本文作者Edward John Trelawney（特裏勞尼，1792-1881），是英國作家和冒險家，與雪萊和拜倫過從甚密，曾隨拜倫投身希臘民族獨立鬥爭。
增值英語
1 he reduced his diet
reduce one’s diet 解作“節食”；同義詞組為 be dieting 或 be on a diet：
She reduces her diet in order to look slim. 她為了顯得苗條而節食。
She is dieting in order to keep fit. 她為了保持體型而節食。
She is on a diet in order to slim down. 她為了變瘦些而節食。
2 to keep down...or shoot himself
句式 or 否則，要不然，有時用 or else，或用 otherwise 代替：
Wear your overcoat or you’ll be cold. 穿上你的大衣，否則你會冷的。
_disibledevent= self-control)：
He exercises great self-restraint in the face of provocation. 他麵對挑釁盡力克製著自己。
She handles the situation with self-restraint. 她克製著自己應付局麵。
4 ...to resist his proneness to fatten.
句式 proneness n. to / prone (adj.) to + sth / + 不定式，解作“傾向於某（壞）事物”“易受某（壞）事物影響的特性”，形容詞較常用：
That child is prone to lose his temper whenever he can’t get what he wants. 那小孩每當得不到想要的東西時，就傾向於發脾氣。
Infants are more prone to virus infections. 嬰兒較易受病毒感染。
A person who has a proneness to steal things is called a kleptomaniac. 傾向於偷竊的人被稱為“有盜竊癖的人”。
注意 -prone 也可以和其他很少部分名詞合成複合形容詞，如 accident-prone（易生意外的）、injury-prone（易受損傷的）：
This part of the highway is particularly accident-prone. 這部分的高速公路特別易生意外。
Old people are injury-prone. 老人家易受損傷。
5 keep my hands off him
句式 keep one’s hands off sth 不碰，不插手某事：
Keep your hands off my precious paintings while I am away.
我不在家的時候，你別碰我珍貴的油畫。
Big business organizations cannot keep their hands off profitable small firms. 大企業對盈利好的小企業總想插手。
注意 反義詞語為 to have a finger in every pie，即對什麼都想插手、染指。
名言
Adversity is the first path to truth.
— Lord Byron
逆境是通向真理的第一條道路。——拜倫