SCENE II. A room in Lucentio’s house.

Enter Baptista, Vincentio, Gremio, the Pedant¹, Lucentio, Bianca, Petruchio, Katherina, Hortensio and Widow. Tranio, Biondello and Grumio and Others, attending.

 

LUCENTIO.

At last, though long, our jarring notes agree:

And time it is when raging war is done,

To smile at ’scapes and perils² overblown.

My fair Bianca, bid my father welcome,

While I with self-same kindness welcome thine.

Brother Petruchio, sister Katherina,

And thou, Hortensio, with thy loving widow,

Feast with the best, and welcome to my house:

My banquet is to close our stomachs up,

After our great good cheer. Pray you, sit down;

For now we sit to chat as well as eat.

 

[They sit at table.]

 

PETRUCHIO.

Nothing but sit and sit, and eat and eat!

 

BAPTISTA.

Padua affords this kindness, son Petruchio.

 

PETRUCHIO.

Padua affords nothing but what is kind.

 

HORTENSIO.

For both our sakes I would that word were true.

 

PETRUCHIO.

Now, for my life, Hortensio fears his widow.

 

WIDOW.

Then never trust me if I be afeard.

 

PETRUCHIO.

You are very sensible, and yet you miss my sense:

I mean Hortensio is afeard of you.

 

WIDOW.

He that is giddy thinks the world turns round.

 

PETRUCHIO.

Roundly replied.

 

KATHERINA.

Mistress, how mean you that?

 

WIDOW.

Thus I conceive by him.

 

PETRUCHIO.

Conceives by me! How likes Hortensio that?

 

HORTENSIO.

My widow says thus she conceives her tale.

 

PETRUCHIO.

Very well mended. Kiss him for that, good widow.

 

KATHERINA.

’He that is giddy thinks the world turns round’:

I pray you tell me what you meant by that.

 

WIDOW.

Your husband, being troubled with a shrew,

Measures my husband’s sorrow by his woe³;

And now you know my meaning.

 

KATHERINA.

A very mean meaning.

 

WIDOW.

Right, I mean you.

 

KATHERINA.

And I am mean, indeed, respecting you.

 

PETRUCHIO.

To her, Kate!

 

HORTENSIO.

To her, widow!

 

PETRUCHIO.

A hundred marks, my Kate does put her down.

 

HORTENSIO.

That’s my office.

 

PETRUCHIO.

Spoke⁴ like an officer: ha’ to thee, lad.

 

[Drinks to Hortensio.]

 

BAPTISTA.

How likes Gremio these quick-witted folks?

 

GREMIO.

Believe me, sir, they butt⁵ together well.

 

BIANCA.

Head and butt! An hasty-witted body

Would say your head and butt were head and horn.

 

VINCENTIO.

Ay, mistress bride, hath that awaken’d you?

 

BIANCA.

Ay, but not frighted me; therefore I’ll sleep again.

 

PETRUCHIO.

Nay⁶, that you shall not; since you have begun,

Have at you for a bitter jest or two.

 

BIANCA.

Am I your bird? I mean to shift my bush,

And then pursue me as you draw your bow.

You are welcome all.

 

[Exeunt Bianca, Katherina and Widow.]

 

PETRUCHIO.

She hath prevented me. Here, Signior Tranio;

This bird you aim’d at, though you hit her not:

Therefore a health to all that shot and miss’d.

 

TRANIO.

O, sir! Lucentio slipp’d me like his greyhound,

Which runs himself, and catches for his master.

 

PETRUCHIO.

A good swift simile⁷, but something currish.

 

TRANIO.

’Tis well, sir, that you hunted for yourself:

’Tis thought your deer does hold you at a bay.

 

BAPTISTA.

O ho, Petruchio! Tranio hits you now.

 

LUCENTIO.

I thank thee for that gird, good Tranio.

 

HORTENSIO.

Confess, confess; hath he not hit you here?

 

PETRUCHIO.

A has a little gall’d me, I confess;

And as the jest did glance away from me,

’Tis ten to one it maim’d you two outright⁸.

 

BAPTISTA.

Now, in good sadness, son Petruchio,

I think thou hast the veriest shrew of all.

 

PETRUCHIO.

Well, I say no; and therefore, for assurance,

Let’s each one send unto his wife,

And he whose wife is most obedient,

To come at first when he doth send for her,

Shall win the wager⁹ which we will propose.

 

HORTENSIO.

Content. What’s the wager?

 

LUCENTIO.

Twenty crowns.

 

PETRUCHIO.

Twenty crowns!

I’ll venture so much of my hawk¹⁰ or hound,

But twenty times so much upon my wife.

 

LUCENTIO.

A hundred then.

 

HORTENSIO.

Content.

 

PETRUCHIO.

A match! ’tis done.

 

HORTENSIO.

Who shall begin?

 

LUCENTIO.

That will I.

Go, Biondello, bid your mistress come to me.

 

BIONDELLO.

I go.

 

[Exit.]

 

BAPTISTA.

Son, I’ll be your half, Bianca comes.

 

LUCENTIO.

I’ll have no halves; I’ll bear it all myself.

 

Re-enter Biondello.

 

How now! what news?

 

BIONDELLO.

Sir, my mistress sends you word

That she is busy and she cannot come.

 

PETRUCHIO.

How! She’s busy, and she cannot come!

Is that an answer?

 

GREMIO.

Ay, and a kind one too:

Pray God, sir, your wife send you not a worse.

 

PETRUCHIO.

I hope better.

 

HORTENSIO.

Sirrah Biondello, go and entreat¹¹ my wife

To come to me forthwith.

 

[Exit Biondello.]

 

PETRUCHIO.

O, ho! entreat her!

Nay, then she must needs come.

 

HORTENSIO.

I am afraid, sir,

Do what you can, yours will not be entreated¹³.

 

Re-enter Biondello.

 

Now, where’s my wife?

 

BIONDELLO.

She says you have some goodly jest in hand:

She will not come; she bids you come to her.

 

PETRUCHIO.

Worse and worse; she will not come! O vile¹⁴,

Intolerable, not to be endur’d!

Sirrah Grumio, go to your mistress,

Say I command her come to me.

 

[Exit Grumio.]

 

HORTENSIO.

I know her answer.

 

PETRUCHIO.

What?

 

HORTENSIO.

She will not.

 

PETRUCHIO.

The fouler¹⁶ fortune mine, and there an end.

 

Re-enter Katherina.

 

BAPTISTA.

Now, by my holidame, here comes Katherina!

 

KATHERINA.

What is your will sir, that you send for me?

 

PETRUCHIO.

Where is your sister, and Hortensio’s wife?

 

KATHERINA.

They sit conferring by the parlour fire.

 

PETRUCHIO.

Go fetch them hither; if they deny to come,

Swinge me them soundly forth¹² unto their husbands.

Away, I say, and bring them hither straight.

 

[Exit Katherina.]

 

LUCENTIO.

Here is a wonder, if you talk of a wonder.

 

HORTENSIO.

And so it is. I wonder what it bodes¹⁷.

 

PETRUCHIO.

Marry, peace it bodes, and love, and quiet life,

An awful rule, and right supremacy¹⁸;

And, to be short, what not that’s sweet and happy.

 

BAPTISTA.

Now fair befall thee, good Petruchio!

The wager thou hast won; and I will add

Unto their losses twenty thousand crowns;

Another dowry to another daughter,

For she is chang’d, as she had never been.

 

PETRUCHIO.

Nay, I will win my wager better yet,

And show more sign of her obedience¹⁹,

Her new-built virtue²⁰ and obedience.

See where she comes, and brings your froward wives

As prisoners to her womanly persuasion²¹.

 

Re-enter Katherina with Bianca and Widow.

 

Katherine, that cap of yours becomes you not:

Off with that bauble²², throw it underfoot.

 

[Katherina pulls off her cap and throws it down.]

 

WIDOW.

Lord, let me never have a cause to sigh

Till I be brought to such a silly pass!

 

BIANCA.

Fie! what a foolish duty call you this?

 

LUCENTIO.

I would your duty were as foolish too;

The wisdom of your duty, fair Bianca,

Hath cost me a hundred crowns since supper-time!

 

BIANCA.

The more fool you for laying on my duty.

 

PETRUCHIO.

Katherine, I charge thee, tell these headstrong women

What duty they do owe their lords and husbands.

 

WIDOW.

Come, come, you’re mocking; we will have no telling.

 

PETRUCHIO.

Come on, I say; and first begin with her.

 

WIDOW.

She shall not.

 

PETRUCHIO.

I say she shall: and first begin with her.

 

KATHERINA.

Fie, fie! unknit that threatening unkind brow,

And dart²³ not scornful glances from those eyes

To wound thy lord, thy king, thy governor:

It blots²⁴ thy beauty as frosts do bite the meads,

Confounds thy fame as whirlwinds shake fair buds,

And in no sense is meet or amiable²⁵.

A woman mov’d is like a fountain troubled,

Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft²⁶ of beauty;

And while it is so, none so dry or thirsty

Will deign²⁷ to sip²⁸ or touch one drop of it.

Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,

Thy head, thy sovereign; one that cares for thee,

And for thy maintenance commits his body

To painful labour both by sea and land,

To watch the night in storms, the day in cold,

Whilst thou liest warm at home, secure and safe;

And craves²⁹ no other tribute at thy hands

But love, fair looks, and true obedience;

Too little payment for so great a debt.

Such duty as the subject owes the prince,

Even such a woman oweth to her husband;

And when she is froward, peevish³⁰, sullen³¹, sour,

And not obedient to his honest will,

What is she but a foul¹⁵ contending rebel

And graceless traitor³² to her loving lord?—

I am asham’d that women are so simple

To offer war where they should kneel for peace,

Or seek for rule, supremacy, and sway,

When they are bound to serve, love, and obey.

Why are our bodies soft and weak and smooth,

Unapt to toil³³ and trouble in the world,

But that our soft conditions and our hearts

Should well agree with our external parts?

Come, come, you froward and unable worms!

My mind hath been as big as one of yours,

My heart as great, my reason haply more,

To bandy word for word and frown for frown;

But now I see our lances are but straws,

Our strength as weak, our weakness past compare,

That seeming to be most which we indeed least are.

Then vail your stomachs, for it is no boot,

And place your hands below your husband’s foot:

In token of which duty, if he please,

My hand is ready; may it do him ease.

 

PETRUCHIO.

Why, there’s a wench! Come on, and kiss me, Kate.

 

LUCENTIO.

Well, go thy ways, old lad, for thou shalt ha’t.

 

VINCENTIO.

’Tis a good hearing when children are toward.

 

LUCENTIO.

But a harsh hearing when women are froward.

 

PETRUCHIO.

Come, Kate, we’ll to bed.

We three are married, but you two are sped.

’Twas I won the wager,

[To Lucentio.] though you hit the white;

And being a winner, God give you good night!

 

[Exeunt Petrucio and Katherina.]

 

HORTENSIO.

Now go thy ways; thou hast tam’d a curst shrew.

 

LUCENTIO.

’Tis a wonder, by your leave, she will be tam’d so.

 

[Exeunt.]

1 pedant   

n.迂儒；卖弄学问的人

参考例句：

• He's a bit of a pedant.这人有点迂。
• A man of talent is one thing,and a pedant another.有才能的人和卖弄学问的人是不一样的。

2 perils   

极大危险( peril的名词复数 )； 危险的事（或环境）

参考例句：

• The commander bade his men be undaunted in the face of perils. 指挥员命令他的战士要临危不惧。
• With how many more perils and disasters would he load himself? 他还要再冒多少风险和遭受多少灾难？

3 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。

4 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。

5 butt   

n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶

参考例句：

• The water butt catches the overflow from this pipe.大水桶盛接管子里流出的东西。
• He was the butt of their jokes.他是他们的笑柄。

6 nay   

adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者

参考例句：

• He was grateful for and proud of his son's remarkable,nay,unique performance.他为儿子出色的，不，应该是独一无二的表演心怀感激和骄傲。
• Long essays,nay,whole books have been written on this.许多长篇大论的文章，不，应该说是整部整部的书都是关于这件事的。

7 simile   

n.直喻，明喻

参考例句：

• I believe this simile largely speaks the truth.我相信这种比拟在很大程度上道出了真实。
• It is a trite simile to compare her teeth to pearls.把她的牙齿比做珍珠是陈腐的比喻。

8 outright   

adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的

参考例句：

• If you have a complaint you should tell me outright.如果你有不满意的事，你应该直率地对我说。
• You should persuade her to marry you outright.你应该彻底劝服她嫁给你。

9 wager   

n.赌注；vt.押注，打赌

参考例句：

• They laid a wager on the result of the race.他们以竞赛的结果打赌。
• I made a wager that our team would win.我打赌我们的队会赢。

10 hawk   

n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员

参考例句：

• The hawk swooped down on the rabbit and killed it.鹰猛地朝兔子扑下来,并把它杀死。
• The hawk snatched the chicken and flew away.老鹰叼了小鸡就飞走了。

11 entreat   

v.恳求，恳请

参考例句：

• Charles Darnay felt it hopeless entreat him further,and his pride was touched besides.查尔斯-达尔内感到再恳求他已是枉然，自尊心也受到了伤害。
• I entreat you to contribute generously to the building fund.我恳求您慷慨捐助建设基金。

12 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

13 entreated   

恳求，乞求( entreat的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They entreated and threatened, but all this seemed of no avail. 他们时而恳求，时而威胁，但这一切看来都没有用。
• 'One word,' the Doctor entreated. 'Will you tell me who denounced him?' “还有一个问题，”医生请求道，“你可否告诉我是谁告发他的？” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

14 vile   

adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的

参考例句：

• Who could have carried out such a vile attack?会是谁发起这么卑鄙的攻击呢？
• Her talk was full of vile curses.她的话里充满着恶毒的咒骂。

15 foul   

adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规

参考例句：

• Take off those foul clothes and let me wash them.脱下那些脏衣服让我洗一洗。
• What a foul day it is!多么恶劣的天气！

16 fouler   

adj.恶劣的( foul的比较级 )；邪恶的；难闻的；下流的

参考例句：

• The fairer the paper, the fouler the blot. 纸愈白，污愈显。 来自互联网
• He that falls into dirt, the longer he stays there, the fouler he is. 陷入泥的人，待的时间越长，身上越脏。 来自互联网

17 bodes   

v.预示，预告，预言( bode的第三人称单数 )；等待，停留( bide的过去分词 )；居住；（过去式用bided）等待

参考例句：

• This bodes ill for the failure of the programme. 这是那项计划有凶兆。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• This bodes him no good. 这对他是不祥之兆。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

18 supremacy   

n.至上；至高权力

参考例句：

• No one could challenge her supremacy in gymnastics.她是最优秀的体操运动员，无人能胜过她。
• Theoretically,she holds supremacy as the head of the state.从理论上说，她作为国家的最高元首拥有至高无上的权力。

19 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。

20 virtue   

n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力

参考例句：

• He was considered to be a paragon of virtue.他被认为是品德尽善尽美的典范。
• You need to decorate your mind with virtue.你应该用德行美化心灵。

21 persuasion   

n.劝说；说服；持有某种信仰的宗派

参考例句：

• He decided to leave only after much persuasion.经过多方劝说，他才决定离开。
• After a lot of persuasion,she agreed to go.经过多次劝说后，她同意去了。

22 bauble   

n.美观而无价值的饰物

参考例句：

• That little bauble is not to be compared with this enormous jewel.那个小摆设不能与这个大宝石相比较。
• A bauble is a showy ornament of little value.廉价珠宝是华而不实的装饰品。

23 dart   

v.猛冲，投掷；n.飞镖，猛冲

参考例句：

• The child made a sudden dart across the road.那小孩突然冲过马路。
• Markov died after being struck by a poison dart.马尔科夫身中毒镖而亡。

24 blots   

污渍( blot的名词复数 )； 墨水渍； 错事； 污点

参考例句：

• The letter had many blots and blurs. 信上有许多墨水渍和污迹。
• It's all, all covered with blots the same as if she were crying on the paper. 到处，到处都是泪痕，像是她趴在信纸上哭过。 来自名作英译部分

25 amiable   

adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的

参考例句：

• She was a very kind and amiable old woman.她是个善良和气的老太太。
• We have a very amiable companionship.我们之间存在一种友好的关系。

26 bereft   

adj.被剥夺的

参考例句：

• The place seemed to be utterly bereft of human life.这个地方似乎根本没有人烟。
• She was bereft of happiness.她失去了幸福。

27 deign   

v. 屈尊, 惠允 ( 做某事)

参考例句：

• He doesn't deign to talk to unimportant people like me. 他不肯屈尊和像我这样不重要的人说话。
• I would not deign to comment on such behaviour. 这种行为不屑我置评。

28 sip   

v.小口地喝，抿，呷；n.一小口的量

参考例句：

• She took a sip of the cocktail.她啜饮一口鸡尾酒。
• Elizabeth took a sip of the hot coffee.伊丽莎白呷了一口热咖啡。

29 craves   

渴望，热望( crave的第三人称单数 )； 恳求，请求

参考例句：

• The tree craves calm but the wind will not drop. 树欲静而风不止。
• Victory would give him a passport to the riches he craves. 胜利将使他有机会获得自己梦寐以求的财富。

30 peevish   

adj.易怒的，坏脾气的

参考例句：

• A peevish child is unhappy and makes others unhappy.一个脾气暴躁的孩子自己不高兴也使别人不高兴。
• She glared down at me with a peevish expression on her face.她低头瞪着我，一脸怒气。

31 sullen   

adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的

参考例句：

• He looked up at the sullen sky.他抬头看了一眼阴沉的天空。
• Susan was sullen in the morning because she hadn't slept well.苏珊今天早上郁闷不乐，因为昨晚没睡好。

32 traitor   

n.叛徒，卖国贼

参考例句：

• The traitor was finally found out and put in prison.那个卖国贼终于被人发现并被监禁了起来。
• He was sold out by a traitor and arrested.他被叛徒出卖而被捕了。

33 toil   

vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事

参考例句：

• The wealth comes from the toil of the masses.财富来自大众的辛勤劳动。
• Every single grain is the result of toil.每一粒粮食都来之不易。