Prose
今天美文看点：第一篇，恋爱需要正能量，花前月下固然好，互相促进更为妙。第二篇，《双城记》梗概。第三篇，关于我们的脚的研究。
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A TALE OF TWO CITIES
* Charles Dickens1
双 城 记
〔英〕查尔斯·狄更斯
[1] On a cold November night, in the year 1775, the English mailcoach, on its way from London to Dover, was carrying among its passengers a Mr. Jarvis Lorry, a London banker of the well-known firm of Tellson & Co. As the coach stumbled along in the darkness, * there arose before him the vision of an emaciated figure with hair prematurely white.2
1775年11月一个寒冷的夜晚，一辆英国邮车正从伦敦驶往多佛。乘客中有一位先生名叫贾维斯·洛里，是伦敦有名的特尔森银行的经理。当邮车在黑暗中颠簸着前进时，他眼前总有一个头发过早变白的消瘦的幻影在晃动。
[2] About eighteen years before the story opens, * Doctor Manette, a prominent young physician of Paris, had suddenly disappeared.3 Everything was done to discover some trace of him, but in vain. The loss of her husband caused his wife such anguish that she resolved to bring up her little daughter * in ignorance of her father's fate,4 and when in two years she died she left little Lucie under the guardianship of Tellson & Co., to whose care Doctor Manette for many years had intrusted his financial affairs.
〔2〕大约在这个故事开始以前18年，巴黎一位卓越的年轻医生曼奈特突然失踪。尽管人们费尽心机，寻找他的下落，都毫无结果。他妻子因失去丈夫而痛苦万分。她决定不让小女儿知道她父亲的厄运，并在此情况下把她抚养成人。但两年后，她不幸去世，临终前她委托特尔森银行担任小露西的监护者，因多年来曼奈特医生的一切财务都是托付该银行经管的。
[3] Strange tidings concerning the doctor had just come from Paris, and Mr. Lorry was on his way to meet his ward and explain to her the facts of her early life. This was a duty from which the kindhearted banker shrank, and when he saw the slight, golden-haired girl who came to meet him his heart almost failed him; but his task was accomplished at last.
〔3〕从巴黎传来了有关这位医生的奇怪的消息。洛里先生这次就是去会见他受托监护的女孩，并向她说明她幼年时期的真实情况。这位心地善良的银行家很害怕担当这个责任；当他见到这位苗条的金发女郎来迎接他时，他几乎又失去了勇气，但他终于完成了这一任务。
[4] "And now," concluded Mr. Lorry, "your father has been found. He is alive, greatly changed, but alive. He has been taken to the house of a former servant in Paris, and we are going there. * I, to identify him, you to restore him to life and love."5
〔4〕洛里最后对她说：“现在已经找到你父亲了。他还活着，只是变化很厉害，但还活着。他已经被带到巴黎的一位以前的仆人家里。现在我们就要去那儿，我，去证实他的身分；你，去设法恢复他的活力和爱。”
[5] The servant that sheltered Doctor Manette was a man by the name of Defarge who, with his wife, kept a wine-shop in the obscure district of St. Antoine. The banker and Lucie were taken to an attic, where a haggard, white-haired man sat on a low bench, making shoes, * a wreck of a man oblivious of all around him.6
〔5〕收留和庇护曼奈特医生的仆人名叫迪法热，他和他妻子在偏僻的圣安东尼区开了一家酒店。这位银行家和露西被领到他家的阁楼上，在那儿，一个形容枯槁，满头白发的男人坐在一张矮凳上做鞋，这是一个身心受到极度摧残，对周围事物已完全失去记忆的人。
[6] Five years later, in the court-room of the * Old Bailey in London,7 a young Frenchman was on trial for his life. Near him sat an untidy looking individual by the name of Sydney Carton. With his eyes fixed on the ceiling, he was unobservant, apparently, of all that passed around him; but * it was he, who first noticing the extraordinary resemblance between the prisoner and himself, rescued Charles Darnay from the web of deceit which had been spun around him.8
〔6〕五年以后，，一个年轻的法国人正在接受生死攸关的审判。在他旁边坐着一位名叫西德尼·卡登的、看起来是个不修边幅的人。他的眼睛直盯着天花板，显然，他并不注意他周围发生的事情；但是就是他，首先注意到自己和那囚犯的相貌酷似以后，才把查尔斯·达尔内从缠绕着他的奸诈的罗网中拯救了出来。
[7] Between these two young men the striking resemblance was in outward appearance only. Charles Darnay was of noble birth; but his ancestors had for many years so cruelly oppressed the French peasantry that the name of Evremonde was hated and despised. Wholly unlike them in character, this last descendant of his race had given up his name and estate and had come to England as a private gentleman, eager to begin life anew.
〔7〕这两个年轻人只是在外表上极端相似。查尔斯·达尔内是贵族出身；但他的先辈们曾世世代代残酷地压榨过法国农民，因此埃弗尔蒙这一家族受到人们普遍的憎恨和鄙视。他作为这个家族的最后一名后裔，在品格方面却完全不同于他的那些先辈们，他放弃了他的家族的姓氏和财产，作为一个平民来到英国，并力图开始新的生活。
[8] Sydney Carton was a young English lawyer, brilliant in intellect, but steadily deteriorating through his life of dissipation, able to advise others, but unable to guide himself, * "conscious of the blight on him9 and resigning himself to let it eat him away."
〔8〕西德尼·卡登是一位年轻的英国律师，很有才华，但由于放荡成性，日益堕落；他能给别人提出忠告，但却不能控制自己的行为，他“意识到自己已病入膏肓，就任凭它把自己完全毁掉”。
[9] He and Darnay soon became frequent visitors at the small house in Soho Square, the home of Doctor Manette and his daughter. Through Lucie's care and devotion, the doctor had almost wholly recovered from the effects of his long imprisonment, and it was only in times of strong excitement that any trace of his past insanity could be detected. The sweet face of Lucie Manette soon won the hearts of both the young men, but * it was Darnay to whom she gave her love.10
〔9〕他和达尔内很快成为在索霍街区一栋小屋，即曼奈特医生和他女儿家的常客。经过露西的细心照料和无微不至的关怀，医生几乎已完全摆脱了他那长期的牢狱生活的阴影，只是在他非常激动的时刻，人们才会觉察到他过去精神错乱时的一些痕迹。露西·曼奈特的可爱的容貌使这两位年轻人都为之倾倒，但露西爱慕的只是达尔内。
[10] * And so that interview between Lucie and Sydney Carton has a pathos that wrings our hearts.11 He knew that even if his love could have been returned, it would have added only to his bitterness and sorrow, for he felt it would have been powerless to lift him from the slough of selfishness and sensuality that had engulfed him. But he could not resist this last sad confession of his love; and when she weeps at the sorrow of which she had been the innocent cause, he implores: "Do not weep, dear Miss Manette, the life I lead renders me unworthy of your pure love. My last supplication is this, think now and then that there is a man who would give his life to keep a life you love beside you."
〔10〕因此，露西和西德尼·卡登之间的会晤带有一种使我们感到揪心的凄楚的气氛。他知道即使他对她的爱得到了报答，也只会增添他的痛苦和悲愁，因为他感到这种报答无力把他从吞没了他的自私和情欲的泥沼中搭救出来。但他又无法克制自己，而终于悲伤地向她表白了自己的爱情，而这种表白也是他最后的一次。当她得知自己一直是他悲愁的根源而自己又一无所知时就哭了。他哀求她：“不要哭，亲爱的曼奈特小姐。我所过的生活使我不配享有你的纯洁的爱情。我最后的恳求是：请经常记住，有一个人为了让你所爱的人守在你的身旁愿意献出他自己的生命。”
[11] But dark days were to come. In the year 1789 the downtrodden French peasantry turned upon their oppressors. The streets of Paris were filled with crowds of people whose eager cry was for "blood". Madame Defarge no longer sat behind the counter of her small wineshop, silently knitting into her work the names of her hated enemies, but, * ax in hand and knife at her belt,12 headed a frenzied mob of women on to the Bastille. The French Revolution had actually begun.
〔11〕但是黑暗的日子来到了。1789年，被蹂躏的法国农民起来他们的压迫者。巴黎的街道挤满了人民，他们激动地呼喊着：“血债要用血来还”。迪法热夫人不再坐在小酒店柜台后面安静地把她所恨的敌人的名字用暗号一一织进她的毛线活里，而是手持斧头，腰插钢刀，带领一群狂热的妇女直奔巴士底狱。法国真正开始了。
[12] Madame Defarge was one of the leading spirits of the Revolution. Early in life she had seen her family fall victims to the tyranny and lust of the cruel nobility, and from that time her life had been devoted to revenge.
〔12〕迪法热夫人是这场的主要人物之一。，从那时起她就把自己的一生奉献给复仇的事业。
[13] Three years of crime and bloodshed passed, and in 1792 Mr. Jarvis Lorry and Charles Darnay landed in Paris, * the former to protect the French branch of Tellson & Co. and the latter to befriend an old family servant who had besought his help.13 * Not until they had set foot in Paris did they realize into what a caldron of fury they had plunged.14 Mr. Lorry, on account of his business relations, was allowed his freedom, but Darnay was hurried at once to the prison of La Force, there to await his trial. The reason given for this outrage was the new law for the arrest of all returning French emigrants, but the true cause was that he had been recognized as Charles Evremonde.
〔13〕腥风血雨的三年过去了。1792年，贾维斯·洛里先生和查尔斯·达尔内来到了巴黎，前者是来料理特尔森银行法国分行的业务，后者是来帮助一个曾向他求援的老家人的。他们进入巴黎以后，才认识到他们是投身于怎样一种群情激愤的犹如沸腾着的大锅里。洛里先生，依靠他在业务上的各种关系，还能自由行动；，在那儿等候审判。这次拘捕的公开理由是根据新法令规定，所有移居外国的法国人回国来都要被逮捕。但其真正原因却是他被认出来是查尔斯·埃弗尔蒙。
[14] These tidings soon reached London, and Doctor Manette, with his daughter Lucie, hastened to Paris, for he felt sure that his long confinement in the Bastille would win for him the sympathy of the French people and thus enable him to save his son-in-law. Days and months passed; and although the doctor succeeded in gaining a promise that Darnay's life should be spared, the latter was not allowed to leave his prison.
〔14〕这些消息很快传到了伦敦。曼奈特医生带着女儿露西赶往巴黎，因为他相信他在巴士底狱长期被监禁的经历会博得法国人民的同情，从而能有助于搭救他的女婿。随着时间一天天、一月月的流逝，虽然医生成功地获得了不处死达尔内的诺言，但却不容许他出狱。
[15] At last came the dreadful year of the Reign of Terror. The sympathy which at first had been given to Doctor Manette had become weakened through the influence of the bloodthirsty Madame Defarge. Also, * there had been found in the ruins of the Bastille a paper which contained Doctor Manette's account of his own abduction and imprisonment, and pronouncing a solemn curse upon the House of Evremonde and their descendants, who were declared to be the authors of his eighteen years of misery.15 Charles Darnay's doom was sealed. * "Back to the Conciergerie and death within twenty-four hours."16
〔15〕最后，出现了“”这可怕的一年。最初给予曼奈特医生的同情由于残忍的迪法热夫人的影响而变得微弱了。而且，在巴士底狱遗址中发现了一个文件，其中包括曼奈特医生关于自己如何被劫持和监禁的叙述以及对埃弗尔蒙家族及其后代的严肃的诅咒，并宣称他们就是他18年悲惨遭遇的罪魁祸首。于是，查尔斯的厄运就注定了。，24小时内处决”。
[16] * To Sydney Carton, who had followed his friends to Paris, came an inspiration.17 Did he not promise Lucie that he would die to save a life she loved? By bribery he gains admittance to the prison; Darnay is removed unconscious from the cell, and Carton sits down to await his fate.
〔16〕西德尼·卡登曾随其朋友之后来到了巴黎。他忽然灵机一动。他不是答应过露西为了拯救她所爱的人不惜牺牲自己吗？通过贿赂，。达尔内被麻醉失去知觉后被挪出牢房，而卡登就代替他坐下来，等待着他的末日来临。
[17] Along the Paris streets six tumbrels are carrying * the day's wine to La Guillotine.18 In the third car sits a young man with his hands bound. As the cries from the street arise against him, they only move him to a quiet smile as he shakes more loosely his hair about his face.
〔17〕沿着巴黎的街道，六辆押送死囚的囚车装载着当天去祭断头台的祭品。在第三辆囚车里坐着一个青年，他的手被捆绑着。当他听到街上有反对他的呼喊声时，只是平静地微微一笑，同时把头发摆动得更松散些以遮盖他的脸部。
[18] Crash! A head is held up, and the knitting women who are ranged about the scaffold count "One."
〔18〕啪！一个人头被举起来示众，排列在断头台附近的织着毛线活的妇女则嘴里数着“一个”。
[19] The third cart comes up, and the supposed Evremonde descends. His lips move, forming the words, "a life you love."
〔19〕第三辆囚车来了，被认为是埃弗尔蒙的人下了车。他的嘴蠕动了一下，低声说出这几个词：“你所爱的一个生命”。
[20] The murmuring of many voices, the upturning of many faces, then all flashes away.
〔20〕许多嘁嘁喳喳的嘈杂声，许多仰起的面孔，然后这一切都掠过去了。
"Twenty-three!"
“第二十三个！”
Excerpts from Plot Outlines of 101 Best Novels
节译自《101部最佳小说故事梗概》
Notes
1．狄更斯（1812—1870），是英国最伟大的批判现实主义作家，他的第一部小说《匹克威克外传》使他一举成名。之后，他又创作了不少优秀小说，其中《大卫·科波菲尔》、《雾都孤儿》和《双城记》等更是脍炙人口。《双城记》以法国资产阶级大为背景，。作者一方面同情曼奈特医生和农民们的悲惨遭遇，对贵族的残暴表现出强烈的憎恨，并预示着的不可避免；但另一方面又从人道主义出发，过分渲染的残酷性，攻击雅各宾专政，表现出一个资产阶级民主主义者的立场和观点。
2．这句是主语倒装语序。
3．曼奈特医生在被劫持前，曾被埃弗尔蒙家的仆人强行带去诊治两个年轻农民——姐弟二人：姐姐已发疯，弟弟被刺重伤。他们都命在旦夕。弟弟临死前告诉医生，他姐姐被这家贵族的少爷霸占了，他为了替姐姐报仇，潜入他家，被这贵族少爷刺伤。随后姐弟二人相继死去。埃弗尔蒙家为了防止走漏这一丑闻，又劫持了曼奈特医生，，如无大，他永远不会重见天日。
4．介词短语，修饰“daughter”。
5．I（和you）后省略了“am (are) going there”。
6．“a haggard, white-haired man”的同位语。
。
8．强调句型，强调主语“he”。
9．blight指卡登的放荡的堕落生活；联系前面的steadily deteriorating，故意译为“病入膏肓”。
10．强调句型，强调“Darnay”。
11．and为连词，起承上启下作用。
12．两个有主谓关系的独立结构，作状语用。
13．另外两个独立结构，“the former”和“to protect... Tellson & Co.”之间，“the latter”和“to befriend ... his help”之间为主谓关系。
14．为强调动作的时间性把时间状语从句放到句首的一种倒装句。
15．主谓倒装语句，主语是“a paper”。
16．该句只是用and连起来的两个部分谓语，叫单部句。主语和谓语动词都省略了。Conciergerie原为法语，意为“门房，看管房屋者的住所”，。
17．倒装句。
18．这是一种暗喻，把死囚犯比作供奉给断头台的酒，即祭品。
BBC新闻 - 脚趾之间: 奇妙的生态系统。
BBC News - Strange ecosystems between yourtoes.
BBC news - No matter how clean you are, aslight odour is almost inevitable, given the anatomy of our feet.
The average foot contains 600 sweat glandsper square centimetre – hundreds more than the armpits. They secrete anutritious soup of salts, glucose, vitamins, and amino acids that provides theperfect diet for a colony of bacteria. In return for the free lunch, thebacteria leave us with a cocktail of fatty acids that together give rise to thesignature musk.
There are so many bacteria living on ourfeet that microbiologists have had a hard time finding exactly which speciescause the stench, and where they live on the foot. James Reynolds at Loughborough University and colleagues recentlyattempted to answer this question by mapping out the populations on their ownfeet.
Corynebacteria, Micrococci,Propionibacteria, Betaproteobacteria andBrevibacteria stood out, but the biggest offender appeared to be Staphylococci.Tellingly, it always seemed to coincide with a particularly potent chemical,called isovaleric acid. What’s more, they were most common on the sole, ratherthan the top – with particular high numbers around the ball of the foot –perhaps explaining why these are the smelliest areas.
Eventually, these findings may pave theroad to a more fragrant future. “If we know what these compounds are and thespecies that produce them, we could make clothing that absorbs the smell orneutralises it,” says Reynolds. It could also lead to better deodorants.
The task will be tricky – alongside thesmelly bacteria, our feet harbour some potentially friendly organisms that actas gatekeepers against infection. But nature may already have some answers. Arecent Japanese study found that three chemicals commonly found in citrusfruits can help target the Staphylococcus bacteria without harming itsneighbours.
In some situations, foot odour is much moreserious than slight embarrassment, however – it might be a matter of life ordeath. Dutch scientist Bart Knols was one of the first to notice that certainspecies of malaria-carrying mosquitoes are attracted to the smells wafting fromour feet...Those hosting more Staphylococcus tend to be more attractive.Attempts to combat those bacteria could therefore offer some protection againstthe deadly disease.
Alternatively, the siren call of the odourcould be used to bait mosquito traps. One idea has been to bait traps with usedsocks; they seem to maintain their allure for at least 8 days after wear. Ifthat seems like a waste of good underwear, Knols has also found that Limburgercheese seems to do the trick.
考虑到我们双脚的解剖结构，不管你有多干净，有一点淡淡的体臭，几乎是不可避免的。
一般的脚，每平方厘米含有600个汗腺 - 比腋窝多出几百个。它们分泌出的“营养汤汁” - 含有盐、葡萄糖、维生素、氨基酸 - 为细菌群落提供了完美的食料。作为对免费午餐的回报，细菌留给了我们多种脂肪酸的“鸡尾酒” - 这些脂肪酸一起作用，就产生了独一无二的麝香味。
我们双脚上生活着如此众多的细菌，微生物学家实在难以发现，究竟是哪些种类细菌引起了臭味，它们又生活在脚的哪些部位。最近，拉夫堡大学的雷诺兹及其同事，试图通过绘制自己脚上的细菌群落地图来回答这一问题，
棒状杆菌、微球菌、丙酸杆菌、变形菌、短杆菌等最引人注目，但罪魁祸首当属葡萄球菌。非常显眼的是，它似乎总是和一种叫异戊酸的特别烈性的化学物相伴出现。此外，这些细菌在脚跟最常见，而不是脚面上 - 前脚掌周围的数量尤其多，这或许解释了为什么这些部位气味最难闻。
最终，这些发现可能为更加芳香的未来铺平了道路。“如果我们知道这些化合物是什么，产生这些化合物的细菌是什么种群，我们就能制造出可以吸收或中和脚臭的衣服，”雷诺兹说。这还可能导致更好的香体剂的问世。
这个任务很棘手 - 因为在气味难闻的细菌身边，我们的脚同样窝藏着一些可能是友好的微生物，它们是抗击感染的守门员。但自然可能已经有了一些答案。最近日本的一项研究发现，柑橘类水果中常见的三种化学物，可帮助专门清除葡萄球菌，同时又不会伤害其“左邻右舍”。
但在有些情况下，脚臭比小小的尴尬可要严重得多 - 它甚至可以是生死攸关的事。荷兰科学家诺尔斯是最先注意到这一现象的人之一- 他发现携带疟疾的某些蚊子会被我们脚上散发的气味所吸引...... 那些窝藏着越多葡萄球菌的脚，就越能吸引疟疾蚊。因此，设法对抗这类细菌，就可以提供针对致命疟疾的保护伞。
另外，脚臭发出的“迷魂呼唤”，或可用作捕蚊器的诱饵。有个想法，就是拿穿过的袜子放在“捕蚊器”里；袜子穿过后，似乎至少能维持8天的诱惑力。如果这对于优质袜子是暴殄天物的话，诺尔斯还发现，林堡牌奶酪似乎有异曲同工之妙。
(原文选自BBC新闻)