Pride and Prejudice — a Novel by Jane Austen

The young man, handsome in his new police uniform, looked across the small coffee table at his mother andfather. Outside, the snow was being blown against the window by the wild winter wind. But the three were warm and comfortable in frontof a glowing coal fire in the sitting room in which the young man’s grandfather had lived alone since he retired from the army. The old man’swife had had a terrible accident and died on the day he bought the house.

参考译文：

（下面是十九世纪英国一部著名小说的缩写概要。）许多年前，在英国南部的一个小村里住着一位叫本涅特先生的乡绅。他有一个十分愚蠢的妻子和五个女儿。他自己说，女儿中有三位跟她们的母亲一样蠢。在那个时代，有五个女儿可是件麻烦事，因为女儿结婚时，其父亲必须给新郎陪送一大笔钱。本涅特家不富裕，因此本涅特太太担心男人不愿意娶她女儿，尽管女儿们对男人或多或少都有些吸引力。她们中有两位，即伊丽莎白和简, 非常聪明伶俐。尤其是伊丽莎白，以风趣著称。 Reading B On the coffee table between them was a metal box that they had found hidden at the very back of the grandfather’s wardrobe when theywere clearing out his old clothes. Inside the box was a small bag which appeared to be made of

snakeskin and contained a collection of odd- looking bones. MrSlade, the father, was reading the letter that had also been hidden in the box.

Key words:

eldest: oldest of the people in a group, especially the children in afamily

参考译文：

长女简爱上一位英格兰北部的富有年轻男士。他叫宾莱先生，他似乎也爱上了简。宾莱先生有位叫达西先生的朋友，非常富有，劝他不要娶简，因为她家并不富有。简颇为伤心，但是她也很理智。她决心要忘掉宾莱先生，并希望能遇见另一位好男人。伊丽莎白对达西劝宾莱不要娶简这事感到颇为恼火。她无论如何都不喜欢他，因为他对人不很礼貌，而且也显得颇为高傲。 Reading C There was another reason why Elizabeth disliked Darcy. Shehad met a very handsome young man called Mr Wickham, who seemed very polite and kind, and he entertained all the young women with his witty talk. He was a soldier and a very good horseman, and he showed a lot of interest in Elizabeth. He did not have very much money, and hetold Elizabeth that it was because of Darcy that he was so poor. Darcy had refused to give him a job that Darcy’s father had promised him. So Elizabeth hated Darcy even more. Yet Darcy often spoke to Elizabeth,and

he seemed to like talking to her because she was so sensible and so honest, even though in those days women were not supposed to give their opinions. Key words:

entertain:to behave in a way that people enjoy or find interesting

horseman:a man who rides horses for pleasure or sport, especially someonewho is good at riding

refuse:to say you will not do something that someone has asked you to do opinion:attitude you have towards something, especially yourthoughtsabout how good it is

参考译文：

伊丽莎白不喜欢达西还有个原因。她遇见一位叫威克汉姆先生的年轻

人，长得非常英俊潇洒，而且也显得很有礼貌，热心待人。他风趣的言谈能让所有年轻女人开心不已。他是位军人，也是位出色的骑手。他对伊丽莎白颇有兴趣，但是他并不富有。他还告诉伊丽莎白，正是由于达西的原因才使他变得这么贫穷。达西拒绝给他一份工作，而那工作是达西的父亲答应给他的。因此，伊丽莎白更是恨死了达西。然而达西经常跟伊丽莎白讲话。他似乎也喜欢跟她说话，因为她非常理智，也很诚实，尽管在那个年代女人是不可以发表意见的。 Reading D