Doubtless the phenomena in question are simple enough, and in no way transcend4 our powers of comprehension if only we could find the clew; but for my part I prefer not to find it, for I am of a singularly romantic disposition5, deriving6 more gratification from mystery than from knowledge. It was commonly remarked of me when I was a child that my big blue eyes appeared to have been made rather to look into than look out of — such was their dreamful beauty, and in my frequent periods of abstraction, their indifference7 to what was going on. In those peculiarities8 they resembled, I venture to think, the soul which lies behind them, always more intent upon some lovely conception which it has created in its own image than concerned about the laws of nature and the material frame of things. All this, irrelevant9 and egotistic as it may seem, is related by way of accounting10 for the meagreness of the light that I am able to throw upon a subject that has engaged so much of my attention, and concerning which there is so keen and general a curiosity. With my powers and opportunities, another person might doubtless have an explanation for much of what I present simply as narrative11.
My first knowledge that I possessed12 unusual powers came to me in my fourteenth year, when at school. Happening one day to have forgotten to bring my noon-day luncheon13, I gazed longingly14 at that of a small girl who was preparing to eat hers. Looking up, her eyes met mine and she seemed unable to withdraw them. After a moment of hesitancy she came forward in an absent kind of way and without a word surrendered her little basket with its tempting15 contents and walked away. Inexpressibly pleased, I relieved my hunger and destroyed the basket. After that I had not the trouble to bring a luncheon for myself: that little girl was my daily purveyor16; and not infrequently in satisfying my simple need from her frugal17 store I combined pleasure and profit by constraining18 her attendance at the feast and making misleading proffer19 of the viands20, which eventually I consumed to the last fragment. The girl was always persuaded that she had eaten all herself; and later in the day her tearful complaints of hunger surprised the teacher, entertained the pupils, earned for her the sobriquet21 of Greedy-Gut and filled me with a peace past understanding.
A disagreeable feature of this otherwise satisfactory condition of things was the necessary secrecy23: the transfer of the luncheon, for example, had to be made at some distance from the madding crowd, in a wood; and I blush to think of the many other unworthy subterfuges24 entailed25 by the situation. As I was (and am) naturally of a frank and open disposition, these became more and more irksome, and but for the reluctance26 of my parents to renounce27 the obvious advantages of the new régime I would gladly have reverted28 to the old. The plan that I finally adopted to free myself from the consequences of my own powers excited a wide and keen interest at the time, and that part of it which consisted in the death of the girl was severely29 condemned30, but it is hardly pertinent31 to the scope of this narrative.
For some years afterward32 I had little opportunity to practice hypnotism; such small essays as I made at it were commonly barren of other recognition than solitary33 confinement34 on a bread-and-water diet; sometimes, indeed, they elicited35 nothing better than the cat-o’-nine-tails. It was when I was about to leave the scene of these small disappointments that my one really important feat22 was performed.
I had been called into the warden36’s office and given a suit of civilian’s clothing, a trifling37 sum of money and a great deal of advice, which I am bound to confess was of a much better quality than the clothing. As I was passing out of the gate into the light of freedom I suddenly turned and looking the warden gravely in the eye, soon had him in control.
“You are an ostrich,” I said.
At the post-mortem examination the stomach was found to contain a great quantity of indigestible articles mostly of wood or metal. Stuck fast in the ?sophagus and constituting, according to the Coroner’s jury, the immediate38 cause of death, one door-knob.
I was by nature a good and affectionate son, but as I took my way into the great world from which I had been so long secluded39 I could not help remembering that all my misfortunes had flowed like a stream from the niggard economy of my parents in the matter of school luncheons40; and I knew of no reason to think they had reformed.
On the road between Succotash Hill and South Asphyxia is a little open field which once contained a shanty41 known as Pete Gilstrap’s Place, where that gentleman used to murder travelers for a living. The death of Mr. Gilstrap and the diversion of nearly all the travel to another road occurred so nearly at the same time that no one has ever been able to say which was cause and which effect. Anyhow, the field was now a desolation and the Place had long been burned. It was while going afoot to South Asphyxia, the home of my childhood, that I found both my parents on their way to the Hill. They had hitched42 their team and were eating luncheon under an oak tree in the center of the field. The sight of the luncheon called up painful memories of my school days and roused the sleeping lion in my breast. Approaching the guilty couple, who at once recognized me, I ventured to suggest that I share their hospitality.
“Of this cheer, my son,” said the author of my being, with characteristic pomposity43, which age had not withered44, “there is sufficient for but two. I am not, I hope, insensible to the hunger-light in your eyes, but —”
My father has never completed that sentence; what he mistook for hunger-light was simply the earnest gaze of the hypnotist. In a few seconds he was at my service. A few more sufficed for the lady, and the dictates45 of a just resentment46 could be carried into effect. “My former father,” I said, “I presume that it is known to you that you and this lady are no longer what you were?”
“I have observed a certain subtle change,” was the rather dubious47 reply of the old gentleman; “it is perhaps attributable to age.”
“It is more than that,” I explained; “it goes to character — to species. You and the lady here are, in truth, two broncos— wild stallions both, and unfriendly.”
“Why, John,” exclaimed my dear mother, “you don’t mean to say that I am —”
“Madam,” I replied, solemnly, fixing my eyes again upon hers, “you are.”
Scarcely had the words fallen from my lips when she dropped upon her hands and knees, and backing up to the old man squealed49 like a demon50 and delivered a vicious kick upon his shin! An instant later he was himself down on all-fours, headed away from her and flinging his feet at her simultaneously51 and successively. With equal earnestness but inferior agility52, because of her hampering53 body-gear, she plied48 her own. Their flying legs crossed and mingled54 in the most bewildering way; their feet sometimes meeting squarely in midair, their bodies thrust forward, falling flat upon the ground and for a moment helpless. On recovering themselves they would resume the combat, uttering their frenzy55 in the nameless sounds of the furious brutes56 which they believed themselves to be — the whole region rang with their clamor! Round and round they wheeled, the blows of their feet falling “like lightnings from the mountain cloud.” They plunged57 and reared backward upon their knees, struck savagely58 at each other with awkward descending59 blows of both fists at once, and dropped again upon their hands as if unable to maintain the upright position of the body. Grass and pebbles60 were torn from the soil by hands and feet; clothing, hair, faces inexpressibly defiled61 with dust and blood. Wild, inarticulate screams of rage attested62 the delivery of the blows; groans63, grunts64 and gasps65 their receipt. Nothing more truly military was ever seen at Gettysburg or Waterloo: the valor66 of my dear parents in the hour of danger can never cease to be to me a source of pride and gratification. At the end of it all two battered67, tattered68, bloody69 and fragmentary vestiges70 of mortality attested the solemn fact that the author of the strife71 was an orphan72.
Arrested for provoking a breach73 of the peace, I was, and have ever since been, tried in the Court of Technicalities and Continuances whence, after fifteen years of proceedings74, my attorney is moving heaven and earth to get the case taken to the Court of Remandment for New Trials.
Such are a few of my principal experiments in the mysterious force or agency known as hypnotic suggestion. Whether or not it could be employed by a bad man for an unworthy purpose I am unable to say.
The End
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1 phenomena | |
n.现象 | |
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2 underlies | |
v.位于或存在于(某物)之下( underlie的第三人称单数 );构成…的基础(或起因),引起 | |
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3 investigator | |
n.研究者,调查者,审查者 | |
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4 transcend | |
vt.超出,超越(理性等)的范围 | |
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5 disposition | |
n.性情,性格;意向,倾向;排列,部署 | |
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6 deriving | |
v.得到( derive的现在分词 );(从…中)得到获得;源于;(从…中)提取 | |
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7 indifference | |
n.不感兴趣,不关心,冷淡,不在乎 | |
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8 peculiarities | |
n. 特质, 特性, 怪癖, 古怪 | |
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9 irrelevant | |
adj.不恰当的,无关系的,不相干的 | |
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10 accounting | |
n.会计,会计学,借贷对照表 | |
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11 narrative | |
n.叙述,故事;adj.叙事的,故事体的 | |
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12 possessed | |
adj.疯狂的;拥有的,占有的 | |
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13 luncheon | |
n.午宴,午餐,便宴 | |
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14 longingly | |
adv. 渴望地 热望地 | |
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15 tempting | |
a.诱人的, 吸引人的 | |
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16 purveyor | |
n.承办商,伙食承办商 | |
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17 frugal | |
adj.节俭的,节约的,少量的,微量的 | |
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18 constraining | |
强迫( constrain的现在分词 ); 强使; 限制; 约束 | |
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19 proffer | |
v.献出,赠送;n.提议,建议 | |
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20 viands | |
n.食品,食物 | |
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21 sobriquet | |
n.绰号 | |
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22 feat | |
n.功绩;武艺,技艺;adj.灵巧的,漂亮的,合适的 | |
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23 secrecy | |
n.秘密,保密,隐蔽 | |
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24 subterfuges | |
n.(用说谎或欺骗以逃脱责备、困难等的)花招,遁词( subterfuge的名词复数 ) | |
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25 entailed | |
使…成为必要( entail的过去式和过去分词 ); 需要; 限定继承; 使必需 | |
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26 reluctance | |
n.厌恶,讨厌,勉强,不情愿 | |
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27 renounce | |
v.放弃;拒绝承认,宣布与…断绝关系 | |
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28 reverted | |
恢复( revert的过去式和过去分词 ); 重提; 回到…上; 归还 | |
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29 severely | |
adv.严格地;严厉地;非常恶劣地 | |
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30 condemned | |
adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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31 pertinent | |
adj.恰当的;贴切的;中肯的;有关的;相干的 | |
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32 afterward | |
adv.后来;以后 | |
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33 solitary | |
adj.孤独的,独立的,荒凉的;n.隐士 | |
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34 confinement | |
n.幽禁,拘留,监禁;分娩;限制,局限 | |
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35 elicited | |
引出,探出( elicit的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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36 warden | |
n.监察员,监狱长,看守人,监护人 | |
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37 trifling | |
adj.微不足道的;没什么价值的 | |
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38 immediate | |
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的 | |
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39 secluded | |
adj.与世隔绝的;隐退的;偏僻的v.使隔开,使隐退( seclude的过去式和过去分词) | |
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40 luncheons | |
n.午餐,午宴( luncheon的名词复数 ) | |
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41 shanty | |
n.小屋,棚屋;船工号子 | |
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42 hitched | |
(免费)搭乘他人之车( hitch的过去式和过去分词 ); 搭便车; 攀上; 跃上 | |
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43 pomposity | |
n.浮华;虚夸;炫耀;自负 | |
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44 withered | |
adj. 枯萎的,干瘪的,(人身体的部分器官)因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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45 dictates | |
n.命令,规定,要求( dictate的名词复数 )v.大声讲或读( dictate的第三人称单数 );口授;支配;摆布 | |
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46 resentment | |
n.怨愤,忿恨 | |
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47 dubious | |
adj.怀疑的,无把握的;有问题的,靠不住的 | |
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48 plied | |
v.使用(工具)( ply的过去式和过去分词 );经常供应(食物、饮料);固定往来;经营生意 | |
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49 squealed | |
v.长声尖叫,用长而尖锐的声音说( squeal的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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50 demon | |
n.魔鬼,恶魔 | |
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51 simultaneously | |
adv.同时发生地,同时进行地 | |
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52 agility | |
n.敏捷,活泼 | |
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53 hampering | |
妨碍,束缚,限制( hamper的现在分词 ) | |
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54 mingled | |
混合,混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 ); 混进,与…交往[联系] | |
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55 frenzy | |
n.疯狂,狂热,极度的激动 | |
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56 brutes | |
兽( brute的名词复数 ); 畜生; 残酷无情的人; 兽性 | |
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57 plunged | |
v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 );暴跌;骤降;突降 | |
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58 savagely | |
adv. 野蛮地,残酷地 | |
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59 descending | |
n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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60 pebbles | |
[复数]鹅卵石; 沙砾; 卵石,小圆石( pebble的名词复数 ) | |
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61 defiled | |
v.玷污( defile的过去式和过去分词 );污染;弄脏;纵列行进 | |
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62 attested | |
adj.经检验证明无病的,经检验证明无菌的v.证明( attest的过去式和过去分词 );证实;声称…属实;使宣誓 | |
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63 groans | |
n.呻吟,叹息( groan的名词复数 );呻吟般的声音v.呻吟( groan的第三人称单数 );发牢骚;抱怨;受苦 | |
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64 grunts | |
(猪等)作呼噜声( grunt的第三人称单数 ); (指人)发出类似的哼声; 咕哝着说; 石鲈 | |
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65 gasps | |
v.喘气( gasp的第三人称单数 );喘息;倒抽气;很想要 | |
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66 valor | |
n.勇气,英勇 | |
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67 battered | |
adj.磨损的;v.连续猛击;磨损 | |
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68 tattered | |
adj.破旧的,衣衫破的 | |
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69 bloody | |
adj.非常的的;流血的;残忍的;adv.很;vt.血染 | |
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70 vestiges | |
残余部分( vestige的名词复数 ); 遗迹; 痕迹; 毫不 | |
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71 strife | |
n.争吵,冲突,倾轧,竞争 | |
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72 orphan | |
n.孤儿;adj.无父母的 | |
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73 breach | |
n.违反,不履行;破裂;vt.冲破,攻破 | |
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74 proceedings | |
n.进程,过程,议程;诉讼(程序);公报 | |
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