Prologue to a Text_经典赏析

Prologue to a Text

文章来源：未知文章作者：enread 发布时间：2016-03-15 03:49 字体： [大中小]　进入论坛

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Prologue¹ to a Text

Clare Rossini

We humans once lived in the moment,

The moment being all there was. Stuffing our mouths

With berries, we collapsed² on the ground to make

An early forerunner³ of love. Then wind

Brought the stink⁴ of a predator's haunch, panic

Ensuing. How divine it must have seemed

When, at last, we had time to ponder clouds

As they built their chateaus. Grunts⁵ into words,

Words into the updraft of questions --

A miracle to carry the world

On the tongue: "world." Even the heart at last

Consigning itself to syllables⁶: Ah, thee....

The numbers tidying things up, the numbers

Knitting things to equations, the theorems

Proposing, revising, secreting⁷, each

Tool-in-theory awaiting our genius,

Our heartache, until damp and wood-colored,

This morning dawned, the smell of burning leaves

Drifting across my sepia mood,

Every doorway⁸ in the house yawning empty.

You, elsewhere, lift a screen in the air (Got it!)

Then send an image toward the chill

Draughts⁹ of space. It flickers¹⁰ through a satellite, free-

Falls back to the planet

-- Let's pause for a moment, behold¹¹ earth

Cloud-swaddled, gamboling around our star....

Somewhere in New Jersey¹², a tower corrals

Your cache of photons, beams them on

To the privacy of my circuits, which are roused

By your elation¹³: Check out this sunset,

Love! A finger to the warm flesh of glass,

And my screen goes bronze with a Roman dusk.

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收听单词发音

1 prologue
n.开场白，序言；开端，序幕
参考例句：
A poor wedding is a prologue to misery.不幸的婚姻是痛苦的开始。 The prologue to the novel is written in the form of a newspaper account.这本小说的序言是以报纸报道的形式写的。

2 collapsed
adj.倒塌的
参考例句：
Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。 The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

3 forerunner
n.前身，先驱（者），预兆，祖先
参考例句：
She is a forerunner of the modern women's movement.她是现代妇女运动的先驱。 Penicillin was the forerunner of modern antibiotics.青霉素是现代抗生素的先导。

4 stink
vi.发出恶臭；糟透，招人厌恶；n.恶臭
参考例句：
The stink of the rotten fish turned my stomach.腐烂的鱼臭味使我恶心。 The room has awful stink.那个房间散发着难闻的臭气。

5 grunts
（猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的第三人称单数 )；（指人）发出类似的哼声；咕哝着说；石鲈
参考例句：
With grunts of anguish Ogilvie eased his bulk to a sitting position. 奥格尔维苦恼地哼着，伸个懒腰坐了起来。 Linda fired twice A trio of Grunts assembling one mortar fell. 琳达击发两次。三个正在组装迫击炮的咕噜人倒下了。

6 syllables
n.音节( syllable的名词复数 )
参考例句：
a word with two syllables 双音节单词 'No. But I'll swear it was a name of two syllables.' “想不起。不过我可以发誓，它有两个音节。” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

7 secreting
v.（尤指动物或植物器官）分泌( secrete的现在分词 )；隐匿，隐藏
参考例句：
It is also an endocrine gland secreting at least two important hormones. 它也是一种内分泌腺，至少分泌二种重要的激素。来自辞典例句 And some calcite-secreting organisms also add magnesium to the mix. 有些分泌方解石的生物，会在分泌物中加入镁。来自互联网

8 doorway
n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径
参考例句：
They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。 Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。

9 draughts
n. <英>国际跳棋
参考例句：
Seal (up) the window to prevent draughts. 把窗户封起来以防风。 I will play at draughts with him. 我跟他下一盘棋吧！

10 flickers
电影制片业；（通常指灯光）闪烁，摇曳( flicker的名词复数 )
参考例句：
The fire flickers low. 炉火颤动欲灭。 A strange idea flickers in my mind. 一种奇怪的思想又在我脑中燃烧了。

11 behold
v.看，注视，看到
参考例句：
The industry of these little ants is wonderful to behold.这些小蚂蚁辛勤劳动的样子看上去真令人惊叹。 The sunrise at the seaside was quite a sight to behold.海滨日出真是个奇景。

12 jersey
n.运动衫
参考例句：
He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。 They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

13 elation
n.兴高采烈，洋洋得意
参考例句：
She showed her elation at having finally achieved her ambition.最终实现了抱负，她显得十分高兴。 His supporters have reacted to the news with elation.他的支持者听到那条消息后兴高采烈。

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