CHAPTER TWELVE A TOUGH OLD BIRD AND THE KEY OF PARADISE I

 Sometimes the glowing mystery of her new island home seemed to rush upon Stella and make her a little faint.

 

“Ferd, dear,” she said breathlessly, “who would ever have dreamed of our coming to a place like this?”

 

He eyed her searchingly.

 

“So strange, Ferd—isn’t it? So almost unbelievable!”

 

“I wonder,” he mused¹, “if you would have come if you’d known what it was going to be like?”

 

“Oh yes!” she laughed softly. “It’s so beautiful I almost want to cry sometimes. And the silence.... Oh,” she exclaimed, “I tried so hard to imagine what our life was going to be like, but I never guessed a place like this!” Her smile was quiet and engaging. “At first,” she went on, “I felt almost sure, from things you said, it was going to be some big city in Europe or the East....”

 

They strolled together off to the rocky shore and stood gazing a long time across the tender resting sea. Silence! The sun was dropping beyond the sheen of a little crescent beach, with the jungle climbing rich and dark, unstirred save by the echo of such voices as are never still, by day or night. Slowly the sky grew splendid. Clouds drifted and piled, painted with crimson² and flushed with living gold.

 

Stella sat by her husband in a rapture³ of romantic happiness. Far down against the face of a rock gently slapped by the waxing tide, ran an odd white fissure⁴, and crabs⁵ were busy scuttling⁶ all about it. The air was faintly scented⁷ with brine and seaweed as evening began to close in.

 

“Oh, Ferd....” she faltered⁸ delightedly. “It’s so still!”

 

And then, as the dark came on, she drew her husband into one of his moods of verbal grandeur⁹, and sat entranced beside him while he multiplied, so easily, the splendours in store for them. This was but a beginning. They were to climb—the future was full of light.

 

“Perhaps you’d like it if I got a consular¹⁰ place in Cairo, later on?”

 

“Oh, yes!”

 

“Or—or an ambassador’s in Rome...?”

1 mused   

v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事）

参考例句：

• \"I wonder if I shall ever see them again, \"he mused. “我不知道是否还可以再见到他们，”他沉思自问。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• \"Where are we going from here?\" mused one of Rutherford's guests. 卢瑟福的一位客人忍不住说道：‘我们这是在干什么？” 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史

2 crimson   

n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色

参考例句：

• She went crimson with embarrassment.她羞得满脸通红。
• Maple leaves have turned crimson.枫叶已经红了。

3 rapture   

n.狂喜；全神贯注；着迷；v.使狂喜

参考例句：

• His speech was received with rapture by his supporters.他的演说受到支持者们的热烈欢迎。
• In the midst of his rapture,he was interrupted by his father.他正欢天喜地，被他父亲打断了。

4 fissure   

n.裂缝；裂伤

参考例句：

• Though we all got out to examine the fissure,he remained in the car.我们纷纷下车察看那个大裂缝，他却呆在车上。
• Ground fissure is the main geological disaster in Xi'an city construction.地裂缝是西安市主要的工程地质灾害问题。

5 crabs   

n.蟹( crab的名词复数 )；阴虱寄生病；蟹肉v.捕蟹( crab的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• As we walked along the seashore we saw lots of tiny crabs. 我们在海岸上散步时看到很多小蟹。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The fish and crabs scavenge for decaying tissue. 鱼和蟹搜寻腐烂的组织为食。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 scuttling   

n.船底穿孔，打开通海阀（沉船用）v.使船沉没( scuttle的现在分词 )；快跑，急走

参考例句：

• I could hear an animal scuttling about in the undergrowth. 我可以听到一只动物在矮树丛中跑来跑去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• First of all, scuttling Yu Lung (this yuncheng Hejin) , flood discharge. 大禹首先凿开龙门（今运城河津市），分洪下泄。 来自互联网

7 scented   

adj.有香味的；洒香水的；有气味的v.嗅到(scent的过去分词)

参考例句：

• I let my lungs fill with the scented air. 我呼吸着芬芳的空气。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The police dog scented about till he found the trail. 警犬嗅来嗅去，终于找到了踪迹。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 faltered   

（嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃

参考例句：

• He faltered out a few words. 他支吾地说出了几句。
• "Er - but he has such a longhead!" the man faltered. 他不好意思似的嚅嗫着：“这孩子脑袋真长。”

9 grandeur   

n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华

参考例句：

• The grandeur of the Great Wall is unmatched.长城的壮观是独一无二的。
• These ruins sufficiently attest the former grandeur of the place.这些遗迹充分证明此处昔日的宏伟。

10 consular   

a.领事的

参考例句：

• He has rounded out twenty years in the consular service. 他在领事馆工作已整整20年了。
• Consular invoices are declarations made at the consulate of the importing country. 领事发票是进口国领事馆签发的一种申报书。