More than once Miss Sullivan awoke and lay listening to the storm’s wild voices—voices which recalled the past—voices whispering, pleading, sighing, moaning to be heard again and again answered. And they were answered—answered with bitter moans and tears, and at last with prayers for patience and peace, and, if need were, for pardon.
Neither Mrs. Dempster nor Miranda understood the enthusiasm of Miss Sullivan for storms and breakers. There were several things they would rather do than venture out next morning: the chief of which was to stay at home.
Old Dempster looked uneasily at the cloud-drift. The wind was as furious as ever, but the rain came only in keen showers.
[31]“These ’ere sou’-easters,” said he, “never last long at this time o’ the year. It’ll be clear as moonshine by long about noon. But ef you’ve got your mind set on goin’ out, I’ll rig you out so you’ll be dry as a rooster. Dan’l, go down to the mill an’ bring up them short overhauls4.”
Dan’l brought up a great coat of yellow, oiled canvas, and a tarpaulin5 with a flap like the tail of a Barbary sheep. Mrs. Dempster supplied a pair of Dan’l’s fishing boots, outgrown6 by him in one bare-footed summer, but still impervious7.
Miss Sullivan, a person very critical in her toilet, hesitated a little at this unaccustomed attire8. However, it was the sensible style. Miranda aided her in encasing herself. Stiffish were both overhauls and boots; stiffness itself, at the first interview.
When they returned to the kitchen to stand inspection9, a sound was heard as if the kettle of dried apples boiling on the stove had suddenly bubbled and sputtered10 over. It was Dan’l, utterly11 unable to control his laughter. He immediately disappeared, and was heard in the wood-shed endeavouring to whistle, but constantly breaking down into a snicker.
“Wal,” said Mrs. Dempster, “you are kind er like my idee of a Mormon—I mean one o’ them folks in the pictures with gals13’ heads an’ more like[32] a codfish to the other end. Now if one o’ them gals should make herself decent with a set of overhauls—an’ massy knows she wants suthin’ to cover her—she’d look jest as pooty as you do. Wouldn’t she, old man?”
To avoid other comparisons as complimentary15 to mermen or maids, Miss Sullivan ran from her circle of amused admirers and, passing among the pathless cucumber vines of the little garden, began awkwardly to climb the fence that kept any amphibious rodent16 monster of the deep from predatory excursions among the radishes and hollyhocks. Beyond the garden, a thicket17 of wild fruit vines nearly closed the shoreward path. Drops of rain hung heavy, crushing the bushes with pearly wreaths. A few raspberries were only waiting one sunny day to take their dull purple crimson18 of ripeness. It was wet work to penetrate19 by the obliterated20 path. Miss Sullivan, however, crowded steadily21 forward.
When the rustling22 of her passage through the thicket ceased, she could hear the neighbour crashing of breakers. Black Rock Head rose to the north of the rocky cove14, home of Dempster’s boat. Southward stood other headlands, and southern-most, Wrecker’s Point, where all the fury of surges driven by the southeast gale would be felt. When the mingled24 mist, spray, and rain were drifted away for a moment, and shrank to give space to a great, howling blast, she could see a lofty white ghostly[33] object, like a ship in full sail, dimly visible, suddenly lift itself against the dark front of the Head. Then it sank away, dashed to nothingness of foamy25 wreck23. A hollow roar came, as the cavernous cleft26 of the Head was overcrowded with the breaker, and, gushing27 up, the mass of uprising waters overwhelmed the promontory28 and, spreading, mantled29 over its smooth surfaces and tore in many cataracts30 down its chasms31 to the sea. The Head, through veils of mist, seemed like a distant dome32 mountain of snow.
Black Rock Head was evidently unapproachable, so Miss Sullivan faced the blast and its blinding, driving spray, for a sheltered spot farther on toward Wrecker’s Point. She found that her foreground of vision of storm-experiences was crowding itself with quite unsatisfactory detail. There was no sieve33 of trees by the shore to filter the salt showers. Sometimes there was but a narrow path between slippery slopes of grass and rounded rocks glistening34 with the touch of the more ambitious breakers. As she passed by these perilous35 places, an unlooked-for wash of water would come hungrily up and hasten hungrily back, willing to sweep away fragile womanhood. The morning was well advanced when, with slow and difficult progress, the lady who, after her bold vigour36 of devotion to her object, merits, at least for the nonce, the title of our heroine, reached Wrecker’s Point.
[34]Of seeing much that storms may do she had had her heart’s desire. All the dread37 fury of maddened winds had burst upon her till she had tottered38 back to some shelter of intervening rock, appalled39 at tempest terrors that houselings never know. In tremulous pauses, when the gale was still, she had heard the coming thunder of the long breaker, coming awfully40 because an infinite ocean drove it on; and as this went bursting like an upward avalanche41 from crag to crag beyond, in the silence while the next billow was lifting she had heard those dreadful ocean voices surrounding her, a wild atmosphere of remorse42—of remorse unpardoned and forever unpardonable for all the murderous wrongs of ocean to the world. And after these came the bewildering whirl of spray and rain, the crash, the hissing43 fall, and then the great blow of the breaker like a knell44. It hammered at the world’s foundations, until that solid world seemed an unstable45 thing to tread.
The rain had ceased when Miss Sullivan reached the Point. It was clearing, and she could look more widely over the immense agitation46 and sway of the lurid47 sea. She sat for an hour or wandered about over perils48 of wave-worn crags, that waves were now striving vainly to shatter. At last she remembered that she had the beach still to visit before her return. Her path thither49 was through a wood, tangled50 and bewildering with vines and[35] underbrush. The storm was now almost a calm, but the thunder of the surges followed her as she hastened along the dripping trail. Penetrating51 slowly through the wood by paths of uneasy footing, she began to distinguish the distant part of the beach. It formed one end of a parallelogram, whose sides were dark ranges of low, broken precipice52 and the farther end the blank of sea. Opposite her, the precipice continued up into a wooded mountain. The sun was just breaking forth53 and scattering54 a slender, illumined scarf of mist, that wavered in among the trees of the mountain-side, and melted into that ever-fresh wonder of beauty, the calm sky of summer.
There was much rubbish strewn along the beach. Miss Sullivan could see old waterlogged slabs55, logs purple with long drowning, pieces of spar, a plank56 or so. As she descended57 and looked over the nearer sands, she saw more rubbish; more than usual, perhaps of a recent wreck. Such a storm could hardly pass without touching58 the pockets of jolly underwriters—less jolly over their noon sandwich as the telegraph told of ships ashore59.
The path began to skirt the edge of the broken cliff, and finally descended rapidly, by a series of dangerous stepping places, toward the level. It was quite evident there had been a wreck. The water deepened very slowly out from the shore, and each swell60, as it swept in, drove along bits or masses[36] of wreckage61, and retiring, dragged them back, to be again heaved farther up.
Miss Sullivan had never before seen a wreck. She suddenly seemed very curious to examine this one nearer,—passionately62 curious, indeed,—and began to leap down the hillside rather precipitately63. However, she was now used to Dan’l’s boots; otherwise her headlong speed would have been dangerous. She found it rather deep trudging64 in the sand, deeper and more difficult as she ran rapidly down after the returning waves; and she found it a struggle for her own life in the undertow, as she resolutely65 plunged66 forward and, grasping some wrecked67 fragments, fought with so much desperate womanish force as she had to drag them in to shore and safety.
The sea had done with this object what it chose; it was weary of its plaything, and now aided her in her merciful task. For many moments she was ready to despair and drown; but hope was her ally, and a nervous, unsuspected strength, and at last she gained a firm footing and dragged the man away from the waves up on the wet sand.
She sank exhausted69 in a dizzy trance, blinded and fainting. It had been a terrible, heart-rending agony of combat—a very doubtful strife70 for two lives with the hungry sea.
[37]Starting up at last, she seemed to shrink from quieter examination of the wrecked person. But conquering fear or superstition71 in a moment’s struggle, she knelt beside him. His arm was raised, covering his face, and his clenched72 hand held something that was attached by a strand73 of silk around his neck. As she removed the arm, the hand relaxed in hers and a small book fell from it; she pulled it from the silk and laid it hastily by.
Parting the hair from the sadly bruised74 and battered75 face, she looked vainly into closed eyes for any light of life. She laid her hand where the heart should be beating; she placed her lips close, nay76, almost touching, livid lips, to catch a faintest breath; she did all those passionately desperate things that one may do, feeling that another life may depend on each lapsing77 moment’s effort. She had nothing to cut the lashings which bound him to the wreck, and tore at them furiously, vainly, with her teeth. There was a hard, dry sobbing79 in her throat, and her features worked convulsively as she paused, exhausted, and gazed down at that white, quiet face. She was ready again to despair. She could not leave him; would no help come? The sun seemed oppressively hot and cruel—a staring, insulting fullness of daylight.
Help was coming. She heard a cheerful woman’s voice singing a negro melody in the wood. Miranda had evidently expected that Miss Sullivan’s circuit[38] would bring her to the beach and had come to join her.
Miss Sullivan essayed to scream, but could not. Miranda came to the bank, and seeing her standing80 like a ghost, vainly striving to beckon81, divined the whole in an instant and sprang down the steps.
“Is he dead?” cried Miranda.
“Dead! I fear so,” said Miss Sullivan, very slowly and with a shiver.
“He shan’t die if we can help it,” said Miranda resolutely. “Here, Miss Mary, you run right up to the second field. Up there, Uncle Jake’s out with the boys, seeing if they can mow83 after the shower. Bring ’em down quick—I’ll cut him loose.”
Suiting act to word, she whipped out a jagged penknife of schoolmarm days from her pocket, and began to saw at the lashings.
Miss Sullivan clambered, panting, up the cliff and plunged into the wood. Presently she appeared at a run, followed by Uncle Jake and the two boys—biggish boys of six feet two.
Miranda had cut the lashings of rotten stuff. Uncle Jake supported the man in his arms. He was perfectly84 insensible.
“He’s not dead,” said Uncle Jake.
[39]“He’ll live; I know he’ll live!” cried Miranda.
“Hooray!” shouted the two boys tumultuously—a view-halloo for a found life.
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收听单词发音
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1
gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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smote
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| v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去式 ) | |
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lamenting
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| adj.悲伤的，悲哀的v.（为…）哀悼，痛哭，悲伤( lament的现在分词 ) | |
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overhauls
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| v.彻底检查( overhaul的第三人称单数 )；大修；赶上；超越 | |
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tarpaulin
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| n.涂油防水布，防水衣，防水帽 | |
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outgrown
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| 长[发展] 得超过（某物）的范围( outgrow的过去分词 )； 长[发展]得不能再要（某物）； 长得比…快； 生长速度超过 | |
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impervious
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| adj.不能渗透的，不能穿过的，不易伤害的 | |
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attire
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| v.穿衣，装扮[同]array；n.衣着；盛装 | |
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inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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sputtered
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| v.唾沫飞溅( sputter的过去式和过去分词 )；发劈啪声；喷出；飞溅出 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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droll
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| adj.古怪的，好笑的 | |
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gals
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| abbr.gallons （复数）加仑（液量单位）n.女孩，少女( gal的名词复数 ) | |
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cove
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| n.小海湾，小峡谷 | |
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complimentary
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| adj.赠送的，免费的，赞美的，恭维的 | |
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rodent
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| n.啮齿动物；adj.啮齿目的 | |
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thicket
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| n.灌木丛，树林 | |
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crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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penetrate
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| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
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obliterated
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| v.除去( obliterate的过去式和过去分词 )；涂去；擦掉；彻底破坏或毁灭 | |
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steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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rustling
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| n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的 | |
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wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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foamy
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| adj.全是泡沫的，泡沫的，起泡沫的 | |
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cleft
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| n.裂缝；adj.裂开的 | |
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gushing
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| adj.迸出的；涌出的；喷出的；过分热情的v.喷，涌( gush的现在分词 )；滔滔不绝地说话 | |
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promontory
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| n.海角；岬 | |
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mantled
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| 披着斗篷的，覆盖着的 | |
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cataracts
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| n.大瀑布( cataract的名词复数 )；白内障 | |
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chasms
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| 裂缝( chasm的名词复数 )； 裂口； 分歧； 差别 | |
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dome
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| n.圆屋顶，拱顶 | |
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sieve
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| n.筛，滤器，漏勺 | |
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glistening
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| adj.闪耀的，反光的v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的现在分词 ) | |
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perilous
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| adj.危险的，冒险的 | |
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vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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38
tottered
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| v.走得或动得不稳( totter的过去式和过去分词 )；踉跄；蹒跚；摇摇欲坠 | |
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39
appalled
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| v.使惊骇，使充满恐惧( appall的过去式和过去分词)adj.惊骇的；丧胆的 | |
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40
awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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avalanche
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| n.雪崩，大量涌来 | |
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remorse
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| n.痛恨，悔恨，自责 | |
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43
hissing
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| n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式 | |
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44
knell
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| n.丧钟声；v.敲丧钟 | |
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unstable
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| adj.不稳定的，易变的 | |
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agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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lurid
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| adj.可怕的；血红的；苍白的 | |
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48
perils
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| 极大危险( peril的名词复数 )； 危险的事（或环境） | |
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49
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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50
tangled
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| adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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51
penetrating
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| adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的 | |
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precipice
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| n.悬崖，危急的处境 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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54
scattering
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| n.[物]散射；散乱，分散；在媒介质中的散播adj.散乱的；分散在不同范围的；广泛扩散的；（选票）数量分散的v.散射(scatter的ing形式)；散布；驱散 | |
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slabs
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| n.厚板，平板，厚片( slab的名词复数 )；厚胶片 | |
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plank
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| n.板条，木板，政策要点，政纲条目 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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60
swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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61
wreckage
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| n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏 | |
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62
passionately
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| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
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precipitately
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| adv.猛进地 | |
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trudging
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| vt.& vi.跋涉，吃力地走（trudge的现在分词形式） | |
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resolutely
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| adj.坚决地，果断地 | |
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plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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wrecked
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| adj.失事的，遇难的 | |
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lashed
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| adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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strife
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| n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争 | |
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superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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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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strand
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| vt.使（船）搁浅，使（某人）困于（某地） | |
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bruised
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| [医]青肿的，瘀紫的 | |
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battered
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| adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损 | |
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nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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lapsing
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| v.退步( lapse的现在分词 )；陷入；倒退；丧失 | |
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78
sob
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| n.空间轨道的轰炸机；呜咽，哭泣 | |
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sobbing
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| <主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的 | |
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80
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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81
beckon
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| v.(以点头或打手势)向...示意，召唤 | |
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82
dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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83
mow
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| v.割（草、麦等），扫射，皱眉；n.草堆，谷物堆 | |
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84
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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