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● never old enough to keep them：老人自觉岁月所余无多，心上如有未了之事，总希望在生前把它做掉。这种人可说是old enough to keep their resolutions了。可是普氏并不觉老之将至，也不想偿宿债，还宿愿。
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The refractory horse makes the most mettlesome charger. Prescott had a formidable will, and he had bridled and harnessed his indolent nature. Every morning, in the dead of winter, to wind himself up for the day, he mounted his horse and rode to Jamaica Plain, to see the sun rise from a certain hill. As for his blindness, which was never total, he made an advantage of it. One might have thought that blindness was a blessing. He could not read for more than ten minutes,—an hour or two a day at the best of times. And how could a blind man write a history, based on unpublished documents, in two or three foreign languages?
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● 第一句用现在时，表示一般情形。凡顽劣不驯（refractory）之马，如经名手训练，常成为最刚健之良驹（charger：战马，用以冲锋陷阵者）。
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● formidable will：坚强的意志。他用毅力驾御了自己懒惰的个性。bridled：替马装上羁勒。harnessed：替马装上马具，备驾车之用。indolent：习惯性的懒惰，怕吃力，喜悠闲。这里把他的个性比作一头马，所以可以bridled又可以harnessed。
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● in the dead of winter：是成语；三九严冬。dead作名词用，解作“死气沉沉的时候”。万籁寂静的深夜，可以译成at dead of night。to wind himself up：替自己“上发条”；振作精神，准备一天的工作。Jamaica Plain：波士顿附近的地名。这样一个懒得起床的人，冬晨居然能骑马到郊外山头看日出，精神自是不凡。
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● which was never total：盲虽盲，但从未完全失明。which代替blindness。As for his blindness：至于他的瞎眼吧……。made an advantage of it：他把短处转化成为长处；本来不利于自己的缺陷，反而转变成为对自己有利的优点。
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● One might have thought：我们几乎可以这么说；虚拟语气，隐含这么一个conditional clause，假如我们能够看见他这么用功的话。
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● a blessing：天赐恩典。
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● based on unpublished documents：他这部历史所根据的是些未经发表的文献（如书札、日记、手稿之类），这些东西是用两三种外国文字写成的。他双目不灵，一天顶多只能读上一两钟头的书，每读十分钟就要休息，他怎么能披阅这许多未经整理的原始史料，写出这么一部伟大的历史呢？
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He made his ears do the work of his eyes, with the aid of a friend and a sister and later of a competent secretary. Blindness had always favoured contemplative habits. Had not Malebranche closed his shutters in order to drive the sunlight out? Had not Democritus, as the legend said, blinded himself deliberately to stimulate his thinking? Blindness was good for invention, as many poets proved, from Homer to Milton. The blind were famous for their patience, especially for their feats of memory.
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● 他用耳代目——使耳朵做眼睛的工作。他是请人把书读给他听的，先是请一位朋友和自己的姊妹，以后又找到了一位很能干（competent）的秘书。of a competent secretary的of连前面的with the aid。
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● Blindness had always favoured…：从历史上看来，目盲非但不足为害，而且大有助于深思冥想的习惯。动词时态had favoured表示在普氏以前已经如此。
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● 接着用两句问话，这种句子形式虽为问句，事实上答案不言自明，在修辞学上称为rhetorical question，相当于中文的“反问”。
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● Nicolas de Malebranche（1638—1715）：法国哲学家。他总把百叶窗拉下，不让阳光进屋，免得周围景物，分了他用功的心（中国也有“十年目不窥园”的佳话）。
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● Democritus：纪元前四五世纪间的希腊哲学家。据古人传说（as the legend said），他故意（deliberately）把眼睛弄瞎，为的要激发自己的思想。
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● invention：这里不是指科学上的发明，而是文学家的想象。创造人物，制作故事。希腊大诗人荷马据说是个瞎子，密尔顿的《失乐园》等巨著都是在失明以后写成。许多诗人可以证明：目盲有益于文学创作。
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● The blind：瞎子，形容词作名词用，相当于the rich表示所有的富人。瞎子都以耐心出名，不会心浮气粗；他们的惊人的记忆力，尤为世人所乐道。feats：特殊技能，如力能扛鼎，百步穿杨，一目十行等。feats of memory：能记普通人所不能记的东西。
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Prescott taught himself to use a noctograph, by means of which, with the aid of an ivory stylus, pressing on a sheet of carbon-paper, he took his notes and wrote his manuscripts. The secretary copied the notes in a large, round hand, which Prescott was sometimes able to read. Meanwhile, he had learned to memorize, composing in his memory to such an extent that he could often carry in his mind as many as three chapters of one of his books, seventy-two pages of printed text. He could hold it there for several days, turning it over and over, remodelling every sentence. One chapter he thus remodelled sixteen times, before committing a word to paper.
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● noctograph：盲人用的写字机器，构造不详，想必是利用触觉代替视觉的。ivory stylus：象牙制的尖头笔。carbon-paper：复写纸。pressing on：加压力于其上，即“写”。took notes：记笔记。manuscripts：文稿。
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● large：字迹（hand）很大。round hand：圆形字体，笔划清楚，不倾不斜，各字母间都分开的。相当于中文的“正楷”，易于辨认，与“行书”（running hand）不同。sometimes：秘书把他的笔记这样清清楚楚地抄了下来，普氏还只是“有时”能读得出来而已，其目力之不济可想而知。
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● composing in his memory：用他的记忆来作文。写下的稿子自己不能读，如何能修改补正呢？只好把文章都记在脑子里。to such an extent that：普通人也有会拟“腹稿”的，可是比起普氏来，真是小巫之见大巫。普氏的拟腹稿，能够做到把好几十页书都记在脑筋里的“程度”。
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● 关于“记住”，这两句里用了两个动词，都值得称道。一个是carry：把一本书整整三章文章（排印起来要占七十二页之多）都“背”在脑筋里。还有一个字是hold：放在那里，牢记不忘。hold it的it，指那几章文章的“整体”。
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● turning it over and over：心里翻来覆去地想它。remodelling every sentence：腹稿未必妥当，句句都在脑筋里仔细地修改。remodelling所指，不单是更动几个字而已，硬是把句法都要彻底地改过。
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● committing a word to paper：写一个字在纸上。先是一字不落，想之又想，改之又改，然后再落笔。有一章他的腹稿改了十六次之多。committing有“付托”之意。
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His blindness had another effect. It increased the sensitivity that lay behind the judgments he conveyed—as an artist ought to convey them—by subtle modulations of tone and style. He spoke of the careless indifference with which men who would never abuse a dog crushed, without a thought, insects whose bodily agonies were imperceptible to the naked eye.
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