名著阅读

He left home with his mother's hasty kiss on his cheek and her fervent Catholic blessing in his ears, and his father's parting admonition, “Remember who ye are and don’t be taking nothing off no man.” His five tall brothers gave him good-by with admiring but slightly patronizing smiles, for Gerald was the baby and the little one of a brawny family.

离家出走时，母亲在他脸上匆匆吻了一下，并贴着耳朵说了一声天主教的祝福，父亲则给了临别赠言，"要记住自己是谁，不要学别人的样。"他的五位高个子兄弟羡慕而略带关注地微笑着向他道了声再见，因为杰拉尔德在强壮的一家人中是最小和最矮的一个。

His five brothers and their father stood six feet and over and broad in proportion, but little Gerald, at twenty-one, knew that five feet four and a half inches was as much as the Lord in His wisdom was going to allow him. It was like Gerald that he never wasted regrets on his lack of height and never found it an obstacle to his acquisition of anything he wanted. Rather, it was Gerald’s compact smallness that made him what he was, for he had learned early that little people must be hardy to survive among large ones. And Gerald was hardy.

他父亲和五个哥哥都身六英尺以上，其粗壮的程度也很相称，可是２１岁的小个子杰拉尔德懂得，五英尺四英寸半便是上帝所能赐给他的最大高度了。对杰拉尔德来说，他从不以自己身材矮小而自怨自艾，也从不认为这会阻碍他去获得自己所需要的一切。更确切些不如说，正是杰拉尔德的矮小精干使他成为现在这样，因为他早就明白矮小的人必须在高大者中间顽强地活下去。而杰拉尔德是顽强的。

His tall brothers were a grim, quiet lot, in whom the family tradition of past glories, lost forever, rankled in unspoken hate and crackled out in bitter humor. Had Gerald been brawny, he would have gone the way of the other O’Haras and moved quietly and darkly among the rebels against the government But Gerald was “loud-mouthed and bullheaded,” as his mother fondly phrased it, hair trigger of temper, quick with his fists and possessed of a chip on his shoulder so large as to be almost visible to the naked eye. He swaggered among the tall O’Haras like a strutting bantam in a barnyard of giant Cochin roosters, and they loved him, baited him affectionately to hear him roar and hammered on him with their large fists no more than was necessary to keep a baby brother in his proper place.

他那些高个儿哥哥是些冷酷寡言的人，在他们身上，历史光荣的传统已经永远消失，沦落为默默的仇恨，爆裂出痛苦的幽默来了。要是杰拉尔德也生来强壮，他就会走上向奥哈拉家族中其他人的道路，在反政府的行列中悄悄地、神秘地干起来。可杰拉尔德像他母亲钟爱地形容的那样，是个"高嗓门，笨脑袋"，嬷嬷暴躁，动辄使拳头，并且盛气凌人，叫人见人怕。他在那些高大的奥哈拉家族的人中间，就像一只神气十足的矮脚鸡在满院子大个儿雄鸡中间那样，故意昂首阔步，而他们都爱护他，亲切地怂恿地高声喊叫，必要时也只伸出他们的大拳头敲他几下，让这位小弟弟不要太得意忘形了。

词汇释义

1.hasty['heisti] adj. 匆匆的，轻率的，急忙的

She made a hasty lunch.
她匆匆吃了午饭。

2.admonition n. 警告，劝告

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

3.patronizing adj. 以恩人自居的，要人领情的 动词patronize的现在分词形式

4.brawny adj. (人)强壮的

5.acquisition n. 获得，所获之物

Next to acquiring good friends, the best acquisition is that of good books.
除了获得得好友之外，最有意义的获得就是获得好书。

6.compact n. 合约条约，梳妆粉盒 adj. 紧凑的，紧密的，简洁的 vt. 使装满，使简洁，压实

He received a compact package.
他收到一个扎得很紧的包裹。

7.hardy['hɑ:di] adj. 强壮的，坚强的，能吃苦耐劳的，艰苦的

Strawberry is hardy and easy to grow in all soil.
草莓耐寒，各种土壤里都容易生长。

8.rankle v. 化脓，发炎，惹怒，激怒

The insult still rankles in his mind.
他对那次受辱仍然耿耿于怀。

9.bullheaded['bul'hedid] adj. 顽固的，刚愎自用的

10.swagger v. 大摇大摆地走，吹嘘 n. 大摇大摆，吹牛 adj. 漂亮的，时髦的

Don't swagger (around) just because you got the job.
别因为得到了这份工作就得意忘形。

11.rooster n. 公鸡

He gets up at the crow of the rooster every day.
他每天鸡鸣即起。

12.affectionately adv. 热情地，体贴地

He behaved very affectionately towards her children.
他非常疼爱她的孩子。

13.hammer n. 锤，榔头 vi. 锤击，反复敲打 vt. 锤打，严厉批评

He hit the nail into the wall with a hammer.
他用一把锤子把钉子打进墙里去。

难句解析

1.His five brothers and their father stood six feet and over and broad in proportion, but little Gerald, at twenty-one, knew that five feet four and a half inches was as much as the Lord in His wisdom was going to allow him.

【难句解析】in proportion “按比例，相应地”；as much as “多达，和...差不多”；

【句子翻译】他父亲和五个哥哥都身六英尺以上，其粗壮的程度也很相称，可是２１岁的小个子杰拉尔德懂得，五英尺四英寸半便是上帝所能赐给他的最大高度了。