美国语文第六册 第17期:大扫除(6)

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　　The result was, that he found the distemper to be incurable¹; 结果，他发现病异状无法治愈，

　　but after much study, he thought he had discovered a method to divert the evil he could not subdue². 经过下工夫研究后，他以为自己发现了一种能让他无法制服的魔鬼分心的方法。

　　For this purpose, he caused a small building, about twelve feet square, to be erected³ in his garden, 为此，他建了一幢很小的建筑物，有十二平方英尺，就伫立在他家花园里，

　　and furnished with some ordinary chairs and tables, and a few prints of the cheapest sort. 里面安置了几把正常尺寸的椅子和桌子，还有几幅很廉价的画。

　　His hope was, that when the whitewashing⁴ frenzy⁵ seized the females of his family, 他希望当粉刷房子这个极度冲动的念头攫住了他家女主人时，

　　they might repair to this apartment, and scrub, and scour⁶, and smear⁷ to their hearts' content; 她们能拿这个小建筑物作为发泄的出口，用力擦洗，擦亮和弄脏了她们的心爱之物，

　　and so spend the violence of the disease in this outpost, whilst he enjoyed himself in quiet at headquarters. 就这样病害导致的暴力在这个远离主宅的小屋里消耗殆尽了，而他则在主宅里悠然自得。

　　But the experiment did not answer his expectation. 然而，这个实验并不能满足他的期望。

　　It was impossible it should, since a principal part of the gratification consists in the lady's having an uncontrolled right to torment⁸ her husband at least once in every year; 由于这种满足的主要部分体现在女性握有无法遏制的每年至少一次折磨自己丈夫的权利，

　　to turn him out of doors, and take the reins⁹ of government into her own hands. 不可能将他关在门外，而将家中的大权统揽于自己手上。

　　There is a much better contrivance than this of the philosopher's; which is, to cover the walls of the house with paper. 还有比这种哲学上的思辨更好的变通之法；那就是用纸来糊墙。

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