The 1)Dexterity of Poetry

The 1)Dexterity¹ of Poetry

Written by William Wordsworth
                                    Read by Jonathan Else

With the young of both sexes, Poetry is, like love, a passion; but, for much the greater part of those who have been proud of its power over their minds, a necessity soon arises of breaking the pleasing  2)bondage²; or it relaxes of itself; -- the thoughts being occupied in domestic cares, or the time 3)engrossed by business. Poetry then becomes only an occasional recreation; while to those whose existence passes away in a course of fashionable pleasure, it is a species of luxurious⁴ amusement. In middle and declining age, a scattered⁵ number of serious persons 4)resort to poetry, as to religion, for a protection against the pressure of 5)trivial employments, and as a 6)consolation⁶ for the 7)afflictions of life. And, lastly, there are many, who, having been 8)enamoured of this art in their youth, have found leisure, after youth was spent, to cultivate general literature; in which poetry has continued to be comprehended as a study.

注释:
1) dexterity [deks5teriti] n. 灵巧，机敏
2) bondage [5bCndidV] n. 奴役，束缚
3) engross³ [in5^rEus] v. 占用
4) resort to 诉诸于，采取
5) trivial [5triviEl] a. 琐细的，微不足道的
6) consolation [7kCnsE5leiFEn] n. （被）安慰
7) affliction [E5flikFEn] n. 痛苦，苦恼
8) enamour [i5nAmE] v. 迷住，使迷恋

诗歌之灵性

对青年男女来说，诗歌如同爱情一样，是一种激情。不过，即使是为诗歌动人心弦的力量萦绕心灵而骄傲的人，也很快就必需挣脱诗歌那令人愉悦的束缚；或者这种束缚会自然而然地松懈，因为家务占据了头脑，事业耗尽了时间。如此一来, 诗歌就只是偶尔的消遣了。对那些一生都在追求时髦的人来说，诗歌是一种奢侈的娱乐。而少数中老年人则借助于诗歌——就像求助于宗教一样——来缓解琐事带来的压力和抚平生活中的创伤。最后，还有许多自年轻时就迷上了诗歌艺术的爱好者，尽管已不再年轻，他们有了追求文学的闲暇，这时，诗歌被当成了一门学问。

1 dexterity   

n.(手的)灵巧，灵活

参考例句：

• You need manual dexterity to be good at video games.玩好电子游戏手要灵巧。
• I'm your inferior in manual dexterity.论手巧，我不如你。

2 bondage   

n.奴役，束缚

参考例句：

• Masters sometimes allowed their slaves to buy their way out of bondage.奴隶主们有时允许奴隶为自己赎身。
• They aim to deliver the people who are in bondage to superstitious belief.他们的目的在于解脱那些受迷信束缚的人。

3 engross   

v.使全神贯注

参考例句：

• I go into bookshops and engross myself in diet books and cookbooks.我走进书店，聚精会神地读关于饮食的书以及食谱。
• If there was one piece of advice I would offer to improve your reading rate it would be simply to engross yourself in the material you are studying.如果让我给你一个忠告来提高你的阅读速度的话，那就是全神贯注的研究你的资料。

4 luxurious   

adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的

参考例句：

• This is a luxurious car complete with air conditioning and telephone.这是一辆附有空调设备和电话的豪华轿车。
• The rich man lives in luxurious surroundings.这位富人生活在奢侈的环境中。

5 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

6 consolation   

n.安慰，慰问

参考例句：

• The children were a great consolation to me at that time.那时孩子们成了我的莫大安慰。
• This news was of little consolation to us.这个消息对我们来说没有什么安慰。