On the evening before Elijah's Day they had an evening service in the house. When the deacon was handing the priest the censer the immense old room smelt2 like a graveyard3, and Kovrin felt bored. He went out into the garden. Without noticing the gorgeous flowers, he walked about the garden, sat down on a seat, then strolled about the park; reaching the river, he went down and then stood lost in thought, looking at the water. The sullen4 pines with their shaggy roots, which had seen him a year before so young, so joyful5 and confident, were not whispering now, but standing6 mute and motionless, as though they did not recognise him. And, indeed, his head was closely cropped, his beautiful long hair was gone, his step was lagging, his face was fuller and paler than last summer.
He crossed by the footbridge to the other side. Where the year before there had been rye the oats stood, reaped, and lay in rows. The sun had set and there was a broad stretch of glowing red on the horizon, a sign of windy weather next day. It was still. Looking in the direction from which the year before the black monk had first appeared, Kovrin stood for twenty minutes, till the evening glow had begun to fade....
When, listless and dissatisfied, he returned home the service was over. Yegor Semyonitch and Tanya were sitting on the steps of the verandah, drinking tea. They were talking of something, but, seeing Kovrin, ceased at once, and he concluded from their faces that their talk had been about him.
"I believe it is time for you to have your milk," Tanya said to her husband.
"No, it is not time yet ..." he said, sitting down on the bottom step. "Drink it yourself; I don't want it."
Tanya exchanged a troubled glance with her father, and said in a guilty voice:
"You notice yourself that milk does you good."
"Yes, a great deal of good!" Kovrin laughed. "I congratulate you: I have gained a pound in weight since Friday." He pressed his head tightly in his hands and said miserably7: "Why, why have you cured me? Preparations of bromide, idleness, hot baths, supervision8, cowardly consternation9 at every mouthful, at every step—all this will reduce me at last to idiocy10. I went out of my mind, I had megalomania; but then I was cheerful, confident, and even happy; I was interesting and original. Now I have become more sensible and stolid11, but I am just like every one else: I am—mediocrity; I am weary of life.... Oh, how cruelly you have treated me!... I saw hallucinations, but what harm did that do to any one? I ask, what harm did that do any one?"
"Goodness knows what you are saying!" sighed Yegor Semyonitch. "It's positively12 wearisome to listen to it."
"Then don't listen."
The presence of other people, especially Yegor Semyonitch, irritated Kovrin now; he answered him drily, coldly, and even rudely, never looked at him but with irony13 and hatred14, while Yegor Semyonitch was overcome with confusion and cleared his throat guiltily, though he was not conscious of any fault in himself. At a loss to understand why their charming and affectionate relations had changed so abruptly15, Tanya huddled16 up to her father and looked anxiously in his face; she wanted to understand and could not understand, and all that was clear to her was that their relations were growing worse and worse every day, that of late her father had begun to look much older, and her husband had grown irritable17, capricious, quarrelsome and uninteresting. She could not laugh or sing; at dinner she ate nothing; did not sleep for nights together, expecting something awful, and was so worn out that on one occasion she lay in a dead faint from dinner-time till evening. During the service she thought her father was crying, and now while the three of them were sitting together on the terrace she made an effort not to think of it.
"How fortunate Buddha18, Mahomed, and Shakespeare were that their kind relations and doctors did not cure them of their ecstasy19 and their inspiration," said Kovrin. "If Mahomed had taken bromide for his nerves, had worked only two hours out of the twenty-four, and had drunk milk, that remarkable20 man would have left no more trace after him than his dog. Doctors and kind relations will succeed in stupefying mankind, in making mediocrity pass for genius and in bringing civilisation21 to ruin. If only you knew," Kovrin said with annoyance22, "how grateful I am to you."
He felt intense irritation23, and to avoid saying too much, he got up quickly and went into the house. It was still, and the fragrance24 of the tobacco plant and the marvel25 of Peru floated in at the open window. The moonlight lay in green patches on the floor and on the piano in the big dark dining-room. Kovrin remembered the raptures26 of the previous summer when there had been the same scent27 of the marvel of Peru and the moon had shone in at the window. To bring back the mood of last year he went quickly to his study, lighted a strong cigar, and told the footman to bring him some wine. But the cigar left a bitter and disgusting taste in his mouth, and the wine had not the same flavour as it had the year before. And so great is the effect of giving up a habit, the cigar and the two gulps28 of wine made him giddy, and brought on palpitations of the heart, so that he was obliged to take bromide.
Before going to bed, Tanya said to him:
"Father adores you. You are cross with him about something, and it is killing29 him. Look at him; he is ageing, not from day to day, but from hour to hour. I entreat30 you, Andryusha, for God's sake, for the sake of your dead father, for the sake of my peace of mind, be affectionate to him."
"I can't, I don't want to."
"But why?" asked Tanya, beginning to tremble all over. "Explain why."
"Because he is antipathetic to me, that's all," said Kovrin carelessly; and he shrugged31 his shoulders. "But we won't talk about him: he is your father."
"I can't understand, I can't," said Tanya, pressing her hands to her temples and staring at a fixed32 point. "Something incomprehensible, awful, is going on in the house. You have changed, grown unlike yourself.... You, clever, extraordinary man as you are, are irritated over trifles, meddle33 in paltry34 nonsense.... Such trivial things excite you, that sometimes one is simply amazed and can't believe that it is you. Come, come, don't be angry, don't be angry," she went on, kissing his hands, frightened of her own words. "You are clever, kind, noble. You will be just to father. He is so good."
"He is not good; he is just good-natured. Burlesque35 old uncles like your father, with well-fed, good-natured faces, extraordinarily36 hospitable37 and queer, at one time used to touch me and amuse me in novels and in farces38 and in life; now I dislike them. They are egoists to the marrow39 of their bones. What disgusts me most of all is their being so well-fed, and that purely40 bovine41, purely hoggish42 optimism of a full stomach."
Tanya sat down on the bed and laid her head on the pillow.
"This is torture," she said, and from her voice it was evident that she was utterly43 exhausted44, and that it was hard for her to speak. "Not one moment of peace since the winter.... Why, it's awful! My God! I am wretched."
"Oh, of course, I am Herod, and you and your father are the innocents. Of course."
His face seemed to Tanya ugly and unpleasant. Hatred and an ironical45 expression did not suit him. And, indeed, she had noticed before that there was something lacking in his face, as though ever since his hair had been cut his face had changed, too. She wanted to say something wounding to him, but immediately she caught herself in this antagonistic46 feeling, she was frightened and went out of the bedroom.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
monk
|
|
| n.和尚，僧侣，修道士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
smelt
|
|
| v.熔解，熔炼；n.银白鱼，胡瓜鱼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
graveyard
|
|
| n.坟场 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
sullen
|
|
| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
joyful
|
|
| adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
miserably
|
|
| adv.痛苦地；悲惨地；糟糕地；极度地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
supervision
|
|
| n.监督，管理 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
consternation
|
|
| n.大为吃惊，惊骇 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
idiocy
|
|
| n.愚蠢 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
stolid
|
|
| adj.无动于衷的，感情麻木的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
positively
|
|
| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
irony
|
|
| n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
hatred
|
|
| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
abruptly
|
|
| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
huddled
|
|
| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
irritable
|
|
| adj.急躁的；过敏的；易怒的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
Buddha
|
|
| n.佛；佛像；佛陀 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
ecstasy
|
|
| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
remarkable
|
|
| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
civilisation
|
|
| n.文明，文化，开化，教化 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
annoyance
|
|
| n.恼怒，生气，烦恼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
irritation
|
|
| n.激怒，恼怒，生气 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
fragrance
|
|
| n.芬芳，香味，香气 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
marvel
|
|
| vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
raptures
|
|
| 极度欢喜( rapture的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
scent
|
|
| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
gulps
|
|
| n.一大口（尤指液体）( gulp的名词复数 )v.狼吞虎咽地吃，吞咽( gulp的第三人称单数 )；大口地吸（气）；哽住 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
killing
|
|
| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
entreat
|
|
| v.恳求，恳请 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
shrugged
|
|
| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
fixed
|
|
| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
meddle
|
|
| v.干预，干涉，插手 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
paltry
|
|
| adj.无价值的，微不足道的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
burlesque
|
|
| v.嘲弄，戏仿；n.嘲弄，取笑，滑稽模仿 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
extraordinarily
|
|
| adv.格外地；极端地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
hospitable
|
|
| adj.好客的；宽容的；有利的，适宜的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
farces
|
|
| n.笑剧( farce的名词复数 )；闹剧；笑剧剧目；作假的可笑场面 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
marrow
|
|
| n.骨髓；精华；活力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
purely
|
|
| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
bovine
|
|
| adj.牛的；n.牛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
hoggish
|
|
| adj.贪婪的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
utterly
|
|
| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
exhausted
|
|
| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
ironical
|
|
| adj.讽刺的，冷嘲的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
antagonistic
|
|
| adj.敌对的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |