预示将有战争吗？
• The signs augur well for tomorrow's weather.种种征候预示明天天气良好。

16 thoroughly   

adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地

参考例句：

• The soil must be thoroughly turned over before planting.一定要先把土地深翻一遍再下种。
• The soldiers have been thoroughly instructed in the care of their weapons.士兵们都系统地接受过保护武器的训练。

17 mishap   

n.不幸的事，不幸；灾祸

参考例句：

• I'm afraid your son had a slight mishap in the playground.不好了，你儿子在操场上出了点小意外。
• We reached home without mishap.我们平安地回到了家。

18 distressing   

a.使人痛苦的

参考例句：

• All who saw the distressing scene revolted against it. 所有看到这种悲惨景象的人都对此感到难过。
• It is distressing to see food being wasted like this. 这样浪费粮食令人痛心。

19 inquiry   

n.打听，询问，调查，查问

参考例句：

• Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。
• The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。

20 transcribe   

v.抄写，誉写；改编(乐曲)；复制，转录

参考例句：

• We need volunteers to transcribe this manuscript.我们需要自愿者来抄写这个文稿。
• I am able to take dictation in English and transcribe them rapidly into Chinese.我会英文记录，还能立即将其改写成中文。

21 ignominious   

adj.可鄙的，不光彩的，耻辱的

参考例句：

• The marriage was considered especially ignominious since she was of royal descent.由于她出身王族，这门婚事被认为是奇耻大辱。
• Many thought that he was doomed to ignominious failure.许多人认为他注定会极不光彩地失败。

22 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。

23 hesitation   

n.犹豫，踌躇

参考例句：

• After a long hesitation, he told the truth at last.踌躇了半天，他终于直说了。
• There was a certain hesitation in her manner.她的态度有些犹豫不决。

24 prudence   

n.谨慎，精明，节俭

参考例句：

• A lack of prudence may lead to financial problems.不够谨慎可能会导致财政上出现问题。
• The happy impute all their success to prudence or merit.幸运者都把他们的成功归因于谨慎或功德。

25 trot   

n.疾走，慢跑；n.老太婆；现成译本；(复数）trots:腹泻（与the 连用）；v.小跑，快步走，赶紧

参考例句：

• They passed me at a trot.他们从我身边快步走过。
• The horse broke into a brisk trot.马突然快步小跑起来。

26 bowling   

n.保龄球运动

参考例句：

• Bowling is a popular sport with young and old.保龄球是老少都爱的运动。
• Which sport do you 1ike most,golf or bowling?你最喜欢什么运动，高尔夫还是保龄球？

27 frail   

adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的

参考例句：

• Mrs. Warner is already 96 and too frail to live by herself.华纳太太已经九十六岁了，身体虚弱，不便独居。
• She lay in bed looking particularly frail.她躺在床上，看上去特别虚弱。