LessonFourNettles讲解.doc

Unit Four Nettles

1. Notes on Guide to Reading
1) prolific (1.1) 多产的
prolific writer 多产作家
synonyms: fecund, fertile, fruitful, productive.
2）prestigious (1.3) esteemed 有名望的，著名的
Prestigious university 名牌大学；名校
Synonyms: celebrated, distinguished, eminent, illustrious, noted, preeminent, prominent, renowned
3）dilemma （2.2）进退两难；困境
To be, or not to be: that is the question (Shakespeare)
Synonyms: deep water, hot water, predicament,
4）be confronted with (2.3) face; meet with; encounter 面对；遭遇

5）regardless of (2.3) irrespective of 不论；不管
6）Love that was not usable, that knew its place. Not risking a thing yet staying alive as a sweet trickle, and underground resource. (Last line but one, Para. 2)

空灵的爱，自知的爱；不危及任何东西，却像涓涓细流，地下源泉，永不枯竭。

精神之爱，知其进退；无损无害，如源头活水，滋润于心。

7）retrospection （3.2） 回顾，回忆
8）protagonist (3.2) The main performer in a theatrical production; : lead 主角
9）effortlessly (3.4)
Effortless: easy
Easy as ABC, easy as falling off a log, easy as one-two-three, easy as pie, like taking candy from a baby, nothing to it.
10）bridge the gap: 搭配
11）Thus the reader is apt to identify with the protagonist, feeling what she feels and worrying what worries her. (last line but one, Para. 3)
Identify with ?
12) address several essential problems (4.1) 搭配
13）Once again “Nettles” displays Munro’s lasting strength …and subtle meanings of life.
Lasting strength？

在“荨麻”中， Munro再次展示了其深厚功力，驭繁于简，情节虽然简单，却探索了复杂的人物感情和微妙的人生况味。

2．Text Analysis
From paragraph 1 to paragraph 49
A．必备语汇 （preparatory words and expressions）
见 词汇测试表
B. 逐段讲解
1．引子：回忆起1979年时见到的一个男人。不交代是谁，留下悬念 (suspense)
词汇：
1）ketchup sandwich （1.2）
夹番茄酱的三明治
2. 数年之后，重寻故地，已物易人非。

去年元夜时,花市灯如昼。
月上柳梢头,人约黄昏后。
今年元夜时,月与灯依旧。
不见去年人,泪湿春衫袖。
---生查子 去年元夜时 欧阳修

去年今日此门中 ，
人面桃花相映红。
人面只今何处去？
桃花依旧笑春风
题都城南庄 崔护

3．回忆儿时情景，请人打井，由此开始一场早恋（puppy love）。
词汇：
1）Well (line 1)：水井
2）Penned （line 3）：圈养的
Pig sty 猪圈
3）Mug (line 7) : 杯
其他词义：
（1） I got mugged/jumped on my way home.
（2） The suspect is not among the mug shots.
(3) Look at her ugly mug.
4．Mike McCallum 出场。交代打井人居无定所的生活，为之后和童年伴侣小Mike McCallum的分离埋下伏笔。
5．小Mike McCallum出场。交代两人都是8岁。
词汇:
1）boarding house （5.1）提供膳宿的地方
2）at hand （5.2）nearby 附近，手边
6. 回忆和小Mike两小无猜的情景之一：在Mike父亲的车里玩耍；给被臭鼬所伤的狗抹番茄汁治伤。
词汇：
1）Cab (6.1)：出租车；此处：驾驶室
2）Mucky (6.4): dirty
3） Sour-cheese boots (6.4): 袜子发此臭奶酪的气味
4) Skunk (6.6): 臭鼬
5) Spray (6.6): 喷射
句子：
1) It looked as if we were washing him in blood. (last line)
好像用血给它洗澡一样。
7. 回忆农场的树木。
句子:
1)Each of the trees …crabby. (7.2-4)
译：
这里每颗树都神气活现的。比如，榆树宁静安详，橡树则杀气腾腾，枫树慈祥可亲，而山楂树则老态龙钟、火气十足。
8．回忆一起过河情景。
词汇:
1) Scummy (8.3): 长满浮渣的
2) Scum：人渣 scum of the earth
scum of the nation?
句子:
1) The river in August was almost as much a stony road as it was a watercourse. (8.1)
译：8月的河是条水道，几乎也是一条石头路。
2)…plowing through mats of flat-leafed water lilies, trapping our legs in their snaky roots. (8.3-4)
译：…吃力地在一团团长着扁平叶子的睡莲中蹚行，两腿被弯曲的睡莲根缠绕。
9-11 讲述小孩们玩打仗游戏，我和Mike互生情愫。
词汇：
1) Harassment （9.4）: 骚扰
Sex harassment
2) Dress (10.3)：包扎
Administer：to give someone a medicine or medical treatment
Painkillers were administered to the boy.
句子：
1) There was a keen alarm when the cry came, a wire zinging through your whole body, a fanatic feeling of devotion. (10.4-6)

Keen: keen interest/desire
The need for enlarging our vocabulary is not keenly felt yet.
Zing: to move quickly
Wire:电线
Business wire？
Fanatic:狂热的

译：当他喊我的名字时，我会紧张万分，全身如触电一般，一种狂热的忠诚感油然而生。

2) The game disintegrated, after a long while, in arguments and mass resurrection. (11.1-2)
Disintegrate: to break up 散
译：许久之后，大家吵个不休，装死的也活了过来，游戏就这样散了。

12-14 水井打好，Mike离去

句子：
1) One morning, of course, the job was all finished, the well capped, the pump reinstated, the fresh water marveled at. (12.1-2)
Cap: (vt) 加盖子
Marvel at：惊叹
译：不用说，一天早上，工作全部完成。井口上了盖子，水泵重新装好了，清新的井水引来一片赞叹。

2) The laugh had a lonely boom in it, as if he were still down the well. (Last line, Para. 12)
Boom：低沉而有回响的声音
译：他的笑声深沉孤独，带着回音，似乎他还在井底一般。

3) He had other jobs lined up elsewhere… (13.2)
Line up: 排队
Line up please！
Line the kids up！
译：其他地方还有很多活等着他。

4) Future absence I accepted—it was just that I had no idea, until Mike disappeared, of what absence could be like. How my own territory would be altered, as if a landslide had gone through it and skimmed off all meaning except loss of Mike. （13. 5-8）

译：我知道会分开的，也认了，但是到Mike不见了，才知道那是一种什么样的分离。生活面目全非，好像一场山崩抹去了一切，除了失去Mike，其他都无意义了。

15 从细节描述对Mike的思念。
句子：
1) My heart was beating in big thumps, like howls happening in my chest.
Thump: 砰砰声

16－18 时间回到1979年，Sunny去接我。
句子：
1)…she looked not matronly but majestically girlish. (16.3-4)
Matronly: 主妇的
译：她看上去不像是结了婚的人，而像是气质端庄的女孩子。

19 讲述与Sunny在温哥华相识的过程
句子：
1) Our pregnancies had dovetailed, so we had managed with one set of maternity clothes. (19.1-2)
Dovetail: to fit together perfectly or to make two plans, ideas etc fit together perfectly
译：我们的怀孕期正好前后相接，所以我们可以共用一套孕妇服。

2) In my kitchen or in hers…and our forgone ambitions. (19.2-6)
Reel: stagger; feel dizzy
Stoke: fuel
Rampage: outbreak of violent or raging behavior
译：我们大约每周都要在我的厨房或她的厨房聚会一次。孩子们总是不断打扰我们，有时我们还会因为睡眠不足而头晕目眩，于是就不断地喝咖啡、吸烟来提神，开始天南海北地聊大天，什么都谈：我们的婚姻和奋斗、彼此的缺点、既有趣又有些丢脸的动机、以及曾有过的理想抱负。
做出丑事的有趣动机
3）During that time of life that is supposed to be a reproductive daze…and “The Cocktail Party”.
Daze: a confusing condition
Swamp: flood
Maternal juices: mother’s milk and other juices with which a mother feeds a baby
Compel：to force someone to do something
译：那段时期，要带小孩喂奶水，一般女人都会有点不知所措的，但我们还是会一起聊西蒙-德-波伏娃和库斯特勒和艾略特的诗歌“鸡尾酒会”。

20－25 两人相识之后的变化：都搬离温哥华。我婚姻出现问题，与丈夫分居，搬到多伦多。小孩来，住不习惯，还是回父亲那了。
句子:
1）And I have moved for the newfangled reason …shame. (20.3-6)
Newfangled: novel 新奇的
Be parceled about: be divided
Deprivation: the lack of something that you need in order to be healthy, comfortable, or happy
译：而我的搬离，原因也许有些离谱，非常人所能理解--丈夫、房子和结婚之后所有的一切（孩子除外，由我和丈夫轮流来带）都不要了，只希望过一种不虚伪、不丧失快乐、不令人羞耻的生活。
2）I was happy with all this…from the house of marriage.(21.5-6)
译：这一切都令我高兴，觉得自己有了真正的变化，开始迈上摆脱婚姻禁锢的漫漫征途。
3）But it was too much to expect of my daughters—who were ten and twelve years old—that they should feel the same way.(21.6-8)
译：但不能期望我两个女儿--一个十岁、一个12岁--和我的感觉一样。
4) …I would be frightened, not of any hostility, but of a kind of nonexistence. (Last line, Para. 25)
译：我会感到害怕，不是怕不安全，而是那种自己好像不存在的感觉。

26．我心情不好，给Sunny电话，受邀去乡下过周末。
27-93 在乡下度假，与Mike 重逢所发生的一切，以及我对爱的感悟。
修辞：
Delicacy or disapproval （29.1）
Happy energy (38.1)
词汇：
1）Tromp (30.2): tramp; to walk heavily and noisily
2）Almost in the same breath (32.1):几乎异口同声
3）Of all things (34.3):真没想到
4）Nap (38.2): a short sleep, especially during the day: take/have a nap
5）Civil engineer (41.2): 土木工程师
civil construction土木建筑
6）pack up the game (45.3) 收起游戏
7）crap（45.5）garbage, rubbish, trash,junk
8）Pilot star (45.2): 领航星
9）Big dipper (45.2)：北斗七星
10）Fold-out sofa (47.2): 折叠沙发床
11）Unmake the bed(47.3)：叠被
12）Make up the bed (47.3): 铺床
13）sleazy （49.2）：不体面的
句子：
1） It was hard to make the break…（29.2）
Break：断开，决裂
译：和过去的生活决裂是很难的
2）…I took my overnight bag…
译: 我带上装着过夜用品的包
3） Lying in the same sheets did not make for a peaceful night.(49.1)
Make for: contribute to; lead to

译: 躺在Mike睡过的被褥里，我躁动不已。
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