The west was a region of golden light,
Inscrutable in lustre1, involving
The imagination in its ocean
Of effulgence2: while from its distant shores
Of miraculous3 brightness, came floating,
On mid4 air, light fleeces of gold. Slowly
The silent moments stole a chill o’er this
Enchantment5, the bright wand’rers disappeared;
The western paradise closed her gates;
And gray twilight6, sat on the mountain side.”
The morning after the festival given for the birth-day, Mrs. Montgomery, partly from having taken cold, and partly from fatigue7, felt far from well, and consequently remained in bed the entire of the day. Julia sat with her grandmother all the morning. After dinner,[190] Frances relieved guard, and begged of her sister, as the evening was fine, to take a little walk.
Lord L. was dining with Lord Borrowdale. Henry had quitted Lodore-House that morning, saying, that he was setting out to join the Euphrasia, which, it appeared by the papers, was shortly expected in the Sound.
Julia, therefore, walked out quite alone, she directed her steps towards the desolate8 vale, where her mother had first found poor Edmund. She seated herself. Her eyes rested on the western hill. It was topped by a few scattered9 trees, the grouping and even the ramifications10 of which, were accurately11 traced out by the bright glow of the heavens behind them. The eastern side of the slope was in shadow, and the woods that clothed it hung to the very waters’ edge, while the lake at its foot, reflecting the crimson12 clouds above, appeared a sheet of fire. The dazzle of the sun’s immediate13 presence being removed,[191] (for he had just dropped behind the hill,) the relieved eye could now view with delighted leisure, all the beauty, magnificence, and infinite variety of the scene, wherein, each moment, changes were wrought14, imperceptible in their approaches, but in their effects, picturesque15 and splendid, as the most vivid descriptions of enchantment.
Amid the clouds, cloud-formed castles turreted16 with gold, and temples, sustained by pillars which seemed of fire, arose, spread, united, brightened, divided, and sunk again. Imagination could fancy them dissolving in the intensity17 of their own lustre. Where these had been, mimic18 vessels19 now appeared, of fleecy whiteness, sailing on the liquid gold. These melted next, and waves of clouds, rolling themselves together heap on heap, rose to mountains ranged across the west, and shutting out almost all its glories. Yet on their purple summits, there seemed to linger floating forms, still of[192] vivid hues20, though each moment losing something of their brightness, till, gradually, they became of a sombre grey, as, one by one, they clothed themselves in mist, and, blending with the deepening shadows, disappeared. The upper sky, however, was still streaked21 with alternate grey and gold, which the face of the water, faithfully as a mirror, reflected. The real mountains which surrounded the lake, and the little islands which lay slumbering22 on its surface, had become masses of an almost jetty black, and there was little light remaining any where, when a solitary23 row-boat put off from the opposite shore. As it crossed one of the illumined paths, which reflected from the sky still appeared on the water, the working of its oars24 was, for the moment, visible, together with the strongly defined form of one who, with folded arms, stood erect25 at its bow. Julia certainly saw, for the moment described, as we see with the mind’s eye what crosses us in[193] thought, the boat, and the figure, for the appearance they made at the time afterwards floated on her memory. Yet she remained motionless.
点击收听单词发音
1 lustre | |
n.光亮,光泽;荣誉 | |
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2 effulgence | |
n.光辉 | |
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3 miraculous | |
adj.像奇迹一样的,不可思议的 | |
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4 mid | |
adj.中央的,中间的 | |
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5 enchantment | |
n.迷惑,妖术,魅力 | |
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6 twilight | |
n.暮光,黄昏;暮年,晚期,衰落时期 | |
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7 fatigue | |
n.疲劳,劳累 | |
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8 desolate | |
adj.荒凉的,荒芜的;孤独的,凄凉的;v.使荒芜,使孤寂 | |
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9 scattered | |
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
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10 ramifications | |
n.结果,后果( ramification的名词复数 ) | |
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11 accurately | |
adv.准确地,精确地 | |
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12 crimson | |
n./adj.深(绯)红色(的);vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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13 immediate | |
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的 | |
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14 wrought | |
v.引起;以…原料制作;运转;adj.制造的 | |
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15 picturesque | |
adj.美丽如画的,(语言)生动的,绘声绘色的 | |
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16 turreted | |
a.(像炮塔般)旋转式的 | |
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17 intensity | |
n.强烈,剧烈;强度;烈度 | |
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18 mimic | |
v.模仿,戏弄;n.模仿他人言行的人 | |
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19 vessels | |
n.血管( vessel的名词复数 );船;容器;(具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的)人 | |
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20 hues | |
色彩( hue的名词复数 ); 色调; 信仰; 观点 | |
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21 streaked | |
adj.有条斑纹的,不安的v.快速移动( streak的过去式和过去分词 );使布满条纹 | |
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22 slumbering | |
微睡,睡眠(slumber的现在分词形式) | |
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23 solitary | |
adj.孤独的,独立的,荒凉的;n.隐士 | |
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24 oars | |
n.桨,橹( oar的名词复数 );划手v.划(行)( oar的第三人称单数 ) | |
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25 erect | |
n./v.树立,建立,使竖立;adj.直立的,垂直的 | |
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