英语作文范文辞典4.doc

Scenery 自然景物

The Sea
大海
The sea – this truth must be confessed – has no generosity. No display of manly qualities – courage, hardihood, endurance, faithfulness – has ever been known to touch its irresponsible consciousness of power. The ocean has the conscienceless temper of a savage autocrat spoiled by much adulation. He cannot brook the slightest appearance of defiance, and has remained the irreconcilable enemy of ships and men ever since ships and men had the unheard-off audacity to go afloat together in the face of his frown. From that day he has gone on swallowing up fleets and men without his resentment being glutted by the number of victims – by so many wrecked ships and wrecked lives. Today, as ever, he is ready to beguile and betray. To smash and do drown the incorrigible optimism of men who, backed by the fidelity of ships, are trying to wrest from him the fortune of their house, the dominion of their world, or only a dole of food for their hunger. If not always in the hot mood to smash, he is always stealthily ready for a drowning. The most amazing wonder of the deep is its unfathomable cruelty.

(from The Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad)

generosity 慷慨，仁慈
hardihood 大胆，刚毅
savage 野蛮的，蛮横的
autocrat 独裁者，专制君主
adulation 谄媚，奉承
brook 容忍，允许
defiance 反抗，反对
irreconcilable 难和解的，不可调和的
audacity 勇气，胆量，冒险
resentment 忿恨，不满
glut 满足，厌腻
beguile 迷惑
smash 粉碎，破坏
incorrigible 固执的，难以克服的
wrest 夺取，强占
dominion 统治，领地，范围
dole 少量的施舍
unfathomable 深不可测的，无底的，难解的

Night
夜

Night has fallen over the country. Through the trees rises the red moon, and the stars are scarcely seen. In the vast shadow of night the coolness and the dews descend. I sit at the open window to enjoy them; and hear only the voice of the summer wind. Like black hulks, the shadows of the great trees ride at anchor on the billowy sea of grass. I cannot see the red and blue flowers, but I know that they are there. Far away in the meadow gleams the silver Charles. The tramp of horses’ hoofs sounds from the wooden bridge. Then all is still save the continuous wind of the summer night. Sometimes I know not if it be the wind or the sound of the neighboring sea. The village clock strikes; and I feel that I am not alone.

How different it is in the city! It is late, and the crowd is gone. You step out upon the balcony, and lie in the very bosom of the cool, dewy night as if you folded her garments about you. Beneath lies the public walk with trees, like a fathomless, black away with some beloved spirit plunges, and floats are still burning up and down the long street. People go by with grotesque shadows, now foreshortened, and now lengthening away into the darkness and vanishing, while a new one springs up behind the walker, and seems to pass him revolving like the sail of a windmill. The iron gates of the part shut with a jangling clang. There are footsteps and loud voices; -- a tumult; -- a drunken brawl; -- an alarm of fire; -- then silence again. And now at length the city is asleep, and we can see the night. The belated moon looks over the roofs, and finds no one to welcome her. The moonlight is broken. It lies here and there in the squares, and the opening of the streets – angular like blocks of white marble.

(from Night by Nathanial Hawthorne)

hulk 大船
billowy 波浪起伏的
tramp 脚步声
bosom 胸怀，怀抱
plunge 投入，跃入
beloved 心爱的，热爱的
clasp 拥抱，抱紧
grotesque 奇形怪状的
foreshortened 缩短的
revolve 旋转，转动
sail 翼板
windmill 风车
jangling 叫嚷的，刺耳的
clang （发出）铿锵声
tumult 吵闹，喧哗
brawl 吵架，吵闹
angular 角状的，尖的

Valley at Sunset
山谷夕照
The set was setting, spilling gold light on the low western hills of Rathlin Island. A small boy walked jauntily along a hoof-printed path that wriggle between the folds of these hills and opened out into a crater-like valley on the cliff-top. Presently he stopped as if remembering something, then suddenly he left the path and began running up one of the hills. When he reached the top he was out of breath and stood watching streaks of light radiating from golden-edged clouds, the scene reminding him of a picture he had seen of the Transfiguration. A short distance below him was the cow standing at the edge of a reedy lake. Colm ran down to meet her vaving his stick in the air, and the wind rumbling in his ears made him give an exultant whoop which splashed upon the hills in a shower of echoed sound. A flock of gulls lying on the short grass near the lake rose up languidly, drifting like blown snowflakes over the rim of the cliff.

The lake faced west and was fed by a stream, the drainings of the semi-circling hills. One side was open to the winds from the sea and in winter a little outlet trickled over the cliffs making a black vein in their gray sides. The boy lifted stones and began throwing them into the lake, weaving web after web on its calm surface. Then he skimmed the water with flat stones, some of them jumping the surface and coming to rest on the other side. He was delighted with himself and after listening to his echoing shouts of delighted he ran to fetch his cow. Gently he tapped her on the side and reluctantly she went towards the brown-mudded path that led out of the valley. The boy was about to throw a final stone into the lake when a bird flew low over his head, its neck astrain, and its orange-colored legs clear in the soft light. It was a wild duck. It circles the lake twice, thrice, coming lower each time and then with a nervous flapping of wing it skidded along the surface, its legs breaking the water into a series of silvery arcs. Its wings closed, it lit silently, gave a slight shiver, and began pecking indifferently at the water.
(from The Wild Duck’s Nest by Michael McLaverty)
jauntily 得意地，高兴地，欢快地
hoof-printed 有蹄印的
wriggle 蜿蜒而行
fold 山间褶皱
crater-like 象火山口的，中空而广圆的
streak 条纹，色线
ready 长满芦苇的
rumble 呼呼作响
exultant 兴高采烈的，狂喜的
whoop （欢乐的）高喊，高呼
languidly 懒洋洋的，无精打采地
rim 边缘
trickle 滴，淌
skim 掠水而过，漂过
astrain （作表语）用力伸直的，拉长的
flapping 振翼，拍翅
are 弧形
peck 啄食
At the Dock
码头边

The stony shores ran away right and left in straight lines, enclosing a somber and rectangular pool. Brick walls rose high above the water – soulless walls, staring through hundreds of windows as troubled and dull as the eyes of over-fed brutes. At their base monstrous iron cranes crouched, with chains hanging from their long necks, balancing cruel-looking hooks over the decks of lifeless ships. A noise of wheels rolling over stones, the thump of heavy things falling, the racket of feverish winches, the grinding of strained chains, floated on the air. Between high building the dust of all the continents soared in short flights; and a penetrating smell of perfumes and dirt, of spices and hides, of things costly and of many things filthy, pervaded the space, make for it an atmosphere precious and disgusting. The Narcissus came gently into her berth; the shadows of soulless walls fell upon her, the dust of all the continents leaped upon her sides, took possession of her in the name of the sordid earth. She had ceased to live.

(from The Nigger of the Narcissus by Joseph Conrad)

somber 昏暗的，阴沉的
rectangular 矩形的，长方形的
soulless 没有灵魂的，死气沉沉的
crane 起重机
crouch 蹲伏
thump 重击，砰然作响
racket 喧嚷，吵闹
winch 绞车，起货机
grinding 磨擦
soar 高飞，飘扬
penetrating 有穿透力的
spice 香料
hide 兽皮，皮革
filthy 污秽的，不洁的
pervade 充斥，弥漫
berth 泊位
clamber 攀爬
sordid 肮脏的，恶劣的

A Wet Sunday in a Country Inn
乡间客栈的一个阴雨星期天
A wet Sunday in a country inn! Whoever has had the luck to experience one can alone judge of my situation.

The rain pattered against the casements; the bells tolled for church with a melancholy sound. I went to the windows in quest of something to amuse the eye; but is seemed as if I had been placed completely out of the reach of all amusement. The windows of my bed-room looked out among tiled roofs and stacks of chimneys, while those of my sitting-room commanded a full view of the stable yard. I know of nothing more calculated to make a man sick of this world than a stable yard on a rainy day. The place was littered with wet straw had been kicked about by travelers and stable-boys. In one corner was a stagnant pool of water, surrounding an island of muck; there were several half-drowned fowls crowded together under a cart, among which was a miserable, crest-fallen cock, drenched out of all life and spirit; his drooping tail matted, as it were, into a single feather, along which the water trickled from his back; near the cart was a half dozing cow, chewing her cud, and standing patiently to be rained on, with wreaths of vapour rising from her reeking hide; a wall-eyed horse, tired of the loneliness of a stable, was poking his spectral head out of a window, with the rain dripping on it from the eaves; an unhappy cur, chained to a dog-house hard by, uttered something every now and then between a bark and yelp; a drab of a kitchen wench tramped backwards and forwards through the yard in patterns, looking as sulky as the weather itself; everything, in short, was comfortless and forlorn, excepting a crew of hardened ducks, assembled like boon companions round a puddle and making a riotous noise over their liquor.

(by Washington Irving)

patter 发出嗒嗒声
casement 窗扉
toll 鸣钟，敲钟
muck 粪堆
crest-fallen 垂头丧气的
drench 淋透，湿透
cud 反刍的食物
wreath 螺旋形，涡状物
reek 冒水蒸气
wall-eyed 眼白特别大的，两眼珠向外斜视的
poke 探，伸
cur 杂种狗
yelp 犬吠
wench 女佣
pattern 木底鞋
sulky 郁郁不乐的，阴沉的
riotous 喧闹的，吵嚷的
liquor 烈酒
Desert Plants
沙漠植物
This is the country of three seasons. From June to November it lies hot, still, and unbearable, sick with violent unrelieving storms; then on until April, chill, quiescent, drinking its scant rain and scanter snows; from April to the hot season again, blossoming, radiant, and seductive. These months are only approximate; later or earlier the rain-laden wind may drift up the water gate of the Colorado from the Gulf, and the land set its seasons by the rain.

The desert floras shame us with their cheerful adaptations to the seasonal limitations. Their whole duty is to flower and fruit, and they do it hardly, or with tropical luxuriance, as the rain admits. It is recorded in the report of the Death Valley expedition that after a year of abundant rains, on the Colorado desert was found a specimen of Amaranthus ten feet high. A year later the same species in the same place matured in the drought at four inches. One hopes the land may breed like qualities in her human offspring, no tritely to “try”, but to do. Seldom does the desert herb attain the full stature of the type. Extreme aridity and extreme altitude have the same dwarfing effect, so that we find in the high Sierras and in Death Valley related species in miniature that reach a comely growth in mean temperatures. Very fertile are the desert plants in expedients to prevent evaporation, turning their foliage edge-wise toward the sun, growing silky hairs and helps them. It roll up dunes about the stocky stems, encompassing and protective, and above the dunes, which may be, as with the mesquite, three times as high as a man, the blossoming twigs flourish and bear fruit.

(from The Land of Little Rain by Mary Hunter Austin)

quiescent 静止的，沉寂的
seductive 有吸引力的，诱人的
flora 植物群
expedition 考察，探险
specimen 标本，样品
tritely 陈腐地，陈旧地
stature 身材，身高
dwarf 使变矮
miniature 小型，微型物
comely 合适的，适宜的
evaporation 蒸发，水分散失
foliage 叶子
exude 流出，渗出
viscid gum 黏胶
harry 折磨，骚扰
dune 沙丘
encompassing 包容的，环绕
mesquite 牧豆树属植物

scant 缺乏的，不足的；限制，节省，减少
blossom 花，花开的状态；开花，兴旺，发展
lade 装载，装；舀出
radiant 发光的，辐射的
tropical 热带的，热情的
luxuriance 茂盛
breed 繁殖，教养，抚育
offspring 儿女，了孙，后代，产物
herb 药草，香草
aridity 干旱
arid 干旱的
expedient 有利的；权宜之计
twig 嫩枝，小枝，末梢；注意，了解

A Night in the Open
夜宿野外

Night is a dead monotonous period under a roof; but in the open would it passes lightly, with its stars and dews and perfumes, and the hours are marked by changes in the face of Nature. What seems a kind of death to people choked between walls and curtains, is only light and living slumber to the man who sleep afield. All night long he can hear Nature breathing deeply and freely; even as she take her rest, she turns and smiles; and there is one stirring hour unknown to those who dwell in houses when a wakeful influence goes abroad over the sleeping hemisphere, and all the outdoor world are on their feet. It is then that the cock first crows, not this time to announce the dawn, but like a cheerful watchman speeding the course of night. Cattle awake on the meadows; sheep break their fast on dewy hillsides, and change to a new lair among the ferns; and houseless men, who have lain down with the fowls, open their dim eyes and behold the beauty of the night.

(from Travels with a Donkey by Robert Louis Stevenson)

torpid 麻痹的，迟缓的，迟钝的，蛰伏的
slothful 偷懒的
negligent 疏忽的，粗心大意的
afield 离开（家乡），在战场上，在田野

monotonous 单调的，乏味的
dew 露水
choke 窒息，闷闭
slumber 睡眠
dwell 居住，寓于
hemisphere 半球，范围
crow 鸡啼
lair 兽穴，躲藏处
fern 蕨类植物
behold 看见，注视

At Khartoum
喀土穆剪影
Many years have gone by since I first flew up the valley of the upper Nile, starting the journey at Khartoum, in the Sudan, and ending it nearly two thousand miles away, at the source of the river, in Uganda. I was a war correspondent at the time, on my way from one campaign, in the western desert of Egypt, to another, in Ethiopia. Even then, when planes did not fly nearly so high as they do today, there was not very much to be seen from the air except the endless desert and the meandering green and these I remember just as distinctly as one remembers the islands on a long ocean voyage.

Before we started, we were held up for three or four days at Khartoum with engineer trouble. It was April, the hottest time of the year – so hot, in fact that it was slightly painful just to touch the porcelain sides of your bathtub when you got up in the morning. A fearsome sandstorm known as a haboob was blowing, and it was only at the very end of the long, torpid day that the town woke up at last. Each evening, about an hour before the light began to fail, I used to walk down to the zoo with a book. The Khartoum Zoo is quite unlike any other zoo in the world. It lies on the left bank of the Blue Nile, just upstream from the point where the White Nile comes I from the southern Sudan, and it covers hardly more than two or three acres.

The animals and the birds do not have that vacant and dispirited air that seems to overtake tropical creatures then they are transported to cold climates in the north. They have all been born here in this hothouse atmosphere, and many of them are not kept in cages; they simple roam about in their natural state, grazing on the grass and the bushes or wading in the pond. At the hour when I used to go to the zoo, there were hardly a