英语自考本科高级英语笔记-上册-Lesson_Ten

Lesson Ten The Tenth Man Words and Expressions

Text Explanation

1this one was very young, with inexperience even in the shape of his mustache…

他非常年轻，从他胡子的形状看，他很缺乏经验。

2…but the irony was overdone and the delivery that of an amateur actor.

但冷嘲做过了头，他说话的方式就像一个业余演员。

"delivery" means the way of speaking or performing in public.

"amateur" used as an adjective here means "poor, not good".

It means the delivery was the kind of an amateur actor.

3The whold scene was as unreal as a charade.

整个场面就像看手势猜字谜游戏那样虚假。

charade here has a double meaning: a piece of ridiculous pretence or absurd behaviour, and a game in which a one person acts the meaning of a word or phrase and the others have to guess what it is.

4Well, now you've to pay the hotel bill.

The speaker is trying to be humourous. It means they have to pay with their lives for the stay in the cell.

5This was just a line in his charade he couldn't sacrifice.

这是他矫饰时不能省略的一句话。

6The funeral rites will begin at seven tomorrow morning.

死刑将在明天早上七点执行。

7Charvel wondered for a moment what syllable had been acted…

查维尔忽然很想知道他打的手势是什么字。

8Unless it is thought that we should go by ages - the oldest first.

除非按年龄决定，最老的先去死。

To go by means to act according to

9It's the way of nature.

这是自然规律。

10Why should the married get off?

为什么结婚的人就可以躲避惩罚呢？

to get off means to avoid punishment, misfortune, loss, etc.

11…as the owner of time he was bound to be the next victim.

…as the owner of the watch he was bound to be the next victim to be shot because many watch owner in the cell had been shot, their watches looted by the Germans.

be bound to: certain to, obliged to 一定，必须

They are bound to take their son to the park every weekend.

12This isn't the last draw we shall have…

这并不是我们最后一次抽签，即以后德国人还会要我们自己决定下一批谁该去死。

13Picture to yourselves what it will be like in this cell if we have a privileged class - the ones who are left to the end.

你们自己想想，如果我们有一个特权阶级－由于种种原因没被选去枪毙而活到最后的人，这个牢房里将会怎样？

a privileged class refers to those people who, because of various reasons, enjoyed the privilege of not being chosen to be

shot dead, and would therefor remain alive till the end.

14We shall be left out of your fear…

You don't have to worry.你们不必担心。

We shall be left out of your fear that we are the privileged class.

15But if the taxes were levied like this…

The implied meaning is it would be most outrageous and unfair if the taxes were levied like this.

16and make careful excavations as though he had one particular scrap of paper in mind.

他用手在鞋子里小心地掏，就像是要掏到他心里想要的那张。

17This is it.

就这张了。

When you say "This is it." you mean that something you expected to happen actually happens, or that you have reached an important point in a situation.

18He sat down and felt for a cigarette.

他坐下开始找烟。

He sat down and began to search for a cigarette with the fingers without looking.

19The chances had suddenly grown in his favour from ten to one to fourteen to one

抽中死签的可能性突然变得对他有利，从十比一变成了十四比一。

in somebody's favor: to the advantage of somebody 对…有利

The new exchange rate is in our country's favor.

20…any mark of pleasure was taboo…

Any expression of pleasure must be avoided, because the first man had drawn one of the marked lots.

任何高兴的表示都要避免。

21…one couldn't mock the condemned man by any sign of relief.

没有人用得到宽慰的表示来使将要被枪毙的人失望。

A condemned man is one who is going to be punished by death.

22Again a dull disquiet extended its empire over Chavel's chest.

查维尔心中充满了一种隐隐约约的不安。

23…he said with a thin undecied smile.

他带着淡淡的，犹豫不决的微笑说

undecied, because he couldn't decide whether he should smil or not.

24He only wanted someone to make a move and break up the table.

他只希望有人能采取行动来结束这场游戏。

Here "table" is used to indicate the game. "breadk up the table" means "end the game".

25 a scrap of writing

a small piece of writing

26From that point the odds seemed to move toward Chavel with a dreadful inevitability.

从那时开始，死签对于查维尔来说越来越可怕，越来越不可避免。

The odds against him seemed to move toward Chavel with a dreadful, inevitable consequence of drawing the death lot.

27They were like a pointing finger.

They (refering to odds) were pointing at him as if to indicate that he was going to be the next victim.

他们好像用手指着他，说他就是下一个牺牲者。

28…they seemed to Chavel to have some inner information - to know that he was the one.

在查维尔看来，他们好像都有内部消息，知道他就是抽死签的人。

"that he was the one" means " he was the one to draw the third slip of paper marked with a cross".

29that this one had been willed on him by his companions…

这个签是他的同伴的意志强加给他的。

That this one had been forced on him by his companions silent exertion of the will.

30…he belonged to an unaccountable class…

他属于一个无法理解的阶级。

To the common people Chavel belonged to a class that is difficult or even impossible to explain and understand.

31…just as a traveler stepping off the liner at a foreign port for luncheon sums up a nation's character forever in the wily businessman who happens to share the table with him.

就像一个旅游者从轮船上下来，到一个外国港口吃午饭，从一个碰巧与他同桌的商人身上总结出一国国民的性格。

sum up: express briefly, form a judgement 总结

At the end of the class, the teacher summed up the key points.

32We are quite indifferent as to which three.

indifferent: have no interest, not caring for

indifferent to: 对...不感兴趣，漠不关心

He is quite indifferent to the picnic this time.

33We see through that.

see through: not be deceived by 看穿

The parents saw through what the child thought.

34I want you to hold this watch for me in case…

in case: in the event of 万一

You'd better take the umbrella with you in case it rains.

35and a sense of grievance nagged at his mind

一种怨恨感困扰着他。

nag at: find fault, worry or annoy by scolding 不断地挑剔，恼人His wife nagged at him all day long.

The noise kept nagging at me.

36I never consented to the draw.

consent to: give agreement or permission 同意，允许

Her parents didn't consent to the marriage.