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● bear：忍受。
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● assembled：到齐了。bureau：有抽屉之写字台（英国用法；此字在美国作“衣柜”解，毛姆为英人，故此外采用英国解释）。parlour：普通住宅之起居室，兼作会客之用。（正式会客室为drawing room，大抵华丽住宅中始有之。）
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The party seated themselves in the dining-room and with the words: “Now, gentlemen,” Kant set to. The meal was substantial. It was the only one he ate in the day, and consisted of soup, dried pulse with fish, roast, cheese to end with and fruit when in season. Before each guest was placed a pint bottle of red wine and a pint bottle of white so that he could drink whichever he liked.
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● set to：开始，发动。这里当然是开始用膳，相当于中文的“动筷”。
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● the only one=the only meal：一天就吃这么一顿。早晨他单喝淡茶抽板烟，前面已经说过了。
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● pulse：豆类（黄豆、豌豆、蚕豆等，凡是可当饭菜吃的豆都可用这个字）。roast：烤肉。cheese to end with：末道菜是干酪。in season：时鲜的。pint bottle：可容一品脱之瓶。（按pint之i读长音/ai/，为液体之容量，中国人饮牛奶常以“磅”为单位，其实所谓半磅牛奶即是半pint。）wine：葡萄酒。客人面前红白葡萄酒各置一瓶，听凭自择。
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Kant was fond of talking, but preferred to talk alone, and if interrupted or contradicted was apt to show displeasure; his conversation, however, was so agreeable that none minded if he monopolized it. He would also tell humorous stories, of which he had a rich supply and which he told uncommonly well, so, he said, “that the repast may end with laughter, which is calculated to promote digestion.”
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● if interrupted or contradicted：他的话假如给人打断了，或是给人驳回去了。was apt to的主语是句首的Kant。displeasure：不悦之色。
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● agreeable：可喜，有趣。monopolized：独占；后随的it代表conversation。即使他一个人发言，不容别人插嘴，别人也不会见怪（minded）。
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● of which he had a rich supply：他的笑话储藏很多。
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● so, he said, “that…“中之he said是插句，so跟着后面的that一起走。repast=meal。calculated：预计可以（有某种结果）。to promote digestion：帮助消化。
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He liked to linger over dinner and the guests did not rise from table till late. He would not sit down after they had left in case he fell asleep, and this he would not permit himself to do since he was of opinion that sleep should be enjoyed sparingly, for thus time was saved and so life lengthened. He set out on his afternoon walk.
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● linger：留恋不走。
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● in case常作if解，这里解作lest（唯恐）。
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● this he would not permit himself to do：他决不容许自己这样做（午睡）。this是to do的宾语。was of opinion：主张。sparingly：俭省地。saved：节省，睡得少，时间就节省下来了；每天节省一个钟头，就好像多活了一个钟头，所以说生命也延长了。午饭后他出门散步。
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He was a little man, barely five feet tall, with a narrow chest and one shoulder higher than the other, and he was thin almost to emaciation. He had a crooked nose, but a fine brow and his colour was fresh. His eyes, though small, were blue, lively and penetrating. He was natty in his dress. He wore a small blond wig, a black tie, and a shirt with ruffles round the throat and wrists; a coat, breeches and waistcoat of fine cloth, gray silk stockings and shoes with silver buckles. He carried his three-cornered hat under his arm and in his hand a goldheaded cane. He walked every day, rain or fine, for exactly one hour, but if the weather was threatening, his servant walked behind him with a big umbrella.
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● barely：刚刚够；只有。chest：胸膛。thin：瘦；emaciation：极瘦；介词to表示瘦的程度；瘦得几乎只剩皮包骨。
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● crooked：曲的。brow：额；此字亦解作“眉”，但用作“眉”时，常作复数形式（加s）。colour：肤色，气色。
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● penetrating：锐利。
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● natty：整洁。blond：金色（毛发）；wig：假发，十八世纪欧洲男人戴假发，为一时风尚。ruffles：衣服边缘之成绉褶状者。wrists：手腕。cloth：任何织物，不单指“布”一种。buckles：（用以拴带子之）扣子。
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● 本段前五句都是描写康德的仪表，上一段不是刚说到他饭后出去散步吗？怎么会插这几句进去呢？看到第六句：“他把三角帽挟在胁下，手提金头手杖”，才知道前面五句出现得并不突兀。康德的散步在他的平淡规律的生活中，是一件大事，所以作者亦极力描写。与其单独地描写他的状貌服饰，不如拿来同他的散步联在一起写。他饭后出去散步——康德在散步的时候是怎么样的一个人呢？于是说到他的身材、仪容、身上脚下的打扮，胁下挟的是什么，手里拿的是什么等等。这么一来，文字就更生动。我们读到的不是一个静的康德，而是一个动的康德了。
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● threatening：有雨意；风云变幻莫测。threaten原作“威胁”解，但请读者注意英文threaten的用法比中文“威胁”来得广。
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The only occasion on which he is known to have omitted his walk is when he received Rousseau’s Emile and then, unable to tear himself away from it, he remained indoors for three days. He walked very slowly because he thought it was bad for him to sweat, and alone because he had formed the habit of breathing through his nostrils, since thus he thought to avoid catching cold and, had he had a companion with whom courtesy would oblige him to speak, he would have been constrained to breathe through his mouth.
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● 康德的散步，数十年如一日，风雨无间，寒暑不辍，据说只有一次，他收到了一本卢梭（Jean Jacques Rousseau，1712—1778）的《爱弥尔》（卢梭自叙教育理想的一部小说，1762年出版），读得不忍释手，三天没有出门，因此破例没有散步。tear：撕，扯；书把他吸引住了，撕都撕不开，其吸引力之强可想。
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● 第二句稍长，但句法仍十分干净。He walked后接副词slowly（他怕出汗sweat，故步子很慢），又接形容词alone（形容主词是predicate adjective），该句主干实仅是He walked slowly and he walked alone而已。alone一字放在这里，可称险绝，然而脚头站得很稳，丝毫摇撼不动，作者炼句，实见功夫。alone离开它所形容的主语He，已经隔了十几个字，后面又引起四十几个字来说明何以alone，这样一个字，假如用得不得法，很可能变得无靠无依，交代不清。但是这一句的层次依旧很清楚，我们读到alone的时候，自然会大大地换一口气，聚精会神地且看作者在because以后耍些什么花样出来。
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