求大学英语第4册spring sowing的原文
It was still dark when Martin Delaney and his wife Mary got up. Martin stood in his shirt by the window, rubbing his eyes and yawning, while Mary raked out the live coals that had lain hidden in the ashes onthe hearth all night. Outside, cocks were crowing and a white streak was rising form the ground, as it were, and beginning to scatter the darkness. It was a February morning, dry, cold and starry.
The couple sat down to their breakfast of tea. bread and butter, in silence. They had only been married the previous autumn and it was hateful leaving a warm bed at such and early hour. Martin, with his brown hair and eyes, his freckled face and his little fair moustache, ooked too young to be married, and hsi wife looked hardly more than a girl, red-cheeked and blue-eyed,her black hair piled at the rear of her head with a large comb gleaming in the middle of the pile, Spanish fashion. They were both dressed in rough homespuns, and both wore the loose white shirt that Inverara speasants use for work in the fields.
The ate in silence, sleepy and yet on fire with excitement, for it was the first day of their first spring sowing as man and wife. And each felt the glamour of that day on which they were to open up the earth together and plant seeds in it . But somehow the imminence of an event that had been long expected loved, feared and prepared for made them dejected. Mary, with her shrewd woman's mind, thought of as many things as there are in life as a woman would in the first joy and anxiety of her mating. But Martin's mind was fixed on one thought. Would he be able to prove himself a man worthy of being the head of a family by dong his spring sowing well?
In the barn after breakfast, when they were getting the potato seeds and the line ofor measuring the tround and the spade, Martin fell over a basket in the half-darkness of the barn, he swore and said that a man would be better off dead than.. But before he could finish whatever he was gong to say, Mary had her arms around his waist and her face to his ."Martin," she said,"let us not begin this day cross with one another." And there was a tremor in her voice. And somehow,as they embraced, all their irritation and sleepiness left them. And they stood there embracing until at last Martin pushed her from him with pretended roughness and said:"Come,come, girl, it wil be sunset before we begin at this rate."
Still, as they walked silently in their rawhide shoes through the little hamlet, there was not a soul about. Lights were glimmering in the windows of a few cabins. The sky had a big grey crack in it in the east, as if it were going to burst in order to give birth to the sun. Birdes were singing somewhere at a distance. Martin and Mary proudly:"We are first,Mary." And they both looked back at the little cluster of cabins that was the centre of their world, with throbbing hearts. For the jy of sping had now taken complete hold of them.
They reached the little field where they were to sow. It was a little triangular patch of ground under an ivy-covered limestone hill. the little field had been manured with seaweed some weeks before, and the weeds had rotted and whitened on the grass. And there was a big red heap of gresh seaweed lying in a corner by the fence to be spread under the seeds as they were laid. Martin, in spite of the cold, threw off everything above his waist except his striped woollen shirt. Then he spat on his hands, seized his spade and cried: "Now you are going to see what kind of a man you have, Mary."
"There, now," said Mary, rying a little shawl clser under her chin.
"Aren't we boastful this early hour of the morning? Maybe I'll wait till sunset to see what kind of a man I have got."
The work began. Martin measured the ground by the southern fence forthe first ridge, a strip of ground four feet wide, and he placed the line along the edge and pegged it at each end. Then he spread fresh seaweed over the strip. Mary filled her apron with seeds and began to lay them in rows. When she was a little distance down the ridge, Martin advanced with his spade to the head, eager to commence.
"Now in the name of God," he cried, spitting on his palms,"let us raise the first sod!"
"Oh, Martin, wait till I'm with you !" cried Mary, dropping her seeds on the ridge and running up to him .Her fingers outside her woollen mittens were numb with the cold, and she couldn't wipe them in her apron. Her cheeks seemed to be on fire. She put an arm round Martin's waist and stood looking at the green sod his spade was going to cut, with the excitement of a little child.
"Now for God's sake,girl, keep back!"said Martin gruffly. "Suppose anybody saw us like this in the field of our spring sowing, what would they take us for but a pair of useless, soft, empty-headed people that would be sure to die of hunger. Huh!" He spoke very rapidely, and his eyes were fixed on the ground before hm. His eyes had a wild, eager light in them as if some primeval impulse were burning within his brain and driving out every other desire but that of asserting his manhood and of subjugating the earth.
"Oh, what do we care who is looking?" said Mary; but she drew back at the same time and gazed distantly at the ground. Then Martin cut the sod, and pressing the spade deep into the earth with his foot, he turned up the first sod with a crunching sound as the gras roots were dragged out of the earth. Mary sighed and walked back hurriedly to her seeds with furrowed brows. She picked up her seeds and began to spread them rapidly to drive out the sudden terror that had seized her at that moment whten she saw the fierce, hard look in her husband's eyes that were unconscious of her presence. She became suddenly afraid of that pitiless, cruel earth, the peasant's slave master, that would keep her chained to hard work and poverty all her life until she would sink again into its bosom. Her short-lived love was gone. Henceforth she was only her husband's helper to till the earth . And Martin, absolutely without thought, worked furiously, covering the ridge with block earth, his sharp spade gleaming white as he whirled it sideways to beat the sods.
Then, as the sun rose,the little valley beneath the ivy-covered hills became dotted with white shirts, and everywhere men worked madly, without speaking, and women spread seeds. There was no heat in the light of the sun, and there was a sharpness in the still thin air that made the men jump on their spade halts ferociously and beat the sods as if they were living enemies. birds hopped silently before the spades, with their heads cocked sideways, watching for worms. Made brave by hunger, they often dashed under the spades to secure their food. Then, when the sun reached a certain point, all the women went back to the village to get dinner for their men, and the men worked on without stopping.
Then the women trturned ,almost running, each carrying a tin can with a flannel tied around it adn a little bundle tied with a white cloth, Martin threw down his spade when Mary arrived back in the field. Smiling at one another they sat under the hill for their meal .It was the same as their breakfast, tea and bread and butter.
"Ah," said Martin, when he had taken a long draught of tea form his mug, "is there anything in this world as fine as eating dinner out in the open like this after doing a good morning's work? Ther, I have done two ridges and a half. That's more than any man in the village could do . Ha!" And he looked at his wife proudly.
"Yes,isn't it lovely," said Mary, looking at the back ridges wistfully. She was just munching her bread and butter .The hurried trip to the village and the trouble of getting the tea ready had robbed her of her appetite. she had to keep blowing at the turf fire with the rim of her skirt, and the smoke nearly blinded her. But now, sitting on that grassy knoll, with the valley all round glistening with fresh seaweed and a light smoke rising from the freshly truned earth, a strange joy swept over her . It overpowered that ofther felling of dread that had been with her during the morning.
Martin ate heartily, revelling in his great thirst and his great hunger, with every pore of his body open to the pure air. And he looked around at his neighbours' fields boastfully, comparing them with his own. Then he looked at his wife's little round black head and felt very proud of having her as his own. He leaned back on his elbow and took her hand in his. Shyly and in silence, not knowing what to say and ashamed of their gentle feelings, they finished eating and still sat hand in hand looking away intothe distance. Everywhere the sowers were resting on little knolls, men,women and children sitting in silence. and the great calm of nature in spring filled the atmosphere around them. Everying seemed to sit still and wait until midday had passed. Only the gleaming sun chased westwards at a mighty pace, in and out through white clouds.
Then in a distant field an old man got up, took his spade and began to clean the earth from it with a piece of stone. Therasping noise carried a long way in the silence. That was the signal for a general rising all along the little valley. Young men stretched themselves and yawned. They walked slowly back to their ridges.
Martin's back and his wrists were getting sore, and Mary felt that if she stooped again over her seeds her neck would break, but neither said anything and soon they had forgotten their tiredness in the mechanical movement of their bodes. The strong smell of the upturned earth acted like a drug on their nerves.
By sundown Martin had five ridges finished. He threw down his spade and stretched himself. All his bones ached and he wanted to lie down and rest. "It's time to be gong home, Mary," he said.
Mary straightened herself, but she was too tired to reply. she looked at Martin wearily and it seemed to her that it was a great many years since they had set out that morning. Then shen thought of the journey home and the trouble of feeding the igs, putting the fowls into their coops and getting the supper ready , and a momentary flash of rebellion against the slavery of being a peasat's wife crossed her mind. It passed in a moment. Martin was saying ,as he dressed himself:
"Ha! It has been a good day's work.Five ridges done, and each one of them as straight as a steel rod. By God Mary, it's no boasting to say that you might well be rpoud of bing the wife of Martin Delaney. and that's not sayingthe whole of it ,my girl. You did your share bettrer than any woman in Inverara could do it this blessed day."
They stood for a few moments in silence, looking at the work they had done. All her dissatisfaction and weariness vanished form Mary's mind with the delicious feeling of comfort that overcame her at having done this work with her husband. They had done it together. They had planted seeds in the earth. The next day and the next and all their lives, when spring came they would have to bend their backs and do it until their hands and bones got twisted with rheumatism. But night would always bring sleep and forgetfulness.
As they walked home slowly, Martin walked in front with another peasant talking about the sowing, and Mary walked behind, with her eyes on the ground, thinking. Cows were lowing at a distance.
spring sowing段落分析是什么?
文章开头处的景物描写“It was a February morning,dry,cold,and starry.”(L.4.,Para.1)交代了故事发生的时间,三个形容词(cold,dry,starry)连用,呈现给读者一幅立体的画面,身临其境。与此同时,也暗示了新婚夫妇的生活需要经历困苦,因为一切才刚刚开始。在这一清晨的画面中,公鸡在啼叫,表明新一天的到来;升起的炊烟驱散了黑暗。
“The couple sat down to their breakfast of tea,bread and butter.”(L.1,Para.2)”It was the same as their breakfast,tea and bread and butter.”(L.5,Para.15)Martin,与Mary早饭和晚饭吃的一样,而且没有肉食只是简单地的茶、黄油面包,这就向读者介绍了当时普通农民的生活背景并不富裕。”
…..and both wore the loose white shirt that Inverara peasants use for work in the fields.”(L.6 Para.2)这里用到了loose一词,loose本义指松松垮垮的,这里并不是说衣服款式宽松,而是指他们的衣服洗了很多遍,所以才松垮。作者以另一个小细节介绍了爱尔兰农民的生活现状。
写作手法剖析
文章还多次使用了排比(parallelism)和比喻(analogy)的修辞手法,语言朴实自然、生动形象,把人物的心理活动描写的更加细腻、深刻。“...the trouble of feeding the pigs, putting the fowls into their coops and getting the supper ready...”。
这句话中的三个并列的动名词短语形成排比,作介词of的宾语,增强了句子的语气,让人感到家务繁多。又如“Five ridges done, and each one of them as straight as a steel rod.”(Para.33)这句话使用了as...as引导明喻,将ridges比作steel rod, 生动、传神。
springsowing课文主旨是什么?
文章《spring sowing》(春播)表达了年轻人对理想的追求,对生活的憧憬与热爱。
The story describes the first day of the first spring planting of a newly-wedded couple against the background of a traditional agricultural country.
The story here does not have much of a plot. But the author has seized a very dramatic moment in the young couple’s life and has shown their life and dreams through his descriptions of their spring planting in minute detail. It is this quality that the power of this story mainly lies.
故事描述了在传统的农业国家背景下的一对新婚夫妇的第一个春天播种的第一天。故事没有太多的情节。但笔者抓住了年轻夫妇的生活非常戏剧性的时刻,并通过对他们春播微小的细节的描述阐述了他们的生活和梦想。
春播注意:
在播种之前,培养土必须经过严格消毒,这样可以避免种子受到细菌侵害而不能发芽。通常通过晒土壤或者在市场上购买一些土壤消毒的药物来对土壤进行消毒。不同的种子发芽需光性、发芽时间都不一样。在育苗盆上贴上标签就不会搞错。
种子下土以后,盖上育苗盆盖子,放置在散射光的环境下。每天打开育苗盆盖子半个小时帮助透气。种子出苗时间大约在5至10天,一旦种子出苗,即可移去盖子放入直射光中去了。由于幼苗相对幼弱,在炎热天气正午的时候还是要遮荫,避免幼苗晒伤。当幼苗出到一定的真叶对数,便移栽到花盆中去。
在春天的季节,矮牛、百万小铃以及香草等都是春播的好选择。对这些植物幼苗进行不断摘心,有望使他们形成球形。
求现代大学英语精读4 第七课spring sowing课文翻译
这是后半部分的译文,指头已戳破……
“得啦,得啦!”玛丽说着,把下巴下的小围巾系紧了些。
“一大早就说这样的话是不是吹牛啊?也许我要等到太阳落山时才知道我嫁了个什么样的男人。”
他俩开始干活了。马丁在靠近南边的篱笆上丈量出第一垄,一块四英尺宽的狭长田地。他把线绳沿地边拉直,并把两头用木桩固定住。然后,他把新鲜的海藻铺在那块狭长的地上。玛丽用围裙兜着土豆种,一排排地栽到土里。她顺着垄栽了一小段,马丁便手拿铁锹占到了前头,迫不及待地开始培土了。
“现在以上帝的名义”他大声说道,往手掌心吐了口唾沫,“让我们长期第一块草皮土!”
“喂,马丁,等我一下,我要和你一起!”玛丽叫道,把土豆种丢到垄上,向他跑去。她那露在羊毛手套外的手指已经冻僵了,她没法用围裙擦手。她的双颊激动地涨红了。她用一只胳膊搂住马丁的腰,站在那里看着他的铁锹准备铲起的绿色草皮,像个孩子一样兴奋。
“好了,看在上帝的份上,老婆,靠后点!”马丁粗上粗气地说,“要是有人看见我们在春播的土地里是这个样子,他们会怎么看我们,肯定觉得我们只是一对软弱无能,没有头脑的家伙,必定会饿死吧?啊!”他说得很快,眼睛紧盯面前的土地,双眼中闪着一种狂野的、热切的光芒,好像有某种原始的冲动在大脑中燃烧,驱走了其他的任何欲望,一心只想表现自己的男子气概,征服这块土地。
“哦,我们干嘛在意谁在看?”玛丽说着,但同时她后退了几步,盯着远处的地面。这时,马丁铲断草皮,用脚将铁锹深深地踩进土里,翻起了递一块草皮,草根被拽出土地时,发出嘎吱声。玛丽叹了口气,皱紧眉头,匆忙回到放土豆种的地方。她拿起种子,开始飞快栽种起来,以此来驱散那突然袭来的恐惧感,刚才她看到丈夫那凶猛、严厉的眼神根本没有意识到她的存在。她突然害怕这块冷酷无情的土地,这个农民的奴隶主,会把她一生都束缚在辛劳和贫苦中,直到她重返大地的怀抱。她那短暂的爱情已经一去不复返了。从此以后,她只不过是丈夫耕田种地的帮手了。而此时马丁根本什么也不想,只是在拼命的干活,往垄上培黑土。当他旋转着铁锹在一侧拍打草皮时,锋利的铁锹泛着白光。
这时候,太阳升了起来,长满常春藤的山丘下的小山谷里开始星星点点地散布着白衬衫,到处都是男人们拼命的干活、女人们栽种的景象。太阳光还不热,寂静而有稀薄的空气中透着一股刺骨的寒意。男人们是使出全劲蹬着铁锹,拍打着草皮,好像它们是活生生的敌人一样。鸟儿们在男人的铁锹前无声地跳跃着,脑袋向两侧探来探去,寻找着虫子。饥饿使它们胆子大了许多,时常冲到铁锹下抢食物。
当太阳升到一定的高度时,所有的女人都回到村子,为她们的丈夫准备午饭,男人们则仍不停歇地继续干活。随后,女人们几乎一路小跑回到地里,每人都拎着一个用法兰绒包着的马口铁罐和一个小白布包。玛丽回到地里时,马丁扔下了铁锹。两人相视一笑,坐在山丘下吃起午饭来。午饭与早饭一样,还是茶和涂着黄油的面包。
“啊,”马丁从杯中喝了一大口茶水,说道,“干了整整一个上午活后像这样在野外吃午饭,世上还有什么事情比这更美妙呢?你看,我已经整好两垄半地了,比村里任何其他男人干得都多,哈!”他自豪地望着妻子。
“是呀,真叫人高兴。”玛丽边说边满怀希望地看着黑色的土垄。她只是用力地嚼着涂着黄油的面包。刚才由于匆忙地往返村里,忙于准备午茶,使得她没了胃口吃东西。她得不停地用裙摆扇着泥炭火,烟呛得她几乎睁不开眼。可是现在,她坐在长满草的土墩上,看着山谷里到处闪闪发光的鲜海藻和新翻的土地上升起的轻烟,一股莫名的喜悦涌上心头,压倒了一上午萦绕在她心头的恐惧感。
马丁吃得津津有味,尽情地满足着自己强烈的饥饿感,身上的每一个毛孔都张开来呼吸着呼吸着清新的空气。他得意地看了看四周邻居们的土地,与自家的地对比着。然后,他注视着妻子又黑又圆的小脑瓜,不禁为自己能拥有她这样的妻子而感到非常自豪。他身体向后倚着一只撑着地的胳膊,另一只手握着玛丽的手。两人有些害羞,不知道该向对方说些什么,对这种柔情也感到不好意思。静静地吃完饭以后,两人仍然手拉手坐在那里,望着远方。到处都是坐在小草墩上休息的播种者:男人、女人和孩子都静静地坐着。春天大自然的宁静弥漫在他们周围的空气里似乎万物都静止不动,等待着正午的阳光悄然逝去。只有光芒四射的太阳迈着有力的步伐向西疾行,在洁白的云层中时隐时现。
这时,远处的一块田里的老汉站了起来,拿起铁锹,用一块石头清理上面的泥土,发出的刮擦声在寂静中传得很远,成了让山谷里的人们起身干活的信号。年轻的人们伸伸懒腰,打个哈欠,便慢慢走向各自的田垄。
马丁的后背和手腕开始酸痛,而玛丽觉得自己如果再弯腰的话,脖子就要累断了。可是两人都没说什么,身体的机械运动很快就让他们忘记了疲劳。新翻的泥土发乎浓郁的气味,就像药物一样刺激着他们的神经。
下午太阳光最强烈的时候,村子里的老人走出来看自家人播种。马丁的爷爷,腰弯得几乎都要对折了,拄着粗拐杖,停在他们家田地之外的地里,他伏在篱笆上,大声嘟囔起来。
“上帝保佑你们的春播,”他气喘吁吁地大声说。
“上帝也保佑您,爷爷,”小两口一起回应道。但他们并没有停止劳作。
“哈!”老人自言自语地嘟囔着,“他播种得不错,那个女人也不错。他们的开头不错。”
他和他的玛丽当年也曾满怀希望和豪情地开始,到现在已经50年了。从那时起,无情的土地就把他们拴在它的怀里,每个春天都不曾歇息。如今,这位长者硕大的红鼻子,头上裹着带花点的手绢、戴着黑色软毡帽的老人看着自己的孙子在播种,并给了他建议。
“不要把草皮铲得那么长,”他呼哧呼哧地说,“你在垄上培的土太多了。”
“啊,孙媳妇!不要把土豆种栽得那么靠边。这样它的茎会从一边长出来的。”
但是他们并没有理会他的话。
“啊,”老人嘟囔着,“想当年我年轻的时候,那时候男人们饿着肚子从早干到晚,活可比现在的年轻人干的好多了,现在的人越来越娇气了,就是这样。”
接着一阵咳嗽开始从他的胸腔里传了出来,他蹒跚着离开这儿去了另一块地,他的儿子迈克尔正在那里干活。
在太阳快下山时,马丁已经培完了五条垄。他扔下铁锹,伸了伸懒腰,浑身的骨头都在疼,他真想躺下来休息一下。“我们该回家了,玛丽。”他说。
玛丽伸直了腰,可她实在太累了,没力气回答他。她疲倦地望着马丁,感觉从他们早晨出发到现在好像已经过了好多年了。她想到回家的路程,想到喂猪、把家禽赶进笼子、准备晚饭这些活在等着他,一时间脑海里突然闪现出一种反抗的念头,想摆脱做农民的妻子这种桎梏。这种念头转瞬即逝。马丁边穿衣服边说:
“哈!今天干得真不错。培完了五条垄,每一条垄都想钢筋一样直。上帝作证,玛丽,毫不吹嘘地说,你完全可以成为马丁﹒德莱尼的妻子而感到自豪。这并不是说,全部都是我的功劳,我的老婆。在上帝保佑的这一天里,你的那份活,比因佛雷拉的任何女人干的都好。”
他俩静静地站了一会儿,看着他们在这一天里干完的活。所有的不满于疲惫都从玛丽的脑海中消失了,取而代之的是和丈夫啊哦做一天后的惬意。这些活是他们一起干的。他们把种子播到了土地里。明天,后天以及他们一生当中,每当春天到来时,他们都将不得不弯腰播种,直到他们的双手和骨头因风湿而扭曲变形。不过,夜晚到来时他们总会相拥而眠,忘记所有的劳累与烦劳。
当他们慢慢地往家走时,马丁走在前面,和另一个农民聊着播种的事,玛丽则走在后面,眼睛望着地面,在思索着什么。远处,奶牛在“哞哞”地叫着。