For the moment the peril14 was nowhere and yet everywhere. The majority remained solid; but the leaders became stiff and exacting15. Perhaps Hippolyte Ceres would never have intentionally17 sacrificed his interests to his vengeance19. But thinking that he could henceforth, without compromising his own fortune, secretly damage that of Paul Visire, he devoted21 himself to the skilful22 and careful preparation of difficulties and perils24 for the Head of the Government. Though far from equalling his rival in talent, knowledge, and authority, he greatly surpassed him in his skill as a lobbyist. The most acute parliamentarians attributed the recent misfortunes of the majority to his refusal to vote. At committees, by a calculated imprudence, he favoured motions which he knew the Prime Minister could not accept. One day his intentional18 awkwardness provoked a sudden and violent conflict between the Minister of the Interior, and his departmental Treasurer25. Then Ceres became frightened and went no further. It would have been dangerous for him to overthrow26 the ministry27 too soon. His ingenious hatred28 found an issue by circuitous29 paths. Paul Visire had a poor cousin of easy morals who bore his name. Ceres, remembering this lady, Celine Visire, brought her into prominence30, arranged that she should become intimate with several foreigners, and procured31 her engagements in the music-halls. One summer night, on a stage in the Champs Elysees before a tumultuous crowd, she performed risky32 dances to the sounds of wild music which was audible in the gardens where the President of the Republic was entertaining Royalty33. The name of Visire, associated with these scandals, covered the walls of the town, filled the newspapers, was repeated in the cafe’s and at balls, and blazed forth20 in letters of fire upon the boulevards.
Nobody regarded the Prime Minister as responsible for the scandal of his relatives, but a bad idea of his family came into existence, and the influence of the statesman was diminished.
Almost immediately he was made to feel this in a pretty sharp fashion. One day in the House, on a simple question, Labillette, the Minister of Religion and Public Worship, who was suffering from an attack of liver, and beginning to be exasperated34 by the intentions and intrigues35 of the clergy36, threatened to close the Chapel37 of St. Orberosia, and spoke38 without respect of the National Virgin39. The entire Right rose up in indignation; the Left appeared to give but a half-hearted support to the rash Minister. The leaders of the majority did not care to attack a popular cult23 which brought thirty millions a year into the country. The most moderate of the supporters of the Right, M. Bigourd, made the question the subject of a resolution and endangered the Cabinet. Luckily, Fortune Lapersonne, the Minister of Public Works, always conscious of the obligations of power, was able in the Prime Minister’s absence to repair the awkwardness and indecorum of his colleague, the Minister of Public Worship. He ascended40 the tribune and bore witness to the respect in which the Government held the heavenly Patron of the country, the consoler of so many ills which science admitted its powerlessness to relieve.
When Paul Visire, snatched at last from Eveline’s arms, appeared in the House, the administration was saved; but the Prime Minister saw himself compelled to grant important concessions41 to the upper classes. He proposed in Parliament that six armoured cruisers should be laid down, and thus won the sympathies of the Steel Trust; he gave new assurances that the income tax would not be imposed, and he had eighteen Socialists42 arrested.
He was soon to find himself opposed by more formidable obstacles. The Chancellor43 of the neighbouring Empire in an ingenious and profound speech upon the foreign relations of his sovereign, made a sly allusion44 to the intrigues that inspired the policy of a great country. This reference, which was received with smiles by the Imperial Parliament, was certain to irritate a punctilious45 republic. It aroused the national susceptibility, which directed its wrath46 against its amorous47 Minister. The Deputies seized upon a frivolous48 pretext49 to show their dissatisfaction. A ridiculous incident, the fact that the wife of a sub-prefect had danced at the Moulin Rouge50, forced the minister to face a vote of censure51, and he was within a few votes of being defeated. According to general opinion, Paul Visire had never been so weak, so vacillating, or so spiritless, as on that occasion.
He understood that he could only keep himself in office by a great political stroke, and he decided52 on the expedition to Nigritia. This measure was demanded by the great financial and industrial corporations and was one which would bring concessions of immense forests to the capitalists, a loan of eight millions to the banking53 companies, as well as promotions54 and decorations to the naval55 and military officers. A pretext presented itself; some insult needed to be avenged56, or some debt to be collected. Six battleships, fourteen cruisers, and eighteen transports sailed up the mouth of the river Hippopotamus57. Six hundred canoes vainly opposed the landing of the troops. Admiral Vivier des Murenes’ cannons58 produced an appalling59 effect upon the blacks, who replied to them with flights of arrows, but in spite of their fanatical courage they were entirely60 defeated. Popular enthusiasm was kindled61 by the newspapers which the financiers subsidised, and burst into a blaze. Some Socialists alone protested against this barbarous, doubtful, and dangerous enterprise. They were at once arrested.
At that moment when the Minister, supported by wealth, and now beloved by the poor, seemed unconquerable, the light of hate showed Hippolyte Ceres alone the danger, and looking with a gloomy joy at his rival, he muttered between his teeth, “He is wrecked62, the brigand63!”
Whilst the country intoxicated64 itself with glory, the neighbouring Empire protested against the occupation of Nigritia by a European power, and these protests following one another at shorter and shorter intervals65 became more and more vehement66. The newspapers of the interested Republic concealed67 all causes for uneasiness; but Hippolyte Ceres heard the growing menace, and determined68 at last to risk everything, even the fate of the ministry, in order to ruin his enemy. He got men whom he could trust to write and insert articles in several of the official journals, which, seeming to express Paul Visire’s precise views, attributed warlike intentions to the Head of the Government.
These articles roused a terrible echo abroad, and they alarmed the public opinion of a nation which, while fond of soldiers, was not fond of war. Questioned in the House on the foreign policy of his government, Paul Visire made a re-assuring statement, and promised to maintain a peace compatible with the dignity of a great nation. His Minister of Foreign Affairs, Crombile, read a declaration which was absolutely unintelligible69, for the reason that it was couched in diplomatic language. The Minister obtained a large majority.
But the rumours71 of war did not cease, and in order to avoid a new and dangerous motion, the Prime Minister distributed eighty thousand acres of forests in Nigritia among the Deputies, and had fourteen Socialists arrested. Hippolyte Ceres went gloomily about the lobbies, confiding72 to the Deputies of his group that he was endeavouring to induce the Cabinet to adopt a pacific policy, and that he still hoped to succeed. Day by day the sinister73 rumours grew in volume, and penetrating74 amongst the public, spread uneasiness and disquiet75. Paul Visire himself began to take alarm. What disturbed him most were the silence and absence of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Crombile no longer came to the meetings of the Cabinet. Rising at five o’clock in the morning, he worked eighteen hours at his desk, and at last fell exhausted76 into his waste-paper basket, from whence the registrars77 removed him, together with the papers which they were going to sell to the military attache’s of the neighbouring Empire.
General Debonnaire believed that a campaign was imminent78, and prepared for it. Far from fearing war, he prayed for it, and confided79 his generous hopes to Baroness80 Bildermann, who informed the neighbouring nation, which, acting16 on her information, proceeded to a rapid mobilization.
The Minister of Finance unintentionally precipitated81 events. At the moment, he was speculating for a fall, and in order to bring about a panic on the Stock Exchange, he spread the rumour70 that war was now inevitable82. The neighbouring Empire, deceived by this action, and expecting to see its territory invaded, mobilized its troops in all haste. The terrified Chamber83 overthrew84 the Visire ministry by an enormous majority (814 votes to 7, with 28 abstentions). It was too late. The very day of this fall the neighbouring and hostile nation recalled its ambassador and flung eight millions of men into Madame Ceres country. War became universal, and the whole world was drowned in a torrent85 of blood.
点击收听单词发音
1 jealousy | |
n.妒忌,嫉妒,猜忌 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2 virtue | |
n.德行,美德;贞操;优点;功效,效力 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3 tyrants | |
专制统治者( tyrant的名词复数 ); 暴君似的人; (古希腊的)僭主; 严酷的事物 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4 austere | |
adj.艰苦的;朴素的,朴实无华的;严峻的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5 virtuous | |
adj.有品德的,善良的,贞洁的,有效力的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6 alleged | |
a.被指控的,嫌疑的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7 simplicity | |
n.简单,简易;朴素;直率,单纯 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8 provincial | |
adj.省的,地方的;n.外省人,乡下人 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9 solely | |
adv.仅仅,唯一地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10 civilized | |
a.有教养的,文雅的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
11 metropolis | |
n.首府;大城市 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
12 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
13 murmur | |
n.低语,低声的怨言;v.低语,低声而言 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
14 peril | |
n.(严重的)危险;危险的事物 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
15 exacting | |
adj.苛求的,要求严格的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
16 acting | |
n.演戏,行为,假装;adj.代理的,临时的,演出用的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
17 intentionally | |
ad.故意地,有意地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
18 intentional | |
adj.故意的,有意(识)的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
19 vengeance | |
n.报复,报仇,复仇 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
20 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
21 devoted | |
adj.忠诚的,忠实的,热心的,献身于...的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
22 skilful | |
(=skillful)adj.灵巧的,熟练的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
23 cult | |
n.异教,邪教;时尚,狂热的崇拜 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
24 perils | |
极大危险( peril的名词复数 ); 危险的事(或环境) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
25 treasurer | |
n.司库,财务主管 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
26 overthrow | |
v.推翻,打倒,颠覆;n.推翻,瓦解,颠覆 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
27 ministry | |
n.(政府的)部;牧师 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
28 hatred | |
n.憎恶,憎恨,仇恨 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
29 circuitous | |
adj.迂回的路的,迂曲的,绕行的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
30 prominence | |
n.突出;显著;杰出;重要 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
31 procured | |
v.(努力)取得, (设法)获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 );拉皮条 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
32 risky | |
adj.有风险的,冒险的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
33 royalty | |
n.皇家,皇族 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
34 exasperated | |
adj.恼怒的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
35 intrigues | |
n.密谋策划( intrigue的名词复数 );神秘气氛;引人入胜的复杂情节v.搞阴谋诡计( intrigue的第三人称单数 );激起…的好奇心 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
36 clergy | |
n.[总称]牧师,神职人员 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
37 chapel | |
n.小教堂,殡仪馆 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
38 spoke | |
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 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
39 virgin | |
n.处女,未婚女子;adj.未经使用的;未经开发的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
40 ascended | |
v.上升,攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
41 concessions | |
n.(尤指由政府或雇主给予的)特许权( concession的名词复数 );承认;减价;(在某地的)特许经营权 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
42 socialists | |
社会主义者( socialist的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
43 chancellor | |
n.(英)大臣;法官;(德、奥)总理;大学校长 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
44 allusion | |
n.暗示,间接提示 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
45 punctilious | |
adj.谨慎的,谨小慎微的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
46 wrath | |
n.愤怒,愤慨,暴怒 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
47 amorous | |
adj.多情的;有关爱情的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
48 frivolous | |
adj.轻薄的;轻率的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
49 pretext | |
n.借口,托词 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
50 rouge | |
n.胭脂,口红唇膏;v.(在…上)擦口红 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
51 censure | |
v./n.责备;非难;责难 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
52 decided | |
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
53 banking | |
n.银行业,银行学,金融业 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
54 promotions | |
促进( promotion的名词复数 ); 提升; 推广; 宣传 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
55 naval | |
adj.海军的,军舰的,船的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
56 avenged | |
v.为…复仇,报…之仇( avenge的过去式和过去分词 );为…报复 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
57 hippopotamus | |
n.河马 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
58 cannons | |
n.加农炮,大炮,火炮( cannon的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
59 appalling | |
adj.骇人听闻的,令人震惊的,可怕的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
60 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
61 kindled | |
(使某物)燃烧,着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 ); 激起(感情等); 发亮,放光 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
62 wrecked | |
adj.失事的,遇难的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
63 brigand | |
n.土匪,强盗 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
64 intoxicated | |
喝醉的,极其兴奋的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
65 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 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
66 vehement | |
adj.感情强烈的;热烈的;(人)有强烈感情的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
67 concealed | |
a.隐藏的,隐蔽的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
68 determined | |
adj.坚定的;有决心的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
69 unintelligible | |
adj.无法了解的,难解的,莫明其妙的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
70 rumour | |
n.谣言,谣传,传闻 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
71 rumours | |
n.传闻( rumour的名词复数 );风闻;谣言;谣传 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
72 confiding | |
adj.相信人的,易于相信的v.吐露(秘密,心事等)( confide的现在分词 );(向某人)吐露(隐私、秘密等) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
73 sinister | |
adj.不吉利的,凶恶的,左边的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
74 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 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
75 disquiet | |
n.担心,焦虑 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
76 exhausted | |
adj.极其疲惫的,精疲力尽的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
77 registrars | |
n.主管注册者( registrar的名词复数 );记录者;登记员;注册主任 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
78 imminent | |
adj.即将发生的,临近的,逼近的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
79 confided | |
v.吐露(秘密,心事等)( confide的过去式和过去分词 );(向某人)吐露(隐私、秘密等) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
80 baroness | |
n.男爵夫人,女男爵 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
81 precipitated | |
v.(突如其来地)使发生( precipitate的过去式和过去分词 );促成;猛然摔下;使沉淀 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
82 inevitable | |
adj.不可避免的,必然发生的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
83 chamber | |
n.房间,寝室;会议厅;议院;会所 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
84 overthrew | |
overthrow的过去式 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
85 torrent | |
n.激流,洪流;爆发,(话语等的)连发 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
欢迎访问英文小说网 |