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Then when that was over, Jason and Sara sat in darkness where their bed had been, and it was colder than ever. The fire the kitchen table had made seemed wonderful to them…. But Sara trembled, again pressing her hard knees against her breast. All at once, without turning her head, she spoke.
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● that was over：那张厨房桌子也烧完了。
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● where their bed had been：一度是他们铺床的地方。他们的床是铺在火炉旁的地上的，现在被褥已经都搬了出去盖番茄秧了，床已不再存在。
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● the kitchen table had made：adjective clause形容fire，关系代名词省略。had made的时态，也是表示“不再存在”。
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“Jason…”
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A silence. But only for a moment.
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“Listen,” said her husband’s uncertain voice.
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They held very still, as before, with bent heads.
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Outside, as though it would exact something further from their lives, the whistle continued to blow.
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● 老夫妻俩从来没有开过口，现在忽然交谈起来了。是什么东西打破他们沉默的习惯的呢？Sara在一阵寒战之后，有什么话非说不可的呢？
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● They held very still之held是linking verb，相当于continued。still（安静）是predicate adjective。exact：问（他们）要。汽笛声已经把他们的衣服家具都要了去，现在又在吹了，好像再要向他们要什么似的。汽笛在吹，天气还要冷下去。番茄秧或者可以救活了，但是人呢？寒夜笛声，境界至为明净，然人世痛苦，似亦尽在几声长鸣之中。小说家之剪裁，至此已告结束。然文虽终局，意似尚有未尽焉。
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现代英文选评注 The Life And Work Of Professor Roy Millen米伦教授的生活与工作
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Robert Penn Warren (1905—1989)
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本文作者罗伯特·潘·华伦像这篇小说的主人公一样，是一位英文教授。他是美国肯塔基州人，写过小说、诗、传记和文学评论，最著名的作品是长篇小说《国王的人马》（All the King’s Men）（曾改编为电影，中文译名《当代奸雄》）。他的辈分比海明威、福克纳等稍晚（他们是二十年代成名的，他是三十年代成名的），但他已经是美国一个很重要的诗人和小说家了。本篇选自他的短篇小说集The Circus in the Attic（1948）。
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Professor Roy Millen had loved his wife devotedly, and now she was dead…. He made his plans to go abroad, to England, to work in the libraries there, as he and his wife had planned. It was what she should have him do, he told himself. And the book would be a kind of monument to her. He would dedicate the book to her. As he walked slowly back from the campus to his house in the late afternoons or early evenings of spring, he would try to compose the dedication, saying the words aloud to himself as he looked up at the paling, peach-colored sky beyond the newly leafed branches. He had decided to sail in June, as soon as he could leave after commencement.
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● 第一句和第二句之间，原文还有好几段（约有一千五百字），是他过去生活的回忆，主要讲他的妻子。作者口口声声地说他们的婚姻是如何美满，但他给我们的暗示是：这位教授的婚姻生活并不快乐，恐怕也没有什么爱情。他的妻子是系主任的女儿，本是一位三十岁出头的老小姐，他在初教大一英文的时候认识的。婚后很亲爱，她支配着他的生活。二十多年后，她死了，他更感觉到空虚，唯有继续写他的那部书。
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● 第一句had loved的时态表示是在他的妻子故世之前。devotedly：副词，由动词devote（奉献）的过去分词devoted（把自己奉献给）化成。
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● 第三句should have him do之间的have=cause to（使得），后随不定词do，should表示虚拟式。（假如她活着的话，“她该会使他这样做的”——到英国图书馆去研究。）
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● monument：纪念碑。他的书将用以纪念他的太太，好像是纪念碑，但并非真的是纪念碑，故云a kind of monument。dedicate：献。作家每将其书献给一个他所亲爱或尊敬的人，作为纪念。
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● campus：是个美国字，指大学范围内全部的场地。
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● the book would be…，He would dedicate…两句的would表示将来。he would try…的would表示他的习惯。那年夏天，每当黄昏薄暮，他慢慢步行回家的时候，“他总要……”。
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● compose：（在心里）拟（稿子）。dedication：（预备刊在卷首的）献词。paling：pale的现在分词，“颜色在淡下去”，形容sky。newly leafed：新长树叶的。嫩芽初绽，树叶新绿，是状“春”也，霞艳似桃，薄瞑徐合，是状“夕”也；用一介词beyond，则天在树外，红绿相映，夕阳春光，各得其所。如易beyond为and，则立刻化立体为平面，化图画为剪贴，文趣索然矣。
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● commencement：毕业典礼。sail：坐船去（英国）。
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