少量多餐学英语 VSI Kafka 7

1. strident verbal violence
凶悍的语言暴力
注意:strident的读音、本义、引申义(这里用的即是)。

2. swear their servants to secrecy
让仆人们发誓守密
注意:①词组swear sb. to secrecy,也可说to silence。②汉语里是“守密”,还是“守秘”?

3. When Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a monstrous insect. He was lying on his hard shell-like back and, by lifting his head a little, he could see his curved brown belly, divided by stiff arching ribs, on top of which the bed-quilt was precariously poised and seemed about to slide off completely. His numerous legs, which were pathetically thin compared to the rest of his body, danced helplessly before his eyes.
注意:①我曾想,his curved brown belly这里,有个形容油光锃亮的词就好了。现在又觉得,这不是卡夫卡阴沉色系的做派。②precariously poised是“稍不注意就失去平衡的”。③danced helplessly栩栩如生。你注意过抓住金龟子时,它那几只脚的挣扎吗?此处用过去进行时,可能更瘆人吧。④能背诵最佳。

来源
Robertson, Ritchie. Kafka: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2004.