THE ELEVENTH CHAPTER BLIND TRAVEL

 THIS news about Long Arrow made us all very sad. And I could see from the silent dreamy way the Doctor took his tea that he was dreadfully upset. Every once in a while he would stop eating altogether and sit staring at the spots on the kitchen table-cloth as though his thoughts were far away; till Dab-Dab, who was watching to see that he got a good meal, would cough or rattle¹ the pots in the sink.

 

I did my best to cheer him up by reminding him of all he had done for Luke and his wife that afternoon. And when that didn’t seem to work, I went on talking about our preparations for the voyage.

 

“But you see, Stubbins,” said he as we rose from the table and Dab-Dab and Chee-Chee began to clear away, “I don’t know where to go now. I feel sort of lost since Miranda brought me this news. On this voyage I had planned going to see Long Arrow. I had been looking forward to it for a whole year. I felt he might help me in learning² the language of the shellfish—and perhaps in finding³ some way of getting to the bottom of the sea. But now?—He’s gone! And all his great knowledge has gone with him.”

 

Then he seemed to fall a-dreaming again.

 

“Just to think of it!” he murmured. “Long Arrow and I, two students—Although I’d never met him, I felt as though I knew him quite well. For, in his way—without any schooling—he has, all his life, been trying to do the very things which I have tried to do in mine—And now he’s gone!—A whole world lay between us—And only a bird knew us both!”

 

We went back into the study, where Jip brought the Doctor his slippers⁴ and his pipe. And after the pipe was lit and the smoke began to fill the room the old man seemed to cheer up a little.

 

“But you will go on some voyage, Doctor, won’t you?” I asked—“even if you can’t go to find Long Arrow.”

 

He looked up sharply⁵ into my face; and I suppose he saw how anxious I was. Because he suddenly smiled his old, boyish smile and said,

 

“Yes, Stubbins. Don’t worry. We’ll go. We mustn’t stop working and learning, even if poor Long Arrow has disappeared—But where to go: that’s the question. Where shall we go?”

 

There were so many places that I wanted to go that I couldn’t make up my mind right away. And while I was still thinking, the Doctor sat up in his chair and said,

 

“I tell you what we’ll do, Stubbins: it’s a game I used to play when I was young—before Sarah came to live with me. I used to call it Blind Travel. Whenever I wanted to go on a voyage, and I couldn’t make up my mind where to go, I would take the atlas⁶ and open it with my eyes shut. Next, I’d wave a pencil, still without looking, and stick it down on whatever page had fallen open. Then I’d open my eyes and look. It’s a very exciting game, is Blind Travel. Because you have to swear, before you begin, that you will go to the place the pencil touches, come what may. Shall we play it?”

 

“Oh, let’s!” I almost yelled⁷. “How thrilling! I hope it’s China—or Borneo—or Bagdad.”

 

And in a moment I had scrambled⁸ up the bookcase, dragged the big atlas from the top shelf and laid it on the table before the Doctor.

 

I knew every page in that atlas by heart. How many days and nights I had lingered⁹ over its old faded maps, following the blue rivers from the mountains to the sea; wondering what the little towns really looked like, and how wide were the sprawling¹⁰ lakes! I had had a lot of fun with that atlas, traveling, in my mind, all over the world. I can see it now: the first page had no map; it just told you that it was printed in Edinburgh in 1808, and a whole lot more about the book. The next page was the Solar System, showing the sun and planets¹¹, the stars and the moon. The third page was the chart of the North and South Poles. Then came the hemispheres¹², the oceans, the continents and the countries.

 

As the Doctor began sharpening¹³ his pencil a thought came to me.

 

“What if the pencil falls upon the North Pole,” I asked, “will we have to go there?”

 

“No. The rules of the game say you don’t have to go any place you’ve been to before. You are allowed another try. I’ve been to the North Pole,” he ended quietly, “so we shan’t have to go there.”

 

I could hardly speak with astonishment¹⁴.

 

“You’ve been to the North pole!” I managed to gasp¹⁵ out at last. “But I thought it was still undiscovered. The map shows all the places explorers have reached to, trying to get there. Why isn’t your name down if you discovered it?”

 

“I promised to keep it a secret. And you must promise me never to tell any one. Yes, I discovered the North Pole in April, 1809. But shortly after I got there the polar bears came to me in a body and told me there was a great deal of coal there, buried beneath the snow. They knew, they said, that human beings would do anything, and go anywhere, to get coal. So would I please keep it a secret. Because once people began coming up there to start coal-mines, their beautiful white country would be spoiled—and there was nowhere else in the world cold enough for polar bears to be comfortable. So of course I had to promise them I would. Ah, well, it will be discovered again some day, by somebody else. But I want the polar bears to have their play-ground to themselves as long as possible. And I daresay it will be a good while yet—for it certainly is a fiendish place to get to—Well now, are we ready?—Good! Take the pencil and stand here close to the table. When the book falls open, wave the pencil round three times and jab it down. Ready?—All right. Shut your eyes.”

 

It was a tense and fearful¹⁶ moment—but very thrilling. We both had our eyes shut tight. I heard the atlas fall open with a bang¹⁷. I wondered what page it was: England or Asia. If it should be the map of Asia, so much would depend on where that pencil would land. I waved three times in a circle. I began to lower my hand. The pencil-point touched the page.

 

“All right,” I called out, “it’s done.”

1 rattle   

v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓

参考例句：

• The baby only shook the rattle and laughed and crowed.孩子只是摇着拨浪鼓，笑着叫着。
• She could hear the rattle of the teacups.她听见茶具叮当响。

2 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

3 finding   

n.发现，发现物；调查的结果

参考例句：

• The finding makes some sense.该发现具有一定的意义。
• That's an encouraging finding.这是一个鼓舞人心的发现。

4 slippers   

n. 拖鞋

参考例句：

• a pair of slippers 一双拖鞋
• He kicked his slippers off and dropped on to the bed. 他踢掉了拖鞋，倒在床上。

5 sharply   

adj.锐利地，急速；adv.严厉地，鲜明地

参考例句：

• The plane dived sharply and rose again.飞机猛然俯冲而后又拉了起来。
• Demand for personal computers has risen sharply.对个人电脑的需求急剧增长。

6 atlas   

n.地图册，图表集

参考例句：

• He reached down the atlas from the top shelf.他从书架顶层取下地图集。
• The atlas contains forty maps,including three of Great Britain.这本地图集有40幅地图，其中包括3幅英国地图。

7 yelled   

v.叫喊，号叫，叫着说( yell的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He yelled at the other driver. 他冲着另一位司机大叫。
• The lost man yelled, hoping someone in the woods would hear him. 迷路的人大声喊着，希望林子里的人会听见。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 scrambled   

v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Each scrambled for the football at the football ground. 足球场上你争我夺。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He scrambled awkwardly to his feet. 他笨拙地爬起身来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 lingered   

v.逗留( linger的过去式和过去分词 )；缓慢消失；苟延残喘；持续看（或思考）

参考例句：

• The faint smell of her perfume lingered in the room. 房间里仍飘溢着她那淡淡的香水味。
• The smell of the gas oil lingered in the house. 屋里仍然飘溢着汽油味。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 sprawling   

adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着）

参考例句：

• He was sprawling in an armchair in front of the TV. 他伸开手脚坐在电视机前的一张扶手椅上。
• a modern sprawling town 一座杂乱无序拓展的现代城镇

11 planets   

行星( planet的名词复数 )； 地球（尤指环境）

参考例句：

• Does life exist on other planets? 其他行星上有生命吗？
• the planets of our solar system 太阳系的行星

12 hemispheres   

n.半球( hemisphere的名词复数 )；地球的半球

参考例句：

• The human brain is divided vertically down the middle into two hemispheres. 人脑从中央垂直地分为两半球。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The equator divides the earth into two hemispheres. 赤道把地球划分成为两个半球。 来自辞典例句

13 sharpening   

n.磨快；磨尖；磨刀；削尖v.（使）提高( sharpen的现在分词 )；（使声音）变得尖锐；（使）变得更好（或技术更高、更有效等）；（使）变得锋利

参考例句：

• This knife needs sharpening. 这把刀需要磨了。
• The contradictions are sharpening. 矛盾正在加剧。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

14 astonishment   

n.惊奇，惊异

参考例句：

• They heard him give a loud shout of astonishment.他们听见他惊奇地大叫一声。
• I was filled with astonishment at her strange action.我对她的奇怪举动不胜惊异。

15 gasp   

n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说

参考例句：

• She gave a gasp of surprise.她吃惊得大口喘气。
• The enemy are at their last gasp.敌人在做垂死的挣扎。

16 fearful   

adj.惧怕的，担心的；可怕的，吓人的

参考例句：

• What a fearful waste of time!简直太浪费时间了！
• They are fearful of another business depression.他们担心会再次发生商业萧条。

17 bang   

n.巨响，猛击；vi.砰砰作响；vt.砰地敲，猛击

参考例句：

• Pack it up, you kids;or I'll bang your heads together!住手，你们这些小孩，再弄就揍你们！
• She fell and got a nasty bang on the knee.她摔倒了，膝盖猛撞在地上。