The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Chapter02-08)
本帖最后由 learnEnglish 于 2009-10-30 03:19 编辑He had had a nice, good, idle time all the while -- plenty of company -- and the fence had three coats of whitewash on it! If he hadn't run out of whitewash he would have bankrupted every boy in the village.
Tom said to himself that it was not such a hollow world, after all. He had discovered a great law of human action, without knowing it -- namely, that in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain. If he had been a great and wise philosopher, like the writer of this book, he would now have comprehended that Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do, and that Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do. And this would help him to understand why constructing artificial flowers or performing on a tread-mill is work, while rolling ten-pins or climbing Mont Blanc is only amusement. There are wealthy gentlemen in England who drive four-horse passenger-coaches twenty or thirty miles on a daily line, in the summer, because the privilege costs them considerable money; but if they were offered wages for the service, that would turn it into work and then they would resign.
The boy mused awhile over the substantial change which had taken place in his worldly circumstances, and then wended toward headquarters to report.
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all the while = 一直, 始终
after all = 毕竟, 到底, 究竟
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run out of= 用完, 从...跑出
consist of = 由...组成
take place = 发生
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without knowing it => 不知不觉
wend => (old use or literary) to move or travel slowly somewhere
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tread-mill = 踏车, 单调乏味的工作, 跑步机
ten-pins = 十柱保龄球游戏
passenger-coaches = 客车
Mont Blanc = 勃朗峰, 阿尔卑斯山脉最高峰
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philosopher
privilege
wage
circumstance
headquarters
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bankrupt
covet
attain
comprehend
oblige
construct
perform
muse
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artificial
considerable
substantial
-------------------- Chapter 2 is over, at last. 快点更新啊 Don't want to read...
Too difficult...
Want to find an easier one to read... 楼主，都给你精华了，贵在坚持，加油吧{:4_295:} 本帖最后由 learnEnglish 于 2009-11-3 06:39 编辑
楼主，都给你精华了，贵在坚持，加油吧{:4_295:}
程普 发表于 2009-11-2 00:39 http://www.dolc.de/forum/images/common/back.gif
Thank you moderator...
I'll continue to read it in a few days... {:5_334:}