喬納森·斯威夫特/Jonathan Swift

This single stick, which you now behold ingloriously lying in that neglected corner, I once knew in a flourishing state in a forest. It was full of sap, full of leaves, and full of boughs, but now in vain does the busy art of man pretend to vie with nature by tying that withered bundle of twigs to its sapless trunk. It is now at best but the reverse of what it was: a tree turned upside down, the branches on the earth, and the root in the air. It is now handled by every dirty wench, condemned to do her drudgery, and by a capricious kind of fate destined to make other things clean and be nasty itself. At length, worn to the stumps in the service of the maids, it is either thrown out of doors or condemned to its last use of kindling a fire.

When I beheld this, I sighed and said within myself, surely mortal man is a broomstick: nature sent him into the world strong and lusty, in a thriving condition, wearing his own hair on his head, the proper branches of this reasoning vegetable, until the axe of intemperance has lopped off his green boughs and left him a withered trunk; he then flies to art, and puts on a periwig, valuing himself upon an unnatural bundle of hairs, all covered with powder, that never grew on his head. But now should this our broomstick pretend to enter the scene, proud of those birchen spoils it never bore, and all covered with dust, though the sweepings of the finest lady's chamber, we should be apt to ridicule and despise its vanity, partial judges that we are of our own excellencies and other men's defaults.

But a broomstick, perhaps, you will say, is an emblem of a tree standing on its head. And pray, what is man, but a topsy—turvy creature, his animal faculties perpetually mounted on his rational, his head where his heels should be, groveling on the earth? And yet with all his faults, he sets up to be a universal reformer and corrector of abuses, a remover of grievances; rakes into every slut's corner of nature, bringing hidden corruption to the light; and raises a mighty dust where there was none before, sharing deeply all the while in the very same pollutions he pretends to sweep away. His last days are spent in slavery to women, and generally the least deserving, till, worn out to the stumps, like his brother bezom, he is either kicked out of doors, or made use of to kindle flames for others to warm themselves by.

請看看這根掃把吧，它現(xiàn)在灰溜溜地躺在偏僻的角落，而以前我曾在樹林里碰見過它，那時(shí)它風(fēng)華正茂，汁液充沛，枝葉繁盛。如今它完全變了樣，卻還有人自作聰明，想靠人類的手工與大自然競爭，拿來一束枯枝捆在它那早已干癟的身上，結(jié)果枉費(fèi)心機(jī)，不過是顛倒了它原來的位置，使它枝干朝地，根梢朝天，成為一株頭朝下的樹，然后落在干臟活累活的女仆們的手里使用。從此它受盡命運(yùn)的擺布，把別人打掃干凈，而自己卻變得污穢不堪，在女仆們手里折騰多次之后，最后被扔出門外，或者作為引火的柴火被投進(jìn)火里。

目睹了這一切，我不禁嘆息一番，自言自語道：人不也是一根掃把嗎？當(dāng)大自然剛把他送到人間時(shí)，他強(qiáng)壯有力，精力充沛，滿頭黑發(fā)。如果把人比作一株有理性的植物，那就是枝繁葉茂。但是，沒過多久，酒色就如同一把斧子，砍掉了他的青枝綠葉，只留給他一根枯枝。于是他趕緊求助于人工，戴上撲滿香粉的假發(fā)，并以之為榮。要是我們這根掃把也這樣登場，因把一些別的枝條收集到身上而得意洋洋，其實(shí)這些枝條上盡是塵土，即使是最高貴的夫人房里的塵土，我們一定會(huì)笑它是如此虛榮吧！我們就是這種偏心的審判官，總愛找自己的優(yōu)點(diǎn)、別人的毛病！

或許你會(huì)說，一根掃把不過象征著一棵頭沖下的樹而已，那么請問：人又是什么？不也是一個(gè)顛倒的動(dòng)物嗎？他的獸性總是騎在理性的背上，他的頭去了腳應(yīng)該去的地方，總是在土里趴著。可是盡管有這么多毛病，他還自命為天下的改革家、除弊者和伸冤者，把手伸進(jìn)人世間每個(gè)藏污納垢的角落，掃出來一大堆從未暴露過的臟物，把原來干凈的地方弄得塵土滿天，非但沒掃走臟物，還把自己弄得滿身污垢。到了晚年，他又變成女人的奴隸，通常是一些最不堪的女人，直到他被折磨得只剩下一根枯枝，于是他也像他的掃把老弟一樣，或者被扔出門外，或者被拿來生火，聊以溫暖他人。

記憶填空

1.It was full of sap, full of____________, and full of boughs, but now in vain does the busy art of man pretend to vie with nature by____________that withered bundle of twigs to its sapless trunk. It is now at best____________the reverse of what it was: a tree turned upside down, the branches on the earth, and the____________in the air.

2.But now should this our broomstick pretend to____________the scene, proud of those birchen spoils it never bore, and all covered with____________, though the sweepings of the finest lady's chamber, we should be apt to ridicule and despise____________vanity, partial judges that we are____________our own excellencies and other men's defaults.

佳句翻譯

1.請看看這根掃把吧，它現(xiàn)在灰溜溜地躺在偏僻的角落，而以前我曾在樹林里碰見過它，那時(shí)它風(fēng)華正茂，汁液充沛，枝葉繁盛。

譯___________________________________________________

2.目睹了這一切，我不禁嘆息一番，自言自語道：人不也是一根掃把嗎？

譯___________________________________________________

3.或許你會(huì)說，一根掃把不過象征著一棵頭沖下的樹而已。

譯___________________________________________________

短語應(yīng)用

1.At length, worn to the stumps in the service of the maids...

at length：最后；終于；詳細(xì)地

造___________________________________________________

2....or made use of to kindle flames for others to warm themselves by.

make use of：利用

造___________________________________________________