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Butchers

文章来源：未知文章作者：enread 发布时间：2012-11-07 02:40 字体： [大中小]　进入论坛

(单词翻译:双击或拖选)

Butchers

C. K. Williams

Thank goodness we were able to wipe the Neanderthals out, beastly（野蛮的） things,

from our mountains, our tundra（苔原）—that way we had all the meat we might need.

Thus the butcher can display under our eyes his scrubbed（精制的） hands on the block,

and never refer to the rooms hidden behind where dissections（解剖） are effected,

where flesh is reduced to its shivering atoms and remade for our delectation

as cubes, cylinders¹, barely material puddles² of admixtured horror and blood.

Rembrandt knew of all this—isn't his flayed³ beef carcass really a caveman?

It's Christ also, of course, but much more a troglodyte⁴（类人猿） such as we no longer are.

Vanished those species—begone!—those tribes, those peoples, those nations—

Myrmidon, Ottoman, Olmec, Huron, and Kush: gone, gone, and goodbye.

But back to the chamber⁵ of torture, to Rembrandt, who was telling us surely

that hoisted⁶（升起，举起） with such cables and hung from such hooks we too would reveal

within us intricate layerings of color and pain: alive the brush is with pain,

aglow with the cruelties of crimson⁷（深红色）, the cooled, oblivious⁸ ivory of our innards.

Fling out the hooves of your hands! Open your breast, pluck out like an Aztec

your heart howling its Cro-Magnon cries that compel to battles of riddance!

Our own planet at last, where purged⁹ of wilderness¹⁰, homesickness, prowling,

we're no longer compelled to devour¹¹ our enemies' brains, thanks to our butcher,

who inhabits this palace, this senate, this sentried barbed-wire enclosure

where dare enter none but subservient¹²（屈从的，奉承的） breeze; bent¹³, broken blossom; dry rain.

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收听单词发音

1 cylinders
n.圆筒( cylinder的名词复数 )；圆柱；汽缸；（尤指用作容器的）圆筒状物
参考例句：
They are working on all cylinders to get the job finished. 他们正在竭尽全力争取把这工作干完。来自《简明英汉词典》 That jeep has four cylinders. 那辆吉普车有4个汽缸。来自《简明英汉词典》

2 puddles
n.水坑，（尤指道路上的）雨水坑( puddle的名词复数 )
参考例句：
The puddles had coalesced into a small stream. 地面上水洼子里的水汇流成了一条小溪。 The road was filled with puddles from the rain. 雨后路面到处是一坑坑的积水。来自《简明英汉词典》

3 flayed
v.痛打( flay的过去式和过去分词 )；把…打得皮开肉绽；剥（通常指动物）的皮；严厉批评
参考例句：
He was so angry he nearly flayed his horse alive. 他气得几乎把马活活抽死。来自《简明英汉词典》 The teacher flayed the idle students. 老师严责那些懒惰的学生。来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

4 troglodyte
n.古代穴居者；井底之蛙
参考例句：
This is the most outstanding,intact example of a troglodyte settlement in the Mediterranean region ecosystem.马泰拉地区是保存最为完好、典型的史前穴居人定居点。 He dismissed advocates of a completely free market as economic troglodytes with no concern for the social consequences.他认为那些鼓吹完全自由市场经济的人对经济只是一知半解，完全没有顾及到可能产生的社会后果

5 chamber
n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所
参考例句：
For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。 The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

6 hoisted
把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句：
He hoisted himself onto a high stool. 他抬身坐上了一张高凳子。 The sailors hoisted the cargo onto the deck. 水手们把货物吊到甲板上。

7 crimson
n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色
参考例句：
She went crimson with embarrassment.她羞得满脸通红。 Maple leaves have turned crimson.枫叶已经红了。

8 oblivious
adj.易忘的，遗忘的，忘却的，健忘的
参考例句：
Mother has become quite oblivious after the illness.这次病后，妈妈变得特别健忘。 He was quite oblivious of the danger.他完全没有察觉到危险。

9 purged
清除（政敌等）( purge的过去式和过去分词 )；涤除（罪恶等）；净化（心灵、风气等）；消除（错事等）的不良影响
参考例句：
He purged his enemies from the Party. 他把他的敌人从党内清洗出去。 The iron in the chemical compound must be purged. 化学混合物中的铁必须清除。

10 wilderness
n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠
参考例句：
She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。 Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

11 devour
v.吞没；贪婪地注视或谛听，贪读；使着迷
参考例句：
Larger fish devour the smaller ones.大鱼吃小鱼。 Beauty is but a flower which wrinkle will devour.美只不过是一朵，终会被皱纹所吞噬。

12 subservient
adj.卑屈的，阿谀的
参考例句：
He was subservient and servile.他低声下气、卑躬屈膝。 It was horrible to have to be affable and subservient.不得不强作欢颜卖弄风骚，真是太可怕了。

13 bent
n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的
参考例句：
He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。 We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

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