A small ragged10 girl dragged a red, bawling11 infant along the crowded ways. He was hanging back, baby-like, bracing12 his wrinkled, bare legs.
The little girl cried out: "Ah, Tommie, come ahn. Dere's Jimmie and fader. Don't be a-pullin' me back."
She jerked the baby's arm impatiently. He fell on his face, roaring. With a second jerk she pulled him to his feet, and they went on. With the obstinacy13 of his order, he protested against being dragged in a chosen direction. He made heroic endeavors to keep on his legs, denounce his sister and consume a bit of orange peeling which he chewed between the times of his infantile orations14.
As the sullen-eyed man, followed by the blood-covered boy, drew near, the little girl burst into reproachful cries. "Ah, Jimmie, youse bin15 fightin' agin."
"Ah, what deh hell, Mag. See?"
The little girl upbraided18 him, "Youse allus fightin', Jimmie, an' yeh knows it puts mudder out when yehs come home half dead, an' it's like we'll all get a poundin'."
As his sister continued her lamentations, he suddenly swore and struck her. The little girl reeled and, recovering herself, burst into tears and quaveringly cursed him. As she slowly retreated her brother advanced dealing21 her cuffs22. The father heard and turned about.
"Stop that, Jim, d'yeh hear? Leave yer sister alone on the street. It's like I can never beat any sense into yer damned wooden head."
The urchin raised his voice in defiance23 to his parent and continued his attacks. The babe bawled24 tremendously, protesting with great violence. During his sister's hasty manoeuvres, he was dragged by the arm.
Finally the procession plunged25 into one of the gruesome doorways. They crawled up dark stairways and along cold, gloomy halls. At last the father pushed open a door and they entered a lighted room in which a large woman was rampant26.
She stopped in a career from a seething27 stove to a pan-covered table. As the father and children filed in she peered at them.
"Eh, what? Been fightin' agin, by Gawd!" She threw herself upon Jimmie. The urchin tried to dart28 behind the others and in the scuffle the babe, Tommie, was knocked down. He protested with his usual vehemence29, because they had bruised30 his tender shins against a table leg.
The mother's massive shoulders heaved with anger. Grasping the urchin by the neck and shoulder she shook him until he rattled31. She dragged him to an unholy sink, and, soaking a rag in water, began to scrub his lacerated face with it. Jimmie screamed in pain and tried to twist his shoulders out of the clasp of the huge arms.
The babe sat on the floor watching the scene, his face in contortions32 like that of a woman at a tragedy. The father, with a newly-ladened pipe in his mouth, crouched33 on a backless chair near the stove. Jimmie's cries annoyed him. He turned about and bellowed34 at his wife:
"Let the damned kid alone for a minute, will yeh, Mary? Yer allus poundin' 'im. When I come nights I can't git no rest 'cause yer allus poundin' a kid. Let up, d'yeh hear? Don't be allus poundin' a kid."
The woman's operations on the urchin instantly increased in violence. At last she tossed him to a corner where he limply lay cursing and weeping.
The wife put her immense hands on her hips35 and with a chieftain-like stride approached her husband.
"Ho," she said, with a great grunt36 of contempt. "An' what in the devil are you stickin' your nose for?"
The babe crawled under the table and, turning, peered out cautiously. The ragged girl retreated and the urchin in the corner drew his legs carefully beneath him.
"Go teh hell," he murmured, tranquilly38.
The woman screamed and shook her fists before her husband's eyes. The rough yellow of her face and neck flared39 suddenly crimson41. She began to howl.
He puffed imperturbably42 at his pipe for a time, but finally arose and began to look out at the window into the darkening chaos43 of back yards.
"You've been drinkin', Mary," he said. "You'd better let up on the bot', ol' woman, or you'll git done."
The babe was staring out from under the table, his small face working in his excitement.
The ragged girl went stealthily over to the corner where the urchin lay.
"Are yehs hurted much, Jimmie?" she whispered timidly.
"Will I wash deh blood?"
"Naw!"
"Will I—"
"When I catch dat Riley kid I'll break 'is face! Dat's right! See?"
In the quarrel between husband and wife, the woman was victor. The man grabbed his hat and rushed from the room, apparently49 determined50 upon a vengeful drunk. She followed to the door and thundered at him as he made his way down stairs.
She returned and stirred up the room until her children were bobbing about like bubbles.
"Git outa deh way," she persistently51 bawled, waving feet with their dishevelled shoes near the heads of her children. She shrouded52 herself, puffing53 and snorting, in a cloud of steam at the stove, and eventually extracted a frying-pan full of potatoes that hissed54.
She flourished it. "Come teh yer suppers, now," she cried with sudden exasperation55. "Hurry up, now, er I'll help yeh!"
The children scrambled56 hastily. With prodigious57 clatter58 they arranged themselves at table. The babe sat with his feet dangling59 high from a precarious60 infant chair and gorged61 his small stomach. Jimmie forced, with feverish62 rapidity, the grease-enveloped pieces between his wounded lips. Maggie, with side glances of fear of interruption, ate like a small pursued tigress.
The mother sat blinking at them. She delivered reproaches, swallowed potatoes and drank from a yellow-brown bottle. After a time her mood changed and she wept as she carried little Tommie into another room and laid him to sleep with his fists doubled in an old quilt of faded red and green grandeur63. Then she came and moaned by the stove. She rocked to and fro upon a chair, shedding tears and crooning miserably64 to the two children about their "poor mother" and "yer fader, damn 'is soul."
The little girl plodded65 between the table and the chair with a dish-pan on it. She tottered66 on her small legs beneath burdens of dishes.
Jimmie sat nursing his various wounds. He cast furtive67 glances at his mother. His practised eye perceived her gradually emerge from a muddled68 mist of sentiment until her brain burned in drunken heat. He sat breathless.
Maggie broke a plate.
The mother started to her feet as if propelled.
"Good Gawd," she howled. Her eyes glittered on her child with sudden hatred69. The fervent70 red of her face turned almost to purple. The little boy ran to the halls, shrieking71 like a monk72 in an earthquake.
He floundered about in darkness until he found the stairs. He stumbled, panic-stricken, to the next floor. An old woman opened a door. A light behind her threw a flare40 on the urchin's quivering face.
"Eh, Gawd, child, what is it dis time? Is yer fader beatin' yer mudder, or yer mudder beatin' yer fader?"
点击收听单词发音
1 doorways | |
n.门口,门道( doorway的名词复数 ) | |
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2 gutter | |
n.沟,街沟,水槽,檐槽,贫民窟 | |
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3 swirled | |
v.旋转,打旋( swirl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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4 frantic | |
adj.狂乱的,错乱的,激昂的 | |
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5 withered | |
adj. 枯萎的,干瘪的,(人身体的部分器官)因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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6 postures | |
姿势( posture的名词复数 ); 看法; 态度; 立场 | |
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7 submission | |
n.服从,投降;温顺,谦虚;提出 | |
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8 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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9 bowels | |
n.肠,内脏,内部;肠( bowel的名词复数 );内部,最深处 | |
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10 ragged | |
adj.衣衫褴褛的,粗糙的,刺耳的 | |
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11 bawling | |
v.大叫,大喊( bawl的现在分词 );放声大哭;大声叫出;叫卖(货物) | |
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12 bracing | |
adj.令人振奋的 | |
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13 obstinacy | |
n.顽固;(病痛等)难治 | |
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14 orations | |
n.(正式仪式中的)演说,演讲( oration的名词复数 ) | |
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15 bin | |
n.箱柜;vt.放入箱内;[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件 | |
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16 urchin | |
n.顽童;海胆 | |
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17 swelled | |
增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 ); 肿胀; (使)凸出; 充满(激情) | |
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18 upbraided | |
v.责备,申斥,谴责( upbraid的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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19 prospects | |
n.希望,前途(恒为复数) | |
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20 smack | |
vt.拍,打,掴;咂嘴;vi.含有…意味;n.拍 | |
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21 dealing | |
n.经商方法,待人态度 | |
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22 cuffs | |
n.袖口( cuff的名词复数 )v.掌打,拳打( cuff的第三人称单数 ) | |
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23 defiance | |
n.挑战,挑衅,蔑视,违抗 | |
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24 bawled | |
v.大叫,大喊( bawl的过去式和过去分词 );放声大哭;大声叫出;叫卖(货物) | |
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25 plunged | |
v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 );暴跌;骤降;突降 | |
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26 rampant | |
adj.(植物)蔓生的;狂暴的,无约束的 | |
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27 seething | |
沸腾的,火热的 | |
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28 dart | |
v.猛冲,投掷;n.飞镖,猛冲 | |
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29 vehemence | |
n.热切;激烈;愤怒 | |
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30 bruised | |
[医]青肿的,瘀紫的 | |
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31 rattled | |
慌乱的,恼火的 | |
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32 contortions | |
n.扭歪,弯曲;扭曲,弄歪,歪曲( contortion的名词复数 ) | |
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33 crouched | |
v.屈膝,蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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34 bellowed | |
v.发出吼叫声,咆哮(尤指因痛苦)( bellow的过去式和过去分词 );(愤怒地)说出(某事),大叫 | |
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35 hips | |
abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯,耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 );[建筑学]屋脊;臀围(尺寸);臀部…的 | |
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36 grunt | |
v.嘟哝;作呼噜声;n.呼噜声,嘟哝 | |
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37 puffed | |
adj.疏松的v.使喷出( puff的过去式和过去分词 );喷着汽(或烟)移动;吹嘘;吹捧 | |
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38 tranquilly | |
adv. 宁静地 | |
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39 Flared | |
adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词 | |
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40 flare | |
v.闪耀,闪烁;n.潮红;突发 | |
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41 crimson | |
n./adj.深(绯)红色(的);vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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42 imperturbably | |
adv.泰然地,镇静地,平静地 | |
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43 chaos | |
n.混乱,无秩序 | |
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44 liar | |
n.说谎的人 | |
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45 lurid | |
adj.可怕的;血红的;苍白的 | |
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46 altercation | |
n.争吵,争论 | |
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47 growled | |
v.(动物)发狺狺声, (雷)作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 );低声咆哮着说 | |
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48 bide | |
v.忍耐;等候;住 | |
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49 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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50 determined | |
adj.坚定的;有决心的 | |
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51 persistently | |
ad.坚持地;固执地 | |
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52 shrouded | |
v.隐瞒( shroud的过去式和过去分词 );保密 | |
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53 puffing | |
v.使喷出( puff的现在分词 );喷着汽(或烟)移动;吹嘘;吹捧 | |
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54 hissed | |
发嘶嘶声( hiss的过去式和过去分词 ); 发嘘声表示反对 | |
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55 exasperation | |
n.愤慨 | |
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56 scrambled | |
v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 );攀登;争夺;(军事飞机)紧急起飞 | |
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57 prodigious | |
adj.惊人的,奇妙的;异常的;巨大的;庞大的 | |
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58 clatter | |
v./n.(使)发出连续而清脆的撞击声 | |
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59 dangling | |
悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 ); 摆动不定; 用某事物诱惑…; 吊胃口 | |
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60 precarious | |
adj.不安定的,靠不住的;根据不足的 | |
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61 gorged | |
v.(用食物把自己)塞饱,填饱( gorge的过去式和过去分词 );作呕 | |
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62 feverish | |
adj.发烧的,狂热的,兴奋的 | |
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63 grandeur | |
n.伟大,崇高,宏伟,庄严,豪华 | |
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64 miserably | |
adv.痛苦地;悲惨地;糟糕地;极度地 | |
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65 plodded | |
v.沉重缓慢地走(路)( plod的过去式和过去分词 );努力从事;沉闷地苦干;缓慢进行(尤指艰难枯燥的工作) | |
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66 tottered | |
v.走得或动得不稳( totter的过去式和过去分词 );踉跄;蹒跚;摇摇欲坠 | |
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67 furtive | |
adj.鬼鬼崇崇的,偷偷摸摸的 | |
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68 muddled | |
adj.混乱的;糊涂的;头脑昏昏然的v.弄乱,弄糟( muddle的过去式);使糊涂;对付,混日子 | |
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69 hatred | |
n.憎恶,憎恨,仇恨 | |
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70 fervent | |
adj.热的,热烈的,热情的 | |
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71 shrieking | |
v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 ) | |
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72 monk | |
n.和尚,僧侣,修道士 | |
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