The smell of wood, refreshingly sweet, greeted me even before I sat down at the round table. As if breathing along with the trees, I felt a simple, primitive（原始的，简单的） joy when admiring those furniture and home articles shaped and carved out of cedar（雪松） in the heritage museum village of San Antonio, an old-time riverside town down south in the United States.
The craftsman, Arnold, came from a family of carpenters. As a Vietnam War veteran, he related to me, a visitor from Asia, how he had fought against the Vietcong guerrillas in the jungle.
His dearest memory, he said, was that of a medley（混合） of tropical smells of the rain forest, in which he had to move with the utmost（极度的） caution, trembling with fear that the lurking enemy would attack from anywhere, any moment. What calmed him down, he recalled, was the fragrance（香味） of wood as he, holding his rifle, was lying prone against the trunk of a large tree, sticking himself to the coarse bark.
After the war, Arnold started to live by working on wood, like his ancestors. Among his finest carpentry works was a rocking-chair, in which his daughter was now seated, reading. I picked out a tube-shaped pot with a lid. Chiselled out of a block, the objet d'art well preserved the material's colour in various shades, the clear annual rings, the original cracks and nodes -- what a reminder of the mystique（奥秘） of life!
Lifting the lid, I savoured the fragrance of wood, feeling the natural power that had helped Arnold overcome his fear -- fragrance in war, which sounds like a poet's nonsense.
相关单词：refreshingly
refreshingly解释：adv.清爽地，有精神地
refreshingly例句：
Hers is less workmanlike than the other books and refreshingly unideological. 她的书不像其它书那般精巧，并且不涉及意识形态也让人耳目一新。 来自互联网
Skin is left refreshingly clean with no pore-clogging residue. 皮肤留下清爽干净，没有孔隙堵塞残留。 来自互联网
相关单词：primitive
primitive解释：adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物
primitive例句：
It is a primitive instinct to flee a place of danger.逃离危险的地方是一种原始本能。
His book describes the march of the civilization of a primitive society.他的著作描述了一个原始社会的开化过程。
相关单词：cedar
cedar解释：n.雪松，香柏(木)
cedar例句：
The cedar was
She struck the snow from the branches of an old cedar with gray lichen.她把长有灰色地衣的老雪松树枝上的雪打了下来。
相关单词：craftsman
craftsman解释：n.技工，精于一门工艺的匠人
craftsman例句：
A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。
The craftsman is working up the mass of clay into a toy figure.艺人把一团泥捏成玩具形状。
相关单词：medley
medley解释：n.混合
medley例句：
Today's sports meeting doesn't seem to include medley relay swimming.现在的运动会好象还没有混合接力泳这个比赛项目。
China won the Men's 200 metres Individual Medley.中国赢得了男子200米个人混合泳比赛。
相关单词：lurking
lurking解释：潜在
lurking例句：
Why are you lurking around outside my house? 你在我房子外面鬼鬼祟祟的，想干什么？
There is a suspicious man lurking in the shadows. 有一可疑的人躲在阴暗中。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
相关单词：fragrance
fragrance解释：n.芬芳，香味，香气
fragrance例句：
The apple blossoms filled the air with their fragrance.苹果花使空气充满香味。
The fragrance of lavender filled the room.房间里充满了薰衣草的香味。
相关单词：prone
prone解释：adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的
prone例句：
Some people are prone to jump to hasty conclusions.有些人往往作出轻率的结论。
He is prone to lose his temper when people disagree with him.人家一不同意他的意见,他就发脾气。
相关单词：chiselled
chiselled解释：adj.凿过的，凿光的； （文章等）精心雕琢的v.凿，雕，镌( chisel的过去式 )
chiselled例句：
A name was chiselled into the stone. 石头上刻着一个人名。
He chiselled a hole in the door to fit a new lock. 他在门上凿了一个孔，以便装一把新锁。 来自《简明英汉词典》
相关单词：reminder
reminder解释：n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示
reminder例句：
I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。
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