“Yes, I was a wretch4, convinced that I was an angel. The period of my engagement did not last long. I cannot remember those days without shame. What an abomination!
“It is generally agreed that love is a moral sentiment, a community of thought rather than of sense. If that is the case, this community of thought ought to find expression in words and conversation. Nothing of the sort. It was extremely difficult for us to talk with each other. What a toil5 of Sisyphus was our conversation! Scarcely had we thought of something to say, and said it, when we had to r?sum? our silence and try to discover new subjects. Literally6, we did not know what to say to each other. All that we could think of concerning the life that was before us and our home was said.
“And then what? If we had been animals, we should have known that we had not to talk. But here, on the contrary, it was necessary to talk, and there were no resources! For that which occupied our minds was not a thing to be expressed in words.
“And then that silly custom of eating bon-bons, that brutal7 gluttony for sweetmeats, those abominable8 preparations for the wedding, those discussions with mamma upon the apartments, upon the sleeping-rooms, upon the bedding, upon the morning-gowns, upon the wrappers, the linen9, the costumes! Understand that if people married according to the old fashion, as this old man said just now, then these eiderdown coverlets and this bedding would all be sacred details; but with us, out of ten married people there is scarcely to be found one who, I do not say believes in sacraments (whether he believes or not is a matter of indifference10 to us), but believes in what he promises. Out of a hundred men, there is scarcely one who has not married before, and out of fifty scarcely one who has not made up his mind to deceive his wife.
“The great majority look upon this journey to the church as a condition necessary to the possession of a certain woman. Think then of the supreme11 significance which material details must take on. Is it not a sort of sale, in which a maiden12 is given over to a debauche, the sale being surrounded with the most agreeable details?
点击收听单词发音
1 viler | |
adj.卑鄙的( vile的比较级 );可耻的;极坏的;非常讨厌的 | |
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2 puff | |
n.一口(气);一阵(风);v.喷气,喘气 | |
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3 swelled | |
增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 ); 肿胀; (使)凸出; 充满(激情) | |
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4 wretch | |
n.可怜的人,不幸的人;卑鄙的人 | |
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5 toil | |
vi.辛劳工作,艰难地行动;n.苦工,难事 | |
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6 literally | |
adv.照字面意义,逐字地;确实 | |
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7 brutal | |
adj.残忍的,野蛮的,不讲理的 | |
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8 abominable | |
adj.可厌的,令人憎恶的 | |
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9 linen | |
n.亚麻布,亚麻线,亚麻制品;adj.亚麻布制的,亚麻的 | |
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10 indifference | |
n.不感兴趣,不关心,冷淡,不在乎 | |
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11 supreme | |
adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的 | |
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12 maiden | |
n.少女,处女;adj.未婚的,纯洁的,无经验的 | |
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