A TRAGEDY OF TWO AMBITIONS CHAPTER I

 The shouts of the village-boys came in at the window, accompanied by broken laughter from loungers at the inn-door; but the brothers Halborough worked on.

 

They were sitting in a bedroom of the master-millwright’s house, engaged in the untutored reading of Greek and Latin.  It was no tale of Homeric blows and knocks, Argonautic voyaging, or Theban family woe¹ that inflamed² their imaginations and spurred them onward³.  They were plodding⁴ away at the Greek Testament⁵, immersed in a chapter of the idiomatic⁶ and difficult Epistle to the Hebrews.

 

The Dog-day sun in its decline reached the low ceiling with slanting⁷ sides, and the shadows of the great goat’s-willow swayed and interchanged upon the walls like a spectral⁸ army manoeuvring.  The open casement⁹ which admitted the remoter sounds now brought the voice of some one close at hand.  It was their sister, a pretty girl of fourteen, who stood in the court below.

 

‘I can see the tops of your heads!  What’s the use of staying up there?  I like you not to go out with the street-boys; but do come and play with me!’

 

They treated her as an inadequate¹⁰ interlocutor, and put her off with some slight word.  She went away disappointed.  Presently there was a dull noise of heavy footsteps at the side of the house, and one of the brothers sat up.  ‘I fancy I hear him coming,’ he murmured, his eyes on the window.

 

A man in the light drab clothes of an old-fashioned country tradesman approached from round the corner, reeling as he came.  The elder son flushed with anger, rose from his books, and descended¹¹ the stairs.  The younger sat on, till, after the lapse¹² of a few minutes, his brother re-entered the room.

 

‘Did Rosa see him?’

 

‘No.’

 

‘Nor anybody?’

 

‘No.’

 

‘What have you done with him?’

 

‘He’s in the straw-shed.  I got him in with some trouble, and he has fallen asleep.  I thought this would be the explanation of his absence!  No stones dressed for Miller¹³ Kench, the great wheel of the saw-mills waiting for new float-boards, even the poor folk not able to get their waggons¹⁴ wheeled.’

 

‘What is the use of poring over this!’ said the younger, shutting up Donnegan’s Lexicon¹⁵ with a slap.  ‘O if we had only been able to keep mother’s nine hundred pounds, what we could have done!’

 

‘How well she had estimated the sum necessary!  Four hundred and fifty each, she thought.  And I have no doubt that we could have done it on that, with care.’

 

This loss of the nine hundred pounds was the sharp thorn of their crown.  It was a sum which their mother had amassed¹⁶ with great exertion¹⁷ and self-denial, by adding to a chance legacy¹⁸ such other small amounts as she could lay hands on from time to time; and she had intended with the hoard¹⁹ to indulge the dear wish of her heart—that of sending her sons, Joshua and Cornelius, to one of the Universities, having been informed that from four hundred to four hundred and fifty each might carry them through their terms with such great economy as she knew she could trust them to practise.  But she had died a year or two before this time, worn out by too keen a strain towards these ends; and the money, coming unreservedly into the hands of their father, had been nearly dissipated.  With its exhaustion²⁰ went all opportunity and hope of a university degree for the sons.

 

‘It drives me mad when I think of it,’ said Joshua, the elder.  ‘And here we work and work in our own bungling²¹ way, and the utmost we can hope for is a term of years as national schoolmasters, and possible admission to a Theological college, and ordination²² as despised licentiates.’

 

The anger of the elder was reflected as simple sadness in the face of the other.  ‘We can preach the Gospel as well without a hood²³ on our surplices as with one,’ he said with feeble consolation²⁴.

 

‘Preach the Gospel—true,’ said Joshua with a slight pursing of mouth.  ‘But we can’t rise!’

 

‘Let us make the best of it, and grind on.’

 

The other was silent, and they drearily²⁵ bent²⁶ over their books again.

 

The cause of all this gloom, the millwright Halborough, now snoring in the shed, had been a thriving master-machinist, notwithstanding his free and careless disposition²⁷, till a taste for a more than adequate quantity of strong liquor took hold of him; since when his habits had interfered²⁸ with his business sadly.  Already millers²⁹ went elsewhere for their gear, and only one set of hands was now kept going, though there were formerly³⁰ two.  Already he found a difficulty in meeting his men at the week’s end, and though they had been reduced in number there was barely enough work to do for those who remained.

 

The sun dropped lower and vanished, the shouts of the village children ceased to resound³¹, darkness cloaked the students’ bedroom, and all the scene outwardly breathed peace.  None knew of the fevered youthful ambitions that throbbed³² in two breasts within the quiet creeper-covered walls of the millwright’s house.

 

In a few months the brothers left the village of their birth to enter themselves as students in a training college for schoolmasters; first having placed their young sister Rosa under as efficient a tuition at a fashionable watering-place as the means at their disposal could command.

1 woe   

n.悲哀，苦痛，不幸，困难；int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌

参考例句：

• Our two peoples are brothers sharing weal and woe.我们两国人民是患难与共的兄弟。
• A man is well or woe as he thinks himself so.自认祸是祸，自认福是福。

2 inflamed   

adj.发炎的，红肿的v.（使）变红，发怒，过热( inflame的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• His comments have inflamed teachers all over the country. 他的评论激怒了全国教师。
• Her joints are severely inflamed. 她的关节严重发炎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 onward   

adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先

参考例句：

• The Yellow River surges onward like ten thousand horses galloping.黄河以万马奔腾之势滚滚向前。
• He followed in the steps of forerunners and marched onward.他跟随着先辈的足迹前进。

4 plodding   

a.proceeding in a slow or dull way

参考例句：

• They're still plodding along with their investigation. 他们仍然在不厌其烦地进行调查。
• He is plodding on with negotiations. 他正缓慢艰难地进行着谈判。

5 testament   

n.遗嘱；证明

参考例句：

• This is his last will and testament.这是他的遗愿和遗嘱。
• It is a testament to the power of political mythology.这说明，编造政治神话可以产生多大的威力。

6 idiomatic   

adj.成语的，符合语言习惯的

参考例句：

• In our reading we should always be alert for idiomatic expressions.我们在阅读过程中应经常注意惯用法。
• In his lecture,he bore down on the importance of idiomatic usage in a language.他在演讲中着重强调了语言中习惯用法的重要性。

7 slanting   

倾斜的，歪斜的

参考例句：

• The rain is driving [slanting] in from the south. 南边潲雨。
• The line is slanting to the left. 这根线向左斜了。

8 spectral   

adj.幽灵的，鬼魂的

参考例句：

• At times he seems rather ordinary.At other times ethereal,perhaps even spectral.有时他好像很正常，有时又难以捉摸，甚至像个幽灵。
• She is compelling,spectral fascinating,an unforgettably unique performer.她极具吸引力，清幽如鬼魅，令人着迷，令人难忘，是个独具特色的演员。

9 casement   

n.竖铰链窗；窗扉

参考例句：

• A casement is a window that opens by means of hinges at the side.竖铰链窗是一种用边上的铰链开启的窗户。
• With the casement half open,a cold breeze rushed inside.窗扉半开，凉风袭来。

10 inadequate   

adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的

参考例句：

• The supply is inadequate to meet the demand.供不应求。
• She was inadequate to the demands that were made on her.她还无力满足对她提出的各项要求。

11 descended   

a.为...后裔的，出身于...的

参考例句：

• A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
• The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。

12 lapse   

n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效

参考例句：

• The incident was being seen as a serious security lapse.这一事故被看作是一次严重的安全疏忽。
• I had a lapse of memory.我记错了。

13 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

14 waggons   

四轮的运货马车( waggon的名词复数 )； 铁路货车； 小手推车

参考例句：

• Most transport is done by electrified waggons. 大部分货物都用电瓶车运送。

15 lexicon   

n.字典，专门词汇

参考例句：

• Chocolate equals sin in most people's lexicon.巧克力在大多数人的字典里等同于罪恶。
• Silent earthquakes are only just beginning to enter the public lexicon.无声地震才刚开始要成为众所周知的语汇。

16 amassed   

v.积累，积聚( amass的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He amassed a fortune from silver mining. 他靠开采银矿积累了一笔财富。
• They have amassed a fortune in just a few years. 他们在几年的时间里就聚集了一笔财富。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 exertion   

n.尽力，努力

参考例句：

• We were sweating profusely from the exertion of moving the furniture.我们搬动家具大费气力，累得大汗淋漓。
• She was hot and breathless from the exertion of cycling uphill.由于用力骑车爬坡，她浑身发热。

18 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

19 hoard   

n./v.窖藏，贮存，囤积

参考例句：

• They have a hoard of food in the basement.地下室里有他们贮藏的食物。
• How many curios do you hoard in your study?你在你书房里聚藏了多少古玩？

20 exhaustion   

n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述

参考例句：

• She slept the sleep of exhaustion.她因疲劳而酣睡。
• His exhaustion was obvious when he fell asleep standing.他站着睡着了，显然是太累了。

21 bungling   

adj.笨拙的，粗劣的v.搞糟，完不成( bungle的现在分词 )；笨手笨脚地做；失败；完不成

参考例句：

• You can't do a thing without bungling it. 你做事总是笨手笨脚。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• 'Enough, too,' retorted George. 'We'll all swing and sundry for your bungling.' “还不够吗？”乔治反问道，“就因为你乱指挥，我们都得荡秋千，被日头晒干。” 来自英汉文学 - 金银岛

22 ordination   

n.授任圣职

参考例句：

• His ordination gives him the right to conduct a marriage or a funeral.他的晋升圣职使他有权主持婚礼或葬礼。
• The vatican said the ordination places the city's catholics in a "very delicate and difficult decision."教廷说，这个任命使得这个城市的天主教徒不得不做出“非常棘手和困难的决定”。

23 hood   

n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖

参考例句：

• She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
• The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。

24 consolation   

n.安慰，慰问

参考例句：

• The children were a great consolation to me at that time.那时孩子们成了我的莫大安慰。
• This news was of little consolation to us.这个消息对我们来说没有什么安慰。

25 drearily   

沉寂地，厌倦地，可怕地

参考例句：

• "Oh, God," thought Scarlett drearily, "that's just the trouble. "啊，上帝！" 思嘉沮丧地想，"难就难在这里呀。
• His voice was utterly and drearily expressionless. 他的声调，阴沉沉的，干巴巴的，完全没有感情。

26 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

27 disposition   

n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署

参考例句：

• He has made a good disposition of his property.他已对财产作了妥善处理。
• He has a cheerful disposition.他性情开朗。

28 interfered   

v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉

参考例句：

• Complete absorption in sports interfered with his studies. 专注于运动妨碍了他的学业。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I am not going to be interfered with. 我不想别人干扰我的事情。 来自《简明英汉词典》

29 millers   

n.（尤指面粉厂的）厂主( miller的名词复数 )；磨房主；碾磨工；铣工

参考例句：

• Millers and bakers sought low grain prices. 磨粉厂主和面包师寻求低廉的谷物价格。 来自辞典例句
• He told me he already been acquainted with the Millers. 他跟我说他同米勒一家已经很熟。 来自互联网

30 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。

31 resound   

v.回响

参考例句：

• A roar of approval resounded through the Ukrainian parliament.一片赞成声在乌克兰议会中回响。
• The soldiers' boots resounded in the street.士兵的军靴踏在地面上的声音在大街上回响。

32 throbbed   

抽痛( throb的过去式和过去分词 )； （心脏、脉搏等）跳动

参考例句：

• His head throbbed painfully. 他的头一抽一跳地痛。
• The pulse throbbed steadily. 脉搏跳得平稳。