The story went out, and of course all sorts of people wanted to meet Peter, and came to the home of the Todd girls. So Peter settled down to his job of finding out all he could about these visitors, their names and occupations, their relations to the radical3 movement. Guffey had advised him not to make notes, for fear of detection, but Peter could not carry all this in his head, so he would retire to his room and make minute notes on slips of paper, and carefully sew these up in the lining9 of his coat, with a thrill of mystery.
Except for this note-taking, however, Peter’s sleuthing was easy work, for these people all seemed eager to talk about what they were doing; sometimes it frightened Peter—they were so open and defiant10! Not merely did they express their ideas to one another and to him, they were expressing them on public platforms, and in their publications, in pamphlets and in leaflets—what they called “literature.” Peter had had no idea their “movement” was so widespread or so powerful. He had expected to unearth11 a secret conspiracy12, and perhaps a dynamite-bomb or two; instead of which, apparently13, he was unearthing14 a volcano!
However, Peter did the best he could. He got the names and details about some forty or fifty people of all classes; obscure workingmen and women, Jewish tailors, Russian and Italian cigar-workers, American-born machinists and printers; also some “parlor Reds”—large, immaculate and shining ladies who came rolling up to the little bungalow15 in large, immaculate and shining automobiles16, and left their uniformed chauffeurs17 outside for hours at a time while they listened to Peter’s story of his “third degree.” One benevolent18 lady with a flowing gray veil, who wafted19 a sweet perfume about the room, suggested that Peter might be in need, and pressed a twenty dollar bill into his hand. Peter, thrilled, but also bewildered, got a new sense of the wonders of this thing called “the movement,” and decided20 that when Guffey got thru with him he might turn into a “Red” in earnest for a while.
Meantime he settled down to make himself comfortable with the Todd sisters. Sadie went off to her work before eight o’clock every morning, and that was before Peter got up; but Jennie stayed at home, and fixed21 his breakfast, and opened the door for his visitors, and in general played the hostess for him. She was a confirmed invalid22; twice a week she went off to a doctor to have something done to her spine23, and the balance of the time she was supposed to be resting, but Peter very seldom saw her doing this. She was always addressing circulars, or writing letters for the “cause,” or going off to sell literature and take up collections at meetings. When she was not so employed, she was arguing with somebody—frequently with Peter—trying to make him think as she did.
Poor kid, she was all wrought24 up over the notions she had got about the wrongs of the working classes. She gave herself no peace about it, day or night, and this, of course, was a bore to Peter, who wanted peace above all things. Over in Europe millions of men were organized in armies, engaged in slaughtering25 one another. That, of course, was, very terrible, but what was the good of thinking about it? There was no way to stop it, and it certainly wasn’t Peter’s fault. But this poor, deluded26 child was acting27 all the time as if she were to blame for this European conflict, and had the job of bringing it to a close. The tears would come into her deep-set grey eyes, and her soft chin would quiver with pain whenever she talked about it; and it seemed to Peter she was talking about it all the time. It was her idea that the war must be stopped by uprisings on the part of the working people in Europe. Apparently she thought this might be hastened if the working people of American City would rise up and set an example!
点击收听单词发音
1 accusations | |
n.指责( accusation的名词复数 );指控;控告;(被告发、控告的)罪名 | |
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2 radicals | |
n.激进分子( radical的名词复数 );根基;基本原理;[数学]根数 | |
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3 radical | |
n.激进份子,原子团,根号;adj.根本的,激进的,彻底的 | |
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4 socialist | |
n.社会主义者;adj.社会主义的 | |
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5 labor | |
n.劳动,努力,工作,劳工;分娩;vi.劳动,努力,苦干;vt.详细分析;麻烦 | |
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6 defense | |
n.防御,保卫;[pl.]防务工事;辩护,答辩 | |
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7 narrative | |
n.叙述,故事;adj.叙事的,故事体的 | |
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8 socialists | |
社会主义者( socialist的名词复数 ) | |
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9 lining | |
n.衬里,衬料 | |
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10 defiant | |
adj.无礼的,挑战的 | |
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11 unearth | |
v.发掘,掘出,从洞中赶出 | |
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12 conspiracy | |
n.阴谋,密谋,共谋 | |
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13 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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14 unearthing | |
发掘或挖出某物( unearth的现在分词 ); 搜寻到某事物,发现并披露 | |
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15 bungalow | |
n.平房,周围有阳台的木造小平房 | |
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16 automobiles | |
n.汽车( automobile的名词复数 ) | |
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17 chauffeurs | |
n.受雇于人的汽车司机( chauffeur的名词复数 ) | |
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18 benevolent | |
adj.仁慈的,乐善好施的 | |
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19 wafted | |
v.吹送,飘送,(使)浮动( waft的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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20 decided | |
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
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21 fixed | |
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的 | |
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22 invalid | |
n.病人,伤残人;adj.有病的,伤残的;无效的 | |
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23 spine | |
n.脊柱,脊椎;(动植物的)刺;书脊 | |
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24 wrought | |
v.引起;以…原料制作;运转;adj.制造的 | |
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25 slaughtering | |
v.屠杀,杀戮,屠宰( slaughter的现在分词 ) | |
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26 deluded | |
v.欺骗,哄骗( delude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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27 acting | |
n.演戏,行为,假装;adj.代理的,临时的,演出用的 | |
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