PART IV THE TRADERS

TRADERS?..  and constantly  in advance  of the  political hegemony  of theFoundation were  the Traders, reaching out  tenuous¹ fingerholds through thetremendous distances  of the Periphery². Months  or years might pass betweenlandings on Terminus; their  ships were often nothing more than patchquiltsof  home-made repairs  and improvisations;  their honesty  was none  of thehighest; their daring...
Through   it  all   they   forged  an   empire  more   enduring   than  thepseudo-religious despotism of the Four Kingdoms...
Tales  without end  are  told of  these  massive, lonely  figures who  borehalf-seriously, half-mockingly a motto  adopted from one of Salvor Hardin'sepigrams, "Never  let your sense of  morals prevent you from  doing what isright!"  It  is difficult  now  to  tell which  tales  are  real and  whichapocryphal.  There   are  none   probably  that  have   not  suffered  someexaggeration....
ENCYCLOPEDIA³ GALACTICALimmar Ponyets was completely a-lather when the call reached his receiver ?
which proves  that the old bromide about  telemessages and the shower holdstrue   even  in   the  dark,   hard  space   of  the   Galactic  Periphery.
Luckily that  part of  a free-lance trade  ship which is not  given over tomiscellaneous merchandise  is extremely snug⁴. So  much so, that the shower,hot water  included, is located in  a two-by-four cubby, ten  feet from thecontrol  panels. Ponyets heard  the staccato  rattle⁵ of the  receiver quiteplainly.
Dripping suds  and a growl⁶, he  stepped out to adjust  the vocal⁷, and threehours later  a second  trade ship was  alongside, and a  grinning youngsterentered through the air tube between the ships.
Ponyets  rattled  his  best  chair  forward  and  perched  himself  on  thepilot-swivel.
"What've you  been doing, Gorm?" he asked, darkly.  "Chasing me all the wayfrom the Foundation?"Les Gorm  broke out a cigarette, and shook his  head definitely, "Me? Not achance. I'm just a  sucker who happened to land on Glyptal IV the day afterthe mail. So they sent me out after you with this."The   tiny,  gleaming   sphere  changed   hands,  and  Gorm   added,  "It'sconfidential. Super-secret. Can't be trusted to the sub-ether and all that.
Or  so I  gather. At  least, it's  a Personal  Capsule, and won't  open foranyone but you."Ponyets regarded  the capsule distastefully,  "I can see that.  And I neverknew one of these to hold good news, either."It opened in his  hand and the thin, transparent⁸ tape unrolled stiffly. Hiseyes swept the message  quickly, for when the last of the tape had emerged,the first  was already  brown and crinkled. In  a minute and a  half it hadturned black and, molecule⁹ by molecule, fallen apart.
Ponyets grunted¹⁰ hollowly, "Oh, Galaxy¹¹!"Les  Gorm  said  quietly,  "Can I  help  somehow?  Or  is  it too  secret?""It  will bear  telling,  since you're  of the  Guild¹².  I've got  to  go toAskone.""That place? How come?""They've imprisoned¹³ a trader. But keep it to yourself.''
Gorm's  expression  jolted  into  anger, "Imprisoned!  That's  against  theConvention.""So is the interference with local politics.""Oh! Is  that what  he did?" Gorm  meditated¹⁴. "Who's the  trader'? Anyone Iknow?""No!" said Ponyets sharply,  and Gorm accepted the implication and asked nofurther questions.
Ponyets  was up  and staring  darkly out  the visiplate. He  mumbled¹⁵ strongexpressions at  that part of the  misty¹⁶ lens-form that was  the body of theGalaxy,  then  said  loudly,   "Damnedest  mess!  I'm  way  behind  quota¹⁷."Light broke  on Gorm's intellect,  "Hey, friend, Askone is  a closed area.""That's right. You can't sell as much as a penknife on Askone. They won'tbuy nuclear gadgets¹⁸ of any sort. With my quota dead on its feet, it'smurder to go there.""Can't get out of it?"Ponyets shook his head absently, A know the fellow involved. Can't walk outon a friend. What  of it? I am in the hands of the Galactic Spirit and walkcheerfully in the way he points out."Gorm said blankly, "Huh?"Ponyets looked  at him, and laughed shortly, "I  forgot. You never read the'Bood of the Spirit,' did you?""Never heard of it," said Gorm, curtly¹⁹.
"Well, you would if you'd had a religious training.""Religious  training? For  the  priesthood?"  Gorm was  profoundly shocked.
"Afraid so. It's my  dark shame and secret. I was too much for the ReverendFathers, though, They expelled  me, for reasons sufficient to promote me toa secular²⁰ education under  the Foundation. Well, look, I'd better push off.
How's your quota this year?"Gorm  crushed out  his cigarette and  adjusted his  cap, "I've got  my lastcargo going now. I'll make it.""Lucky fellow," gloomed Ponyets,  and for many minutes after Les Gorm left,he sat in motionless reverie.
So Eskel Gorov was on Askone ?and in prison as well!
That was bad! In  fact, considerably²¹ worse than it might appear. It was onething  to tell  a curious youngster  a diluted  version of the  business tothrow him  off and send  him about his own.  It was a thing  of a differentsort to face the truth.
For  Limmar Ponyets was  one of the  few people  who happened to  know thatMaster  Trader Eskel  Gorov  was not  a trader  at  all; but  that entirelydifferent thing, an agent of the Foundation!

1 tenuous   

adj.细薄的，稀薄的，空洞的

参考例句：

• He has a rather tenuous grasp of reality.他对现实认识很肤浅。
• The air ten miles above the earth is very tenuous.距离地面十公里的空气十分稀薄。

2 periphery   

n.(圆体的)外面；周围

参考例句：

• Geographically, the UK is on the periphery of Europe.从地理位置上讲，英国处于欧洲边缘。
• The periphery of the retina is very sensitive to motion.视网膜的外围对运动非常敏感。

3 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。

4 snug   

adj.温暖舒适的，合身的，安全的；v.使整洁干净，舒适地依靠，紧贴；n.（英）酒吧里的私房

参考例句：

• He showed us into a snug little sitting room.他领我们走进了一间温暖而舒适的小客厅。
• She had a small but snug home.她有个小小的但很舒适的家。

5 rattle   

v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓

参考例句：

• The baby only shook the rattle and laughed and crowed.孩子只是摇着拨浪鼓，笑着叫着。
• She could hear the rattle of the teacups.她听见茶具叮当响。

6 growl   

v.（狗等）嗥叫，（炮等）轰鸣；n.嗥叫，轰鸣

参考例句：

• The dog was biting,growling and wagging its tail.那条狗在一边撕咬一边低声吼叫，尾巴也跟着摇摆。
• The car growls along rutted streets.汽车在车辙纵横的街上一路轰鸣。

7 vocal   

adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目

参考例句：

• The tongue is a vocal organ.舌头是一个发音器官。
• Public opinion at last became vocal.终于舆论哗然。

8 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。

9 molecule   

n.分子，克分子

参考例句：

• A molecule of water is made up of two atoms of hygrogen and one atom of oxygen.一个水分子是由P妈̬f婘̬ 妈̬成的。
• This gives us the structural formula of the molecule.这种方式给出了分子的结构式。

10 grunted   

（猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说

参考例句：

• She just grunted, not deigning to look up from the page. 她只咕哝了一声，继续看书，不屑抬起头来看一眼。
• She grunted some incomprehensible reply. 她咕噜着回答了些令人费解的话。

11 galaxy   

n.星系；银河系；一群(杰出或著名的人物)

参考例句：

• The earth is one of the planets in the Galaxy.地球是银河系中的星球之一。
• The company has a galaxy of talent.该公司拥有一批优秀的人才。

12 guild   

n.行会，同业公会，协会

参考例句：

• He used to be a member of the Writers' Guild of America.他曾是美国作家协会的一员。
• You had better incorporate the firm into your guild.你最好把这个公司并入你的行业协会。

13 imprisoned   

下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was imprisoned for two concurrent terms of 30 months and 18 months. 他被判处30个月和18个月的监禁，合并执行。
• They were imprisoned for possession of drugs. 他们因拥有毒品而被监禁。

14 meditated   

深思，沉思，冥想( meditate的过去式和过去分词 )； 内心策划，考虑

参考例句：

• He meditated for two days before giving his answer. 他在作出答复之前考虑了两天。
• She meditated for 2 days before giving her answer. 她考虑了两天才答复。

15 mumbled   

含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He mumbled something to me which I did not quite catch. 他对我叽咕了几句话，可我没太听清楚。
• George mumbled incoherently to himself. 乔治语无伦次地喃喃自语。

16 misty   

adj.雾蒙蒙的，有雾的

参考例句：

• He crossed over to the window to see if it was still misty.他走到窗户那儿，看看是不是还有雾霭。
• The misty scene had a dreamy quality about it.雾景给人以梦幻般的感觉。

17 quota   

n.（生产、进出口等的）配额，（移民的）限额

参考例句：

• A restricted import quota was set for meat products.肉类产品设定了进口配额。
• He overfulfilled his production quota for two months running.他一连两个月超额完成生产指标。

18 gadgets   

n.小机械，小器具（ gadget的名词复数 ）

参考例句：

• Certainly. The idea is not to have a house full of gadgets. 当然。设想是房屋不再充满小配件。 来自超越目标英语 第4册
• This meant more gadgets and more experiments. 这意味着要设计出更多的装置，做更多的实验。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史

19 curtly   

adv.简短地

参考例句：

• He nodded curtly and walked away. 他匆忙点了一下头就走了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The request was curtly refused. 这个请求被毫不客气地拒绝了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 secular   

n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的

参考例句：

• We live in an increasingly secular society.我们生活在一个日益非宗教的社会。
• Britain is a plural society in which the secular predominates.英国是个世俗主导的多元社会。

21 considerably   

adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上

参考例句：

• The economic situation has changed considerably.经济形势已发生了相当大的变化。
• The gap has narrowed considerably.分歧大大缩小了。