1705005143

1705005144 ● myrtles：桃金娘，其叶、花与浆果均可作为香料。laurels：月桂。lemons：柠檬，又是一种香味浓郁的树。box-tree：黄杨树。mountain vistas：山岭间的远景。wildly picturesque：粗犷而入画（形容vistas）。the Cordilleras：山脉名，在秘鲁，the Sierra Nevada是西班牙的山名（美国加利福尼亚州有大山，亦名Sierra Nevada）。

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1705005146 ● convent：修道院。深山古寺，幽谷钟声，普氏历史书中，偏多这种描写，无怪本文第一段中说本书的pageantry of picturesque detail可以满足美国人饥饿的想象力了。

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1705005148 ● A young man：即普氏。他生长在景色单调的波士顿，天空是阴沉沉的时候多，整年受着东风的鞭打（lashed）。这样一个人假如不在热带住过一阵子，得到很生动的印象，是不会有多大的想象力的，更不必说是描写风光旖旎的西班牙了。June-like months：他在Azores的时候是冬天，可是那里大约是四季如夏；虽在冬天，气候仍温暖如六月。

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1705005150 After his taste of the Azores, he returned to Boston. His friends rallied about him in his blindness and read to him aloud, six or eight hours at a time, especially the inseparable Ticknor, absorbed in the study of Spanish literature, on which he was lecturing at Harvard. Ticknor, to amuse him, read his lectures to him, three or four afternoons every week, along with his favorite classics and historical works and the old English romances.

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1705005152 ● rallied about him：集合在他的四周。普氏欧游之行，未能将双目医好，回国后朋友们帮助他，（rally除“集合”外，更有“支持”之意），读书给他听。inseparable：不可分离的，形影不离的（好朋友）。absorbed：（过去分词，形容Ticknor）专心致志于。Ticknor是哈佛大学西班牙文教授，前文已经说过。

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1705005154 ● his lectures：Ticknor在哈佛的讲稿。非但念自己的讲稿，而且把普氏所爱读的（his favorite的his恐是代表普氏）古典文学、历史名著以及英国古代英雄传奇都连带念给他听。

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1705005156 Prescott was reading for pleasure, with Ticknor’s Spanish library as his hunting-ground. He had in mind no scheme for a composition, but he was planning a literary career, for which he proposed to lay a firm foundation. English grammar first, as if he had never gone to school or college. For style, Sidney, Bacon, Browne and Milton. One hour a day for the Latin classics, Tacitus and Livy for elevation: he knew them by heart already, but this was a different matter. A year devoted to French, from Froissart to Chateaubriand. A year for Italian, another year for Spanish. There he paused, there he felt at home, too much at home to carry on with German. His eyes were not equal to the Gothic script.

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1705005158 ● reading for pleasure：为消遣而渎书，念着玩的。Spanish library：西班牙文的藏书。hunting-ground：打猎的场地。他不断地借阅Ticknor的藏书。

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1705005160 ● He had in mind no scheme=he had no scheme in mind。作者所以先说in mind，后说no scheme者，为的是使for a composition这个形容词短语可以紧跟着它所形容的名词scheme。composition所指，不仅是一篇作文，一本书亦可。动词compose是“写作”，composition就是“作品”。scheme：计划。a literary career：文学生涯，以文学为终身事业。既有志写作，不可不有准备，所以他想先扎好根基：筑好（lay）结实的基础。

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1705005162 ● English grammar first：此句为不完全句，前面所省掉的大约是He studied两字。普氏是哈佛大学毕业生，文学修养本来已经很深，（他的眼睛是在大学里弄坏的），可是现在先从英文语法学起，好像自己从来没有进过学校似的，把英文语法从头研究一遍。这种功夫，无非为他日后写作作准备。

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1705005164 ● style：文章风格。语法只教人文章的规范，真要写得好，还得精研名家的作品。普氏所精读的是四家的怍品：

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1705005166 Sir Philip Sidney（1554—1586）：伊利莎白时代作家。其Arcadia以辞藻华丽，想象丰富著称。Lord Bacon（1561—1626）：他的散文简洁老辣。Sir Thomas Browne（1605—1682）：十七世纪英国散文家，他在中国不大出名，但英国十九世纪散文家如Lamb等，受他的影响很深。他的文章风格可说是辞富理瞻，音调节奏之美，英国散文作家很少有比得上他的。Milton（1608—1674）：大诗人，但散文也有名，热情充沛，气势雄浑，为十七世纪一大名家。

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1705005168 ● Tacitus同Livy一样，也是罗马历史家，出世约比耶稣晚半个世纪。普氏精读这两家的作品，为的是求风格高超（elevation），不作庸俗语。其实这两家的作品，他早已熟读，可是以前读的时候，也许只注意事实的记录，现在是专从文章方面用功，两种用功方法完全不同，不可混为一谈也（this was a different matter）。

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1705005170 ● Chateaubriand（1768—1848）：法国作家，是浪漫运动的中坚人物之一。他的历史著作很能激发怀古的幽情。

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1705005172 ● paused：稍歇，不再往前继续研究别种文字。at home：有如鱼得水之乐。

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1705005174 ● Gothic script：哥德式字体。英文法文所用的都是罗马字体，近代德文书亦有用罗马字体印者，但普氏那时的德文书都用哥德式字体。所谓Goth原是日耳曼一种人种之名，其字体锋芒毕露而多曲折，没有罗马字体那样易于辨认。equal：力能对付，读来不吃力。

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1705005176 For a while, he thought of writing a history of Italian literature. But, no, an Italian subject would not be new: Sismondi had covered the ground too well. He wished for a theme that was new as well as great. Spanish history, if it was not unknown, had not been explored at its most vital point, the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella. Theirs was the momentous reign during which the scattered kingdoms were brought together, the age of the conquest of Naples, the founding of the Spanish Inquisition, the opening of the Western hemisphere. Thanks to the present government of Spain, the archives had been thrown open to Spanish scholars. They were busily publishing documents, chronicles, memoirs. But the decrepit kingdom, humbled by the loss of its foreign empire, rising from its ancient lethargy, was yet in too chaotic a state to foster any vigour of expression. Spain with all its historiographers, had not produced a master-mind who could assimilate for a greater purpose all these documents that had come to light.

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1705005178 ● Sismondi（1773—1842）：瑞士历史家。他的关于意大利文学的著作内容很是详尽（covered the ground too well），没有留下多少东西可供后人发挥的了。

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1705005180 ● theme：题材。他需要的是一个新颖的题材，可以发人所未发，而且是个大题目，可以大加发挥的。

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1705005182 ● its most vital point：最重要的一点。explored：研究。西班牙历史不算是个冷门（not unknown），可是这一段的历史却没有人写过。

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1705005184 ● Theirs=the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella。momentous：非常重要（的时期）。scattered kingdoms：西班牙本来分几个小国，现在是统一（brought together）了。Naples：意大利那时小国林立，所谓“城邦政治”是也。Naples是现代意大利的一个城市，在那时是一个小国，法国和西班牙为了争取该地的统治权，于1494年发生战争，西班牙先败后胜。Inquisition：异教裁判所。那时的西班牙虐待异教徒（包括犹太人和非正统的基督教徒）很是厉害。the Western hemisphere：西半球。哥伦布的探险是由Ferdinand and Isabella赞助成行的。新大陆于1492年发现。

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1705005186 ● the present government：普氏当时的西班牙政府。archives：档案。thrown open：打开。学者可以自由阅览抄录。

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1705005188 ● They指的是Spanish scholars。学者们整理结果，印行了很多有关十五世纪末叶和十六世纪初叶西班牙历史的文件，编年史和回忆录（情形好像近代吾国学者编印明清史档案一般）。

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1705005190 ● decrepit：衰弱的。到了十九世纪，西班牙国势削弱，殖民地纷纷独立，海外帝国因以丧失（loss of its foreign empire），备受屈辱（humbled），声威大落；虽然力图扫除积弊，奋发自新（lethargy：暮气），然而国势仍旧混乱（chaotic），不能培养（foster）创造伟大著作的生气活力。expression：表达，即文学写作。

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1705005192 ● historiographers：历史编著家，着重整理编订，和史学家（historians）有区别。master-mind：第一流的头脑。assimilate：吸收；它的宾语是documents。for a greater purpose：为了更大的目的；利用这些文献，写出一部巨著。come to light：（经学者整理后）重见天日。西班牙既然没有人动手写一部融会贯通可读可诵的历史书，只好由别国人来越俎代庖了。

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