Chapter 2 姨妈姨夫们 讲义

Chapter 2 The Aunts and Uncles

Mrs Tulliver’s three sisters and their husbands hadbeen invited to Dorlcote Mill for Easter, so Mrs Tulliver and the servant hadspent the week in the kitchen preparing a vast quantity offood to impress them. Aunt Glegg was the first of the aunts toarrive. She was the oldest and was dressed, as usual, in old clothes that shehad mended and altered many times. Aunt Glegg didn’t believein wasting money, unlike Aunt Pullet, who arrived soon after in a fine carriageand elegant clothes. The last aunt to arrive was Aunt Deane, a quiet andrespectable woman who had married a rich man. Her pretty daughter, Lucy, was ayear younger than Maggie and both Tom and Maggie were very fond of her. Theyrushed in to greet her, ignoring their aunts and uncles. Theaunts were offended by this behavior, and began to criticise theirsister’s impolite children. As usual, they also criticised Maggie’s appearance,especially her untidy hair. Maggie was angry and rushed upstairs.

vast /vɑːst/ adj. 大量的

a vast amount of information 大量的信息

impress /ɪmˈpres/ v. 给……留下深刻的好印象

impress sb (with sth/sb) 给……留下深刻的好印象

be impressed by 被打动

It's important to impress your seniors if you want tobe promoted. 如果你想升职，给你的上级留下好印象很重要。

mend /mend/ v. 修补，修理

He is good at mending their socks. 他擅长给他们补袜子。

greet /ɡriːt/ v. 迎接，欢迎

She liked to be home to greet Steve when he came infrom school. 当史蒂夫从学校回来时，她喜欢在家迎接他。

criticise /'krɪtɪsaɪz/ v. 批评，批判

His mother had rarely criticised him. 他母亲很少批评他。

The aunts agreed that Maggie had all thecharacteristics of her father’s family, and none of their own Dodson family.

Tom followed Maggie upstairs, and was amazed tofind her in her bedroom cutting off her long hair with a large pair ofscissors. “If I cut if off,” she explained “they won’t be able to criticise itany more.” Maggie felt proud and strong, but when Tom laughed at her and toldher how silly she looked, she started to cry. She was too ashamed nowto go downstairs with him for dinner. After a while, Tom came up again to tellher that she was going to miss the pudding if she didn’t come down, and helaughed at her sad face. Maggie couldn’t understand how Tom could enjoy hisdinner when she was so upset – why was he so unfeeling? – buteventually she came downstairs and went to sit between Lucy and Tom. There wassilence as everybody stared at the remains ofher hair. Mrs Tulliver cried out in horror and dropped a spoon into her bestdish, breaking it into a hundred pieces. The uncles tried to make jokes aboutthe situation, but the aunts were all horrified. Maggie couldn’t beartheir scrutiny, and ran to her father. “Don’t worry about what theysay,” he said kindly. “I’ll take your part. It doesn’t matter.”

ashamed /əˈʃeɪmd/ adj. 感到羞耻的，羞愧的

ashamed of 为……感到羞耻

You should be ashamed of yourself for telling suchlies. 你扯这种谎应该感到羞耻。

unfeeling /ʌnˈfiːlɪŋ/ adj. 没有感情的，无情的

What a cold, unfeeling woman she was. 她是一个多么冷漠无情的女人啊。

stare /steə(r)/v. 盯着看，凝视

stare at 盯着……看

remain /rɪˈmeɪn/ n. 残存物，剩余物

They were cleaning up the remains of their picnic. 他们正在打扫野餐的残存物。

scrutiny /ˈskruːtəni/ n. 审视

After lunch, Mr Tulliver announced his plans forTom’s education to the aunts and uncles. Not everybody was enthusiastic. “Whydo you want him to have so much education?” asked Mr Glegg. “Private tutors areexpensive,” said Mr Deane. “You shouldn’t waste your money onsuch things.”

waste /weɪst/ v.浪费

waste sth (on sth) 在某事上浪费

waste not, want not. 勤俭节约，吃穿不缺。（谚语）

I resolved not to waste money on a hotel. 我决定不因住旅馆浪费钱。

“And some of it’s my money anyway,”added Aunt Glegg. “Don’t forget that I lent you £500, Tulliver. You don’t seemto be in a hurry to pay it back. Hmm... I always said that sister Bessymarried beneath her when she married you!”

anyway /ˈeniweɪ/ adv. 无论如何，不管怎样

beneath /bɪˈniːθ/ prep.（对某人来说）不够好

They thought she had married beneath her. 他们认为她下嫁了。

“My family is as good as yours!” shouted MrTulliver, furiously.

 “And there aren’t any bad-tempered womenin the Tulliver family!”

bad-tempered /ˌbæd ˈtempəd/adj. 坏脾气的，易怒的

I was bad-tempered when I was a child. 我小时候脾气很坏。

Aunt Glegg stormed out of thehouse, and the party ended badly.

storm out of 怒气冲冲地走出去

Sue stormed out of the room in a rage. 休怒气冲冲地走了出去。

Mr Tulliver promised himself hat he would find the£500 as soon as possible to repay that dreadful woman!

dreadful /ˈdredfl/adj. 可恶的，可怕的

Most people thought that Mr Tulliver had a lot ofmoney, but the truth was that he had not yet repaid the mortgage onthe mill, and he was always spending money on expensive lawsuits.He had a good heart and often lent his friends money without any writtendocuments, but he could never bear to insist on getting itback. Now that he was in difficulty, he remembered that his sister and herhusband owed him £300. He decided to ride over to their farmthat day and ask for the money, but when he saw his sister, Gritty, hisheart softened. She and her husband, Mr Moss, were poor farmerswith eight children. They had many financial problems and she was exhausted withworking and looking after the children. Ignorant of the reason for his visit,she was delighted to see her brother and wanted to hear all about Maggie andTom.

mortgage /ˈmɔːɡɪdʒ/ n. 房屋抵押贷款

an increase in mortgage rates 房屋抵押贷款利率的上升

lawsuit /ˈlɔːsuːt/ n. 诉讼（尤指非刑事案件），诉讼案件

He filed a lawsuit against his record company. 他对给他录制唱片的公司提起了诉讼。

bear /beə(r)/v. 忍受，承受

The pain was almost more than he could bear. 这种痛苦几乎使他无法忍受。

owe /əʊ/ v. 欠

owe sth to sb 欠某人某物

She still owes ￡3000 to her father. 她还欠她父亲3000英镑。

soften /ˈsɒfn/ v. 变柔软，变柔和

Her heart began to soften, she felt sorry. 她开始心软了，她感到抱歉。

exhausted /ɪɡˈzɔːstɪd/ adj. 筋疲力尽的，疲惫不堪的

Unlike the Dodson aunts, Mrs Moss admired Maggieand she always wanted her to come and visit her cousins.

“I hope that Tom will be a good brother to Maggie,as you have been to me in all my troubles,” she said, smiling at MrTulliver.

trouble /ˈtrʌbl/ n. 问题，麻烦

make trouble 制造麻烦，惹是生非

run into trouble 陷入困境

get sb into trouble 使某人陷入困境

take the trouble to do 不辞辛劳地做

Mr Tulliver knew that after this he could notinsist on the money, so he left without it and without any promise of repayment.

repayment /rɪˈpeɪmənt/ n.偿还

The loan is due for repayment by the end of the year. 这笔借款要在年底还清。

本章大意

塔里弗太太的姐妹和他们的丈夫应邀去朵尔考特磨坊过复活节，姨妈们一致对玛吉评头论足，玛吉一气之下把自己的长发剪短，剪完后却感到后悔但爸爸还是温和的对她说不要紧。午后，讨论汤姆的教育计划时，塔里弗先生受到了这些姨妈的指责，他决定要尽快把钱还给格莱格姨妈。但当他到妹妹家的农场准备要钱时，他心软了，没有要钱又走了。

人物简介

Aunt Gritty Moss (普瑞蒂•莫斯姑妈)： 在家务农的贫苦的妇女形象，有八个孩子，但却善良、宽厚。

Aunt Glegg Dodson (格莱格•道德森姨妈) ：务实的中产阶级妇女，勤俭，但却尖酸刻薄，正是她的言词犀利才导致自尊心太强的塔利弗先生借钱还欠她的债。

Aunt Pullet Dodson (普雷特•道德森姨妈)：又一个典型的中产阶级妇女，有点世故，喜欢穿衣打扮，心安理得地享受着丈夫带来的财产。

Aunt Deane Dodson (迪恩•道德森姨妈)：汤姆和玛吉姨妈中较温和的一个，她在磨坊出事后，能够照顾玛吉。

Uncle Deane (迪恩姨夫)：务实的中产阶级代表，靠自己的努力获得了成功和尊敬。

Lucy Pullet (露西•普雷特)：汤姆和玛吉的表妹，温柔贤淑的中产阶级小姐，不是很聪明但却知书达理，对玛吉非常好。

背景知识：乔治•艾略特

乔治•艾略特本名玛丽•安•伊万斯，生于1819年，在英格兰中部瓦威克郡乡村长大。她的父母是宗教信徒，对她要求严格，她和哥哥艾萨克关系非常亲密。艾略特是个热情的学者，她广泛阅读宗教与哲学的书籍，翻译作品并写书评。1849年，她父亲去世后，她到伦敦《威敏斯特书评》学术杂志社工作，作为作家、评论家及编辑。她和另一位作家、评论家乔治•亨利•路易斯曾有过一段关系，是他鼓励她开始小说创作。

像同时期的其他女作家一样，她用男作家名字发表作品，这样人们才能更严肃的对待她的作品。（夏洛蒂•伯朗苔用一个模糊的名字居拉•贝尔发表作品，乔治•桑，法国作家，真名为欧罗拉•杜德冯）《弗洛斯河上的磨坊》发表于1860年，《米德尔马奇》发表于1872年，被认为是她的杰作。

两本书，以及其他作品都是围绕中部小镇人们之间的关系进行展开。它们的中心人物都是聪颖而非传统的女性。

从1854年开始，乔治•艾略特和亨利•路易斯以夫妻之实住在一起，但是他们的关系遭到人们猛烈批评，因为他们并没有结婚，因为路易斯还和另外一个女人保持着婚姻关系。1857年，艾略特取路易斯为自己的姓，但他们从来没有正式结婚。

她的哥哥艾萨克对妹妹这种引起争议的、不道德的行为感到震惊，他对她说，他永远拒绝接受她，也不会再和她说话。路易斯1878年逝世，而艾萨克一直信守誓言，直到1880年五月，艾略特最终和另一个男人结婚。同年十二月，她也去世了。

语法要点

First Conditional Sentences （第一条件句）

第一条件句：第一条件句作为条件句的一种，是一种表示假设的主从复合句。它谈论可能发生的事情，并考虑这件事情的结果。

其构成一般由连词 if 引导的条件从句引出某种假设，再由主句表示基于这种假设下的结果。中文翻译为 “如果或假如……那么……”。其从句（if）用一般现在时或其他现在时，表示可能发生的事情（条件）。主句用一般将来时，表示这件事情的结果。

例如：

You will get the full mark if you study hard. 如果你努力学习，你就会得满分。

If I cut it off, they won't be able to criticise itany more. 如果我将它剪断，人们就不会再批评它了。

作为条件句的第一种，第一条件句通过语义便可识别，结构也简单且固定，比较容易。