Part 5 The Second Wedding Chapter 7

　　September had passed. The sorrowing wife took scarcely anynourishment, and could no longer sleep. She remained at home now,crouching low with her hands between her knees, her head thrown backand resting against the wall behind. What was the good of getting up orgoing to bed now? When she was thoroughly¹ exhausted² she threw herself,dressed, upon her bed. Otherwise she remained in the same position,chilled and benumbed; in her quiescent³ state, only her teeth chattered⁴ withthe cold; she had that continual impression of a band of iron round herbrows; her cheeks looked wasted; her mouth was dry, with a feverish⁵ taste,and at times a painful hoarse⁶ cry rose from her throat, and was repeated in spasms⁷, while her head beat backward against the granite⁸ wall. Or else shecalled Yann by his name in a low, tender voice, as if he were quiet close toher, whispering words of love to her.

　　Sometimes she occupied her brain with thoughts of quite insignificantthings; for instance, she amused herself by watching the shadow of thechina Virgin⁹ lengthen¹⁰ slowly over the high woodwork of the bed, as thesun went down. And then the agonized¹¹ thoughts returned more horrible,and her wailing¹² cry broke out again as she beat her head against the wall.

　　All the hours of the day passed, and all the hours of evening, and ofnight, and then the hours of the morning. When she reckoned the time heought to have been back, she was seized with a still greater terror; shewished to forget all dates and the very names of the days.

　　Usually there is some information concerning the wrecks¹³ off Iceland;those who return have seen the tragedy from afar, or else have found somewreckage or bodies, or have an indication to guess the rest. But of the/Leopoldine/ nothing had been seen, and nothing was known. The /Marie-Jeanne/ men, the last to have seen her, on the 2d of August, said that shewas to have gone on fishing farther towards the north, and, beyond that,the secret was unfathomable.

　　Waiting, always waiting, and knowing nothing! When would the timecome when she need wait no longer? She did not even know that; and,now, she almost wished that it might be soon.

　　Oh! if he were dead; let them at least have pity enough to tell her so!

　　Oh! to see her darling, as he was at this very moment, that is, what wasleft him! If only the much-implored Virgin, or some other power, woulddo her the blessing¹⁵ to show her, by second-sight, her beloved! either livingand working hard to return a rich man, or else as a corpse¹⁶, surrendered bythe sea, so that she might at least know a certainty.

　　Sometimes she was seized with the thought of a ship appearingsuddenly upon the horizon; the /Leopoldine/ hastening home. Then shewould suddenly make an irreflected movement to rise, and rush to lookout¹⁷ at the ocean, to see whether it were true.

　　But she would fall back. Alas¹⁸! where was this /Leopoldine now?

　　Where could she be? Out afar, at that awful distance of Iceland, forsaken¹⁹, crushed, and lost.

　　All ended by a never-fading vision appearing to her--an empty, sea-tossed wreck¹⁴, slowly and gently rocked by the silent gray and rose-streaked sea; almost with soft mockery, in the midst of the vast calm ofdeadened waters.

1 thoroughly   

adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地

参考例句：

• The soil must be thoroughly turned over before planting.一定要先把土地深翻一遍再下种。
• The soldiers have been thoroughly instructed in the care of their weapons.士兵们都系统地接受过保护武器的训练。

2 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

3 quiescent   

adj.静止的，不活动的，寂静的

参考例句：

• It is unlikely that such an extremist organization will remain quiescent for long.这种过激的组织是不太可能长期沉默的。
• Great distance in either time or space has wonderful power to lull and render quiescent the human mind.时间和空间上的远距离有一种奇妙的力量，可以使人的心灵平静。

4 chattered   

（人）喋喋不休( chatter的过去式 )； 唠叨； （牙齿）打战； （机器）震颤

参考例句：

• They chattered away happily for a while. 他们高兴地闲扯了一会儿。
• We chattered like two teenagers. 我们聊着天，像两个十多岁的孩子。

5 feverish   

adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的

参考例句：

• He is too feverish to rest.他兴奋得安静不下来。
• They worked with feverish haste to finish the job.为了完成此事他们以狂热的速度工作着。

6 hoarse   

adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的

参考例句：

• He asked me a question in a hoarse voice.他用嘶哑的声音问了我一个问题。
• He was too excited and roared himself hoarse.他过于激动，嗓子都喊哑了。

7 spasms   

n.痉挛( spasm的名词复数 )；抽搐；（能量、行为等的）突发；发作

参考例句：

• After the patient received acupuncture treatment,his spasms eased off somewhat. 病人接受针刺治疗后，痉挛稍微减轻了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The smile died, squeezed out by spasms of anticipation and anxiety. 一阵阵预测和焦虑把她脸上的微笑挤掉了。 来自辞典例句

8 granite   

adj.花岗岩，花岗石

参考例句：

• They squared a block of granite.他们把一块花岗岩加工成四方形。
• The granite overlies the older rocks.花岗岩躺在磨损的岩石上面。

9 virgin   

n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的

参考例句：

• Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？
• There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。

10 lengthen   

vt.使伸长，延长

参考例句：

• He asked the tailor to lengthen his coat.他请裁缝把他的外衣放长些。
• The teacher told her to lengthen her paper out.老师让她把论文加长。

11 agonized   

v.使（极度）痛苦，折磨( agonize的过去式和过去分词 )；苦斗；苦苦思索；感到极度痛苦

参考例句：

• All the time they agonized and prayed. 他们一直在忍受痛苦并且祈祷。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• She agonized herself with the thought of her loss. 她念念不忘自己的损失，深深陷入痛苦之中。 来自辞典例句

12 wailing   

v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱

参考例句：

• A police car raced past with its siren wailing. 一辆警车鸣着警报器飞驰而过。
• The little girl was wailing miserably. 那小女孩难过得号啕大哭。

13 wrecks   

n.沉船( wreck的名词复数 )；（事故中）遭严重毁坏的汽车（或飞机等）；（身体或精神上）受到严重损伤的人；状况非常糟糕的车辆（或建筑物等）v.毁坏[毁灭]某物( wreck的第三人称单数 )；使（船舶）失事，使遇难，使下沉

参考例句：

• The shores are strewn with wrecks. 海岸上满布失事船只的残骸。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• My next care was to get together the wrecks of my fortune. 第二件我所关心的事就是集聚破产后的余财。 来自辞典例句

14 wreck   

n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难

参考例句：

• Weather may have been a factor in the wreck.天气可能是造成这次失事的原因之一。
• No one can wreck the friendship between us.没有人能够破坏我们之间的友谊。

15 blessing   

n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿

参考例句：

• The blessing was said in Hebrew.祷告用了希伯来语。
• A double blessing has descended upon the house.双喜临门。

16 corpse   

n.尸体，死尸

参考例句：

• What she saw was just an unfeeling corpse.她见到的只是一具全无感觉的尸体。
• The corpse was preserved from decay by embalming.尸体用香料涂抹以防腐烂。

17 lookout   

n.注意，前途，瞭望台

参考例句：

• You can see everything around from the lookout.从了望台上你可以看清周围的一切。
• It's a bad lookout for the company if interest rates don't come down.如果利率降不下来，公司的前景可就不妙了。

18 alas   

int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等)

参考例句：

• Alas!The window is broken!哎呀！窗子破了！
• Alas,the truth is less romantic.然而，真理很少带有浪漫色彩。

19 Forsaken   

adj. 被遗忘的, 被抛弃的 动词forsake的过去分词

参考例句：

• He was forsaken by his friends. 他被朋友们背弃了。
• He has forsaken his wife and children. 他遗弃了他的妻子和孩子。