Colonel Ludlow: Alfred! Stop mooning over Miss Finncannon and come in here. Samuel wants to know about the young calves¹ raised up in Cheyena. Come on, get in here.

Alfred: Please excuse my father. It makes him feel young and powerful to treat us like we're idiot children.

Colonel Ludlow: For this and all His countless² blessings³, may God's holy name be praised and blessed. Amen.

Alfred, Tristan, Samuel: Amen.

Tristan: Tell Father what you were saying about Vienna.

Colonel Ludlow: What's that?

Samuel: oh, it's the Kaiser. He won't stop them from annihilating⁴ Serbia.

Colonel Ludlow: Let's not talk about war at the table. Please.

Samuel: Susannah hears that all England is mobilizing. We're stuck out in the middle of nowhere while all this is going on.

Colonel Ludlow: Thank God for that.

Samuel: You wouldn't want us to evade⁵ our duty.

Colonel Ludlow: Wouldn't I?

Alfred: Father, with respect...

Susannah: Please excuse me for being late. I packed so carefully l couldn't find. Thank you.

All: Would you like some...

Colonel Ludlow: Dear Isabel, how strange to have a cultivated woman in the house again, and how intoxicating⁶. Indeed to have all three of my sons under my roof again fills me with such a deep, quiet satisfaction that l thank God.

妙语佳句，活学活用

1. Moon over somebody

从字面上看是“月光照耀某人”，不禁让人联想到“月出皎兮，皎人僚兮”这样的句子，实际上这个短语是“daydreaming or doing silly things”的意思。Alfred 对 Susannah 一见钟情，虽然他行为得体，不像 Tristan 那么放肆，他老爹还是一眼就看穿他的想法了。 我们再来看个例子：Don't moon over her anymore. 别再对那个女孩发梦了。

2. Kaiser

德国皇帝的称呼，也是神圣罗马帝国Holy Roman Empire (962-1806)皇帝和奥地利 (1806-1918)皇帝的称呼。

3. Serbia

塞尔维亚。1914年6月，奥匈帝国皇位继承人斐迪南被塞尔维亚族青年用手枪打死。7月28日，奥匈帝国以这件事为借口向塞尔维亚宣战，许多国家也相继卷入战争，终于导致第一次世界大战。奥匈帝国在德国支持下，决定乘机吞并塞尔维亚。这里 Samuel 指的就是这件事。

4. Stick out

Stick out 的本意是“伸出，探出，突出”，这里的Samuel的意思是他们被阻隔于战争之外。

注意不要把 stick out 和 stick it out 搞混了，后者是“坚持到底，忍受下去”的意思，比如“我不喜欢这门课，但是为了拿证书还是耐着性子学完了”就可以说成：I didn't like the course but I stick it out to get the certificate.

5. Evade our duty

“逃避我们的义务”的意思。这里 Samuel 用了duty 这个词，而不是 responsibility，目的是表明参战、拯救世界是“应尽的义务”。