2014年1月9日 星期四

amethyst, antiphone, all but barren

iii

At that hour when all things have repose,
O lonely watcher of the skies,
Do you hear the night wind and the sighs
Of harps playing unto Love to unclose
The pale gates of sunrise?
When all things repose, do you alone
Awake to hear the sweet harps play
To Love before him on his way,
And the night wind answering in antiphon
Till night is overgone?
Play on, invisible harps, unto Love,
Whose way in heaven is aglow
At that hour when soft lights come and go,
Soft sweet music in the air above
And in the earth below.

ii

The twilight turns from amethyst
To deep and deeper blue,
The lamp fills with a pale green glow
The trees of the avenue.
The old piano plays an air,
Sedate and slow and gay;
She bends upon the yellow keys,
Her head inclines this way.
Shy thought and grave wide eyes and hands
That wander as they list—
The twilight turns to darker blue
With lights of amethyst.

 ---James Joyce

Avandia’s success was crucial to SmithKline, whose labs were otherwise all but barren of new products. But the study’s results, completed that same year, were disastrous. Not only was Avandia no better than Actos, but the study also provided clear signs that it was riskier to the heart.

all but
Almost, nearly, as in I've all but finished the book. This expression was used by Andrew Marvell in "Thoughts in a Garden": "Society is all but rude, To this delicious solitude." [Late 1500s]


bar·ren (băr'ən) pronunciation
[形]
1 〈植物が〉実を結ばない;〈土地が〉不毛の;((古風))不妊の.
2 ((通例限定))(努力が)実を結ばない, 不毛な;〈作品・思想などが〉興味をひかない, 魅力のない
a barren topic
不毛の 話題.
3 〈音が〉何の意味も伝えない.
4 (…が)欠けている((of ...))
be barren of excitement
刺 激に欠けている.
━━[名](一帯の)荒野;((通例〜s))((米・カナ ダ))不毛の地, やせ地.
[アングロフランス語←古フランス語brahain(不毛の)]

adj.

    1. Not producing offspring.
    2. Incapable of producing offspring.
  1. Lacking vegetation, especially useful vegetation.
  2. Unproductive of results or gains; unprofitable: barren efforts. See synonyms at futile.
  3. Devoid of something specified: writing barren of insight. See synonyms at empty.
  4. Lacking in liveliness or interest.
n.
A tract of unproductive land, often with a scrubby growth of trees. Often used in the plural.

[Middle English barreine, from Old French brahaigne, perhaps of Germanic origin.]
barrenly bar'ren·ly adv.
barrenness bar'ren·ness n.



amethyst
ˈaməθɪst/
noun
noun: amethyst; plural noun: amethysts
  1. 1.
    a precious stone consisting of a violet or purple variety of quartz.
    "a delicate necklace of amethysts and pearls"
    • a violet or purple colour.
      "an amethyst dress"
Origin

 An´ti`phone
n.1.(Mus.) The response which one side of the choir makes to the other in a chant; alternate chanting or signing.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, published 1913 by C. & G. Merriam Co.

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