And how he enjoyed himself! The perfection of his bearing on the floor was no careful pose: it was due to the brimming overplus of his happiness. Happiness is surely the best teacher of good manners: only the unhappy are churlish in deportment. He was young, remember; and this was his first job. His precocious10 experience as a paterfamilias had added to his mien11 just that suggestion of unconscious gravity which is so appealing to ladies. He looked (they thought) as though he had been touched—but Oh so lightly!—by poetic12 sorrow or strange experience: to ask him the way to the notion counter was as much of an adventure as to meet a reigning13 actor at a tea. The faint cloud of melancholy14 that shadowed his brow may have been only due to the fact that his new boots were pinching painfully; but they did not know that.
So, quite unconsciously, he began to “establish” himself in his role, just as an actor does. At first he felt his way tentatively and with tact15. Every store has its own tone and atmosphere: in a day or so he divined the characteristic cachet of the Beagle establishment. He saw what kind of customers were typical, and what sort of conduct they expected. And the secret of conquest being always to give people a little more than they expect, he pursued that course. Since they expected in a floorwalker the mechanical and servile gentility of a hired puppet, he exhibited the easy, offhand16 simplicity17 of a fellow club-member. With perfect naturalness he went out of his way to assist in their shopping concerns: gave advice in the selection of dress materials, acted as arbiter18 in the matching of frocks and stockings. His taste being faultless, it often happened that the things he recommended were not the most expensive: this again endeared him to customers. When sales slips were brought to him by ladies who wished to make an exchange, he affixed19 his O. K. with a magnificent flourish, and with such evident pleasure, that patrons felt genuine elation20, and plunged21 into the tumult22 with new enthusiasm. It was not long before there were always people waiting for his counsel; and husbands would appear at the store to convey (a little irritably) some such message as: “Mrs. Sealyham says, please choose her a scarf that will go nicely with that brown moire dress of hers. She says you will remember the dress.”—This popularity became even a bit perplexing, as for instance when old Mrs. Dachshund, the store's biggest Charge Account, insisted on his leaving his beat at a very busy time, to go up to the tenth floor to tell her which piano he thought had the richer tone.
Of course all this was very entertaining, and an admirable opportunity for studying his fellow-creatures; but it did not go very deep into his mind. He lived for some time in a confused glamour and glitter; surrounded by the fascinating specious24 life of the store, but drifting merely superficially upon it. The great place, with its columns of artificial marble and white censers of upward-shining electricity, glimmered26 like a birch forest by moonlight. Silver and jewels and silks and slippers27 flashed all about him. It was a marvellous education, for he soon learned to estimate these things at their proper value; which is low, for they have little to do with life itself. His work was tiring in the extreme—merely having to remain upright on his hind28 legs for such long hours WAS an ordeal—but it did not penetrate29 to the secret observant self of which he was always aware. This was advantageous30. If you have no intellect, or only just enough to get along with, it does not much matter what you do. But if you really have a mind—by which is meant that rare and curious power of reason, of imagination, and of emotion; very different from a mere25 fertility of conversation and intelligent curiosity—it is better not to weary and wear it out over trifles.
So, when he left the store in the evening, no matter how his legs ached, his head was clear and untarnished. He did not hurry away at closing time. Places where people work are particularly fascinating after the bustle31 is over. He loved to linger in the long aisles, to see the tumbled counters being swiftly brought to order, to hear the pungent32 cynicisms of the weary shopgirls. To these, by the way, he was a bit of a mystery. The punctilio of his manner, the extreme courtliness of his remarks, embarrassed them a little. Behind his back they spoke33 of him as “The Duke” and admired him hugely; little Miss Whippet, at the stocking counter, said that he was an English noble of long pedigree, who had been unjustly deprived of his estates.
Down in the basement of this palatial34 store was a little dressing35 room and lavatory36 for the floorwalkers, where they doffed37 their formal raiment and resumed street attire38. His colleagues grumbled39 and hastened to depart, but Gissing made himself entirely40 comfortable. In his locker41 he kept a baby's bathtub, which he leisurely42 filled with hot water at one of the basins. Then he sat serenely43 and bathed his feet; although it was against the rules he often managed to smoke a pipe while doing so. Then he hung up his store clothes neatly44, and went off refreshed into the summer evening.
A warm rosy45 light floods the city at that hour. At the foot of every crosstown street is a bonfire of sunset. What a mood of secret smiling beset46 him as he viewed the great territory of his enjoyment47. “The freedom of the city”—a phrase he had somewhere heard—echoed in his mind. The freedom of the city! A magnificent saying, Electric signs, first burning wanly48 in the pink air, then brightened and grew strong. “Not light, but rather darkness visible,” in that magic hour that just holds the balance between paling day and the spendthrift jewellery of evening. Or, if it rained, to sit blithely49 on the roof of a bus, revelling50 in the gust51 and whipping of the shower. Why had no one told him of the glory of the city? She was pride, she was exultation52, she was madness. She was what he had obscurely craved53. In every line of her gallant54 profile he saw conquest, triumph, victory! Empty conquest, futile55 triumph, doomed56 victory—but that was the essence of the drama. In thunderclaps of dumb ecstasy57 he saw her whole gigantic fabric58, leaning and clamouring upward with terrible yearning59. Burnt with pitiless sunlight, drenched60 with purple explosions of summer storm, he saw her cleansed61 and pure. Where were her recreant62 poets that they had never made these things plain?
And then, after the senseless day, after its happy but meaningless triviality, the throng63 and mixed perfumery and silly courteous64 gestures, his blessed solitude65! Oh solitude, that noble peace of the mind! He loved the throng and multitude of the day: he loved people: but sometimes he suspected that he loved them as God does—at a judicious66 distance. From his rather haphazard67 religious training, strange words came back to him. “For God so loved the world...” So loved the world that—that what? That He sent someone else... Some day he must think this out. But you can't think things out. They think themselves, suddenly, amazingly. The city itself is God, he cried. Was not God's ultimate promise something about a city—The City of God? Well, but that was only symbolic68 language. The city—of course that was only a symbol for the race—for all his kind. The entire species, the whole aspiration69 and passion and struggle, that was God.
On the ferries, at night, after supper, was his favourite place for meditation70. Some undeniable instinct drew him ever and again out of the deep and shut ravines of stone, to places where he could feed on distance. That is one of the subtleties71 of this straight and narrow city, that though her ways are cliffed in, they are a long thoroughfare for the eye: there is always a far perspective. But best of all to go down to her environing water, where spaces are wide: the openness that keeps her sound and free. Ships had words for him: they had crossed many horizons: fragments of that broken blue still shone on their cutting bows. Ferries, the most poetical72 things in the city, were nearly empty at night: he stood by the rail, saw the black outline of the town slide by, saw the lower sky gilded73 with her merriment, and was busy thinking.
Now about a God (he said to himself)—instinct tells me that there is one, for when I think about Him I find that I unconsciously wag my tail a little. But I must not reason on that basis, which is too puppyish. I like to think that there is, somewhere in this universe, an inscrutable Being of infinite wisdom, harmony, and charity, by Whom all my desires and needs would be understood; in association with Whom I would find peace, satisfaction, a lightness of heart that exceed my present understanding. Such a Being is to me quite inconceivable; yet I feel that if I met Him, I would instantly understand. I do not mean that I would understand Him: but I would understand my relationship to Him, which would be perfect. Nor do I mean that it would be always happy; merely that it would transcend74 anything in the way of social significance that I now experience. But I must not conclude that there is such a God, merely because it would be so pleasant if there were.
Then (he continued) is it necessary to conceive that this deity75 is super-canine in essence? What I am getting at is this: in everyone I have ever known—Fuji, Mr. Poodle, Mrs. Spaniel, those maddening delightful76 puppies, Mrs. Purp, Mr. Beagle, even Mrs. Chow and Mrs. Sealyham and little Miss Whippet—I have always been aware that there was some mysterious point of union at which our minds could converge77 and entirely understand one another. No matter what our difference of breed, of training, of experience and education, provided we could meet and exchange ideas honestly there would be some satisfying point of mental fusion78 where we would feel our solidarity79 in the common mystery of life. People complain that wars are caused by and fought over trivial things. Why, of course! For it is only in trivial matters that people differ: in the deep realities they must necessarily be at one. Now I have a suspicion that in this secret sense of unity23 God may lurk80. Is that what we mean by God, the sum total of all these instinctive81 understandings? But what is the origin of this sense of kinship? Is it not the realization82 of our common subjection to laws and forces greater than ourselves? Then, since nothing can be greater than God, He must BE these superior mysteries. Yet He cannot be greater than our minds, for our minds have imagined Him.
My mathematics is very rusty83, he said to himself, but I seem to remember something about a locus84, which was a curve or a surface every point on which satisfied some particular equation of relation among the coordinates85. It begins to look to me as though life might be a kind of locus, whose commanding equation we call God. The points on that locus cannot conceive of the equation, yet they are subject to it. They cannot conceive of that equation, because of course it has no existence save as a law of their being. It exists only for them; they, only by it. But there it is—a perfect, potent86, divine abstraction.
This carried him into a realm of disembodied thinking which his mind was not sufficiently87 disciplined to summarize. It is quite plain, he said to himself, that I must rub up my vanished mathematics. For certainly the mathematician88 comes closer to God than any other, since his mind is trained to conceive and formulate89 the magnificent phantoms90 of legality. He smiled to think that any one should presume to become a parson without having at least mastered analytical91 geometry.
The ferry had crossed and recrossed the river several times, but Gissing had found no conclusion for these thoughts. As the boat drew toward her slip, she passed astern of a great liner. Gissing saw the four tall funnels92 loom93 up above the shed of the pier94 where she lay berthed95. What was it that made his heart so stir? The perfect rake of the funnels—just that satisfying angle of slant—that, absurdly enough, was the nobility of the sight. Why, then? Let's get at the heart of this, he said. Just that little trick of the architect, useless in itself—what was it but the touch of swagger, of bravado96, of defiance—going out into the vast, meaningless, unpitying sea with that dainty arrogance97 of build; taking the trouble to mock the senseless elements, hurricane, ice, and fog, with a 15-degree slope of masts and funnels: damn, what was the analogy?
It was pride, it was pride! It was the same lusty impudence98 that he saw in his perfect city, the city that cried out to the hearts of youth, jutted99 her mocking pinnacles100 toward sky, her clumsy turrets101 verticalled on gold! And God, the God of gales102 and gravity, loved His children to dare and contradict Him, to rally Him with equations of their own.
“God, I defy you!” he cried.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
eloquently
|
|
| adv. 雄辩地(有口才地, 富于表情地) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
zeal
|
|
| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
erect
|
|
| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
aisles
|
|
| n. (席位间的)通道, 侧廊 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
glamour
|
|
| n.魔力，魅力；vt.迷住 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
watchful
|
|
| adj.注意的，警惕的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
urbane
|
|
| adj.温文尔雅的，懂礼的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
condescension
|
|
| n.自以为高人一等，贬低(别人) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
perfectly
|
|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
precocious
|
|
| adj.早熟的；较早显出的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
mien
|
|
| n.风采；态度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
poetic
|
|
| adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
reigning
|
|
| adj.统治的，起支配作用的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
melancholy
|
|
| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
tact
|
|
| n.机敏，圆滑，得体 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
offhand
|
|
| adj.临时，无准备的；随便，马虎的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
simplicity
|
|
| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
arbiter
|
|
| n.仲裁人，公断人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
affixed
|
|
| adj.[医]附着的，附着的v.附加( affix的过去式和过去分词 )；粘贴；加以；盖（印章） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
elation
|
|
| n.兴高采烈，洋洋得意 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
plunged
|
|
| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
tumult
|
|
| n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
unity
|
|
| n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
specious
|
|
| adj.似是而非的；adv.似是而非地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
mere
|
|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
glimmered
|
|
| v.发闪光，发微光( glimmer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
slippers
|
|
| n. 拖鞋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
hind
|
|
| adj.后面的，后部的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
penetrate
|
|
| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
advantageous
|
|
| adj.有利的；有帮助的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
bustle
|
|
| v.喧扰地忙乱，匆忙，奔忙；n.忙碌；喧闹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
pungent
|
|
| adj.（气味、味道）刺激性的，辛辣的；尖锐的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
spoke
|
|
| 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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
palatial
|
|
| adj.宫殿般的，宏伟的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
dressing
|
|
| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
lavatory
|
|
| n.盥洗室，厕所 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
doffed
|
|
| v.脱去，（尤指）脱帽( doff的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
attire
|
|
| v.穿衣，装扮[同]array；n.衣着；盛装 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
grumbled
|
|
| 抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
entirely
|
|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
locker
|
|
| n.更衣箱，储物柜，冷藏室，上锁的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
leisurely
|
|
| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
serenely
|
|
| adv.安详地，宁静地，平静地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
neatly
|
|
| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
rosy
|
|
| adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
beset
|
|
| v.镶嵌；困扰，包围 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
enjoyment
|
|
| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
wanly
|
|
| adv.虚弱地；苍白地，无血色地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
blithely
|
|
| adv.欢乐地，快活地，无挂虑地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
revelling
|
|
| v.作乐( revel的现在分词 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
gust
|
|
| n.阵风，突然一阵（雨、烟等），（感情的）迸发 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
exultation
|
|
| n.狂喜，得意 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
craved
|
|
| 渴望，热望( crave的过去式 )； 恳求，请求 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
gallant
|
|
| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
futile
|
|
| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
doomed
|
|
| 命定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
ecstasy
|
|
| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
fabric
|
|
| n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
yearning
|
|
| a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
drenched
|
|
| adj.湿透的；充满的v.使湿透( drench的过去式和过去分词 )；在某人（某物）上大量使用（某液体） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
cleansed
|
|
| 弄干净，清洗( cleanse的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
recreant
|
|
| n.懦夫；adj.胆怯的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
throng
|
|
| n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
courteous
|
|
| adj.彬彬有礼的，客气的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
solitude
|
|
| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
judicious
|
|
| adj.明智的，明断的，能作出明智决定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
haphazard
|
|
| adj.无计划的，随意的，杂乱无章的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
symbolic
|
|
| adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
aspiration
|
|
| n.志向，志趣抱负；渴望；(语)送气音；吸出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
meditation
|
|
| n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
subtleties
|
|
| 细微( subtlety的名词复数 )； 精细； 巧妙； 细微的差别等 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
poetical
|
|
| adj.似诗人的；诗一般的；韵文的；富有诗意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
gilded
|
|
| a.镀金的，富有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
transcend
|
|
| vt.超出，超越(理性等)的范围 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
deity
|
|
| n.神，神性；被奉若神明的人(或物) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
delightful
|
|
| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
converge
|
|
| vi.会合；聚集，集中；(思想、观点等)趋近 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
fusion
|
|
| n.溶化；熔解；熔化状态，熔和；熔接 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
solidarity
|
|
| n.团结；休戚相关 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
lurk
|
|
| n.潜伏，潜行；v.潜藏，潜伏，埋伏 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
instinctive
|
|
| adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
realization
|
|
| n.实现；认识到，深刻了解 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
83
rusty
|
|
| adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
84
locus
|
|
| n.中心 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
85
coordinates
|
|
| n.相配之衣物；坐标( coordinate的名词复数 )；（颜色协调的）配套服装；[复数]女套服；同等重要的人（或物）v.使协调，使调和( coordinate的第三人称单数 )；协调；协同；成为同等 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
86
potent
|
|
| adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
87
sufficiently
|
|
| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
88
mathematician
|
|
| n.数学家 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
89
formulate
|
|
| v.用公式表示；规划；设计；系统地阐述 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
90
phantoms
|
|
| n.鬼怪，幽灵( phantom的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
91
analytical
|
|
| adj.分析的；用分析法的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
92
funnels
|
|
| 漏斗( funnel的名词复数 )； （轮船，火车等的）烟囱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
93
loom
|
|
| n.织布机，织机；v.隐现，(危险、忧虑等)迫近 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
94
pier
|
|
| n.码头；桥墩，桥柱；[建]窗间壁，支柱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
95
berthed
|
|
| v.停泊( berth的过去式和过去分词 )；占铺位 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
96
bravado
|
|
| n.虚张声势，故作勇敢，逞能 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
97
arrogance
|
|
| n.傲慢，自大 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
98
impudence
|
|
| n.厚颜无耻；冒失；无礼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
99
jutted
|
|
| v.（使）突出( jut的过去式和过去分词 )；伸出；（从…）突出；高出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
100
pinnacles
|
|
| 顶峰( pinnacle的名词复数 )； 顶点； 尖顶； 小尖塔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
101
turrets
|
|
| （六角）转台( turret的名词复数 )； （战舰和坦克等上的）转动炮塔； （摄影机等上的）镜头转台； （旧时攻城用的）塔车 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
102
gales
|
|
| 龙猫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |