Coming in from the eastward13, the bright colouring of the lightship marking the part of the river committed to the charge of an Admiral (the Commander-in-Chief at the Nore) accentuates14 the dreariness15 and the great breadth of the Thames Estuary. But soon the course of the ship opens the entrance of the Medway, with its men-of-war moored16 in line, and the long wooden jetty of Port Victoria, with its few low buildings like the beginning of a hasty settlement upon a wild and unexplored shore. The famous Thames barges17 sit in brown clusters upon the water with an effect of birds floating upon a pond. On the imposing expanse of the great estuary the traffic of the port where so much of the world’s work and the world’s thinking is being done becomes insignificant18, scattered19, streaming away in thin lines of ships stringing themselves out into the eastern quarter through the various navigable channels of which the Nore lightship marks the divergence20. The coasting traffic inclines to the north; the deep-water ships steer21 east with a southern inclination22, on through the Downs, to the most remote ends of the world. In the widening of the shores sinking low in the gray, smoky distances the greatness of the sea receives the mercantile fleet of good ships that London sends out upon the turn of every tide. They follow each other, going very close by the Essex shore. Such as the beads23 of a rosary told by business-like shipowners for the greater profit of the world they slip one by one into the open: while in the offing the inward-bound ships come up singly and in bunches from under the sea horizon closing the mouth of the river between Orfordness and North Foreland. They all converge24 upon the Nore, the warm speck of red upon the tones of drab and gray, with the distant shores running together towards the west, low and flat, like the sides of an enormous canal. The sea-reach of the Thames is straight, and, once Sheerness is left behind, its banks seem very uninhabited, except for the cluster of houses which is Southend, or here and there a lonely wooden jetty where petroleum25 ships discharge their dangerous cargoes26, and the oil-storage tanks, low and round with slightly-domed roofs, peep over the edge of the fore-shore, as it were a village of Central African huts imitated in iron. Bordered by the black and shining mud-flats, the level marsh28 extends for miles. Away in the far background the land rises, closing the view with a continuous wooded slope, forming in the distance an interminable rampart overgrown with bushes.
Then, on the slight turn of the Lower Hope Reach, clusters of factory chimneys come distinctly into view, tall and slender above the squat29 ranges of cement works in Grays and Greenhithe. Smoking quietly at the top against the great blaze of a magnificent sunset, they give an industrial character to the scene, speak of work, manufactures, and trade, as palm-groves on the coral strands30 of distant islands speak of the luxuriant grace, beauty and vigour31 of tropical nature. The houses of Gravesend crowd upon the shore with an effect of confusion as if they had tumbled down haphazard32 from the top of the hill at the back. The flatness of the Kentish shore ends there. A fleet of steam-tugs lies at anchor in front of the various piers34. A conspicuous35 church spire36, the first seen distinctly coming from the sea, has a thoughtful grace, the serenity37 of a fine form above the chaotic38 disorder39 of men’s houses. But on the other side, on the flat Essex side, a shapeless and desolate40 red edifice41, a vast pile of bricks with many windows and a slate42 roof more inaccessible43 than an Alpine44 slope, towers over the bend in monstrous45 ugliness, the tallest, heaviest building for miles around, a thing like an hotel, like a mansion46 of flats (all to let), exiled into these fields out of a street in West Kensington. Just round the corner, as it were, on a pier33 defined with stone blocks and wooden piles, a white mast, slender like a stalk of straw and crossed by a yard like a knitting-needle, flying the signals of flag and balloon, watches over a set of heavy dock-gates. Mast-heads and funnel-tops of ships peep above the ranges of corrugated47 iron roofs. This is the entrance to Tilbury Dock, the most recent of all London docks, the nearest to the sea.
Between the crowded houses of Gravesend and the monstrous red-brick pile on the Essex shore the ship is surrendered fairly to the grasp of the river. That hint of loneliness, that soul of the sea which had accompanied her as far as the Lower Hope Reach, abandons her at the turn of the first bend above. The salt, acrid48 flavour is gone out of the air, together with a sense of unlimited49 space opening free beyond the threshold of sandbanks below the Nore. The waters of the sea rush on past Gravesend, tumbling the big mooring50 buoys51 laid along the face of the town; but the sea-freedom stops short there, surrendering the salt tide to the needs, the artifices52, the contrivances of toiling53 men. Wharves54, landing-places, dock-gates, waterside stairs, follow each other continuously right up to London Bridge, and the hum of men’s work fills the river with a menacing, muttering note as of a breathless, ever-driving gale55. The water-way, so fair above and wide below, flows oppressed by bricks and mortar56 and stone, by blackened timber and grimed glass and rusty57 iron, covered with black barges, whipped up by paddles and screws, overburdened with craft, overhung with chains, overshadowed by walls making a steep gorge58 for its bed, filled with a haze59 of smoke and dust.
This stretch of the Thames from London Bridge to the Albert Docks is to other watersides of river ports what a virgin60 forest would be to a garden. It is a thing grown up, not made. It recalls a jungle by the confused, varied61, and impenetrable aspect of the buildings that line the shore, not according to a planned purpose, but as if sprung up by accident from scattered seeds. Like the matted growth of bushes and creepers veiling the silent depths of an unexplored wilderness62, they hide the depths of London’s infinitely63 varied, vigorous, seething64 life. In other river ports it is not so. They lie open to their stream, with quays65 like broad clearings, with streets like avenues cut through thick timber for the convenience of trade. I am thinking now of river ports I have seen — of Antwerp, for instance; of Nantes or Bordeaux, or even old Rouen, where the night-watchmen of ships, elbows on rail, gaze at shop-windows and brilliant cafes, and see the audience go in and come out of the opera-house. But London, the oldest and greatest of river ports, does not possess as much as a hundred yards of open quays upon its river front. Dark and impenetrable at night, like the face of a forest, is the London waterside. It is the waterside of watersides, where only one aspect of the world’s life can be seen, and only one kind of men toils67 on the edge of the stream. The lightless walls seem to spring from the very mud upon which the stranded68 barges lie; and the narrow lanes coming down to the foreshore resemble the paths of smashed bushes and crumbled69 earth where big game comes to drink on the banks of tropical streams.
Behind the growth of the London waterside the docks of London spread out unsuspected, smooth, and placid70, lost amongst the buildings like dark lagoons71 hidden in a thick forest. They lie concealed72 in the intricate growth of houses with a few stalks of mastheads here and there overtopping the roof of some four-story warehouse73.
It is a strange conjunction this of roofs and mastheads, of walls and yard-arms. I remember once having the incongruity74 of the relation brought home to me in a practical way. I was the chief officer of a fine ship, just docked with a cargo27 of wool from Sydney, after a ninety days’ passage. In fact, we had not been in more than half an hour and I was still busy making her fast to the stone posts of a very narrow quay66 in front of a lofty warehouse. An old man with a gray whisker under the chin and brass75 buttons on his pilot-cloth jacket, hurried up along the quay hailing my ship by name. He was one of those officials called berthing-masters — not the one who had berthed76 us, but another, who, apparently77, had been busy securing a steamer at the other end of the dock. I could see from afar his hard blue eyes staring at us, as if fascinated, with a queer sort of absorption. I wondered what that worthy78 sea-dog had found to criticise79 in my ship’s rigging. And I, too, glanced aloft anxiously. I could see nothing wrong there. But perhaps that superannuated80 fellow-craftsman was simply admiring the ship’s perfect order aloft, I thought, with some secret pride; for the chief officer is responsible for his ship’s appearance, and as to her outward condition, he is the man open to praise or blame. Meantime the old salt (“ex-coasting skipper” was writ81 large all over his person) had hobbled up alongside in his bumpy82, shiny boots, and, waving an arm, short and thick like the flipper83 of a seal, terminated by a paw red as an uncooked beef-steak, addressed the poop in a muffled84, faint, roaring voice, as if a sample of every North-Sea fog of his life had been permanently85 lodged86 in his throat: “Haul ’em round, Mr. Mate!” were his words. “If you don’t look sharp, you’ll have your topgallant yards through the windows of that ’ere warehouse presently!” This was the only cause of his interest in the ship’s beautiful spars. I own that for a time I was struck dumb by the bizarre associations of yard-arms and window-panes. To break windows is the last thing one would think of in connection with a ship’s topgallant yard, unless, indeed, one were an experienced berthing-master in one of the London docks. This old chap was doing his little share of the world’s work with proper efficiency. His little blue eyes had made out the danger many hundred yards off. His rheumaticky feet, tired with balancing that squat body for many years upon the decks of small coasters, and made sore by miles of tramping upon the flagstones of the dock side, had hurried up in time to avert87 a ridiculous catastrophe88. I answered him pettishly89, I fear, and as if I had known all about it before.
“All right, all right! can’t do everything at once.”
He remained near by, muttering to himself till the yards had been hauled round at my order, and then raised again his foggy, thick voice:
“None too soon,” he observed, with a critical glance up at the towering side of the warehouse. “That’s a half-sovereign in your pocket, Mr. Mate. You should always look first how you are for them windows before you begin to breast in your ship to the quay.”
It was good advice. But one cannot think of everything or foresee contacts of things apparently as remote as stars and hop-poles.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
remains
|
|
| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
conjure
|
|
| v.恳求，祈求；变魔术，变戏法 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
ward
|
|
| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
throbbing
|
|
| a. 跳动的,悸动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
estuary
|
|
| n.河口，江口 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
speck
|
|
| n.微粒，小污点，小斑点 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
crimson
|
|
| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
beacon
|
|
| n.烽火，（警告用的）闪火灯，灯塔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
imposing
|
|
| adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
behold
|
|
| v.看，注视，看到 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
barge
|
|
| n.平底载货船，驳船 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
entirely
|
|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
eastward
|
|
| adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
accentuates
|
|
| v.重读( accentuate的第三人称单数 )；使突出；使恶化；加重音符号于 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
dreariness
|
|
| 沉寂，可怕，凄凉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
moored
|
|
| adj. 系泊的 动词moor的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
barges
|
|
| 驳船( barge的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
insignificant
|
|
| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
scattered
|
|
| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
divergence
|
|
| n.分歧，岔开 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
steer
|
|
| vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
inclination
|
|
| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
beads
|
|
| n.（空心）小珠子( bead的名词复数 )；水珠；珠子项链 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
converge
|
|
| vi.会合；聚集，集中；(思想、观点等)趋近 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
petroleum
|
|
| n.原油，石油 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
cargoes
|
|
| n.（船或飞机装载的）货物( cargo的名词复数 )；大量，重负 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
cargo
|
|
| n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
marsh
|
|
| n.沼泽，湿地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
squat
|
|
| v.蹲坐，蹲下；n.蹲下；adj.矮胖的，粗矮的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
strands
|
|
| n.（线、绳、金属线、毛发等的）股( strand的名词复数 )；缕；海洋、湖或河的)岸；（观点、计划、故事等的）部份v.使滞留，使搁浅( strand的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
vigour
|
|
| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
haphazard
|
|
| adj.无计划的，随意的，杂乱无章的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
pier
|
|
| n.码头；桥墩，桥柱；[建]窗间壁，支柱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
piers
|
|
| n.水上平台( pier的名词复数 )；（常设有娱乐场所的）突堤；柱子；墙墩 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
conspicuous
|
|
| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
spire
|
|
| n.(教堂)尖顶，尖塔，高点 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
serenity
|
|
| n.宁静，沉着，晴朗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
chaotic
|
|
| adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
disorder
|
|
| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
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： |
|
|
|
|
41
edifice
|
|
| n.宏伟的建筑物(如宫殿，教室) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
slate
|
|
| n.板岩，石板，石片，石板色，候选人名单；adj.暗蓝灰色的，含板岩的；vt.用石板覆盖，痛打，提名，预订 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
inaccessible
|
|
| adj.达不到的，难接近的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
alpine
|
|
| adj.高山的；n.高山植物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
monstrous
|
|
| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
mansion
|
|
| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
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) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
acrid
|
|
| adj.辛辣的，尖刻的，刻薄的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
unlimited
|
|
| adj.无限的，不受控制的，无条件的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
mooring
|
|
| n.停泊处；系泊用具，系船具；下锚v.停泊，系泊（船只）(moor的现在分词) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
buoys
|
|
| n.浮标( buoy的名词复数 )；航标；救生圈；救生衣v.使浮起( buoy的第三人称单数 )；支持；为…设浮标；振奋…的精神 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
artifices
|
|
| n.灵巧( artifice的名词复数 )；诡计；巧妙办法；虚伪行为 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
toiling
|
|
| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的现在分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
wharves
|
|
| n.码头，停泊处( wharf的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
gale
|
|
| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
mortar
|
|
| n.灰浆，灰泥；迫击炮；v.把…用灰浆涂接合 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
rusty
|
|
| adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
gorge
|
|
| n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
haze
|
|
| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
virgin
|
|
| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
varied
|
|
| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
wilderness
|
|
| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
infinitely
|
|
| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
seething
|
|
| 沸腾的，火热的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
quays
|
|
| 码头( quay的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
quay
|
|
| n.码头，靠岸处 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
toils
|
|
| 网 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
stranded
|
|
| a.搁浅的，进退两难的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
crumbled
|
|
| （把…）弄碎， （使）碎成细屑( crumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 衰落； 坍塌； 损坏 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
placid
|
|
| adj.安静的，平和的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
lagoons
|
|
| n.污水池( lagoon的名词复数 )；潟湖；（大湖或江河附近的）小而浅的淡水湖；温泉形成的池塘 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
concealed
|
|
| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
warehouse
|
|
| n.仓库；vt.存入仓库 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
incongruity
|
|
| n.不协调，不一致 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
brass
|
|
| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
berthed
|
|
| v.停泊( berth的过去式和过去分词 )；占铺位 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
apparently
|
|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
worthy
|
|
| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
criticise
|
|
| v.批评，评论；非难 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
superannuated
|
|
| adj.老朽的，退休的；v.因落后于时代而废除，勒令退学 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
writ
|
|
| n.命令状，书面命令 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
bumpy
|
|
| adj.颠簸不平的，崎岖的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
83
flipper
|
|
| n. 鳍状肢，潜水用橡皮制鳍状肢 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
84
muffled
|
|
| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
85
permanently
|
|
| adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
86
lodged
|
|
| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
87
avert
|
|
| v.防止，避免；转移(目光、注意力等) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
88
catastrophe
|
|
| n.大灾难，大祸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
89
pettishly
|
|
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |