Part 1 Chapter 7

    But his son hated him. He hated him for coming up to them, for stoppingand looking down on them; he hated him for interrupting them; he hatedhim for the exaltation and sublimity¹ of his gestures; for the magnificenceof his head; for his exactingness² and egotism (for there he stood, commandingthem to attend to him) but most of all he hated the twang andtwitter of his father's emotion which, vibrating round them, disturbedthe perfect simplicity³ and good sense of his relations with his mother. Bylooking fixedly⁵ at the page, he hoped to make him move on; by pointinghis finger at a word, he hoped to recall his mother's attention, which, heknew angrily, wavered instantly his father stopped. But, no. Nothingwould make Mr Ramsay move on. There he stood, demandingsympathy.

　　Mrs Ramsay, who had been sitting loosely, folding her son in her arm,braced herself, and, half turning, seemed to raise herself with an effort,and at once to pour erect⁶ into the air a rain of energy, a column of spray,looking at the same time animated⁷ and alive as if all her energies werebeing fused into force, burning and illuminating⁸ (quietly though she sat,taking up her stocking again), and into this delicious fecundity⁹, thisfountain and spray of life, the fatal sterility¹⁰ of the male plunged¹¹ itself,like a beak¹² of brass¹³, barren and bare. He wanted sympathy. He was afailure, he said. Mrs Ramsay flashed her needles. Mr Ramsay repeated,never taking his eyes from her face, that he was a failure. She blew thewords back at him. "Charles Tansley… " she said. But he must have morethan that. It was sympathy he wanted, to be assured of his genius, first ofall, and then to be taken within the circle of life, warmed and soothed¹⁴, tohave his senses restored to him, his barrenness made furtile, and all therooms of the house made full of life—the drawing-room; behind thedrawing-room the kitchen; above the kitchen the bedrooms; and beyondthem the nurseries; they must be furnished, they must be filled with life.

　　Charles Tansley thought him the greatest metaphysician of the time,she said. But he must have more than that. He must have sympathy. Hemust be assured that he too lived in the heart of life; was needed; notonly here, but all over the world. Flashing her needles, confident, upright,she created drawing-room and kitchen, set them all aglow¹⁵; badehim take his ease there, go in and out, enjoy himself. She laughed, sheknitted. Standing¹⁶ between her knees, very stiff, James felt all her strengthflaring up to be drunk and quenched¹⁷ by the beak of brass, the arid¹⁸ scimitarof the male, which smote¹⁹ mercilessly, again and again, demandingsympathy.

　　He was a failure, he repeated. Well, look then, feel then. Flashing herneedles, glancing round about her, out of the window, into the room, atJames himself, she assured him, beyond a shadow of a doubt, by herlaugh, her poise²⁰, her competence²¹ (as a nurse carrying a light across adark room assures a fractious child), that it was real; the house was full;the garden blowing. If he put implicit⁴ faith in her, nothing should hurthim; however deep he buried himself or climed high, not for a secondshould he find himself without her. So boasting of her capacity to surroundand protect, there was scarcely a shell of herself left for her toknow herself by; all was so lavished²² and spent; and James, as he stoodstiff between her knees, felt her rise in a rosy-flowered fruit tree laid withleaves and dancing boughs²³ into which the beak of brass, the arid scimitarof his father, the egotistical man, plunged and smote, demandingsympathy.

　　Filled with her words, like a child who drops off satisfied, he said, atlast, looking at her with humble²⁴ gratitude²⁵, restored, renewed, that hewould take a turn; he would watch the children playing cricket. Hewent.

　　Immediately, Mrs Ramsey seemed to fold herself together, one petalclosed in another, and the whole fabric²⁶ fell in exhaustion²⁷ upon itself, sothat she had only strength enough to move her finger, in exquisite²⁸ abandonmentto exhaustion, across the page of Grimm's fairy story, whilethere throbbed²⁹ through her, like a pulse in a spring which has expandedto its full width and now gently ceases to beat, the rapture³¹ of successfulcreation.

　　Every throb³⁰ of this pulse seemed, as he walked away, to enclose herand her husband, and to give to each that solace³² which two differentnotes, one high, one low, struck together, seem to give each other as theycombine. Yet as the resonance³³ died, and she turned to the Fairy Taleagain, Mrs Ramsey felt not only exhausted³⁴ in body (afterwards, not atthe time, she always felt this) but also there tinged³⁵ her physical fatiguesome faintly disagreeable sensation with another origin. Not that, as sheread aloud the story of the Fisherman's Wife, she knew precisely³⁶ what itcame from; nor did she let herself put into words her dissatisfactionwhen she realized, at the turn of the page when she stopped and hearddully, ominously³⁷, a wave fall, how it came from this: she did not like,even for a second, to feel finer than her husband; and further, could notbear not being entirely³⁸ sure, when she spoke³⁹ to him, of the truth of whatshe said. Universities and people wanting him, lectures and books andtheir being of the highest importance—all that she did not doubt for amoment; but it was their relation, and his coming to her like that, openly,so that any one could see, that discomposed her; for then people said hedepended on her, when they must know that of the two he was infinitelythe more important, and what she gave the world, in comparison withwhat he gave, negligable. But then again, it was the other thing too—notbeing able to tell him the truth, being afraid, for instance, about thegreenhouse roof and the expense it would be, fifty pounds perhaps tomend it; and then about his books, to be afraid that he might guess, whatshe a little suspected, that his last book was not quite his best book (shegathered that from William Bankes); and then to hide small daily things,and the children seeing it, and the burden it laid on them—all this diminishedthe entire joy, the pure joy, of the two notes sounding together, andlet the sound die on her ear now with a dismal⁴⁰ flatness.

　　A shadow was on the page; she looked up. It was Augustus Carmichaelshuffling past, precisely now, at the very moment when it waspainful to be reminded of the inadequacy⁴¹ of human relationships, thatthe most perfect was flawed, and could not bear the examination which,loving her husband, with her instinct for truth, she turned upon it; whenit was painful to feel herself convicted of unworthiness, and impeded⁴² inher proper function by these lies, these exaggerations,—it was at this momentwhen she was fretted⁴³ thus ignobly⁴⁴ in the wake of her exaltation,that Mr Carmichael shuffled⁴⁵ past, in his yellow slippers⁴⁶, and some demonin her made it necessary for her to call out, as he passed,"Going indoors Mr Carmichael?"

1 sublimity   

崇高，庄严，气质高尚

参考例句：

• It'suggests no crystal waters, no picturesque shores, no sublimity. 这决不会叫人联想到晶莹的清水，如画的两岸，雄壮的气势。
• Huckleberry was filled with admiration of Tom's facility in writing, and the sublimity of his language. 对汤姆流利的书写、响亮的内容，哈克贝利心悦诚服。

2 exactingness   

正确，精确

参考例句：

• He pulled himself together and said,"No, we must come to exactness." 他鼓起精神来说：“现在我们必须把事情弄个明白。”
• This demand for clarity of thought and exactness of definition left his victims confused and reeling. 他这种对思路清晰性和定义严密性的追求使被问者狼狈不堪，头晕目眩。 来自哲学部分

3 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。

4 implicit   

a.暗示的，含蓄的，不明晰的，绝对的

参考例句：

• A soldier must give implicit obedience to his officers. 士兵必须绝对服从他的长官。
• Her silence gave implicit consent. 她的沉默表示默许。

5 fixedly   

adv.固定地；不屈地，坚定不移地

参考例句：

• He stared fixedly at the woman in white. 他一直凝视着那穿白衣裳的女人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The great majority were silent and still, looking fixedly at the ground. 绝大部分的人都不闹不动，呆呆地望着地面。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

6 erect   

n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的

参考例句：

• She held her head erect and her back straight.她昂着头，把背挺得笔直。
• Soldiers are trained to stand erect.士兵们训练站得笔直。

7 animated   

adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的

参考例句：

• His observations gave rise to an animated and lively discussion.他的言论引起了一场气氛热烈而活跃的讨论。
• We had an animated discussion over current events last evening.昨天晚上我们热烈地讨论时事。

8 illuminating   

a.富于启发性的，有助阐明的

参考例句：

• We didn't find the examples he used particularly illuminating. 我们觉得他采用的那些例证启发性不是特别大。
• I found his talk most illuminating. 我觉得他的话很有启发性。

9 fecundity   

n.生产力；丰富

参考例句：

• The probability of survival is the reciprocal of fecundity.生存的概率是生殖力的倒数。
• The boy's fecundity of imagination amazed his teacher.男孩想像力的丰富使教师感到惊异。

10 sterility   

n.不生育，不结果，贫瘠，消毒，无菌

参考例句：

• A major barrier to interspecific hybridization is sterility in the F1 progeny.种间杂交的主要障碍是F1代的不育性。
• Sterility is some permanent factor preventing procreation.不育是阻碍生殖的一种永久性因素。

11 plunged   

v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• The train derailed and plunged into the river. 火车脱轨栽进了河里。
• She lost her balance and plunged 100 feet to her death. 她没有站稳，从100英尺的高处跌下摔死了。

12 beak   

n.鸟嘴，茶壶嘴，钩形鼻

参考例句：

• The bird had a worm in its beak.鸟儿嘴里叼着一条虫。
• This bird employs its beak as a weapon.这种鸟用嘴作武器。

13 brass   

n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器

参考例句：

• Many of the workers play in the factory's brass band.许多工人都在工厂铜管乐队中演奏。
• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc.黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。

14 soothed   

v.安慰( soothe的过去式和过去分词 )；抚慰；使舒服；减轻痛苦

参考例句：

• The music soothed her for a while. 音乐让她稍微安静了一会儿。
• The soft modulation of her voice soothed the infant. 她柔和的声调使婴儿安静了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

15 aglow   

adj.发亮的；发红的；adv.发亮地

参考例句：

• The garden is aglow with many flowers.园中百花盛开。
• The sky was aglow with the setting sun.天空因夕阳映照而发红光。

16 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

17 quenched   

解（渴）( quench的过去式和过去分词 )； 终止（某事物）； （用水）扑灭（火焰等）； 将（热物体）放入水中急速冷却

参考例句：

• He quenched his thirst with a long drink of cold water. 他喝了好多冷水解渴。
• I quenched my thirst with a glass of cold beer. 我喝了一杯冰啤酒解渴。

18 arid   

adj.干旱的；(土地)贫瘠的

参考例句：

• These trees will shield off arid winds and protect the fields.这些树能挡住旱风,保护农田。
• There are serious problems of land degradation in some arid zones.在一些干旱地带存在严重的土地退化问题。

19 smote   

v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去式 )

参考例句：

• Figuratively, he could not kiss the hand that smote him. 打个比方说，他是不能认敌为友。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• \"Whom Pearl smote down and uprooted, most unmercifully.\" 珠儿会毫不留情地将这些\"儿童\"踩倒，再连根拔起。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 文学

20 poise   

vt./vi. 平衡，保持平衡；n.泰然自若，自信

参考例句：

• She hesitated briefly but quickly regained her poise.她犹豫片刻，但很快恢复了镇静。
• Ballet classes are important for poise and grace.芭蕾课对培养优雅的姿仪非常重要。

21 competence   

n.能力，胜任，称职

参考例句：

• This mess is a poor reflection on his competence.这种混乱情况说明他难当此任。
• These are matters within the competence of the court.这些是法院权限以内的事。

22 lavished   

v.过分给予，滥施( lavish的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I lavished all the warmth of my pent-up passion. 我把憋在心里那一股热烈的情感尽量地倾吐出来。 来自辞典例句
• An enormous amount of attention has been lavished on these problems. 在这些问题上，我们已经花费了大量的注意力。 来自辞典例句

23 boughs   

大树枝( bough的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The green boughs glittered with all their pearls of dew. 绿枝上闪烁着露珠的光彩。
• A breeze sighed in the higher boughs. 微风在高高的树枝上叹息着。

24 humble   

adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低

参考例句：

• In my humble opinion,he will win the election.依我拙见，他将在选举中获胜。
• Defeat and failure make people humble.挫折与失败会使人谦卑。

25 gratitude   

adj.感激，感谢

参考例句：

• I have expressed the depth of my gratitude to him.我向他表示了深切的谢意。
• She could not help her tears of gratitude rolling down her face.她感激的泪珠禁不住沿着面颊流了下来。

26 fabric   

n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织

参考例句：

• The fabric will spot easily.这种织品很容易玷污。
• I don't like the pattern on the fabric.我不喜欢那块布料上的图案。

27 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。

28 exquisite   

adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的

参考例句：

• I was admiring the exquisite workmanship in the mosaic.我当时正在欣赏镶嵌画的精致做工。
• I still remember the exquisite pleasure I experienced in Bali.我依然记得在巴厘岛所经历的那种剧烈的快感。

29 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。

30 throb   

v.震颤，颤动；(急速强烈地)跳动，搏动

参考例句：

• She felt her heart give a great throb.她感到自己的心怦地跳了一下。
• The drums seemed to throb in his ears.阵阵鼓声彷佛在他耳边震响。

31 rapture   

n.狂喜；全神贯注；着迷；v.使狂喜

参考例句：

• His speech was received with rapture by his supporters.他的演说受到支持者们的热烈欢迎。
• In the midst of his rapture,he was interrupted by his father.他正欢天喜地，被他父亲打断了。

32 solace   

n.安慰；v.使快乐；vt.安慰(物)，缓和

参考例句：

• They sought solace in religion from the harshness of their everyday lives.他们日常生活很艰难，就在宗教中寻求安慰。
• His acting career took a nosedive and he turned to drink for solace.演艺事业突然一落千丈，他便借酒浇愁。

33 resonance   

n.洪亮；共鸣；共振

参考例句：

• Playing the piano sets up resonance in those glass ornaments.一弹钢琴那些玻璃饰物就会产生共振。
• The areas under the two resonance envelopes are unequal.两个共振峰下面的面积是不相等的。

34 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

35 tinged   

v.（使）发丁丁声( ting的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• memories tinged with sadness 略带悲伤的往事
• white petals tinged with blue 略带蓝色的白花瓣

36 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

37 ominously   

adv.恶兆地，不吉利地；预示地

参考例句：

• The wheels scooped up stones which hammered ominously under the car. 车轮搅起的石块，在车身下发出不吉祥的锤击声。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mammy shook her head ominously. 嬷嬷不祥地摇着头。 来自飘（部分）

38 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。

39 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。

40 dismal   

adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的

参考例句：

• That is a rather dismal melody.那是一支相当忧郁的歌曲。
• My prospects of returning to a suitable job are dismal.我重新找到一个合适的工作岗位的希望很渺茫。

41 inadequacy   

n.无法胜任，信心不足

参考例句：

• the inadequacy of our resources 我们的资源的贫乏
• The failure is due to the inadequacy of preparations. 这次失败是由于准备不足造成的。

42 impeded   

阻碍，妨碍，阻止( impede的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Work on the building was impeded by severe weather. 楼房的施工因天气恶劣而停了下来。
• He was impeded in his work. 他的工作受阻。

43 fretted   

焦躁的，附有弦马的，腐蚀的

参考例句：

• The wind whistled through the twigs and fretted the occasional, dirty-looking crocuses. 寒风穿过枯枝，有时把发脏的藏红花吹刮跑了。 来自英汉文学
• The lady's fame for hitting the mark fretted him. 这位太太看问题深刻的名声在折磨着他。

44 ignobly   

卑贱地，下流地

参考例句：

45 shuffled   

v.洗（纸牌）( shuffle的过去式和过去分词 )；拖着脚步走；粗心地做；摆脱尘世的烦恼

参考例句：

• He shuffled across the room to the window. 他拖着脚走到房间那头的窗户跟前。
• Simon shuffled awkwardly towards them. 西蒙笨拙地拖着脚朝他们走去。 来自《简明英汉词典》

46 slippers   

n. 拖鞋

参考例句：

• a pair of slippers 一双拖鞋
• He kicked his slippers off and dropped on to the bed. 他踢掉了拖鞋，倒在床上。