ALICIA’S DIARY CHAPTER I.—SHE MISSES HER SISTER

 July 7.—I wander about the house in a mood of unutterable sadness, for my dear sister Caroline has left home to-day with my mother, and I shall not see them again for several weeks.  They have accepted a long-standing invitation to visit some old friends of ours, the Marlets, who live at Versailles for cheapness—my mother thinking that it will be for the good of Caroline to see a little of France and Paris.  But I don’t quite like her going.  I fear she may lose some of that childlike simplicity¹ and gentleness which so characterize her, and have been nourished by the seclusion² of our life here.  Her solicitude³ about her pony⁴ before starting was quite touching⁵, and she made me promise to visit it daily, and see that it came to no harm.

 

Caroline gone abroad, and I left here!  It is the reverse of an ordinary situation, for good or ill-luck has mostly ordained⁶ that I should be the absent one.  Mother will be quite tired out by the young enthusiasm of Caroline.  She will demand to be taken everywhere—to Paris continually, of course; to all the stock shrines⁷ of history’s devotees; to palaces and prisons; to kings’ tombs and queens’ tombs; to cemeteries⁸ and picture-galleries, and royal hunting forests.  My poor mother, having gone over most of this ground many times before, will perhaps not find the perambulation so exhilarating as will Caroline herself.  I wish I could have gone with them.  I would not have minded having my legs walked off to please Caroline.  But this regret is absurd: I could not, of course, leave my father with not a soul in the house to attend to the calls of the parishioners or to pour out his tea.

 

July 15.—A letter from Caroline to-day.  It is very strange that she tells me nothing which I expected her to tell—only trivial details.  She seems dazzled by the brilliancy of Paris—which no doubt appears still more brilliant to her from the fact of her only being able to obtain occasional glimpses of it.  She would see that Paris, too, has a seamy side if you live there.  I was not aware that the Marlets knew so many people.  If, as mother has said, they went to reside at Versailles for reasons of economy, they will not effect much in that direction while they make a practice of entertaining all the acquaintances who happen to be in their neighbourhood.  They do not confine their hospitalities to English people, either.  I wonder who this M. de la Feste is, in whom Caroline says my mother is so much interested.

 

July 18.—Another letter from Caroline.  I have learnt from this epistle, that M. Charles de la Feste is ‘only one of the many friends of the Marlets’; that though a Frenchman by birth, and now again temporarily at Versailles, he has lived in England many many years; that he is a talented landscape and marine⁹ painter, and has exhibited at the Salon¹⁰, and I think in London.  His style and subjects are considered somewhat peculiar¹¹ in Paris—rather English than Continental¹².  I have not as yet learnt his age, or his condition, married or single.  From the tone and nature of her remarks about him he sometimes seems to be a middle-aged¹³ family man, sometimes quite the reverse.  From his nomadic¹⁴ habits I should say the latter is the most likely.  He has travelled and seen a great deal, she tells me, and knows more about English literature than she knows herself.

 

July 21.—Letter from Caroline.  Query¹⁵: Is ‘a friend of ours and the Marlets,’ of whom she now anonymously¹⁶ and mysteriously speaks, the same personage as the ‘M. de la Feste’ of her former letters?  He must be the same, I think, from his pursuits.  If so, whence this sudden change of tone? . . . I have been lost in thought for at least a quarter of an hour since writing the preceding sentence.  Suppose my dear sister is falling in love with this young man—there is no longer any doubt about his age; what a very awkward, risky¹⁷ thing for her!  I do hope that my mother has an eye on these proceedings¹⁸.  But, then, poor mother never sees the drift of anything: she is in truth less of a mother to Caroline than I am.  If I were there, how jealously I would watch him, and ascertain¹⁹ his designs!

 

I am of a stronger nature than Caroline.  How I have supported her in the past through her little troubles and great griefs!  Is she agitated²⁰ at the presence of this, to her, new and strange feeling?  But I am assuming her to be desperately²¹ in love, when I have no proof of anything of the kind.  He may be merely a casual friend, of whom I shall hear no more.

 

July 24.—Then he is a bachelor, as I suspected.  ‘If M. de la Feste ever marries he will,’ etc.  So she writes.  They are getting into close quarters, obviously.  Also, ‘Something to keep my hair smooth, which M. de la Feste told me he had found useful for the tips of his moustache.’  Very naively²² related this; and with how much unconsciousness of the intimacy²³ between them that the remark reveals!  But my mother—what can she be doing?  Does she know of this?  And if so, why does she not allude²⁴ to it in her letters to my father? . . . I have been to look at Caroline’s pony, in obedience²⁵ to her reiterated²⁶ request that I would not miss a day in seeing that she was well cared for.  Anxious as Caroline was about this pony of hers before starting, she now never mentioned the poor animal once in her letters.  The image of her pet suffers from displacement²⁷.

 

August 3.—Caroline’s forgetfulness of her pony has naturally enough extended to me, her sister.  It is ten days since she last wrote, and but for a note from my mother I should not know if she were dead or alive.

1 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。

2 seclusion   

n.隐遁，隔离

参考例句：

• She liked to sunbathe in the seclusion of her own garden.她喜欢在自己僻静的花园里晒日光浴。
• I live very much in seclusion these days.这些天我过着几乎与世隔绝的生活。

3 solicitude   

n.焦虑

参考例句：

• Your solicitude was a great consolation to me.你对我的关怀给了我莫大的安慰。
• He is full of tender solicitude towards my sister.他对我妹妹满心牵挂。

4 pony   

adj.小型的；n.小马

参考例句：

• His father gave him a pony as a Christmas present.他父亲给了他一匹小马驹作为圣诞礼物。
• They made him pony up the money he owed.他们逼他还债。

5 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。

6 ordained   

v.任命（某人）为牧师( ordain的过去式和过去分词 )；授予（某人）圣职；（上帝、法律等）命令；判定

参考例句：

• He was ordained in 1984. 他在一九八四年被任命为牧师。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He was ordained priest. 他被任命为牧师。 来自辞典例句

7 shrines   

圣地，圣坛，神圣场所( shrine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• All three structures dated to the third century and were tentatively identified as shrines. 这3座建筑都建于3 世纪，并且初步鉴定为神庙。
• Their palaces and their shrines are tombs. 它们的宫殿和神殿成了墓穴。

8 cemeteries   

n.（非教堂的）墓地，公墓( cemetery的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• It's morbid to dwell on cemeteries and such like. 不厌其烦地谈论墓地以及诸如此类的事是一种病态。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• In other districts the proximity of cemeteries seemed to aggravate the disease. 在其它地区里，邻近墓地的地方，时疫大概都要严重些。 来自辞典例句

9 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

10 salon   

n.[法]沙龙；客厅；营业性的高级服务室

参考例句：

• Do you go to the hairdresser or beauty salon more than twice a week?你每周去美容院或美容沙龙多过两次吗？
• You can hear a lot of dirt at a salon.你在沙龙上会听到很多流言蜚语。

11 peculiar   

adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的

参考例句：

• He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
• He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。

12 continental   

adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的

参考例句：

• A continental climate is different from an insular one.大陆性气候不同于岛屿气候。
• The most ancient parts of the continental crust are 4000 million years old.大陆地壳最古老的部分有40亿年历史。

13 middle-aged   

adj.中年的

参考例句：

• I noticed two middle-aged passengers.我注意到两个中年乘客。
• The new skin balm was welcome by middle-aged women.这种新护肤香膏受到了中年妇女的欢迎。

14 nomadic   

adj.流浪的；游牧的

参考例句：

• This tribe still live a nomadic life.这个民族仍然过着游牧生活。
• The plowing culture and the nomadic culture are two traditional principal cultures in China.农耕文化与游牧文化是我国传统的两大主体文化。

15 query   

n.疑问，问号，质问；vt.询问，表示怀疑

参考例句：

• I query very much whether it is wise to act so hastily.我真怀疑如此操之过急地行动是否明智。
• They raised a query on his sincerity.他们对他是否真诚提出质疑。

16 anonymously   

ad.用匿名的方式

参考例句：

• The manuscripts were submitted anonymously. 原稿是匿名送交的。
• Methods A self-administered questionnaire was used to survey 536 teachers anonymously. 方法采用自编“中小学教师职业压力问卷”对536名中小学教师进行无记名调查。

17 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

18 proceedings   

n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼

19 ascertain   

vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清

参考例句：

• It's difficult to ascertain the coal deposits.煤储量很难探明。
• We must ascertain the responsibility in light of different situtations.我们必须根据不同情况判定责任。

20 agitated   

adj.被鼓动的，不安的

参考例句：

• His answers were all mixed up,so agitated was he.他是那样心神不定，回答全乱了。
• She was agitated because her train was an hour late.她乘坐的火车晚点一个小时，她十分焦虑。

21 desperately   

adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地

参考例句：

• He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
• He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。

22 naively   

adv. 天真地

参考例句：

• They naively assume things can only get better. 他们天真地以为情况只会变好。
• In short, Knox's proposal was ill conceived and naively made. 总而言之，诺克斯的建议考虑不周，显示幼稚。

23 intimacy   

n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行

参考例句：

• His claims to an intimacy with the President are somewhat exaggerated.他声称自己与总统关系密切，这有点言过其实。
• I wish there were a rule book for intimacy.我希望能有个关于亲密的规则。

24 allude   

v.提及，暗指

参考例句：

• Many passages in Scripture allude to this concept.圣经中有许多经文间接地提到这样的概念。
• She also alluded to her rival's past marital troubles.她还影射了对手过去的婚姻问题。

25 obedience   

n.服从，顺从

参考例句：

• Society has a right to expect obedience of the law.社会有权要求人人遵守法律。
• Soldiers act in obedience to the orders of their superior officers.士兵们遵照上级军官的命令行动。

26 reiterated   

反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• "Well, I want to know about it,'she reiterated. “嗯，我一定要知道你的休假日期，"她重复说。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Some twenty-two years later President Polk reiterated and elaborated upon these principles. 大约二十二年之后，波尔克总统重申这些原则并且刻意阐释一番。

27 displacement   

n.移置，取代，位移，排水量

参考例句：

• They said that time is the feeling of spatial displacement.他们说时间是空间位移的感觉。
• The displacement of all my energy into caring for the baby.我所有精力都放在了照顾宝宝上。