Chapter 11

Shameful¹ Death

There were four of us about that bed;

The mass-priest knelt at the side,

I and his mother stood at the head,

Over his feet lay the bride;

We were quite sure that he was dead,

Though his eyes were open wide.

He did not die in the night,

He did not die in the day,

But in the morning twilight²

His spirit pass’d away,

When neither sun nor moon was bright,

And the trees were merely grey.

He was not slain³ with the sword,

Knight⁴’s axe⁵, or the knightly⁶ spear,

Yet spoke⁷ he never a word

After he came in here;

I cut away the cord

From the neck of my brother dear.

He did not strike one blow,

For the recreants⁸ came behind,

In a place where the hornbeams grow,

A path right hard to find,

For the hornbeam boughs⁹ swing so,

That the twilight makes it blind.

They lighted a great torch then,

When his arms were pinion’d fast,

Sir John the knight of the Fen¹⁰,

Sir Guy of the Dolorous¹¹ Blast,

With knights¹² threescore and ten,

Hung brave Lord Hugh at last.

I am threescore and ten,

And my hair is all turn’d grey,

But I met Sir John of the Fen

Long ago on a summer day,

And am glad to think of the moment when

I took his life away.

I am threescore and ten,

And my strength is mostly pass’d,

But long ago I and my men,

When the sky was overcast¹³,

And the smoke roll’d over the reeds of the fen,

Slew¹⁴ Guy of the Dolorous Blast.

And now, knights all of you,

I pray you pray for Sir Hugh,

A good knight and a true,

And for Alice, his wife, pray too.

1 shameful   

adj.可耻的，不道德的

参考例句：

• It is very shameful of him to show off.他向人炫耀自己，真不害臊。
• We must expose this shameful activity to the newspapers.我们一定要向报社揭露这一无耻行径。

2 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。

3 slain   

杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词)

参考例句：

• The soldiers slain in the battle were burried that night. 在那天夜晚埋葬了在战斗中牺牲了的战士。
• His boy was dead, slain by the hand of the false Amulius. 他的儿子被奸诈的阿缪利乌斯杀死了。

4 knight   

n.骑士，武士；爵士

参考例句：

• He was made an honourary knight.他被授予荣誉爵士称号。
• A knight rode on his richly caparisoned steed.一个骑士骑在装饰华丽的马上。

5 axe   

n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减

参考例句：

• Be careful with that sharp axe.那把斧子很锋利，你要当心。
• The edge of this axe has turned.这把斧子卷了刃了。

6 knightly   

adj. 骑士般的 adv. 骑士般地

参考例句：

• He composed heroic songs and began to write many a tale of enchantment and knightly adventure. 他谱写英雄短歌并着手编写不少记叙巫术和骑士历险的故事。
• If you wear knight costumes, you will certainly have a knightly manner. 身着骑士装，令您具有骑士风度。

7 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。

8 recreants   

n.懦夫( recreant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

9 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。

10 fen   

n.沼泽，沼池

参考例句：

• The willows over all the fen rippled and whitened like a field of wheat.沼泽上的柳树，随风一起一伏，泛出白光，就象一片麦田一样。
• There is a fen around each island.每个岛屿周围有一个沼泽。

11 dolorous   

adj.悲伤的；忧愁的

参考例句：

• With a broken-hearted smile,he lifted a pair of dolorous eyes.带著伤心的微笑，他抬起了一双痛苦的眼睛。
• Perhaps love is a dolorous fairy tale.也许爱情是一部忧伤的童话。

12 knights   

骑士； （中古时代的）武士( knight的名词复数 )； 骑士； 爵士； （国际象棋中）马

参考例句：

• stories of knights and fair maidens 关于骑士和美女的故事
• He wove a fascinating tale of knights in shining armour. 他编了一个穿着明亮盔甲的骑士的迷人故事。

13 overcast   

adj.阴天的，阴暗的，愁闷的；v.遮盖，（使）变暗，包边缝；n.覆盖，阴天

参考例句：

• The overcast and rainy weather found out his arthritis.阴雨天使他的关节炎发作了。
• The sky is overcast with dark clouds.乌云满天。

14 slew   

v.（使）旋转；n.大量，许多

参考例句：

• He slewed the car against the side of the building.他的车滑到了大楼的一侧，抵住了。
• They dealt with a slew of other issues.他们处理了大量的其他问题。