选择字号:【大】【中】【小】 | 关灯
护眼
|
A TALE OF FOUR MOONLIGHT NIGHTS
关注小说网官方公众号(noveltingroom),原版名著免费领。
The genial1 Justice of the Peace—now, alas2, no more—who made himself responsible for the facts of this story, used to begin in the good old-fashioned way with a bright moonlight night and a mysterious figure, an excellent stroke for an opening, even to this day, if well followed up.
The Christmas moon (he would say) was showing her cold face to the upland, the upland reflecting the radiance in frost-sparkles so minute as only to be discernible by an eye near at hand. This eye, he said, was the eye of a shepherd lad, young for his occupation, who stood within a wheeled hut of the kind commonly in use among sheep-keepers during the early lambing season, and was abstractedly looking through the loophole at the scene without.
The spot was called Lambing Corner, and it was a sheltered portion of that wide expanse of rough pastureland known as the Marlbury Downs, which you directly traverse when following the turnpike-road across Mid-Wessex from London, through Aldbrickham, in the direction of Bath and Bristol. Here, where the hut stood, the land was high and dry, open, except to the north, and commanding an undulating view for miles. On the north side grew a tall belt of coarse furze, with enormous stalks, a clump3 of the same standing4 detached in front of the general mass. The clump was hollow, and the interior had been ingeniously taken advantage of as a position for the before-mentioned hut, which was thus completely screened from winds, and almost invisible, except through the narrow approach. But the furze twigs5 had been cut away from the two little windows of the hut, that the occupier might keep his eye on his sheep.
In the rear, the shelter afforded by the belt of furze bushes was artificially improved by an inclosure of upright stakes, interwoven with boughs6 of the same prickly vegetation, and within the inclosure lay a renowned7 Marlbury-Down breeding flock of eight hundred ewes.
点击
收听单词发音

1
genial
![]() |
|
adj.亲切的,和蔼的,愉快的,脾气好的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2
alas
![]() |
|
int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3
clump
![]() |
|
n.树丛,草丛;vi.用沉重的脚步行走 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4
standing
![]() |
|
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5
twigs
![]() |
|
细枝,嫩枝( twig的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6
boughs
![]() |
|
大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7
renowned
![]() |
|
adj.著名的,有名望的,声誉鹊起的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8
conspicuous
![]() |
|
adj.明眼的,惹人注目的;炫耀的,摆阔气的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9
doorway
![]() |
|
n.门口,(喻)入门;门路,途径 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10
nibbled
![]() |
|
v.啃,一点一点地咬(吃)( nibble的过去式和过去分词 );啃出(洞),一点一点咬出(洞);慢慢减少;小口咬 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
11
bide
![]() |
|
v.忍耐;等候;住 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
12
biding
![]() |
|
v.等待,停留( bide的现在分词 );居住;(过去式用bided)等待;面临 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
13
crook
![]() |
|
v.使弯曲;n.小偷,骗子,贼;弯曲(处) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
14
lighting
![]() |
|
n.照明,光线的明暗,舞台灯光 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
15
awakened
![]() |
|
v.(使)醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 );(使)觉醒;弄醒;(使)意识到 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
16
smack
![]() |
|
vt.拍,打,掴;咂嘴;vi.含有…意味;n.拍 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
17
apparently
![]() |
|
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
18
bleating
![]() |
|
v.(羊,小牛)叫( bleat的现在分词 );哭诉;发出羊叫似的声音;轻声诉说 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
19
glistened
![]() |
|
v.湿物闪耀,闪亮( glisten的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
20
graceful
![]() |
|
adj.优美的,优雅的;得体的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
21
backwards
![]() |
|
adv.往回地,向原处,倒,相反,前后倒置地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
22
fervently
![]() |
|
adv.热烈地,热情地,强烈地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
23
entreated
![]() |
|
恳求,乞求( entreat的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
24
murmur
![]() |
|
n.低语,低声的怨言;v.低语,低声而言 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
25
embitters
![]() |
|
v.使怨恨,激怒( embitter的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
26
discourse
![]() |
|
n.论文,演说;谈话;话语;vi.讲述,著述 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
27
jot
![]() |
|
n.少量;vi.草草记下;vt.匆匆写下 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
28
abatement
![]() |
|
n.减(免)税,打折扣,冲销 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
29
conceal
![]() |
|
v.隐藏,隐瞒,隐蔽 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
30
erratic
![]() |
|
adj.古怪的,反复无常的,不稳定的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
31
bestow
![]() |
|
v.把…赠与,把…授予;花费 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
32
mansion
![]() |
|
n.大厦,大楼;宅第 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
33
stouter
![]() |
|
粗壮的( stout的比较级 ); 结实的; 坚固的; 坚定的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
34
meditation
![]() |
|
n.熟虑,(尤指宗教的)默想,沉思,(pl.)冥想录 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
35
trot
![]() |
|
n.疾走,慢跑;n.老太婆;现成译本;(复数)trots:腹泻(与the 连用);v.小跑,快步走,赶紧 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
36
lessening
![]() |
|
减轻,减少,变小 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
下一章:
SECOND NIGHT
©英文小说网 2005-2010