新概念英语第三册lesson 49笔记

新概念英语 第三册 Lesson 49 The ideal servant （一）书本 It is a good thing my aunt Harriet died years ago. 我的姑妈哈丽特好多年前就去世了，这倒是件好事。 If she were alive today she would not be able to air her views on her favourite topic of conversation:domestic servants. 如果她活到今天，她将不能就她热衷的话题“佣人”发表意见了。 Aunt Harriet lived in that leisurely age when servants were employed to do housework. 哈丽特生活在一个悠闲的年代，家务事都由雇来的佣人代劳。 She had a huge,rambling country house called The Gables. 她在乡下有一幢巨大杂乱的房子，叫作“山墙庄园”。 She was sentimentally attached to this house,for even though it was far too big for her needs, 她对这幢房子在感情上难舍难分。房子实在太大了， she persisted in living there long after her husband s death. 但在丈夫去世多年后，她仍然执意长年住在那儿。 Before she grew old,Aunt Harriet used to entertain lavishly. 哈丽特姑妈年轻时，喜欢大摆宴席，招待宾客。 I often visited The Gables when I was boy. 我小时候常去“山墙庄园”作客。 No matter how many guests were present,the great house was always immaculate. 不管去多少宾客，大房子里总是收拾得干干净净。 The parquet floors shone like mirrors; 镶木地板洁如明镜， highly polished silver was displayed in gleaming glass cabinets; 擦得发亮的银器陈列在明亮的玻璃柜里， even my uncle s huge collection of books was kept miraculously free from dust. 连姑夫的大量藏书也保存得很好，奇迹般地一尘不染。 Aunt Harriet presided over an invisible army of servants that continuously scrubbed,cleaned,and polished. 哈丽特姑妈统率着一支看不见的佣人大军，他们不停地擦拭、清扫、刷洗。 She always referred to them as the shifting population, 她称这些佣人叫“流动人口”， for they came and went with such frequency that I never even got a chance to learn their names. 因为他们来匆匆，所以我甚至都没有机会知道他们的姓名。 Though my aunt pursued what was,in those days,an enlightened policy,in that she never allowed her domestic staff to work more than eight hours a day,she was extremely difficult to please. 姑妈待佣人在当时算是开明的，从来不让佣人每天工作超过8小时，但他们很难使她称心如意。 While she always criticized the fickleness of human nature, 她一方面总是批评人的本性朝三暮四， she carried on an unrelenting search for the ideal servant to the end of her days,even after she had been sadly disillusioned by Bessie. 另一方面她又持之以恒地寻找一个理想的佣人。即使在贝西大大地伤她的心之后，她还在找，一直到她死去。 Bessie worked for A