It appeared that the unfortunate man had had for a wife one of those natures, anomalously1 vicious, which would almost tempt2 a metaphysical lover of our species to doubt whether the human form be, in all cases, conclusive3 evidence of humanity, whether, sometimes, it may not be a kind of unpledged and indifferent tabernacle, and whether, once for all to crush the saying of Thrasea, (an unaccountable one, considering that he himself was so good a man) that "he who hates vice4, hates humanity," it should not, in self-defense, be held for a reasonable maxim5, that none but the good are human.
Goneril was young, in person lithe6 and straight, too straight, indeed, for a woman, a complexion7 naturally rosy8, and which would have been charmingly so, but for a certain hardness and bakedness, like that of the glazed9 colors on stone-ware. Her hair was of a deep, rich chestnut10, but worn in close, short curls all round her head. Her Indian figure was not without its impairing11 effect on her bust12, while her mouth would have been pretty but for a trace of moustache. Upon the whole, [90] aided by the resources of the toilet, her appearance at distance was such, that some might have thought her, if anything, rather beautiful, though of a style of beauty rather peculiar13 and cactus-like.
It was happy for Goneril that her more striking peculiarities14 were less of the person than of temper and taste. One hardly knows how to reveal, that, while having a natural antipathy15 to such things as the breast of chicken, or custard, or peach, or grape, Goneril could yet in private make a satisfactory lunch on hard crackers16 and brawn17 of ham. She liked lemons, and the only kind of candy she loved were little dried sticks of blue clay, secretly carried in her pocket. Withal she had hard, steady health like a squaw's, with as firm a spirit and resolution. Some other points about her were likewise such as pertain18 to the women of savage19 life. Lithe though she was, she loved supineness, but upon occasion could endure like a stoic20. She was taciturn, too. From early morning till about three o'clock in the afternoon she would seldom speak—it taking that time to thaw21 her, by all accounts, into but talking terms with humanity. During the interval22 she did little but look, and keep looking out of her large, metallic23 eyes, which her enemies called cold as a cuttle-fish's, but which by her were esteemed24 gazelle-like; for Goneril was not without vanity. Those who thought they best knew her, often wondered what happiness such a being could take in life, not considering the happiness which is to be had by some natures in the very easy way of simply causing pain to those around them. Those who suffered from [91] Goneril's strange nature, might, with one of those hyberboles to which the resentful incline, have pronounced her some kind of toad25; but her worst slanderers could never, with any show of justice, have accused her of being a toady26. In a large sense she possessed27 the virtue28 of independence of mind. Goneril held it flattery to hint praise even of the absent, and even if merited; but honesty, to fling people's imputed29 faults into their faces. This was thought malice30, but it certainly was not passion. Passion is human. Like an icicle-dagger, Goneril at once stabbed and froze; so at least they said; and when she saw frankness and innocence31 tyrannized into sad nervousness under her spell, according to the same authority, inly she chewed her blue clay, and you could mark that she chuckled32. These peculiarities were strange and unpleasing; but another was alleged33, one really incomprehensible. In company she had a strange way of touching34, as by accident, the arm or hand of comely35 young men, and seemed to reap a secret delight from it, but whether from the humane36 satisfaction of having given the evil-touch, as it is called, or whether it was something else in her, not equally wonderful, but quite as deplorable, remained an enigma37.
Needless to say what distress38 was the unfortunate man's, when, engaged in conversation with company, he would suddenly perceive his Goneril bestowing39 her mysterious touches, especially in such cases where the strangeness of the thing seemed to strike upon the touched person, notwithstanding good-breeding forbade his proposing the mystery, on the spot, as a subject of discussion for [92] the company. In these cases, too, the unfortunate man could never endure so much as to look upon the touched young gentleman afterwards, fearful of the mortification40 of meeting in his countenance41 some kind of more or less quizzingly-knowing expression. He would shudderingly42 shun43 the young gentleman. So that here, to the husband, Goneril's touch had the dread44 operation of the heathen taboo45. Now Goneril brooked46 no chiding47. So, at favorable times, he, in a wary48 manner, and not indelicately, would venture in private interviews gently to make distant allusions49 to this questionable50 propensity51. She divined him. But, in her cold loveless way, said it was witless to be telling one's dreams, especially foolish ones; but if the unfortunate man liked connubially53 to rejoice his soul with such chimeras54, much connubial52 joy might they give him. All this was sad—a touching case—but all might, perhaps, have been borne by the unfortunate man—conscientiously mindful of his vow—for better or for worse—to love and cherish his dear Goneril so long as kind heaven might spare her to him—but when, after all that had happened, the devil of jealousy55 entered her, a calm, clayey, cakey devil, for none other could possess her, and the object of that deranged56 jealousy, her own child, a little girl of seven, her father's consolation57 and pet; when he saw Goneril artfully torment58 the little innocent, and then play the maternal59 hypocrite with it, the unfortunate man's patient long-suffering gave way. Knowing that she would neither confess nor amend60, and might, possibly, become even worse than she was, he thought it but duty as a [93] father, to withdraw the child from her; but, loving it as he did, he could not do so without accompanying it into domestic exile himself. Which, hard though it was, he did. Whereupon the whole female neighborhood, who till now had little enough admired dame61 Goneril, broke out in indignation against a husband, who, without assigning a cause, could deliberately62 abandon the wife of his bosom63, and sharpen the sting to her, too, by depriving her of the solace64 of retaining her offspring. To all this, self-respect, with Christian65 charity towards Goneril, long kept the unfortunate man dumb. And well had it been had he continued so; for when, driven to desperation, he hinted something of the truth of the case, not a soul would credit it; while for Goneril, she pronounced all he said to be a malicious66 invention. Ere long, at the suggestion of some woman's-rights women, the injured wife began a suit, and, thanks to able counsel and accommodating testimony67, succeeded in such a way, as not only to recover custody68 of the child, but to get such a settlement awarded upon a separation, as to make penniless the unfortunate man (so he averred), besides, through the legal sympathy she enlisted69, effecting a judicial70 blasting of his private reputation. What made it yet more lamentable71 was, that the unfortunate man, thinking that, before the court, his wisest plan, as well as the most Christian besides, being, as he deemed, not at variance72 with the truth of the matter, would be to put forth73 the plea of the mental derangement74 of Goneril, which done, he could, with less of mortification to himself, and odium to her, reveal in self-defense those [94] eccentricities75 which had led to his retirement76 from the joys of wedlock77, had much ado in the end to prevent this charge of derangement from fatally recoiling78 upon himself—especially, when, among other things, he alleged her mysterious teachings. In vain did his counsel, striving to make out the derangement to be where, in fact, if anywhere, it was, urge that, to hold otherwise, to hold that such a being as Goneril was sane79, this was constructively80 a libel upon womankind. Libel be it. And all ended by the unfortunate man's subsequently getting wind of Goneril's intention to procure81 him to be permanently82 committed for a lunatic. Upon which he fled, and was now an innocent outcast, wandering forlorn in the great valley of the Mississippi, with a weed on his hat for the loss of his Goneril; for he had lately seen by the papers that she was dead, and thought it but proper to comply with the prescribed form of mourning in such cases. For some days past he had been trying to get money enough to return to his child, and was but now started with inadequate83 funds.
Now all of this, from the beginning, the good merchant could not but consider rather hard for the unfortunate man.
点击收听单词发音
1 anomalously | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2 tempt | |
vt.引诱,勾引,吸引,引起…的兴趣 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3 conclusive | |
adj.最后的,结论的;确凿的,消除怀疑的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4 vice | |
n.坏事;恶习;[pl.]台钳,老虎钳;adj.副的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5 maxim | |
n.格言,箴言 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6 lithe | |
adj.(指人、身体)柔软的,易弯的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7 complexion | |
n.肤色;情况,局面;气质,性格 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8 rosy | |
adj.美好的,乐观的,玫瑰色的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9 glazed | |
adj.光滑的,像玻璃的;上过釉的;呆滞无神的v.装玻璃( glaze的过去式);上釉于,上光;(目光)变得呆滞无神 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10 chestnut | |
n.栗树,栗子 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
11 impairing | |
v.损害,削弱( impair的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
12 bust | |
vt.打破;vi.爆裂;n.半身像;胸部 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
13 peculiar | |
adj.古怪的,异常的;特殊的,特有的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
14 peculiarities | |
n. 特质, 特性, 怪癖, 古怪 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
15 antipathy | |
n.憎恶;反感,引起反感的人或事物 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
16 crackers | |
adj.精神错乱的,癫狂的n.爆竹( cracker的名词复数 );薄脆饼干;(认为)十分愉快的事;迷人的姑娘 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
17 brawn | |
n.体力 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
18 pertain | |
v.(to)附属,从属;关于;有关;适合,相称 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
19 savage | |
adj.野蛮的;凶恶的,残暴的;n.未开化的人 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
20 stoic | |
n.坚忍克己之人,禁欲主义者 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
21 thaw | |
v.(使)融化,(使)变得友善;n.融化,缓和 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
22 interval | |
n.间隔,间距;幕间休息,中场休息 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
23 metallic | |
adj.金属的;金属制的;含金属的;产金属的;像金属的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
24 esteemed | |
adj.受人尊敬的v.尊敬( esteem的过去式和过去分词 );敬重;认为;以为 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
25 toad | |
n.蟾蜍,癞蛤蟆 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
26 toady | |
v.奉承;n.谄媚者,马屁精 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
27 possessed | |
adj.疯狂的;拥有的,占有的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
28 virtue | |
n.德行,美德;贞操;优点;功效,效力 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
29 imputed | |
v.把(错误等)归咎于( impute的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
30 malice | |
n.恶意,怨恨,蓄意;[律]预谋 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
31 innocence | |
n.无罪;天真;无害 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
32 chuckled | |
轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
33 alleged | |
a.被指控的,嫌疑的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
34 touching | |
adj.动人的,使人感伤的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
35 comely | |
adj.漂亮的,合宜的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
36 humane | |
adj.人道的,富有同情心的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
37 enigma | |
n.谜,谜一样的人或事 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
38 distress | |
n.苦恼,痛苦,不舒适;不幸;vt.使悲痛 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
39 bestowing | |
砖窑中砖堆上层已烧透的砖 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
40 mortification | |
n.耻辱,屈辱 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
41 countenance | |
n.脸色,面容;面部表情;vt.支持,赞同 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
42 shudderingly | |
参考例句: |
|
|
43 shun | |
vt.避开,回避,避免 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
44 dread | |
vt.担忧,忧虑;惧怕,不敢;n.担忧,畏惧 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
45 taboo | |
n.禁忌,禁止接近,禁止使用;adj.禁忌的;v.禁忌,禁制,禁止 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
46 brooked | |
容忍,忍受(brook的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
47 chiding | |
v.责骂,责备( chide的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
48 wary | |
adj.谨慎的,机警的,小心的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
49 allusions | |
暗指,间接提到( allusion的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
50 questionable | |
adj.可疑的,有问题的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
51 propensity | |
n.倾向;习性 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
52 connubial | |
adj.婚姻的,夫妇的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
53 connubially | |
adv.婚姻上,夫妇般地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
54 chimeras | |
n.(由几种动物的各部分构成的)假想的怪兽( chimera的名词复数 );不可能实现的想法;幻想;妄想 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
55 jealousy | |
n.妒忌,嫉妒,猜忌 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
56 deranged | |
adj.疯狂的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
57 consolation | |
n.安慰,慰问 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
58 torment | |
n.折磨;令人痛苦的东西(人);vt.折磨;纠缠 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
59 maternal | |
adj.母亲的,母亲般的,母系的,母方的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
60 amend | |
vt.修改,修订,改进;n.[pl.]赔罪,赔偿 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
61 dame | |
n.女士 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
62 deliberately | |
adv.审慎地;蓄意地;故意地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
63 bosom | |
n.胸,胸部;胸怀;内心;adj.亲密的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
64 solace | |
n.安慰;v.使快乐;vt.安慰(物),缓和 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
65 Christian | |
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
66 malicious | |
adj.有恶意的,心怀恶意的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
67 testimony | |
n.证词;见证,证明 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
68 custody | |
n.监护,照看,羁押,拘留 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
69 enlisted | |
adj.应募入伍的v.(使)入伍, (使)参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 );获得(帮助或支持) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
70 judicial | |
adj.司法的,法庭的,审判的,明断的,公正的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
71 lamentable | |
adj.令人惋惜的,悔恨的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
72 variance | |
n.矛盾,不同 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
73 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
74 derangement | |
n.精神错乱 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
75 eccentricities | |
n.古怪行为( eccentricity的名词复数 );反常;怪癖 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
76 retirement | |
n.退休,退职 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
77 wedlock | |
n.婚姻,已婚状态 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
78 recoiling | |
v.畏缩( recoil的现在分词 );退缩;报应;返回 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
79 sane | |
adj.心智健全的,神志清醒的,明智的,稳健的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
80 constructively | |
ad.有益的,积极的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
81 procure | |
vt.获得,取得,促成;vi.拉皮条 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
82 permanently | |
adv.永恒地,永久地,固定不变地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
83 inadequate | |
adj.(for,to)不充足的,不适当的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
欢迎访问英文小说网 |