" I am glad! I am glad! " said the father, but even as he spoke a great sadness came to blend with his joy. The hour when he was to give this beautiful and beloved life into the keeping of another had been heralded by the god of the sexes, the ruthless god that devotes itself to the tearing of children from the parental arms and casting them amid the mysteries of an irretrievable wedlock. The thought filled him with solemnity.英文原著 · 《Active Service》
Is he to become a member of the luckless crews that man those dark, ill-starred ships called prisons? I urge you, gentlemen, do not ruin this young man. For as a result of those four minutes, ruin, utter and irretrievable, stares him in the face. The rolling of the chariot wheels of Justice over this boy began when it was decided to prosecute him."英文原著 · 《Anarchism and Other Essays》
"Is it worse than you thought?" she asked. "Oh, yes," said Lillian; "terrible, irretrievable, I fear!"英文原著 · 《Dora Thorne》
Sir Francis mused. Had the alternative been given him, he would have preferred to represent a certain warm place underground, rather than West Lynne. But, to quit Headthelot, and the snug post he anticipated, would be ruin irretrievable; nothing short of outlawry, or the queen's prison. It was awfully necessary to get his threatened person into parliament, and he began to turn over in his mind whether he /could/ bring himself to make further acquaintance with West Lynne. "The thing must have blown over for good by this time," was the result of his cogitations, unconsciously speaking aloud.英文原著 · 《East Lynne》
I urge you, gentlemen, do not ruin this young man! For, as a result of those four minutes, ruin, utter and irretrievable, stares him in the face. He can be saved now. Imprison him as a criminal, and I affirm to you that he will be lost. He has neither the face nor the manner of one who can survive that terrible ordeal. Weigh in the scales his criminality and the suffering he has undergone. The latter is ten times heavier already. He has lain in prison under this charge for more than two months.英文原著 · 《Justice》
WHEREAS, Our late neighbor and friend, P. Barnum, has become involved in financial misfortune which seems likely to be irretrievable, and to prevent his again residing in our vicinity--Resolved, That we as citizens of Bridgeport deem it an act of justice no less than a slight return for the many acts of liberality, philanthropy, and public spirit in our midst, which have marked his prosperity, to offer him our tribute of respect and sympathy in this the hour of his trouble.英文原著 · 《Life of Hon. Phineas T. Barnum》