As she put it in The Common Reader , “It is safe to say that not a single law has been framed or one stone set upon another because of anything Chaucer said or wrote ; and yet , as we read him , we are absorbing morality at every pore .”

　　难句类型：抽象词、抽象词组、比喻

　　就像她在《致普通读者》一书中所表达的那样，“尽管可以毫无疑问的说，没有任何法律被指定出来，也没有任何高楼大厦被建立起来是因为乔叟说了什么或者写了什么;然而，当我们读它的书的时候，我们身上每一个毛孔都充满了道德”

　　这句话不但用了词抽象，还用了比喻的修辞手法。是指没有因为乔叟的言论而产生任何实际的行为规则或政治机构，但我们受其影响之深，以及其影响力之大。