quick, a little witch-like, with a touch of motherly fussiness15 in her repose; he, facing her, immense and heavy, like a figure of a man roughly fashioned of stone, with something magnanimous and ruthless in his immobility. The son of these old people was a most distinguished16 youth.
'They had him late in life. Perhaps he was not really so young as he looked. Four- or five-and-twenty is not so young when a man is already father of a family at eighteen. When he entered the large room, lined and carpeted with fine mats, and with a high ceiling of white sheeting, where the couple sat in state surrounded by a most deferential17 retinue18, he would make his way straight to Doramin, to kiss his hand -- which the other abandoned to him, majestically19 -and then would step across to stand by his mother's chair. I suppose I may say they idolised him, but I never caught them giving him an overt14 glance. Those, it is true, were public functions. The room was generally thronged20. The solemn formality of greetings and leavetakings, the profound respect expressed in gestures, on the faces, in the low whispers, is simply indescribable. "It's well worth seeing," Jim had assured me while we were crossing the river, on our way back. "They are like people in a book, aren't they?" he said triumphantly21. "And Dain Waris -- their son -- is the best friend (barring you) I ever had. What Mr. Stein would call a good 'warcomrade.' I was in luck. Jove! I was in luck when I tumbled amongst them at my last gasp22." He meditated23 with bowed head, then rousing himself he added
' "Of course I didn't go to sleep over it, but . . ." He paused again. "It seemed to come to me," he murmured. "All at once I saw what I had to do . . ."
'There was no doubt that it had come to him; and it had come through war, too, as is natural, since this power that came to him was the power to make peace. It is in this sense alone that mught so often is right. You must not think he had seen his way at once. When he arrived the Bugis community was in a most critical position. "They were all afraid," he said to me -- "each man afraid for himself; while I could see as plain as possible that they must do something at once, if they did not want to go under one after another, what between the Rajah and that vagabond Sherif." But to see that was nothing. When he got his idea he had to drive it into reluctant minds, through the bulwarks24 of fear, of selfishness. He drove it in at last. And that was nothing. He had to devise the means. He devised them -- an audacious plan; and his task was only half done. He had to inspire with his own confidence a lot of people who had hidden and absurd reasons to hang back; he had to conciliate imbecile jealousies25, and argue away all sorts of senseless mistrusts. Without the weight of Doramin's authority, and his son's fiery26 enthusiasm, he would have failed. Dain Waris, the distinguished youth, was the first to believe in him; theirs was one of those strange, profound, rare friendships between brown and white, in which the very difference of race seems to draw two human beings closer by some mystic element of sympathy. Of Dain Waris, his own people said with pride that he knew how to fight like a white man. This was true; he had that sort of courage -- the courage in the open, I may say -- but he had also a European mind. You meet them sometimes like that, and are surprised to discover unexpectedly a familiar turn of thought, an unobscured vision, a tenacity27 of purpose, a touch of altruism28. Of small stature29, but admirably well proportioned, Dain Waris had a proud carriage, a polished, easy bearing, a temperament30 like a clear flame. His dusky face, with big black eyes, was in action e xpressive, and in repose thoughtful. He was of a
silent disposition31; a firm glance, an ironic32 smile, a courteous33 deliberation of manner seemed to hint at great reserves of intelligence and power. Such beings open to the Western eye, so often concerned with mere2 surfaces, the hidden possibilities of races and lands over which hangs the mystery of unrecorded ages. He not only trusted Jim, he understood him, I firmly believe. I speak of him because he had captivated me. His -- if I may say so -- his caustic34 placidity35, and, at the same time, his intelligent sympathy with Jim's aspirations36, appealed to me. I seemed to behold37 the very origin of friendship. If Jim took the lead, the other had captivated his leader. In fact, Jim the leader was a captive in every sense. The land, the people, the friendship, the love, were like the jealous guardians38 of his body. Every day added a link to the fetters39 of that strange freedom. I felt convinced of it, as from day to day I learned more of the story.
'The story! Haven't I heard the story? I've heard it on the march, in camp (he made me scour40 the country after invisible game); I've listened to a good part of it on one of the twin summits, after climbing the last hundred feet or so on my hands and knees. Our escort (we had volunteer followers41 from village to village) had camped meantime on a bit of level ground half-way up the slope, and in the still breathless evening the smell of wood-smoke reached our nostrils from below with the penetrating42 delicacy43 of some choice scent44. Voices also ascended45, wonderful in their distinct and immaterial clearness. Jim sat on the trunk of a felled tree, and pulling out his pipe began to smoke. A new growth of grass and bushes was springing up; there were traces of an earthwork under a mass of thorny46 twigs47. "It all started from here," he said, after a long and medltative silence. On the other hill, two hundred yards across a sombre precipice48, I saw a line of high blackened stakes, showing here and there ruinously -- the remnants of Sherif Ali's impregnable camp.
'But it had been taken, though. That had been his idea. He had mounted Doramin's old ordnance49 on the top of that hill; two rusty50 iron 7-pounders, a lot of small brass51 cannon52 -- currency cannon. But if the brass guns represent wealth, they can also, when crammed53 recklessly to the muzzle54, send a solid shot to some litde distance. The thing was to get them up there. He showed me where he had fastened the cables, explained how he had improvised55 a rude capstan out of a hollowed log turning upon a pointed56 stake, indicated with the bowl of his pipe the outline of the earthwork. The last hundred feet of the ascent57 had been the most difficult. He had made himself responsible for success on his own head. He had induced the war party to work hard all night. Big fires lighted at intervals58 blazed all down the slope, "but up here," he explained, "the hoisting59 gang had to fly around in the dark. " From the top he saw men moving on the hillside like ants at work. He himself on that night had kept on rushing down and climbing up like a squirrel, directing, encouraging, watching all along the line. Old Doramin had himself carried up the hill in his arm-chair. They put him down on the level place upon the slope, and he sat there in the light of one of the big fires -- "amazing old chap -- real old chieftain," said Jim, "with his little fierce eyes -- a pair of immense flintlock pistols on his knees. Magnificent things, ebony, silver-mounted, with beautiful locks and a calibre like an old blunderbuss. A present from Stein, it seems -- in exchange for that ring, you know. Used to belong to good old McNeil. God only knows how he came by them. There he sat, moving neither hand nor foot, a flame of dry brushwood behind him, and lots of people rushing about, shouting and pulling round him -- the most solemn, imposing old chap you can imagine. He wouldn't have had much chance if Sherif Ali had let his infernal crew loose at us and stampeded my lot. Eh? Anyhow, he had come up there to die if anything went wrong. No mistake! Jove! It th
rilled me to see him there -- like a rock. But the Sherif must have thought us mad, and never troubled to come and see how we got on. Nobody believed it could be done. Why! I think the very chaps who pulled and shoved and sweated over it did not believe it could be done! Upon my word I don't think they did...."
'He stood erect60, the smouldering brier-wood in his clutch, with a smile on his lips and a sparkle in his boyish eyes. I sat on the stump61 of a tree at his feet, and below us stretched the land, the great expanse of the forests, sombre under the sunshine, rolling like a sea, with glints of winding62 rivers, the grey spots of villages, and here and there a clearing, like an islet of light amongst the dark waves of continuous tree-tops. A brooding gloom lay over this vast and monotonous63 landscape; the light fell on it as if into an abyss. The land devoured64 the sunshine; only far off, along the coast, the empty ocean, smooth and polished within the faint haze65, seemed to rise up to the sky in a wall of steel.
'And there I was with him, high in the sunshine on the top of that historic hill of his. He dominated the forest, the secular66 doom67, the old mankind. He was like a figure set up on a pedestal, to represent in his persistent68 youth the power, and perhaps the virtues69, of races that never grow old, that have emerged from the gloom. I don't know why he should always have appeared to me symbolic70. Perhaps this is the real cause of my interest in his fate. I don't know whether it was exactly fair to him to remember the incident which had given a new direction to his life, but at that very moment I remembered very distinctly. It was like a shadow in the light.'
点击收听单词发音
1 remarkable | |
adj.显著的,异常的,非凡的,值得注意的 | |
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2 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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3 imposing | |
adj.使人难忘的,壮丽的,堂皇的,雄伟的 | |
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4 embroideries | |
刺绣( embroidery的名词复数 ); 刺绣品; 刺绣法 | |
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5 furrowed | |
v.犁田,开沟( furrow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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6 nostrils | |
鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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7 corrugated | |
adj.波纹的;缩成皱纹的;波纹面的;波纹状的v.(使某物)起皱褶(corrugate的过去式和过去分词) | |
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8 repose | |
v.(使)休息;n.安息 | |
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9 hoarse | |
adj.嘶哑的,沙哑的 | |
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10 murmur | |
n.低语,低声的怨言;v.低语,低声而言 | |
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11 ponderous | |
adj.沉重的,笨重的,(文章)冗长的 | |
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12 manifestations | |
n.表示,显示(manifestation的复数形式) | |
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13 mighty | |
adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
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14 overt | |
adj.公开的,明显的,公然的 | |
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15 fussiness | |
[医]易激怒 | |
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16 distinguished | |
adj.卓越的,杰出的,著名的 | |
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17 deferential | |
adj. 敬意的,恭敬的 | |
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18 retinue | |
n.侍从;随员 | |
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19 majestically | |
雄伟地; 庄重地; 威严地; 崇高地 | |
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20 thronged | |
v.成群,挤满( throng的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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21 triumphantly | |
ad.得意洋洋地;得胜地;成功地 | |
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22 gasp | |
n.喘息,气喘;v.喘息;气吁吁他说 | |
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23 meditated | |
深思,沉思,冥想( meditate的过去式和过去分词 ); 内心策划,考虑 | |
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24 bulwarks | |
n.堡垒( bulwark的名词复数 );保障;支柱;舷墙 | |
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25 jealousies | |
n.妒忌( jealousy的名词复数 );妒羡 | |
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26 fiery | |
adj.燃烧着的,火红的;暴躁的;激烈的 | |
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27 tenacity | |
n.坚韧 | |
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28 altruism | |
n.利他主义,不自私 | |
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29 stature | |
n.(高度)水平,(高度)境界,身高,身材 | |
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30 temperament | |
n.气质,性格,性情 | |
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31 disposition | |
n.性情,性格;意向,倾向;排列,部署 | |
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32 ironic | |
adj.讽刺的,有讽刺意味的,出乎意料的 | |
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33 courteous | |
adj.彬彬有礼的,客气的 | |
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34 caustic | |
adj.刻薄的,腐蚀性的 | |
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35 placidity | |
n.平静,安静,温和 | |
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36 aspirations | |
强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 ); 志向; 发送气音; 发 h 音 | |
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37 behold | |
v.看,注视,看到 | |
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38 guardians | |
监护人( guardian的名词复数 ); 保护者,维护者 | |
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39 fetters | |
n.脚镣( fetter的名词复数 );束缚v.给…上脚镣,束缚( fetter的第三人称单数 ) | |
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40 scour | |
v.搜索;擦,洗,腹泻,冲刷 | |
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41 followers | |
追随者( follower的名词复数 ); 用户; 契据的附面; 从动件 | |
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42 penetrating | |
adj.(声音)响亮的,尖锐的adj.(气味)刺激的adj.(思想)敏锐的,有洞察力的 | |
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43 delicacy | |
n.精致,细微,微妙,精良;美味,佳肴 | |
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44 scent | |
n.气味,香味,香水,线索,嗅觉;v.嗅,发觉 | |
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45 ascended | |
v.上升,攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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46 thorny | |
adj.多刺的,棘手的 | |
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47 twigs | |
细枝,嫩枝( twig的名词复数 ) | |
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48 precipice | |
n.悬崖,危急的处境 | |
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49 ordnance | |
n.大炮,军械 | |
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50 rusty | |
adj.生锈的;锈色的;荒废了的 | |
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51 brass | |
n.黄铜;黄铜器,铜管乐器 | |
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52 cannon | |
n.大炮,火炮;飞机上的机关炮 | |
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53 crammed | |
adj.塞满的,挤满的;大口地吃;快速贪婪地吃v.把…塞满;填入;临时抱佛脚( cram的过去式) | |
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54 muzzle | |
n.鼻口部;口套;枪(炮)口;vt.使缄默 | |
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55 improvised | |
a.即席而作的,即兴的 | |
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56 pointed | |
adj.尖的,直截了当的 | |
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57 ascent | |
n.(声望或地位)提高;上升,升高;登高 | |
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58 intervals | |
n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 );间隔时间;[数学]区间;(戏剧、电影或音乐会的)幕间休息 | |
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59 hoisting | |
起重,提升 | |
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60 erect | |
n./v.树立,建立,使竖立;adj.直立的,垂直的 | |
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61 stump | |
n.残株,烟蒂,讲演台;v.砍断,蹒跚而走 | |
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62 winding | |
n.绕,缠,绕组,线圈 | |
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63 monotonous | |
adj.单调的,一成不变的,使人厌倦的 | |
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64 devoured | |
吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 ); 耗尽; 津津有味地看; 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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65 haze | |
n.霾,烟雾;懵懂,迷糊;vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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66 secular | |
n.牧师,凡人;adj.世俗的,现世的,不朽的 | |
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67 doom | |
n.厄运,劫数;v.注定,命定 | |
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68 persistent | |
adj.坚持不懈的,执意的;持续的 | |
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69 virtues | |
美德( virtue的名词复数 ); 德行; 优点; 长处 | |
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70 symbolic | |
adj.象征性的,符号的,象征主义的 | |
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