The Withered Arm Chapter 1

It was an eighty-cow dairy, and the troop of milkers, regular andsupernumerary, were all at work; for, though the time of year was asyet but early April, the feed lay entirely¹ in water-meadows, and thecows were 'in full pail.' The hour was about six in the evening,and three-fourths of the large, red, rectangular animals having beenfinished off, there was opportunity for a little conversation.

　　'He do bring home his bride to-morrow, I hear. They've come as faras Anglebury to-day.'

　　The voice seemed to proceed from the belly² of the cow called Cherry,but the speaker was a milking-woman, whose face was buried in theflank of that motionless beast.

　　'Hav' anybody seen her?' said another.

　　There was a negative response from the first. 'Though they sayshe's a rosy-cheeked, tisty-tosty little body enough,' she added;and as the milkmaid spoke³ she turned her face so that she couldglance past her cow's tail to the other side of the barton, where athin, fading woman of thirty milked somewhat apart from the rest.

　　'Years younger than he, they say,' continued the second, with also aglance of reflectiveness in the same direction.

　　'How old do you call him, then?'

　　'Thirty or so.'

　　'More like forty,' broke in an old milkman near, in a long whitepinafore or 'wropper,' and with the brim of his hat tied down, sothat he looked like a woman. ''A was born before our Great Weir⁴ wasbuilded, and I hadn't man's wages when I laved water there.'

　　The discussion waxed so warm that the purr of the milk-streamsbecame jerky, till a voice from another cow's belly cried withauthority, 'Now then, what the Turk do it matter to us about FarmerLodge's age, or Farmer Lodge's new mis'ess? I shall have to pay himnine pound a year for the rent of every one of these milchers,whatever his age or hers. Get on with your work, or 'twill be darkafore we have done. The evening is pinking in a'ready.' Thisspeaker was the dairyman himself; by whom the milkmaids and men wereemployed.

　　Nothing more was said publicly about Farmer Lodge's wedding, but thefirst woman murmured under her cow to her next neighbour, ''Tis hardfor SHE,' signifying the thin worn milkmaid aforesaid.

　　'O no,' said the second. 'He ha'n't spoke to Rhoda Brook⁵ foryears.'

　　When the milking was done they washed their pails and hung them on amany-forked stand made of the peeled limb of an oak-tree, setupright in the earth, and resembling a colossal⁶ antlered horn. Themajority then dispersed⁷ in various directions homeward. The thinwoman who had not spoken was joined by a boy of twelve orthereabout, and the twain went away up the field also.

　　Their course lay apart from that of the others, to a lonely spothigh above the water-meads, and not far from the border of EgdonHeath, whose dark countenance⁸ was visible in the distance as theydrew nigh to their home.

　　'They've just been saying down in barton that your father brings hisyoung wife home from Anglebury to-morrow,' the woman observed. 'Ishall want to send you for a few things to market, and you'll bepretty sure to meet 'em.'

　　'Yes, mother,' said the boy. 'Is father married then?'

　　'Yes . . . You can give her a look, and tell me what's she's like,if you do see her.'

　　'Yes, mother.'

　　'If she's dark or fair, and if she's tall--as tall as I. And if sheseems like a woman who has ever worked for a living, or one that hasbeen always well off, and has never done anything, and shows marksof the lady on her, as I expect she do.'

　　'Yes.'

　　They crept up the hill in the twilight⁹, and entered the cottage. Itwas built of mud-walls, the surface of which had been washed by manyrains into channels and depressions that left none of the originalflat face visible; while here and there in the thatch¹⁰ above a raftershowed like a bone protruding¹¹ through the skin.

　　She was kneeling down in the chimney-corner, before two pieces ofturf laid together with the heather inwards, blowing at the red-hotashes with her breath till the turves flamed. The radiance lit herpale cheek, and made her dark eyes, that had once been handsome,seem handsome anew. 'Yes,' she resumed, 'see if she is dark orfair, and if you can, notice if her hands be white; if not, see ifthey look as though she had ever done housework, or are milker'shands like mine.'

　　The boy again promised, inattentively this time, his mother notobserving that he was cutting a notch¹² with his pocket-knife in thebeech-backed chair.

1 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

2 belly   

n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛

参考例句：

• The boss has a large belly.老板大腹便便。
• His eyes are bigger than his belly.他眼馋肚饱。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 weir   

n.堰堤，拦河坝

参考例句：

• The discharge from the weir opening should be free.从堰开口处的泻水应畅通。
• Big Weir River,restraining tears,has departed!大堰河，含泪地去了！

5 brook   

n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让

参考例句：

• In our room we could hear the murmur of a distant brook.在我们房间能听到远处小溪汩汩的流水声。
• The brook trickled through the valley.小溪涓涓流过峡谷。

6 colossal   

adj.异常的，庞大的

参考例句：

• There has been a colossal waste of public money.一直存在巨大的公款浪费。
• Some of the tall buildings in that city are colossal.那座城市里的一些高层建筑很庞大。

7 dispersed   

adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的

参考例句：

• The clouds dispersed themselves. 云散了。
• After school the children dispersed to their homes. 放学后，孩子们四散回家了。

8 countenance   

n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同

参考例句：

• At the sight of this photograph he changed his countenance.他一看见这张照片脸色就变了。
• I made a fierce countenance as if I would eat him alive.我脸色恶狠狠地，仿佛要把他活生生地吞下去。

9 twilight   

n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期

参考例句：

• Twilight merged into darkness.夕阳的光辉融于黑暗中。
• Twilight was sweet with the smell of lilac and freshly turned earth.薄暮充满紫丁香和新翻耕的泥土的香味。

10 thatch   

vt.用茅草覆盖…的顶部；n.茅草(屋)

参考例句：

• They lit a torch and set fire to the chapel's thatch.他们点着一支火把，放火烧了小教堂的茅草屋顶。
• They topped off the hut with a straw thatch. 他们给小屋盖上茅草屋顶。

11 protruding   

v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的现在分词 )；凸

参考例句：

• He hung his coat on a nail protruding from the wall. 他把上衣挂在凸出墙面的一根钉子上。
• There is a protruding shelf over a fireplace. 壁炉上方有个突出的架子。 来自辞典例句

12 notch   

n.(V字形)槽口，缺口，等级

参考例句：

• The peanuts they grow are top-notch.他们种的花生是拔尖的。
• He cut a notch in the stick with a sharp knife.他用利刃在棒上刻了一个凹痕。