The old woman was a gnarled and leathery personage who could don, at will, an expression of great virtue10. She possessed11 a small music-box capable of one tune12, and a collection of "God bless yehs" pitched in assorted13 keys of fervency14. Each day she took a position upon the stones of Fifth Avenue, where she crooked15 her legs under her and crouched16 immovable and hideous17, like an idol18. She received daily a small sum in pennies. It was contributed, for the most part, by persons who did not make their homes in that vicinity.
Once, when a lady had dropped her purse on the sidewalk, the gnarled woman had grabbed it and smuggled19 it with great dexterity20 beneath her cloak. When she was arrested she had cursed the lady into a partial swoon, and with her aged21 limbs, twisted from rheumatism22, had almost kicked the stomach out of a huge policeman whose conduct upon that occasion she referred to when she said: "The police, damn 'em."
"Eh, Jimmie, it's cursed shame," she said. "Go, now, like a dear an' buy me a can, an' if yer mudder raises 'ell all night yehs can sleep here."
Jimmie took a tendered tin-pail and seven pennies and departed. He passed into the side door of a saloon and went to the bar. Straining up on his toes he raised the pail and pennies as high as his arms would let him. He saw two hands thrust down and take them. Directly the same hands let down the filled pail and he left.
In front of the gruesome doorway23 he met a lurching figure. It was his father, swaying about on uncertain legs.
"Give me deh can. See?" said the man, threateningly.
"Ah, come off! I got dis can fer dat ol' woman an' it 'ud be dirt teh swipe it. See?" cried Jimmie.
The father wrenched25 the pail from the urchin24. He grasped it in both hands and lifted it to his mouth. He glued his lips to the under edge and tilted26 his head. His hairy throat swelled27 until it seemed to grow near his chin. There was a tremendous gulping28 movement and the beer was gone.
The man caught his breath and laughed. He hit his son on the head with the empty pail. As it rolled clanging into the street, Jimmie began to scream and kicked repeatedly at his father's shins.
He retreated to the middle of the street, but the man did not pursue. He staggered toward the door.
"I'll club hell outa yeh when I ketch yeh," he shouted, and disappeared.
During the evening he had been standing30 against a bar drinking whiskies and declaring to all comers, confidentially31: "My home reg'lar livin' hell! Damndes' place! Reg'lar hell! Why do I come an' drin' whisk' here thish way? 'Cause home reg'lar livin' hell!"
Jimmie waited a long time in the street and then crept warily33 up through the building. He passed with great caution the door of the gnarled woman, and finally stopped outside his home and listened.
He could hear his mother moving heavily about among the furniture of the room. She was chanting in a mournful voice, occasionally interjecting bursts of volcanic34 wrath35 at the father, who, Jimmie judged, had sunk down on the floor or in a corner.
"Why deh blazes don' chere try teh keep Jim from fightin'? I'll break her jaw," she suddenly bellowed36.
The husband seemed to become aroused. "Go teh hell," he thundered fiercely in reply. There was a crash against the door and something broke into clattering41 fragments. Jimmie partially42 suppressed a howl and darted43 down the stairway. Below he paused and listened. He heard howls and curses, groans44 and shrieks45, confusingly in chorus as if a battle were raging. With all was the crash of splintering furniture. The eyes of the urchin glared in fear that one of them would discover him.
Curious faces appeared in doorways46, and whispered comments passed to and fro. "Ol' Johnson's raisin' hell agin."
Jimmie stood until the noises ceased and the other inhabitants of the tenement47 had all yawned and shut their doors. Then he crawled upstairs with the caution of an invader48 of a panther den32. Sounds of labored49 breathing came through the broken door-panels. He pushed the door open and entered, quaking.
A glow from the fire threw red hues50 over the bare floor, the cracked and soiled plastering, and the overturned and broken furniture.
In the middle of the floor lay his mother asleep. In one corner of the room his father's limp body hung across the seat of a chair.
The urchin stole forward. He began to shiver in dread51 of awakening52 his parents. His mother's great chest was heaving painfully. Jimmie paused and looked down at her. Her face was inflamed53 and swollen54 from drinking. Her yellow brows shaded eyelids55 that had brown blue. Her tangled56 hair tossed in waves over her forehead. Her mouth was set in the same lines of vindictive57 hatred58 that it had, perhaps, borne during the fight. Her bare, red arms were thrown out above her head in positions of exhaustion59, something, mayhap, like those of a sated villain60.
The urchin bended over his mother. He was fearful lest she should open her eyes, and the dread within him was so strong, that he could not forbear to stare, but hung as if fascinated over the woman's grim face.
Suddenly her eyes opened. The urchin found himself looking straight into that expression, which, it would seem, had the power to change his blood to salt. He howled piercingly and fell backward.
The woman floundered for a moment, tossed her arms about her head as if in combat, and again began to snore.
Jimmie crawled back in the shadows and waited. A noise in the next room had followed his cry at the discovery that his mother was awake. He grovelled61 in the gloom, the eyes from out his drawn62 face riveted63 upon the intervening door.
He heard it creak, and then the sound of a small voice came to him. "Jimmie! Jimmie! Are yehs dere?" it whispered. The urchin started. The thin, white face of his sister looked at him from the door-way of the other room. She crept to him across the floor.
The father had not moved, but lay in the same death-like sleep. The mother writhed64 in uneasy slumber65, her chest wheezing66 as if she were in the agonies of strangulation. Out at the window a florid moon was peering over dark roofs, and in the distance the waters of a river glimmered67 pallidly68.
The small frame of the ragged69 girl was quivering. Her features were haggard from weeping, and her eyes gleamed from fear. She grasped the urchin's arm in her little trembling hands and they huddled70 in a corner. The eyes of both were drawn, by some force, to stare at the woman's face, for they thought she need only to awake and all fiends would come from below.
They crouched until the ghost-mists of dawn appeared at the window, drawing close to the panes71, and looking in at the prostrate72, heaving body of the mother.
点击收听单词发音
1 muffled | |
adj.(声音)被隔的;听不太清的;(衣服)裹严的;蒙住的v.压抑,捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 );用厚厚的衣帽包着(自己) | |
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2 dismal | |
adj.阴沉的,凄凉的,令人忧郁的,差劲的 | |
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3 thumping | |
adj.重大的,巨大的;重击的;尺码大的;极好的adv.极端地;非常地v.重击(thump的现在分词);狠打;怦怦地跳;全力支持 | |
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4 mingled | |
混合,混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 ); 混进,与…交往[联系] | |
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5 varied | |
adj.多样的,多变化的 | |
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6 hoarse | |
adj.嘶哑的,沙哑的 | |
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7 rattling | |
adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词 | |
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8 subdued | |
adj. 屈服的,柔和的,减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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9 bass | |
n.男低音(歌手);低音乐器;低音大提琴 | |
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10 virtue | |
n.德行,美德;贞操;优点;功效,效力 | |
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11 possessed | |
adj.疯狂的;拥有的,占有的 | |
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12 tune | |
n.调子;和谐,协调;v.调音,调节,调整 | |
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13 assorted | |
adj.各种各样的,各色俱备的 | |
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14 fervency | |
n.热情的;强烈的;热烈 | |
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15 crooked | |
adj.弯曲的;不诚实的,狡猾的,不正当的 | |
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16 crouched | |
v.屈膝,蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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17 hideous | |
adj.丑陋的,可憎的,可怕的,恐怖的 | |
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18 idol | |
n.偶像,红人,宠儿 | |
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19 smuggled | |
水货 | |
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20 dexterity | |
n.(手的)灵巧,灵活 | |
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21 aged | |
adj.年老的,陈年的 | |
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22 rheumatism | |
n.风湿病 | |
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23 doorway | |
n.门口,(喻)入门;门路,途径 | |
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24 urchin | |
n.顽童;海胆 | |
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25 wrenched | |
v.(猛力地)扭( wrench的过去式和过去分词 );扭伤;使感到痛苦;使悲痛 | |
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26 tilted | |
v. 倾斜的 | |
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27 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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28 gulping | |
v.狼吞虎咽地吃,吞咽( gulp的现在分词 );大口地吸(气);哽住 | |
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29 raisin | |
n.葡萄干 | |
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30 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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31 confidentially | |
ad.秘密地,悄悄地 | |
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32 den | |
n.兽穴;秘密地方;安静的小房间,私室 | |
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33 warily | |
adv.留心地 | |
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34 volcanic | |
adj.火山的;象火山的;由火山引起的 | |
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35 wrath | |
n.愤怒,愤慨,暴怒 | |
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36 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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37 mumbled | |
含糊地说某事,叽咕,咕哝( mumble的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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38 indifference | |
n.不感兴趣,不关心,冷淡,不在乎 | |
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39 odds | |
n.让步,机率,可能性,比率;胜败优劣之别 | |
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40 supreme | |
adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的 | |
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41 clattering | |
发出咔哒声(clatter的现在分词形式) | |
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42 partially | |
adv.部分地,从某些方面讲 | |
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43 darted | |
v.投掷,投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 );向前冲,飞奔 | |
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44 groans | |
n.呻吟,叹息( groan的名词复数 );呻吟般的声音v.呻吟( groan的第三人称单数 );发牢骚;抱怨;受苦 | |
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45 shrieks | |
n.尖叫声( shriek的名词复数 )v.尖叫( shriek的第三人称单数 ) | |
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46 doorways | |
n.门口,门道( doorway的名词复数 ) | |
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47 tenement | |
n.公寓;房屋 | |
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48 invader | |
n.侵略者,侵犯者,入侵者 | |
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49 labored | |
adj.吃力的,谨慎的v.努力争取(for)( labor的过去式和过去分词 );苦干;详细分析;(指引擎)缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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50 hues | |
色彩( hue的名词复数 ); 色调; 信仰; 观点 | |
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51 dread | |
vt.担忧,忧虑;惧怕,不敢;n.担忧,畏惧 | |
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52 awakening | |
n.觉醒,醒悟 adj.觉醒中的;唤醒的 | |
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53 inflamed | |
adj.发炎的,红肿的v.(使)变红,发怒,过热( inflame的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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54 swollen | |
adj.肿大的,水涨的;v.使变大,肿胀 | |
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55 eyelids | |
n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 );眼睛也不眨一下;不露声色;面不改色 | |
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56 tangled | |
adj. 纠缠的,紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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57 vindictive | |
adj.有报仇心的,怀恨的,惩罚的 | |
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58 hatred | |
n.憎恶,憎恨,仇恨 | |
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59 exhaustion | |
n.耗尽枯竭,疲惫,筋疲力尽,竭尽,详尽无遗的论述 | |
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60 villain | |
n.反派演员,反面人物;恶棍;问题的起因 | |
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61 grovelled | |
v.卑躬屈节,奴颜婢膝( grovel的过去式和过去分词 );趴 | |
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62 drawn | |
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的 | |
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63 riveted | |
铆接( rivet的过去式和过去分词 ); 把…固定住; 吸引; 引起某人的注意 | |
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64 writhed | |
(因极度痛苦而)扭动或翻滚( writhe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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65 slumber | |
n.睡眠,沉睡状态 | |
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66 wheezing | |
v.喘息,发出呼哧呼哧的喘息声( wheeze的现在分词 );哮鸣 | |
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67 glimmered | |
v.发闪光,发微光( glimmer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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68 pallidly | |
adv.无光泽地,苍白无血色地 | |
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69 ragged | |
adj.衣衫褴褛的,粗糙的,刺耳的 | |
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70 huddled | |
挤在一起(huddle的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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71 panes | |
窗玻璃( pane的名词复数 ) | |
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72 prostrate | |
v.拜倒,平卧,衰竭;adj.拜倒的,平卧的,衰竭的 | |
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