American LiteratureRequired Text:A. Tongming, History of American LiteratureB. Bao Xiuwen and Wang Weixin, Summary and Introduction to Classical American Literary Works.C. Handouts of Selected Readings (you need to cover the cost). Other material needed for success: commitment, enthusiasm, and hard work.Course Description:As a required course, American Literature might be viewed as a rich opportunity of enhancing the enjoyment of this literature and apprehending life in its beauty, richness, diversity and complexity. This course will help you see each author’s patterns and rhythms of his or her particular way of seeing and interpreting the world. We will read fiction, and poetry by both famous and less-known authors. Reading one drama is also very likely. Reading, interpretation, critical thinking, and writing will remain central throughout the semester.Course Objectives:a.To read literature for delight, and for personalconnections to make sense of what is on the pages,particularly to you as a reader. In this regard, reading inthis course cannot be an isolated event. We will have tointeract with ourselves, with each other, and the authorsto get as much delight as possible.b.To encourage your life-long love of reading and knowing(if possible).c.To learn to understand and appreciate the author’s workby studying theme, plot, characters, symbols, imagery,etc.d.To review the strength you already have in reading aparticular genre(s), and to broaden your knowledge aboutAmerican literature.e.To help you articulate your ideas and insights more orless in a professional manner, for example, by usingbasic literary terms such as plot, character, theme, setting,etc.f.To facilitate the development of your analytical,interpretive and argumentative skills.g.To help you reexamine your particular reasons if youavoid literature.Attendance Policy:Attendance will be taken at the beginning of each class period. The instructor will accurately record attendance since it will affect a student’s final gr ade. One unexcused absence, that is, for one class, will be allowed without affecting your final grade. One more unexcused will result in the final grade being lowered by 20 points. One excused absence for personal or family illness will not affect a stude nt’s final grade if a doctor’s excuse is presented. Absent for one third of the semester, you will receive an F for the course. Absence for your scheduledpresentation should be carefully avoided: it will not only count as an absence but will also take away the total points assigned for the presentation. Being late for class won’t affect your final grade unless it is over ten times. So come to class promptly and regularly. Even if you can’t make it on time, don’t hesitate to come in.Course Requirements:a.You are required to complete the weekly readingassignments before class and be prepared to respondorally and in writing in class and group discussions.b. Keep a weekly one-page journal response to thereadings for the week, which is due every Thursday wemeet. We might ask you to post your response online.c.Keep a folder of all journal responses which I will collectat the end of the semester to determine your final grade.d.An oral presentation in the last week about your finalproject or topic. You need to demonstrate thesignificance of your topic, and your goal to achieve inyour final paper.Class Format:The class will be student-centered and class meetings will mainly consist of four types of activities, which will be mixed together most of the times: 1) mini-lectures; 2) class and group discussions of the readings, focusing on interpretation and techniques as effectively employed by the authors. Such discussions might help you develop paper topics, and become more appreciative of literature in general; 3) trade your journalswith someone and write a comment on them; 4) free (or guided) writing, which is an opportunity for you to write down your initial responses, which, oftentimes, are “original.” Constructive participation in all class activities can significantly contribute to the quality of your essays. You need to talk every time we meet.Grading:Your final grade will be based on an accumulation of points earned on your journal responses, presentations, final paper, and class participation. Your journal responses will be worth 40 points. The final exam on the two textbooks and the works covered will count 60 points.Plagiarism:Try to avoid plagiarism by putting in quotation marks words, phrases, sentences, etc. of someone else’s and cite the sources. Plagiarism means more than this. To put it simply, you can’t claim someone else’s phrases and sentences as your own. All the written assignments you turn in should be entirely your own and for this class only. Quotation marks will be your most helpful friend for this course. Plagiarism is the best way to fail this course.This syllabus is subject to revision.Class ScheduleWeek 1: Introduction to the course; group arrangement; reading assignment: “Rip Van Winkle” and correspondingpages from Tongming and BaoWeek 2: Poe’s “The Raven” and “Annabelle Lee” andcorresponding pages from TongmingWeek 3: Emerson’s “Self Reliance” and corresponding pages from TongmingWeek 4: National Day BreakWeek 5: Hawthorne’s“The Scarlet Letter” and corresp onding pages from Tongming and BaoWeek 6: 19th–Century Poets: Longfellow, Whitman, and DickinsonWeek 7: Mark Twain’s “The Celebrated Jumping Frog” and corresponding pages from TongmingWeek 8: Glaspell’s “The Trifles”Week 9: Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” and corresponding pages from Tongming and BaoWeek 10: No Class for Sports MeetWeek 11: Hemingway’s “The Short Happy Life of Mr.Macomber”Week 12: Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” and corresponding pages from Tongming and BaoWeek 13: 20th–Century Poets: Pound, and Eliot andcorresponding pages from TongmingWeek 14: Continue: Williams and Frost and corresponding pages from TongmingWeek 15: Jackson’s “The Lottery”Week16: Ginsberg’s “The Howl” and corresponding pages from TongmingWeek 17: Malamud’s The Magic Barrel”Week 18: London’s “Unparalleled Invasion”Questions for the first meeting of class1.How much do you know about American Literature? Name any author or works.2.What do you expect to learn from this course, more about literary history or more about analytical and critical skills about specific works?3.What do you think literature can do to you as a language and literature major?4.In what way do you think American Literature is unique and influential? And why or why not?Rip Van Winkle 1.1.瑞普凡温克尔(美国作家华盛顿欧文 Washington Irving 于1819年写的一个故事中的主人公，在山中一觉睡了20年，醒来发现一切面目全非)2.[比喻]时代的落伍者3.喜欢睡觉的人By Washington IrvingA POSTHUMOUS WRITING OF DIEDRICH KNICKERBOCKERBy Woden, God of Saxons,From whence comes Wensday, that is Wodensday,Truth is a thing that ever I will keepUnto thylke day in which I creep intoMy sepulchre.~ CARTWRIGHTThe following Tale was found among the papers of the lateDiedrich Knickerbocker, an old gentleman of New York, who was very curious in the Dutch history of the province, and themanners of the descendants from its primitive settlers. Hishistorical researches, however, did not lie so much among books as among men; for the former are lamentably adv. 哀伤地scanty adj. 仅有的on his favorite topics; whereas he found the old burghers n. 市民（现主要指某些欧洲国家中产阶级的市民或镇民）, and still more their wives, rich in that legendary adj. 传说的，传奇的lore n.全部传说, so invaluable to truehistory. Whenever, therefore, he happened upon a genuineDutch family, snugly adv.隐蔽地shut up in its low-roofed farmhouse, under a spreading sycamore n. 美国梧桐, he looked upon it as a little clasped vt. 紧抱；扣紧；紧紧缠绕volume of black-letter, and studied it with the zeal of a book-worm.The result of all these researches was a history of the provinceduring the reign of the Dutch governors, which he publishedsome years since. There have been various opinions as to theliterary character of his work, and, to tell the truth, it is not a whit n. 一点点；些微better than it should be. Its chief merit is its scrupulous adj. 细心的accuracy, which indeed was a little questioned on its first appearance, but has since been completely established; and it is now admitted into all historical collections, as a book of unquestionable authority.The old gentleman died shortly after the publication of his work,and now that he is dead and gone, it cannot do much harm to hismemory to say that his time might have been better employed inweightier labors. He, however, was apt to 倾向于ride his hobby hisown way; and though it did now and then kick up 引起；激起the dusta little in the eyes of his neighbors, and grieve vt. 使悲伤，使苦恼thespirit of some friends, for whom he felt the truest deference andaffection; yet his errors and follies n. 罪恶are remembered "more in sorrow than in anger," and it begins to be suspected, that he never intended to injure or offend. But however his memory may be appreciated by critics, it is still held dear by many folks, whose good opinion is well worth having; particularly by certain biscuit-bakers, who have gone so far as to imprint vt. 加特征；刻上记号his likeness on their new-year cakes; and have thus given him a chance for immortality, almost equal to the being stamped on a Waterloo Medal, or a Queen Anne's Farthing.* * * * * * *Whoever has made a voyage up the Hudson 哈得孙（河）must remember the Kaatskill mountains. They are a dismembered branch of the great Appalachian n. 阿巴拉契亚山脉family, and are seen away to the west of the river, swelling up 润胀，膨胀to a noble height, and lording it over 对…作威作福，对…称王称霸；向…逞威风；对…摆架子the surrounding country. Every change of season, every change of weather, indeed, every hour of the day, produces some change in the magical hues n. 色调and shapes of these mountains, and they are regarded by all the good wives, far and near, as perfect barometers n. 晴雨表. When the weather is fair and settled, they are clothed in blue and purple, and print their bold outlines on the clear evening sky, but, sometimes, when the rest of the landscape is cloudless, they will gather a hood of gray vapors about their summits, which, in the last rays of the setting sun, will glow vi. 发热；洋溢and light up like a crown of glory.At the foot of these fairy mountains, the voyager may have descried v. 望见the light smoke curling up 卷起from a village, whoseshingle-roofs gleam vi. 闪烁；隐约地闪现among the trees, just where the blue tints n. 色彩；浅色of the upland n. 山地，高地melt away into the freshgreen of the nearer landscape. It is a little village of great antiquity n. 高龄, having been founded by some of the Dutch colonists, in the early times of the province, just about thebeginning of the government of the good Peter Stuyvesant, (may he rest in peace!) and there were some of the houses of the original settlers standing within a few years, built of smallyellow bricks brought from Holland, having latticed windows n. 花格窗and gable fronts, surmounted 在...顶上with weather-cocks 风向标. In that same village, and in one of these very houses (which, to tell the precise truth, was sadly time-worn and weather-beaten),there lived many years since, while the country was yet a province of Great Britain, a simple good-natured adj. 和蔼的；温厚的；脾气好的fellow of the name of Rip Van Winkle. He was a descendant of the Van Winkles who figured so gallantly adv. 勇敢地in thechivalrous adj. 侠义的；骑士的days of Peter Stuyvesant, and accompanied him to the siege n. 围攻；包围of Fort n. 堡垒；要塞Christina.He inherited vt. 继承, however, but little of the martial adj. 军事的；战争的character of his ancestors. I have observed that he was a simple good-natured man; he was, moreover, a kind neighbor, and an obedient adj. 顺从的，服从的hen-pecked n. 妻管严；怕老婆的，惧内husband. Indeed, to the latter circumstance might be owing that meekness of spirit which gained him such universal popularity; for those men are most apt to易于；有...倾向be obsequious adj. 谄媚的；奉承的；顺从的and conciliating abroad, who are under the discipline of shrews n. 泼妇，悍妇at home. Their tempers, doubtless, are rendered pliant adj. 顺从的；易弯的；易受影响的and malleable adj.柔顺的；顺从的；温顺的in the fiery furnace n. 火炉，熔炉of domestic adj.家庭的，家的，家里的tribulation n. 苦难；磨难; and a curtain lecture is worth all the sermons n. 布道in the world forteaching the virtues n. 美德；优点of patience and long-suffering. A termagant adj. 暴躁的；凶悍的wife may, therefore, in some respects, be considered a tolerable blessing; and if so, Rip Van Winkle was thrice blessed.Certain it is, that he was a great favorite among all the good wives of the village, who, as usual, with the amiable adj. 和蔼可亲的，亲切的sex, took his part in all family squabbles n. 争吵；口角; and neverfailed, whenever they talked those matters over in their evening gossipings n. 闲聊；流言蜚语, to lay all the blame on Dame Van Winkle. The children of the village, too, would shout with joy whenever he approached. He assisted at their sports, made their playthings, taught them to fly kites and shoot marbles n. (游戏用的石头或玻璃)弹子, and told them long stories of ghosts, witches, and Indians. Whenever he went dodging about the village, he was surrounded by a troop of them, hanging on his skirts, clambering on his back, and playing a thousand tricks on him with impunity不受惩罚地，无恙地; and not a dog would bark at him throughout the neighborhood.The great error in Rip's composition was an insuperable adj. 不能克服的；无敌的aversion n. 厌恶to all kinds of profitable adj. 有利可图的；赚钱的；有益的labor. It could not be from the want of assiduity n. 勤勉；刻苦or perseverance n. 坚持不懈；不屈不挠; for he would sit on a wet rock, with a rod n. 棒as long and heavy as a Tartar's lance n. 长矛, and fish all day without a murmur n. 低语；低语声, even though he should not be encouraged by a single nibble n. 轻咬；啃. He would carry a fowling-piece on his shoulder for hours together, trudging vi. 跋涉through woods and swamps n. 沼泽, and up hill and down dale翻山越岭, to shoot a few squirrels n. 松鼠or wild pigeons. He would never refuse to assist a neighbor even in the roughest toil n. 辛苦；苦工, and was a foremost adj. 最重要的；最先的man at all country frolics n. 嬉闹，嬉戏for husking vt. 削皮Indian corn, or building stone-fences; thewomen of the village, too, used to employ him to run theirerrands n. 使命；差事；差使, and to do such little odd jobs as their less obliging husbands would not do for them. In a word Rip wasready to attend to anybody's business but his own; but as todoing family duty, and keeping his farm in order, he found it impossible.In fact, he declared it was of no use to work on his farm; it wasthe most pestilent adj.讨厌的；烦人的little piece of ground in the wholecountry; every thing about it went wrong, and would go wrong,in spite of him. His fences were continually falling to pieces; his cow would either go astray走入歧途；迷路, or get among the cabbages;weeds were sure to grow quicker in his fields than anywhere else; the rain always made a point of setting in just as he hadsome out-door work to do; so that though his patrimonial adj. 祖传的，世袭的estate n. 房地产；财产had dwindled away逐渐减少；逐渐变小，缩小under his management, acre by acre, until there was little more leftthan a mere patch of Indian corn and potatoes, yet it was theworst conditioned farm in the neighborhood.His children, too, were as ragged adj. 衣衫褴褛的and wild as if theybelonged to nobody. His son Rip, an urchin n. 顽童，淘气鬼begotten vt.产生；招致；引起in his own likeness, promised to inherit the habits, with the old clothes of his father. He was generally seen trooping like a colt at his mother's heels, equipped in a pair of his father's cast-off adj. 遭遗弃的galligaskins , which he had much ado 费尽心血，费尽力气；大忙一阵 to hold up with one hand, as a fine lady does her train in bad weather.Rip Van Winkle, however, was one of those happy mortals, of foolish, well-oiled dispositions讨人喜欢的性格, who take the world easy, eat white bread or brown, whichever can be got with leastthought or trouble, and would rather starve on a penny than work for a pound. If left to himself, he would have whistled life away in perfect contentment; but his wife kept continually dinning in喋喋不休地说；在耳边轰鸣his ears about his idleness, his carelessness, and the ruin he was bringing on his family. Morning, noon, and night, her tongue was incessantly going, and everything he said or did was sure to produce a torrent of household eloquence. Rip had but one way of replying to all lectures of the kind, and that, by frequent use, had grown into a habit. He shrugged his shoulders, shook his head, cast up向上抛his eyes, but said nothing. This, however, always provoked a fresh volley from his wife; so that he was fain adj. 不得不的to draw off his forces, and take to the outside of the house - the only side which, in truth, belongs to a hen-pecked husband.Rip's sole domestic adherent n. 信徒；追随者was his dog Wolf, who was as much hen-pecked as his master; for Dame Van Winkle regarded them as companions in idleness, and even looked upon Wolf with an evil eye, as the cause of his master's going so often astray. True it is, in all points of spirit befitting an honorable dog, he was as courageous an animal as ever scoured the woods - but what courage can withstand the ever-during and all-besetting terrors of a woman's tongue? The moment Wolf entered the house his crest fell, his tail drooped to the ground, or curled between his legs, he sneaked about with a gallows air, casting many a sidelong adj. 斜的glance at Dame Van Winkle, and at the least flourish of a broom-stick or ladle n.杓子；长柄杓, he would fly to the door with yelping precipitation.Times grew worse and worse with Rip Van Winkle as years of matrimony n.婚姻生活rolled on; a tart adj.尖刻的temper never mellows vi.变柔和 with age, and a sharp tongue is the only edged tool利器thatgrows keener with constant use. For a long while he used to console himself vt. 安慰；慰藉, when driven from home, byfrequenting a kind of perpetual club of the sages, philosophers, and other idle personages of the village; which held its sessions on a bench before a small inn n. 客栈；旅馆, designated by a rubicund adj. 红润的；透红的 portrait of His Majesty George the Third. Here they used to sit in the shade through a long lazy summer's day, talking listlessly over village gossip, or telling endless sleepystories about nothing. But it would have been worth any statesman's money to have heard the profound discussions that sometimes took place, when by chance an old newspaper fell into their hands from some passing traveller. How solemnly adv. 庄严地；严肃地they would listen to the contents, as drawled out by Derrick Van Bummel, the schoolmaster, a dapper adj. 短小精悍的；衣冠楚楚的；整洁的；整齐的learned little man, who was not to be daunted vt. 使气馁，使畏缩；威吓by the most gigantic adj. 巨大的，庞大的word in the dictionary; and how sagely adv. 贤能地；贤明地they would deliberate vt. 仔细考虑；商议upon public events some months after they had taken place.The opinions of this junto n. 政治集团；秘密结社；团体were completely controlled by Nicholas Vedder, a patriarch n.族长；元老of the village, and landlord of the inn, at the door of which he took his seat from morning till night, just moving sufficiently to avoid the sun and keep in the shade of a large tree; so that the neighbors could tell the hour by his movements as accurately as by a sundial n. 日晷，日规. It is true he was rarely heard to speak, but smoked his pipe incessantly adv. 不停地，不间断地. His adherents, however (for every great man has his adherents), perfectly understood him, and knew how to gather his opinions. When anything that was read or related displeased him, he was observed to smoke his pipe vehemently adv. 激烈地；暴烈地, and to send forth short, frequent andangry puffs n.喘息; but when pleased, he would inhale vt. 吸入；猛吃猛喝the smoke slowly and tranquilly adv. 平静地；安静地, and emit vt. 发出it in light and placid adj. 平静的；温和的clouds; and sometimes, taking the pipe from his mouth, and letting the fragrant adj. 芳香的；愉快的vapor curl about his nose, would gravely nod his head in token of perfect approbation n. 认可；赞许；批准.From even this stronghold n. 要塞；大本营the unlucky Rip was at length routed by his termagant wife, who would suddenly break in upon the tranquility n. 宁静；平静of the assemblage n.集会and call the members all to naught; nor was that august personage, Nicholas Vedder himself, sacred from the daring tongue of this terrible virago, who charged him outright adv. 全部地with encouraging her husband in habits of idleness.Poor Rip was at last reduced almost to despair; and his only alternative, to escape from the labor of the farm and clamor n. 喧闹，叫嚷of his wife, was to take gun in hand and stroll away intothe woods. Here he would sometimes seat himself at the foot of a tree, and share the contents of his wallet with Wolf, with whom he sympathized as a fellow-sufferer in persecution n. 迫害；烦扰. "Poor Wolf," he would say, "thy pron. [古]你的mistress leads thee pron. [古]你（古英语thou的宾格）a dog's life of it; but never mind, my lad, whilst conj.当…的时候I live thou pron. 你；尔，汝（古时候的叫法）shalt v. 应该；将要；必须（shall的第二人称单数现在式）never want a friend to stand by thee!" Wolf would wag his tail, look wistfully adv. 渴望地；希望地；不满足地in his master's face, and if dogs can feel pity I verily adv. [古]真正地；真实地believe he reciprocated vt. 报答；互换；互给the sentiment n. 感情，情绪with all his heart.In a long ramble n. 漫步；漫游of the kind on a fine autumnal day, Rip had unconsciously scrambled to one of the highest parts of theKaatskill mountains. He was after his favorite sport of squirrel shooting, and the still solitudes n. 孤独had echoed vi.发出回声and re-echoed with the reports of his gun. Panting adj. 喘气的and fatigued, he threw himself, late in the afternoon, on a green knoll n. 小山, covered with mountain herbage n. 草；草本, that crowned the brow of a precipice n. 悬崖；绝壁. From an opening between the trees he could overlook all the lower country for many a mile of rich woodland. He saw at a distance the lordly Hudson, far, far below him, moving on its silent but majestic adj. 庄严的；宏伟的course, with the reflection of a purple cloud, or the sail of a lagging bark, here and there sleeping on its glassy adj. 像玻璃的；光亮透明的bosom n. 胸；胸怀, and at last losing itself in the blue highlands.On the other side he looked down into a deep mountain glen n. 峡谷；幽谷, wild, lonely, and shagged adj.表面粗糙的, the bottom filled with fragments from the impending adj.悬挂的cliffs, and scarcely lighted by the reflected rays of the setting sun. For some time Rip lay musing v. 沉思；凝望on this scene; evening was gradually advancing; the mountains began to throw their long blue shadows over the valleys; he saw that it would be dark long before he could reach the village, and he heaved a heavy sigh when he thought of encountering the terrors of Dame Van Winkle.As he was about to descend, he heard a voice from a distance, hallooing, "Rip Van Winkle! Rip Van Winkle!" He looked round, but could see nothing but a crow winging its solitary n. 独居者；隐士 flight across the mountain. He thought his fancy must have deceived him, and turned again to descend, when he heard the same cry ring through the still evening air: "Rip Van Winkle! Rip Van Winkle!" - at the same time Wolf bristled up (毛发等)直立，竖起his back, and giving a low growl n. 咆哮声；吠声, skulked vi. 潜伏；偷偷隐躲to his master's side, looking fearfully down into the glen. Ripnow felt a vague adj. 模糊的apprehension stealing over感情等）渐渐控制…；渐渐弥漫；悄悄地呈现；不知不觉地袭来him; he looked anxiously in the same direction, and perceived v. 感知a strange figure slowly toiling up the rocks, and bending under the weight of something he carried on his back. He was surprised to see any human being in this lonely and unfrequented place, but supposing it to be some one of the neighborhood in need of his assistance, he hastened down to yield it.On nearer approach he was still more surprised at the singularity n. 奇异 of the stranger's appearance. He was a short square-built adj. 宽阔的old fellow, with thick bushy hair, and a grizzled beard adj. 灰色的；头发斑白的. His dress was of the antique Dutch fashion - a cloth jerkin n. 短上衣strapped round the waist - several pair of breeches, the outer one of ample adj. 丰富的；足够的；宽敞的volume, decorated with 以…来装饰rows of buttons down the sides, and bunches at the knees. He bore on his shoulder a stout adj. 结实的keg n. 小桶, that seemed full of liquor, and made signs for Rip to approach and assist him with the load. Though rather shy and distrustful of this new acquaintance, Rip complied with his usual alacrity n. 敏捷；轻快；乐意; and mutually relieving v.救济one another, they clambered vi. 攀登，爬上up a narrow gully n. 冲沟；水沟, apparently the dry bed of a mountain torrent n. 奔流. As they ascended, Rip every now and then heard long rolling peals n. 钟声，钟乐；隆隆声, like distant thunder, that seemed to issue out of a deep ravine n. 沟壑，山涧；峡谷, or rather cleft v. 劈开；分开, between lofty adj. 高的rocks, toward which their rugged adj. 崎岖的path conducted. He paused for an instant, but supposing it to be the muttering of one of those transient adj. 短暂的thunder-showers which often take place in mountain heights, he proceeded. Passing through the ravine, they came to a hollow n. 洞；山谷, like a small amphitheatre n. 圆形剧场；阶梯教室, surrounded by perpendicular adj. 垂直的precipices, over the brinks of which impending trees shot their branches, so that you only caught glimpses of the azure adj. 蔚蓝的sky and the bright evening cloud. During the whole time Rip and his companion had labored on in silence; for though the former marveled vi. 感到惊讶greatly what could be the object of carrying akeg of liquor up this wild mountain, yet there was something strange and incomprehensible about the unknown, that inspired awe n. 敬畏and checked familiarity.On entering the amphitheatre, new objects of wonder presented themselves. On a level spot in the centre was a company of odd-looking personages playing at nine-pins. They were dressed in a quaint adj.奇怪的；离奇有趣的outlandish adj. 古怪的；奇异的；异国风格的fashion; somewore short doublets n. 紧身上衣, others jerkins n. 短上衣；男用无袖短上衣, with long knives in their belts, and most of them had enormous breeches, of similar style with that of the guide's. Their visages n. 面貌，容貌；外表, too, were peculiar adj. 特殊的；独特的；奇怪的；罕见的: one had a large beard, broad face, and small piggish adj. 馋嘴的；贪心的eyes: the face of another seemed to consist entirely of nose, and wassurmounted by a white sugar-loaf adj. 圆锥形的hat set off with a little red cock's tail. They all had beards, of various shapes and colors. There was one who seemed to be the commander. He was a stout adj. 结实的；矮胖的old gentleman, with a weather-beaten countenance n. 面容，表情; he wore a laced adj. 有花边的；绑带子的doublet, broad belt and hanger, high-crowned hat and feather, red stockings, and high-heeled shoes, with roses in them. The whole group reminded Rip of the figures in an old Flemish painting, in the parlor n. 客厅；会客室of Dominie n. 教师；牧师Van Shaick, the village parson, and which had been brought over from Holland at the time of the settlement.What seemed particularly odd to Rip was, that though thesefolks were evidently amusing themselves, yet they maintained the gravest adj.严肃的faces, the most mysterious silence, and were,withal adv. 而且，加之, the most melancholy adj. 忧郁的；使人悲伤的party ofpleasure he had ever witnessed. Nothing interrupted the stillness of the scene but the noise of the balls, which, whenever theywere rolled, echoed along the mountains like rumbling peals ofthunder.As Rip and his companion approached them, they suddenlydesisted from 停止their play, and stared at him with such fixed statue-like gaze, and such strange, uncouth adj. 笨拙的；粗野的；不舒适的；[古]陌生的, lack-lustre n. 光泽，光彩countenances, that his heart turned within him, and his knees smote v. 打；重击together. His companionnow emptied the contents of the keg into large flagons n. 酒壶, andmade signs to him to wait upon the company. He obeyed with fear and trembling; they quaffed vt. 大口地喝，痛饮the liquor in profound silence, and then returned to their game.By degrees 逐渐地；渐渐地Rip's awe n. 敬畏and apprehension n. 理解；恐惧subsided vi. 平息；减弱. He even ventured, when no eye was fixedupon him, to taste the beverage n. 饮料, which he found had much of the flavor of excellent Hollands. He was naturally a thirsty soul, and was soon tempted to repeat the draught n. 气流. One taste provoked another; and he reiterated vt. 重申；反复地做his visits to the flagon so often that at length his senses were overpowered, his eyes swam in his head, his head gradually declined, and he fell into a deep sleep.On waking, he found himself on the green knoll whence conj. 由此he had first seen the old man of the glen. He rubbed his eyes - itwas a bright sunny morning. The birds were hopping and。
