American Tragedy 美国悲剧 chapter 20

The home of Samuel Griffiths in Lycurgus, New York, a city of some twenty-five thousand inhabitants midwaybetween Utica and Albany. Near the dinner hour and by degrees the family assembling for its customary meal., ,On this occasion the preparations were of a more elaborate nature than usual, owing to the fact that for the pastfour days Mr. Samuel Griffiths, the husband and father, had been absent attending a conference of shirt andcollar manufacturers in Chicago, price-cutting by upstart rivals in the west having necessitated ¹ compromise andadjustment by those who manufactured in the east. He was but now returned and had telephoned earlier in theafternoon that he had arrived, and was going to his office in the factory where he would remain until dinner time., ,Being long accustomed to the ways of a practical and convinced man who believed in himself and considered hisjudgment and his decision sound -- almost final -- for the most part, anyhow, Mrs. Griffiths thought nothing of this., , ,Knowing that he preferred leg of lamb above many other things, after due word with Mrs. Truesdale, her homelybut useful housekeeper ², she ordered lamb. And the appropriate vegetables and dessert having been decided ³ upon, she gave herself over to thoughts of her eldest ⁴ daughter Myra, who, having graduated from Smith Collegeseveral years before, was still unmarried. And the reason for this, as Mrs. Griffiths well understood, though shewas never quite willing to admit it openly, was that Myra was not very good looking. Her nose was too long, hereyes too close-set, her chin not sufficiently ⁵ rounded to give her a girlish and pleasing appearance. For the most part she seemed too thoughtful and studious -- as a rule not interested in the ordinary social life of that city., ,Neither did she possess that savoir faire, let alone that peculiar ⁶ appeal for men, that characterized some girls evenwhen they were not pretty. As her mother saw it, she was really too critical and too intellectual, having a mind that was rather above the world in which she found herself., ,No man is necessitated to do wrong. 没有人是被迫去作错事的 。,A spotless stove told us that his mother is a diligent housekeeper.炉子清洁无瑕就表明他母亲是个勤劳的主妇
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