In the evening Carol went to the mill. The mystical Om- Om–Om of the dynamos in the electric-light plant behind the mill was louder in the darkness. Outside sat the night watchman, Champ Perry. He held up his stringy hands and squeaked5, “We’ve all missed you terrible.”
Who in Washington would miss her?
Who in Washington could be depended upon like Guy Pollock? When she saw him on the street, smiling as always, he seemed an eternal thing, a part of her own self.
After a week she decided6 that she was neither glad nor sorry to be back. She entered each day with the matter-of-fact attitude with which she had gone to her office in Washington. It was her task; there would be mechanical details and meaningless talk; what of it?
The only problem which she had approached with emotion proved insignificant7. She had, on the train, worked herself up to such devotion that she was willing to give up her own room, to try to share all of her life with Kennicott.
He mumbled8, ten minutes after she had entered the house, “Say, I’ve kept your room for you like it was. I’ve kind of come round to your way of thinking. Don’t see why folks need to get on each other’s nerves just because they’re friendly. Darned if I haven’t got so I like a little privacy and mulling things over by myself.”
II
She had left a city which sat up nights to talk of universal transition; of European revolution, guild9 socialism, free verse. She had fancied that all the world was changing.
She found that it was not.
In Gopher Prairie the only ardent10 new topics were prohibition11, the place in Minneapolis where you could get whisky at thirteen dollars a quart, recipes for home-made beer, the “high cost of living,” the presidential election, Clark’s new car, and not very novel foibles of Cy Bogart. Their problems were exactly what they had been two years ago, what they had been twenty years ago, and what they would be for twenty years to come. With the world a possible volcano, the husbandmen were plowing12 at the base of the mountain. A volcano does occasionally drop a river of lava13 on even the best of agriculturists, to their astonishment14 and considerable injury, but their cousins inherit the farms and a year or two later go back to the plowing.
She was unable to rhapsodize much over the seven new bungalows15 and the two garages which Kennicott had made to seem so important. Her intensest thought about them was, “Oh yes, they’re all right I suppose.” The change which she did heed16 was the erection of the schoolbuilding, with its cheerful brick walls, broad windows, gymnasium, classrooms for agriculture and cooking. It indicated Vida’s triumph, and it stirred her to activity — any activity. She went to Vida with a jaunty17, “I think I shall work for you. And I’ll begin at the bottom.”
She did. She relieved the attendant at the rest-room for an hour a day. Her only innovation was painting the pine table a black and orange rather shocking to the Thanatopsis. She talked to the farmwives and soothed18 their babies and was happy.
Thinking of them she did not think of the ugliness of Main Street as she hurried along it to the chatter19 of the Jolly Seventeen.
She wore her eye-glasses on the street now. She was beginning to ask Kennicott and Juanita if she didn’t look young, much younger than thirty-three. The eye-glasses pinched her nose. She considered spectacles. They would make her seem older, and hopelessly settled. No! She would not wear spec- tacles yet. But she tried on a pair at Kennicott’s office. They really were much more comfortable.
III
Dr. Westlake, Sam Clark, Nat Hicks, and Del Snafflin were talking in Del’s barber shop.
“Well, I see Kennicott’s wife is taking a whirl at the rest- room, now,” said Dr. Westlake. He emphasized the “now.”
Del interrupted the shaving of Sam and, with his brush dripping lather20, he observed jocularly:
“What’ll she be up to next? They say she used to claim this burg wasn’t swell21 enough for a city girl like her, and would we please tax ourselves about thirty-seven point nine and fix it all up pretty, with tidies on the hydrants and statoos on the lawns ——”
Sam irritably22 blew the lather from his lips, with milky23 small bubbles, and snorted, “Be a good thing for most of us roughnecks if we did have a smart woman to tell us how to fix up the town. Just as much to her kicking as there was to Jim Blausser’s gassing about factories. And you can bet Mrs. Kennicott is smart, even if she is skittish24. Glad to see her back.”
Dr. Westlake hastened to play safe. “So was I! So was I! She’s got a nice way about her, and she knows a good deal about books, or fiction anyway. Of course she’s like all the rest of these women — not solidly founded — not scholarly — doesn’t know anything about political economy — falls for every new idea that some windjamming crank puts out. But she’s a nice woman. She’ll probably fix up the rest-room, and the rest-room is a fine thing, brings a lot of business to town. And now that Mrs. Kennicott’s been away, maybe she’s got over some of her fool ideas. Maybe she realizes that folks simply laugh at her when she tries to tell us how to run everything.”
“Sure. She’ll take a tumble to herself,” said Nat Hicks, sucking in his lips judicially25. “As far as I’m concerned, I’ll say she’s as nice a looking skirt as there is in town. But yow!” His tone electrified26 them. “Guess she’ll miss that Swede Valborg that used to work for me! They was a pair! Talking poetry and moonshine! If they could of got away with it, they’d of been so darn lovey-dovey ——”
Sam Clark interrupted, “Rats, they never even thought about making love, Just talking books and all that junk. I tell you, Carrie Kennicott’s a smart woman, and these smart educated women all get funny ideas, but they get over ’em after they’ve had three or four kids. You’ll see her settled down one of these days, and teaching Sunday School and helping27 at sociables and behaving herself, and not trying to butt28 into business and politics. Sure!”
After only fifteen minutes of conference on her stockings, her son, her separate bedroom, her music, her ancient interest in Guy Pollock, her probable salary in Washington, and every remark which she was known to have made since her return, the supreme29 council decided that they would permit Carol Kennicott to live, and they passed on to a consideration of Nat Hicks’s New One about the traveling salesman and the old maid.
IV
For some reason which was totally mysterious to Carol, Maud Dyer seemed to resent her return. At the Jolly Seventeen Maud giggled30 nervously31, “Well, I suppose you found war-work a good excuse to stay away and have a swell time. Juanita! Don’t you think we ought to make Carrie tell us about the officers she met in Washington?”
They rustled32 and stared. Carol looked at them. Their curiosity seemed natural and unimportant.
“Oh yes, yes indeed, have to do that some day,” she yawned.
She no longer took Aunt Bessie Smail seriously enough to struggle for independence. She saw that Aunt Bessie did not mean to intrude33; that she wanted to do things for all the Kennicotts. Thus Carol hit upon the tragedy of old age, which is not that it is less vigorous than youth, but that it is not needed by youth; that its love and prosy sageness34, so important a few years ago, so gladly offered now, are rejected with laughter. She divined that when Aunt Bessie came in with a jar of wild-grape jelly she was waiting in hope of being asked for the recipe. After that she could be irritated but she could not be depressed35 by Aunt Bessie’s simoom of questioning.
She wasn’t depressed even when she heard Mrs. Bogart observe, “Now we’ve got prohibition it seems to me that the next problem of the country ain’t so much abolishing cigarettes as it is to make folks observe the Sabbath and arrest these law-breakers that play baseball and go to the movies and all on the Lord’s Day.”
Only one thing bruised36 Carol’s vanity. Few people asked her about Washington. They who had most admiringly begged Percy Bresnahan for his opinions were least interested in her facts. She laughed at herself when she saw that she had expected to be at once a heretic and a returned hero; she was very reasonable and merry about it; and it hurt just as much as ever.
Her baby, born in August, was a girl. Carol could not decide whether she was to become a feminist37 leader or marry a scientist or both, but did settle on Vassar and a tricolette suit with a small black hat for her Freshman38 year.
VI
Hugh was loquacious39 at breakfast. He desired to give his impressions of owls40 and F Street.
“Don’t make so much noise. You talk too much,” growled41 Kennicott.
Carol flared42. “Don’t speak to him that way! Why don’t you listen to him? He has some very interesting things to tell.”
“What’s the idea? Mean to say you expect me to spend all my time listening to his chatter?”
“Why not?”
“For one thing, he’s got to learn a little discipline. Time for him to start getting educated.”
“I’ve learned much more discipline, I’ve had much more education, from him than he has from me.”
“What’s this? Some new-fangled idea of raising kids you got in Washington?”
“Perhaps. Did you ever realize that children are people?”
“That’s all right. I’m not going to have him monopolizing43 the conversation.”
“No, of course. We have our rights, too. But I’m going to bring him up as a human being. He has just as many thoughts as we have, and I want him to develop them, not take Gopher Prairie’s version of them. That’s my biggest work now — keeping myself, keeping you, from ‘educating’ him.”
“Well, let’s not scrap44 about it. But I’m not going to have him spoiled.”
Kennicott had forgotten it in ten minutes; and she forgot it — this time.
VII
The Kennicotts and the Sam Clarks had driven north to a duck-pass between two lakes, on an autumn day of blue and copper45.
Kennicott had given her a light twenty-gauge shotgun. She had a first lesson in shooting, in keeping her eyes open, not wincing46, understanding that the bead47 at the end of the barrel really had something to do with pointing the gun. She was radiant; she almost believed Sam when he insisted that it was she who had shot the mallard at which they had fired together.
She sat on the bank of the reedy lake and found rest in Mrs. Clark’s drawling comments on nothing. The brown dusk was still. Behind them were dark marshes48. The plowed49 acres smelled fresh. The lake was garnet and silver. The voices of the men, waiting for the last flight, were clear in the cool air.
“Mark left!” sang Kennicott, in a long-drawn call.
Three ducks were swooping50 down in a swift line. The guns banged, and a duck fluttered. The men pushed their light boat out on the burnished51 lake, disappeared beyond the reeds. Their cheerful voices and the slow splash and clank of oars52 came back to Carol from the dimness. In the sky a fiery53 plain sloped down to a serene54 harbor. It dissolved; the lake was white marble; and Kennicott was crying, “Well, old lady, how about hiking out for home? Supper taste pretty good, eh?”
“I’ll sit back with Ethel,” she said, at the car.
It was the first time she had called Mrs. Clark by her given name; the first time she had willingly sat back, a woman of Main Street.
“I’m hungry. It’s good to be hungry,” she reflected, as they drove away.
She looked across the silent fields to the west. She was conscious of an unbroken sweep of land to the Rockies, to Alaska, a dominion55 which will rise to unexampled greatness when other empires have grown senile. Before that time, she knew, a hundred generations of Carols will aspire56 and go down in tragedy devoid57 of palls58 and solemn chanting, the humdrum59 inevitable60 tragedy of struggle against inertia61.
“Let’s all go to the movies tomorrow night. Awfully62 exciting film,” said Ethel Clark.
“Well, I was going to read a new book but —— All right, let’s go,” said Carol.
VIII
“They’re too much for me,” Carol sighed to Kennicott. “I’ve been thinking about getting up an annual Community Day, when the whole town would forget feuds63 and go out and have sports and a picnic and a dance. But Bert Tybee (why did you ever elect him mayor?)— he’s kidnapped my idea. He wants the Community Day, but he wants to have some politician ‘give an address.’ That’s just the stilted64 sort of thing I’ve tried to avoid. He asked Vida, and of course she agreed with him.”
Kennicott considered the matter while he wound the clock and they tramped up-stairs.
“Yes, it would jar you to have Bert butting65 in,” he said amiably66. “Are you going to do much fussing over this Community stunt67? Don’t you ever get tired of fretting68 and stewing69 and experimenting?”
“I haven’t even started. Look!” She led him to the nursery door, pointed70 at the fuzzy brown head of her daughter. “Do you see that object on the pillow? Do you know what it is? It’s a bomb to blow up smugness. If you Tories were wise, you wouldn’t arrest anarchists71; you’d arrest all these children while they’re asleep in their cribs. Think what that baby will see and meddle72 with before she dies in the year 2000! She may see an industrial union of the whole world, she may see aeroplanes going to Mars.”
“Yump, probably be changes all right,” yawned Kennicott.
She sat on the edge of his bed while he hunted through his bureau for a collar which ought to be there and persistently73 wasn’t.
“I’ll go on, always. And I am happy. But this Community Day makes me see how thoroughly74 I’m beaten.”
“That darn collar certainly is gone for keeps,” muttered Kennicott and, louder, “Yes, I guess you I didn’t quite catch what you said, dear.”
She patted his pillows, turned down his sheets, as she reflected:
“But I have won in this: I’ve never excused my failures by sneering75 at my aspirations76, by pretending to have gone beyond them. I do not admit that Main Street is as beautiful as it should be! I do not admit that Gopher Prairie is greater or more generous than Europe! I do not admit that dish-washing is enough to satisfy all women! I may not have fought the good fight, but I have kept the faith.”
“Sure. You bet you have,” said Kennicott. “Well, good night. Sort of feels to me like it might snow tomorrow. Have to be thinking about putting up the storm-windows pretty soon. Say, did you notice whether the girl put that screwdriver77 back?”
The End
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
hearty
|
|
| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
bustled
|
|
| 闹哄哄地忙乱，奔忙( bustle的过去式和过去分词 )； 催促 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
bosom
|
|
| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
heresies
|
|
| n.异端邪说，异教( heresy的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
squeaked
|
|
| v.短促地尖叫( squeak的过去式和过去分词 )；吱吱叫；告密；充当告密者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
decided
|
|
| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
insignificant
|
|
| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
mumbled
|
|
| 含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
guild
|
|
| n.行会，同业公会，协会 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
ardent
|
|
| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
prohibition
|
|
| n.禁止；禁令，禁律 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
plowing
|
|
| v.耕( plow的现在分词 )；犁耕；费力穿过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
lava
|
|
| n.熔岩，火山岩 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
astonishment
|
|
| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
bungalows
|
|
| n.平房( bungalow的名词复数 )；单层小屋，多于一层的小屋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
heed
|
|
| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
jaunty
|
|
| adj．愉快的，满足的；adv.心满意足地，洋洋得意地；n.心满意足；洋洋得意 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
soothed
|
|
| v.安慰( soothe的过去式和过去分词 )；抚慰；使舒服；减轻痛苦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
chatter
|
|
| vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
lather
|
|
| n.(肥皂水的)泡沫，激动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
swell
|
|
| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
irritably
|
|
| ad.易生气地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
milky
|
|
| adj.牛奶的，多奶的；乳白色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
skittish
|
|
| adj.易激动的，轻佻的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
judicially
|
|
| 依法判决地，公平地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
electrified
|
|
| v.使电气化( electrify的过去式和过去分词 )；使兴奋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
helping
|
|
| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
butt
|
|
| n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
supreme
|
|
| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
giggled
|
|
| v.咯咯地笑( giggle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
nervously
|
|
| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
rustled
|
|
| v.发出沙沙的声音( rustle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
intrude
|
|
| vi.闯入；侵入；打扰，侵扰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
sageness
|
|
| n.贤明；明智 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
depressed
|
|
| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
bruised
|
|
| [医]青肿的，瘀紫的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
feminist
|
|
| adj.主张男女平等的，女权主义的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
freshman
|
|
| n.大学一年级学生(可兼指男女) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
loquacious
|
|
| adj.多嘴的，饶舌的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
owls
|
|
| n.猫头鹰( owl的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
growled
|
|
| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
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： |
|
|
|
|
43
monopolizing
|
|
| v.垄断( monopolize的现在分词 )；独占；专卖；专营 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
scrap
|
|
| n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
copper
|
|
| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
wincing
|
|
| 赶紧避开，畏缩( wince的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
bead
|
|
| n.念珠；(pl.)珠子项链；水珠 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
marshes
|
|
| n.沼泽，湿地( marsh的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
plowed
|
|
| v.耕( plow的过去式和过去分词 )；犁耕；费力穿过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
swooping
|
|
| 俯冲，猛冲( swoop的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
burnished
|
|
| adj.抛光的，光亮的v.擦亮（金属等），磨光( burnish的过去式和过去分词 )；被擦亮，磨光 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
oars
|
|
| n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
fiery
|
|
| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
serene
|
|
| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
dominion
|
|
| n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
aspire
|
|
| vi.(to，after)渴望，追求，有志于 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
devoid
|
|
| adj.全无的，缺乏的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
palls
|
|
| n.柩衣( pall的名词复数 )；墓衣；棺罩；深色或厚重的覆盖物v.（因过多或过久而）生厌，感到乏味，厌烦( pall的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
humdrum
|
|
| adj.单调的，乏味的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
inevitable
|
|
| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
inertia
|
|
| adj.惰性，惯性，懒惰，迟钝 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
awfully
|
|
| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
feuds
|
|
| n.长期不和，世仇( feud的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
stilted
|
|
| adj.虚饰的；夸张的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
butting
|
|
| 用头撞人（犯规动作） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
amiably
|
|
| adv.和蔼可亲地，亲切地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
stunt
|
|
| n.惊人表演，绝技，特技；vt.阻碍...发育，妨碍...生长 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
fretting
|
|
| n. 微振磨损 adj. 烦躁的, 焦虑的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
stewing
|
|
| 炖 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
anarchists
|
|
| 无政府主义者( anarchist的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
meddle
|
|
| v.干预，干涉，插手 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
persistently
|
|
| ad.坚持地；固执地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
thoroughly
|
|
| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
sneering
|
|
| 嘲笑的，轻蔑的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
aspirations
|
|
| 强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 )； 志向； 发送气音； 发 h 音 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
screwdriver
|
|
| n.螺丝起子；伏特加橙汁鸡尾酒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |