YOU have no idea how uncomfortable the house was on the day when we sought for gold with the divining‐rod. It was like a spring‐cleaning in the winter‐time. All the carpets were up, because Father had told Eliza to make the place decent as there was a gentleman coming to dinner the next day. So she got in a charwoman, and they slopped water about, and left brooms and brushes on the stairs for people to tumble over. H.O. got a big bump on his head in that way, and when he said it was too bad, Eliza said he should keep in the nursery then, and not be where he’d no business. We bandaged his head with a towel, and then he stopped crying and played at being England’s wounded hero dying in the cockpit, while every man was doing his duty, as the hero page: 250 had told them to, and Alice was Hardy¹, and I was the doctor, and the others were the crew. Playing at Hardy made us think of our own dear robber, and we wished he was there, and wondered if we should ever see him any more.

We were rather astonished at Father’s having anyone to dinner, because now he never seems to think of anything but business. Before Mother died people often came to dinner, and Father’s business did not take up so much of his time and was not the bother it is now. And we used to see who could go furthest down in our nightgowns and get nice things to eat, without being seen, out of the dishes as they came out of the dining‐room. Eliza can’t cook very nice things. She told Father she was a good plain cook, but he says it was a fancy portrait. We stayed in the nursery till the charwoman came in and told us to be off—she was going to make one job of it, and have our carpet up as well as all the others, now the man was here to beat them. It came up, and it was very dusty—and under it we found my threepenny‐bit that I lost ages ago, which shows what Eliza is. H.O. had got tired of being the wounded hero, and Dicky was so tired of page: 251 doing nothing that Dora said she knew he’d begin to tease No?l in a minute; then of course Dicky said he wasn’t going to tease anybody—he was going out to the Heath. He said he’d heard that nagging² women drove a man from his home, and now he found it was quite true. Oswald always tries to be a peacemaker, so he told Dicky to shut up and not make an ass³ of himself. And Alice said, “Well, Dora began—”And Dora tossed her chin up and said it wasn’t any business of Oswald’s any way, and no one asked Alice’s opinion. So we all felt very uncomfortable till No?l said, “Don’t let’s quarrel about nothing. You know let dogs delight—and I made up another piece while you were talking—

点击收听单词发音  

1 hardy
adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的
参考例句：
The kind of plant is a hardy annual.这种植物是耐寒的一年生植物。 He is a hardy person.他是一个能吃苦耐劳的人。

2 nagging
adj.唠叨的，挑剔的；使人不得安宁的v.不断地挑剔或批评（某人）( nag的现在分词 )；不断地烦扰或伤害（某人）；无休止地抱怨；不断指责
参考例句：
Stop nagging—I'll do it as soon as I can. 别唠叨了—我会尽快做的。 I've got a nagging pain in my lower back. 我后背下方老是疼。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 ass
n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人
参考例句：
He is not an ass as they make him.他不象大家猜想的那样笨。 An ass endures his burden but not more than his burden.驴能负重但不能超过它能力所负担的。

4 gall
v.使烦恼，使焦躁，难堪；n.磨难
参考例句：
It galled him to have to ask for a loan.必须向人借钱使他感到难堪。 No gall,no glory.没有磨难，何来荣耀。

5 jawing
n.用水灌注
参考例句：
I got tired of him jawing away all the time. 他老是唠唠叨叨讲个不停，使我感到厌烦。 来自辞典例句 For heaven's sake, what are you two jawing about? 老天爷，你们两个还在嘟囔些什么？ 来自辞典例句

6 spotted
adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的
参考例句：
The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。 Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

7 goblets
n.高脚酒杯( goblet的名词复数 )
参考例句：
Oh the goblets of the breast! Oh the eyes of absence! 噢，乳房的杯盏！噢，失神的双眼！ 来自互联网 Divide the digestive biscuit crumbs mixture between 6 goblets. 消化？底分成6双玻璃杯中。 来自互联网

8 idol
n.偶像，红人，宠儿
参考例句：
As an only child he was the idol of his parents.作为独子，他是父母的宠儿。 Blind worship of this idol must be ended.对这个偶像的盲目崇拜应该结束了。

9 underneath
adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面
参考例句：
Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。 She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

10 clatter
v./n.(使)发出连续而清脆的撞击声
参考例句：
The dishes and bowls slid together with a clatter.碟子碗碰得丁丁当当的。 Don't clatter your knives and forks.别把刀叉碰得咔哒响。

11 dressing
n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料
参考例句：
Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。 The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。

12 ashen
adj.灰的
参考例句：
His face was ashen and wet with sweat.他面如土色，汗如雨下。 Her ashen face showed how much the news had shocked her.她灰白的脸显示出那消息使她多么震惊。

13 smelt
v.熔解，熔炼；n.银白鱼，胡瓜鱼
参考例句：
Tin is a comparatively easy metal to smelt.锡是比较容易熔化的金属。 Darby was looking for a way to improve iron when he hit upon the idea of smelting it with coke instead of charcoal.达比一直在寻找改善铁质的方法，他猛然想到可以不用木炭熔炼，而改用焦炭。

14 hymn
n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌
参考例句：
They sang a hymn of praise to God.他们唱着圣歌，赞美上帝。 The choir has sung only two verses of the last hymn.合唱团只唱了最后一首赞美诗的两个段落。

15 despatch
n./v.(dispatch)派遣；发送；n.急件；新闻报道
参考例句：
The despatch of the task force is purely a contingency measure.派出特遣部队纯粹是应急之举。 He rushed the despatch through to headquarters.他把急件赶送到总部。

16 fiery
adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的
参考例句：
She has fiery red hair.她有一头火红的头发。 His fiery speech agitated the crowd.他热情洋溢的讲话激动了群众。

17 prey
n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨
参考例句：
Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。 The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

18 behold
v.看，注视，看到
参考例句：
The industry of these little ants is wonderful to behold.这些小蚂蚁辛勤劳动的样子看上去真令人惊叹。 The sunrise at the seaside was quite a sight to behold.海滨日出真是个奇景。

19 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。

20 slay
v.杀死，宰杀，杀戮
参考例句：
He intended to slay his father's murderer.他意图杀死杀父仇人。 She has ordered me to slay you.她命令我把你杀了。

21 pegging
n.外汇钉住，固定证券价格v.用夹子或钉子固定( peg的现在分词 )；使固定在某水平
参考例句：
To write a novel,one must keep pegging away at it consistently. 要写小说，必须不断辛勤劳动。 来自《简明英汉词典》 She was pegging the clothes out on the line to dry. 她正在把衣服夹在晒衣绳上晾干。 来自辞典例句

22 folly
n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话
参考例句：
Learn wisdom by the folly of others.从别人的愚蠢行动中学到智慧。 Events proved the folly of such calculations.事情的进展证明了这种估计是愚蠢的。

23 meditate
v.想，考虑，（尤指宗教上的）沉思，冥想
参考例句：
It is important to meditate on the meaning of life.思考人生的意义很重要。 I was meditating,and reached a higher state of consciousness.我在冥想，并进入了一个更高的意识境界。

24 forth
adv.向前；向外，往外
参考例句：
The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。 He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

25 immortals
不朽的人物( immortal的名词复数 )； 永生不朽者
参考例句：
Nobody believes in the myth about human beings becoming immortals. 谁也不相信人能成仙的神话。 Shakespeare is one of the immortals. 莎士比亚是不朽的人物之一。

26 penitent
adj.后悔的；n.后悔者；忏悔者
参考例句：
They all appeared very penitent,and begged hard for their lives.他们一个个表示悔罪，苦苦地哀求饶命。 She is deeply penitent.她深感愧疚。

27 bunk
n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位；废话
参考例句：
He left his bunk and went up on deck again.他离开自己的铺位再次走到甲板上。 Most economists think his theories are sheer bunk.大多数经济学家认为他的理论纯属胡说。

28 awfully
adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地
参考例句：
Agriculture was awfully neglected in the past.过去农业遭到严重忽视。 I've been feeling awfully bad about it.对这我一直感到很难受。

29 slippers
n. 拖鞋
参考例句：
a pair of slippers 一双拖鞋 He kicked his slippers off and dropped on to the bed. 他踢掉了拖鞋，倒在床上。

30 insufficient
adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的
参考例句：
There was insufficient evidence to convict him.没有足够证据给他定罪。 In their day scientific knowledge was insufficient to settle the matter.在他们的时代，科学知识还不能足以解决这些问题。

31 decided
adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的
参考例句：
This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。 There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

32 figs
figures 数字，图形，外形
参考例句：
The effect of ring dyeing is shown in Figs 10 and 11. 环形染色的影响如图10和图11所示。 The results in Figs. 4 and 5 show the excellent agreement between simulation and experiment. 图4和图5的结果都表明模拟和实验是相当吻合的。

33 raisins
n.葡萄干( raisin的名词复数 )
参考例句：
These raisins come from Xinjiang,they taste delicious. 这些葡萄干产自新疆，味道很甜。 来自《简明英汉词典》 Mother put some raisins in the cake. 母亲在糕饼中放了一些葡萄干。 来自辞典例句

34 poultry
n.家禽，禽肉
参考例句：
There is not much poultry in the shops. 商店里禽肉不太多。 What do you feed the poultry on? 你们用什么饲料喂养家禽?

35 peppermint
n.薄荷，薄荷油，薄荷糖
参考例句：
Peppermint oil is very good for regulating digestive disorders.薄荷油能很有效地调节消化系统失调。 He sat down,popped in a peppermint and promptly choked to death.他坐下来，突然往嘴里放了一颗薄荷糖，当即被噎死。

36 vowed
起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）
参考例句：
He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。 I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

37 vow
n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓
参考例句：
My parents are under a vow to go to church every Sunday.我父母许愿，每星期日都去做礼拜。 I am under a vow to drink no wine.我已立誓戒酒。