It cost me something of a pang7 to lose that fine sight, but I lived down the desire, and gained in my self-respect through the triumph. I had a finer and a grander sight, however, where I was. This was the mighty8 dome9 of the Jungfrau softly outlined against the sky and faintly silvered by the starlight. There was something subduing10 in the influence of that silent and solemn and awful presence; one seemed to meet the immutable11, the indestructible, the eternal, face to face, and to feel the trivial and fleeting12 nature of his own existence the more sharply by the contrast. One had the sense of being under the brooding contemplation of a spirit, not an inert13 mass of rocks and ice—a spirit which had looked down, through the slow drift of the ages, upon a million vanished races of men, and judged them; and would judge a million more—and still be there, watching, unchanged and unchangeable, after all life should be gone and the earth have become a vacant desolation.
While I was feeling these things, I was groping, without knowing it, toward an understanding of what the spell is which people find in the Alps, and in no other mountains—that strange, deep, nameless influence, which, once felt, cannot be forgotten—once felt, leaves always behind it a restless longing14 to feel it again—a longing which is like homesickness; a grieving, haunting yearning15 which will plead, implore16, and persecute17 till it has its will. I met dozens of people, imaginative and unimaginative, cultivated and uncultivated, who had come from far countries and roamed through the Swiss Alps year after year—they could not explain why. They had come first, they said, out of idle curiosity, because everybody talked about it; they had come since because they could not help it, and they should keep on coming, while they lived, for the same reason; they had tried to break their chains and stay away, but it was futile18; now, they had no desire to break them. Others came nearer formulating19 what they felt; they said they could find perfect rest and peace nowhere else when they were troubled: all frets20 and worries and chafings sank to sleep in the presence of the benignant serenity21 of the Alps; the Great Spirit of the Mountain breathed his own peace upon their hurt minds and sore hearts, and healed them; they could not think base thoughts or do mean and sordid22 things here, before the visible throne of God.
Down the road a piece was a Kursaal—whatever that may be—and we joined the human tide to see what sort of enjoyment23 it might afford. It was the usual open-air concert, in an ornamental24 garden, with wines, beer, milk, whey, grapes, etc.—the whey and the grapes being necessaries of life to certain invalids25 whom physicians cannot repair, and who only continue to exist by the grace of whey or grapes. One of these departed spirits told me, in a sad and lifeless way, that there is no way for him to live but by whey, and dearly, dearly loved whey, he didn’t know whey he did, but he did. After making this pun he died—that is the whey it served him.
Some other remains26, preserved from decomposition27 by the grape system, told me that the grapes were of a peculiar28 breed, highly medicinal in their nature, and that they were counted out and administered by the grape-doctors as methodically as if they were pills. The new patient, if very feeble, began with one grape before breakfast, took three during breakfast, a couple between meals, five at luncheon29, three in the afternoon, seven at dinner, four for supper, and part of a grape just before going to bed, by way of a general regulator. The quantity was gradually and regularly increased, according to the needs and capacities of the patient, until by and by you would find him disposing of his one grape per second all the day long, and his regular barrel per day.
He said that men cured in this way, and enabled to discard the grape system, never afterward30 got over the habit of talking as if they were dictating31 to a slow amanuensis, because they always made a pause between each two words while they sucked the substance out of an imaginary grape. He said these were tedious people to talk with. He said that men who had been cured by the other process were easily distinguished32 from the rest of mankind because they always tilted33 their heads back, between every two words, and swallowed a swig of imaginary whey. He said it was an impressive thing to observe two men, who had been cured by the two processes, engaged in conversation—said their pauses and accompanying movements were so continuous and regular that a stranger would think himself in the presence of a couple of automatic machines. One finds out a great many wonderful things, by traveling, if he stumbles upon the right person.
I did not remain long at the Kursaal; the music was good enough, but it seemed rather tame after the cyclone34 of that Arkansaw expert. Besides, my adventurous35 spirit had conceived a formidable enterprise—nothing less than a trip from Interlaken, by the Gemmi and Visp, clear to Zermatt, on foot! So it was necessary to plan the details, and get ready for an early start. The courier (this was not the one I have just been speaking of) thought that the portier of the hotel would be able to tell us how to find our way. And so it turned out. He showed us the whole thing, on a relief-map, and we could see our route, with all its elevations36 and depressions, its villages and its rivers, as clearly as if we were sailing over it in a balloon. A relief-map is a great thing. The portier also wrote down each day’s journey and the nightly hotel on a piece of paper, and made our course so plain that we should never be able to get lost without high-priced outside help.
I put the courier in the care of a gentleman who was going to Lausanne, and then we went to bed, after laying out the walking-costumes and putting them into condition for instant occupation in the morning.
However, when we came down to breakfast at 8 A.M., it looked so much like rain that I hired a two-horse top-buggy for the first third of the journey. For two or three hours we jogged along the level road which skirts the beautiful lake of Thun, with a dim and dreamlike picture of watery37 expanses and spectral38 Alpine39 forms always before us, veiled in a mellowing40 mist. Then a steady downpour set in, and hid everything but the nearest objects. We kept the rain out of our faces with umbrellas, and away from our bodies with the leather apron41 of the buggy; but the driver sat unsheltered and placidly42 soaked the weather in and seemed to like it. We had the road to ourselves, and I never had a pleasanter excursion.
The weather began to clear while we were driving up a valley called the Kienthal, and presently a vast black cloud-bank in front of us dissolved away and uncurtained the grand proportions and the soaring loftiness of the Blumis Alp. It was a sort of breath-taking surprise; for we had not supposed there was anything behind that low-hung blanket of sable43 cloud but level valley. What we had been mistaking for fleeting glimpses of sky away aloft there, were really patches of the Blumis’s snowy crest44 caught through shredded45 rents in the drifting pall46 of vapor47.
We dined in the inn at Frutigen, and our driver ought to have dined there, too, but he would not have had time to dine and get drunk both, so he gave his mind to making a masterpiece of the latter, and succeeded. A German gentleman and his two young-lady daughters had been taking their nooning at the inn, and when they left, just ahead of us, it was plain that their driver was as drunk as ours, and as happy and good-natured, too, which was saying a good deal. These rascals48 overflowed49 with attentions and information for their guests, and with brotherly love for each other. They tied their reins50, and took off their coats and hats, so that they might be able to give unencumbered attention to conversation and to the gestures necessary for its illustration.
The road was smooth; it led up and over and down a continual succession of hills; but it was narrow, the horses were used to it, and could not well get out of it anyhow; so why shouldn’t the drivers entertain themselves and us? The noses of our horses projected sociably51 into the rear of the forward carriage, and as we toiled52 up the long hills our driver stood up and talked to his friend, and his friend stood up and talked back to him, with his rear to the scenery. When the top was reached and we went flying down the other side, there was no change in the program. I carry in my memory yet the picture of that forward driver, on his knees on his high seat, resting his elbows on its back, and beaming down on his passengers, with happy eye, and flying hair, and jolly red face, and offering his card to the old German gentleman while he praised his hack53 and horses, and both teams were whizzing down a long hill with nobody in a position to tell whether we were bound to destruction or an undeserved safety.
Toward sunset we entered a beautiful green valley dotted with chalets, a cozy54 little domain55 hidden away from the busy world in a cloistered56 nook among giant precipices58 topped with snowy peaks that seemed to float like islands above the curling surf of the sea of vapor that severed59 them from the lower world. Down from vague and vaporous heights, little ruffled60 zigzag61 milky62 currents came crawling, and found their way to the verge63 of one of those tremendous overhanging walls, whence they plunged64, a shaft65 of silver, shivered to atoms in mid-descent and turned to an air puff66 of luminous67 dust. Here and there, in grooved68 depressions among the snowy desolations of the upper altitudes, one glimpsed the extremity69 of a glacier70, with its sea-green and honeycombed battlements of ice.
Up the valley, under a dizzy precipice57, nestled the village of Kandersteg, our halting-place for the night. We were soon there, and housed in the hotel. But the waning71 day had such an inviting72 influence that we did not remain housed many moments, but struck out and followed a roaring torrent73 of ice-water up to its far source in a sort of little grass-carpeted parlor74, walled in all around by vast precipices and overlooked by clustering summits of ice. This was the snuggest75 little croquet-ground imaginable; it was perfectly76 level, and not more than a mile long by half a mile wide. The walls around it were so gigantic, and everything about it was on so mighty a scale that it was belittled77, by contrast, to what I have likened it to—a cozy and carpeted parlor. It was so high above the Kandersteg valley that there was nothing between it and the snowy-peaks. I had never been in such intimate relations with the high altitudes before; the snow-peaks had always been remote and unapproachable grandeurs, hitherto, but now we were hob-a-nob—if one may use such a seemingly irreverent expression about creations so august as these.
We could see the streams which fed the torrent we had followed issuing from under the greenish ramparts of glaciers78; but two or three of these, instead of flowing over the precipices, sank down into the rock and sprang in big jets out of holes in the mid-face of the walls.
The green nook which I have been describing is called the Gasternthal. The glacier streams gather and flow through it in a broad and rushing brook79 to a narrow cleft80 between lofty precipices; here the rushing brook becomes a mad torrent and goes booming and thundering down toward Kandersteg, lashing81 and thrashing its way over and among monster boulders83, and hurling84 chance roots and logs about like straws. There was no lack of cascades85 along this route. The path by the side of the torrent was so narrow that one had to look sharp, when he heard a cow-bell, and hunt for a place that was wide enough to accommodate a cow and a Christian86 side by side, and such places were not always to be had at an instant’s notice. The cows wear church-bells, and that is a good idea in the cows, for where that torrent is, you couldn’t hear an ordinary cow-bell any further than you could hear the ticking of a watch.
I needed exercise, so I employed my agent in setting stranded87 logs and dead trees adrift, and I sat on a boulder82 and watched them go whirling and leaping head over heels down the boiling torrent. It was a wonderfully exhilarating spectacle. When I had had enough exercise, I made the agent take some, by running a race with one of those logs. I made a trifle by betting on the log.
After dinner we had a walk up and down the Kandersteg valley, in the soft gloaming, with the spectacle of the dying lights of day playing about the crests88 and pinnacles89 of the still and solemn upper realm for contrast, and text for talk. There were no sounds but the dulled complaining of the torrent and the occasional tinkling90 of a distant bell. The spirit of the place was a sense of deep, pervading91 peace; one might dream his life tranquilly92 away there, and not miss it or mind it when it was gone.
The summer departed with the sun, and winter came with the stars. It grew to be a bitter night in that little hotel, backed up against a precipice that had no visible top to it, but we kept warm, and woke in time in the morning to find that everybody else had left for Gemmi three hours before—so our little plan of helping93 that German family (principally the old man) over the pass, was a blocked generosity94.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
illuminated
|
|
| adj.被照明的；受启迪的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
theatrical
|
|
| adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
tempted
|
|
| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
propriety
|
|
| n.正当行为；正当；适当 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
abide
|
|
| vi.遵守；坚持；vt.忍受 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
conscientiously
|
|
| adv.凭良心地；认真地，负责尽职地；老老实实 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
pang
|
|
| n.剧痛，悲痛，苦闷 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
mighty
|
|
| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
dome
|
|
| n.圆屋顶，拱顶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
subduing
|
|
| 征服( subdue的现在分词 )； 克制； 制服； 色变暗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
immutable
|
|
| adj.不可改变的，永恒的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
fleeting
|
|
| adj.短暂的，飞逝的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
inert
|
|
| adj.无活动能力的，惰性的；迟钝的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
longing
|
|
| n.（for）渴望 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
yearning
|
|
| a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
implore
|
|
| vt.乞求，恳求，哀求 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
persecute
|
|
| vt.迫害，虐待；纠缠，骚扰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
futile
|
|
| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
formulating
|
|
| v.构想出( formulate的现在分词 )；规划；确切地阐述；用公式表示 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
frets
|
|
| 基质间片； 品丝（吉他等指板上定音的）( fret的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
serenity
|
|
| n.宁静，沉着，晴朗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
sordid
|
|
| adj.肮脏的，不干净的，卑鄙的，暗淡的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
enjoyment
|
|
| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
ornamental
|
|
| adj.装饰的；作装饰用的；n.装饰品；观赏植物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
invalids
|
|
| 病人，残疾者( invalid的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
remains
|
|
| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
decomposition
|
|
| n. 分解, 腐烂, 崩溃 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
peculiar
|
|
| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
luncheon
|
|
| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
afterward
|
|
| adv.后来；以后 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
dictating
|
|
| v.大声讲或读( dictate的现在分词 )；口授；支配；摆布 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
distinguished
|
|
| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
tilted
|
|
| v. 倾斜的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
cyclone
|
|
| n.旋风，龙卷风 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
adventurous
|
|
| adj.爱冒险的；惊心动魄的，惊险的，刺激的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
elevations
|
|
| （水平或数量）提高( elevation的名词复数 )； 高地； 海拔； 提升 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
watery
|
|
| adj.有水的，水汪汪的；湿的，湿润的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
spectral
|
|
| adj.幽灵的，鬼魂的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
alpine
|
|
| adj.高山的；n.高山植物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
mellowing
|
|
| 软化，醇化 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
apron
|
|
| n.围裙；工作裙 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
placidly
|
|
| adv.平稳地，平静地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
sable
|
|
| n.黑貂；adj.黑色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
crest
|
|
| n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
shredded
|
|
| shred的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
pall
|
|
| v.覆盖，使平淡无味；n.柩衣，棺罩；棺材；帷幕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
vapor
|
|
| n.蒸汽，雾气 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
rascals
|
|
| 流氓( rascal的名词复数 )； 无赖； （开玩笑说法）淘气的人（尤指小孩）； 恶作剧的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
overflowed
|
|
| 溢出的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
reins
|
|
| 感情，激情； 缰( rein的名词复数 )； 控制手段； 掌管； （成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的）保护带 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
sociably
|
|
| adv.成群地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
toiled
|
|
| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的过去式和过去分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
hack
|
|
| n.劈，砍，出租马车；v.劈，砍，干咳 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
cozy
|
|
| adj.亲如手足的，密切的，暖和舒服的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
domain
|
|
| n.(活动等)领域，范围；领地，势力范围 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
cloistered
|
|
| adj.隐居的，躲开尘世纷争的v.隐退，使与世隔绝( cloister的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
precipice
|
|
| n.悬崖，危急的处境 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
precipices
|
|
| n.悬崖，峭壁( precipice的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
severed
|
|
| v.切断，断绝( sever的过去式和过去分词 )；断，裂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
ruffled
|
|
| adj. 有褶饰边的, 起皱的 动词ruffle的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
zigzag
|
|
| n.曲折，之字形；adj.曲折的，锯齿形的；adv.曲折地，成锯齿形地；vt.使曲折；vi.曲折前行 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
milky
|
|
| adj.牛奶的，多奶的；乳白色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
verge
|
|
| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
plunged
|
|
| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
shaft
|
|
| n.(工具的)柄，杆状物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
puff
|
|
| n.一口(气)；一阵(风)；v.喷气，喘气 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
luminous
|
|
| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
grooved
|
|
| v.沟( groove的过去式和过去分词 )；槽；老一套；（某种）音乐节奏 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
extremity
|
|
| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
glacier
|
|
| n.冰川，冰河 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
waning
|
|
| adj.（月亮）渐亏的，逐渐减弱或变小的n.月亏v.衰落( wane的现在分词 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
inviting
|
|
| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
torrent
|
|
| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
parlor
|
|
| n.店铺，营业室；会客室，客厅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
snuggest
|
|
| adj.整洁的( snug的最高级 )；温暖而舒适的；非常舒适的；紧身的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
76
perfectly
|
|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
belittled
|
|
| 使显得微小，轻视，贬低( belittle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
glaciers
|
|
| 冰河，冰川( glacier的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
brook
|
|
| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
cleft
|
|
| n.裂缝；adj.裂开的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
lashing
|
|
| n.鞭打；痛斥；大量；许多v.鞭打( lash的现在分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
boulder
|
|
| n.巨砾；卵石，圆石 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
83
boulders
|
|
| n.卵石( boulder的名词复数 )；巨砾；（受水或天气侵蚀而成的）巨石；漂砾 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
84
hurling
|
|
| n.爱尔兰式曲棍球v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的现在分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
85
cascades
|
|
| 倾泻( cascade的名词复数 )； 小瀑布（尤指一连串瀑布中的一支）； 瀑布状物； 倾泻（或涌出）的东西 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
86
Christian
|
|
| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
87
stranded
|
|
| a.搁浅的，进退两难的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
88
crests
|
|
| v.到达山顶（或浪峰）( crest的第三人称单数 )；到达洪峰，达到顶点 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
89
pinnacles
|
|
| 顶峰( pinnacle的名词复数 )； 顶点； 尖顶； 小尖塔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
90
tinkling
|
|
| n.丁当作响声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
91
pervading
|
|
| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
92
tranquilly
|
|
| adv. 宁静地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
93
helping
|
|
| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
94
generosity
|
|
| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |