Part 3 In The Shadow Chapter 14

Slowly the winter drew nigh, and spread over all like a shroudleisurely drawn¹. Gray days followed one another, but Yann appeared nomore, and the two women lived on in their loneliness. With the cold,their daily existence became harder and more expensive.

　　Old Yvonne was difficult to tend, too; her poor mind was going. Shegot into fits of temper now, and spoke² wicked, insulting speeches onceor twice every week; it took her so, like a child, about merenothings.

　　Poor old granny! She was still so sweet in her lucid³ days, that Gauddid not cease to respect and cherish her. To have always been so goodand to end by being bad, and show towards the close a depth of maliceand spitefulness that had slumbered⁴ during her whole life, to use awhole vocabulary of coarse words that she had hidden; what mockery ofthe soul! what a derisive⁵ mystery! She began to sing, too, which wasstill more painful to hear than her angry words, for she mixedeverything up together--the /oremus/ of a mass with refrains of loosesongs heard in the harbour from wandering sailors. Sometimes she sang"/Les Fillettes de Paimpol/" (The Lasses of Paimpol), or, nodding herhead and beating time with her foot, she would mutter:

　　"Mon mari vient de partir;Pour la peche d'Islande, mon mari vient de partir,Il m'a laissee sans le sou,Mais--trala, trala la lou,J'en gagne, j'en gagne."(My husband went off sailingUpon the Iceland cruise,But never left me money,Not e'en a couple sous.

　　But--ri too loo! ri tooral loo!

　　I know what to do!)She always stopped short, while her eyes opened wide with a lifelessexpression, like those dying flames that suddenly flash out beforefading away. She hung her head and remained speechless for a greatlength of time, her lower jaw⁶ dropping as in the dead.

　　One day she could remember nothing of her grandson. "Sylvestre?

　　Sylvestre?" repeated she, wondering whom Gaud meant; "oh! my dear,d'ye see, I've so many of them, that now I can't remember theirnames!"So saying she threw up her poor wrinkled hands, with a careless,almost contemptuous toss. But the next day she remembered him quitewell; mentioning several things he had said or done, and that wholeday long she wept.

　　Oh! those long winter evenings when there was not enough wood fortheir fire; to work in the bitter cold for one's daily bread, sewinghard to finish the clothes brought over from Paimpol.

　　Granny Yvonne, sitting by the hearth⁷, remained quiet enough, her feetstuck in among the smouldering embers, and her hands clasped beneathher apron⁸. But at the beginning of the evening, Gaud always had totalk to her to cheer her a little.

　　"Why don't ye speak to me, my good girl? In my time I've known manygirls who had plenty to say for themselves. I don't think it 'ud seemso lonesome, if ye'd only talk a bit."So Gaud would tell her chit-chat she had heard in town, or spoke ofthe people she had met on her way home, talking of things that werequite indifferent to her, as indeed all things were now; and stoppingin the midst of her stories when she saw the poor old woman wasfalling asleep.

　　There seemed nothing lively or youthful around her, whose fresh youthyearned for youth. Her beauty would fade away, lonely and barren. Thewind from the sea came in from all sides, blowing her lamp about, andthe roar of the waves could be heard as in a ship. Listening, theever-present sad memory of Yann came to her, the man whose dominionwas these battling elements; through the long terrible nights, whenall things were unbridled and howling in the outer darkness, shethought of him with agony.

　　Always alone as she was, with the sleeping old granny, she sometimesgrew frightened and looked in all dark corners, thinking of thesailors, her ancestors, who had lived in these nooks, but perished inthe sea on such nights as these. Their spirits might possibly return;and she did not feel assured against the visit of the dead by thepresence of the poor old woman, who was almost as one of them herself.

　　Suddenly she shivered from head to foot, as she heard a thin, crackedvoice, as if stifled⁹ under the earth, proceed from the chimney corner.

　　In a chirping¹⁰ tone, which chilled her very soul, the voice sang:

　　"Pour la peche d'Islande, mon mari vient de partir,Il m'a laissee sans le sou,Mais--trala, trala la lou!"Then she was seized with that peculiar¹¹ terror that one has of madpeople.

　　The rain fell with an unceasing, fountain-like gush¹², and streamed downthe walls outside. There were oozings of water from the old moss-grownroof, which continued dropping on the self-same spots with amonotonous sad splash. They even soaked through into the floor inside,which was of hardened earth studded with pebbles¹³ and shells.

　　Dampness was felt on all sides, wrapping them up in its chill masses;an uneven¹⁴, buffeting¹⁵ dampness, misty¹⁶ and dark, and seeming to isolatethe scattered¹⁷ huts of Ploubazlanec still more.

　　But the Sunday evenings were the saddest of all, because of therelative gaiety in other homes on that day, for there are joyfulevenings even among those forgotten hamlets of the coast; here andthere, from some closed-up hut, beaten about by the inky rains,ponderous songs issued. Within, tables were spread for drinkers;sailors sat before the smoking fire, the old ones drinking brandy andthe young ones flirting¹⁸ with the girls; all more or less intoxicatedand singing to deaden thought. Close to them, the great sea, theirtomb on the morrow, sang also, filling the vacant night with itsimmense profound voice.

　　On some Sundays, parties of young fellows who came out of the tavernsor back from Paimpol, passed along the road, near the door of theMoans; they were such as lived at the land's end of Pors-Even way.

　　They passed very late, caring little for the cold and wet, accustomedas they were to frost and tempests. Gaud lent her ear to the medley¹⁹ oftheir songs and shouts--soon lost in the uproar²⁰ of the squalls or thebreakers--trying to distinguish Yann's voice, and then feelingstrangely perplexed²¹ if she thought she had heard it.

　　It really was too unkind of Yann not to have returned to see themagain, and to lead so gay a life so soon after the death of Sylvestre;all this was unlike him. No, she really could not understand him now,but in spite of all she could not forget him or believe him to bewithout heart.

　　The fact was that since his return he had been leading a mostdissipated life indeed. Three or four times, on the Ploubazlanec road,she had seen him coming towards her, but she was always quick enoughto shun²² him; and he, too, in those cases, took the opposite directionover the heath. As if by mutual²³ understanding, now, they fled fromeach other.

1 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

2 spoke   

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

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 lucid   

adj.明白易懂的，清晰的，头脑清楚的

参考例句：

• His explanation was lucid and to the point.他的解释扼要易懂。
• He wasn't very lucid,he didn't quite know where he was.他神志不是很清醒，不太知道自己在哪里。

4 slumbered   

微睡，睡眠（slumber的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The baby slumbered in his cradle. 婴儿安睡在摇篮中。
• At that time my virtue slumbered; my evil, kept awake by ambition. 就在那时，我的善的一面睡着了，我的邪恶面因野心勃勃而清醒着。

5 derisive   

adj.嘲弄的

参考例句：

• A storm of derisive applause broke out.一阵暴风雨般的哄笑声轰然响起。
• They flushed,however,when she burst into a shout of derisive laughter.然而，当地大声嘲笑起来的时候，她们的脸不禁涨红了。

6 jaw   

n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训

参考例句：

• He delivered a right hook to his opponent's jaw.他给了对方下巴一记右钩拳。
• A strong square jaw is a sign of firm character.强健的方下巴是刚毅性格的标志。

7 hearth   

n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面

参考例句：

• She came and sat in a chair before the hearth.她走过来，在炉子前面的椅子上坐下。
• She comes to the hearth,and switches on the electric light there.她走到壁炉那里，打开电灯。

8 apron   

n.围裙；工作裙

参考例句：

• We were waited on by a pretty girl in a pink apron.招待我们的是一位穿粉红色围裙的漂亮姑娘。
• She stitched a pocket on the new apron.她在新围裙上缝上一只口袋。

9 stifled   

（使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵

参考例句：

• The gas stifled them. 煤气使他们窒息。
• The rebellion was stifled. 叛乱被镇压了。

10 chirping   

鸟叫，虫鸣( chirp的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The birds,chirping relentlessly,woke us up at daybreak. 破晓时鸟儿不断吱吱地叫，把我们吵醒了。
• The birds are chirping merrily. 鸟儿在欢快地鸣叫着。

11 peculiar   

adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的

参考例句：

• He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
• He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。

12 gush   

v.喷，涌；滔滔不绝(说话)；n.喷，涌流；迸发

参考例句：

• There was a gush of blood from the wound.血从伤口流出。
• There was a gush of blood as the arrow was pulled out from the arm.当从手臂上拔出箭来时，一股鲜血涌了出来。

13 pebbles   

[复数]鹅卵石； 沙砾； 卵石，小圆石( pebble的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The pebbles of the drive crunched under his feet. 汽车道上的小石子在他脚底下喀嚓作响。
• Line the pots with pebbles to ensure good drainage. 在罐子里铺一层鹅卵石，以确保排水良好。

14 uneven   

adj.不平坦的，不规则的，不均匀的

参考例句：

• The sidewalk is very uneven—be careful where you walk.这人行道凹凸不平—走路时请小心。
• The country was noted for its uneven distribution of land resources.这个国家以土地资源分布不均匀出名。

15 buffeting   

振动

参考例句：

• The flowers took quite a buffeting in the storm. 花朵在暴风雨中备受摧残。
• He's been buffeting with misfortunes for 15 years. 15年来，他与各种不幸相博斗。

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 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

18 flirting   

v.调情，打情骂俏( flirt的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Don't take her too seriously; she's only flirting with you. 别把她太当真，她只不过是在和你调情罢了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• 'she's always flirting with that new fellow Tseng!" “她还同新来厂里那个姓曾的吊膀子！ 来自子夜部分

19 medley   

n.混合

参考例句：

• Today's sports meeting doesn't seem to include medley relay swimming.现在的运动会好象还没有混合接力泳这个比赛项目。
• China won the Men's 200 metres Individual Medley.中国赢得了男子200米个人混合泳比赛。

20 uproar   

n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸

参考例句：

• She could hear the uproar in the room.她能听见房间里的吵闹声。
• His remarks threw the audience into an uproar.他的讲话使听众沸腾起来。

21 perplexed   

adj.不知所措的

参考例句：

• The farmer felt the cow,went away,returned,sorely perplexed,always afraid of being cheated.那农民摸摸那头牛，走了又回来，犹豫不决，总怕上当受骗。
• The child was perplexed by the intricate plot of the story.这孩子被那头绪纷繁的故事弄得迷惑不解。

22 shun   

vt.避开，回避，避免

参考例句：

• Materialists face truth,whereas idealists shun it.唯物主义者面向真理，唯心主义者则逃避真理。
• This extremist organization has shunned conventional politics.这个极端主义组织有意避开了传统政治。

23 mutual   

adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的

参考例句：

• We must pull together for mutual interest.我们必须为相互的利益而通力合作。
• Mutual interests tied us together.相互的利害关系把我们联系在一起。