CHAPTER II

 Ten minutes later, with face blanched¹ by terror, and eyes wild with grief, Lord Arthur Savile rushed from Bentinck House, crushing his way through the crowd of fur-coated footmen that stood round the large striped awning², and seeming not to see or hear anything.  The night was bitter cold, and the gas-lamps round the square flared³ and flickered⁴ in the keen wind; but his hands were hot with fever, and his forehead burned like fire.  On and on he went, almost with the gait of a drunken man.  A policeman looked curiously⁵ at him as he passed, and a beggar, who slouched from an archway to ask for alms, grew frightened, seeing misery⁶ greater than his own.  Once he stopped under a lamp, and looked at his hands.  He thought he could detect the stain of blood already upon them, and a faint cry broke from his trembling lips.

 

Murder! that is what the cheiromantist had seen there.  Murder!  The very night seemed to know it, and the desolate⁷ wind to howl it in his ear.  The dark corners of the streets were full of it.  It grinned at him from the roofs of the houses.

 

First he came to the Park, whose sombre woodland seemed to fascinate him.  He leaned wearily up against the railings, cooling his brow against the wet metal, and listening to the tremulous silence of the trees.  ‘Murder! murder!’ he kept repeating, as though iteration could dim the horror of the word.  The sound of his own voice made him shudder⁸, yet he almost hoped that Echo might hear him, and wake the slumbering⁹ city from its dreams.  He felt a mad desire to stop the casual passer-by, and tell him everything.

 

Then he wandered across Oxford¹⁰ Street into narrow, shameful¹¹ alleys¹².  Two women with painted faces mocked at him as he went by.  From a dark courtyard came a sound of oaths and blows, followed by shrill¹³ screams, and, huddled¹⁴ upon a damp door-step, he saw the crook-backed forms of poverty and eld.  A strange pity came over him.  Were these children of sin and misery predestined to their end, as he to his?  Were they, like him, merely the puppets of a monstrous¹⁵ show?

 

And yet it was not the mystery, but the comedy of suffering that struck him; its absolute uselessness, its grotesque¹⁶ want of meaning.  How incoherent everything seemed!  How lacking in all harmony!  He was amazed at the discord¹⁷ between the shallow optimism of the day, and the real facts of existence.  He was still very young.

 

After a time he found himself in front of Marylebone Church.  The silent roadway looked like a long riband of polished silver, flecked here and there by the dark arabesques¹⁸ of waving shadows.  Far into the distance curved the line of flickering¹⁹ gas-lamps, and outside a little walled-in house stood a solitary²⁰ hansom, the driver asleep inside.  He walked hastily in the direction of Portland Place, now and then looking round, as though he feared that he was being followed.  At the corner of Rich Street stood two men, reading a small bill upon a hoarding²¹.  An odd feeling of curiosity stirred him, and he crossed over.  As he came near, the word ‘Murder,’ printed in black letters, met his eye.  He started, and a deep flush came into his cheek.  It was an advertisement offering a reward for any information leading to the arrest of a man of medium height, between thirty and forty years of age, wearing a billy-cock hat, a black coat, and check trousers, and with a scar upon his right cheek.  He read it over and over again, and wondered if the wretched man would be caught, and how he had been scarred.  Perhaps, some day, his own name might be placarded on the walls of London.  Some day, perhaps, a price would be set on his head also.

 

The thought made him sick with horror.  He turned on his heel, and hurried on into the night.

 

Where he went he hardly knew.  He had a dim memory of wandering through a labyrinth²² of sordid²³ houses, of being lost in a giant web of sombre streets, and it was bright dawn when he found himself at last in Piccadilly Circus.  As he strolled home towards Belgrave Square, he met the great waggons²⁴ on their way to Covent Garden.  The white-smocked carters, with their pleasant sunburnt faces and coarse curly hair, strode sturdily on, cracking their whips, and calling out now and then to each other; on the back of a huge grey horse, the leader of a jangling team, sat a chubby²⁵ boy, with a bunch of primroses²⁶ in his battered²⁷ hat, keeping tight hold of the mane with his little hands, and laughing; and the great piles of vegetables looked like masses of jade²⁸ against the morning sky, like masses of green jade against the pink petals²⁹ of some marvellous rose.  Lord Arthur felt curiously affected³⁰, he could not tell why.  There was something in the dawn’s delicate loveliness that seemed to him inexpressibly pathetic, and he thought of all the days that break in beauty, and that set in storm.  These rustics³¹, too, with their rough, good-humoured voices, and their nonchalant ways, what a strange London they saw!  A London free from the sin of night and the smoke of day, a pallid³², ghost-like city, a desolate town of tombs!  He wondered what they thought of it, and whether they knew anything of its splendour and its shame, of its fierce, fiery-coloured joys, and its horrible hunger, of all it makes and mars from morn to eve.  Probably it was to them merely a mart where they brought their fruits to sell, and where they tarried for a few hours at most, leaving the streets still silent, the houses still asleep.  It gave him pleasure to watch them as they went by.  Rude as they were, with their heavy, hob-nailed shoes, and their awkward gait, they brought a little of a ready with them.  He felt that they had lived with Nature, and that she had taught them peace.  He envied them all that they did not know.

 

By the time he had reached Belgrave Square the sky was a faint blue, and the birds were beginning to twitter in the gardens.

1 blanched   

v.使变白( blanch的过去式 )；使（植物）不见阳光而变白；酸洗（金属）使有光泽；用沸水烫（杏仁等）以便去皮

参考例句：

• The girl blanched with fear when she saw the bear coming. 那女孩见熊（向她）走来，吓得脸都白了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Their faces blanched in terror. 他们的脸因恐惧而吓得发白。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 awning   

n.遮阳篷；雨篷

参考例句：

• A large green awning is set over the glass window to shelter against the sun.在玻璃窗上装了个绿色的大遮棚以遮挡阳光。
• Several people herded under an awning to get out the shower.几个人聚集在门栅下避阵雨

3 Flared   

adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The match flared and went out. 火柴闪亮了一下就熄了。
• The fire flared up when we thought it was out. 我们以为火已经熄灭，但它突然又燃烧起来。

4 flickered   

（通常指灯光）闪烁，摇曳( flicker的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The lights flickered and went out. 灯光闪了闪就熄了。
• These lights flickered continuously like traffic lights which have gone mad. 这些灯象发狂的交通灯一样不停地闪动着。

5 curiously   

adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地

参考例句：

• He looked curiously at the people.他好奇地看着那些人。
• He took long stealthy strides. His hands were curiously cold.他迈着悄没声息的大步。他的双手出奇地冷。

6 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

7 desolate   

adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂

参考例句：

• The city was burned into a desolate waste.那座城市被烧成一片废墟。
• We all felt absolutely desolate when she left.她走后，我们都觉得万分孤寂。

8 shudder   

v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动

参考例句：

• The sight of the coffin sent a shudder through him.看到那副棺材，他浑身一阵战栗。
• We all shudder at the thought of the dreadful dirty place.我们一想到那可怕的肮脏地方就浑身战惊。

9 slumbering   

微睡，睡眠（slumber的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• It was quiet. All the other inhabitants of the slums were slumbering. 贫民窟里的人已经睡眠静了。
• Then soft music filled the air and soothed the slumbering heroes. 接着，空中响起了柔和的乐声，抚慰着安睡的英雄。

10 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

11 shameful   

adj.可耻的，不道德的

参考例句：

• It is very shameful of him to show off.他向人炫耀自己，真不害臊。
• We must expose this shameful activity to the newspapers.我们一定要向报社揭露这一无耻行径。

12 alleys   

胡同，小巷( alley的名词复数 )； 小径

参考例句：

• I followed him through a maze of narrow alleys. 我紧随他穿过一条条迂迴曲折的窄巷。
• The children lead me through the maze of alleys to the edge of the city. 孩子们领我穿过迷宫一般的街巷，来到城边。

13 shrill   

adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫

参考例句：

• Whistles began to shrill outside the barn.哨声开始在谷仓外面尖叫。
• The shrill ringing of a bell broke up the card game on the cutter.刺耳的铃声打散了小汽艇的牌局。

14 huddled   

挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• We huddled together for warmth. 我们挤在一块取暖。
• We huddled together to keep warm. 我们挤在一起来保暖。

15 monstrous   

adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的

参考例句：

• The smoke began to whirl and grew into a monstrous column.浓烟开始盘旋上升，形成了一个巨大的烟柱。
• Your behaviour in class is monstrous!你在课堂上的行为真是丢人！

16 grotesque   

adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物）

参考例句：

• His face has a grotesque appearance.他的面部表情十分怪。
• Her account of the incident was a grotesque distortion of the truth.她对这件事的陈述是荒诞地歪曲了事实。

17 discord   

n.不和，意见不合，争论，（音乐）不和谐

参考例句：

• These two answers are in discord.这两个答案不一样。
• The discord of his music was hard on the ear.他演奏的不和谐音很刺耳。

18 arabesques   

n.阿拉伯式花饰( arabesque的名词复数 )；错综图饰；阿拉伯图案；阿拉贝斯克芭蕾舞姿（独脚站立，手前伸，另一脚一手向后伸）

参考例句：

19 flickering   

adj.闪烁的，摇曳的，一闪一闪的

参考例句：

• The crisp autumn wind is flickering away. 清爽的秋风正在吹拂。
• The lights keep flickering. 灯光忽明忽暗。

20 solitary   

adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士

参考例句：

• I am rather fond of a solitary stroll in the country.我颇喜欢在乡间独自徜徉。
• The castle rises in solitary splendour on the fringe of the desert.这座城堡巍然耸立在沙漠的边际，显得十分壮美。

21 hoarding   

n.贮藏；积蓄；临时围墙；囤积v.积蓄并储藏（某物）( hoard的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• After the war, they were shot for hoarding. 战后他们因囤积而被枪决。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Actually he had two unused ones which he was hoarding up. 其实他还藏了两片没有用呢。 来自英汉文学

22 labyrinth   

n.迷宫；难解的事物；迷路

参考例句：

• He wandered through the labyrinth of the alleyways.他在迷宫似的小巷中闲逛。
• The human mind is a labyrinth.人的心灵是一座迷宫。

23 sordid   

adj.肮脏的，不干净的，卑鄙的，暗淡的

参考例句：

• He depicts the sordid and vulgar sides of life exclusively.他只描写人生肮脏和庸俗的一面。
• They lived in a sordid apartment.他们住在肮脏的公寓房子里。

24 waggons   

四轮的运货马车( waggon的名词复数 )； 铁路货车； 小手推车

参考例句：

• Most transport is done by electrified waggons. 大部分货物都用电瓶车运送。

25 chubby   

adj.丰满的，圆胖的

参考例句：

• He is stocky though not chubby.他长得敦实，可并不发胖。
• The short and chubby gentleman over there is our new director.那个既矮又胖的绅士是我们的新主任。

26 primroses   

n.报春花( primrose的名词复数 )；淡黄色；追求享乐（招至恶果）

参考例句：

• Wild flowers such as orchids and primroses are becoming rare. 兰花和报春花这类野花越来越稀少了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The primroses were bollming; spring was in evidence. 迎春花开了，春天显然已经到了。 来自互联网

27 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。

28 jade   

n.玉石；碧玉；翡翠

参考例句：

• The statue was carved out of jade.这座塑像是玉雕的。
• He presented us with a couple of jade lions.他送给我们一对玉狮子。

29 petals   

n.花瓣( petal的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• white petals tinged with blue 略带蓝色的白花瓣
• The petals of many flowers expand in the sunshine. 许多花瓣在阳光下开放。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

30 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

31 rustics   

n.有农村或村民特色的( rustic的名词复数 )；粗野的；不雅的；用粗糙的木材或树枝制作的

参考例句：

• These rustics are utilized for the rough work of devoton. 那样的乡村气质可以替宗教做些粗重的工作。 来自互联网

32 pallid   

adj.苍白的，呆板的

参考例句：

• The moon drifted from behind the clouds and exposed the pallid face.月亮从云朵后面钻出来，照着尸体那张苍白的脸。
• His dry pallid face often looked gaunt.他那张干瘪苍白的脸常常显得憔悴。