The Dilettante By edith Wharton It was on an impulse hardly need ing the arguments he found himself ad vancing in its favor, that Thursdale, on his way to the club, turned as usual into Mrs. Vervain's street The"as usual"was his own qual ification of the act; a convenient way of brid ging the interval -in days and other sequences - that lay between this visit and the last. It was characteristic of him that he instinctively excluded his call two days earlier. with Ruth gaynor, from the list of his visits to Mrs. Vervain: the special conditions attending it had made it no more like a visit to Mrs. Vervain than an engraved dinner invitation is like a personal letter. Yet it was to talk over his call with Miss gaynor that he was now returning to the scene of that episode and it was because Mrs Vervain could be trusted to handle the talking over as skilfully as the interview itself that, at her corner, he had felt the dilettante's irresistible crav ing 6 to take a last look at a work of art that was passing out of his possession On the whole, he knew no one better fitted to deal with the unexpected than Mrs Vervain?. She excelled in the rare art of taking things for granted, and Thursdale felt a pardonable pride in the thought that she owed her excellence to his training. Early in his career Thursdale had made the mistake, at the outset of his acquaintance with a lady, of telling her that he loved her and exacting the same avowal in return .The latter part of that episode had been like the long walk back from a picnic, when one has to carry all the crockery one has finished using: it was the last time Thursdale 1 The Dilettante:浅薄的涉猎者,半吊子 2.2 characteristic:特质,独有的品质 3.3 instinctively:本能,直觉地 4.‘ engraved:修饰的,雕饰的,故意安排的 5. 5 episode:一段经历,小插曲,片段 6.6 the dilettante's irresistible craving:半吊子艺术爱好者无法抵制的渴望 7.7 he knew no one better fitted to deal with the unexpected:他认为没有人可以更 好地处理他的背叛啦 8.8 pardonable:可原谅,可安慰的 9.9 at the outset of:从~一开始 10.0 exacting the same avowal in return:严格地要求得到同样的爱的回报 1l. II crockery:陶器,瓦器,碟盘
The Dilettante1 By Edith Wharton It was on an impulse hardly needing the arguments he found himself advancing in its favor, that Thursdale, on his way to the club, turned as usual into Mrs. Vervain's street. The "as usual" was his own qualification of the act; a convenient way of bridging the interval -- in days and other sequences -- that lay between this visit and the last. It was characteristic2 of him that he instinctively3 excluded his call two days earlier, with Ruth Gaynor, from the list of his visits to Mrs. Vervain: the special conditions attending it had made it no more like a visit to Mrs. Vervain than an engraved4 dinner invitation is like a personal letter. Yet it was to talk over his call with Miss Gaynor that he was now returning to the scene of that episode5 ; and it was because Mrs. Vervain could be trusted to handle the talking over as skilfully as the interview itself that, at her corner, he had felt the dilettante's irresistible craving6 to take a last look at a work of art that was passing out of his possession. On the whole, he knew no one better fitted to deal with the unexpected than Mrs. Vervain7 . She excelled in the rare art of taking things for granted, and Thursdale felt a pardonable8 pride in the thought that she owed her excellence to his training. Early in his career Thursdale had made the mistake, at the outset of9 his acquaintance with a lady, of telling her that he loved her and exacting the same avowal in return 10 . The latter part of that episode had been like the long walk back from a picnic, when one has to carry all the crockery11 one has finished using: it was the last time Thursdale 1. 1 The Dilettante：浅薄的涉猎者，半吊子 2. 2 characteristic：特质，独有的品质 3. 3 instinctively：本能，直觉地 4. 4 engraved：修饰的，雕饰的，故意安排的 5. 5 episode：一段经历，小插曲，片段 6. 6 the dilettante's irresistible craving：半吊子艺术爱好者无法抵制的渴望 7. 7 he knew no one better fitted to deal with the unexpected：他认为没有人可以更 好地处理他的背叛啦 8. 8 pardonable：可原谅，可安慰的 9. 9 at the outset of：从~一开始 10. 10 exacting the same avowal in return：严格地要求得到同样的爱的回报 11. 11 crockery：陶器，瓦器，碟盘
allowed himself to be encumbered with the debris of a feast 12 He thus entally learned that the privilege of loving her is one of the least favors that a charming woman can accord; and in seeking to avoid the pitfalls of sentiment he had developed a science of evasion in which the woman of the moment became a mere implement of the game. He owed a great deal of delicate enjoyment to the cultivation of this art. The perils from which it had been his refuge became naively harmless:w it possible that he who now took his easy way along the levels had once preferred to gasp on the raw heights of emotion? Youth is a high-colored season; but he had the satisfaction of feeling that he had entered earlier than most into that chiaroscuro of sensation where every half-tone has its value As a promoter of this pleasure no one he had known was comparable to Mrs Vervain. He had taught a good many women not to betray their feelings, but he had never before had such fine material to work in. She had been surprisingly crude when he first knew her; capable of making the most awkward inferences, of plunging through thin ice 4, of recklessly undressing her emotions; but she had acquired, under the discipline of his reticences and evasions 5, a skill almost perhaps more remarkable in that it involved keeping time with any tune he played and reading at sight some uncommonly difficult passages It had taken Thursdale seven years to form this fine talent; but the result justified the effort. At the crucial moment she had been perfect: her way of greeting Miss Gaynor had made him regret that he had announced his engagement by letter. It was an evasion that confessed a d ifficulty; a deviation 6 implying an obstacle, where by common consent, it was agreed to see none; it betrayed, in short, a lack of confidence in the completeness of his method It had been his pride never to put himself in position which had to be quitted, as it were, by the back door; but here, as he perceived, the main portals would have opened for him of their own accord. All this and much more. he read in the finished naturalness with which Mrs. Vervain had met Miss Gaynor. He had never seen a better piece of work: there was no over-eagerness no suspicious warmth, above all (and this gave her art the grace of a natural quality there were none of those damnable implications whereby a woman, in welcoming her friend,'s betrothed 8, may keep him on pins and needles while she laps the lady in complacency. So masterly a performance, indeed, hardly needed the offset of Miss 12.12 be encumbered with the debris of a feast:宴会后的残渣,锁物所限制 13.13 chiaroscuro of sensation:感官上的明暗对比法 14.14 of plunging through thin ice:肤浅的 15. 5 reticences and evasions:保守与托词 16.16 deviation:出轨,背叛 17.17 damnable implications whereby a woman:带来可怕的后果与影响 18.18 betrothed:未婚妻
ever allowed himself to be encumbered with the debris of a feast 12 He thus incidentally learned that the privilege of loving her is one of the least favors that a charming woman can accord; and in seeking to avoid the pitfalls of sentiment he had developed a science of evasion in which the woman of the moment became a mere implement of the game. He owed a great deal of delicate enjoyment to the cultivation of this art. The perils from which it had been his refuge became naively harmless: was it possible that he who now took his easy way along the levels had once preferred to gasp on the raw heights of emotion? Youth is a high-colored season; but he had the satisfaction of feeling that he had entered earlier than most into that chiar'oscuro of sensation 13where every half-tone has its value. As a promoter of this pleasure no one he had known was comparable to Mrs. Vervain. He had taught a good many women not to betray their feelings, but he had never before had such fine material to work in. She had been surprisingly crude when he first knew her; capable of making the most awkward inferences, of plunging through thin ice14, of recklessly undressing her emotions; but she had acquired, under the discipline of his reticences and evasions 15, a skill almost equal to his own, and perhaps more remarkable in that it involved keeping time with any tune he played and reading at sight some uncommonly difficult passages. It had taken Thursdale seven years to form this fine talent; but the result justified the effort. At the crucial moment she had been perfect: her way of greeting Miss Gaynor had made him regret that he had announced his engagement by letter. It was an evasion that confessed a difficulty; a deviation16 implying an obstacle, where, by common consent, it was agreed to see none; it betrayed, in short, a lack of confidence in the completeness of his method. It had been his pride never to put himself in a position which had to be quitted, as it were, by the back door; but here, as he perceived, the main portals would have opened for him of their own accord. All this, and much more, he read in the finished naturalness with which Mrs. Vervain had met Miss Gaynor. He had never seen a better piece of work: there was no over-eagerness, no suspicious warmth, above all (and this gave her art the grace of a natural quality) there were none of those damnable implications whereby a woman17, in welcoming her friend's betrothed18, may keep him on pins and needles while she laps the lady in complacency. So masterly a performance, indeed, hardly needed the offset of Miss 12. 12 be encumbered with the debris of a feast：宴会后的残渣，锁物所限制 13. 13 chiar'oscuro of sensation：感官上的明暗对比法 14. 14 of plunging through thin ice：肤浅的 15. 15 reticences and evasions：保守与托词 16. 16 deviation：出轨，背叛 17. 17 damnable implications whereby a woman：带来可怕的后果与影响 18. 18 betrothed：未婚妻
Gaynor's door-step wordsl9-"To be so kind to me, how she must have liked you! though he caught himself wishing it lay within the bounds of fitness to transmit them as a final tribute, to the one woman he knew who was unfail ingly certain to enjoy a good thing. It was perhaps the one drawback to his new situation that it might develop good things which it would be impossible to hand on to Margaret Vervain. 20 The fact that he had made the mistake of underrating 2I his friends powers, the consciousness that his writing must have betrayed his distrust of her efficiency, seemed an added reason for turning down her street instead of going on to the club He would show her that he knew how to value her he would ask her to achieve with him a feat infinitely rarer and more delicate than the one he had appeared to avoid Incidentally, he would also dispose of the interval of time before dinner: ever since he had seen Miss Gaynor off, an hour earlier, on her return journey to buffalo, he had been wondering how he should put in the rest of the afternoon. It was absurd, how he irL. Yes that was it the desire to talk about her was after all. at the bottom of his impulse to call on Mrs. Vervain It was absurd, if you like-but it was delightfully rejuvenating. He could recall the time when he had been afraid of being obvious: now he felt that this return to the primitive emotions might be as restorative as a holiday in the canad ian woods 3. and it was precisely by the girls candor, 24 her directness, her lack of complications, that he was taken. The sense that she might say something rash at any moment was positively exhilarating: if she had thrown her arms about him at the station he would not have given a thought to his crumpled dignity It surprised Thursdale to find what freshness of heart he brought to the adventure, and though his sense of irony prevented his ascribing his intactness to any conscious purpose, he could but rejoice in the fact that his sentimental economies had left him such a large surplus to draw upon Mrs. Vervain was at home -as usual. When one visits the cemetery one expects to find the angel on the tombstone, and it struck Thursdale as another proof of his 19.9 hardly needed the offset of Miss gaynor's door- step words:不需要任何上门道 歉的话来作为补偿 20.0 it would be impossible to hand on to Margaret Vervain:在 Vervain身上毫无 改造空间 21.2 underrating:低估 22.2 delightfully rejuvenating:充满欢乐的青春与活力 23.23 as restorative as a holiday in the Canad ian woods:那仿佛像是在加拿大度假 般令人神往解放 24.24 candor:真诚坦率 25.25 crumpled dignity:受损的自尊心
Gaynor's door-step words19 -- "To be so kind to me, how she must have liked you!" -- though he caught himself wishing it lay within the bounds of fitness to transmit them, as a final tribute, to the one woman he knew who was unfailingly certain to enjoy a good thing. It was perhaps the one drawback to his new situation that it might develop good things which it would be impossible to hand on to Margaret Vervain.20 The fact that he had made the mistake of underrating21 his friend's powers, the consciousness that his writing must have betrayed his distrust of her efficiency, seemed an added reason for turning down her street instead of going on to the club. He would show her that he knew how to value her; he would ask her to achieve with him a feat infinitely rarer and more delicate than the one he had appeared to avoid. Incidentally, he would also dispose of the interval of time before dinner: ever since he had seen Miss Gaynor off, an hour earlier, on her return journey to Buffalo, he had been wondering how he should put in the rest of the afternoon. It was absurd, how he missed the girl. . . . Yes, that was it; the desire to talk about her was, after all, at the bottom of his impulse to call on Mrs. Vervain! It was absurd, if you like -- but it was delightfully rejuvenating.22 He could recall the time when he had been afraid of being obvious: now he felt that this return to the primitive emotions might be as restorative as a holiday in the Canadian woods23 . And it was precisely by the girl's candor,24 her directness, her lack of complications, that he was taken. The sense that she might say something rash at any moment was positively exhilarating: if she had thrown her arms about him at the station he would not have given a thought to his crumpled dignity25 . It surprised Thursdale to find what freshness of heart he brought to the adventure; and though his sense of irony prevented his ascribing his intactness to any conscious purpose, he could but rejoice in the fact that his sentimental economies had left him such a large surplus to draw upon. Mrs. Vervain was at home -- as usual. When one visits the cemetery one expects to find the angel on the tombstone, and it struck Thursdale as another proof of his 19. 19 hardly needed the offset of Miss Gaynor's door-step words：不需要任何上门道 歉的话来作为补偿 20. 20 it would be impossible to hand on to Margaret Vervain.：在 Vervain 身上毫无 改造空间 21. 21 underrating：低估 22. 22 delightfully rejuvenating：充满欢乐的青春与活力 23. 23 as restorative as a holiday in the Canadian woods：那仿佛像是在加拿大度假 般令人神往解放。 24. 24 candor：真诚坦率 25. 25 crumpled dignity：受损的自尊心
friend's good taste that she had been in no undue haste to change her habits. 26The whole house appeared to count on his coming; the footman took his hat and overcoat as naturally as though there had been no lapse in his visits; and the drawing-room at loped him hat atmosphere of tacit intellig imparted to her very furniture It was a surprise that, in this general harmony of circumstances, Mrs. Vervain should herself sound the first false note You? " she exclaimed; and the book she held slipped from her hand It was crude, certainly; unless it were a touch of the finest art. The difficulty of classifying it disturbed Thursdale's balance Why not? he said, restoring the book. "Isn,'t it my hour? And as she made no answer, he added gently, " Unless it's some one else's? She laid the book aside and sank back into her chair. Mine, merely " she said I hope that doesn,'t mean that you're unwilling to share it? With you? By no means. You're welcome to my last crust He looked at her reproachfully 8"Do you call this the last? She smiled as he dropped into the seat across the hearth. " It's a way of giving it more flavor! He returned the smile. "a visit to you doesn ' t need such condiments. 29 She took this with just the right measure of retrospective.amusement Ah, but I want to put into this one a very special taste, "she confessed Her smile was so confident, so reassuring, that it lulled him into the imprudence of saying, " Why should you want it to be different from what was always so perfectly She hesitated. "Doesnt the fact that it's the last constitute a difference? The last -my last visit to you? "Oh, metaphorically 3l, I mean -there's a break in the continuity Decidedly, she was pressing too hard: unlearning his arts already! I don't recognize it, " he said Unless you make me -"he added, with a note that slightly stirred her attitude of languid attention She turned to him with grave eyes. You recognize no difference whatever? None -- except an added link in the chain 26.26 no undue haste to change her habits:并未过分着急改变他的习惯 27. enveloped him in:使他包裹在 28.2 reproachfully:责备地 29.29 condiments:调味剂 30.30 retrospective:怀旧的,重温的 31.3 I metaphorically:隐喻地
friend's good taste that she had been in no undue haste to change her habits.26 The whole house appeared to count on his coming; the footman took his hat and overcoat as naturally as though there had been no lapse in his visits; and the drawing-room at once enveloped him in27 that atmosphere of tacit intelligence which Mrs. Vervain imparted to her very furniture. It was a surprise that, in this general harmony of circumstances, Mrs. Vervain should herself sound the first false note. "You?" she exclaimed; and the book she held slipped from her hand. It was crude, certainly; unless it were a touch of the finest art. The difficulty of classifying it disturbed Thursdale's balance. "Why not?" he said, restoring the book. "Isn't it my hour?" And as she made no answer, he added gently, "Unless it's some one else's?" She laid the book aside and sank back into her chair. "Mine, merely," she said. "I hope that doesn't mean that you're unwilling to share it?" "With you? By no means. You're welcome to my last crust." He looked at her reproachfully. 28 "Do you call this the last?" She smiled as he dropped into the seat across the hearth. "It's a way of giving it more flavor!" He returned the smile. "A visit to you doesn't need such condiments.29 " She took this with just the right measure of retrospective30 amusement. "Ah, but I want to put into this one a very special taste," she confessed. Her smile was so confident, so reassuring, that it lulled him into the imprudence of saying, "Why should you want it to be different from what was always so perfectly right?" She hesitated. "Doesn't the fact that it's the last constitute a difference?" "The last -- my last visit to you?" "Oh, metaphorically31, I mean -- there's a break in the continuity." Decidedly, she was pressing too hard: unlearning his arts already! "I don't recognize it," he said. "Unless you make me --" he added, with a note that slightly stirred her attitude of languid attention. She turned to him with grave eyes. "You recognize no difference whatever?" "None -- except an added link in the chain." 26. 26 no undue haste to change her habits：并未过分着急改变他的习惯 27. 27enveloped him in：使他包裹在 28. 28reproachfully.：责备地 29. 29 condiments：调味剂 30. 30 retrospective：怀旧的，重温的 31. 31 metaphorically：隐喻地
"An added link? " In having one more thing to like you for -your letting Miss Gaynor see why I had already so many. He flattered himself that this turn had taken the least hint of from the phr Mrs. Vervain sank into her former easy pose. Was it that you came for? she sked almost gaily 'To talk to me about Miss Gaynor?, Chat was one If it To tell you how she talks about That will be very interesting --especially if you have seen her since her second visit to me "Her second visit? Thursdale pushed his chair back with a start and moved to another. She came to see you again? This morning, yes--by app pointment He continued to look at her blankly. 33"You sent for her i didn't have to she wrote and asked me last night. But no doubt you seen her since Thursdale sat silent. He was trying to se te his words from his thoughts but they still clung together inextricably. " I saw her off just now at the station And she didn,'t tell you that she had been here again? There was hardly time, I suppose - there were people about -"he floundered Ah. shell write. then He regained his composure. " Of course she'll write: very often, I hope. You know I' m absurdly in love, " he cried audaciously She tilted her head back, looking up at him as he leaned against the chimney-piece. He had leaned there so often that the attitude touched a pulse which set up a throbbing in her throat. Oh, my poor Thursdale! she murmured I suppose it's rather ridiculous, "he owned and as she remained silent, he added with a sudden break --"Or have you another reason for pitying me? Her answer was another question. "Have you been back to your rooms since you left her? Since i left her at the station? i came straight here Ah, yes- you could: there was no reason --"Her words passed into a silent Thursdale moved nervously nearer. "You said you had something to tell me? Perhaps I had better let her do so. There may be a letter at your rooms "A letter? What do you mean? A letter from her? What has happened? His paleness shook her, and she raised a hand of reassurance. " Nothing has 32 32 He flattered himself that this turn had taken the least hint of fatuity from the phrase:他满意的认为这次回答并没有那么愚昧 33.3 look at her blankly:茫然地看着他 34.34 floundered:错乱地
"An added link?" "In having one more thing to like you for -- your letting Miss Gaynor see why I had already so many." He flattered himself that this turn had taken the least hint of fatuity from the phrase32 . Mrs. Vervain sank into her former easy pose. "Was it that you came for?" she asked, almost gaily. "If it is necessary to have a reason -- that was one." "To talk to me about Miss Gaynor?" "To tell you how she talks about you." "That will be very interesting -- especially if you have seen her since her second visit to me." "Her second visit?" Thursdale pushed his chair back with a start and moved to another. "She came to see you again?" "This morning, yes -- by appointment." He continued to look at her blankly.33 "You sent for her?" "I didn't have to -- she wrote and asked me last night. But no doubt you have seen her since." Thursdale sat silent. He was trying to separate his words from his thoughts, but they still clung together inextricably. "I saw her off just now at the station." "And she didn't tell you that she had been here again?" "There was hardly time, I suppose -- there were people about --" he floundered34 "Ah, she'll write, then." He regained his composure. "Of course she'll write: very often, I hope. You know I'm absurdly in love," he cried audaciously. She tilted her head back, looking up at him as he leaned against the chimney-piece. He had leaned there so often that the attitude touched a pulse which set up a throbbing in her throat. "Oh, my poor Thursdale!" she murmured. "I suppose it's rather ridiculous," he owned; and as she remained silent, he added, with a sudden break --"Or have you another reason for pitying me?" Her answer was another question. "Have you been back to your rooms since you left her?" "Since I left her at the station? I came straight here." "Ah, yes -- you could : there was no reason --" Her words passed into a silent musing. Thursdale moved nervously nearer. "You said you had something to tell me?" "Perhaps I had better let her do so. There may be a letter at your rooms." "A letter? What do you mean? A letter from her ? What has happened?" His paleness shook her, and she raised a hand of reassurance. "Nothing has 32. 32 He flattered himself that this turn had taken the least hint of fatuity from the phrase：他满意的认为这次回答并没有那么愚昧 33. 33 look at her blankly.：茫然地看着他 34. 34 floundered：错乱地