小说搜索     点击排行榜   最新入库
首页 » 英文短篇小说 » Tales of a Cruel Country » HOW IT GREW
选择底色: 选择字号:【大】【中】【小】
HOW IT GREW
关注小说网官方公众号(noveltingroom),原版名著免费领。
 To
T. Michael Pope
{161}
I SUPPOSE that, after all, I am at heart a good deal of a snob1, for I remember taking enormous pleasure in being seen in Captain Porritt’s company as we sauntered by British Headquarters, and passed along by the side of the quay2 until we reached the Café Roma. For Porritt was most decidedly a notability in Salonika. He would have attracted attention anywhere. He was dark and sudden, like a Spaniard. He had an air of distinction, even of disdain3, and though his face was peculiarly animated4, it never revealed anything. He looked what he was; an eager young aristocrat5, absorbed in and hugely entertained by his surroundings. Every part of him had intuition: his hands knew.
Now, I must explain that Porritt had been in some little trouble. A lady, I think; certainly not drink. She was somebody else’s wife, and Somebody Else happened to be a millionaire merchant. So for three weeks Salonika had been closed to Porritt, and to-day was the first day of the ban’s lifting.
“I’d better go slow the first day, Old Thing,” he said; “we’ll go to the Roma instead of the White Tower, and after lunch, if that little room’s empty, you shall play Brahms to me—especially the Little Valse.”
We mounted the stone stairway that takes you so unexpectedly to the restaurant. As soon as the manager saw Porritt he came fussing towards us.
“Ah{162}, monsieur!” he exclaimed, delightedly; “you once more! Are you well? Yes?”
“Excessively. But how crowded you are!”
The manager gazed around at his cosmopolitan6 clients, and smiled reassuringly7.
“There, in the corner—a table for two. True, it is engaged for somebody else, but you shall have it.”
He tangled8 fatly through the room, and, when at the table, turned about and smiled.
We sat down, and our guide handed a wine list to Porritt.
“It is some weeks since you were in Salonika?” he suggested, rather than asked.
“Yes; three. Very busy up-country. Very busy ... ve ... ry ... bu ... sy ...” Porritt’s eyes were among the champagnes.
“Ah: Indeed! Something important then?” (He had not heard of Somebody Else’s wife.)
Porritt looked up and winked9 knowingly. “Rather! You wait and see.” He lowered his voice, adding, confidentially11: “There’s a move on.”
“Ah! The Big Push!”
His eyebrows12 shaped themselves into a question.
Porritt nodded gravely and impressively.
“The Big Push! The Big Push!” breathed the manager once more.
He murmured the words reverently13 and softly, and at once increased in stature14 a couple of inches, thus falsifying the spirit, if not the letter, of the Scriptural axiom. He was one of the Few who Knew. He was a personality.{163}
He tangoed away for a bottle of Veuve Cliquot. Porritt grinned.
“You watch!” he said. “It’ll spread as quickly as a scandal in a cathedral city.”
And, really, the effect of this purely15 imaginary piece of news, deposited in the bosom16 of the manager, was electrical. He passed from table to table, and dropped a bomb on each. In five minutes the restaurant was seething17 with excitement.
“The Great Push at last!... In France as well, no doubt.... Every front.... Yes, the Great Push. I always said it would begin in May.”
At one table the manager lingered for some little time. He was talking with some animation18 to three journalists, correspondents of French newspapers. Two of them were busy writing in note-books. It appeared that the manager had no lack of news to impart: he spread out his plump hands, lifted his shoulders, and wrinkled his brows. And then he looked furtively19 towards us, and whispered something behind his hand. The journalists also looked, half rose, thought a second time, and sat down again.
“Damned funny, isn’t it?” said Porritt.
“I’m afraid you’re rather in for it,” I remarked.
“Oh, I’ll soon dispose of them.”
Only one table went on smoothly20 and systematically21 with its eating. Seated at it were two Fleet Street men, who had just come to Salonika to conduct The Balkan News. They had l{164}istened to the manager, but had remained unmoved. But, presently, one of them took a slip of paper from his pocket, wrote a few words, and sent it across to us by a waiter.
Porritt unrolled the slip. On it was written: “Is there anything in it?” He hesitated a moment, then wrote underneath22: “Damfino.” “Which,” said he to me, “being interpreted, means: ‘I’m damned if I know.’” And that is all the English journalists got; as a matter of fact, it was all they wanted, and they sat back in their chairs, and watched the rumour23 grow.
Extraordinary our human love of the sensational24! Extraordinary our inability to pass on a piece of news without adding to it! Extraordinary the credulity we give to impossible stories we desire to be true!
“Let’s have our coffee and liqueurs down at Floca’s,” suggested Porritt. “It’ll be rather jolly to see to what fantastic shapes my Yarn25 has grown down there.”
Floca’s, of course, is just underneath the Roma, but though only a floor and a ceiling divide them, they are as different in mental atmosphere as the gilt-mirrored lounge of the Café Royal, and the dining-room at Morley’s Hotel.
The word “seethes” is banal26; nevertheless, Floca’s seethed27. For the Yarn had grown. It now had many twisted forms, each fashioned according to the desires and fears of the individual gossiper. Porritt, the only begetter28 of this disturbance29, leaned back with a gratified smile on his lips.{165}
“One must amuse oneself,” said he.
“Ah! Porritt! Porritt! Little do you know the mischief30 you have done! At this moment the news is on its way to Athens, thence to London, Berlin, Vienna—everywhere. At about seven o’clock this evening, just when the night editors are beginning to think of dinner, it will reach Fleet Street, perhaps by way of Zurich or Amsterdam. Even now, as I speak, the world is beginning to wake up to this great new event. Thousands of pounds will be spent on cables. Reputations will be lost. Perhaps Roumania will be induced to come in at last. Greece will stir uneasily, the Kaiser will wire to Hindenburg, the Stock Exchange....”
“Would it were all true!” interrupted Porritt. “Do you know, Cumberland, I have never felt so important in all my life? Look over there!”
He pointed31 to a neighbouring table. At it were seated two men, both of whom I knew well by sight. One a fat, hairy Greek Jew with a pendulous32 jaw33, and great bags under his eyes, was a fabulously34 wealthy financier; the other his confidential10 clerk. They had been taken unawares by the news, and forgot that a dozen eyes were upon them. The financier was white and trembling, and time after time he tried to rise from his chair, only to sink back repeatedly in a condition of distressing35 exhaustion36. Fear, a devastating37 fear, dwelt in his eyes.
“What is he afraid of?” I whispered to Porritt.{166}
“Only his clerk knows. But evidently he thinks he is ruined.”
“Tell him!” I urged; “tell him it’s not true—that it’s only your invention.”
“Why should I? If people will speculate in human lives, let them take the consequences.... And now,” added he, “I must go to the canteen to get those six cases of whiskey. I’ve a limber waiting for me just off Piccadilly Circus.”
It reached Fleet Street precisely38 at nine.
“I think we might have a leader on it—in any case, a short one,” said Hartley, Editor of the Trumpet39, that powerful organ of democracy, to the night editor. “Tell Bisham to come along.”
Like a lizard40, Bisham darted41 in, an unlit stump42 of a cigar between his thin, intelligent lips.
“Well, Bish, the Big Push is on at last. All fronts. Just through on the wire. Waiting for censor’s permish. No details. Let’s have a couple of sticks, in case. The news about Salonika; the wire itself—it comes from Zurich—will go in under any circs. And, you, Beale,” he added, turning to the night news editor, “wire Amsterdam, and do the necessary with Paris. Now, trot43 along both of you. I’m busy.”

点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 snob YFMzo     
n.势利小人,自以为高雅、有学问的人
参考例句:
  • Going to a private school had made her a snob.上私立学校后,她变得很势利。
  • If you think that way, you are a snob already.如果你那样想的话,你已经是势利小人了。
2 quay uClyc     
n.码头,靠岸处
参考例句:
  • There are all kinds of ships in a quay.码头停泊各式各样的船。
  • The side of the boat hit the quay with a grinding jar.船舷撞到码头发出刺耳的声音。
3 disdain KltzA     
n.鄙视,轻视;v.轻视,鄙视,不屑
参考例句:
  • Some people disdain labour.有些人轻视劳动。
  • A great man should disdain flatterers.伟大的人物应鄙视献媚者。
4 animated Cz7zMa     
adj.生气勃勃的,活跃的,愉快的
参考例句:
  • His observations gave rise to an animated and lively discussion.他的言论引起了一场气氛热烈而活跃的讨论。
  • We had an animated discussion over current events last evening.昨天晚上我们热烈地讨论时事。
5 aristocrat uvRzb     
n.贵族,有贵族气派的人,上层人物
参考例句:
  • He was the quintessential english aristocrat.他是典型的英国贵族。
  • He is an aristocrat to the very marrow of his bones.他是一个道道地地的贵族。
6 cosmopolitan BzRxj     
adj.世界性的,全世界的,四海为家的,全球的
参考例句:
  • New York is a highly cosmopolitan city.纽约是一个高度世界性的城市。
  • She has a very cosmopolitan outlook on life.她有四海一家的人生观。
7 reassuringly YTqxW     
ad.安心,可靠
参考例句:
  • He patted her knee reassuringly. 他轻拍她的膝盖让她放心。
  • The doctor smiled reassuringly. 医生笑了笑,让人心里很踏实。
8 tangled e487ee1bc1477d6c2828d91e94c01c6e     
adj. 纠缠的,紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词
参考例句:
  • Your hair's so tangled that I can't comb it. 你的头发太乱了,我梳不动。
  • A movement caught his eye in the tangled undergrowth. 乱灌木丛里的晃动引起了他的注意。
9 winked af6ada503978fa80fce7e5d109333278     
v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 );递眼色(表示友好或高兴等);(指光)闪烁;闪亮
参考例句:
  • He winked at her and she knew he was thinking the same thing that she was. 他冲她眨了眨眼,她便知道他的想法和她一样。
  • He winked his eyes at her and left the classroom. 他向她眨巴一下眼睛走出了教室。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
10 confidential MOKzA     
adj.秘(机)密的,表示信任的,担任机密工作的
参考例句:
  • He refused to allow his secretary to handle confidential letters.他不让秘书处理机密文件。
  • We have a confidential exchange of views.我们推心置腹地交换意见。
11 confidentially 0vDzuc     
ad.秘密地,悄悄地
参考例句:
  • She was leaning confidentially across the table. 她神神秘秘地从桌子上靠过来。
  • Kao Sung-nien and Wang Ch'u-hou talked confidentially in low tones. 高松年汪处厚两人低声密谈。
12 eyebrows a0e6fb1330e9cfecfd1c7a4d00030ed5     
眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Eyebrows stop sweat from coming down into the eyes. 眉毛挡住汗水使其不能流进眼睛。
  • His eyebrows project noticeably. 他的眉毛特别突出。
13 reverently FjPzwr     
adv.虔诚地
参考例句:
  • He gazed reverently at the handiwork. 他满怀敬意地凝视着这件手工艺品。
  • Pork gazed at it reverently and slowly delight spread over his face. 波克怀着愉快的心情看着这只表,脸上慢慢显出十分崇敬的神色。
14 stature ruLw8     
n.(高度)水平,(高度)境界,身高,身材
参考例句:
  • He is five feet five inches in stature.他身高5英尺5英寸。
  • The dress models are tall of stature.时装模特儿的身材都较高。
15 purely 8Sqxf     
adv.纯粹地,完全地
参考例句:
  • I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
  • This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。
16 bosom Lt9zW     
n.胸,胸部;胸怀;内心;adj.亲密的
参考例句:
  • She drew a little book from her bosom.她从怀里取出一本小册子。
  • A dark jealousy stirred in his bosom.他内心生出一阵恶毒的嫉妒。
17 seething e6f773e71251620fed3d8d4245606fcf     
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。
18 animation UMdyv     
n.活泼,兴奋,卡通片/动画片的制作
参考例句:
  • They are full of animation as they talked about their childhood.当他们谈及童年的往事时都非常兴奋。
  • The animation of China made a great progress.中国的卡通片制作取得很大发展。
19 furtively furtively     
adv. 偷偷地, 暗中地
参考例句:
  • At this some of the others furtively exchanged significant glances. 听他这样说,有几个人心照不宣地彼此对望了一眼。
  • Remembering my presence, he furtively dropped it under his chair. 后来想起我在,他便偷偷地把书丢在椅子下。
20 smoothly iiUzLG     
adv.平滑地,顺利地,流利地,流畅地
参考例句:
  • The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作,所以工作进展顺利。
  • Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。
21 systematically 7qhwn     
adv.有系统地
参考例句:
  • This government has systematically run down public services since it took office.这一屆政府自上台以来系统地削减了公共服务。
  • The rainforest is being systematically destroyed.雨林正被系统地毀灭。
22 underneath VKRz2     
adj.在...下面,在...底下;adv.在下面
参考例句:
  • Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
  • She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣,里面套着一条连衣裙。
23 rumour 1SYzZ     
n.谣言,谣传,传闻
参考例句:
  • I should like to know who put that rumour about.我想知道是谁散布了那谣言。
  • There has been a rumour mill on him for years.几年来,一直有谣言产生,对他进行中伤。
24 sensational Szrwi     
adj.使人感动的,非常好的,轰动的,耸人听闻的
参考例句:
  • Papers of this kind are full of sensational news reports.这类报纸满是耸人听闻的新闻报道。
  • Their performance was sensational.他们的演出妙极了。
25 yarn LMpzM     
n.纱,纱线,纺线;奇闻漫谈,旅行轶事
参考例句:
  • I stopped to have a yarn with him.我停下来跟他聊天。
  • The basic structural unit of yarn is the fiber.纤维是纱的基本结构单元。
26 banal joCyK     
adj.陈腐的,平庸的
参考例句:
  • Making banal remarks was one of his bad habits.他的坏习惯之一就是喜欢说些陈词滥调。
  • The allegations ranged from the banal to the bizarre.从平淡无奇到离奇百怪的各种说法都有。
27 seethed 9421e7f0215c1a9ead7d20695b8a9883     
(液体)沸腾( seethe的过去式和过去分词 ); 激动,大怒; 强压怒火; 生闷气(~with sth|~ at sth)
参考例句:
  • She seethed silently in the corner. 她在角落里默默地生闷气。
  • He seethed with rage as the train left without him. 他误了火车,怒火中烧。
28 begetter 6ec9c0fe5d19500a88b5b3b081fefb4b     
n.生产者,父
参考例句:
  • Elvis Presley was the true begetter of modern youth culture. 埃尔维斯·普雷斯利是现代青年文化的真正奠基人。 来自柯林斯例句
29 disturbance BsNxk     
n.动乱,骚动;打扰,干扰;(身心)失调
参考例句:
  • He is suffering an emotional disturbance.他的情绪受到了困扰。
  • You can work in here without any disturbance.在这儿你可不受任何干扰地工作。
30 mischief jDgxH     
n.损害,伤害,危害;恶作剧,捣蛋,胡闹
参考例句:
  • Nobody took notice of the mischief of the matter. 没有人注意到这件事情所带来的危害。
  • He seems to intend mischief.看来他想捣蛋。
31 pointed Il8zB4     
adj.尖的,直截了当的
参考例句:
  • He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
  • She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。
32 pendulous 83nzg     
adj.下垂的;摆动的
参考例句:
  • The oriole builds a pendulous nest.金莺鸟筑一个悬垂的巢。
  • Her lip grew pendulous as she aged.由于老迈,她的嘴唇往下坠了。
33 jaw 5xgy9     
n.颚,颌,说教,流言蜚语;v.喋喋不休,教训
参考例句:
  • He delivered a right hook to his opponent's jaw.他给了对方下巴一记右钩拳。
  • A strong square jaw is a sign of firm character.强健的方下巴是刚毅性格的标志。
34 fabulously 4161877a232b49d1803e1bea05514fd7     
难以置信地,惊人地
参考例句:
  • The couple are said to be fabulously wealthy. 据说这对夫妇家财万贯。
  • I should say this shirt matches your trousers fabulously. 我得说这衬衫同你的裤子非常相配。
35 distressing cuTz30     
a.使人痛苦的
参考例句:
  • All who saw the distressing scene revolted against it. 所有看到这种悲惨景象的人都对此感到难过。
  • It is distressing to see food being wasted like this. 这样浪费粮食令人痛心。
36 exhaustion OPezL     
n.耗尽枯竭,疲惫,筋疲力尽,竭尽,详尽无遗的论述
参考例句:
  • She slept the sleep of exhaustion.她因疲劳而酣睡。
  • His exhaustion was obvious when he fell asleep standing.他站着睡着了,显然是太累了。
37 devastating muOzlG     
adj.毁灭性的,令人震惊的,强有力的
参考例句:
  • It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
  • Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。
38 precisely zlWzUb     
adv.恰好,正好,精确地,细致地
参考例句:
  • It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
  • The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。
39 trumpet AUczL     
n.喇叭,喇叭声;v.吹喇叭,吹嘘
参考例句:
  • He plays the violin, but I play the trumpet.他拉提琴,我吹喇叭。
  • The trumpet sounded for battle.战斗的号角吹响了。
40 lizard P0Ex0     
n.蜥蜴,壁虎
参考例句:
  • A chameleon is a kind of lizard.变色龙是一种蜥蜴。
  • The lizard darted out its tongue at the insect.蜥蜴伸出舌头去吃小昆虫。
41 darted d83f9716cd75da6af48046d29f4dd248     
v.投掷,投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 );向前冲,飞奔
参考例句:
  • The lizard darted out its tongue at the insect. 蜥蜴伸出舌头去吃小昆虫。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The old man was displeased and darted an angry look at me. 老人不高兴了,瞪了我一眼。 来自《简明英汉词典》
42 stump hGbzY     
n.残株,烟蒂,讲演台;v.砍断,蹒跚而走
参考例句:
  • He went on the stump in his home state.他到故乡所在的州去发表演说。
  • He used the stump as a table.他把树桩用作桌子。
43 trot aKBzt     
n.疾走,慢跑;n.老太婆;现成译本;(复数)trots:腹泻(与the 连用);v.小跑,快步走,赶紧
参考例句:
  • They passed me at a trot.他们从我身边快步走过。
  • The horse broke into a brisk trot.马突然快步小跑起来。


欢迎访问英文小说网

©英文小说网 2005-2010

有任何问题,请给我们留言,管理员邮箱:[email protected]  站长QQ :点击发送消息和我们联系56065533