The youth arose. "Well, what now, I wonder?" he said. By his tone he seemed to be preparing to resent some new monstrosity in the way of dins9 and smashes. He shaded his eyes with his grimy hand and gazed over the field.
His friend also arose and stared. "I bet we're goin' t' git along out of this an' back over th' river," said he.
"Well, I swan!" said the youth.
They waited, watching. Within a little while the regiment10 received orders to retrace11 its way. The men got up grunting12 from the grass, regretting the soft repose13. They jerked their stiffened14 legs, and stretched their arms over their heads. One man swore as he rubbed his eyes. They all groaned15 "O Lord!" They had as many objections to this change as they would have had to a proposal for a new battle.
The regiment marched until it had joined its fellows. The reformed brigade, in column, aimed through a wood at the road. Directly they were in a mass of dust-covered troops, and were trudging18 along in a way parallel to the enemy's lines as these had been defined by the previous turmoil19.
They passed within view of a stolid20 white house, and saw in front of it groups of their comrades lying in wait behind a neat breastwork. A row of guns were booming at a distant enemy. Shells thrown in reply were raising clouds of dust and splinters. Horsemen dashed along the line of intrenchments.
At this point of its march the division curved away from the field and went winding21 off in the direction of the river. When the significance of this movement had impressed itself upon the youth he turned his head and looked over his shoulder toward the trampled and debris-strewed ground. He breathed a breath of new satisfaction. He finally nudged his friend. "Well, it's all over," he said to him.
For a time the youth was obliged to reflect in a puzzled and uncertain way. His mind was undergoing a subtle change. It took moments for it to cast off its battleful ways and resume its accustomed course of thought. Gradually his brain emerged from the clogged24 clouds, and at last he was enabled to more closely comprehend himself and circumstance.
He understood then that the existence of shot and countershot was in the past. He had dwelt in a land of strange, squalling upheavals25 and had come forth26. He had been where there was red of blood and black of passion, and he was escaped. His first thoughts were given to rejoicings at this fact.
Later he began to study his deeds, his failures, and his achievements. Thus, fresh from scenes where many of his usual machines of reflection had been idle, from where he had proceeded sheeplike, he struggled to marshal all his acts.
At last they marched before him clearly. From this present view point he was enabled to look upon them in spectator fashion and criticise27 them with some correctness, for his new condition had already defeated certain sympathies.
Regarding his procession of memory he felt gleeful and unregretting, for in it his public deeds were paraded in great and shining prominence28. Those performances which had been witnessed by his fellows marched now in wide purple and gold, having various deflections. They went gayly with music. It was pleasure to watch these things. He spent delightful29 minutes viewing the gilded30 images of memory.
He saw that he was good. He recalled with a thrill of joy the respectful comments of his fellows upon his conduct.
Nevertheless, the ghost of his flight from the first engagement appeared to him and danced. There were small shoutings in his brain about these matters. For a moment he blushed, and the light of his soul flickered31 with shame.
A specter of reproach came to him. There loomed32 the dogging memory of the tattered33 soldier--he who, gored34 by bullets and faint of blood, had fretted35 concerning an imagined wound in another; he who had loaned his last of strength and intellect for the tall soldier; he who, blind with weariness and pain, had been deserted36 in the field.
For an instant a wretched chill of sweat was upon him at the thought that he might be detected in the thing. As he stood persistently37 before his vision, he gave vent38 to a cry of sharp irritation39 and agony.
His friend turned. "What's the matter, Henry?" he demanded. The youth's reply was an outburst of crimson40 oaths.
As he marched along the little branch-hung roadway among his prattling41 companions this vision of cruelty brooded over him. It clung near him always and darkened his view of these deeds in purple and gold. Whichever way his thoughts turned they were followed by the somber42 phantom43 of the desertion in the fields. He looked stealthily at his companions, feeling sure that they must discern in his face evidences of this pursuit. But they were plodding44 in ragged45 array, discussing with quick tongues the accomplishments46 of the late battle.
"Oh, if a man should come up an' ask me, I'd say we got a dum good lickin'."
"Lickin'--in yer eye! We ain't licked, sonny. We're goin' down here aways, swing aroun', an' come in behint 'em."
"Oh, hush47, with your comin' in behint 'em. I've seen all 'a that I wanta. Don't tell me about comin' in behint--"
"Bill Smithers, he ses he'd rather been in ten hundred battles than been in that heluva hospital. He ses they got shootin' in th' nighttime, an' shells dropped plum among 'em in th' hospital. He ses sech hollerin' he never see."
"Hasbrouck? He's th' best off'cer in this here reg'ment. He's a whale."
"Didn't I tell yeh we'd come aroun' in behint 'em? Didn't I tell yeh so? We--"
"Oh, shet yeh mouth!"
For a time this pursuing recollection of the tattered man took all elation48 from the youth's veins49. He saw his vivid error, and he was afraid that it would stand before him all his life. He took no share in the chatter50 of his comrades, nor did he look at them or know them, save when he felt sudden suspicion that they were seeing his thoughts and scrutinizing51 each detail of the scene with the tattered soldier.
Yet gradually he mustered52 force to put the sin at a distance. And at last his eyes seemed to open to some new ways. He found that he could look back upon the brass53 and bombast54 of his earlier gospels and see them truly. He was gleeful when he discovered that he now despised them.
With this conviction came a store of assurance. He felt a quiet manhood, nonassertive but of sturdy and strong blood. He knew that he would no more quail55 before his guides wherever they should point. He had been to touch the great death, and found that, after all, it was but the great death. He was a man.
So it came to pass that as he trudged56 from the place of blood and wrath57 his soul changed. He came from hot plowshares to prospects58 of clover tranquilly59, and it was as if hot plowshares were not. Scars faded as flowers.
It rained. The procession of weary soldiers became a bedraggled train, despondent61 and muttering, marching with churning effort in a trough of liquid brown mud under a low, wretched sky. Yet the youth smiled, for he saw that the world was a world for him, though many discovered it to be made of oaths and walking sticks. He had rid himself of the red sickness of battle. The sultry nightmare was in the past. He had been an animal blistered62 and sweating in the heat and pain of war. He turned now with a lover's thirst to images of tranquil60 skies, fresh meadows, cool brooks--an existence of soft and eternal peace.
Over the river a golden ray of sun came through the hosts of leaden rain clouds.
点击收听单词发音
1 intermittent | |
adj.间歇的,断断续续的 | |
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2 stentorian | |
adj.大声的,响亮的 | |
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3 artillery | |
n.(军)火炮,大炮;炮兵(部队) | |
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4 distress | |
n.苦恼,痛苦,不舒适;不幸;vt.使悲痛 | |
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5 waning | |
adj.(月亮)渐亏的,逐渐减弱或变小的n.月亏v.衰落( wane的现在分词 );(月)亏;变小;变暗淡 | |
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6 leisurely | |
adj.悠闲的;从容的,慢慢的 | |
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7 crest | |
n.顶点;饰章;羽冠;vt.达到顶点;vi.形成浪尖 | |
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8 muskets | |
n.火枪,(尤指)滑膛枪( musket的名词复数 ) | |
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9 dins | |
vt.喧闹(din的第三人称单数形式) | |
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10 regiment | |
n.团,多数,管理;v.组织,编成团,统制 | |
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11 retrace | |
v.折回;追溯,探源 | |
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12 grunting | |
咕哝的,呼噜的 | |
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13 repose | |
v.(使)休息;n.安息 | |
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14 stiffened | |
加强的 | |
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15 groaned | |
v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 );发牢骚;抱怨;受苦 | |
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16 trampled | |
踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 ); 践踏; 无视; 侵犯 | |
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17 scamper | |
v.奔跑,快跑 | |
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18 trudging | |
vt.& vi.跋涉,吃力地走(trudge的现在分词形式) | |
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19 turmoil | |
n.骚乱,混乱,动乱 | |
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20 stolid | |
adj.无动于衷的,感情麻木的 | |
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21 winding | |
n.绕,缠,绕组,线圈 | |
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22 assented | |
同意,赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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23 mused | |
v.沉思,冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 );沉思自语说(某事) | |
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24 clogged | |
(使)阻碍( clog的过去式和过去分词 ); 淤滞 | |
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25 upheavals | |
突然的巨变( upheaval的名词复数 ); 大动荡; 大变动; 胀起 | |
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26 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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27 criticise | |
v.批评,评论;非难 | |
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28 prominence | |
n.突出;显著;杰出;重要 | |
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29 delightful | |
adj.令人高兴的,使人快乐的 | |
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30 gilded | |
a.镀金的,富有的 | |
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31 flickered | |
(通常指灯光)闪烁,摇曳( flicker的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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32 loomed | |
v.隐约出现,阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 );隐约出现,阴森地逼近 | |
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33 tattered | |
adj.破旧的,衣衫破的 | |
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34 gored | |
v.(动物)用角撞伤,用牙刺破( gore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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35 fretted | |
焦躁的,附有弦马的,腐蚀的 | |
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36 deserted | |
adj.荒芜的,荒废的,无人的,被遗弃的 | |
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37 persistently | |
ad.坚持地;固执地 | |
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38 vent | |
n.通风口,排放口;开衩;vt.表达,发泄 | |
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39 irritation | |
n.激怒,恼怒,生气 | |
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40 crimson | |
n./adj.深(绯)红色(的);vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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41 prattling | |
v.(小孩般)天真无邪地说话( prattle的现在分词 );发出连续而无意义的声音;闲扯;东拉西扯 | |
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42 somber | |
adj.昏暗的,阴天的,阴森的,忧郁的 | |
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43 phantom | |
n.幻影,虚位,幽灵;adj.错觉的,幻影的,幽灵的 | |
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44 plodding | |
a.proceeding in a slow or dull way | |
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45 ragged | |
adj.衣衫褴褛的,粗糙的,刺耳的 | |
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46 accomplishments | |
n.造诣;完成( accomplishment的名词复数 );技能;成绩;成就 | |
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47 hush | |
int.嘘,别出声;n.沉默,静寂;v.使安静 | |
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48 elation | |
n.兴高采烈,洋洋得意 | |
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49 veins | |
n.纹理;矿脉( vein的名词复数 );静脉;叶脉;纹理 | |
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50 chatter | |
vi./n.喋喋不休;短促尖叫;(牙齿)打战 | |
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51 scrutinizing | |
v.仔细检查,详审( scrutinize的现在分词 ) | |
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52 mustered | |
v.集合,召集,集结(尤指部队)( muster的过去式和过去分词 );(自他人处)搜集某事物;聚集;激发 | |
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53 brass | |
n.黄铜;黄铜器,铜管乐器 | |
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54 bombast | |
n.高调,夸大之辞 | |
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55 quail | |
n.鹌鹑;vi.畏惧,颤抖 | |
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56 trudged | |
vt.& vi.跋涉,吃力地走(trudge的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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57 wrath | |
n.愤怒,愤慨,暴怒 | |
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58 prospects | |
n.希望,前途(恒为复数) | |
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59 tranquilly | |
adv. 宁静地 | |
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60 tranquil | |
adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
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61 despondent | |
adj.失望的,沮丧的,泄气的 | |
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62 blistered | |
adj.水疮状的,泡状的v.(使)起水泡( blister的过去式和过去分词 );(使表皮等)涨破,爆裂 | |
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