Chapter 6

Mayor Hardin  chewed at the  end of his cigar.  It had gone out  but he waspast noticing that. He hadn't slept the night before and he had a good ideathat   he  wouldn't  sleep   this  coming   night.  His  eyes   showed  it.
He said wearily, "And that covers it?""I  think so."  Yohan Lee  put a  hand to  his chin.  "How does  it sound?""Not too bad. It's got to be done, you understand, with impudence¹. That is,there is to be no hesitation²; no time to allow them to grasp the situation.
Once we are in a position to give orders, why, give them as though you wereborn  to do  so, and  they'll obey out  of habit.  That's the essence  of acoup.""If the Board remains⁴ irresolute⁵ for even ?
"The Board? Count them out. After tomorrow, their importance as a factor inTerminus affairs won't matter a rusty⁶ half-credit."Lee nodded slowly. "Yet  it is strange that they've done nothing to stop usso far. You say they weren't entirely⁷ in the dark.""Fara stumbles at the  edges of the problem. Sometimes he makes me nervous.
And Pirenne's been suspicious of me since I was elected. But, you see, theynever had  the capacity  of really understanding  what was up.  Their wholetraining  has been  authoritarian⁸.  They are  sure that  the  Emperor, justbecause  he is  the Emperor, is  all-powerful. And  they are sure  that theBoard of Trustees, simply because it is the Board of Trustees acting⁹ in thename of  the Emperor,  cannot be in a  position where it does  not give theorders. That incapacity to  recognize the possibility of revolt is our bestally."He heaved  out of his chair and went to the  water cooler. "They're not badfellows, Lee,  when they stick to  their Encyclopedia¹⁰ ?and  we'll see thatthat's where they stick  in the future. They're hopelessly incompetent¹¹ whenit comes  to ruling Terminus. Go away now and  start things rolling. I wantto be alone."He  sat down  on the  comer of  his desk  and stared  at the cup  of water.
Space! If only he  were as confident as he pretended! The Anacreonians werelanding in  two days  and what had  he to go  on but  a set of  notions andhalf-guesses as  to what  Had Seldon had  been driving at  these past fiftyyears?  He wasn't  even a  real, honest-to-goodness  psychologist ? just afumbler with a little  training trying to outguess the greatest mind of theage.
If  Fara were  fight;  if Anacreon  were all  the  problem Hari  Seldon hadforeseen; if  the Encyclopedia were  all he was interested  in preserving ?
then what price coup³ d'閠at?
He shrugged¹² and drank his water.

1 impudence   

n.厚颜无耻；冒失；无礼

参考例句：

• His impudence provoked her into slapping his face.他的粗暴让她气愤地给了他一耳光。
• What knocks me is his impudence.他的厚颜无耻使我感到吃惊。

2 hesitation   

n.犹豫，踌躇

参考例句：

• After a long hesitation, he told the truth at last.踌躇了半天，他终于直说了。
• There was a certain hesitation in her manner.她的态度有些犹豫不决。

3 coup   

n.政变；突然而成功的行动

参考例句：

• The monarch was ousted by a military coup.那君主被军事政变者废黜了。
• That government was overthrown in a military coup three years ago.那个政府在3年前的军事政变中被推翻。

4 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

5 irresolute   

adj.无决断的，优柔寡断的，踌躇不定的

参考例句：

• Irresolute persons make poor victors.优柔寡断的人不会成为胜利者。
• His opponents were too irresolute to call his bluff.他的对手太优柔寡断,不敢接受挑战。

6 rusty   

adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的

参考例句：

• The lock on the door is rusty and won't open.门上的锁锈住了。
• I haven't practiced my French for months and it's getting rusty.几个月不用，我的法语又荒疏了。

7 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

8 authoritarian   

n./adj.专制(的)，专制主义者，独裁主义者

参考例句：

• Foreign diplomats suspect him of authoritarian tendencies.各国外交官怀疑他有着独裁主义倾向。
• The authoritarian policy wasn't proved to be a success.独裁主义的政策证明并不成功。

9 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

10 encyclopedia   

n.百科全书

参考例句：

• The encyclopedia fell to the floor with a thud.那本百科全书砰的一声掉到地上。
• Geoff is a walking encyclopedia.He knows about everything.杰夫是个活百科全书，他什么都懂。

11 incompetent   

adj.无能力的，不能胜任的

参考例句：

• He is utterly incompetent at his job.他完全不能胜任他的工作。
• He is incompetent at working with his hands.他动手能力不行。

12 shrugged   

vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀，什么也没说。
• She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩，装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》