In January, 1757, Louis XV is going to his carriage,

1757年1月 路易十五要乘马车出行

going down the steps,

当他走下台阶之时

and a certain individual called Damiensrushesup.

一个名叫达米安的人忽地冲了出来

And then he feels blood and he says,

路易感觉到自己受了伤 于是大喊

I've been hit. That's the man that did it.

我受伤了 那就是行凶者

Damiens is immediately arrested,

达米安即刻就被绳之于法

tortured on his feet by the Chancellor,

尽管路易十五并未授意用刑

although Louis XV did not want him to be tortured,

但法官还是用烙铁烫他的脚

to see whether he had any accomplices,

想逼问出他有没有同谋

and whether the knife was, in fact, a poison knife,

以及他刺伤国王的刀子是否淬了毒

which is the great fear that they have at the time.

因为当时人们非常惧怕毒伤

As far as we can see, he seems to be a nobody.

根据已掌握的史料 他只是个无名小卒

He's a Lee Harvey Oswald figure, if you like,

你可以把他当做另一个李·哈维·奥斯瓦尔德

but what makes people suspicious is that he's a "Nobody"

但令人怀疑的是 他这个"无名小卒"

connected to some quite important "Somebodies".

却与一些"位高权重"的人有关联

He's worked as a servant

他是当时法国大法院中

for a number of members of the Paris Parlement.

很多位成员的仆人

People are neverquitecertain

人们一直没能搞明白

whether he's not part of a, sort of,

达米安的袭击行动到底是不是

wave of hostility towards Louis XV.

法国社会反路易十五浪潮的一部分

一.rush：v. 冲，仓促行事，突袭，奔，急速流动 n. 抢购，匆忙，冲进，急速行进，蜂拥 adj. 繁忙的，紧急的 n. 灯芯草

【词义辨析】

1.dash，rush

dash: 指以最快的速度向前奔驰。

rush: 指因急躁或事务紧急而采取快速行动。

2.quicken，accelerate，hasten，hurry，rush，speed

quicken: 普通用词，指增加速度、速率。

accelerate: 着重指频率或速率运转加快。

hasten: 指由于事的紧迫性或突然性而加速。

hurry: 指赶紧或匆忙地做某事或催促别人做某事，隐含草率或混乱意味。

rush: 含义与hurry相近，但显得更仓促更慌乱。

speed: 侧重实际的快速行动,常用词组是speed up。

【例句用法】

1.The cat made little rushes to and fro after the ball.

猫追着球跑过来跑过去。

2.They rushed up the stairs.

他们冲到楼上。

3.He did not like us to rush him.

他不喜欢我们催他。

二.quite：adv. 相当，完全，十分，很，不太

【词语用法】

1.fairly，quite，rather以及pretty的比较：

四个词均属于程度副词。

Fairly一般修饰形容词与副词，表示很一般的程度。

“How was the film?”

“Fairly good. Not the best one I’ve seen this year.”

quite一般修饰动词和名词，表示的程度要比fairly深一点。

“How was the film?”

“Quite good. You ought to go.”

rather一般修饰动词(尤其时感观动词)和名词，表示的程度比quite要更强烈一点，意为“比预期的还要多一些”。

“How was the film?”

“Rather good. I was surprised.”

pretty是非正式用语，修饰形容词与副词，表示的程度与rather相当。

“How’s things?”

“Pretty good. You OK?”

2.可以有“quite right”与“all right”的表达方式。“quite right”指的是all right，而“all right”指的是quite right。偶有人会用“quite all right”，但表示的是all quite wrong。不过因该说法不合理，应尽量避免。

【错句举例与错句分析】

错句：He lay quitely still until the enemy moved away.

纠正：He lay quite still until the enemy moved away.

翻译：他很安静地躺着，直到敌人走远。

分析：quite本身是个副词，可直接修饰形容词。

【例句用法】

1.I was quite pleased.

我挺高兴。

2.It was quite wonderful.

那可太妙了。

3.He's quite handsome.

他不太漂亮。