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Fri 24 Apr, 2009 10:14 am
"My own wife, at all events, I find an unfailing mystery, a Sphinx whose secrets I assume to be not worth knowing: and, as I am mildly thankful to narrate, she knows very little about me, and evinces as to my affairs no morbid interest. That is not to assert that if I were ill she would not nurse me through any imaginable contagion, nor that if she were drowning I would not plunge in after her, whatever my delinquencies at swimming: what I mean is that, pending such high crises, we tolerate each other amicably, and never think of doing more. "
In this whole passage, my question just focuses on the very last part of it. Does "never think of doing more" here mean that, to tolerate each other is all that they would do for each other when there are pending crises , and apart from amicable tolerance, there is nothing else that they would do for each other? So does this passage indicate that the intimacy between a married couple is moderate?
@google808,
"Pending such high crises" means "while there are no such high crises either occurring or imminent". What the writer is saying is that in the event of a crisis they can depend upon each other, but in the meantime they are amicably tolerant.
Quote:So does this passage indicate that the intimacy between a married couple is moderate?
No it does not. It does not say anything that would permit such a general conclusion. It merely tells the reader how the writer and his wife's marriage is.
@google808,
I read the last part of this as saying that neither of them elict an interest in the day to day activities of the other. Both are content to lead their lives and let the other do the same "never thinking" of trying to get more involved in the other's life.
"we tolerate each other amicably, and never think of doing more. "
It means that: we put up with each other OK, and that's about it.
Unfortunately, many marriages are like this. Very little intimacy.
@sullyfish6,
The whole point of the piece for me (I am a native speaker) is that, when it matters, the writer and his wife will be there for each other. The rest of the time, they are amicable and do not live in each other's pockets.
Nothing wrong with that. It sounds like a long established happy and successful relationship.
I like all the answers, it's a pity that i can't select all as the "selected answers" thank you again very much for the help in my english study.
@google808,
google808 wrote:it's a pity that i can't select all as the "selected answers"
The best way to be successful in your English study is to read the piece and decide what *you* think it is about.
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