“Well, they call me so because I am a little mad, I suppose,” she said,
good-humouredly, in answer to Clara’s cautiously worded question as to how
she came by so strange a nickname “You see, I never do what sane1 people are
expected to do nowadays. I never wear long trains (talking of trains, that’s
the Charing2 Cross Metropolitan3 Station I’ve something to tell you about
that), and I never play lawn-tennis. I ca’n’t cook an omelette. I ca’n’t
even set a broken limb! There’s an ignoramus for you!”
Clara was her niece, and full twenty years her junior; in fact, she was still
attending a High School — an institution of which Mad Mathesis spoke4 with
undisguised aversion. “Let a woman be meek5 and lowly!” she would say.
“None of your High Schools for me!” But it was vacation-time just now, and
Clara was her guest, and Mad Mathesis was showing her the sights of that
Eighth Wonder of the world — London.
“The Charing Cross Metropolitan Station!” she resumed, waving her hand
towards the entrance as if she were introducing her niece to a friend. “The
Bayswater “and Birmingham Extension is just completed, and the trains now
run round and round continuously — skirting the border of Wales, just
touching6 at York, and so round by the east coast back to London. The way the
trains run is most peculiar7. The westerly ones go round in two hours; the
easterly ones take three; but they always manage to start two trains from
here, opposite ways, punctually every quarter of an hour.”
“They part to meet again,” said Clara, her eyes filling with tears at the
romantic thought.
“No need to cry about it!” her aunt grimly remarked. “They don’t meet on
the same line of rails, you know. Talking of meeting, an idea strikes me!”
she added, changing the subject with her usual abruptness8. “Let’s go
opposite ways round, and see which can meet most trains. No need for a
chaperon — ladies’ saloon, you know. You shall go whichever way you like,
and we’ll have bet about it!”
“I never make bets,” Clara said very gravely. “Our excellent preceptress
has often warned us — ”
“You’d be none the worst if you did!” Mad Mathesis interrupted. “In fact,
you’d be the better, I’m certain!”
“Neither does our excellent preceptress approve of puns,” said Clara. “But
we’ll have a match, if you like. Let me choose my train,” she added after a
brief mental calculation, “and I’ll engage to meet exactly half as many
again as you do.”
“Not if you count fair,” Mad Mathesis bluntly interrupted. “Remember, we
only count the trains we meet on the way. You mustn’t count the one that
starts as you start, nor the one that arrives as you arrive.”
“That will only make the difference of one train,” said Clara, as they
turned and entered the station. “But I never travelled alone before. There’
ll be no one to help me to alight. However, I don’t mind. Let’s have a
match.”
A ragged9 little boy overheard her remark, and came running after her. “Buy a
box of cigar-lights, Miss!” he pleaded, pulling her shawl to attract her
attention Clara stopped to explain.
“I never smoke cigars,” she said in a meekly10 apologetic tone. “Our
excellent preceptress — “ But Mad Mathesis impatiently hurried her on, and
the little boy was left gazing after her with round eyes of amazement11. The
two ladies bought their tickets and moved slowly down the central platform.
Mad Mathesis prattling12 on as usual — Clara, silent, anxiously reconsidering
the calculation on which she rested her hopes of winning the match.
“Mind where you go, dear!” cried her aunt, checking her just in time. “One
step more, and you’d have been in that pail of cold water,”
“I know, I know,” Clara said dreamily. “The pale, the cold, and the moony
— ”
“Take your places on the spring-boards!” shouted a porter.
“What are they for!” Clara asked in a terrified whisper.
“Merely to help us into the trains.” The elder lady spoke with the
nonchalance13 of one quite used to the process. “Very few people can get into
a carriage without help in less than three seconds, and the trains only stop
for one second.” At this moment the whistle was heard, and two trains rushed
into the station. A moment’s pause, and they were gone again; but in that
brief interval15 several hundred passengers had been shot into them, each
flying straight to his place with the accuracy of a Minie bullet — while an
equal number were showered out upon the side-platforms.
Three hours had passed away, and the two friends met again on the Charing
Cross platform, and eagerly compared notes. Then Clara turned away with a
sigh. To young impulsive16 hearts, like hers, disappointment is always a bitter
pill. Mad Mathesis followed her, full of kindly17 sympathy.
“Try again, my love” she said cheerily. “Let us vary the experiment. We
will start as we did before, but not begin counting till our trains meet.
When we see each other, we will say ‘one!’, and so count on till we come
here again.”
Clara brightened up. “I shall win that”, she exclaimed eagerly, “if I may
choose my train!”
Another shriek18 of engine whistles, another upheaving of spring-boards,
another living avalanche19 plunging20 into two trains as they flashed by and the
travelers were off again.
Each gazed eagerly from her carriage window, holding up her handkerchief as a
signal to her friend. A rush and a roar. Two trains shot past each other in a
tunnel, and two travelers leaned back in their corners with a sigh — or
rather with two sighs — of relief. “One!” Clara murmured to herself.
“Won! It’s a word of good omen14. This time, at any rate, the victory will be
mine”
But was it?
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收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
sane
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| adj.心智健全的，神志清醒的，明智的，稳健的 | |
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2
charing
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| n.炭化v.把…烧成炭，把…烧焦( char的现在分词 )；烧成炭，烧焦；做杂役女佣 | |
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3
metropolitan
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| adj.大城市的，大都会的 | |
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4
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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5
meek
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| adj.温顺的，逆来顺受的 | |
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6
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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7
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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8
abruptness
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| n. 突然，唐突 | |
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9
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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10
meekly
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| adv.温顺地，逆来顺受地 | |
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11
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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12
prattling
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| v.（小孩般）天真无邪地说话( prattle的现在分词 )；发出连续而无意义的声音；闲扯；东拉西扯 | |
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13
nonchalance
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| n.冷淡，漠不关心 | |
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14
omen
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| n.征兆，预兆；vt.预示 | |
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15
interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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16
impulsive
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| adj.冲动的，刺激的；有推动力的 | |
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17
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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18
shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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19
avalanche
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| n.雪崩，大量涌来 | |
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20
plunging
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| adj.跳进的，突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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