Sometime, no matter how long your journey, you will reach a spot whose psychological effect is so exactly like a dozen others that you will recognize at once its kinship with former experience. Mere1 physical likeness2 does not count at all. It may possess a water-front of laths and sawdust, or an outlook over broad, shimmering3, heat-baked plains. It may front the impassive fringe of a forest, or it may skirt the calm stretch of a river. But whether of log or mud, stone or unpainted board, its identity becomes at first sight indubitably evident. Were you, by the wave of some beneficent wand, to be transported direct to it from the heart of the city, you could not fail to recognize it. "The jumping-off place!" you would cry ecstatically, and turn with unerring instinct to the Aromatic4 Shop.
For here is where begins the Long Trail. Whether it will lead you through the forests, or up the hills, or over the plains, or by invisible water paths; whether you will accomplish it on horseback, or in canoe, or by the transportation of your own two legs; whether your companions shall be white or red, or merely the voices of the wilds--these things matter not a particle. In the symbol of this little town you loose your hold on the world of made things, and shift for yourself among the unchanging conditions of nature.
Here the faint forest flavour, the subtle, invisible breath of freedom, stirs faintly across men's conventions. The ordinary affairs of life savour of this tang--a trace of wildness in the domesticated5 berry. In the dress of the inhabitants is a dash of colour, a carelessness of port; in the manner of their greeting is the clear, steady-eyed taciturnity of the silent places; through the web of their gray talk of ways and means and men's simpler beliefs runs a thread of colour. One hears strange, suggestive words and phrases--arapajo, capote, arroyo6, the diamond hitch7, cache, butte, coule, muskegs, portage, and a dozen others coined into the tender of daily use. And occasionally, when the expectation is least alert, one encounters suddenly the very symbol of the wilderness8 itself--a dust-whitened cowboy, an Indian packer with his straight, fillet-confined hair, a voyageur gay in red sash and ornamented9 moccasins, one of the Company's canoemen, hollow-cheeked from the river--no costumed show exhibit, but fitting naturally into the scene, bringing something of the open space with him--so that in your imagination the little town gradually takes on the colour of mystery which an older community utterly10 lacks.
But perhaps the strongest of the influences which unite to assure the psychological kinships of the jumping-off places is that of the Aromatic Shop. It is usually a board affair, with a broad high sidewalk shaded by a wooden awning11. You enter through a narrow door, and find yourself facing two dusky aisles12 separated by a narrow division of goods, and flanked by wooden counters. So far it is exactly like the corner store of our rural districts. But in the dimness of these two aisles lurks13 the spirit of the wilds. There in a row hang fifty pair of smoke-tanned moccasins; in another an equal number of oil-tanned; across the background you can make out snowshoes. The shelves are high with blankets--three-point, four-point--thick and warm for the out-of-doors. Should you care to examine, the storekeeper will hook down from aloft capotes of different degrees of fineness. Fathoms15 of black tobacco-rope lie coiled in tubs. Tump-lines welter in a tangle16 of dimness. On a series of little shelves is the ammunition17, fascinating in the attraction of mere numbers--44 Winchester, 45 Colt, 40-82, 30-40, 44 S. & W.--they all connote something to the accustomed mind, just as do the numbered street names of New York.
An exploration is always bringing something new to light among the commonplaces of ginghams and working shirts, and canned goods and stationery18, and the other thousands of civilized19 drearinesses to found in every country store. From under the counter you drag out a mink20 skin or so; from the dark corner an assortment21 of steel traps. In a loft14 a birch-bark mokok, fifty pounds heavy with granulated maple22 sugar, dispenses23 a faint perfume.
For this is, above all, the Aromatic Shop. A hundred ghosts of odours mingle24 to produce the spirit of it. The reek25 of the camp-fires is in its buckskin, of the woods in its birch bark, of the muskegs in its sweet grass, of the open spaces in its peltries, of the evening meal in its coffees and bacons, of the portage trail in the leather of the tump-lines. I am speaking now of the country of which we are to write. The shops of the other jumping-off places are equally aromatic--whether with the leather of saddles, the freshness of ash paddles, or the pungency26 of marline; and once the smell of them is in your nostrils27 you cannot but away.
The Aromatic Shop is always kept by the wisest, the most accommodating, the most charming shopkeeper in the world. He has all leisure to give you, and enters into the innermost spirit of your buying. He is of supernal28 sagacity in regard to supplies and outfits29, and if he does not know all about routes, at least he is acquainted with the very man who can tell you everything you want to know. He leans both elbows on the counter, you swing your feet, and together you go over the list, while the Indian stands smoky and silent in the background. "Now, if I was you," says he, "I'd take just a little more pork. You won't be eatin' so much yourself, but these Injuns ain't got no bottom when it comes to sow-belly. And I wouldn't buy all that coffee. You ain't goin' to want much after the first edge is worn off. Tea's the boy." The Indian shoots a few rapid words across the discussion. "He says you'll want some iron shoes to fit on canoe poles for when you come back up-stream," interprets your friend. "I guess that's right. I ain't got none, but th' blacksmith'll fit you out all right. You'll find him just below--never mind, don't you bother, I'll see to all that for you."
The next morning he saunters into view at the river-bank. "Thought I'd see you off," he replies to your expression of surprise at his early rising. "Take care of yourself." And so the last hand-clasp of civilization is extended to you from the little Aromatic Shop.
Occasionally, however, though very rarely, you step to the Long Trail from the streets of a raw modern town. The chance presence of some local industry demanding a large population of workmen, combined with first-class railroad transportation, may plant an electric-lighted, saloon-lined, brick-hoteled city in the middle of the wilderness. Lumber30, mines--especially of the baser metals or commercial minerals--fisheries, a terminus of water freightage, may one or all call into existence a community a hundred years in advance of its environment. Then you lose the savour of the jump-off. Nothing can quite take the place of the instant plunge31 into the wilderness, for you must travel three or four days from such a place before you sense the forest in its vastness, even though deer may eat the cabbages at the edge of town. Occasionally, however, by force of crude contrast to the brick-heated atmosphere, the breath of the woods reaches your cheek, and always you own a very tender feeling for the cause of it.
Dick and myself were caught in such a place. It was an unfinished little town, with brick-fronted stores, arc-lights swaying over fathomless32 mud, big superintendent's and millowner's houses of bastard33 architecture in a blatant34 superiority of hill location, a hotel whose office chairs supported a variety of cheap drummers, and stores screeching35 in an attempt at metropolitan36 smartness. We inspected the standpipe and the docks, walked a careless mile of board walk, kicked a dozen pugnacious37 dogs from our setter, Deuce, and found ourselves at the end of our resources. As a crowd seemed to be gathering38 about the wooden railway station, we joined it in sheer idleness.
It seemed that an election had taken place the day before, that one Smith had been chosen to the Assembly, and that, though this district had gone anti-Smith, the candidate was expected to stop off an hour on his way to a more westerly point. Consequently the town was on hand to receive him.
The crowd, we soon discovered, was bourgeois39 in the extreme. Young men from the mill escorted young women from the shops. The young men wore flaring40 collars three sizes too large; the young women white cotton mitts41 three sizes too small. The older men spat42, and talked through their noses; the women drawled out a monotonous43 flow of speech concerning the annoyances44 of domestic life. A gang of uncouth45 practical jokers, exploding in horse-laughter, skylarked about, jostling rudely. A village band, uniformed solely46 with cheap carriage-cloth caps, brayed47 excruciatingly. The reception committee had decorated, with red and white silesia streamers and rosettes, an ordinary side-bar buggy, to which a long rope had been attached, that the great man might be dragged by his fellow-citizens to the public square.
Nobody seemed to be taking the affair too seriously. It was evidently more than half a joke. Anti-Smith was more good-humouredly in evidence than the winning party. Just this touch of buffoonery completed our sense of the farce-comedy character of the situation. The town was tawdry in its preparations--and knew it; but half sincere in its enthusiasm--and knew it. If the crowd had been composed of Americans, we should have anticipated an unhappy time for Smith; but good, loyal Canadians, by the limitations of temperament48, could get no further than a spirit of manifest irreverence49.
In the shifting of the groups Dick and I became separated, but shortly I made him out worming his way excitedly toward me, his sketch-book open in his hand.
"Come here," he whispered. "There's going to be fun. They're going to open up on old Smith after all."
I followed. The decorated side-bar buggy might be well meant; the village band need not have been interpreted as an ironical51 compliment; the rest of the celebration might indicate paucity52 of resource rather than facetious53 intent; but surely the figure of fun before us could not be otherwise construed54 than as a deliberate advertising55 in the face of success of the town's real attitude toward the celebration.
The man was short. He wore a felt hat, so big that it rested on his ears. A gray wool shirt hung below his neck. A cutaway coat miles too large depended below his knees and to the first joints56 of his fingers. By way of official uniform his legs were incased in an ordinary rough pair of miller's white trousers, on which broad strips of red flannel57 had been roughly sewn. Everything was wrinkled in the folds of too-bigness. As though to accentuate58 the note, the man stood very erect59, very military, and supported in one hand the staff of an English flag. This figure of fun, this man made from the slop-chest, this caricature of a scarecrow, had been put forth60 by heavy-handed facetiousness61 to the post of greatest honour. He was Standard-Bearer to the occasion! Surely subtle irony62 could go no further.
A sudden movement caused the man to turn. One sleeve of the faded, ridiculous old cutaway was empty. He turned again. From under the ear-flanging hat looked unflinchingly the clear, steady blue eye of the woodsman. And so we knew. This old soldier had come in from the Long Trail to bear again the flag of his country. If his clothes were old and ill-fitting, at least they were his best, and the largeness of the empty sleeve belittled63 the too-largeness of the other. In all this ribald, laughing, irreverent, commonplace, semi-vicious crowd he was the one note of sincerity64. To him this was a real occasion, and the exalted65 reverence50 in his eye for the task he was so simply performing was Smith's real triumph--if he could have known it. We understood now, we felt the imminence66 of the Long Trail. For the first time the little brick, tawdry town gripped our hearts with the well-known thrill of the Jumping-Off Place. Suddenly the great, simple, unashamed wilderness drew near us as with the rush of wings.
收听单词发音 |
1
mere
|
|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
likeness
|
|
| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
shimmering
|
|
| v.闪闪发光，发微光( shimmer的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
aromatic
|
|
| adj.芳香的，有香味的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
domesticated
|
|
| adj.喜欢家庭生活的；（指动物）被驯养了的v.驯化( domesticate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
arroyo
|
|
| n.干涸的河床，小河 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
hitch
|
|
| v.免费搭(车旅行)；系住；急提；n.故障；急拉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
wilderness
|
|
| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
ornamented
|
|
| adj.花式字体的v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
utterly
|
|
| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
awning
|
|
| n.遮阳篷；雨篷 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
aisles
|
|
| n. (席位间的)通道, 侧廊 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
lurks
|
|
| n.潜在，潜伏；（lurk的复数形式）vi.潜伏，埋伏（lurk的第三人称单数形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
loft
|
|
| n.阁楼，顶楼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
fathoms
|
|
| 英寻( fathom的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
tangle
|
|
| n.纠缠；缠结；混乱；v.(使)缠绕；变乱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
ammunition
|
|
| n.军火，弹药 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
stationery
|
|
| n.文具；(配套的)信笺信封 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
civilized
|
|
| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
mink
|
|
| n.貂，貂皮 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
assortment
|
|
| n.分类，各色俱备之物，聚集 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
maple
|
|
| n.槭树，枫树，槭木 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
dispenses
|
|
| v.分配，分与；分配( dispense的第三人称单数 )；施与；配（药） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
mingle
|
|
| vt.使混合，使相混；vi.混合起来；相交往 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
reek
|
|
| v.发出臭气；n.恶臭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
pungency
|
|
| n.（气味等的）刺激性；辣；（言语等的）辛辣；尖刻 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
nostrils
|
|
| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
supernal
|
|
| adj.天堂的，天上的；崇高的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
outfits
|
|
| n.全套装备( outfit的名词复数 )；一套服装；集体；组织v.装备，配置设备，供给服装( outfit的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
lumber
|
|
| n.木材，木料；v.以破旧东西堆满；伐木；笨重移动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
plunge
|
|
| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
fathomless
|
|
| a.深不可测的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
bastard
|
|
| n.坏蛋，混蛋；私生子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
blatant
|
|
| adj.厚颜无耻的；显眼的；炫耀的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
screeching
|
|
| v.发出尖叫声( screech的现在分词 )；发出粗而刺耳的声音；高叫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
metropolitan
|
|
| adj.大城市的，大都会的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
pugnacious
|
|
| adj.好斗的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
gathering
|
|
| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
bourgeois
|
|
| adj./n.追求物质享受的(人)；中产阶级分子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
flaring
|
|
| a.火焰摇曳的，过份艳丽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
mitts
|
|
| n.露指手套，棒球手套，拳击手套( mitt的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
spat
|
|
| n.口角，掌击；v.发出呼噜呼噜声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
monotonous
|
|
| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
annoyances
|
|
| n.恼怒( annoyance的名词复数 )；烦恼；打扰；使人烦恼的事 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
uncouth
|
|
| adj.无教养的，粗鲁的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
solely
|
|
| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
brayed
|
|
| v.发出驴叫似的声音( bray的过去式和过去分词 )；发嘟嘟声；粗声粗气地讲话（或大笑）；猛击 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
temperament
|
|
| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
irreverence
|
|
| n.不尊敬 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
reverence
|
|
| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
ironical
|
|
| adj.讽刺的，冷嘲的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
paucity
|
|
| n.小量，缺乏 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
facetious
|
|
| adj.轻浮的，好开玩笑的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
construed
|
|
| v.解释（陈述、行为等）( construe的过去式和过去分词 )；翻译，作句法分析 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
advertising
|
|
| n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
joints
|
|
| 接头( joint的名词复数 )； 关节； 公共场所（尤指价格低廉的饮食和娱乐场所） （非正式）； 一块烤肉 （英式英语） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
flannel
|
|
| n.法兰绒；法兰绒衣服 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
accentuate
|
|
| v.着重，强调 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
erect
|
|
| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
facetiousness
|
|
| n.滑稽 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
irony
|
|
| n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
belittled
|
|
| 使显得微小，轻视，贬低( belittle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
sincerity
|
|
| n.真诚，诚意；真实 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
exalted
|
|
| adj.(地位等)高的，崇高的；尊贵的，高尚的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
imminence
|
|
| n.急迫，危急 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |