A diradar cominciansi, la spera
Del sol debilemente entra per essi….
Purgatorio, xvii.
From behind the house rises the murmuring of the river. All day long the rain has been beating against the window-panes; a stream of water trickles2 down the window at the corner where it is broken. The yellowish light of the day dies down. The room is dim and dull.
The new-born child stirs in his cradle. Although the old man left his sabots at the door when he entered, his footsteps make the floor creak. The child begins to whine3. The mother leans out of her bed to comfort it; and the grandfather gropes to light the lamp, so that the child shall not be frightened by the night when he awakes. The flame of the lamp lights up old Jean Michel's red face, with its rough white beard and morose4 expression and quick eyes. He goes near the cradle. His cloak smells wet, and as he walks he drags his large blue list slippers5, Louisa signs to him not to go too near. She is fair, almost white; her features are drawn6; her gentle, stupid face is marked with red in patches; her lips are pale and' swollen7, and they are parted in a timid smile; her eyes devour8 the child—and her eyes are blue and vague; the pupils are small, but there is an infinite tenderness in them.
The child wakes and cries, and his eyes are troubled. Oh! how terrible! The darkness, the sudden flash of the lamp, the hallucinations of a mind as yet hardly detached from chaos9, the stifling10, roaring night in which it is enveloped11, the illimitable gloom from which, like blinding shafts12 of light, there emerge acute sensations, sorrows, phantoms13—those enormous faces leaning over him, those eyes that pierce through him, penetrating14, are beyond his comprehension!… He has not the strength to cry out; terror holds him motionless, with eyes and mouth wide open and he rattles15 in his throat. His large head, that seems to have swollen up, is wrinkled with the grotesque16 and lamentable17 grimaces19 that he makes; the skin of his face and hands is brown and purple, and spotted20 with yellow….
"Dear God!" said the old man with conviction: "How ugly he is!"
He put the lamp down on the table.
Louisa pouted21 like a scolded child. Jean Michel looked at her out of the corner of his eye and laughed.
"You don't want me to say that he is beautiful? You would not believe it.
Come, it is not your fault. They are all like that."
The child came out of the stupor22 and immobility into which he had been thrown by the light of the lamp and the eyes of the old man. He began to cry. Perhaps he instinctively23 felt in his mother's eyes a caress24 which made it possible for him to complain. She held out her arms for him and said:
"Give him to me."
The old man began, as usual, to air his theories:
"You ought not to give way to children when they cry. You must just let them cry."
"I never saw one quite so ugly."
Louisa took the child feverishly26 and pressed it to her bosom27. She looked at it with a bashful and delighted smile.
"Oh, my poor child!" she said shamefacedly. "How ugly you are—how ugly! and how I love you!"
Jean Michel went back to the fireside. He began to poke28 the fire in protest, but a smile gave the lie to the moroseness29 and solemnity of his expression.
"Good girl!" he said. "Don't worry about it. He has plenty of time to alter. And even so, what does it matter? Only one thing is asked of him: that he should grow into an honest man."
The child was comforted by contact with his mother's warm body. He could be heard sucking her milk and gurgling and snorting. Jean Michel turned in his chair, and said once more, with some emphasis:
"There's nothing finer than an honest man."
He was silent for a moment, pondering whether it would not be proper to elaborate this thought; but he found nothing more to say, and after a silence he said irritably30:
"Why isn't your husband here?"
"The theater is closed. I passed it just now. One of his lies."
"No. Don't be always blaming him. I must have misunderstood. He must have been kept for one of his lessons."
"He ought to have come back," said the old man, not satisfied. He stopped for a moment, and then asked, in a rather lower voice and with some shame:
"Has he been … again?"
"No, father—no, father," said Louisa hurriedly.
The old man looked at her; she avoided his eyes.
"It's not true. You're lying."
She wept in silence.
"Dear God!" said the old man, kicking at the fire with his foot. The poker32 fell with a clatter33. The mother and the child trembled.
"Father, please—please!" said Louisa. "You will make him cry."
The child hesitated for a second or two whether to cry or to go on with his meal; but not being able to do both at once, he went on with the meal.
Jean Michel continued in a lower tone, though with outbursts of anger:
"What have I done to the good God to have this drunkard for my son? What is the use of my having lived as I have lived, and of having denied myself everything all my life! But you—you—can't you do anything to stop it? Heavens! That's what you ought to do…. You should keep him at home!…"
Louisa wept still more.
"Don't scold me!… I am unhappy enough as it is! I have done everything I could. If you knew how terrified I am when I am alone! Always I seem to hear his step on the stairs. Then I wait for the door to open, or I ask myself: 'O God! what will he look like?' … It makes me ill to think of it!"
She was shaken by her sobs35. The old man grew anxious. He went to her and laid the disheveled bedclothes about her trembling shoulders and caressed36 her head with his hands.
"Come, come, don't be afraid. I am here."
She calmed herself for the child's sake, and tried to smile.
"I was wrong to tell you that."
The old man shook his head as he looked at her.
"My poor child, it was not much of a present that I gave you."
"It's my own fault," she said. "He ought not to have married me. He is sorry for what he did."
"What, do you mean that he regrets?…"
"You know. You were angry yourself because I became his wife."
"We won't talk about that. It is true I was vexed37. A young man like that—I can say so without hurting you—a young man whom I had carefully brought up, a distinguished39 musician, a real artist—might have looked higher than you, who had nothing and were of a lower class, and not even of the same trade. For more than a hundred years no Krafft has ever married a woman who was not a musician! But, you know, I bear you no grudge40, and am fond of you, and have been ever since I learned to know you. Besides, there's no going back on a choice once it's made; there's nothing left but to do one's duty honestly."
He went and sat down again, thought for a little, and then said, with the solemnity in which he invested all his aphorisms41:
"The first thing in life is to do one's duty."
He waited for contradiction, and spat42 on the fire. Then, as neither mother nor child raised any objection, he was for going on, but relapsed into silence.
They said no more. Both Jean Michel, sitting by the fireside, and Louisa, in her bed, dreamed sadly. The old man, in spite of what he had said, had bitter thoughts about his son's marriage, and Louisa was thinking of it also, and blaming herself, although she had nothing wherewith to reproach herself.
She had been a servant when, to everybody's surprise, and her own especially, she married Melchior Krafft, Jean Michel's son. The Kraffts were without fortune, but were considerable people in the little Rhine town in which the old man had settled down more than fifty years before. Both father and son were musicians, and known to all the musicians of the country from Cologne to Mannheim. Melchior played the violin at the Hof-Theater, and Jean Michel had formerly43 been director of the grand-ducal concerts. The old man had been profoundly humiliated44 by his son's marriage, for he had built great hopes upon Melchior; he had wished to make him the distinguished man which he had failed to become himself. This mad freak destroyed all his ambitions. He had stormed at first, and showered curses upon Melchior and Louisa. But, being a good-hearted creature, he forgave his daughter-in-law when he learned to know her better; and he even came by a paternal45 affection for her, which showed itself for the most part in snubs.
No one ever understood what it was that drove Melchior to such a marriage—least of all Melchior. It was certainly not Louisa's beauty. She had no seductive quality: she was small, rather pale, and delicate, and she was a striking contrast to Melchior and Jean Michel, who were both big and broad, red-faced giants, heavy-handed, hearty46 eaters and drinkers, laughter-loving and noisy. She seemed to be crushed by them; no one noticed her, and she seemed to wish to escape even what little notice she attracted. If Melchior had been a kind-hearted man, it would have been credible47 that he should prefer Louisa's simple goodness to every other advantage; but a vainer man never was. It seemed incredible that a young man of his kidney, fairly good-looking, and quite conscious of it, very foolish, but not without talent, and in a position to look for some well-dowered match, and capable even—who knows?—of turning the head of one of his pupils among the people of the town, should suddenly have chosen a girl of the people—poor, uneducated, without beauty, a girl who could in no way advance his career.
But Melchior was one of those men who always do the opposite of what is expected of them and of what they expect of themselves. It is not that they are not warned—a man who is warned is worth two men, says the proverb. They profess48 never to be the dupe of anything, and that they steer49 their ship with unerring hand towards a definite point. But they reckon without themselves, for they do not know themselves. In one of those moments of forgetfulness which are habitual50 with them they let go the tiller, and, as is natural when things are left to themselves, they take a naughty pleasure in rounding on their masters. The ship which is released from its course at once strikes a rock, and Melchior, bent51 upon intrigue52, married a cook. And yet he was neither drunk nor in a stupor on the day when he bound himself to her for life, and he was not under any passionate53 impulse; far from it. But perhaps there are in us forces other than mind and heart, other even than the senses—mysterious forces which take hold of us in the moments when the others are asleep; and perhaps it was such forces that Melchior had found in the depths of those pale eyes which had looked at him so timidly one evening when he had accosted54 the girl on the bank of the river, and had sat down beside her in the reeds—without knowing why—and had given her his hand.
Hardly was he married than he was appalled55 by what he had done, and he did not hide what he felt from poor Louisa, who humbly56 asked his pardon. He was not a bad fellow, and he willingly granted her that; but immediately remorse57 would seize him again when he was with his friends or in the houses of his rich pupils, who were disdainful in their treatment of him, and no longer trembled at the touch of his hand when he corrected the position of their fingers on the keyboard. Then he would return gloomy of countenance58, and Louisa, with a catch at her heart, would read in it with the first glance the customary reproach; or he would stay out late at one inn or another, there to seek self-respect or kindliness59 from others. On such evenings he would return shouting with laughter, and this was more doleful for Louisa than the hidden reproach and gloomy rancor60 that prevailed on other days. She felt that she was to a certain extent responsible for the fits of madness in which the small remnant of her husband's sense would disappear, together with the household money. Melchior sank lower and lower. At an age when he should have been engaged in unceasing toil61 to develop his mediocre62 talent, he just let things slide, and others took his place.
But what did that matter to the unknown force which had thrown him in with the little flaxen-haired servant? He had played his part, and little Jean-Christophe had just set foot on this earth whither his destiny had thrust him.
Night was fully38 come. Louisa's voice roused old Jean Michel from the torpor63 into which he had sunk by the fireside as he thought of the sorrows of the past and present.
"It must be late, father," said the young woman affectionately. "You ought to go home; you have far to go."
"I am waiting for Melchior," replied the old man.
"Please, no. I would rather you did not stay."
"Why?"
The old man raised his head and looked fiercely at her.
She did not reply.
He resumed.
"You are afraid. You do not want me to meet him?"
"Yes, yes; it would only make things worse. You would make each other angry, and I don't want that. Please, please go!"
The old man sighed, rose, and said:
"Well … I'll go."
He went to her and brushed her forehead with his stiff beard. He asked if she wanted anything, put out the lamp, and went stumbling against the chairs in the darkness of the room. But he had no sooner reached the staircase than he thought of his son returning drunk, and he stopped at each step, imagining a thousand dangers that might arise if Melchior were allowed to return alone….
In the bed by his mother's side the child was stirring again. An unknown sorrow had arisen from the depths of his being. He stiffened64 himself against her. He twisted his body, clenched65 his fists, and knitted his brows. His suffering increased steadily66, quietly, certain of its strength. He knew not what it was, nor whence it came. It appeared immense,—infinite, and he began to cry lamentably67. His mother caressed him with her gentle hands. Already his suffering was less acute. But he went on weeping, for he felt it still near, still inside himself. A man who suffers can lessen68 his anguish69 by knowing whence it comes. By thought he can locate it in a certain portion of his body which can be cured, or, if necessary, torn away. He fixes the bounds of it, and separates it from himself. A child has no such illusive70 resource. His first encounter with suffering is more tragic71 and more true. Like his own being, it seems infinite. He feels that it is seated in his bosom, housed in his heart, and is mistress of his flesh. And it is so. It will not leave his body until it has eaten it away.
His mother hugs him to her, murmuring: "It is done—it is done! Don't cry, my little Jesus, my little goldfish…." But his intermittent72 outcry continues. It is as though this wretched, unformed, and unconscious mass had a presentiment73 of a whole life of sorrow awaiting, him, and nothing can appease74 him….
The bells of St. Martin rang out in the night. Their voices are solemn and slow. In the damp air they come like footsteps on moss75. The child became silent in the middle of a sob34. The marvelous music, like a flood of milk, surged sweetly through him. The night was lit up; the air was moist and tender. His sorrow disappeared, his heart began to laugh, and he slid, into his dreams with a sigh of abandonment.
The three bells went on softly ringing in the morrow's festival. Louisa also dreamed, as she listened to them, of her own past misery76 and of what would become in the future of the dear little child sleeping by her side. She had been for hours lying in her bed, weary and suffering. Her hands and her body were burning; the heavy eiderdown crushed her; she felt crushed and oppressed by the darkness; but she dared not move. She looked at the child, and the night did not prevent her reading his features, that looked so old. Sleep overcame her; fevered images passed through her brain. She thought she heard Melchior open the door, and her heart leaped. Occasionally the murmuring of the stream rose more loudly through the silence, like the roaring of some beast. The window once or twice gave a sound under the beating of the rain. The bells rang out more slowly, and then died down, and Louisa slept by the side of her child.
All this time Jean Michel was waiting outside the house, dripping with rain, his beard wet with the mist. He was waiting for the return of his wretched son: for his mind, never ceasing, had insisted on telling him all sorts of tragedies brought about by drunkenness; and although he did not believe them, he could not hate slept a wink78 if he had gone away without having seen his son return. The sound of the bells made him: melancholy79, for he remembered all his shattered hopes. He thought of what he was doing at such an hour in the street, and for very shame he wept.
* * * * *
The vast tide of the days moves slowly. Day and night come up and go down with unfailing regularity80, like the ebb81 and low of an infinite ocean. Weeks and months go by, and then begin again, and the succession of days is like one day.
The day is immense, inscrutable, marking the even beat of light and darkness, and the beat of the life of the torpid82 creature dreaming in the depths of his cradle—his imperious needs, sorrowful or glad—so regular that the night and the day which bring them seem by them to be brought about.
The pendulum83 of life moves heavily, and in its slow beat the whole creature seems to be absorbed. The rest is no more than dreams, snatches of dreams, formless and swarming85, and dust of atoms dancing aimlessly, a dizzy whirl passing, and bringing laughter or horror. Outcry, moving shadows, grinning shapes, sorrows, terrors, laughter, dreams, dreams…. All is a dream, both day and night…. And in such chaos the light of friendly eyes that smile upon him, the flood of joy that surges through his body from his mother's body, from her breasts filled with milk—the force that is in him, the immense, unconscious force gathering86 in him, the turbulent ocean roaring in the narrow prison of the child's body. For eyes that could see into it there would be revealed whole worlds half buried in the darkness, nebulæ taking shape, a universe in the making. His being is limitless. He is all that there is….
Months pass…. Islands of memory begin to rise above the river of his life. At first they are little uncharted islands, rocks just peeping above the surface of the waters. Round about them and behind in the twilight87 of the dawn stretches the great untroubled sheet of water; then new islands, touched to gold by the sun.
So from the abyss of the soul there emerge shapes definite, and scenes of a strange clarity. In the boundless88 day which dawns once more, ever the same, with its great monotonous89 beat, there begins to show forth90 the round of days, hand in hand, and some of their forms are smiling, others sad. But ever the links of the chain are broken, and memories are linked together above weeks and months….
The River … the Bells … as long as he can remember—far back in the abysses of time, at every hour of his life—always their voices, familiar and resonant91, have rung out….
Night—half asleep—a pale light made white the window…. The river murmurs92. Through the silence its voice rises omnipotent93; it reigns94 over all creatures. Sometimes it caresses95 their sleep, and seems almost itself to die away in the roaring of its torrent96. Sometimes it grows angry, and howls like a furious beast about to bite. The clamor ceases. Now there is a murmuring of infinite tenderness, silvery sounds like clear little bells, like the laughter of children, or soft singing voices, or dancing music—a great mother voice that never, never goes to sleep! It rocks the child, as it has rocked through the ages, from birth to death, the generations that were before him; it fills all his thoughts, and lives in all his dreams, wraps him round with the cloak of its fluid harmonies, which still will be about him when he lies in the little cemetery97 that sleeps by the water's edge, washed by the Rhine….
The bells…. It is dawn! They answer each other's call, sad, melancholy, friendly, gentle. At the sound of their slow voices there rise in him hosts of dreams—dreams of the past, desires, hopes, regrets for creatures who are gone, unknown to the child, although he had his being in them, and they live again in him. Ages of memory ring out in that music. So much mourning, so many festivals! And from the depths of the room it is as though, when they are heard, there passed lovely waves of sound through the soft air, free winging birds, and the moist soughing of the wind. Through the window smiles a patch of blue sky; a sunbeam slips through the curtains to the bed. The little world known to the eyes of the child, all that he can see from his bed every morning as he awakes, all that with so much effort he is beginning to recognize and classify, so that he may be master of it—his kingdom is lit up. There is the table where people eat, the cupboard where he hides to play, the tiled floor along which he crawls, and the wall-paper which in its antic shapes holds for him so many humorous or terrifying stories, and the clock which chatters98 and stammers100 so many words which he alone can understand. How many things there are in this room! He does not know them all. Every day he sets out on a voyage of exploration in this universe which is his. Everything is his. Nothing is immaterial; everything has its worth, man or fly, Everything lives—the cat, the fire, the table, the grains of dust which dance in a sunbeam. The room is a country, a day is a lifetime. How is a creature to know himself in the midst of these vast spaces? The world is so large! A creature is lost in it. And the faces, the actions, the movement, the noise, which make round about him an unending turmoil101!… He is weary; his eyes close; he goes to sleep. That sweet deep sleep that overcomes him suddenly at any time, and wherever he may be—on his mother's lap, or under the table, where he loves to hide!… It is good. All is good….
These first days come buzzing up in his mind like a field of corn or a wood stirred by the wind, and cast in shadow by the great fleeting102 clouds….
The shadows pass; the sun penetrates103 the forest. Jean-Christophe begins to find his way through the labyrinth104 of the day.
It is morning. His parents are asleep. He is in his little bed, lying on his back. He looks at the rays of light dancing on the ceiling. There is infinite amusement in it. Now he laughs out loud with one of those jolly children's laughs which stir the hearts of those that hear them. His mother leans out of her bed towards him, and says: "What is it, then, little mad thing?" Then he laughs again, and perhaps he makes an effort to laugh because he has an audience. His mamma looks severe, and lays a finger on her lips to warn him lest he should wake his father: but her weary eyes smile in spite of herself. They whisper together. Then there is a furious growl105 from his father. Both tremble. His mother hastily turns her back on him, like a naughty little girl: she pretends to be asleep. Jean-Christophe buries himself in his bed, and holds his breath…. Dead silence.
After some time the little face hidden under the clothes comes to the surface again. On the roof the weathercock creaks. The rain-pipe gurgles; the Angelus sounds. When the wind comes from the east, the distant bells of the villages on the other bank of the river give answer. The sparrows foregathered in the ivy-clad wall make a deafening106 noise, from which three or four voices, always the same, ring out more shrilly107 than the others, just as in the games of a band of children. A pigeon coos at the top of a chimney. The child abandons himself to the lullaby of these sounds. He hums to himself softly, then a little more loudly, then quite loudly, then very loudly, until once more his father cries out in exasperation109: "That little donkey never will be quiet! Wait a little, and I'll pull your ears!" Then Jean-Christophe buries himself in the bedclothes again, and does not know whether to laugh or cry. He is terrified and humiliated; and at the same time the idea of the donkey with which his father has compared him makes him burst out laughing. From the depths of his bed he imitates its braying110. This time he is whipped. He sheds every tear that is in him. What has he done? He wanted so much to laugh and to get up! And he is forbidden to budge111. How do people sleep forever? When will they get up?…
One day he could not contain himself. He heard a cat and a dog and something queer in the street. He slipped out of bed, and, creeping awkwardly with his bare feet on the tiles, he tried to go down the stairs to see what it was; but the door was shut. To open it, he climbed on to a chair; the whole thing collapsed112, and he hurt himself and howled. And once more at the top of the stairs he was whipped. He is always being whipped!…
He is in church with his grandfather. He is bored. He is not very comfortable. He is forbidden to stir, and all the people are saying all together words that he does not understand. They all look solemn and gloomy. It is not their usual way of looking. He looks at them, half frightened. Old Lena, their neighbor, who is sitting next to him, looks very cross; there are moments when he does not recognize even his grandfather. He is afraid a little. Then he grows used to it, and tries to find relief from boredom113 by every means at his disposal. He balances on one leg, twists his neck to look at the ceiling, makes faces, pulls his grandfather's coat, investigates the straws in his chair, tries to make a hole in them with his finger, listens to the singing of birds, and yawns so that he is like to dislocate his jaw114.
Suddenly there is a deluge115 of sound; the organ is played. A thrill goes down his spine116. He turns and stands with his chin resting on the back of his chair, and he looks very wise. He does not understand this noise; he does not know the meaning of it; it is dazzling, bewildering, and he can hear nothing clearly. But it is good. It is as though he were no longer sitting there on an uncomfortable chair in a tiresome117 old house. He is suspended in mid-air, like a bird; and when the flood of sound rushes from one end of the church to the other, filling the arches, reverberating118 from wall to wall, he is carried with it, flying and skimming hither and thither119, with nothing to do but to abandon himself to it. He is free; he is happy. The sun shines…. He falls asleep.
His grandfather is displeased120 with him. He behaves ill at Mass.
He is at home, sitting on the ground, with his feet in his hands. He has just decided121 that the door-mat is a boat, and the tiled floor a river. He all but drowned in stepping off the carpet. He is surprised and a little put out that the others pay no attention to the matter as he does when he goes into the room. He seizes his mother by the skirts. "You see it is water! You must go across by the bridge." (The bridge is a series of holes between the red tiles.) His mother crosses without even listening to him. He is vexed, as a dramatic author is vexed when he sees his audience talking during his great work.
Next moment he thinks no more of it. The tiled floor is no longer the sea. He is lying down on it, stretched full-length, with his chin on the tiles, humming music of his own composition, and gravely sucking his thumb and dribbling122. He is lost in contemplation of a crack between the tiles. The lines of the tiles grimace18 like faces. The imperceptible hole grows larger, and becomes a valley; there are mountains about it. A centipede moves: it is as large as an elephant. Thunder might crash, the child would not hear it.
No one bothers about him, and he has no need of any one. He can even do without door-mat boats, and caverns123 in the tiled floor, with their fantastic fauna124. His body is enough. What a source of entertainment! He spends hours in looking at his nails and shouting with laughter. They have all different faces, and are like people that he knows. And the rest of his body!… He goes on with the inspection125 of all that he has. How many surprising things! There are so many marvels126. He is absorbed in looking at them.
But he was very roughly picked up when they caught him at it.
Sometimes he takes advantage of his mother's back being turned, to escape from the house. At first they used to run after him and bring him back. Then they got used to letting him go alone, only so he did not go too far away. The house is at the end of the town; the country begins almost at once. As long as he is within sight of the windows he goes without stopping, very deliberately127, and now and then hopping128 on one foot. But as soon as he has passed the corner of the road, and the brushwood hides him from view, he changes abruptly129. He stops there, with his finger in his mouth, to find out what story he shall tell himself that day; for he is full of stories. True, they are all very much like each other, and every one of them could be told in a few lines. He chooses. Generally he takes up the same story, sometimes from the point where it left off, sometimes from the beginning, with variations. But any trifle—a word heard by chance—is enough to set his mind off on another direction.
Chance was fruitful of resources. It is impossible to imagine what can be made of a simple piece of wood, a broken bough130 found alongside a hedge. (You break them off when you do not find them.) It was a magic wand. If it were long and thin, it became a lance, or perhaps a sword; to brandish131 it aloft was enough to cause armies to spring from the earth. Jean-Christophe was their general, marching in front of them, setting them an example, and leading them to the assault of a hillock. If the branch were flexible, it changed into a whip. Jean-Christophe mounted on horseback and leaped precipices132. Sometimes his mount would slip, and the horseman would find himself at the bottom of the ditch, sorrily looking at his dirty hands and barked knees. If the wand were lithe133, then Jean-Christophe would make himself the conductor of an orchestra: he would be both conductor and orchestra; he conducted and he sang; and then he would salute134 the bushes, with their little green heads stirring in the wind.
He was also a magician. He walked with great strides through the fields, looking at the sky and waving his arms. He commanded the clouds. He wished them to go to the right, but they went to the left. Then he would abuse them, and repeat his command. He would watch them out of the corner of his eye, and his heart would beat as he looked to see if there were not at least a little one which would obey him. But they went on calmly moving to the left. Then he would stamp his foot, and threaten them with his stick, and angrily order them to go to the left; and this time, in truth, they obeyed him. He was happy and proud of his power. He would touch the flowers and bid them change into golden carriages, as he had been told they did in the stories; and, although it never happened, he was quite convinced that it would happen if only he had patience. He would look for a grasshopper135 to turn into a hare; he would gently lay his stick on its back, and speak a rune. The insect would escape: he would bar its way. A few moments later he would be lying on his belly136 near to it, looking at it. Then he would have forgotten that he was a magician, and just amuse himself with turning the poor beast on its back, while he laughed aloud at its contortions137.
It occurred to him also to tie a piece of string to his magic wand, and gravely cast it into the river, and wait for a fish to come and bite. He knew perfectly138 well that fish do not usually bite at a piece of string without bait or hook; but he thought that for once in a way, and for him, they might make an exception to their rule; and in his inexhaustible confidence, he carried it so far as to fish in the street with a whip through the grating of a sewer139. He would draw up the whip from time to time excitedly, pretending that the cord of it was more heavy, and that he had caught a treasure, as in a story that his grandfather had told him….
And always in the middle of all these games there used to occur to him moments of strange dreaming and complete forgetfulness. Everything about him would then be blotted140 out; he would not know what he was doing, and was not even conscious of himself. These attacks would take him unawares. Sometimes as he walked or went upstairs a void would suddenly open before him. He would seem then to have lost all thought. But when he came back to himself, he was shocked and bewildered to find himself in the same place on the dark staircase. It was as though he had lived through a whole lifetime—in the space of a few steps.
His grandfather used often to take him with him on his evening walk. The little boy used to trot141 by his side and give him his hand. They used to go by the roads, across plowed142 fields, which smelled strong and good. The grasshoppers143 chirped144. Enormous crows poised146 along the road used to watch them approach from afar, and then fly away heavily as they came up with them.
His grandfather would cough. Jean-Christophe knew quite well what that meant. The old man was burning with the desire to tell a story; but he wanted it to appear that the child had asked him for one. Jean-Christophe did not fail him; they understood each other. The old man had a tremendous affection for his grandson, and it was a great joy to find in him a willing audience. He loved to tell of episodes in his own life, or stories of great men, ancient and modern. His voice would then become emphatic147 and filled with emotion, and would tremble with a childish joy, which he used to try to stifle148. He seemed delighted to hear his own voice. Unhappily, words used to fail him when he opened his mouth to speak. He was used to such disappointment, for it always came upon him with his outbursts of eloquence149. And as he used to forget it with each new attempt, he never succeeded in resigning himself to it.
He used to talk of Regulus, and Arminius, of the soldiers of Lützow, of Koerner, and of Frédéric Stabs, who tried to kill the Emperor Napoleon. His face would glow as he told of incredible deeds of heroism150. He used to pronounce historic words in such a solemn voice that it was impossible to hear them, and he used to try artfully to keep his hearer on tenterhooks151 at the thrilling moments. He would stop, pretend to choke, and noisily blow his nose; and his heart would leap when the child asked, in a voice choking with impatience152: "And then, grandfather?"
There came a day, when Jean-Christophe was a little older, when he perceived his grandfather's method; and then he wickedly set himself to assume an air of indifference153 to the rest of the story, and that hurt the poor old man. But for the moment Jean-Christophe is altogether held by the power of the story-teller. His blood leaped at the dramatic passages. He did not know what it was all about, neither where nor when these deeds were done, or whether his grandfather knew Arminius, or whether Regulus were not—God knows why!—some one whom he had seen at church last Sunday. But his heart and the old man's heart swelled154 with joy and pride in the tale of heroic deeds, as though they themselves had done them; for the old man and the child were both children.
Jean-Christophe was less happy when his grandfather interpolated in the pathetic passages one of those abstruse155 discourses156 so dear to him. There were moral thoughts generally traceable to some idea, honest enough, but a little trite158, such as "Gentleness is better than violence," or "Honor is the dearest thing in life," or "It is better to be good than to be wicked"—only they were much more involved. Jean-Christophe's grandfather had no fear of the criticism of his youthful audience, and abandoned himself to his habitual emphatic manner; he was not afraid of repeating the same phrases, or of not finishing them, or even, if he lost himself in his discourse157, of saying anything that came into his head, to stop up the gaps in his thoughts; and he used to punctuate159 his words, in order to give them greater force, with inappropriate gestures. The boy used to listen with profound respect, and he thought his grandfather very eloquent160, but a little tiresome.
Both of them loved to return again and again to the fabulous161 legend of the Corsican conqueror162 who had taken Europe. Jean-Christophe's grandfather had known him. He had almost fought against him. But he was a man to admit the greatness of his adversaries163: he had said so twenty times. He would have given one of his arms for such a man to have been born on this side of the Rhine. Fate had decreed otherwise; he admired him, and had fought against him—that is, he had been on the point of fighting against him. But when Napoleon had been no farther than ten leagues away, and they had marched out to meet him, a sudden panic had dispersed164 the little band in a forest, and every man had fled, crying, "We are betrayed!" In vain, as the old man used to tell, in vain did he endeavor to rally the fugitives165; he threw himself in front of them, threatening them and weeping: he had been swept away in the flood of them, and on the morrow had found himself at an extraordinary distance from the field of battle—For so he called the place of the rout166. But Jean-Christophe used impatiently to bring him back to the exploits of the hero, and he was delighted by his marvelous progress through the world. He saw him followed by innumerable men, giving vent77 to great cries of love, and at a wave of his hand hurling167 themselves in swarms168 upon flying enemies—they were always in flight. It was a fairy-tale. The old man added a little to it to fill out the story; he conquered Spain, and almost conquered England, which he could not abide169.
Old Krafft used to intersperse170 his enthusiastic narratives171 with indignant apostrophes addressed to his hero. The patriot172 awoke in him, more perhaps when he told of the Emperor's defeats than of the Battle of Jena. He would stop to shake his fist at the river, and spit contemptuously, and mouth noble insults—he did not stoop to less than that. He would call him "rascal," "wild beast," "immoral173." And if such words were intended to restore to the boy's mind a sense of justice, it must be confessed that they failed in their object; for childish logic174 leaped to this conclusion: "If a great man like that had no morality, morality is not a great thing, and what matters most is to be a great man." But the old man was far from suspecting the thoughts which were running along by his side.
They would both be silent, pondering each after his own fashion, these admirable stories—except when the old man used to meet one of his noble patrons taking a walk. Then he would stop, and bow very low, and breathe lavishly175 the formulæ of obsequious176 politeness. The child used to blush for it without knowing why. But his grandfather at heart had a vast respect for established power and persons who had "arrived"; and possibly his great love for the heroes of whom he told was only because he saw in them persons who had arrived at a point higher than the others.
When it was very hot, old Krafft used to sit under a tree, and was not long in dozing177 off. Then Jean-Christophe used to sit near him on a heap of loose stones or a milestone178, or some high seat, uncomfortable and peculiar179; and he used to wag his little legs, and hum to himself, and dream. Or sometimes he used to lie on his back and watch the clouds go by; they looked like oxen, and giants, and hats, and old ladies, and immense landscapes. He used to talk to them in a low voice, or be absorbed in a little cloud which a great one was on the point of devouring180. He was afraid of those which were very black, almost blue, and of those which went very fast. It seemed to him that they played an enormous part in life, and he was surprised that neither his grandfather nor his mother paid any attention to them. They were terrible beings if they wished to do harm. Fortunately, they used to go by, kindly181 enough, a little grotesque, and they did not stop. The boy used in the end to turn giddy with watching them too long, and he used to fidget with his legs and arms, as though he were on the point of falling from the sky. His eyelids182 then would wink, and sleep would overcome him. Silence…. The leaves murmur1 gently and tremble in the sun; a faint mist passes through the air; the uncertain flies hover183, booming like an organ; the grasshoppers, drunk with the summer, chirp145 eagerly and hurriedly; all is silent…. Under the vault184 of the trees the cry of the green woodpecker has magic sounds. Far away on the plain a peasant's voice harangues185 his oxen; the shoes of a horse ring out on the white road. Jean-Christophe's eyes close. Near him an ant passes along a dead branch across a furrow186. He loses consciousness…. Ages have passed. He wakes. The ant has not yet crossed the twig187.
Sometimes the old man would sleep too long, and his face would grow rigid188, and his long nose would grow longer, and his mouth stand open. Jean-Christophe used then to look at him uneasily, and in fear of seeing his head change gradually into some fantastic shape. He used to sing loudly, so as to wake him up, or tumble down noisily from his heap of stones. One day it occurred to him to throw a handful of pine-needles in his grandfather's face, and tell him that they had fallen from the tree. The old man believed him, and that made Jean-Christophe laugh. But, unfortunately, he tried the trick again, and just when he had raised his hand he saw his grandfather's eyes watching him. It was a terrible affair. The old man was solemn, and allowed no liberty to be taken with the respect due to himself. They were estranged189 for more than a week.
The worse the road was, the more beautiful it was to Jean-Christophe. Every stone had a meaning for him; he knew them all. The shape of a rut seemed to him to be a geographical190 accident almost of the same kind as the great mass of the Taunus. In his head he had the map of all the ditches and hillocks of the region extending two kilometers round about the house, and when he made any change in the fixed191 ordering of the furrows192, he thought himself no less important than an engineer with a gang of navvies; and when with his heel he crushed the dried top of a clod of earth, and filled up the valley at the foot of it, it seemed to him that his day had not been wasted.
Sometimes they would meet a peasant in his cart on the highroad, and, if the peasant knew Jean-Christophe's grandfather they would climb up by his side. That was a Paradise on earth. The horse went fast, and Jean-Christophe laughed with delight, except when they passed other people walking; then he would look serious and indifferent, like a person accustomed to drive in a carriage, but his heart was filled with pride. His grandfather and the man would talk without bothering about him. Hidden and crushed by their legs, hardly sitting, sometimes not sitting at all, he was perfectly happy. He talked aloud, without troubling about any answer to what he said. He watched the horse's ears moving. What strange creatures those ears were! They moved in every direction—to right and left; they hitched193 forward, and fell to one side, and turned backwards194 in such a ridiculous way that he: burst out laughing. He would pinch his grandfather to make him look at them; but his grandfather was not interested in them. He would repulse195 Jean-Christophe, and tell him to be quiet. Jean-Christophe would ponder. He thought that when people grow up they are not surprised by anything, and that when they are strong they know everything; and he would try to be grown up himself, and to hide his curiosity, and appear to be indifferent.
He was silent them The rolling of the carriage made him drowsy196. The horse's little bells danced—ding, ding; dong, ding. Music awoke in the air, and hovered197 about the silvery bells, like a swarm84 of bees. It beat gaily198 with the rhythm of the cart—an endless source of song, and one song came on another's heels. To Jean-Christophe they were superb. There was one especially which he thought so beautiful that he tried to draw his grandfather's attention to it. He sang it aloud. They took no heed199 of him. He began it again in a higher key, then again shrilly, and then old Jean Michel said irritably: "Be quiet; you are deafening me with your trumpet-call!" That took away his breath. He blushed and was silent and mortified200. He crushed with his contempt the two stockish imbeciles who did not understand the sublimity201 of his song, which opened wide the heavens! He thought them very ugly, with their week-old beards, and they smelled very ill.
He found consolation202, in watching the horse's shadow. That an astonishing sight. The beast ran along with them lying on its side. In the evening, when they returned, it covered a part of the field. They came upon a rick, and the shadow's head would rise up and then return to its place when they had passed. Its snout was flattened203 out like a burst balloon; its ears were large, and pointed204 like candles. Was it really a shadow or a creature? Jean-Christophe would not have liked to encounter it alone. He would not have run after it as he did after his grandfather's shadow, so as to walk on its head and trample205 it under foot. The shadows of the trees when the sun was low were also objects of meditation206. They made barriers along the road, and looked like phantoms, melancholy and grotesque, saying, "Go no farther!" and the creaking axles and the horse's shoes repeated, "No farther!"
Jean-Christophe's grandfather and the driver never ceased their endless chatter99. Sometimes they would raise their voices, especially when they talked of local affairs or things going wrong. The child would cease to dream, and look at them uneasily. It seemed to him that they were angry with each other, and he was afraid that they would come to blows. However, on the contrary, they best understood each other in their common dislikes. For the most part, they were without haired or the least passion; they talked of small matters loudly, just for the pleasure of talking, as is the joy of the people. But Jean-Christophe, not understanding their conversation, only heard the loud tones of their voices and saw their agitated207 faces, and thought fearfully: "How wicked he looks! Surely they hate each other! How he rolls his eyes, and how wide he opens his mouth! He spat on my nose in his fury. O Lord, he will kill my grandfather!…"
The carriage stopped. The peasant said: "Here you are." The two deadly enemies shook hands. Jean-Christophe's grandfather got down first; the peasant handed him the little boy. The whip flicked208 the horse, the carriage rolled away, and there they were by the little sunken road near the Rhine. The sun dipped down below the fields. The path wound almost to the water's edge. The plentiful209 soft grass yielded under their feet, crackling. Alder-trees leaned over the river, almost half in the water. A cloud of gnats210 danced. A boat passed noiselessly, drawn on by the peaceful current, striding along. The water sucked the branches of the willows211 with a little noise like lips. The light was soft and misty212, the air fresh, the river silvery gray. They reached their home, and the crickets chirped, and on the threshold smiled his mother's dear face….
Oh, delightful213 memories, kindly visions, which will hum their melody in their tuneful flight through life!… Journeys in later life, great towns and moving seas, dream countries and loved faces, are not so exactly graven in the soul as these childish walks, or the corner of the garden seen every day through the window, through the steam and mist made by the child's mouth glued to it for want of other occupation….
Evening now, and the house is shut up. Home … the refuge from all terrifying things—darkness, night, fear, things unknown. No enemy can pass the threshold…. The fire flares214. A golden duck turns slowly on the spit; a delicious smell of fat and of crisping flesh scents215 the room. The joy of eating, incomparable delight, a religious enthusiasm, thrills of joy! The body is too languid with the soft warmth, and the fatigues216 of the day, and the familiar voices. The act of digestion217 plunges218 it in ecstasy219, and faces, shadows, the lampshade, the tongues of flame dancing with a shower of stars in the fireplace—all take on a magical appearance of delight. Jean-Christophe lays his cheek on his plate, the better to enjoy all this happiness….
He is in his soft bed. How did he come there? He is overcome with weariness. The buzzing of the voices in the room and the visions of the day are intermingled in his mind. His father takes his violin; the shrill108 sweet sounds cry out complaining in the night. But the crowning joy is when his mother comes and takes Jean-Christophe's hands. He is drowsy, and, leaning over him, in a low voice she sings, as he asks, an, old song with words that have no meaning. His father thinks such music stupid, but Jean-Christophe never wearies of it. He holds his breath, and is between laughing and crying. His heart is intoxicated220. He does not know where he is, and he is overflowing221 with tenderness. He throws his little arms round his mother's neck, and hugs her with all his strength. She says, laughing:
"You want to strangle me?"
He hugs her close. How he loves her! How he loves everything! Everybody, everything! All is good, all is beautiful…. He sleeps. The cricket on the hearth222 cheeps. His grandfather's tales, the great heroes, float by in the happy night…. To be a hero like them!… Yes, he will be that … he is that…. Ah, how good it is to live!
What an abundance of strength, joy, pride, is in that little creature! What superfluous223 energy! His body and mind never cease to move; they are carried round and round breathlessly. Like a little salamander, he dances day and night in the flames. His is an unwearying enthusiasm finding its food in all things. A delicious dream, a bubbling well, a treasure of inexhaustible hope, a laugh, a song, unending drunkenness. Life does not hold him yet; always he escapes it. He swims in the infinite. How happy he is! He is made to be happy! There is nothing in him that does not believe in happiness, and does not cling to it with all his little strength and passion!…
Life will soon see to it that he is brought to reason.
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1
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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2
trickles
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| n.细流( trickle的名词复数 )；稀稀疏疏缓慢来往的东西v.滴( trickle的第三人称单数 )；淌；使)慢慢走；缓慢移动 | |
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whine
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| v.哀号，号哭；n.哀鸣 | |
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morose
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| adj.脾气坏的，不高兴的 | |
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5
slippers
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| n. 拖鞋 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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7
swollen
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| adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀 | |
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devour
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| v.吞没；贪婪地注视或谛听，贪读；使着迷 | |
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chaos
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| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
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stifling
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| a.令人窒息的 | |
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11
enveloped
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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12
shafts
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| n.轴( shaft的名词复数 )；（箭、高尔夫球棒等的）杆；通风井；一阵（疼痛、害怕等） | |
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13
phantoms
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| n.鬼怪，幽灵( phantom的名词复数 ) | |
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14
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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15
rattles
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| （使）发出格格的响声， （使）作嘎嘎声( rattle的第三人称单数 )； 喋喋不休地说话； 迅速而嘎嘎作响地移动，堕下或走动； 使紧张，使恐惧 | |
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16
grotesque
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| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
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17
lamentable
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| adj.令人惋惜的，悔恨的 | |
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18
grimace
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| v.做鬼脸，面部歪扭 | |
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grimaces
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| n.（表蔑视、厌恶等）面部扭曲，鬼脸( grimace的名词复数 )v.扮鬼相，做鬼脸( grimace的第三人称单数 ) | |
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spotted
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| adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的 | |
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pouted
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| v.撅（嘴）( pout的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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stupor
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| v.昏迷；不省人事 | |
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instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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24
caress
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| vt./n.爱抚，抚摸 | |
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grumbled
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| 抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声 | |
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feverishly
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| adv. 兴奋地 | |
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bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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poke
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| n.刺，戳，袋；vt.拨开，刺，戳；vi.戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢 | |
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29
moroseness
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irritably
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| ad.易生气地 | |
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rehearsal
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| n.排练，排演；练习 | |
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32
poker
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| n.扑克；vt.烙制 | |
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clatter
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| v./n.(使)发出连续而清脆的撞击声 | |
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34
sob
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| n.空间轨道的轰炸机；呜咽，哭泣 | |
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sobs
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| 啜泣（声），呜咽（声）( sob的名词复数 ) | |
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caressed
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| 爱抚或抚摸…( caress的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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37
vexed
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| adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
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38
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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40
grudge
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| n.不满，怨恨，妒嫉；vt.勉强给，不情愿做 | |
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41
aphorisms
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| 格言，警句( aphorism的名词复数 ) | |
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42
spat
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| n.口角，掌击；v.发出呼噜呼噜声 | |
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43
formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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44
humiliated
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| 感到羞愧的 | |
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45
paternal
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| adj.父亲的，像父亲的，父系的，父方的 | |
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46
hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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47
credible
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| adj.可信任的，可靠的 | |
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48
profess
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| v.声称，冒称，以...为业，正式接受入教，表明信仰 | |
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49
steer
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| vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶 | |
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50
habitual
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| adj.习惯性的；通常的，惯常的 | |
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51
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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52
intrigue
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| vt.激起兴趣，迷住；vi.耍阴谋；n.阴谋，密谋 | |
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53
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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54
accosted
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| v.走过去跟…讲话( accost的过去式和过去分词 )；跟…搭讪；（乞丐等）上前向…乞讨；（妓女等）勾搭 | |
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55
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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56
humbly
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| adv. 恭顺地，谦卑地 | |
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57
remorse
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| n.痛恨，悔恨，自责 | |
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58
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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59
kindliness
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| n.厚道，亲切，友好的行为 | |
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60
rancor
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| n.深仇，积怨 | |
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61
toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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62
mediocre
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| adj.平常的，普通的 | |
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63
torpor
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| n.迟钝；麻木；（动物的）冬眠 | |
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64
stiffened
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| 加强的 | |
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65
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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66
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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67
lamentably
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| adv.哀伤地，拙劣地 | |
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68
lessen
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| vt.减少，减轻；缩小 | |
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69
anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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70
illusive
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| adj.迷惑人的，错觉的 | |
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71
tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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72
intermittent
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| adj.间歇的，断断续续的 | |
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73
presentiment
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| n.预感，预觉 | |
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74
appease
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| v.安抚，缓和，平息，满足 | |
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75
moss
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| n.苔，藓，地衣 | |
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76
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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77
vent
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| n.通风口，排放口；开衩；vt.表达，发泄 | |
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78
wink
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|
| n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁 | |
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79
melancholy
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|
| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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80
regularity
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|
| n.规律性，规则性；匀称，整齐 | |
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81
ebb
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|
| vi.衰退，减退；n.处于低潮，处于衰退状态 | |
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82
torpid
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|
| adj.麻痹的，麻木的，迟钝的 | |
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83
pendulum
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| n.摆，钟摆 | |
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84
swarm
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| n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入 | |
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85
swarming
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|
| 密集( swarm的现在分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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86
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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87
twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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88
boundless
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|
| adj.无限的；无边无际的；巨大的 | |
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89
monotonous
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|
| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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90
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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91
resonant
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| adj.(声音)洪亮的，共鸣的 | |
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92
murmurs
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|
| n.低沉、连续而不清的声音( murmur的名词复数 )；低语声；怨言；嘀咕 | |
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93
omnipotent
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|
| adj.全能的，万能的 | |
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94
reigns
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| n.君主的统治( reign的名词复数 )；君主统治时期；任期；当政期 | |
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95
caresses
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| 爱抚，抚摸( caress的名词复数 ) | |
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96
torrent
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|
| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
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97
cemetery
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| n.坟墓，墓地，坟场 | |
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98
chatters
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| （人）喋喋不休( chatter的第三人称单数 )； 唠叨； （牙齿）打战； （机器）震颤 | |
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99
chatter
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| vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战 | |
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100
stammers
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|
| n.口吃，结巴( stammer的名词复数 )v.结巴地说出( stammer的第三人称单数 ) | |
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101
turmoil
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|
| n.骚乱，混乱，动乱 | |
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102
fleeting
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|
| adj.短暂的，飞逝的 | |
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103
penetrates
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|
| v.穿过( penetrate的第三人称单数 )；刺入；了解；渗透 | |
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104
labyrinth
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|
| n.迷宫；难解的事物；迷路 | |
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105
growl
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|
| v.（狗等）嗥叫，（炮等）轰鸣；n.嗥叫，轰鸣 | |
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106
deafening
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| adj. 振耳欲聋的, 极喧闹的 动词deafen的现在分词形式 | |
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107
shrilly
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| 尖声的； 光亮的，耀眼的 | |
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108
shrill
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|
| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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109
exasperation
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| n.愤慨 | |
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110
braying
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| v.发出驴叫似的声音( bray的现在分词 )；发嘟嘟声；粗声粗气地讲话（或大笑）；猛击 | |
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111
budge
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| v.移动一点儿；改变立场 | |
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112
collapsed
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|
| adj.倒塌的 | |
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113
boredom
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| n.厌烦，厌倦，乏味，无聊 | |
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114
jaw
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| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
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115
deluge
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| n./vt.洪水，暴雨，使泛滥 | |
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116
spine
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| n.脊柱，脊椎；(动植物的)刺；书脊 | |
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117
tiresome
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|
| adj.令人疲劳的，令人厌倦的 | |
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118
reverberating
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|
| 回响，回荡( reverberate的现在分词 )； 使反响，使回荡，使反射 | |
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119
thither
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|
| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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120
displeased
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| a.不快的 | |
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121
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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122
dribbling
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| n.（燃料或油从系统内）漏泄v.流口水( dribble的现在分词 )；（使液体）滴下或作细流；运球，带球 | |
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123
caverns
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| 大山洞，大洞穴( cavern的名词复数 ) | |
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124
fauna
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| n.(一个地区或时代的)所有动物，动物区系 | |
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125
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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126
marvels
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|
| n.奇迹( marvel的名词复数 )；令人惊奇的事物（或事例）；不平凡的成果；成就v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的第三人称单数 ) | |
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127
deliberately
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|
| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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128
hopping
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| n. 跳跃 动词hop的现在分词形式 | |
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129
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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130
bough
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| n.大树枝，主枝 | |
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131
brandish
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| v.挥舞，挥动；n.挥动，挥舞 | |
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132
precipices
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| n.悬崖，峭壁( precipice的名词复数 ) | |
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133
lithe
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| adj.(指人、身体)柔软的，易弯的 | |
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134
salute
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|
| vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮 | |
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135
grasshopper
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| n.蚱蜢，蝗虫，蚂蚱 | |
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136
belly
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| n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛 | |
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137
contortions
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| n.扭歪，弯曲；扭曲，弄歪，歪曲( contortion的名词复数 ) | |
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138
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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139
sewer
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| n.排水沟，下水道 | |
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140
blotted
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| 涂污( blot的过去式和过去分词 )； （用吸墨纸）吸干 | |
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141
trot
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| n.疾走，慢跑；n.老太婆；现成译本；(复数）trots:腹泻（与the 连用）；v.小跑，快步走，赶紧 | |
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142
plowed
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| v.耕( plow的过去式和过去分词 )；犁耕；费力穿过 | |
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143
grasshoppers
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| n.蚱蜢( grasshopper的名词复数 )；蝗虫；蚂蚱；（孩子）矮小的 | |
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144
chirped
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| 鸟叫，虫鸣( chirp的过去式 ) | |
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145
chirp
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| v.(尤指鸟)唧唧喳喳的叫 | |
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146
poised
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| a.摆好姿势不动的 | |
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147
emphatic
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| adj.强调的，着重的；无可置疑的，明显的 | |
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148
stifle
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| vt.使窒息；闷死；扼杀；抑止，阻止 | |
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149
eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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150
heroism
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| n.大无畏精神，英勇 | |
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151
tenterhooks
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| n.坐立不安 | |
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152
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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153
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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154
swelled
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| 增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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155
abstruse
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| adj.深奥的，难解的 | |
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156
discourses
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| 论文( discourse的名词复数 )； 演说； 讲道； 话语 | |
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157
discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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158
trite
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| adj.陈腐的 | |
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159
punctuate
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| vt.加标点于；不时打断 | |
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160
eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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161
fabulous
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| adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的 | |
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162
conqueror
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| n.征服者，胜利者 | |
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163
adversaries
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| n.对手，敌手( adversary的名词复数 ) | |
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164
dispersed
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| adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
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165
fugitives
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| n.亡命者，逃命者( fugitive的名词复数 ) | |
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166
rout
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| n.溃退，溃败；v.击溃，打垮 | |
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167
hurling
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| n.爱尔兰式曲棍球v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的现在分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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168
swarms
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| 蜂群，一大群( swarm的名词复数 ) | |
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169
abide
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| vi.遵守；坚持；vt.忍受 | |
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170
intersperse
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| vt.散布，散置，点缀 | |
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171
narratives
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| 记叙文( narrative的名词复数 )； 故事； 叙述； 叙述部分 | |
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172
patriot
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| n.爱国者，爱国主义者 | |
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173
immoral
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| adj.不道德的，淫荡的，荒淫的，有伤风化的 | |
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174
logic
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| n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性 | |
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175
lavishly
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| adv.慷慨地，大方地 | |
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176
obsequious
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|
| adj.谄媚的，奉承的，顺从的 | |
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177
dozing
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| v.打瞌睡,假寐 n.瞌睡 | |
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178
milestone
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| n.里程碑；划时代的事件 | |
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179
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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180
devouring
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| 吞没( devour的现在分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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181
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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182
eyelids
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| n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 )；眼睛也不眨一下；不露声色；面不改色 | |
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183
hover
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| vi.翱翔，盘旋；徘徊；彷徨，犹豫 | |
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184
vault
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| n.拱形圆顶，地窖，地下室 | |
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185
harangues
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| n.高谈阔论的长篇演讲( harangue的名词复数 )v.高谈阔论( harangue的第三人称单数 ) | |
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186
furrow
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| n.沟；垄沟；轨迹；车辙；皱纹 | |
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187
twig
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| n.小树枝，嫩枝；v.理解 | |
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188
rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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189
estranged
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| adj.疏远的，分离的 | |
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190
geographical
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| adj.地理的；地区(性)的 | |
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191
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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192
furrows
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| n.犁沟( furrow的名词复数 )；（脸上的）皱纹v.犁田，开沟( furrow的第三人称单数 ) | |
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193
hitched
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| （免费）搭乘他人之车( hitch的过去式和过去分词 )； 搭便车； 攀上； 跃上 | |
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194
backwards
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| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
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195
repulse
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| n.击退，拒绝；vt.逐退，击退，拒绝 | |
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196
drowsy
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| adj.昏昏欲睡的，令人发困的 | |
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197
hovered
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| 鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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198
gaily
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| adv.欢乐地，高兴地 | |
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199
heed
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| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
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200
mortified
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| v.使受辱( mortify的过去式和过去分词 )；伤害（人的感情）；克制；抑制（肉体、情感等） | |
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201
sublimity
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| 崇高，庄严，气质高尚 | |
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202
consolation
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| n.安慰，慰问 | |
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203
flattened
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| [医]（水）平扁的，弄平的 | |
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204
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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205
trample
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| vt.踩，践踏；无视，伤害，侵犯 | |
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206
meditation
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| n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录 | |
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207
agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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208
flicked
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| （尤指用手指或手快速地）轻击( flick的过去式和过去分词 )； （用…）轻挥； （快速地）按开关； 向…笑了一下（或瞥了一眼等） | |
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209
plentiful
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| adj.富裕的，丰富的 | |
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210
gnats
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| n.叮人小虫( gnat的名词复数 ) | |
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211
willows
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| n.柳树( willow的名词复数 )；柳木 | |
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212
misty
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| adj.雾蒙蒙的，有雾的 | |
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213
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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214
flares
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| n.喇叭裤v.（使）闪耀( flare的第三人称单数 )；（使）（船舷）外倾；（使）鼻孔张大；（使）（衣裙、酒杯等）呈喇叭形展开 | |
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215
scents
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| n.香水( scent的名词复数 )；气味；（动物的）臭迹；（尤指狗的）嗅觉 | |
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216
fatigues
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| n.疲劳( fatigue的名词复数 )；杂役；厌倦；（士兵穿的）工作服 | |
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217
digestion
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| n.消化，吸收 | |
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218
plunges
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| n.跳进，投入vt.使投入，使插入，使陷入vi.投入，跳进，陷入v.颠簸( plunge的第三人称单数 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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219
ecstasy
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| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
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220
intoxicated
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| 喝醉的，极其兴奋的 | |
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221
overflowing
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| n. 溢出物,溢流 adj. 充沛的，充满的 动词overflow的现在分词形式 | |
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222
hearth
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| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
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223
superfluous
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| adj.过多的，过剩的，多余的 | |
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