每日英语词句《小妇人》06

大家知道Jo的写作后给出了自己的意见，审稿人的回信中有意见、家人们也有意见。

So, with Spartan firmness, the young authoress laid her first-born on her table, and chopped it up as ruthlessly as any ogre. In the hope of pleasing everyone, she took everyone's advice, and like the old man and his donkey in the fable suited nobody.

authoress【n】女作家

chop【v】砍；劈；切碎；剁碎

ruthless【adj】残酷无情的；残忍的

ogre【n】食人魔鬼；凶恶的人；可怕的人

the old man and his donkey 是一个童话故事，老人和他的儿子和驴，两人牵着驴走有人说他们为什么不骑驴，儿子坐上去又有人说他不照顾父亲，每次按照有些人的说法又会受到另一些人的否定

带着斯巴坦式的坚定，Jo把她的第一部作品放在桌子上，然后像魔鬼一样无情地把它撕碎。她希望能够取悦所有人，所以她听取所有人地意见，最后像童话老人和驴里一样谁也不能满足。

Jo按照大家的喜好调整了文章，最后发表出来了，得到了300美元，以及更多的称赞。可是收到的评论却两极分化，有的人不屑一顾，有人评价极高，Jo对被误解表示很苦恼。

Her family and friends administered comfort and commendation liberally. Yet it was a hard time for sensitive, high-spirited Jo, who meant so well and had apparently done so ill. But it did her good, for those whose opinion had real value gave her the critism which is an author's best education, and when the first soreness was over, she could laugh at her poor little book, yet believe in it still, and feel herself the wiser and stronger for the buffeting she had received.

administer【v】管理；执行；治理；使吃药；发出，表示

commendation【n】称赞；赞扬；赞许

liberally【adv】大方地；不受限制地；随意地

soreness【n】痛楚；伤处；溃疡

buffet【v】冲击；殴打；搏斗

Jo的家人和朋友们慷慨的表达了宽慰和赞许。尽管如此，对于敏感的、意气风发的Jo来说，也很难过，毕竟她满怀期望最后却得到这样的结果。但这也是有好处的，那些有价值的评论者的批评是对一个作家最好的教育，当最初的苦涩过去后，Jo就可以笑着对待第一次的作品，任然相信它，并且成为打击后的更机智更强壮的她自己。

"Not being a genius, like Keats, it won't kill me," she said stoutly, "and I've got the joke on my side, after all, for the parts that were taken straight out of real life are denounced as impossible and absurd, and the scenes that I made up out of my own silly head are pronounced `charmingly natural, tender, and true'. So I'll comfort myself with that, and when I'm ready, I'll up again and take another."

stout【adj】粗壮的；结实的；身体强壮的；坚定的，勇敢的

denounce【v】谴责；指责；告发

tender【adj】和善的；温柔的；亲切的

Jo坚定的说，不是一个像济慈一样的天才，也没什么大不了的，毕竟，我在这边也可以找到乐趣，取自现实生活的部分被指责说成是 不可能的和荒谬的，在自己脑袋里虚构的被宣称是非常自然、亲切又真实的。所以，这足够用来宽慰我自己了，当我准备好的时候，我将会继续奋起，创造新的一个作品。

chapter 27 结束