IN PARTIBUS

 THE 'buses run to Battersea,

The 'buses run to Bow,

The 'buses run to Westbourne Grove¹,

And Nottinghill also;

But I am sick of London town,

From Shepherd's Bush to Bow.

I see the smut upon my cuff²

And feel him on my nose;

I cannot leave my window wide

When gentle zephyr³ blows,

Because he brings disgusting things

And drops 'em on my "clo'es."

 

The sky, a greasy⁴ soup-toureen,

Shuts down atop my brow.

Yes, I have sighed for London town

And I have got it now:

And half of it is fog and filth⁵,

And half is fog and row.

[Pg 214]

And when I take my nightly prowl,

'Tis passing good to meet

The pious⁶ Briton lugging⁷ home

His wife and daughter sweet,

Through four packed miles of seething⁸ vice⁹,

Thrust out upon the street.

 

Earth holds no horror like to this

In any land displayed,

From Suez unto Sandy Hook,

From Calais to Port Said;

And 'twas to hide their heathendom

The beastly fog was made.

 

I cannot tell when dawn is near,

Or when the day is done,

Because I always see the gas

And never see the sun,

And now, methinks, I do not care

A cuss for either one.

 

But stay, there was an orange, or

[Pg 215]An aged¹⁰ egg its yolk¹¹;

It might have been a Pears' balloon

Or Barnum's latest joke:

I took it for the sun and wept

To watch it through the smoke.

 

It's Oh to see the morn ablaze¹²

Above the mango-tope,

When homeward through the dewy cane¹³

The little jackals lope,

And half Bengal heaves into view,

New-washed—with sunlight soap.

 

It's Oh for one deep whisky peg¹⁴

When Christmas winds are blowing,

When all the men you ever knew,

And all you've ceased from knowing,

Are "entered for the Tournament,

And everything that's going."

 

But I consort¹⁵ with long-haired things

In velvet¹⁶ collar-rolls,

Who talk about the Aims of Art,

And "theories" and "goals,"

And moo and coo with women-folk

About their blessed souls.

[Pg 216]

But that they call "psychology¹⁷"

Is lack of liver pill,

And all that blights¹⁸ their tender souls

Is eating till they're ill,

And their chief way of winning goals

Consists in sitting still.

 

It's Oh to meet an Army man,

Set up, and trimmed and taut¹⁹,

Who does not spout²⁰ hashed libraries

Or think the next man's thought,

And walks as though he owned himself,

And hogs²¹ his bristles²² short.

 

Hear now, a voice across the seas

To kin²³ beyond my ken²⁴,

If ye have ever filled an hour

With stories from my pen,

For pity's sake send some one here

To bring me news of men!

 

The 'buses run to Islington,

[Pg 217]To Highgate and Soho,

To Hammersmith and Kew therewith,

And Camberwell also,

But I can only murmur²⁵ "'Bus"

From Shepherd's Bush to Bow.

1 grove   

n.林子，小树林，园林

参考例句：

• On top of the hill was a grove of tall trees.山顶上一片高大的树林。
• The scent of lemons filled the grove.柠檬香味充满了小树林。

2 cuff   

n.袖口；手铐；护腕；vt.用手铐铐；上袖口

参考例句：

• She hoped they wouldn't cuff her hands behind her back.她希望他们不要把她反铐起来。
• Would you please draw together the snag in my cuff?请你把我袖口上的裂口缝上好吗？

3 zephyr   

n.和风，微风

参考例句：

• I feel very comfortable in the zephyr from the sea.从海上吹来的和风令我非常惬意。
• Zephyr,the West Wind,blew away the clouds so that Apollo,the sun god,could shine and made this flower bloom.西风之神吹散了云朵，太阳神阿波罗得以照耀它并使它开花。

4 greasy   

adj. 多脂的，油脂的

参考例句：

• He bought a heavy-duty cleanser to clean his greasy oven.昨天他买了强力清洁剂来清洗油污的炉子。
• You loathe the smell of greasy food when you are seasick.当你晕船时，你会厌恶油腻的气味。

5 filth   

n.肮脏，污物，污秽；淫猥

参考例句：

• I don't know how you can read such filth.我不明白你怎么会去读这种淫秽下流的东西。
• The dialogue was all filth and innuendo.这段对话全是下流的言辞和影射。

6 pious   

adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的

参考例句：

• Alexander is a pious follower of the faith.亚历山大是个虔诚的信徒。
• Her mother was a pious Christian.她母亲是一个虔诚的基督教徒。

7 lugging   

超载运转能力

参考例句：

• I would smile when I saw him lugging his golf bags into the office. 看到他把高尔夫球袋拖进办公室，我就笑一笑。 来自辞典例句
• As a general guide, S＄1 should be adequate for baggage-lugging service. 一般的准则是，如有人帮你搬运行李，给一新元就够了。 来自互联网

8 seething   

沸腾的，火热的

参考例句：

• The stadium was a seething cauldron of emotion. 体育场内群情沸腾。
• The meeting hall was seething at once. 会场上顿时沸腾起来了。

9 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

10 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

11 yolk   

n.蛋黄，卵黄

参考例句：

• This dish would be more delicious with some yolk powder.加点蛋黄粉，这道菜就会更好吃。
• Egg yolk serves as the emulsifying agent in salad dressing.在色拉调味时，蛋黄能作为乳化剂。

12 ablaze   

adj.着火的，燃烧的；闪耀的，灯火辉煌的

参考例句：

• The main street was ablaze with lights in the evening.晚上，那条主要街道灯火辉煌。
• Forests are sometimes set ablaze by lightning.森林有时因雷击而起火。

13 cane   

n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的

参考例句：

• This sugar cane is quite a sweet and juicy.这甘蔗既甜又多汁。
• English schoolmasters used to cane the boys as a punishment.英国小学老师过去常用教鞭打男学生作为惩罚。

14 peg   

n.木栓，木钉；vt.用木钉钉，用短桩固定

参考例句：

• Hang your overcoat on the peg in the hall.把你的大衣挂在门厅的挂衣钩上。
• He hit the peg mightily on the top with a mallet.他用木槌猛敲木栓顶。

15 consort   

v.相伴；结交

参考例句：

• They went in consort two or three together.他们三三两两结伴前往。
• The nurses are instructed not to consort with their patients.护士得到指示不得与病人交往。

16 velvet   

n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的

参考例句：

• This material feels like velvet.这料子摸起来像丝绒。
• The new settlers wore the finest silk and velvet clothing.新来的移民穿着最华丽的丝绸和天鹅绒衣服。

17 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

18 blights   

使凋萎( blight的第三人称单数 )； 使颓丧； 损害； 妨害

参考例句：

• The crops suffered from frequent blights. 农作物经常遭受病虫害。
• New England was accustomed to didacticism in its literature, and unmitigated didacticism blights the novel. 新英格兰习惯于在文学里说教，可是一味说教，小说就要完蛋。

19 taut   

adj.拉紧的，绷紧的，紧张的

参考例句：

• The bowstring is stretched taut.弓弦绷得很紧。
• Scarlett's taut nerves almost cracked as a sudden noise sounded in the underbrush near them. 思嘉紧张的神经几乎一下绷裂了，因为她听见附近灌木丛中突然冒出的一个声音。

20 spout   

v.喷出，涌出；滔滔不绝地讲；n.喷管；水柱

参考例句：

• Implication in folk wealth creativity and undertaking vigor spout.蕴藏于民间的财富创造力和创业活力喷涌而出。
• This acts as a spout to drain off water during a rainstorm.在暴风雨季，这东西被用作喷管来排水。

21 hogs   

n.（尤指喂肥供食用的）猪( hog的名词复数 )；（供食用的）阉公猪；彻底地做某事；自私的或贪婪的人

参考例句：

• 'sounds like -- like hogs grunting. “像——像是猪发出的声音。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险
• I hate the way he hogs down his food. 我讨厌他那副狼吞虎咽的吃相。 来自辞典例句

22 bristles   

短而硬的毛发，刷子毛( bristle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the bristles on his chin 他下巴上的胡楂子
• This job bristles with difficulties. 这项工作困难重重。

23 kin   

n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的

参考例句：

• He comes of good kin.他出身好。
• She has gone to live with her husband's kin.她住到丈夫的亲戚家里去了。

24 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

25 murmur   

n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言

参考例句：

• They paid the extra taxes without a murmur.他们毫无怨言地交了附加税。
• There was a low murmur of conversation in the hall.大厅里有窃窃私语声。