chapter 7

 Lelechka was dressed, placed in a little coffin¹, and carried into the parlour. Serafima Aleksandrovna was standing² by the coffin and looking dully at her dead child. Sergey Modestovich went to his wife and, consoling her with cold, empty words, tried to draw her away from the coffin. Serafima Aleksandrovna smiled.

 

“Go away,” she said quietly. “Lelechka is playing. She’ll be up in a minute.”

 

“Sima, my dear, don’t agitate³ yourself,” said Sergey Modestovich in a whisper. “You must resign yourself to your fate.”

 

“She’ll be up in a minute,” persisted Serafima Aleksandrovna, her eyes fixed⁴ on the dead little girl.

 

Sergey Modestovich looked round him cautiously: he was afraid of the unseemly and of the ridiculous.

 

“Sima, don’t agitate yourself,” he repeated. “This would be a miracle, and miracles do not happen in the nineteenth century.”

 

No sooner had he said these words than Sergey Modestovich felt their irrelevance⁵ to what had happened. He was confused and annoyed.

 

He took his wife by the arm, and cautiously led her away from the coffin. She did not oppose him.

 

Her face seemed tranquil⁶ and her eyes were dry. She went into the nursery and began to walk round the room, looking into those places where Lelechka used to hide herself. She walked all about the room, and bent⁷ now and then to look under the table or under the bed, and kept on repeating cheerfully: “Where is my little one? Where is my Lelechka?”

 

After she had walked round the room once she began to make her quest anew. Fedosya, motionless, with dejected face, sat in a corner, and looked frightened at her mistress; then she suddenly burst out sobbing⁸, and she wailed⁹ loudly:

 

“She hid herself, and hid herself, our Lelechka, our angelic little soul!”

 

Serafima Aleksandrovna trembled, paused, cast a perplexed¹⁰ look at Fedosya, began to weep, and left the nursery quietly.

1 coffin   

n.棺材，灵柩

参考例句：

• When one's coffin is covered,all discussion about him can be settled.盖棺论定。
• The coffin was placed in the grave.那口棺材已安放到坟墓里去了。

2 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

3 agitate   

vi.(for,against)煽动，鼓动；vt.搅动

参考例句：

• They sent agents to agitate the local people.他们派遣情报人员煽动当地的民众。
• All you need to do is gently agitate the water with a finger or paintbrush.你只需要用手指或刷子轻轻地搅动水。

4 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

5 irrelevance   

n.无关紧要；不相关；不相关的事物

参考例句：

• the irrelevance of the curriculum to children's daily life 课程与孩子们日常生活的脱节
• A President who identifies leadership with public opinion polls dooms himself to irrelevance. 一位总统如果把他的领导和民意测验投票结果等同起来，那么他注定将成为一个可有可无的人物。 来自辞典例句

6 tranquil   

adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的

参考例句：

• The boy disturbed the tranquil surface of the pond with a stick. 那男孩用棍子打破了平静的池面。
• The tranquil beauty of the village scenery is unique. 这乡村景色的宁静是绝无仅有的。

7 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

8 sobbing   

<主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的

参考例句：

• I heard a child sobbing loudly. 我听见有个孩子在呜呜地哭。
• Her eyes were red with recent sobbing. 她的眼睛因刚哭过而发红。

9 wailed   

v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She wailed over her father's remains. 她对着父亲的遗体嚎啕大哭。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The women of the town wailed over the war victims. 城里的妇女为战争的死难者们痛哭。 来自辞典例句

10 perplexed   

adj.不知所措的

参考例句：

• The farmer felt the cow,went away,returned,sorely perplexed,always afraid of being cheated.那农民摸摸那头牛，走了又回来，犹豫不决，总怕上当受骗。
• The child was perplexed by the intricate plot of the story.这孩子被那头绪纷繁的故事弄得迷惑不解。