Wu Ting
How would you interpret ‘to the end of their rope’ and ‘were camped’ in the context? “Don’t trouble yourself over it, that’s my sister Parthenia Goins,” said Mrs. Brown today, hardly even looking up from the page she was typing. “Her husband Ottie is out there too, I see. And some of the nephews.” I’d just told her a band of gypsies had come to the end of their rope on Montford Avenue and were camped on the front yard. Very chagrined, therefore, to learn it was Mrs. Brown’s family, come down into town from “the hells.” A twice-yearly event, at “Eastertide and the Laboring Day,” for the purchase of dry goods and a checkup on the moral progress of Sister Violet. The trip takes them the better part of a day, even though they live only a few miles up toward Mount Mitchell. But the road is “fearsome hateful.”How would you interpret ‘to the end of their rope’ and ‘were camped’ in the first sentence of the second passage? 1. As for ‘to the end of their rope’, does it mean the gypsies had come to the end of their journey? 2. As for ‘were camped’, why did the writer use passive voice here? Does it mean ‘I’ let the gypsies camp on the front yard? Thanks
2015年1月21日 09:31
解答 · 3
1
"End of their rope" is an idiom. It implies that a person is so tired, frustrated, or annoyed of something, that they no longer want to deal with it. Gypsies are usually known to not have a home, and they just pack up their stuff and move on to a new place. When they find a new place, they set up camp, by putting up tents and all their stuff, and making it their new home. In this sentence, however, it seems like the writer is implying that the gypsies have moved into the front yard and are refusing to leave. They could have set up tents and decided to live there, or they might not have. Either way, they are there, taking up that space, so they are "camped" there. The writing seems to be old. I am not sure who the writer is, or what the book is, but it seems to have lots of difficult English, some of which wouldn't be grammatically correct these days.
2015年1月21日
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