In his particular line of business, peace had reigned1 for nearly a year. And peace was killing2 him.
At 7.30 on the morning of Thursday, August 12th, Bond awoke in his comfortable flat in the plane-tree'd square off the King's Road and was disgusted to find that he was thoroughly3 bored with the prospect4 of the day ahead. Just as, in at least one religion, accidie is the first of the cardinal5 sins, so boredom6, and particularly the incredible circumstance of waking up bored, was the only vice7 Bond utterly8 condemned9.
Bond reached out and gave two rings on the bell to show May, his treasured Scottish housekeeper10, that he was ready for breakfast. Then he abruptly11 flung the single sheet off his naked body and swung his feet to the floor.
There was only one way to deal with boredom-kick oneself out of it. Bond went down on his hands and did twenty slow press-ups, lingering over each one so that his muscles had no rest. When his arms could stand the pain no longer, he rolled over on his back and, with his hands at his sides, did the straight leg-lift until his stomach muscles screamed. He got to his feet and, after touching12 his toes twenty times, went over to arm and chest exercises combined with deep breathing until he was dizzy. Panting with the exertion13, he went into the big white-tiled bathroom and stood in the glass shower cabinet under very hot and then cold hissing14 water for five minutes.
At last, after shaving and putting on a sleeveless dark blue Sea Island cotton shirt and navy blue tropical worsted trousers, he slipped his bare feet into black leather sandals and went through the bedroom into the long big-windowed sitting-room15 with the satisfaction of having sweated his boredom, at any rate for the time being, out of his body.
May, an elderly Scotswoman with iron grey hair and a handsome closed face, came in with the tray and put it on the table in the bay window together with The Times, the only paper Bond ever read.
Bond wished her good morning and sat down to breakfast.
`Good morning-s.' (To Bond, one of May's endearing qualities was that she would call no man `sir' except-Bond had teased her about it years before-English kings and Winston Churchill. As a mark of exceptional regard, she accorded Bond an occasional hint of an `s' at the end of a word.)
She stood by the table while Bond folded his paper to the centre news page.
`Yon man was here again last night about the Televeesion.'
`What man was that?' Bond looked along the headlines.
`Yon man that's always coming. Six times he's been here pestering16 me since June. After what I said to him the first time about the sinful thing, you'd think he'd give up trying to sell us one. By hire purchase, too, if you please!'
`Persistent17 chaps these salesmen.' Bond put down his paper and reached for the coffee pot.
`I gave him a right piece of my mind last night. Disturbing folk at their supper. Asked him if he'd got any papers-anything to show who he was.'
`I expect that fixed18 him.' Bond filled his large coffee cup to the brim with black coffee.
`Not a bit of it. Flourished his union card. Said he had every right to earn his living. Electricians union it was too. They're the Communist one, aren't they-s?'
`Yes, that's right,' said Bond vaguely19. His mind sharpened. Was it possible They could be keeping an eye on him? He took a sip20 of the coffee and put the cup down. `Exactly what did this man say, May?' he asked, keeping his voice indifferent, but looking at her.
`He said he's selling Televeesion sets on commission in his spare time. And are we sure we don't want one. He says we're one of the only folk in the square that haven't got one. Sees there isn't one of those aerial things on the house, I dare say. He's always asking if you're at home so that he can have a word with you about it. Fancy his cheek! I'm surprised he hasn't thought to catch you coming in or going out. He's always asking if I'm expecting you home. Naturally I don't tell him anything about your movements. Respectable, quiet-spoken body, if he wasn't so persistent.'
Could be, thought Bond. There are many ways of checking up whether the owner's at home or away. A servant's appearance and reactions-a glance through the open door. `Well, you're wasting your time because he's away,' would be the obvious reception if the flat was empty. Should he tell the Security Section? Bond shrugged21 his shoulders irritably22. What the hell. There was probably nothing in it. Why should They be interested in him? And, if there was something in it, Security was quite capable of making him change his flat.
`I expect you've frightened him away this time.' Bond smiled up at May. `I should think you've heard the last of him.'
`Yes-s,' said May doubtfully. At any rate she had carried out her orders to tell him if she saw anyone `hanging about the place'. She bustled23 off with a whisper of the old-fashioned black uniform she persisted in wearing even in the heat of August.
Bond went back to his breakfast. Normally it was little straws in the wind like this that would start a persistent intuitive ticking in his mind, and, on other days, he would not have been happy until he had solved the problem of the man from the Communist union who kept on coming to the house. Now, from months of idleness and disuse, the sword was rusty24 in the scabbard and Bond's mental guard was down.
Breakfast was Bond's favourite meal of the day. When he was stationed in London it was always the same. It consisted of very strong coffee, from De Bry in New Oxford25 Street, brewed26 in an American Chemex, of which he drank two large cups, black and without sugar. The single egg, in the dark blue egg cup with a gold ring round the top, was boiled for three and a third minutes.
It was a very fresh, speckled brown egg from French Marans hens owned by some friend of May in the country. (Bond disliked white eggs and, faddish27 as he was in many small things, it amused him to maintain that there was such a thing as the perfect boiled egg.) Then there were two thick slices of wholewheat toast, a large pat of deep yellow Jersey28 butter and three squat29 glass jars containing Tiptree `Little Scarlet30' strawberry jam; Cooper's Vintage Oxford marmalade and Norwegian Heather Honey from Fortnum's. The coffee pot and the silver on the tray were Queen Anne, and the china was Minton, of the same dark blue and gold and white as the egg-cup.
That morning, while Bond finished his breakfast with honey, he pinpointed31 the immediate32 cause of his lethargy and of his low spirits. To begin with, Tiffany Case, his love for so many happy months, had left him and, after final painful weeks during which she had withdrawn33 to an hotel, had sailed for America at the end of July. He missed her badly and his mind still sheered away from the thought of her. And it was August, and London was hot and stale. He was due for leave, but he had not the energy or the desire to go off alone, or to try and find some temporary replacement34 for Tiffany to go with him. So he had stayed on in the half-empty headquarters of the Secret Service grinding away at the old routines, snapping at his secretary and rasping his colleagues.
Even M had finally got impatient with the surly caged tiger on the floor below, and, on Monday of this particular week, he had sent Bond a sharp note appointing him to a Committee of Inquiry35 under Paymaster Captain Troop. The note said that it was time Bond, as a senior officer in the Service, took a hand in major administrative36 problems. Anyway, there was no one else available. Headquarters were short-handed and the 00 Section was quiescent37. Bond would pray report that afternoon, at 2.30, to Room 412.
It was Troop, reflected Bond, as he lit his first cigarette of the day, who was the most nagging39 and immediate cause of his discontent.
In every large business, there is one man who is the office tyrant40 and bugbear and who is cordially disliked by all the staff. This individual performs an unconsciously important role by acting41 as a kind of lightning conductor for the usual office hates and fears. In fact, he reduces their disruptive influence by providing them with a common target. The man is usually the general manager, or the Head of Admin. He is that indispensable man who is a watchdog over the small things-petty cash, heat and light, towels and soap in the lavatories42, stationery43 supplies, the canteen, the holiday rota, the punctuality of the staff. He is the one man who has real impact on the office comforts and amenities44 and whose authority extends into the privacy and personal habits of the men and women of the organization. To want such a job, and to have the necessary qualifications for it, the man must have exactly those qualities which irritate and abrade45. He must be a strong disciplinarian and indifferent to opinion. He must be a little dictator. In all well-run businesses there is such a man. In the Secret Service, it is Paymaster Captain Troop, R.N. Retired46, Head of Admin., whose job it is, in his own words, `to keep the place shipshape and Bristol fashion'.
It was inevitable47 that Captain Troop's duties would bring him into conflict with most of the organization, but it was particularly unfortunate that M could think of no one but Troop to spare as Chairman for this particular Committee.
For this was yet one more of those Committees of Inquiry dealing48 with the delicate intricacies of the Burgess and Maclean case, and with the lessons that could be learned from it. M had dreamed it up, five years after he had closed his own particular file on that case, purely49 as a sop50 to the Privy51 Council Inquiry into the Security Services which the Prime Minister had ordered in 1955.
At once Bond had got into a hopeless wrangle52 with Troop over the employment of `intellectuals' in the Secret Service.
Perversely53, and knowing it would annoy, Bond had put forward the proposition that, if M.I.5 and the Secret Service were to concern themselves seriously with the atom age `intellectual spy', they must employ a certain number of intellectuals to counter them. `Retired officers of the Indian Army,' Bond had pronounced, `can't possibly understand the thought processes of a Burgess or a Maclean. They won't even know such people exist-let alone be in a position to frequent their cliques54 and get to know their friends and their secrets. Once Burgess and Maclean went to Russia, the only way to make contact with them again and, perhaps, when they got tired of Russia, turn them into double agents against the Russians, would have been to send their closest friends to Moscow and Prague and Budapest with orders to wait until one of these chaps crept out of the masonry55 and made contact. And one of them, probably Burgess, would have been driven to make contact by his loneliness and by his ache to tell his story to someone. [Note: *Written in March 1956. I. F.] But they certainly wouldn't take the risk of revealing themselves to someone with a trench-coat and a cavalry56 moustache and a beta minus mind.'
`Oh really,' Troop had said with icy calm. `So you suggest we should staff the organization with long-haired perverts57. That's quite an original notion. I thought we were all agreed that homosexuals were about the worst security risk there is. I can't see the Americans handing over many atom secrets to a lot of pansies soaked in scent38.'
`All intellectuals aren't homosexual. And many of them are bald. I'm just saying that ...,' and so the argument had gone on intermittently58 through the hearings of the past three days, and the other committee members had ranged themselves more or less with Troop. Now, today, they had to draw up their recommendations and Bond was wondering whether to take the unpopular step of entering a minority report.
How seriously did he feel about the whole question, Bond wondered as, at nine o'clock, he walked out of his flat and down the steps to his car? Was he just being petty and obstinate59? Had he constituted himself into a one-man opposition60 only to give his teeth something to bite into? Was he so bored that he could find nothing better to do than make a nuisance of himself inside his own organization? Bond couldn't make up his mind. He felt restless and indecisive, and, behind it all, there was a nagging disquiet61 he couldn't put his finger on.
As he pressed the self-starter and the twin exhausts of the Bentley woke to their fluttering growl62, a curious bastard63 quotation64 slipped from nowhere into Bond's mind.
`Those whom the Gods wish to destroy, they first make bored.'
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
reigned
|
|
| vi.当政，统治（reign的过去式形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
killing
|
|
| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
thoroughly
|
|
| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
prospect
|
|
| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
cardinal
|
|
| n.(天主教的)红衣主教；adj.首要的，基本的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
boredom
|
|
| n.厌烦，厌倦，乏味，无聊 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
vice
|
|
| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
utterly
|
|
| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
condemned
|
|
| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
housekeeper
|
|
| n.管理家务的主妇，女管家 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
abruptly
|
|
| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
touching
|
|
| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
exertion
|
|
| n.尽力，努力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
hissing
|
|
| n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
sitting-room
|
|
| n.（BrE）客厅，起居室 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
pestering
|
|
| 使烦恼，纠缠( pester的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
persistent
|
|
| adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
fixed
|
|
| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
vaguely
|
|
| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
sip
|
|
| v.小口地喝，抿，呷；n.一小口的量 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
shrugged
|
|
| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
irritably
|
|
| ad.易生气地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
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： |
|
|
|
|
24
rusty
|
|
| adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
Oxford
|
|
| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
brewed
|
|
| 调制( brew的过去式和过去分词 )； 酝酿； 沏（茶）； 煮（咖啡） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
faddish
|
|
| adj.好赶时髦的；一时流行的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
jersey
|
|
| n.运动衫 | |
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
scarlet
|
|
| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
pinpointed
|
|
| 准确地找出或描述( pinpoint的过去式和过去分词 )； 为…准确定位 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
immediate
|
|
| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
withdrawn
|
|
| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
replacement
|
|
| n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
inquiry
|
|
| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
administrative
|
|
| adj.行政的，管理的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
quiescent
|
|
| adj.静止的，不活动的，寂静的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
scent
|
|
| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
nagging
|
|
| adj.唠叨的，挑剔的；使人不得安宁的v.不断地挑剔或批评（某人）( nag的现在分词 )；不断地烦扰或伤害（某人）；无休止地抱怨；不断指责 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
tyrant
|
|
| n.暴君，专制的君主，残暴的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
acting
|
|
| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
lavatories
|
|
| n.厕所( lavatory的名词复数 )；抽水马桶；公共厕所（或卫生间、洗手间、盥洗室）；浴室水池 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
stationery
|
|
| n.文具；(配套的)信笺信封 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
amenities
|
|
| n.令人愉快的事物；礼仪；礼节；便利设施；礼仪( amenity的名词复数 )；便利设施；（环境等的）舒适；（性情等的）愉快 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
abrade
|
|
| v.擦伤，磨损 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
retired
|
|
| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
inevitable
|
|
| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
dealing
|
|
| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
purely
|
|
| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
sop
|
|
| n.湿透的东西，懦夫；v.浸，泡，浸湿 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
privy
|
|
| adj.私用的；隐密的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
wrangle
|
|
| vi.争吵 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
perversely
|
|
| adv. 倔强地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
cliques
|
|
| n.小集团，小圈子，派系( clique的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
masonry
|
|
| n.砖土建筑；砖石 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
cavalry
|
|
| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
perverts
|
|
| n.性变态者( pervert的名词复数 )v.滥用( pervert的第三人称单数 )；腐蚀；败坏；使堕落 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
intermittently
|
|
| adv.间歇地；断断续续 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
obstinate
|
|
| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
opposition
|
|
| n.反对，敌对 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
disquiet
|
|
| n.担心，焦虑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
growl
|
|
| v.（狗等）嗥叫，（炮等）轰鸣；n.嗥叫，轰鸣 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
bastard
|
|
| n.坏蛋，混蛋；私生子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
quotation
|
|
| n.引文，引语，语录；报价，牌价，行情 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |