---
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。
---

# 49 · 理想的仆人

### 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.
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：幸好，我的哈丽特姨妈多年前就去世了。要是活到今天，她恐怕连自己最爱谈论的话题——家里的仆人——都没机会发表高见了。姨妈生活在一个悠闲的年代，那时家务可以雇仆人来做。她有一座庞大而格局曲折的乡间宅邸，名叫“山墙庄园”。她对这房子很有感情，虽然房子远比自己所需的大得多，丈夫去世多年后，仍坚持住在那里。姨妈上年纪以前，常常大宴宾客。我小时候也经常去山墙庄园。无论来了多少客人，大宅总是一尘不染：拼花地板亮得像镜子，擦得锃亮的银器摆在光洁的玻璃柜里，就连姨父那一大批藏书，也奇迹般地不落一点灰尘。姨妈指挥着一支几乎看不见人的仆人队伍，他们不停地擦洗、打扫、抛光。她总管这群人叫“流动人口”，因为仆人来去太频繁，我甚至没机会记住他们的名字。在当时，姨妈算得上开明，从不让仆人一天工作超过八小时，可她实在太难伺候了。她一边抱怨人性反复无常，一边始终不肯放弃寻找理想的仆人，直到生命尽头都如此，哪怕贝西早已让她大失所望。
贝西在姨妈家做了三年。期间，她深得信任，被安排管理其他仆人。姨妈对她的勤快和能干，简直赞不绝口。除了种种长处，她还有一手好厨艺。她扮演“完美仆人”整整三年，姨妈才发现她那点“小毛病”。有一次，姨妈离开山墙庄园一星期后，某天下午突然带着一群客人回来，吩咐贝西准备晚餐。那顿饭不但远低于平时的水准，贝西连走路都走不稳，东一下西一下撞上家具，嘴里还不停嘀咕客人们的事。端最后一道菜——一大盆布丁——进来时，她被地毯绊了一跤，布丁腾空而起，险些砸中姨妈，最后重重地摔在餐桌上。客人们笑得不行，姨妈却吓坏了，不得不承认，贝西是喝醉了。其实，客人们从贝西开门迎接的那一刻起就看出来了；最后这场灾难发生前，他们早已忍笑忍得十分辛苦。可怜的姑娘当场就被解雇。她离开后，姨妈在她原先的衣柜里，发现了堆得整整齐齐、形状大小各异的空酒瓶。这些瓶子，竟然神不知鬼不觉地从酒窖里跑到这儿来了！

* **air her views**：公开表达看法；air 在这里是动词表达，不是空气。

* **were employed to**：受雇来……；employ + 人 + to do；被动中人作主语。

* **even though**：尽管；虽然；让步说明一个已知情况，后面的结果却与预期不同。

* **persisted in**：坚持做……；persist in + doing，区别 persist with + 任务。

* **No matter how**：无论多么；不管怎样；表示程度怎样都不改变后面的情况，后面仍需完整说明。

* **free from dust**：没有灰尘；free from 描写不受污染的状态，不是免费。

* **came and went**：来了又走；频繁更替；本课指雇员频繁更替，不是同一人来回走动。

* **difficult to please**：难以取悦；形容词 + to do 评对象的特性，不是顾客难以去取悦别人。

* **carried on**：继续下去；carry on doing / with something，本课为持续寻找。

* **in charge of**：负责；管理；与 in the charge of 被某人管理区分。

* **In addition to**：除……之外还有；补充包含关系，不作排除。

* **well below the usual standard**：远低于平常水准；well 修饰 below 加强距离，不是说做得好。

* **bumped into**：撞上；偶然遇到；本课为身体碰撞，遇见熟人的语境才是偶遇。

* **tripped on**：被……绊倒；trip on / over + 障碍，不是去旅行。

* **came to the conclusion**：得出结论；that 从句交代结论，应有前文依据。

* **was dismissed instantly**：当即被解雇；be dismissed 指被辞退；不能读成自己主动辞职。

* **all shapes and sizes**：各种形状和大小；常后置修饰多样物品。

* **neatly stacked**：整齐堆放着；stack + 物品，neatly 描写排列方式。

#### 原文注释 · It is a good thing my aunt Harriet died years ago.

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。

#### 原文注释 · Bessie worked for Aunt Harriet for three years.

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

用 if… were…,… would… 说明一个未实现的现在设想。

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

*译文依据整理稿，由本站按中文表达重新校订；解析据吴应时、何景霖整理资料及首轮审校稿；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。*