名著阅读

Seated with Stuart and Brent Tarleton in the cool shade of the porch of Tara, her father’s plantation, that bright April afternoon of 1861, she made a pretty picture. Her new green flowered-muslin dress spread its twelve yards of billowing material over her hoops and exactly matched the flat-heeled green morocco slippers her father had recently brought her from Atlanta. The dress set off to perfection the seventeen-inch waist, the smallest in three counties, and the tightly fitting basque showed breasts well matured for her sixteen years.

１８６１年四月一个晴朗的下午，思嘉同塔尔顿家的孪生兄弟斯图尔特和布伦特坐在她父亲的塔拉农场阴凉的走廊里，她的美貌显得更明媚如画了。她穿一件新绿花布衣裳，长长的裙子在裙箍上舒展着，配上她父亲从亚特兰大给她带来的新绿羊皮便鞋，显得很相称。她的腰围不过１７英寸，是附近三个县里最细小的了，而这身衣裳更把腰肢衬托得更完整，加上里面那件绷得紧紧的小马甲，使她的只有１６岁但已发育得很好的乳房便跃然显露了。

But for all the modesty of her spreading skirts, the demureness of hair netted smoothly into a chignon and the quietness of small white hands folded in her lap, her true self was poorly concealed. The green eyes in the carefully sweet face were turbulent, willful, lusty with life, distinctly at variance with her decorous demeanor. Her manners had been imposed upon her by her mother’s gentle admonitions and the sterner discipline of her mammy; her eyes were her own.

不过，无论她散开的长裙显得多么老实，发髻梳在后面显得多么端庄，那双交叠在膝头上的小手显得多么文静，她的本来面目终归是藏不住的。那双绿色的眼睛生在一张甜美的脸上，却仍然是任性的，充满活力的，与她的装束仪表很不相同。她的举止是由她母亲和嬷嬷的严厉管教强加给她的，但她的眼睛属于她自己。

On either side of her, the twins lounged easily in their chairs, squinting at the sunlight through tall mint-garnished glasses as they laughed and talked, their long legs, booted to the knee and thick with saddle muscles, crossed negligently. Nineteen years old, six feet two inches tall, long of bone and hard of muscle, with sunburned faces and deep auburn hair, their eyes merry and arrogant, their bodies clothed in identical blue coats and mustard-colored breeches, they were as much alike as two bolls of cotton.

她的两旁，孪生兄弟懒懒地斜靠在椅子上，斜望着从新装的玻璃窗透过来的阳光谈笑着，四条穿着高统靴和因经常骑马而鼓胀的长腿交叠在那里。他们现有１９岁，身高六英尺二英寸，长长骨骼，肌肉坚实，晒得黑黑的脸膛，深褐色的头发，眼睛里闪着快乐的神色。他们穿着同样的蓝上衣和深黄色裤子，长相也像两个棉桃似的。

词汇释义

1.plantation n. 种植园

There were hundreds of slaves in the plantation.
这个种植园里有数百名奴隶。

2.billowing adj.如波浪般的

The wind blew hard and the sea was billowing.
疾风劲吹, 海浪汹涌。

3.hoop [hu:p] n. 箍, 铁环, 叫声

Hoop skirts were once the vogue.
圈环裙一度曾是时尚

4.morocco n. 1. 摩洛哥羊皮革，仿摩洛哥羊皮革(用以制鞋和封面)

5.basque [bæsk] n. 一种妇人用短上衣

6.demureness n.端庄

7.chignon 典n. 假髻

8.decorous adj. 有礼貌的, 高雅的, 端正的

9.demeanor n. 行为，态度，举止

The girl has a quiet, modest demeanor.
这个女孩子的态度娴静而谦逊。

10.admonition n. 警告, 劝告

The students take the admonition from their teacher.
学生们接受老师的劝告。

11.squint [skwint] v. 使变斜视眼, 斜视

He squinted in the bright sunlight.
他在很亮的阳光下眯起了眼睛。

12.garnish v. 装饰

The chicken was garnished with coriander and red chilli.
这道鸡配上了芫荽和红辣椒。

13.auburn n.adj. 赭色(的)

All the people living in that country have auburn hair.
住在那个村子里的人们的头发全是赤褐色的。

难句解析

1.Seated with Stuart and Brent Tarleton in the cool shade of the porch of Tara, her father’s plantation, that bright April afternoon of 1861, she made a pretty picture

【难句解析】seated... of Tara这部分作状语，修饰she，her father’s plantation是定语修饰Tara，that...of 1861表时间

【句子翻译】１８６１年四月一个晴朗的下午，思嘉同塔尔顿家的孪生兄弟斯图尔特和布伦特坐在她父亲的塔拉农场阴凉的走廊里，她的美貌显得更明媚如画了。

2.Her new green flowered-muslin dress spread its twelve yards of billowing material over her hoops and exactly matched the flat-heeled green morocco slippers her father had recently brought her from Atlanta.

【难句解析】这句的主干是dress spread...and...matched...；her father... Atlanta是定语从句修饰slippers；

【句子翻译】她穿一件新绿花布衣裳，长长的裙子在裙箍上舒展着，配上她父亲从亚特兰大给她带来的新绿羊皮便鞋，显得很相称。

3.But for all the modesty of her spreading skirts, the demureness of hair netted smoothly into a chignon and the quietness of small white hands folded in her lap, her true self was poorly concealed.

【难句解析】这句的主干是for all...,her true self was poorly concealed；for all意思是“尽管”，后接名词；

【句子翻译】不过，无论她散开的长裙显得多么老实，发髻梳在后面显得多么端庄，那双交叠在膝头上的小手显得多么文静，她的本来面目终归是藏不住的。