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chapter 1 The Bookcase at Home
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To give an account of one’s reading is in some sort to give an account of one’s life; and I hope that I shall not offend those who follow me in these papers, if I cannot help speaking of myself in speaking of the authors I must call my masters: my masters not because they taught me this or that directly, but because I had such delight in them that I could not fail to teach myself from them whatever I was capable of learning. I do not know whether I have been what people call a great reader; I cannot claim even to have been a very wise reader; but I have always been conscious of a high purpose to read much more, and more discreetly1, than I have ever really done, and probably it is from the vantage-ground of this good intention that I shall sometimes be found writing here rather than from the facts of the case.
But I am pretty sure that I began right, and that if I had always kept the lofty level which I struck at the outset I should have the right to use authority in these reminiscences without a bad conscience. I shall try not to use authority, however, and I do not expect to speak here of all my reading, whether it has been much or little, but only of those books, or of those authors that I have felt a genuine passion for. I have known such passions at every period of my life, but it is mainly of the loves of my youth that I shall write, and I shall write all the more frankly2 because my own youth now seems to me rather more alien than that of any other person.
I think that I came of a reading race, which has always loved literature in a way, and in spite of varying fortunes and many changes. From a letter of my great-grandmother’s written to a stubborn daughter upon some unfilial behavior, like running away to be married, I suspect that she was fond of the high-colored fiction of her day, for she tells the wilful3 child that she has “planted a dagger4 in her mother’s heart,” and I should not be surprised if it were from this fine-languaged lady that my grandfather derived5 his taste for poetry rather than from his father, who was of a worldly wiser mind. To be sure, he became a Friend by Convincement as the Quakers say, and so I cannot imagine that he was altogether worldly; but he had an eye to the main chance: he founded the industry of making
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1
discreetly
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| ad.(言行)审慎地,慎重地 | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地,直率地;坦率地说 | |
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wilful
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| adj.任性的,故意的 | |
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dagger
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| n.匕首,短剑,剑号 | |
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derived
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| vi.起源;由来;衍生;导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 );(从…中)得到获得;源于;(从…中)提取 | |
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flannels
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| 法兰绒男裤; 法兰绒( flannel的名词复数 ) | |
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sinister
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| adj.不吉利的,凶恶的,左边的 | |
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pending
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| prep.直到,等待…期间;adj.待定的;迫近的 | |
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salvation
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| n.(尤指基督)救世,超度,拯救,解困 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的 | |
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advancement
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| n.前进,促进,提升 | |
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exempt
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| adj.免除的;v.使免除;n.免税者,被免除义务者 | |
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doctrine
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| n.教义;主义;学说 | |
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liking
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| n.爱好;嗜好;喜欢 | |
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literally
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| adv.照字面意义,逐字地;确实 | |
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considerably
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| adv.极大地;相当大地;在很大程度上 | |
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replenish
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| vt.补充;(把…)装满;(再)填满 | |
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illustrated
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| adj. 有插图的,列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词 | |
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pathos
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| n.哀婉,悲怆 | |
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woes
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| 困境( woe的名词复数 ); 悲伤; 我好苦哇; 某人就要倒霉 | |
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alacrity
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| n.敏捷,轻快,乐意 | |
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contrive
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| vt.谋划,策划;设法做到;设计,想出 | |
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penetrating
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| adj.(声音)响亮的,尖锐的adj.(气味)刺激的adj.(思想)敏锐的,有洞察力的 | |
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odyssey
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| n.长途冒险旅行;一连串的冒险 | |
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meddle
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| v.干预,干涉,插手 | |
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tint
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| n.淡色,浅色;染发剂;vt.着以淡淡的颜色 | |
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profligate
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| adj.行为不检的;n.放荡的人,浪子,肆意挥霍者 | |
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grotesque
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| adj.怪诞的,丑陋的;n.怪诞的图案,怪人(物) | |
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afflicted
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| 使受痛苦,折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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binding
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| 有约束力的,有效的,应遵守的 | |
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fray
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| v.争吵;打斗;磨损,磨破;n.吵架;打斗 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地,彻底地,十足地 | |
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chapter 2 Goldsmith
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