In the evening, when the sun was setting, and red rays languidly glimmered17 upon the windows of the houses, the factory ejected its people like burned-out ashes, and again they walked through the streets, with black, smoke-covered faces, radiating the sticky odor of machine oil, and showing the gleam of hungry teeth. But now there was animation20 in their voices, and even gladness. The servitude of hard toil21 was over for the day. Supper awaited them at home, and respite22.
The day was swallowed up by the factory; the machine sucked out of men’s muscles as much vigor23 as it needed. The day was blotted24 out from life, not a trace of it left. Man made another imperceptible step toward his grave; but he saw close before him the delights of rest, the joys of the odorous tavern25, and he was satisfied.
On holidays the workers slept until about ten o’clock. Then the staid and married people dressed themselves in their best clothes and, after duly scolding the young folks for their indifference26 to church, went to hear mass. When they returned from church, they ate pirogs, the Russian national pastry27, and again lay down to sleep until the evening. The accumulated exhaustion28 of years had robbed them of their appetites, and to be able to eat they drank, long and deep, goading29 on their feeble stomachs with the biting, burning lash9 of vodka.
In the evening they amused themselves idly on the street; and those who had overshoes put them on, even if it was dry, and those who had umbrellas carried them, even if the sun was shining. Not everybody has overshoes and an umbrella, but everybody desires in some way, however small, to appear more important than his neighbor.
Meeting one another they spoke30 about the factory and the machines, had their fling against their foreman, conversed31 and thought only of matters closely and manifestly connected with their work. Only rarely, and then but faintly, did solitary32 sparks of impotent thought glimmer18 in the wearisome monotony of their talk. Returning home they quarreled with their wives, and often beat them, unsparing of their fists. The young people sat in the taverns33, or enjoyed evening parties at one another’s houses, played the accordion34, sang vulgar songs devoid35 of beauty, danced, talked ribaldry, and drank.
Exhausted36 with toil, men drank swiftly, and in every heart there awoke and grew an incomprehensible, sickly irritation37. It demanded an outlet38. Clutching tenaciously39 at every pretext40 for unloading themselves of this disquieting41 sensation, they fell on one another for mere19 trifles, with the spiteful ferocity of beasts, breaking into bloody42 quarrels which sometimes ended in serious injury and on rare occasions even in murder.
This lurking43 malice steadily44 increased, inveterate45 as the incurable46 weariness in their muscles. They were born with this disease of the soul inherited from their fathers. Like a black shadow it accompanied them to their graves, spurring on their lives to crime, hideous47 in its aimless cruelty and brutality48.
On holidays the young people came home late at night, dirty and dusty, their clothes torn, their faces bruised49, boasting maliciously50 of the blows they had struck their companions, or the insults they had inflicted51 upon them; enraged52 or in tears over the indignities53 they themselves had suffered; drunken and piteous, unfortunate and repulsive54. Sometimes the boys would be brought home by the mother or the father, who had picked them up in the street or in a tavern, drunk to insensibility. The parents scolded and swore at them peevishly55, and beat their spongelike bodies, soaked with liquor; then more or less systematically56 put them to bed, in order to rouse them to work early next morning, when the bellow2 of the whistle should sullenly58 course through the air.
They scolded and beat the children soundly, notwithstanding the fact that drunkenness and brawls59 among young folk appeared perfectly61 legitimate62 to the old people. When they were young they, too, had drunk and fought; they, too, had been beaten by their mothers and fathers. Life had always been like that. It flowed on monotonously63 and slowly somewhere down the muddy, turbid65 stream, year after year; and it was all bound up in strong ancient customs and habits that led them to do one and the same thing day in and day out. None of them, it seemed, had either the time or the desire to attempt to change this state of life.
Once in a long while a stranger would come to the village. At first he attracted attention merely because he was a stranger. Then he aroused a light, superficial interest by the stories of the places where he had worked. Afterwards the novelty wore off, the people got used to him, and he remained unnoticed. From his stories it was clear that the life of the workingmen was the same everywhere. And if so, then what was there to talk about?
Occasionally, however, some stranger spoke curious things never heard of in the suburb. The men did not argue with him, but listened to his odd speeches with incredulity. His words aroused blind irritation in some, perplexed66 alarm in others, while still others were disturbed by a feeble, shadowy glimmer of the hope of something, they knew not what. And they all began to drink more in order to drive away the unnecessary, meddlesome67 excitement.
Noticing in the stranger something unusual, the villagers cherished it long against him and treated the man who was not like them with unaccountable apprehension68. It was as if they feared he would throw something into their life which would disturb its straight, dismal69 course. Sad and difficult, it was yet even in its tenor70. People were accustomed to the fact that life always oppressed them with the same power. Unhopeful of any turn for the better, they regarded every change as capable only of increasing their burden.
And the workingmen of the suburb tacitly avoided people who spoke unusual things to them. Then these people disappeared again, going off elsewhere, and those who remained in the factory lived apart, if they could not blend and make one whole with the monotonous64 mass in the village.
Living a life like that for some fifty years, a workman died.
Thus also lived Michael Vlasov, a gloomy, sullen57 man, with little eyes which looked at everybody from under his thick eyebrows71 suspiciously, with a mistrustful, evil smile. He was the best locksmith in the factory, and the strongest man in the village. But he was insolent72 and disrespectful toward the foreman and the superintendent73, and therefore earned little; every holiday he beat somebody, and everyone disliked and feared him.
More than one attempt was made to beat him in turn, but without success. When Vlasov found himself threatened with attack, he caught a stone in his hand, or a piece of wood or iron, and spreading out his legs stood waiting in silence for the enemy. His face overgrown with a dark beard from his eyes to his neck, and his hands thickly covered with woolly hair, inspired everybody with fear. People were especially afraid of his eyes. Small and keen, they seemed to bore through a man like steel gimlets, and everyone who met their gaze felt he was confronting a beast, a savage74 power, inaccessible75 to fear, ready to strike unmercifully.
“Well, pack off, dirty vermin!” he said gruffly. His coarse, yellow teeth glistened76 terribly through the thick hair on his face. The men walked off uttering coward abuse.
“Dirty vermin!” he snapped at them, and his eyes gleamed with a smile sharp as an awl60. Then holding his head in an attitude of direct challenge, with a short, thick pipe between his teeth, he walked behind them, and now and then called out: “Well, who wants death?”
No one wanted it.
He spoke little, and “dirty vermin” was his favorite expression. It was the name he used for the authorities of the factory, and the police, and it was the epithet77 with which he addressed his wife: “Look, you dirty vermin, don’t you see my clothes are torn?”
When Pavel, his son, was a boy of fourteen, Vlasov was one day seized with the desire to pull him by the hair once more. But Pavel grasped a heavy hammer, and said curtly78:
“Don’t touch me!”
“What!” demanded his father, bending over the tall, slender figure of his son like a shadow on a birch tree.
“Enough!” said Pavel. “I am not going to give myself up any more.”
And opening his dark eyes wide, he waved the hammer in the air.
His father looked at him, folded his shaggy hands on his back, and, smiling, said:
“All right.” Then he drew a heavy breath and added: “Ah, you dirty vermin!”
Shortly after this he said to his wife:
“Don’t ask me for money any more. Pasha will feed you now.”
“And you will drink up everything?” she ventured to ask.
“None of your business, dirty vermin!” From that time, for three years, until his death, he did not notice, and did not speak to his son.
Vlasov had a dog as big and shaggy as himself. She accompanied him to the factory every morning, and every evening she waited for him at the gate. On holidays Vlasov started off on his round of the taverns. He walked in silence, and stared into people’s faces as if looking for somebody. His dog trotted79 after him the whole day long. Returning home drunk he sat down to supper, and gave his dog to eat from his own bowl. He never beat her, never scolded, and never petted her. After supper he flung the dishes from the table — if his wife was not quick enough to remove them in time — put a bottle of whisky before him, and leaning his back against the wall, began in a hoarse voice that spread anguish80 about him to bawl81 a song, his mouth wide open and his eyes closed. The doleful sounds got entangled82 in his mustache, knocking off the crumbs83 of bread. He smoothed down the hair of his beard and mustache with his thick fingers and sang — sang unintelligible84 words, long drawn85 out. The melody recalled the wintry howl of wolves. He sang as long as there was whisky in the bottle, then he dropped on his side upon the bench, or let his head sink on the table, and slept in this way until the whistle began to blow. The dog lay at his side.
When he died, he died hard. For five days, turned all black, he rolled in his bed, gnashing his teeth, his eyes tightly closed. Sometimes he would say to his wife: “Give me arsenic86. Poison me.”
She called a physician. He ordered hot poultices, but said an operation was necessary and the patient must be taken at once to the hospital.
“Go to the devil! I will die by myself, dirty vermin!” said Michael.
And when the physician had left, and his wife with tears in her eyes began to insist on an operation, he clenched87 his fists and announced threateningly:
“Don’t you dare! It will be worse for you if I get well.”
He died in the morning at the moment when the whistle called the men to work. He lay in the coffin88 with open mouth, his eyebrows knit as if in a scowl89. He was buried by his wife, his son, the dog, an old drunkard and thief, Daniel Vyesovshchikov, a discharged smelter, and a few beggars of the suburb. His wife wept a little and quietly; Pavel did not weep at all. The villagers who met the funeral in the street stopped, crossed themselves, and said to one another: “Guess Pelagueya is glad he died!” And some corrected: “He didn’t die; he rotted away like a beast.”
When the body was put in the ground, the people went away, but the dog remained for a long time, and sitting silently on the fresh soil, she sniffed90 at the grave.
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收听单词发音
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1
bellowed
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| v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的过去式和过去分词 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
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bellow
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| v.吼叫，怒吼；大声发出，大声喝道 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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greasy
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| adj. 多脂的，油脂的 | |
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6
somber
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| adj.昏暗的，阴天的，阴森的，忧郁的 | |
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7
insufficient
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| adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的 | |
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8
twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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lash
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| v.系牢；鞭打；猛烈抨击；n.鞭打；眼睫毛 | |
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10
commiseration
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| n.怜悯，同情 | |
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hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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12
exclamations
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| n.呼喊( exclamation的名词复数 )；感叹；感叹语；感叹词 | |
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peevish
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| adj.易怒的，坏脾气的 | |
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14
malice
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| n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋 | |
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15
deafening
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| adj. 振耳欲聋的, 极喧闹的 动词deafen的现在分词形式 | |
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16
machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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glimmered
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| v.发闪光，发微光( glimmer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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18
glimmer
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| v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光 | |
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19
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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20
animation
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| n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作 | |
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21
toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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22
respite
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| n.休息，中止，暂缓 | |
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23
vigor
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| n.活力，精力，元气 | |
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24
blotted
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| 涂污( blot的过去式和过去分词 )； （用吸墨纸）吸干 | |
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25
tavern
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| n.小旅馆，客栈；小酒店 | |
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26
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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27
pastry
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| n.油酥面团，酥皮糕点 | |
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28
exhaustion
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| n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述 | |
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29
goading
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| v.刺激( goad的现在分词 )；激励；（用尖棒）驱赶；驱使（或怂恿、刺激）某人 | |
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30
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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31
conversed
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| v.交谈，谈话( converse的过去式 ) | |
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32
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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33
taverns
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| n.小旅馆，客栈，酒馆( tavern的名词复数 ) | |
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34
accordion
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| n.手风琴；adj.可折叠的 | |
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35
devoid
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| adj.全无的，缺乏的 | |
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36
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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37
irritation
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| n.激怒，恼怒，生气 | |
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38
outlet
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| n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄 | |
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39
tenaciously
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| 坚持地 | |
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40
pretext
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| n.借口，托词 | |
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41
disquieting
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| adj.令人不安的，令人不平静的v.使不安，使忧虑，使烦恼( disquiet的现在分词 ) | |
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42
bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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43
lurking
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| 潜在 | |
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44
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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45
inveterate
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| adj.积习已深的，根深蒂固的 | |
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46
incurable
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| adj.不能医治的，不能矫正的，无救的；n.不治的病人，无救的人 | |
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47
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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48
brutality
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| n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮 | |
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49
bruised
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| [医]青肿的，瘀紫的 | |
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50
maliciously
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| adv.有敌意地 | |
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51
inflicted
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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52
enraged
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| 使暴怒( enrage的过去式和过去分词 )； 歜； 激愤 | |
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53
indignities
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| n.侮辱，轻蔑( indignity的名词复数 ) | |
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54
repulsive
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| adj.排斥的，使人反感的 | |
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55
peevishly
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| adv．暴躁地 | |
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56
systematically
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| adv.有系统地 | |
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57
sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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58
sullenly
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| 不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地 | |
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59
brawls
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| 吵架，打架( brawl的名词复数 ) | |
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60
awl
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| n.尖钻 | |
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61
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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62
legitimate
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| adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法 | |
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63
monotonously
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| adv.单调地，无变化地 | |
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monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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65
turbid
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| adj.混浊的，泥水的，浓的 | |
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66
perplexed
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| adj.不知所措的 | |
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67
meddlesome
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| adj.爱管闲事的 | |
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68
apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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69
dismal
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| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
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70
tenor
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| n.男高音（歌手），次中音（乐器），要旨，大意 | |
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71
eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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72
insolent
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| adj.傲慢的，无理的 | |
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73
superintendent
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| n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长 | |
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74
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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75
inaccessible
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| adj.达不到的，难接近的 | |
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76
glistened
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| v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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77
epithet
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| n.（用于褒贬人物等的）表述形容词，修饰语 | |
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78
curtly
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| adv.简短地 | |
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79
trotted
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| 小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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80
anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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81
bawl
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| v.大喊大叫，大声地喊，咆哮 | |
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82
entangled
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| adj.卷入的；陷入的；被缠住的；缠在一起的v.使某人（某物/自己）缠绕，纠缠于（某物中），使某人（自己）陷入（困难或复杂的环境中）( entangle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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83
crumbs
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| int. (表示惊讶)哎呀 n. 碎屑 名词crumb的复数形式 | |
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84
unintelligible
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| adj.无法了解的，难解的，莫明其妙的 | |
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85
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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86
arsenic
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| n.砒霜，砷；adj.砷的 | |
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87
clenched
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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88
coffin
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| n.棺材，灵柩 | |
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89
scowl
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| vi.(at)生气地皱眉，沉下脸，怒视；n.怒容 | |
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90
sniffed
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| v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说 | |
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