Section 2

There is no jerk, no sound, no hint of material shock. We are in London, and clothed in the fashion of the town. The sullen¹ roar of London fills our ears. . . .

I see that I am standing² beside an iron seat of poor design in that grey and gawky waste of asphalte — Trafalgar Square, and the botanist³, with perplexity in his face, stares from me to a poor, shrivelled, dirt-lined old woman — my God! what a neglected thing she is! — who proffers⁴ a box of matches. . . .

He buys almost mechanically, and turns back to me.

“I was saying,” he says, “the past rules us absolutely. These dreams ——”

His sentence does not complete itself. He looks nervous and irritated.

“You have a trick at times,” he says instead, “of making your suggestions so vivid ——”

He takes a plunge⁵. “If you don’t mind,” he says in a sort of quavering ultimatum⁶, “we won’t discuss that aspect of the question — the lady, I mean — further.”

He pauses, and there still hangs a faint perplexity between us.

“But ——” I begin.

For a moment we stand there, and my dream of Utopia runs off me like water from an oiled slab⁷. Of course — we lunched at our club. We came back from Switzerland by no dream train but by the ordinary Bale express. We have been talking of that Lucerne woman he harps⁸ upon, and I have made some novel comment on his story. I have touched certain possibilities.

“You can’t conceivably understand,” he says.

“The fact remains,” he goes on, taking up the thread of his argument again with an air of having defined our field, “we are the scars of the past. That’s a thing one can discuss — without personalities⁹.”

“No,” I say rather stupidly, “no.”

“You are always talking as though you could kick the past to pieces; as though one could get right out from oneself and begin afresh. It is your weakness — if you don’t mind my being frank — it makes you seem harsh and dogmatic. Life has gone easily for you; you have never been badly tried. You have been lucky — you do not understand the other way about. You are — hard.”

I answer nothing.

He pants for breath. I perceive that in our discussion of his case I must have gone too far, and that he has rebelled. Clearly I must have said something wounding about that ineffectual love story of his.

“You don’t allow for my position,” he says, and it occurs to me to say, “I’m obliged to look at the thing from my own point of view. . . . ”

One or other of us makes a move. What a lot of filthy¹⁰, torn paper is scattered¹¹ about the world! We walk slowly side by side towards the dirt-littered basin of the fountain, and stand regarding two grimy tramps who sit and argue on a further seat. One holds a horrible old boot in his hand, and gesticulates with it, while his other hand caresses¹² his rag-wrapped foot. “Wot does Cham’lain si?” his words drift to us. “W’y, ‘e says, wot’s the good of ‘nvesting your kepital where these ’ere Americans may dump it flat any time they like. . . . ”

(Were there not two men in green sitting on a marble seat?)

1 sullen   

adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的

参考例句：

• He looked up at the sullen sky.他抬头看了一眼阴沉的天空。
• Susan was sullen in the morning because she hadn't slept well.苏珊今天早上郁闷不乐，因为昨晚没睡好。

2 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

3 botanist   

n.植物学家

参考例句：

• The botanist introduced a new species of plant to the region.那位植物学家向该地区引入了一种新植物。
• I had never talked with a botanist before,and I found him fascinating.我从没有接触过植物学那一类的学者，我觉得他说话极有吸引力。

4 proffers   

v.提供，贡献，提出( proffer的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

5 plunge   

v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲

参考例句：

• Test pool's water temperature before you plunge in.在你跳入之前你应该测试水温。
• That would plunge them in the broil of the two countries.那将会使他们陷入这两国的争斗之中。

6 ultimatum   

n.最后通牒

参考例句：

• This time the proposal was couched as an ultimatum.这一次该提议是以最后通牒的形式提出来的。
• The cabinet met today to discuss how to respond to the ultimatum.内阁今天开会商量如何应对这道最后通牒。

7 slab   

n.平板，厚的切片；v.切成厚板，以平板盖上

参考例句：

• This heavy slab of oak now stood between the bomb and Hitler.这时笨重的橡木厚板就横在炸弹和希特勒之间了。
• The monument consists of two vertical pillars supporting a horizontal slab.这座纪念碑由两根垂直的柱体构成，它们共同支撑着一块平板。

8 harps   

abbr.harpsichord 拨弦古钢琴n.竖琴( harp的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She continually harps on lack of money. 她总唠叨说缺钱。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He could turn on the harps of the blessed. 他能召来天使的竖琴为他奏乐。 来自辞典例句

9 personalities   

n. 诽谤，（对某人容貌、性格等所进行的）人身攻击； 人身攻击；人格, 个性, 名人( personality的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There seemed to be a degree of personalities in her remarks.她话里有些人身攻击的成分。
• Personalities are not in good taste in general conversation.在一般的谈话中诽谤他人是不高尚的。

10 filthy   

adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的

参考例句：

• The whole river has been fouled up with filthy waste from factories.整条河都被工厂的污秽废物污染了。
• You really should throw out that filthy old sofa and get a new one.你真的应该扔掉那张肮脏的旧沙发，然后再去买张新的。

11 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

12 caresses   

爱抚，抚摸( caress的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A breeze caresses the cheeks. 微风拂面。
• Hetty was not sufficiently familiar with caresses or outward demonstrations of fondness. 海蒂不习惯于拥抱之类过于外露地表现自己的感情。