Towards eleven o’clock church and chapel7 goers began to dribble8 down the lane to Brownbread Street, while a [88] few strayed into the Bethel, which looked a little less gaunt with its door open to the sunshine and old Grandfather Hubble sitting in it with the collecting-plate on his knees. The congregation was small, but bigger than the Particular Baptist sect9 in Sunday Street. There were actually only two received members—old Hubble and his daughter-in-law; the rest were either members of other denominations10 who had quarrelled with their respective chapels11, or else felt disinclined for the trudge12 into Brownbread Street. Bourner came because the minister had once been a blacksmith, and the farmer of Puddledock came because he had once cured a stallion of his that had lockjaw.
Jerry Sumption came because he hoped Ivy13 Beatup would be there. It was a vain hope, for on fine Sundays the family at Worge always went to church—except, of course, Mus’ Beatup, whose scientific readings had taught him the folly14 of all churches, and Mrs. Beatup, who stayed at home to cook the dinner. However, Mr. Sumption had encouraged, if indeed he had not inspired, the illusion which landed Jerry in one of the big back pews of the Bethel, a pew like a dusty box, smelling of wood-rot. He knew that if he had been more candid15 Jerry would have padded off over the fields to Brownbread Street and drunk in pernicious heresies16 of Infant Baptism and Universal Redemption, while he stared at his sweetheart’s profile ruddy in the sunshine which glowed on her through some painted saint. So he concealed17 the fact that the Beatups were “Church,” weather permitting, and allowed Jerry to think he would have Ivy to grin and blink at during the sermon, as on his last visit, when the rain was tinkling18 in the chapel gutters19.
Finding himself sold, Jerry was inclined to sulk. Luckily he did not suspect his father, or he would have got up and walked out. The service was nearly half [89] finished before he gave up hope; that is to say, the sermon had begun, and the congregation had subsided20 into its various compartments21, so that anyone coming in would have seen no one but Mr. Sumption, like a big crow in his Sunday blacks, shouting from the pulpit at two rows of coffin-like pews. Jerry opened the door of his, so that he could look out of the chapel door, which stood open, and see the dull blue sky above the fields of Puddledock, and in the foreground the neglected churchyard of the Bethel, with the tombstones leaning this way and that.
A heavy sickness of heart fell on him, sitting there in the rot-smelling pew, with his arms folded over his chest and his shoulders shrugged22 to his ears. He felt caught in his love for Ivy Beatup like an animal in a trap, frantic23, struggling, wounding himself with his struggles. If she did not want him, why wouldn’t she let him go?... Lord! he would never forget her that day at Senlac Fair, with her cheeks red as the pimpernel and her eyes like the big twilight24 stars, and her hair blowing about them as they kissed.... If she had not meant it, why had she done it? If she had not wanted his heart, why had she taken it and bruised25 it so? He did not please her. Why? He had pleased other girls; and now he was in uniform ... that ought to please her. He remembered how she had made him jealous when she spoke26 of her soldier friends. Well, now he was a soldier too—leading a damned life partly for her sake ... that ought to please her.
In the Bethel yard rank weeds were growing, clumping27 round the tombstones, thickening the grass with their fat stalks and wide milk-bleeding leaves. They were hot in the sun, and the smell of them crept into the Bethel and found its place in the miasma28 of wood-rot and Sunday clothes and plaster and stale lamp-oil ... [90] the smell of pignut stewing29 in the sun, of the burdock and the thick fog-weed, the plantain, the nettle30, the dandelion. The chapel weeds seemed to give Jerry an answer to his question. He did not please Ivy because he was the gipsy-woman’s son, no less a weed because he grew in a chapel yard. The hedge-born could not please the house-born, as she had said—though for that matter he had been born in a bed like any Christian31, in that little room above the Forge at Bethersden, which he could dimly remember, with its view down three cross-roads.
He clenched32 his small hard fists, and stared scowling33 out towards the sun-swamped fields of the horizon. He would punish Ivy Beatup for her cruelty, for having trodden on the chapel weed. He would make her suffer—if he could, for she was tough and lusty as an oak. He found himself hating her for her sturdy cheerfulness—for the shape of her face, with the hard, round cheeks and pointed34 chin—for her lips which were warm when her heart was cold....
A loud thump35 on the pulpit woke him out of his thoughts. His father had noticed his abstraction for some time, and chose this way of rousing him. From his vantage he could see into all the separate cells of his congregation, and if he noticed anyone nodding or mooning or reading his Bible for solace36, he made haste to recall him to a proper sense of his surroundings. He now stopped in the middle of an eschatological trump37 and glared at Jerry with his bright, tragic38 eyes. He had a habit of drastic personal dealings with his flock, to which, perhaps, its small size was due. Certainly Ades of Cowlease had never entered the Bethel door since Mr. Sumption had “thumped39” at him, and one or two others had been driven away in a like manner. To-day everyone, even those whose heads did not pop out of their [91] pews like Jim-Crows, guessed that the minister had “thumped” at Jerry, for the minister’s Jerry seldom came through a service without being thumped at—luckily he did not much mind it. “W’oa—old ’un,” he mumbled40 to himself, as he met his father’s stare, and soon luckily came the hymn41: “They shall gather by the river,” which Jerry sang most tunefully, in a loud, sweet, not quite human voice, forgetting all those sad thoughts of the chapel weed....
But he remembered them when he was walking across to the Horselunges with his father.
“Father, if I can’t get Ivy Beatup, I’ll kill myself.”
“For shame, you ungodly boy—to speak so light of losing your salvation42!”
“Would I lose my salvation if I killed myself?”
“Reckon you would. Satan would get you at once.”
“I’ll kill her, then. Satan can have her and welcome.”
“It’s you he’d have if you killed her.”
“Then he’s got me both ways?”
“Reckon he has, you sinful good-for-nothing, dreaming in sermon-time. Have done, do, with your idle talk, or Satan will get me too, and make me give you a kick behind.”

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收听单词发音

1
haze
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n.霾,烟雾;懵懂,迷糊;vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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2
scent
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n.气味,香味,香水,线索,嗅觉;v.嗅,发觉 | |
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3
smelt
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v.熔解,熔炼;n.银白鱼,胡瓜鱼 | |
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4
chaffy
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adj.多糠的,如糠的,无用的 | |
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5
preyed
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v.掠食( prey的过去式和过去分词 );掠食;折磨;(人)靠欺诈为生 | |
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6
harry
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vt.掠夺,蹂躏,使苦恼 | |
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7
chapel
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n.小教堂,殡仪馆 | |
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dribble
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v.点滴留下,流口水;n.口水 | |
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9
sect
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n.派别,宗教,学派,派系 | |
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10
denominations
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n.宗派( denomination的名词复数 );教派;面额;名称 | |
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11
chapels
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n.小教堂, (医院、监狱等的)附属礼拜堂( chapel的名词复数 );(在小教堂和附属礼拜堂举行的)礼拜仪式 | |
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12
trudge
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v.步履艰难地走;n.跋涉,费力艰难的步行 | |
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13
ivy
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n.常青藤,常春藤 | |
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14
folly
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n.愚笨,愚蠢,蠢事,蠢行,傻话 | |
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15
candid
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adj.公正的,正直的;坦率的 | |
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16
heresies
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n.异端邪说,异教( heresy的名词复数 ) | |
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17
concealed
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a.隐藏的,隐蔽的 | |
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18
tinkling
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n.丁当作响声 | |
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19
gutters
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(路边)排水沟( gutter的名词复数 ); 阴沟; (屋顶的)天沟; 贫贱的境地 | |
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20
subsided
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v.(土地)下陷(因在地下采矿)( subside的过去式和过去分词 );减弱;下降至较低或正常水平;一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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21
compartments
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n.间隔( compartment的名词复数 );(列车车厢的)隔间;(家具或设备等的)分隔间;隔层 | |
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22
shrugged
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vt.耸肩(shrug的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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23
frantic
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adj.狂乱的,错乱的,激昂的 | |
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24
twilight
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n.暮光,黄昏;暮年,晚期,衰落时期 | |
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25
bruised
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[医]青肿的,瘀紫的 | |
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26
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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27
clumping
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v.(树、灌木、植物等的)丛、簇( clump的现在分词 );(土、泥等)团;块;笨重的脚步声 | |
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28
miasma
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n.毒气;不良气氛 | |
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29
stewing
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炖 | |
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30
nettle
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n.荨麻;v.烦忧,激恼 | |
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31
Christian
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adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒 | |
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32
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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33
scowling
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怒视,生气地皱眉( scowl的现在分词 ) | |
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34
pointed
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adj.尖的,直截了当的 | |
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35
thump
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v.重击,砰然地响;n.重击,重击声 | |
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36
solace
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n.安慰;v.使快乐;vt.安慰(物),缓和 | |
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37
trump
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n.王牌,法宝;v.打出王牌,吹喇叭 | |
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38
tragic
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adj.悲剧的,悲剧性的,悲惨的 | |
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39
thumped
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v.重击, (指心脏)急速跳动( thump的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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40
mumbled
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含糊地说某事,叽咕,咕哝( mumble的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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41
hymn
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n.赞美诗,圣歌,颂歌 | |
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42
salvation
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n.(尤指基督)救世,超度,拯救,解困 | |
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