高中英语名著阅读
之27 天读完《茶花女》
专题01
《茶花女》Chapter 1
Camille [La Dame aux Camilias]
by Dumas
本文通过叙述者在玛格丽特·戈蒂埃小姐的房地产出售中的经历，反思了被视为妓女的女性的生活。叙
述者观察着留下的奢华财产，将社会迷恋与对这些女性的评判进行了对比。故事突出了路易丝，另一个被
剥削和悲伤塑造的女人，强调了社会虚伪的情感代价。通过这一探索，叙述者对这些女性表达了深切的同
情，敦促读者重新考虑她们的道德假设，并认识到她们内在的尊严。最终，它挑战了人们对美、恶和人类
经验复杂性的看法。
Guidance
Original Text
In my opinion, it is impossible to create characters until one has spent a long time in studying men, as it is
impossible to speak a language until it has been seriously acquired. Not being old enough to invent, I content
myself with narrating, and I beg the reader to assure himself of the truth of a story in which all the characters, with
the exception of the heroine, are still alive. Eye-witnesses of the greater part of the facts which I have collected
are to be found in Paris, and I might call upon them to confirm me if my testimony is not enough. And, thanks to a
particular circumstance, I alone can write these things, for I alone am able to give the final details, without which
it would have been impossible to make the story at once interesting and complete.
This is how these details came to my knowledge. On the 12th of March, 1847, I saw in the Rue Lafitte a great
yellow placard announcing a sale of furniture and curiosities. The sale was to take place on account of the death of
the owner. The owner's name was not mentioned, but the sale was to be held at 9, Rue d'Antin, on the 16th, from 12
to 5. The placard further announced that the rooms and furniture could be seen on the 13th and 14th.
I have always been very fond of curiosities, and I made up my mind not to miss the occasion, if not of buying
some, at all events of seeing them. Next day I called at 9, Rue d'Antin.
It was early in the day, and yet there were already a number of visitors, both men and women, and the women,
though they were dressed in cashmere and velvet, and had their carriages waiting for them at the door, gazed with
astonishment and admiration at the luxury which they saw before them.
I was not long in discovering the reason of this astonishment and admiration, for, having begun to examine
things a little carefully, I discovered without difficulty that I was in the house of a kept woman. Now, if there is one
thing which women in society would like to see (and there were society women there), it is the home of those
women whose carriages splash their own carriages day by day, who, like them, side by side with them, have their
boxes at the Opera and at the Italiens, and who parade in Paris the opulent insolence of their beauty, their
diamonds, and their scandal.
This one was dead, so the most virtuous of women could enter even her bedroom. Death had purified the air of
this abode of splendid foulness, and if more excuse were needed, they had the excuse that they had merely come
to a sale, they knew not whose. They had read the placards, they wished to see what the placards had announced,
and to make their choice beforehand. What could be more natural? Yet, all the same, in the midst of all these
beautiful things, they could not help looking about for some traces of this courtesan's life, of which they had heard,
no doubt, strange enough stories.
Unfortunately the mystery had vanished with the goddess, and, for all their endeavours, they discovered only
what was on sale since the owner's decease, and nothing of what had been on sale during her lifetime. For the rest,
there were plenty of things worth buying. The furniture was superb; there were rosewood and buhl cabinets and
tables, Sevres and Chinese vases, Sa xe statuettes, satin, velvet, lace; there was nothing lacking.
I sauntered through the rooms, following the inquisitive ladies of distinction. They entered a room with
Persian hangings, and I was just going to enter in turn, when they came out again almost immediately, smiling, and
as if ashamed of their own curiosity. I was all the more eager to see the room. It was the dressing-room, laid out
with all the articles of toilet, in which the dead woman's extravagance seemed to be seen at its height.
On a large table against the wall, a table three feet in width and six in length, glittered all the treasures of
Aucoc and Odiot. It was a magnificent collection, and there was not one of those thousand little things so necessary
to the toilet of a woman of the kind which was not in gold or silver. Such a collection could only have been got
together little by little, and the same lover had certainly not begun and ended it.
Not being shocked at the sight of a kept woman's dressing-room, I amused myself with examining every
detail, and I discovered that these magnificently chiselled objects bore different initials and different coronets. I
looked at one after another, each recalling a separate shame, and I said that God had been merciful to the poor
child, in not having left her to pay the ordinary penalty, but rather to die in the midst of her beauty and luxury,
before the coming of old age, the courtesan's first death.
Is there anything sadder in the world than the old age of vice, especially in woman? She preserves no
dignity, she inspires no interest. The everlasting repentance, not of the evil ways followed, but of the plans that
have miscarried, the money that has been spent in vain, is as saddening a thing as one can well meet with. I knew
an aged woman who had once been "gay," whose only link with the past was a daughter almost as beautiful as she
herself had been. This poor creature to whom her mother had never said, "You are my child," except to bid her
nourish her old age as she herself had nourished her youth, was called Louise, and, being obedient to her mother,
she abandoned herself without volition, without passion, without pleasure, as she would have worked at any other
profession that might have been taught her.
The constant sight of dissipation, precocious dissipation, in addition to her constant sickly state, had
extinguished in her mind all the knowledge of good and evil that God had perhaps given her, but that no one had
ever thought of developing. I shall always remember her, as she passed along the boulevards almost every day at
the same hour, accompanied by her mother as assiduously as a real mother might have accompanied her
daughter. I was very young then, and ready to accept for myself the easy morality of the age. I remember, however,
the contempt and disgust which awoke in me at the sight of this scandalous chaperoning. Her face, too, was
inexpressibly virginal in its expression of innocence and of melancholy suffering. She was like a figure of
Resignation.
One day the girl's face was transfigured. In the midst of all the debauches mapped out by her mother, it
seemed to her as if God had left over for her one happiness. And why indeed should God, who had made her
without strength, have left her without consolation, under the sorrowful burden of her life? One day, then, she
realized that she was to have a child, and all that remained to her of chastity leaped for joy. The soul has strange
refuges. Louise ran to tell the good news to her mother. It is a shameful thing to speak of, but we are not telling
tales of pleasant sins; we are telling of true facts, which it would be better, no doubt, to pass over in silence, if we
did not believe that it is needful from time to time to reveal the martyrdom of those who are condemned
without bearing, scorned without judging; shameful it is, but this mother answered the daughter that they had
already scarce enough for two, and would certainly not have enough for three; that such children are useless, and a
lying-in is so much time lost.
Next day a midwife, of whom all we will say is that she was a friend of the mother, visited Louise, who
remained in bed for a few days, and then got up paler and feebler than before.
Three months afterward a man took pity on her and tried to heal her, morally and physically; but the last
shock had been too violent, and Louise died of it. The mother still lives; how? God knows. This story returned to
my mind while I looked at the silver toilet things, and a certain space of time must have elapsed during these
reflections, for no one was left in the room but myself and an attendant, who, standing near the door, was carefully
watching me to see that I did not pocket anything.
I went up to the man, to whom I was causing so much anxiety. "Sir," I said, "can you tell me the name of the
person who formerly lived here?"
"Mademoiselle Marguerite Gautier."
I knew her by name and by sight.
"What!" I said to the attendant; "Marguerite Gautier is dead?"
"Yes, sir."
"When did she die?"
"Three weeks ago, I believe."
"And why are the rooms on view?"
"The creditors believe that it will send up the prices. People can see beforehand the effect of the things; you
see that induces them to buy."
"She was in debt, then?"
"To any extent, sir."
"But the sale will cover it?"
"And more too."
"Who will get what remains over?"
"Her family."
"She had a family?"
"It seems so."
"Thanks."
The attendant, reassured as to my intentions, touched his hat, and I went out.
"Poor girl!" I said to myself as I returned home; "she must have had a sad death, for, in her world, one has
friends only when one is perfectly well." And in spite of myself I began to feel melancholy over the fate of
Marguerite Gautier.
It will seem absurd to many people, but I have an unbounded sympathy for women of this kind, and I do not
think it necessary to apologize for such sympathy.
One day, as I was going to the Prefecture for a passport, I saw in one of the neighbouring streets a poor girl
who was being marched along by two policemen. I do not know what was the matter. All I know is that she was
weeping bitterly as she kissed an infant only a few months old, from whom her arrest was to separate her. Since
that day I have never dared to despise a woman at first sight.
1.What did the narrator discover about the home he visited?
A. It was an excellent museum.
B. It belonged to a famous artist.
C. It was the residence of a woman.
D. It was abandoned for many years.
2.What was the main reason why society women were interested in visiting the late owner's home?
A. To buy furniture at a low price.
B. To see a courtesan's life.
C. To attend social events.
Reading Comprehension
D. To escape their own lives.
3.How did Marguerite Gautier’s lifestyle impact her daughter, Louise?
A. Louise became very wealthy.
B. Louise followed in her mother’s footsteps.
C. Louise faced a tragic outcome.
D. Louise moved away to live with relatives.
4.What underlying theme can be inferred from the narrator's feelings toward women like Marguerite Gautier?
A. He has contempt for their lifestyle.
B. He views them with sympathy.
C. He believes they deserve their fate.
D. He thinks society should ignore them.
1．The police are working for the (preserve)of law and order in this area.
2．With a (sympathy) heart, the poet penned a poem about the homeless. (所给词的适当形式填空)
3．I’m too busy these days. Please remind me (attend) the meeting on Friday.
4．Lying and stealing are considered (moral) conducts in every human society. (所给词的适当形式填
空)
5．Roy told his (sorrow) tale with simple words anybody could understand. (所给词的适当形式
填空)
6．As a child, she was starved of intellectual (nourish). (所给词的适当形式填空)
7．The boat comes out (magnificent), and its shape and features are distinctive of the north of Fujian
province. (所给词的适当形式填空)
8．Although parks of all sizes and types exist at any level, the national parks, in particular, tend to catch our
attention because of their large size and variety. They are (treasure) of American heritage (遗产). (所
给词的适当形式填空)
9．He spent a fortune on expensive wines and other (luxury). (所给词的适当形式填空)
10．The company has shown (exception) growth over the past two years. (所给词的适当形式填
空)
11．A survey(调查) showed that 56% of teens feel (anxiety) or lonely, when they don’t have their
Vocabulary
cellphones. (所给词的适当形式填空)
12．Unluckily, we were exposed to the strong winds (accompany) by heavy rain. (所给词的适当形式
填空)
13．What he did was (distinct) below the belt. （所给词的适当形式填空）
14．He is a (splendid) talented writer, with more ranges than any other American novelist currently
working. (所给词的适当形式填空)
15．The public have an insatiable appetite scandal. (用适当的词填空)
16．Everybody were (curiosity) about the people who lived upstairs. （所给词的适当形式填空）
17．The kind man gave me a (detail) instructions on how to get there. (所给词的适当形式填空)
18．Abstract art is an (acquire) taste. (所给词的适当形式填空)
Please summarize this article.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Please predict the next plot.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Summary
Next Plot
