Although his gait, pilot-cloth coat, and pocketed hands proclaimed him a sailor, there were one or two contradictory3 points about him. A huge beard and moustache savoured more of the diggings than the deep, and a brown wide-awake with a prodigiously4 broad brim suggested the backwoods.
Pausing at the head of one of those narrow lanes which—running down between warehouses5, filthy6 little rag and bone shops, and low poverty-stricken dwellings7—appear to terminate their career, not unwillingly8, in the Thames, the sailor gazed before him with nautical9 earnestness for a few seconds, then glanced at the corner house for a name; found no name; cast his eyes up to the strip of blue sky overhead, as if for inspiration; obtained none; planted his legs wide apart as if he had observed a squall coming, and expected the lane to lurch10 heavily—wrinkled his eyebrows11, and pursed his lips.
“Lost yer bearin’s, capp’n?” exclaimed a shrill12 pert voice at his side.
The seaman13 looked down, and beheld14 a small boy with a head like a disorderly door-mat, and garments to match. He stood in what may be styled an imitative attitude, with his hands thrust into his ragged15 pockets, his little legs planted wide apart, his cap thrust well back on his head, and his eyebrows wrinkled. He also pursed his lips to such an extent that they resembled a rosebud16 in a dirty bush.
“Yes, imp17,” replied the seaman—he meant to have said “impudence,” but stopped at the first syllable18 as being sufficiently19 appropriate—“yes, imp, I have lost my bearings, and I’ll give you a copper20 if you’ll help me to find ’em.”
“Wot sort o’ copper?” demanded the urchin21, “there’s three sorts of ’em, you know, in this ’ere kingdom—which appears to be a queendom at present—there’s a farding and a ha’penny and a penny. I mention it, capp’n,” he added apologetically, “in case you don’t know, for you look as if you’d come from furrin parts.”
The seaman’s look of surprise melted into a broad grin of amusement while this speech was being fluently delivered. At its conclusion he pulled out a penny and held it up.
“Well, it ain’t much,” said the small boy, “and I ain’t used to hire myself out so cheap. However, as you seem to be raither poorly off, I don’t mind if I lend you a hand for that. Only, please, don’t mention it among your friends, as it would p’raps lower their opinion of you, d’you see? Now then w’ot d’you want to know?”
To this the “capp’n,” still smiling at the small boy’s precocious22 insolence23, replied that he was in search of an old woman who dwelt in a small court styled Grubb’s Court, so he was told, which lay somewhere in that salubrious neighbourhood, and asked if he, the imp, knew of such a place.
“Know’s of it? I should think I does. W’y, I lives there. It’s right down at the foot o’ this ’ere lane, an’ a wery sweet ’ristocratik spot it is—quite a perninsular, bein’ land, leastwise mud, a’most surrounded by water, the air bein’ ’ighly condoosive to the ’ealth of rats, likewise cats. As to old women, there’s raither a broad sprinklin’ of ’em in the court, rangin’ from the ages of seventy to a hundred an twenty, more or less, an’ you’ll take some time to go over ’em all, capp’n, if you don’t know your old woman’s name.”
“Her name is Roby—,” said the seaman.
“O, Roby? ah,” returned the small boy, looking sedately24 at the ground, “let me see—yes, that’s the name of the old ’ooman, I think, wot ’angs out in the cabin, right-’and stair, top floor, end of the passage, w’ere most wisiters flattens26 their noses, by consekince of there bein’ no light, and a step close to the door which inwariably trips ’em up. Most wisiters to that old ’ooman begins their acquaintance with her by knocking at her door with their noses instead of their knuckles27. We calls her place the cabin, ’cause the windows is raither small, and over’angs the river.”
“Well then, my lad,” said the seaman, “clap a stopper on your tongue, if you can, and heave ahead.”
“All right, capp’n,” returned the small boy, “foller me, an’ don’t be frightened. Port your helm a bit here, there’s a quicksand in the middle o’ the track—so, steady!”
Avoiding a large pool of mud with which the head of the lane was garnished28, and which might have been styled the bathing, not to say wallowing, quarters of the Grubb’s Court juveniles29, the small boy led the bluff seaman towards the river without further remark, diverging30 only once from the straight road for a few seconds, for the purpose of making a furious rush at a sleeping cat with a yell worthy31 of a Cherokee savage32, or a locomotive whistle; a slight pleasantry which had the double effect of shooting the cat through space in glaring convulsions, and filling the small boy’s mind with the placidity33 which naturally follows a great success.
The lane presented this peculiarity34, that the warehouses on its left side became more and more solid and vast and tall as they neared the river, while the shops and dwellings on its right became poorer, meaner, and more diminutive35 in the same direction, as if there were some mysterious connection between them, which involved the adversity of the one in exact proportion to the prosperity of the other. Children and cats appeared to be the chief day-population of the place, and these disported36 themselves among the wheels of enormous waggons37, and the legs of elephantine horses with an impunity38 which could only have been the result of life-long experience.
The seaman was evidently unaccustomed to such scenes, for more than once during the short period of his progress down the lane, he uttered an exclamation39 of alarm, and sprang to the rescue of those large babies which are supposed to have grown sufficiently old to become nursing mothers to smaller babies—acts which were viewed with a look of pity by the small boy, and called from him the encouraging observations, “Keep your mind easy, capp’n; they’re all right, bless you; the hosses knows ’em, and wouldn’t ’urt ’em on no account.”
“This is Grubb’s Court,” said the boy, turning sharply to the right and passing through a low archway.
“Thank ’ee, lad,” said the seaman, giving him a sixpence.
The small boy opened his eyes very wide indeed, exclaiming, “Hallo! I say, capp’n, wot’s this?” at the same time, however, putting the coin in his pocket with an air which plainly said, “Whether you’ve made a mistake or not, you needn’t expect to get it back again.”
Evidently the seaman entertained no such expectations, for he turned away and became absorbed in the scene around him.
It was not cheering. Though the summer sun was high and powerful, it failed to touch the broken pavement of Grubb’s Court, or to dry up the moisture which oozed40 from it and crept up the walls of the surrounding houses. Everything was very old, very rotten, very crooked41, and very dirty. The doorways42 round the court were wide open—always open—in some cases, because of there being no doors; in other cases, because the tenements43 to which they led belonged to a variety of families, largely composed of children who could not, even on tiptoe, reach or manipulate door-handles. Nursing mothers of two feet high were numerous, staggering about with nurslings of a foot and a half long. A few of the nurslings, temporarily abandoned by the premature44 mothers, lay sprawling—in some cases squalling—on the moist pavement, getting over the ground like large snails45, and leaving slimy tracks behind them. Little boys, of the “City Arab” type, were sprinkled here and there, and one or two old women sat on door-steps contemplating46 the scene, or conversing47 with one or two younger women. Some of the latter were busy washing garments so dirty, that the dirty water of old Father Thames seemed quite a suitable purifier.
“Gillie,” cried one of the younger women referred to, wiping the soap-suds from her red arms, “come here, you bad, naughty boy. W’ere ’ave you bin25? I want you to mind baby.”
“W’y, mother,” cried the small boy—who answered to the name of Gillie—“don’t you see I’m engaged? I’m a-showin’ this ’ere sea-capp’n the course he’s got to steer48 for port. He wants to make the cabin of old mother Roby.”
“W’y don’t you do it quickly, then?” demanded Gillie’s mother, “you bad, naughty, wicked boy. Beg your parding, sir,” she added, to the seaman, “the boy ’an’t got no sense, besides bein’ wicked and naughty—’e ain’t ’ad no train’, sir, that’s w’ere it is, all along of my ’avin’ too much to do, an’ a large family, sir, with no ’usband to speak of; right up the stair, sir, to the top, and along the passage-door straight before you at the hend of it. Mind the step, sir, w’en you gits up. Go up with the gentleman, you bad, wicked, naughty boy, and show—”
The remainder of the sentence became confused in distance, as the boy and the seaman climbed the stair; but a continuous murmuring sound, as of a vocal49 torrent50, conveyed the assurance that the mother of Gillie was still holding forth51.
“’Ere it is,” said the young pilot, pausing at the top of the staircase, near the entrance to a very dark passage. “Keep ’er ’ead as she goes, but I’d recommend you to shorten sail, mind your ’elm, an ’ave the anchor ready to let go.”
Having thus accommodated his language to the supposed intelligence of the seaman, the elfin youth stood listening with intense eagerness and expectation as the other went into the passage, and, by sundry52 kicks and bumps against wooden walls, gave evidence that he found the channel intricate. Presently a terrible kick occurred. This was the seaman’s toe against the step, of which he had been warned, but which he had totally forgotten; then a softer, but much heavier blow, was heard, accompanied by a savage growl—that was the seaman’s nose and forehead against old Mrs Roby’s portal.
At this, Gillie’s expectations were realised, and his joy consummated53. With mischievous54 glee sparkling in his eyes, he hastened down to the Court to exhibit his sixpence to his mother, and to announce to all whom it might concern, that “the sea-capp’n had run his jib-boom slap through the old ’ooman’s cabin-door.”
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收听单词发音
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1
bluff
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| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
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2
vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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3
contradictory
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| adj.反驳的，反对的，抗辩的；n.正反对，矛盾对立 | |
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4
prodigiously
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| adv.异常地，惊人地，巨大地 | |
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5
warehouses
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| 仓库，货栈( warehouse的名词复数 ) | |
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filthy
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| adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的 | |
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7
dwellings
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| n.住处，处所( dwelling的名词复数 ) | |
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8
unwillingly
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| adv.不情愿地 | |
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nautical
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| adj.海上的，航海的，船员的 | |
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10
lurch
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| n.突然向前或旁边倒；v.蹒跚而行 | |
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11
eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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12
shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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13
seaman
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| n.海员，水手，水兵 | |
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14
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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15
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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16
rosebud
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| n.蔷薇花蕾，妙龄少女 | |
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17
imp
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| n.顽童 | |
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18
syllable
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| n.音节；vt.分音节 | |
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19
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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20
copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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21
urchin
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| n.顽童；海胆 | |
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22
precocious
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| adj.早熟的；较早显出的 | |
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23
insolence
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| n.傲慢；无礼；厚颜；傲慢的态度 | |
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sedately
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| adv.镇静地，安详地 | |
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25
bin
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| n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件 | |
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26
flattens
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| 变平，使（某物）变平( flatten的第三人称单数 )； 彻底打败某人，使丢脸； 停止增长（或上升）； （把身体或身体部位）紧贴… | |
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27
knuckles
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| n.（指人）指关节( knuckle的名词复数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝v.（指人）指关节( knuckle的第三人称单数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝 | |
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28
garnished
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| v.给（上餐桌的食物）加装饰( garnish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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29
juveniles
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| n.青少年( juvenile的名词复数 )；扮演少年角色的演员；未成年人 | |
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30
diverging
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| 分开( diverge的现在分词 )； 偏离； 分歧； 分道扬镳 | |
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31
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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32
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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33
placidity
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| n.平静，安静，温和 | |
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peculiarity
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| n.独特性，特色；特殊的东西；怪癖 | |
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35
diminutive
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| adj.小巧可爱的，小的 | |
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36
disported
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| v.嬉戏，玩乐，自娱( disport的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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37
waggons
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| 四轮的运货马车( waggon的名词复数 )； 铁路货车； 小手推车 | |
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38
impunity
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| n.(惩罚、损失、伤害等的)免除 | |
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39
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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40
oozed
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| v.（浓液等）慢慢地冒出，渗出( ooze的过去式和过去分词 )；使（液体）缓缓流出；（浓液）渗出，慢慢流出 | |
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41
crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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42
doorways
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| n.门口，门道( doorway的名词复数 ) | |
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43
tenements
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| n.房屋，住户，租房子( tenement的名词复数 ) | |
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44
premature
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| adj.比预期时间早的；不成熟的，仓促的 | |
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45
snails
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| n.蜗牛；迟钝的人；蜗牛( snail的名词复数 ) | |
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46
contemplating
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| 深思，细想，仔细考虑( contemplate的现在分词 )； 注视，凝视； 考虑接受（发生某事的可能性）； 深思熟虑，沉思，苦思冥想 | |
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47
conversing
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| v.交谈，谈话( converse的现在分词 ) | |
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48
steer
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| vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶 | |
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49
vocal
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| adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目 | |
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50
torrent
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| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
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51
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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52
sundry
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| adj.各式各样的，种种的 | |
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53
consummated
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| v.使结束( consummate的过去式和过去分词 )；使完美；完婚；（婚礼后的）圆房 | |
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54
mischievous
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| adj.调皮的，恶作剧的，有害的，伤人的 | |
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