She panted up anon, and dropped on the turf beside me. Neither had any desire for talk; the glow and the glory of existing on this perfect morning were satisfaction full and sufficient.
[15]
‘Where’s Harold?’ I asked presently.
‘Oh, he’s just playin’ muffin-man, as usual,’ said Charlotte with petulance13. ‘Fancy wanting to be a muffin-man on a whole holiday!’
It was a strange craze, certainly; but Harold, who invented his own games and played them without assistance, always stuck staunchly to a new fad14, till he had worn it quite out. Just at present he was a muffin-man, and day and night he went through passages and up and down staircases, ringing a noiseless bell and offering phantom15 muffins to invisible wayfarers16. It sounds a poor sort of sport; and yet—to pass along busy streets of your own building, for ever ringing an imaginary bell and offering airy muffins of your own make to a bustling17 thronging18 crowd of your own creation—there were points about the game, it cannot be denied, though it seemed scarce in harmony with this radiant wind-swept morning!
‘And Edward, where is he?’ I questioned again.
‘He’s coming along by the road,’ said Charlotte. ‘He’ll be crouching19 in the ditch when[16] we get there, and he’s going to be a grizzly20 bear and spring out on us, only you mustn’t say I told you, ’cos it’s to be a surprise.’
‘All right,’ I said magnanimously. ‘Come on and let’s be surprised.’ But I could not help feeling that on this day of days even a grizzly felt misplaced and common.
Sure enough an undeniable bear sprang out on us as we dropped into the road; then ensued shrieks21, growlings, revolver-shots, and unrecorded heroisms, till Edward condescended22 at last to roll over and die, bulking large and grim, an unmitigated grizzly. It was an understood thing, that whoever took upon himself to be a bear must eventually die, sooner or later, even if he were the eldest23 born; else, life would have been all strife24 and carnage, and the Age of Acorns25 have displaced our hard-won civilisation26. This little affair concluded with satisfaction to all parties concerned, we rambled27 along the road, picking up the defaulting Harold by the way, muffinless now and in his right and social mind.
‘What would you do?’ asked Charlotte presently—the book of the moment always[17] dominating her thoughts until it was sucked dry and cast aside,—‘What would you do if you saw two lions in the road, one on each side, and you didn’t know if they was loose or if they was chained up?’
‘Do?’ shouted Edward valiantly28, ‘I should—I should—I should—’ His boastful accents died away into a mumble29: ‘Dunno what I should do.’
‘Shouldn’t do anything,’ I observed after consideration; and, really, it would be difficult to arrive at a wiser conclusion.
‘If it came to doing,’ remarked Harold reflectively, ‘the lions would do all the doing there was to do, wouldn’t they?’
‘But if they was good lions,’ rejoined Charlotte, ‘they would do as they would be done by.’
‘Ah, but how are you to know a good lion from a bad one?’ said Edward. ‘The books don’t tell you at all, and the lions ain’t marked any different.’
‘Why, there aren’t any good lions,’ said Harold hastily.
‘O yes, there are, heaps and heaps,’ contradicted[18] Edward. ‘Nearly all the lions in the story-books are good lions. There was Androcles’ lion, and St. Jerome’s lion, and—and—and the Lion and the Unicorn——’
‘He beat the Unicorn,’ observed Harold dubiously30, ‘all round the town.’
‘That proves he was a good lion,’ cried Edward triumphantly31. ‘But the question is, how are you to tell ’em when you see ’em?’
‘I should ask Martha,’ said Harold of the simple creed32.
Edward snorted contemptuously, then turned to Charlotte. ‘Look here,’ he said; ‘let’s play at lions, anyhow, and I’ll run on to that corner and be a lion,—I’ll be two lions, one on each side of the road,—and you’ll come along, and you won’t know whether I’m chained up or not, and that’ll be the fun!’
‘No, thank you,’ said Charlotte firmly; ‘you’ll be chained up till I’m quite close to you, and then you’ll be loose, and you’ll tear me in pieces, and make my frock all dirty, and p’raps you’ll hurt me as well. I know your lions!’
[19]
‘No, I won’t, I swear I won’t,’ protested Edward. ‘I’ll be quite a new lion this time—something you can’t even imagine.’ And he raced off to his post. Charlotte hesitated—then she went timidly on, at each step growing less Charlotte, the mummer of a minute, and more the anxious Pilgrim of all time. The lion’s wrath33 waxed terrible at her approach; his roaring filled the startled air. I waited until they were both thoroughly34 absorbed, and then I slipped through the hedge out of the trodden highway, into the vacant meadow spaces. It was not that I was unsociable, nor that I knew Edward’s lions to the point of satiety35; but the passion and the call of the divine morning were high in my blood. Earth to earth! That was the frank note, the joyous36 summons of the day; and they could not but jar and seem artificial, these human discussions and pretences37, when boon38 nature, reticent39 no more, was singing that full-throated song of hers that thrills and claims control of every fibre. The air was wine, the moist earth-smell wine, the lark’s song, the wafts40 from the cow-shed at top[20] of the field, the pant and smoke of a distant train—all were wine—or song, was it? or odour, this unity41 they all blent into? I had no words then to describe it, that earth-effluence of which I was so conscious; nor, indeed, have I found words since. I ran sideways, shouting; I dug glad heels into the squelching42 soil; I splashed diamond showers from puddles with a stick; I hurled43 clods skywards at random44, and presently I somehow found myself singing. The words were mere45 nonsense—irresponsible babble46; the tune47 was an improvisation48, a weary, unrhythmic thing of rise and fall: and yet it seemed to me a genuine utterance49, and just at that moment the one thing fitting and right and perfect. Humanity would have rejected it with scorn. Nature, everywhere singing in the same key, recognised and accepted it without a flicker50 of dissent51.
All the time the hearty52 wind was calling to me companionably from where he swung and bellowed53 in the tree-tops. ‘Take me for guide to-day,’ he seemed to plead. ‘Other holidays you have tramped it in the track of the stolid,[21] unswerving sun; a belated truant54, you have dragged a weary foot homeward with only a pale, expressionless moon for company. To-day why not I, the trickster, the hypocrite? I who whip round corners and bluster55, relapse and evade56, then rally and pursue! I can lead you the best and rarest dance of any; for I am the strong capricious one, the lord of misrule, and I alone am irresponsible and unprincipled, and obey no law.’ And for me, I was ready enough to fall in with the fellow’s humour; was not this a whole holiday? So we sheered off together, arm-in-arm, so to speak; and with fullest confidence I took the jigging57, thwartwise course my chainless pilot laid for me.
A whimsical comrade I found him, ere he had done with me. Was it in jest, or with some serious purpose of his own, that he brought me plump upon a pair of lovers, silent, face to face o’er a discreet58 unwinking stile? As a rule this sort of thing struck me as the most pitiful tomfoolery. Two calves59 rubbing noses through a gate were natural and right and within the order[22] of things; but that human beings, with salient interests and active pursuits beckoning60 them on from every side, could thus—! Well, it was a thing to hurry past, shamed of face, and think on no more. But this morning everything I met seemed to be accounted for and set in tune by that same magical touch in the air; and it was with a certain surprise that I found myself regarding these fatuous61 ones with kindliness62 instead of contempt, as I rambled by, unheeded of them. There was indeed some reconciling influence abroad, which could bring the like antics into harmony with bud and growth and the frolic air.
A puff63 on the right cheek from my wilful64 companion sent me off at a fresh angle, and presently I came in sight of the village church, sitting solitary65 within its circle of elms. From forth66 the vestry window projected two small legs, gyrating, hungry for foothold, with larceny—not to say sacrilege—in their every wriggle67: a godless sight for a supporter of the Establishment. Though the rest was hidden, I knew the legs well enough; they were usually attached[23] to the body of Bill Saunders, the peerless bad boy of the village. Bill’s coveted68 booty, too, I could easily guess at that; it came from the Vicar’s store of biscuits, kept (as I knew) in a cupboard along with his official trappings. For a moment I hesitated; then I passed on my way. I protest I was not on Bill’s side; but then, neither was I on the Vicar’s, and there was something in this immoral69 morning which seemed to say that perhaps, after all, Bill had as much right to the biscuits as the Vicar, and would certainly enjoy them better; and anyhow it was a disputable point, and no business of mine. Nature, who had accepted me for ally, cared little who had the world’s biscuits, and assuredly was not going to let any friend of hers waste his time in playing policeman for Society.
He was tugging70 at me anew, my insistent71 guide; and I felt sure, as I rambled off in his wake, that he had more holiday matter to show me. And so, indeed, he had; and all of it was to the same lawless tune. Like a black pirate flag on the blue ocean of air, a hawk72[24] hung ominous73; then, plummet-wise, dropped to the hedgerow, whence there rose, thin and shrill, a piteous voice of squealing74. By the time I got there a whisk of feathers on the turf—like scattered75 playbills—was all that remained to tell of the tragedy just enacted76. Yet Nature smiled and sang on, pitiless, gay, impartial77. To her, who took no sides, there was every bit as much to be said for the hawk as for the chaffinch. Both were her children, and she would show no preferences.
Further on, a hedgehog lay dead athwart the path—nay, more than dead; decadent78, distinctly; a sorry sight for one that had known the fellow in more bustling circumstances Nature might at least have paused to shed one tear over this rough-jacketed little son of hers, for his wasted aims, his cancelled ambitions, his whole career of usefulness cut suddenly short. But not a bit of it! Jubilant as ever, her song went bubbling on, and ‘Death-in-Life’—and again, ‘Life-in-Death,’ were its alternate burdens. And looking round, and seeing the sheep-nibbled heels of turnips79 that[25] dotted the ground, their hearts eaten out of them in frost-bound days now over and done, I seemed to discern, faintly, a something of the stern meaning in her valorous chant.
My invisible companion was singing also, and seemed at times to be chuckling80 softly to himself,—doubtless at thought of the strange new lessons he was teaching me; perhaps, too, at a special bit of waggishness81 he had still in store. For when at last he grew weary of such insignificant82 earth-bound company, he deserted83 me at a certain spot I knew; then dropped, subsided84, and slunk away into nothingness. I raised my eyes, and before me, grim and lichened85, stood the ancient whipping-post of the village; its sides fretted86 with the initials of a generation that scorned its mute lesson, but still clipped by the stout87 rusty88 shackles89 that had tethered the wrists of such of that generation’s ancestors as had dared to mock at order and law. Had I been an infant Sterne, here was a grand chance for sentimental90 output! As things were, I could only hurry homewards, my moral tail well between my legs, with an uneasy feeling, as I[26] glanced back over my shoulder, that there was more in this chance than met the eye.
And outside our gate I found Charlotte, alone and crying. Edward, it seemed, had persuaded her to hide, in the full expectation of being duly found and ecstatically pounced91 upon; then he had caught sight of the butcher’s cart, and, forgetting his obligations, had rushed off for a ride. Harold, it further appeared, greatly coveting92 tadpoles93, and top-heavy with the eagerness of possession, had fallen into the pond. This, in itself, was nothing; but on attempting to sneak94 in by the back-door, he had rendered up his duckweed-bedabbled person into the hands of an aunt, and had been promptly95 sent off to bed; and this, on a holiday, was very much. The moral of the whipping-post was working itself out; and I was not in the least surprised when, on reaching home, I was seized upon and accused of doing something I had never even thought of. And my frame of mind was such, that I could only wish most heartily96 that I had done it.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
harp
|
|
| n.竖琴；天琴座 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
awakening
|
|
| n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
heroism
|
|
| n.大无畏精神，英勇 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
rapture
|
|
| n.狂喜；全神贯注；着迷；v.使狂喜 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
puddles
|
|
| n.水坑， （尤指道路上的）雨水坑( puddle的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
germinating
|
|
| n.& adj.发芽（的）v.（使）发芽( germinate的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
kindle
|
|
| v.点燃，着火 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
primrose
|
|
| n.樱草，最佳部分， | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
lurking
|
|
| 潜在 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
shrill
|
|
| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
spurt
|
|
| v.喷出；突然进发；突然兴隆 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
plaintive
|
|
| adj.可怜的，伤心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
petulance
|
|
| n.发脾气，生气，易怒，暴躁，性急 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
fad
|
|
| n.时尚；一时流行的狂热；一时的爱好 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
phantom
|
|
| n.幻影，虚位，幽灵；adj.错觉的，幻影的，幽灵的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
wayfarers
|
|
| n.旅人，（尤指）徒步旅行者( wayfarer的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
bustling
|
|
| adj.喧闹的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
thronging
|
|
| v.成群，挤满( throng的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
crouching
|
|
| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
grizzly
|
|
| adj.略为灰色的，呈灰色的；n.灰色大熊 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
shrieks
|
|
| n.尖叫声( shriek的名词复数 )v.尖叫( shriek的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
condescended
|
|
| 屈尊，俯就( condescend的过去式和过去分词 )； 故意表示和蔼可亲 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
eldest
|
|
| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
strife
|
|
| n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
acorns
|
|
| n.橡子，栎实( acorn的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
civilisation
|
|
| n.文明，文化，开化，教化 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
rambled
|
|
| （无目的地）漫游( ramble的过去式和过去分词 )； （喻）漫谈； 扯淡； 长篇大论 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
valiantly
|
|
| adv.勇敢地，英勇地；雄赳赳 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
mumble
|
|
| n./v.喃喃而语，咕哝 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
dubiously
|
|
| adv.可疑地，怀疑地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
triumphantly
|
|
| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
creed
|
|
| n.信条；信念，纲领 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
wrath
|
|
| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
thoroughly
|
|
| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
satiety
|
|
| n.饱和；(市场的)充分供应 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
joyous
|
|
| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
pretences
|
|
| n.假装( pretence的名词复数 )；作假；自命；自称 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
boon
|
|
| n.恩赐，恩物，恩惠 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
reticent
|
|
| adj.沉默寡言的；言不如意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
wafts
|
|
| n.空中飘来的气味，一阵气味( waft的名词复数 )；摇转风扇v.吹送，飘送，（使）浮动( waft的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
unity
|
|
| n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
squelching
|
|
| v.发吧唧声，发扑哧声( squelch的现在分词 )；制止；压制；遏制 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
hurled
|
|
| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
random
|
|
| adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
mere
|
|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
babble
|
|
| v.含糊不清地说，胡言乱语地说，儿语 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
tune
|
|
| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
improvisation
|
|
| n.即席演奏(或演唱)；即兴创作 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
utterance
|
|
| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
flicker
|
|
| vi./n.闪烁，摇曳，闪现 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
dissent
|
|
| n./v.不同意，持异议 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
hearty
|
|
| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
bellowed
|
|
| v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的过去式和过去分词 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
truant
|
|
| n.懒惰鬼，旷课者；adj.偷懒的，旷课的，游荡的；v.偷懒，旷课 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
bluster
|
|
| v.猛刮；怒冲冲的说；n.吓唬，怒号；狂风声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
evade
|
|
| vt.逃避，回避；避开，躲避 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
jigging
|
|
| n.跳汰选，簸选v.（使）上下急动( jig的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
discreet
|
|
| adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
calves
|
|
| n.(calf的复数)笨拙的男子，腓；腿肚子( calf的名词复数 )；牛犊；腓；小腿肚v.生小牛( calve的第三人称单数 )；（冰川）崩解；生（小牛等），产（犊）；使（冰川）崩解 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
beckoning
|
|
| adj.引诱人的，令人心动的v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
fatuous
|
|
| adj.愚昧的；昏庸的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
kindliness
|
|
| n.厚道，亲切，友好的行为 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
puff
|
|
| n.一口(气)；一阵(风)；v.喷气，喘气 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
wilful
|
|
| adj.任性的，故意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
solitary
|
|
| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
wriggle
|
|
| v./n.蠕动，扭动；蜿蜒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
coveted
|
|
| adj.令人垂涎的；垂涎的，梦寐以求的v.贪求，觊觎(covet的过去分词)；垂涎；贪图 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
immoral
|
|
| adj.不道德的，淫荡的，荒淫的，有伤风化的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
tugging
|
|
| n.牵引感v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
insistent
|
|
| adj.迫切的，坚持的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
hawk
|
|
| n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
ominous
|
|
| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
squealing
|
|
| v.长声尖叫，用长而尖锐的声音说( squeal的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
scattered
|
|
| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
enacted
|
|
| 制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
impartial
|
|
| adj.(in,to)公正的，无偏见的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
decadent
|
|
| adj.颓废的，衰落的，堕落的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
turnips
|
|
| 芜青( turnip的名词复数 )； 芜菁块根； 芜菁甘蓝块根； 怀表 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
chuckling
|
|
| 轻声地笑( chuckle的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
waggishness
|
|
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
82
insignificant
|
|
| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
83
deserted
|
|
| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
84
subsided
|
|
| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
85
lichened
|
|
| adj.长满地衣的，长青苔的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
86
fretted
|
|
| 焦躁的，附有弦马的，腐蚀的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
88
rusty
|
|
| adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
89
shackles
|
|
| 手铐( shackle的名词复数 )； 脚镣； 束缚； 羁绊 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
90
sentimental
|
|
| adj.多愁善感的，感伤的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
91
pounced
|
|
| v.突然袭击( pounce的过去式和过去分词 )；猛扑；一眼看出；抓住机会（进行抨击） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
92
coveting
|
|
| v.贪求，觊觎( covet的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
93
tadpoles
|
|
| n.蝌蚪( tadpole的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
94
sneak
|
|
| vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
95
promptly
|
|
| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
96
heartily
|
|
| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |