I sometimes wonder that we can be so frivolous, I may almost say, as to attend to the gross but somewhat foreign form of servitude called Negro Slavery, there are so many keen and subtle masters that enslave both North and South. It is hard to have a Southern overseer; it is worse to have a Northern one; but worst of all when you are the slave-driver of yourself. Talk of a divinity in man! Look at the teamster on the highway, wending to market by day or night; does any divinity stir within him? His highest duty to fodder and water his horses! What is his destiny to him compared with the shipping interests? Does not he drive for Squire Make-a-stir? How godlike, how immortal, is he? See how he cowers and sneaks, how vaguely all the day he fears, not being immortal nor divine, but the slave and prisoner of his own opinion of himself, a fame won by his own deeds.
这说的是什么呀？他是瞧不起那些做牛做马的人吗？觉得人家没有内心追求，不崇高，没神性？因为人家没神性就看不起人，我有点接受不了。

我还以为真的慢慢读了，结果无声+无声

我之前也想通过英文小说提高英语，现在认识到没必要，与生活脱节了，我不是搞英语文学的。我有一套三体的kindle和audible，还有赛珍珠大地三部曲+龙种，谁要我免费分享。

eat acres是什么意思? 这书得找个英美高中生水平的人来问问。我还记得这书里面出现still这个常见单词，吧友查资料也查不出是什么意思。

你的这些问题属于对作者的思想不了解，因此不理解他的思路。他是说，每个人其实只吃那么一点东西就足以活着了，但却要因为继承的土地财产等物而终日劳动，放弃了“神性”的生活

这书不是小说而是哲学著作，不知道怎么开始流行通过看这种书提高基本英语水平的了

至于你说接受不了的内容，从正面说，作者是认为社会中的人都是自己财产的奴隶，每个人被驱使着追求不必要的财产丧失了作为人最高贵的本性。从反面说，西方哲学传统就是瞧不起劳动，这也是马克思将劳动等同于价值这一观点最可贵之处。观视频前几天推了一个范勇鹏讲西方人劳动观的，可以参考

Better if they had been born in the open pasture and suckled by a wolf
come on，giving me your the cubic feet of flesh and suckling by me

By the words, necessary of life, I mean whatever, of all that man obtains by his own exertions, has been from the first, or from long use has become, so important to human life that few, if any, whether from savageness, or poverty, or philosophy, ever attempt to do without it.
读了两遍才看懂。
这种句子，算是比较“友善”的了。哲学家喜欢这种表达方式：明明是事后才酝酿出来的句子，偏偏就要用这种“看似忠实记录思想”的方式，用各种状语，插入语把一个并不难的句子拆的粉粉碎。
我的心理承受能力是两个状语，再多的话，我就不会认为句子有什么美感了……

Why has man rooted himself thus firmly in the earth, but that he may rise in the same proportion into the heavens above?
人既然那么牢牢地在大地上扎了根，为什么就不能同样恰如其分地升高到天空中去呢？
but that的用法，第一次见。哪位大神给讲讲？

插播一个福尔摩斯：
“No, no! I am not so simple. Since I have promised to be frank, I may say that no one, save Barney Stockdale and Susan, his wife, have the least idea who their employer is. As to them, well, it is not the first– –” She smiled and nodded with a charming coquettish intimacy.
SAVE算是介词短语，动词应该跟NO ONE对应啊，为什么用HAVE呢？

From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp clang of the bell.
AS OF的用法没见过，也查不到……

“Well, I have been obliged to reconsider it. I had my net drawn tightly round Mr. Sholto, sir, when pop he went through a hole in the middle of it. He was able to prove an alibi which could not be shaken. From the time that he left his brother’s room he was never out of sight of someone or other. So it could not be he who climbed over roofs and through trapdoors. It’s a very dark case, and my professional credit is at stake. I should be very glad of a little assistance.”
这里的WHEN POP是不是当作whenever来理解？没有查到这种用法。

1.Why should they eat their sixty acres
这里的THEY是指谁？是有钱人，肉食者吗？还是说那些继承了大片土地，但是日子也好不到哪里去的人？但如果是后者，作者也没有觉得他们的日子好到哪里去。
我的理解：they指young men, my townsmen这类人。
2.They have got to live a man's life, pushing all these things before them, and get on as well as they can.
字面意思不难理解，但是跟上下文的意思似乎不连贯。
我的理解：他们得过上人模人样的生活，于是拼命积累财富，竭尽全力过上好生活。
push: raise.
get on: get along, progress.
3.Why has man rooted himself thus firmly in the earth, but that he may rise in the same proportion into the heavens above?
人既然那么牢牢地在大地上扎了根，为什么就不能同样恰如其分地升高到天空中去呢？but that的用法，第一次见。哪位大神给讲讲？
我的理解：（种子埋在土里，到时候了就会破土而出往上生长，），人为什么却一直埋头于土里呢？难道他不能以同样的方式破土而出吗？【比喻生命追求自由和快乐，不耽于物欲。】
in proportion: In a realistic or appropriate manner，这里指人有吃、有住、有穿、有烧火做饭取暖的燃料后就该知足了，就应该放下物欲，去寻求简单、纯洁的心灵世界了。
but that: if not that, but=if not, unless. 这句话直译是好像他不能什么什么似的。
the heavens: 天空，与the earth对应。the earth比喻充满物欲的尘世，the heavens比喻纯洁自由快乐的世界。
4.From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp clang of the bell.
AS OF的用法没见过，也查不到……
我的理解：as of=from，用于时间，但这里却用于空间了。
5.“Well, I have been obliged to reconsider it. I had my net drawn tightly round Mr. Sholto, sir, when pop he went through a hole in the middle of it. He was able to prove an alibi which could not be shaken. From the time that he left his brother’s room he was never out of sight of someone or other. So it could not be he who climbed over roofs and through trapdoors. It’s a very dark case, and my professional credit is at stake. I should be very glad of a little assistance.”
这里的WHEN POP是不是当作whenever来理解？没有查到这种用法。
我的理解：pop=suddenly.