---
url: https://gaojian.site/new-concept/book-3/49-the-ideal-servant.md
description: 新概念英语第三册：The Ideal Servant。精读、词块回忆、双向译练、句法、逻辑与FSRS复习。
---

# 理想的仆人

## 课文学习台 {#study}

### 第1段

It is a good thing my aunt Harriet died years ago. If she were alive today she would not be able to air her views on her favourite topic of conversation: domestic servants. Aunt Harriet lived in that leisurely age when servants were employed to do housework. She had a huge, rambling country house called “The Gables”. She was sentimentally attached to this house, for even though it was far too big for her needs, she persisted in living there long after her husband's death. Before she grew old, Aunt Harriet used to entertain lavishly. I often visited The Gables when I was a boy. No matter how many guests were present, the great house was always immaculate. The parquet floors shone like mirrors; highly polished silver was displayed in gleaming glass cabinets; even my uncle's huge collection of books was kept miraculously free from dust. Aunt Harriet presided over an invisible army of servants that continuously scrubbed, cleaned, and polished. She always referred to them as "the shifting population", for they came and went with such frequency that I never even got a chance to learn their names. Though my aunt pursued what was, in those days, an enlightened policy in that she never allowed her domestic staff to work more than eight hours a day, she was extremely difficult to please. While she always criticized the fickleness of human nature, she carried on an unrelenting search for the ideal servant to the end of her days, even after she had been sadly disillusioned by Bessie.

中文理解：我的姑妈哈丽特好多年前就去世了，这倒是件好事。如果她活到今天，她将不能就她最爱的话题“佣人”发表意见了。哈丽特生活在一个悠闲的年代，家务事都由雇来的佣人代劳。她在乡下有一幢占地很广、格局曲折的房子，叫作“山墙庄园”。她在感情上对这幢房子难舍难分。房子实在太大了，但在丈夫去世多年后，她仍然执意长年住在那儿。哈丽特姑妈年轻时，喜欢大摆宴席，招待宾客。我小时候常去“山墙庄园”作客。不管去多少宾客，大房子里总是收拾得干干净净的。镶木地板洁如明镜，擦得发亮的银器陈列在明亮的玻璃柜里，连姑夫的大量藏书也保存得很好，奇迹般地一尘不染。哈丽特姑妈统率着一支看不见的佣人大军，他们不停地擦拭、清扫、刷洗。她称这些佣人叫“流动人口”，因为他们来也匆匆，去也匆匆，所以我甚至都没有机会知道他们的姓名。姑妈待佣人在当时算是开明的，从来不让佣人每天工作超过8小时，但他们很难使她满意。她一方面总是批评人的本性朝三暮四，另一方面她又持之以恒地寻找一个理想的佣人。即使在贝西大大地伤了她的心之后，她还在找，直到她死去为止。

* **be able to**：能够 / 无法；结合时间判断是一般能力还是某次实际做到；unable 带否定。

* **even though**：以便或以致 / 尽管 / 即使 / 仿佛；先判断两部分的关系；even though 说已知情况，even if 常说假设。

* **used to**：过去常常 / 习惯于；used to do 说过去习惯；be used to 后说已习惯的事，别混用。

* **No matter how**：坚持 / 你介意吗 / 无论多么；on 后接 -ing；Would you mind… 是请求或征求同意，不接动词原形。

* **carried on**：执行 / 继续；out 强调把任务实施，on 强调继续。

* **search for**：造成伤害 / 一瞥 / 寻找 / 在顶部；harm 常作不可数名词，search for 后说明寻找对象。

#### 这一段的读法与用法

注释：①for 引导的原因状语从句一直到本句最后的death，其中又有一个even though 引导的让步状语从句到needs。②for 引导的原因状语从句中还有一个that 引导的结果状语从句。③though 引导的让步状语从句。④in that 引导说明理由或方面的从句，意为“因为、在于”；这里用每天工作不超过八小时，说明她的政策何以算开明，不是时间意义的“既然”。⑤air her views = express her opinions。⑥favourite = most loved。 ⑦persisted in = continued to。⑧immaculate = spotlessly clean。 ⑨invisible = can't be seen。⑩enlightened = wise, free from accepted ideas。

### 第2段

Bessie worked for Aunt Harriet for three years. During that time she so gained my aunt's confidence, that she was put in charge of the domestic staff. Aunt Harriet could not find words to praise Bessie's industriousness and efficiency. In addition to all her other qualifications, Bessie was an expert cook. She acted the role of the perfect servant for three years before Aunt Harriet discovered her "little weakness". After being absent from The Gables for a week, my aunt unexpectedly returned one afternoon with a party of guests and instructed Bessie to prepare dinner. Not only was the meal well below the usual standard, but Bessie seemed unable to walk steadily. She bumped into the furniture and kept mumbling about the guests. When she came in with the last course—a huge pudding—she tripped on the carpet and the pudding went flying through the air, narrowly missed my aunt, and crashed on the dining table with considerable force. Though this caused great mirth among the guests, Aunt Harriet was horrified. She reluctantly came to the conclusion that Bessie was drunk. The guests had, of course, realized this from the moment Bessie opened the door for them and, long before the final catastrophe, had had a difficult time trying to conceal their amusement. The poor girl was dismissed instantly. After her departure, Aunt Harriet discovered that there were piles of empty wine bottles of all shapes and sizes neatly stacked in what had once been Bessie's wardrobe. They had mysteriously found their way there from the wine cellar!

中文理解：贝西在哈丽特家干了3年。在此期间，她赢得了姑妈的赏识，甚至当上了大管家。哈丽特用尽了赞美的言辞来形容贝西的勤奋与高效。贝西除了有各种本领以外，还是一个烹饪大师。她担任 “理想仆人”这个角色3年之后，哈丽特终于发现她有个“小小的弱点”。一次，姑妈有一个星期没在“山墙庄园”住。一天下午，她出其不意地回来了，带来一大批客人，吩咐贝西准备晚饭。结果，不仅饭菜远不如平时做得好，而且贝西走起路来似乎东倒西歪。她撞到了家具上，嘴里还不断咕哝着议论客人。当她端着最后一道菜——一大盘布丁——走进屋时，在地毯上绊了一跤。布丁飞到半空，从姑母身边擦过，然后狠狠地砸在餐桌上。这件事引起了客人们的欢笑，但哈丽特却着实吓了一跳。她不得不认定贝西是喝醉了。客人们自然从贝西为他们开门那一刻起就看出来了。在好长一段时间里，在最后这个乱子发生前，他们努力克制住才没笑出声来。贝西当即被解雇了。贝西走后，哈丽特姑妈发现在贝西以前用过的衣柜里整整齐齐地放着一堆形状各异、大小不一的空酒瓶。这些酒瓶神不知鬼不觉地从酒窖来到了这里。

* **In addition to**：除了 / 以及；确认是在增加信息还是排除信息；apart from 要结合上下文。

* **Not only**：不仅 / 两者都不 / 是否；找齐成对结构的两端；不是看见 not only 就一律倒装。

#### 这一段的读法与用法

注释：①mirth = joy。②stacked…wardrobe 作bottles 的定语，该定语中还有what 引导的从句作介词in 的宾语。此外，这里wardrobe 也是that 引导的宾语从句的结尾。

#### Summary 摘要

On her return with a party of guests, Aunt Harriet asked Bessie to prepare dinner. Not only was the meal below standard, Bessie could not walk steadily, and she bumped into furniture and mumbled at the guests. When she brought in the pudding, she tripped and the pudding crashed onto the dining table.While the guests were very amused, Aunt Harriet was horrified. She realized Bessie was drunk and dismissed her immediately. (72 words)

#### Composition 作文

\[1]Domestic servants still exist, but nowadays, instead of working for rich old ladies, they only work for members of the royal family, aristocrats, film stars, pop stars, successful businessmen and other rich and famous people, and there are really very few of them. The great age of domestic servants is past.

\[2]There are many reasons why there is such a small number of domestic servants now. The first thing, of course, is that there are very few families that own big houses that need domestic servants. Many of the large country houses in Britain that need servants have been bought by an organisation called the National Trust and many of the people who help to run these properties are voluntary. They are certainly not "servants" and they believe that they are helping to preserve the heritage of Great Britain.

\[3]The houses that are still owned privately are now run much more efficiently than they used to be, and very few entertain(v.招待) guests as they used to do. Instead, they open their gates to the general public, and so they need the same staff that major entertainments need. True, such large houses have some domestic staff, but they employ many other people who would not like to think of themselves as "domestic servants"—waiters and waitresses in their cafes, cleaners, car park attendants, ticket collectors, guides, office staff, and so on.

\[4]I am personally pleased that there are so few people in domestic service now. Most of us work for someone else, it's true, but the whole idea of being a "servant", a "domestic servant", is an idea connected more with past centuries than the twentieth or twenty-first centuries. (279 words)

## 学完这一课

保留原段的推进关系，换成自己的经历，写或说一段四五句的话。

[Nce · 本册复习台](/new-concept/book-3/review) · [三册选择地图](/new-concept/)

*译文与解析据吴应时、何景霖整理资料及本站首轮审校稿；词伙与练习提示为本站学习设计。原PDF第171—174页，2022年2月第3版。*