英语作文范文辞典4.doc

Scenery 自然景物The Sea大海The sea this truth must be confessed has no generosity. No display of manly qualities courage, hardihood, endurance, faithfulness has ever been known to touch its irresponsible consciousness of power. The ocean has the conscienceless temper of a savage autocrat spoiled by much adulation. He cannot brook the slightest appearance of defiance, and has remained the irreconcilable enemy of ships and men ever since ships and men had the unheard-off audacity to go afloat together in the face of his frown. From that day he has gone on swallowing up fleets and men without his resentment being glutted by the number of victims by so many wrecked ships and wrecked lives. Today, as ever, he is ready to beguile and betray. To smash and do drown the incorrigible optimism of men who, backed by the fidelity of ships, are trying to wrest from him the fortune of their house, the dominion of their world, or only a dole of food for their hunger. If not always in the hot mood to smash, he is always stealthily ready for a drowning. The most amazing wonder of the deep is its unfathomable cruelty.(from The Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad)generosity慷慨，仁慈hardihood大胆，刚毅savage野蛮的，蛮横的autocrat独裁者，专制君主adulation谄媚，奉承brook容忍，允许defiance反抗，反对irreconcilable难和解的，不可调和的audacity勇气，胆量，冒险resentment忿恨，不满glut满足，厌腻beguile迷惑smash粉碎，破坏incorrigible固执的，难以克服的wrest夺取，强占dominion统治，领地，范围dole少量的施舍unfathomable深不可测的，无底的，难解的Night夜Night has fallen over the country. Through the trees rises the red moon, and the stars are scarcely seen. In the vast shadow of night the coolness and the dews descend. I sit at the open window to enjoy them; and hear only the voice of the summer wind. Like black hulks, the shadows of the great trees ride at anchor on the billowy sea of grass. I cannot see the red and blue flowers, but I know that they are there. Far away in the meadow gleams the silver Charles. The tramp of horses hoofs sounds from the wooden bridge. Then all is still save the continuous wind of the summer night. Sometimes I know not if it be the wind or the sound of the neighboring sea. The village clock strikes; and I feel that I am not alone.How different it is in the city! It is late, and the crowd is gone. You step out upon the balcony, and lie in the very bosom of the cool, dewy night as if you folded her garments about you. Beneath lies the public walk with trees, like a fathomless, black away with some beloved spirit plunges, and floats are still burning up and down the long street. People go by with grotesque shadows, now foreshortened, and now lengthening away into the darkness and vanishing, while a new one springs up behind the walker, and seems to pass him revolving like the sail of a windmill. The iron gates of the part shut with a jangling clang. There are footsteps and loud voices; - a tumult; - a drunken brawl; - an alarm of fire; - then silence again. And now at length the city is asleep, and we can see the night. The belated moon looks over the roofs, and finds no one to welcome her. The moonlight is broken. It lies here and there in the squares, and the opening of the streets angular like blocks of white marble.(from Night by Nathanial Hawthorne)hulk大船billowy波浪起伏的tramp脚步声bosom胸怀，怀抱plunge投入，跃入beloved心爱的，热爱的clasp拥抱，抱紧grotesque奇形怪状的foreshortened缩短的revolve旋转，转动sail翼板windmill风车jangling叫嚷的，刺耳的clang（发出）铿锵声tumult吵闹，喧哗brawl吵架，吵闹angular角状的，尖的Valley at Sunset山谷夕照The set was setting, spilling gold light on the low western hills of Rathlin Island. A small boy walked jauntily along a hoof-printed path that wriggle between the folds of these hills and opened out into a crater-like valley on the cliff-top. Presently he stopped as if remembering something, then suddenly he left the path and began running up one of the hills. When he reached the top he was out of breath and stood watching streaks of light radiating from golden-edged clouds, the scene reminding him of a picture he had seen of the Transfiguration. A short distance below him was the cow standing at the edge of a reedy lake. Colm ran down to meet her vaving his stick in the air, and the wind rumbling in his ears made him give an exultant whoop which splashed upon the hills in a shower of echoed sound. A flock of gulls lying on the short grass near the lake rose up languidly, drifting like blown snowflakes over the rim of the cliff.The lake faced west and was fed by a stream, the drainings of the semi-circling hills. One side was open to the winds from the sea and in winter a little outlet trickled over the cliffs making a black vein in their gray sides. The boy lifted stones and began throwing them into the lake, weaving web after web on its calm surface. Then he skimmed the water with flat stones, some of them jumping the surface and coming to rest on the other side. He was delighted with himself and after listening to his echoing shouts of delighted he ran to fetch his cow. Gently he tapped her on the side and reluctantly she went towards the brown-mudded path that led out of the valley. The boy was about to throw a final stone into the lake when a bird flew low over his head, its neck astrain, and its orange-colored legs clear in the soft light. It was a wild duck. It circles the lake twice, thrice, coming lower each time and then with a nervous flapping of wing it skidded along the surface, its legs breaking the water into a series of silvery arcs. Its wings closed, it lit silently, gave a slight shiver, and began pecking indifferently at the water.(from The Wild Ducks Nest by Michael McLaverty)jauntily得意地，高兴地，欢快地hoof-printed有蹄印的wriggle蜿蜒而行fold山间褶皱crater-like象火山口的，中空而广圆的streak条纹，色线ready长满芦苇的rumble呼呼作响exultant兴高采烈的，狂喜的whoop（欢乐的）高喊，高呼languidly懒洋洋的，无精打采地rim边缘trickle滴，淌skim掠水而过，漂过astrain（作表语）用力伸直的，拉长的flapping振翼，拍翅are弧形peck啄食At the Dock码头边The stony shores ran away right and left in straight lines, enclosing a somber and rectangular pool. Brick walls rose high above the water soulless walls, staring through hundreds of windows as troubled and dull as the eyes of over-fed brutes. At their base monstrous iron cranes crouched, with chains hanging from their long necks, balancing cruel-looking hooks over the decks of lifeless ships. A noise of wheels rolling over stones, the thump of heavy things falling, the racket of feverish winches, the grinding of strained chains, floated on the air. Between high building the dust of all the continents soared in short flights; and a penetrating smell of perfumes and dirt, of spices and hides, of things costly and of many things filthy, pervaded the space, make for it an atmosphere precious and disgusting. The Narcissus came gently into her berth; the shadows of soulless walls fell upon her, the dust of all the continents leaped upon her sides, took possession of her in the name of the sordid earth. She had ceased to live.(from The Nigger of the Narcissus by Joseph Conrad)somber 昏暗的，阴沉的rectangular矩形的，长方形的soulless没有灵魂的，死气沉沉的crane起重机crouch蹲伏thump重击，砰然作响racket喧嚷，吵闹winch绞车，起货机grinding磨擦soar高飞，飘扬penetrating有穿透力的spice香料hide兽皮，皮革filthy污秽的，不洁的pervade充斥，弥漫berth泊位clamber攀爬sordid肮脏的，恶劣的A Wet Sunday in a Country Inn乡间客栈的一个阴雨星期天A wet Sunday in a country inn! Whoever has had the luck to experience one can alone judge of my situation.The rain pattered against the casements; the bells tolled for church with a melancholy sound. I went to the windows in quest of something to amuse the eye; but is seemed as if I had been placed completely out of the reach of all amusement. The windows of my bed-room looked out among tiled roofs and stacks of chimneys, while those of my sitting-room commanded a full view of the stable yard. I know of nothing more calculated to make a man sick of this world than a stable yard on a rainy day. The place was littered with wet straw had been kicked about by travelers and stable-boys. In one corner was a stagnant pool of water, surrounding an island of muck; there were several half-drowned fowls crowded together under a cart, among which was a miserable, crest-fallen cock, drenched out of all life and spirit; his drooping tail matted, as it were, into a single feather, along which the water trickled from his back; near the cart was a half dozing cow, chewing her cud, and standing patiently to be rained on, with wreaths of vapour rising from her reeking hide; a wall-eyed horse, tired of the loneliness of a stable, was poking his spectral head out of a window, with the rain dripping on it from the eaves; an unhappy cur, chained to a dog-house hard by, uttered something every now and then between a bark and yelp; a drab of a kitchen wench tramped backwards and forwards through the yard in patterns, looking as sulky as the weather itself; everything, in short, was comfortless and forlorn, excepting a crew of hardened ducks, assembled like boon companions round a puddle and making a riotous noise over their liquor.(by Washington Irving)patter发出嗒嗒声casement窗扉toll鸣钟，敲钟muck粪堆crest-fallen垂头丧气的drench淋透，湿透cud反刍的食物wreath螺旋形，涡状物reek冒水蒸气wall-eyed眼白特别大的，两眼珠向外斜视的poke探，伸cur杂种狗yelp犬吠wench女佣pattern木底鞋sulky郁郁不乐的，阴沉的riotous喧闹的，吵嚷的liquor烈酒Desert Plants沙漠植物This is the country of three seasons. From June to November it lies hot, still, and unbearable, sick with violent unrelieving storms; then on until April, chill, quiescent, drinking its scant rain and scanter snows; from April to the hot season again, blossoming, radiant, and seductive. These months are only approximate; later or earlier the rain-laden wind may drift up the water gate of the Colorado from the Gulf, and the land set its seasons by the rain.The desert floras shame us with their cheerful adaptations to the seasonal limitations. Their whole duty is to flower and fruit, and they do it hardly, or with tropical luxuriance, as the rain admits. It is recorded in the report of the Death Valley expedition that after a year of abundant rains, on the Colorado desert was found a specimen of Amaranthus ten feet high. A year later the same species in the same place matured in the drought at four inches. One hopes the land may breed like qualities in her human offspring, no tritely to “try”, but to do. Seldom does the desert herb attain the full stature of the type. Extreme aridity and extreme altitude have the same dwarfing effect, so that we find in the high Sierras and in Death Valley related species in miniature that reach a comely growth in mean temperatures. Very fertile are the desert plants in expedients to prevent evaporation, turning their foliage edge-wise toward the sun, growing silky hairs and helps them. It roll up dunes about the stocky stems, encompassing and protective, and above the dunes, which may be, as with the mesquite, three times as high as a man, the blossoming twigs flourish and bear fruit.(from The Land of Little Rain by Mary Hunter Austin)quiescent静止的，沉寂的seductive有吸引力的，诱人的flora植物群expedition考察，探险specimen标本，样品tritely陈腐地，陈旧地stature身材，身高dwarf使变矮miniature小型，微型物comely合适的，适宜的evaporation蒸发，水分散失foliage叶子exude流出，渗出viscid gum黏胶harry折磨，骚扰dune沙丘encompassing包容的，环绕mesquite牧豆树属植物scant缺乏的，不足的；限制，节省，减少blossom花，花开的状态；开花，兴旺，发展lade装载，装；舀出radiant发光的，辐射的tropical热带的，热情的luxuriance茂盛breed繁殖，教养，抚育offspring儿女，了孙，后代，产物herb药草，香草aridity干旱arid干旱的expedient有利的；权宜之计twig嫩枝，小枝，末梢；注意，了解A Night in the Open夜宿野外Night is a dead monotonous period under a roof; but in the open would it passes lightly, with its stars and dews and perfumes, and the hours are marked by changes in the face of Nature. What seems a kind of death to people choked between walls and curtains, is only light and living slumber to the man who sleep afield. All night long he can hear Nature breathing deeply and freely; even as she take her rest, she turns and smiles; and there is one stirring hour unknown to those who dwell in houses when a wakeful influence goes abroad over the sleeping hemisphere, and all the outdoor world are on their feet. It is then that the cock first crows, not this time to announce the dawn, but like a cheerful watchman speeding the course of night. Cattle awake on the meadows; sheep break their fast on dewy hillsides, and change to a new lair among the ferns; and houseless men, who have lain down with the fowls, open their dim eyes and behold the beauty of the night.(from Travels with a Donkey by Robert Louis Stevenson)torpid麻痹的，迟缓的，迟钝的，蛰伏的slothful偷懒的negligent疏忽的，粗心大意的afield离开（家乡），在战场上，在田野monotonous单调的，乏味的dew露水choke窒息，闷闭slumber睡眠dwell居住，寓于hemisphere半球，范围crow鸡啼lair兽穴，躲藏处fern蕨类植物behold看见，注视At Khartoum喀土穆剪影Many years have gone by since I first flew up the valley of the upper Nile, starting the journey at Khartoum, in the Sudan, and ending it nearly two thousand miles away, at the source of the river, in Uganda. I was a war correspondent at the time, on my way from one campaign, in the western desert of Egypt, to another, in Ethiopia. Even then, when planes did not fly nearly so high as they do today, there was not very much to be seen from the air except the endless desert and the meandering green and these I remember just as distinctly as one remembers the islands on a long ocean voyage.Before we started, we were held up for three or four days at Khartoum with engineer trouble. It was April, the hottest time of the year so hot, in fact that it was slightly painful just to touch the porcelain sides of your bathtub when you got up in the morning. A fearsome sandstorm known as a haboob was blowing, and it was only at the very end of the long, torpid day that the town woke up at last. Each evening, about an hour before the light began to fail, I used to walk down to the zoo with a book. The Khartoum Zoo is quite unlike any other zoo in the world. It lies on the left bank of the Blue Nile, just upstream from the point where the White Nile comes I from the southern Sudan, and it covers hardly more than two or three acres.The animals and the birds do not have that vacant and dispirited air that seems to overtake tropical creatures then they are transported to cold climates in the north. They have all been born here in this hothouse atmosphere, and many of them are not kept in cages; they simple roam about in their natural state, grazing on the grass and the bushes or wading in the pond. At the hour when I used to go to the zoo, there were hardly any visitors, and as I sat there reading, the zebras, the antelopes and many kinds of long-legged bird would gather around in a quiet and hesitating way that was something between curiosity and fear.(from The White Nile by Alan Moorehead)campaign战役，战斗meandering蜿蜒的，曲折的porcelain瓷的bathtub澡盆，浴缸torpid毫无生气的，不活泼的acre英亩vacant空虚的，茫然的dispirited垂头丧气，没有精神的overtake侵袭，压倒roam闲逛，溜达graze放牧，吃草wade涉水而过，在水中行走zebra斑马antelope羚羊The Way to Rainy Mountain雨山行Yellowstone, it seemed to me, was the top of the world, a region of deep lakes and dark timber, canyons and waterfalls. But, beautiful as it is, one might have the sense of confinement there. The skyline in all directions is close at hand, the high wall of the woods and deep cleavages of shade. There is a perfect freedom in the mountains, but it belongs to the eagle and the elk, the badger and the bear. The Kiowas re