儒琴英语咀嚼《伤残的树》(The Crippled Tree)一书的用词。《伤残的树》是英籍女作家韩素音自传之一。写她的中国父亲在欧洲留学时与她比利时母亲恋爱结合的故事，以及她在童年时期的生活见闻。韩素音的英文造诣在当代英美文坛堪称一流，其精美、清丽、雅洁的文笔早在西方评论界获得公认。
英语文学词汇 Literature Terms
31.crouch
verb [ I ] /kraʊtʃ/ (Cambridge)
to bend your knees and lower yourself so that you are close to the ground and leaning forward slightly
蹲下，蹲伏；蜷缩
She saw him coming and crouched (down) behind a bush.
看见他来了，她便蜷伏在一簇灌木丛后面。
My first collection of my mother as a person separate from myself was of her sitting crouched over a table, and I could still hear the rustle of the sheets she stirred. (Page 15)
32. drool
verb [ I ]/druːl/ (Cambridge)
to allow saliva (= liquid in the mouth) to flow out of your mouth
流口水，垂涎
The dog lay drooling on the mat. 狗躺在垫子上流着口水。
I drooled all over my pillow. 我把枕头上弄得到处是口水。
The invalid in the chair drooled, moved a hand. The sun was cold, and a single swan upon the lacquer-green pond, was immobile as wood. (Page 16)
33. denude
verb [ T ]/dɪˈnuːd/ (Cambridge)
A) to remove the covering of something, especially land
使（尤指土地）裸露，使光秃
The countryside has been denuded by war. 战争导致乡间一片荒芜。
Drought and years of heavy grazing by sheep have completely denuded the hills of grass. 由于干旱和羊群的连年啃食，山上已是寸草不生。
to remove a valuable possession or quality
B) 夺走，夺去
Any further cuts in the country’s armed forces would leave its defences dangerously denuded. 进一步裁军将使该国的国防处于毫无还手之力的危险境地。
I did not know where to begin, how to start. China to me was of course my father and mother, and all I myself know of China. To separate them from me would denude my story. ( Page 16)
34. inextricable
adjective /ˌɪn.ɪkˈstrɪk.ə.bəl/ (Cambridge)
inextricably adv
unable to be separated, released, or escaped from
分不开的；无法摆脱的；无法逃离的
In the case of King Arthur, legend and truth are often inextricable. 说起亚瑟王，传说和真相常常交织在一起。
Inextricably, the tree of my book grew, an odd growth, yet more true than all the idea books written about China. (Page 17)
35. canter
verb [ I ]/ˈkæn.t̬ɚ/ (Cambridge)
If a horse canters, it moves at quite a fast but easy and comfortable speed.
（马）小跑，慢跑
The riders cantered round the field a few times. 骑手绕着场地小跑了几次。
Even now, whenever I hear the siren hoot of an engine, my childhood comes cantering back to me. (Page 17)
36. resuscitate
verb [ T ]/rɪˈsʌs.ə.teɪt/ (Cambridge)
to bring someone or something back to life or wake someone or something
使苏醒；使恢复知觉；使复活
Her heart had stopped, but the doctors successfully resuscitated her. 她的心跳都已经停了，但医生们还是成功地把她从鬼门关拉了回来。
But mine could be the objective truthful voice of those who neither committed to resuscitate the past, nor committed to action in the present. (Page 17)
The world needs the artist who records, with dispassionate, compassion, more than the missionary who proclaims with
37. put/turn the clock back
to make things the same as they were at an earlier time (Cambridge)
倒退；倒行逆施；复古
The court’s decision on this case will turn the clock back 50 years. 法庭对这个案子的判决简直是将历史车轮倒退了50年。
If I could turn the clock back and do things differently, I would. 要是我能让时间倒流，换个方式做事情，我倒是很愿意。
…more than the missionary who proclaims with virulence unreal crusades against reality, especially those who want to put the clock back to the idea past that was never was. (Page 17)
38. delimit
verb [ T ]/ˌdiːˈlɪm.ɪt/ (Cambridge)
to mark or describe the limits of something
标出…的界限，给…划界
Police powers are delimited by law. 警察的权限是由法律来划定的。
I do not blame her. We each choose our horizon, delimit the stretch of our minds.
39. not otherwise 不以任何其他方式 (其它情况下就不这样)
When you see an English word ending in “wise,” you should understand that ending to mean “way” or “ways.” So, “not otherwise” means not in any other way. Some example sentences: ( from quora.com)
If you are not otherwise occupied at the moment, please come to my cabin.
He knew they were meant to be together. It simply could not be otherwise.
You can only reach the summit by scaling the rock face, not otherwise.
Perhaps they can not do otherwise than choose to remain with their familiar childhood held close to them, close like a well-loved spectre. (Page 18)
40. penumbra 半影
noun [ C or U ]
physics specialized /pɪˈnʌm.brə/
a part of a shadow in which only some of the light is blocked, used especially about a shadow made during an eclipse:
In a lunar eclipse, the outer shadow or penumbra is a zone where Earth blocks a portion of the sun’s rays.
a wolfing shadow whose penumbra dims the present. Perhaps they cannot reassemble, make a continuity where there appears to be only cleavage. (Page 18)