董贝父子中董贝的形象 双语小说连载:《董贝父子》第8章 Part 14

双语小说连载:《董贝父子》第8章 Part 14  

'Not if it should happen to have been a tame bull
you little Infidel?' said Mrs Pipchin.
As Paul had not considered the subject in that light
and had founded his conclusions on the alleged lunacy of the bull
he allowed himself to be put down for the present. But he sat turning it over in his mind
with such an obvious intention of fixing Mrs Pipchin presently
that even that hardy old lady deemed it prudent to retreat until he should have fotten the subject.
From that time
Mrs Pipchin appeared to have something of the same odd kind of attraction towards Paul
as Paul had towards her. She would make him move his chair to her side of the fire
instead of sitting opposite; and there he would remain in a nook beeen Mrs Pipchin and the fender
with all the light of his little face absorbed into the black bombazeen drapery
studying every line and wrinkle of her countenance
and peering at the hard grey eye
until Mrs Pipchin was sometimes fain to shut it
on pretence of dozing. Mrs Pipchin had an old black cat
who generally lay coiled upon the centre foot of the fender
purring egotistically
and winking at the fire until the contracted pupils of his eyes were like o notes of admiration. The good old lady might have been - not to record it disrespectfully - a witch
and Paul and the cat her o familiars
as they all sat by the fire together. It would have been quite in keeping with the appearance of the party if they had all sprung up the chimney in a high wind one night
and never been heard of any more.
从那时起，皮普钦太太感觉到有同样一种奇怪的吸引力把她吸引到保罗身上，就像保罗感觉到有一种奇怪的吸引力把他吸引到她身上一样。她会让他 把他的椅子移到壁炉靠她的那一边，而不是坐在她的对面；他会坐在皮普钦太太与壁炉围栏之间的角落里，他的小脸上的所有光亮都被吸引到黑色的邦巴辛毛葛衣服中；这时他研究着她脸部的每一丝线条和每一道皱纹，凝视着那只冷酷的灰色眼睛，直到皮普钦太太借口打瞌睡，假装闭上它为止。皮普钦太太有一只老黑猫，通常蜷曲着身子，躺在壁炉围栏中间的一只脚上，自高自大地喵喵叫着，同时向炉火眨巴着眼睛，直到后来它的眼睛内的瞳孔缩在一起时就像两个赞叹号似的。当他们全都坐在壁炉旁边的时候，这位善良的老太太活像是一位巫婆（这么说倒并不是想对她表示不尊敬），保罗与那只猫就像是供她差遣的两位妖精。只要看到他们这一伙的这种样子，那么如果有一天夜间他们在疾风中跳进烟囱，从此杳然无闻的话，那是不会令人惊奇的。
This
however
never came to pass. The cat
and Paul
and Mrs Pipchin
were constantly to be found in their usual places after dark; and Paul
eschewing the panionship of Master Bitherstone
went on studying Mrs Pipchin
and the cat
and the fire
night after night
as if they were a book of necromancy
in three volumes.
Mrs Wickam put her own construction on Paul's eccentricities; and being confirmed in her low spirits by a perplexed view of chimneys from the room where she was accustomed to sit
and by the noise of the wind
and by the general dulness (gashliness was Mrs Wickam's strong expression) of her present life
deduced the most dismal reflections from the foregoing premises. It was a part of Mrs Pipchin's policy to prevent her own 'young hussy' - that was Mrs Pipchin's generic name for female servant - from municating with Mrs Wickam: to which end she devoted much of her time to concealing herself behind doors
and springing out on that devoted maiden
whenever she made an approach towards Mrs Wickam's apartment. But Berry was free to hold what converse she could in that quarter
consistently with the discharge of the multifarious duties at which she toiled incessantly from morning to night; and to Berry Mrs Wickam unburdened her mind.
'What a pretty fellow he is when he's asleep!' said Berry
stopping to look at Paul in bed
one night when she took up Mrs Wickam's supper.
'Ah!' sighed Mrs Wickam. 'He need be.'
注释：absorb vt. 吸收；吸引；承受；理解；使…全神贯注
absorb in 集中精力做某事；全神贯注于
vt.
1. 吸收(液体、气体等)：
A sponge absorbs water.
海绵吸水。
2. 吸引…的注意；使全神贯注，使专心致志，占去(注意力、精力、兴趣、时间等)：
He was so absorbed in a book that he did not hear the bell.
他如此专心致志地读书以致没听见铃响。
3. 理解；掌握：
Can your brain absorb all this information?
你的脑袋能吸收这全部信息吗?
4. 吸收(食物、思想、文化等)；同化(民族、语言或成分等)，把…并入，使合并：
The empire absorbed many small nations.
该帝国吞并了许多小国。
5. 承受，忍受；经受：
to absorb the changes
经受住变革
6. 负担，承担(费用、经费)：
The pany will absorb all the research costs.
这家公司将承担全部研究经费。
7. 消减(振动)，缓冲(震动、颠簸等)：
Cork ceilings absorb sound.
软木制的天花板能减少回音。
8. 吸收(光、热、声音等)：
Light rays are absorbed by black surfaces.
光线被黑色表面吸收(而无反射)。

9. (大量)收买，买进，收购进；(市场)吸纳，接受(商品等)：
The market absorbed all the puters we could build.
市场吸纳了我们所能生产的全部电脑。
accustom adj. 习惯的；通常的；独有的
v. 使习惯于（accustom的过去分词）
词组：
bee accustomed to 习惯于；对…变得习以为常
get accustomed to 变得习惯于，习惯于
became accustomed to sth 对…变得习惯起来
例句：
(1) He is accustomed to hard work.
他习惯于做艰苦的工作。
(2) Are you accustomed to life here?
你习惯这里的生活？
(3) Bee accustomed to a person's life.
渐渐习惯一个人的生活了。
(4) People became accustomed to my silence.
人们习惯了我的沉默。
(5) He took his accustomed seat by the fire.
他坐在火炉边他常坐的位置上。
(6) You will soon get accustomed to the job.
你将会很快习惯这个工作的。
(7) I'm not quite accustomed to dry weather.
我对干燥的天气十分不习惯。
(8) The child was accustomed to having her way.
这不是我所习惯的那种待遇。
(9) GERMANY is accustomed to hung parliaments .
在德国，无多数议会的出现是习以为常。
(10) Her eyes quickly became accustomed to the dark.
她的眼睛很快适应了黑暗。