Goodbye，Mr. Chips 读书笔记第2章

第二章

内容提要：

这一章，先描写了Brookfield的ups and downs，到现在沦为一所“很好的二流学校”。然后行云流水地讲了Chips在Brookfield任职的始终。从一开始雄心勃勃的年轻人，到后来认清自己学历平凡又没什么社会关系，终于安于现状。熬到年老退休，他已经成为了Brookfield的化身。

语言点：

Across the road behind a rampart of ancient elms lay Brookfield, russet under its autumn mantle of creeper.

倒装句，...lies... “在...地方，坐落着...” 

a rampart of ancient elms 古老的榆树形成的围墙，好生动！

后面这半句，还是修饰Brookfield的，一个倒装，感觉这句前后平衡，今天讲课的时候，Eric说英语里面，当中间不是黄金位置，所以这里把描写分别放在前面和后面，更能凸显出来吧。

russet under its autumn mantle of creeper 在它的藤蔓秋装的装点下，呈现出好看的红褐色。

mantle是个很文学色彩的词，比如白雪覆盖的山峦，可以说hills with a mantle of snow

It was the sort of school which, when mentioned, would sometimes make snobbish people confess that they rather thought they had heard of it.

这句很有意思，多谢群里的桂灰灰同学指点。非常形象得说明了Brookfield的地位，并不是多顶级的名校，但是也是一所还不错的大学，以至于一些“装X”的人会假装附和着说听说过。

Not that he was boastful or conceited, but he had been, in his early twenties, as ambitious as most other young men at such an age.

这个句型很实用，要是我写的话，估计就会写，It was not because he was... but because...及重复又没有亮点。。

His dream had been to get a headship eventually, or at any rate, a senior mastership in a really first-class school.

at any rate 词典里面有三个含义，这里面是“至少”的意思。他的梦想是当校长，或者至少也得是一流学校的高级教师吧。

另外两个意思是

“不管怎么说” That's one good piece of news at any rate.

（强调下文）“反正” There were 60 or maybe 70 people there. At any rate, the room was packed.

...he began to recognize that the odds were heavily against his being able to better himself by moving else where; but about that time also, the possibility of staying where he was began to fill a comfortable niche in his mind.

这句里面的三个小词，特别好。

odds，几率的意思，之前在每日一词prevail那篇的参考答案里面学到的

“Despite the great odds, true love always prevail.”

几率大是 the odds are in 谁谁谁的 favour

几率小是 the odds are agains 谁谁谁

better多熟悉的一个词呀，但是这里是动词，better oneself (通过教育、更好的工作等)改进社会地位，上进。

niche 舒适或称心的工作（或生活等） He eventually found his niche in digital publishing.

At forty, he was rooted, settled and quite happy. At fifty, he was the doyen of the staff. At sixty, under a new and youthful Head, he was Brookfield...

这也算是英文里面的排比吧？at几岁，he was什么什么。哈哈，感觉特别简洁，就把40，50，60岁给描写完了。而且递进的关系特别明显，四十岁在哪里扎根安于现状，五十岁成为了元老级人物，六十岁他就“是”Brookfield了，最后这个“was”，不仅跟前面成排比，而且特别贴切的形容了六十岁的Chips在Brookfield的地位，下文还对此做出了解释。

这篇的结尾留了悬念↓

...there was more to come, an unguessed epilogue, an encore played to a tragic audience.

因为还没有读完，所以真的很好奇是什么事情要发生。

这篇没有Eric带，自己发现不了自己语音的弱点。。。明天再听一下音频检验一下吧。。