KOHAT

A station on the road—the delightful¹ days at Bunnoo left far behind.

The night was spent in travelling: an oppressive night of crushing heat, with leaden clouds on the very top of us; and next day, in the blazing sunlight, nothing seemed to have any colour—everything was white and hot against a blue-black sky that seemed low enough to rest on the earth. Wayfarers² slept under every tree, and in the villages every place was shut, everything seemed dead. It was only where we changed horses that we saw anyone—people who disappeared again immediately under shelter from the sun.

Very early in the morning we met a many-coloured caravan³ of men, women, and children riding astride on asses⁴, amid baskets and bundles. They were on their way to a wedding: they had stopped to rest for the last time; and alone, far from the merry, noisy group, a "bad woman" sat down on a stone. She was on the way to the same festival, and was allowed to travel with the[Pg 288] caravan for succour in case of need; but she was not permitted to join the party.

Towards evening the sky turned to a dull, dark green, and in the sudden gloom down came the rain in floods, tremendous, solid, for about five minutes; then as suddenly it was as hot as ever again, dry and overpowering.

Seen through the blue glass under the low, broad carapace⁵ that covered the carriage, the landscape circled past, the colour hardly subdued⁶ to that of Europe; even in the dusk, with the windows open, everything was still intolerably, crudely white, with reflections of fiery⁷ gold. Everything vibrated in the heat, and at the stations the walls after baking all day scorched⁸ you when you went near.

About Lahore, all among the ruined temples, the crumbling⁹ heaps of light red bricks sparkling with mica¹⁰, there were fields of roses in blossom and of ripe corn. Naked coolies were labouring in the fields, gathering¹¹ the ears one by one into quite small bunches; they looked like children playing at harvesting.

1 delightful   

adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的

参考例句：

• We had a delightful time by the seashore last Sunday.上星期天我们在海滨玩得真痛快。
• Peter played a delightful melody on his flute.彼得用笛子吹奏了一支欢快的曲子。

2 wayfarers   

n.旅人，（尤指）徒步旅行者( wayfarer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Days have been when wayfarers came here to wash their weary feet. 从前曾有过路人到这里来洗疲乏的脚。 来自互联网
• You are the way and the wayfarers. 你们是道路，也是行路者。 来自互联网

3 caravan   

n.大蓬车；活动房屋

参考例句：

• The community adviser gave us a caravan to live in.社区顾问给了我们一间活动住房栖身。
• Geoff connected the caravan to the car.杰弗把旅行用的住屋拖车挂在汽车上。

4 asses   

n. 驴，愚蠢的人，臀部 adv. (常用作后置)用于贬损或骂人

参考例句：

• Sometimes I got to kick asses to make this place run right. 有时我为了把这个地方搞得像个样子，也不得不踢踢别人的屁股。 来自教父部分
• Those were wild asses maybe, or zebras flying around in herds. 那些也许是野驴或斑马在成群地奔跑。

5 carapace   

n.（蟹或龟的）甲壳

参考例句：

• The tortoise pulled its head into his carapace.乌龟把头缩进它的壳里。
• He tickled gently at its glossy carapace,but the stubborn beetle would not budge.他轻轻地搔着甲虫光滑的壳，但这只固执的甲虫就是不动。

6 subdued   

adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He seemed a bit subdued to me. 我觉得他当时有点闷闷不乐。
• I felt strangely subdued when it was all over. 一切都结束的时候，我却有一种奇怪的压抑感。

7 fiery   

adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的

参考例句：

• She has fiery red hair.她有一头火红的头发。
• His fiery speech agitated the crowd.他热情洋溢的讲话激动了群众。

8 scorched   

烧焦，烤焦( scorch的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（植物）枯萎，把…晒枯； 高速行驶； 枯焦

参考例句：

• I scorched my dress when I was ironing it. 我把自己的连衣裙熨焦了。
• The hot iron scorched the tablecloth. 热熨斗把桌布烫焦了。

9 crumbling   

adj.摇摇欲坠的

参考例句：

• an old house with crumbling plaster and a leaking roof 一所灰泥剥落、屋顶漏水的老房子
• The boat was tied up alongside a crumbling limestone jetty. 这条船停泊在一个摇摇欲坠的石灰岩码头边。

10 mica   

n.云母

参考例句：

• It could not pass through material impervious to water such as mica.它不能通过云母这样的不透水的物质。
• Because of its layered structure,mica is fissile.因为是层状结构，云母很容易分成片。

11 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。