STRANGE, BUT TRUE

 The other day my young cousin George lunched with me. He is a cheery youth, and a member of the University of Oxford¹. He refreshes me very much, and I believe that I have the pleasure of affording him some matter for thought. On this occasion, however, he was extremely silent and depressed². I said little, but made an extremely good luncheon³. Afterwards we proceeded to take a stroll in the Park.

 

“Sam, old boy,” said George suddenly, “I’m the most miserable⁴ devil alive.”

 

“I don’t know what else you expect at your age,” I observed, lighting⁵ a cigar. He walked on in silence for a few moments.

 

“I say, Sam, old boy, when you were young, were you ever—?” he paused, arranged his neckcloth (it was more like a bed-quilt—oh, the fashion, of course, I know that), and blushed a fine crimson⁶.

 

“Was I ever what, George?” I had the curiosity to ask.

 

“Oh, well, hard hit, you know—a girl, you know.”

 

“In love, you mean, George? No, I never was.”

 

“Never?”

 

“No. Are you?”

 

“Yes. Hang it!” Then he looked at me with a puzzled air and continued:

 

“I say, though, Sam, it’s awfully⁷ funny you shouldn’t have—don’t you know what it’s like, then?”

 

“How should I?” I inquired apologetically. “What is it like, George?”

 

George took my arm.

 

“It’s just Hades,” he informed me confidentially⁸.

 

“Then,” I remarked, “I have no reason to regret—?”

 

“Still, you know,” interrupted George, “it’s not half bad.”

 

“That appears to me to be a paradox,” I observed.

 

“It’s precious hard to explain it to you if you’ve never felt it,” said George, in rather an injured tone. “But what I say is quite true.”

 

“I shouldn’t think of contradicting you, my dear fellow,” I hastened to say.

 

“Let’s sit down,” said he, “and watch the people driving. We may see somebody—somebody we know, you know, Sam.”

 

“So we may,” said I, and we sat down.

 

“A fellow,” pursued George, with knitted brows, “is all turned upside down, don’t you know?”

 

“How very peculiar⁹?” I exclaimed.

 

“One moment he’s the happiest dog in the world, and the next—well, the next, it’s the deuce.”

 

“But,” I objected, “not surely without good reason for such a change?”

 

“Reason? Bosh! The least thing does it.”

 

I flicked¹⁰ the ash from my cigar.

 

“It may,” I remarked, “affect you in this extraordinary way, but surely it is not so with most people?”

 

“Perhaps not,” George conceded. “Most people are cold-blooded asses¹¹.”

 

“Very likely the explanation lies in that fact,” said I.

 

“I didn’t mean you, old chap,” said George, with a penitence¹² which showed that he had meant me.

 

“Oh, all right, all right,” said I.

 

“But when a man’s really far gone there’s nothing else in the world but it.”

 

“That seems to me not to be a healthy condition,” said I.

 

“Healthy? Oh, you old idiot, Sam! Who’s talking of health? Now, only last night I met her at a dance. I had five dances with her—talked to her half the evening, in fact. Well, you’d think that would last some time, wouldn’t you?”

 

“I should certainly have supposed so,” I assented¹³.

 

“So it would with most chaps, I dare say, but with me—confound it, I feel as if I hadn’t seen her for six months!”

 

“But, my dear George, that’s surely rather absurd? As you tell me, you spent a long while with the young person—”

 

“The—young person!”

 

“You’ve not told me her name, you see.”

 

“No, and I shan’t. I wonder if she’ll be at the Musgraves’ tonight!”

 

“You’re sure,” said I soothingly¹⁴, “to meet her somewhere in the course of the next few weeks.”

 

George looked at me. Then he observed with a bitter laugh:

 

“It’s pretty evident you’ve never had it. You’re as bad as those chaps who write books.”

 

“Well, but surely they often describe with sufficient warmth and—er—color—”

 

“Oh, I dare say; but it’s all wrong. At least, it’s not what I feel. Then look at the girls in books! All beasts!”

 

George spoke¹⁵ with much vehemence¹⁶; so that I was led to say:

 

“The lady you are preoccupied¹⁷ with is, I suppose, handsome?”

 

George turned swiftly round on me.

 

“Look here, can you hold your tongue, Sam?”

 

I nodded.

 

“Then I’m hanged if I won’t point her out to you?”

 

“That’s uncommon¹⁸ good of you, George,” said I.

 

“Then you’ll see,” continued George. “But it’s not only her looks, you know, she’s the most—”

 

He stopped. Looking round to see why, I observed that his face was red; he clutched his walking stick tightly in his left hand; his right hand was trembling, as if it wanted to jump up to his hat. “Here she comes! Look, look!” he whispered.

 

Directing my eyes towards the lines of carriages which rolled past us, I observed a girl in a victoria; by her side sat a portly lady of middle age. The girl was decidedly like the lady; a description of the lady would not, I imagine, be interesting. The girl blushed slightly and bowed. George and I lifted our hats. The victoria and its occupants were gone. George leant back with a sigh. After a moment, he said:

 

“Well, that was her.”

 

There was expectancy¹⁹ in his tone.

 

“She has an extremely prepossessing appearance,” I observed.

 

“There isn’t,” said George, “a girl in London to touch her. Sam, old boy, I believe—I believe she likes me a bit.”

 

“I’m sure she must, George,” said I; and indeed, I thought so.

 

“The Governor’s infernally unreasonable,” said George, fretfully.

 

“Oh, you’ve mentioned it to him?”

 

“I sounded him. Oh, you may be sure he didn’t see what I was up to. I put it quite generally. He talked rot about getting on in the world. Who wants to get on?”

 

“Who, indeed?” said I. “It is only changing what you are for something no better.”

 

“And about waiting till I know my own mind. Isn’t it enough to look at her?”

 

“Ample, in my opinion,” said I.

 

George rose to his feet.

 

“They’ve gone to a party, they won’t come round again,” said he. “We may as well go, mayn’t we?”

 

I was very comfortable, so I said timidly:

 

“We might see somebody else we know.”

 

“Oh, somebody else be hanged! Who wants to see em?”

 

“I’m sure I don’t.” said I hastily, as I rose from my armchair, which was at once snapped up.

 

We were about to return to the club, when I observed Lady Mickleham’s barouche standing²⁰ under the trees. I invited George to come and be introduced.

 

He displayed great indifference²¹.

 

“She gives a good many parties,” said I; “and perhaps—”

 

“By Jove! Yes, I may as well,” said George. “Glad you had the sense to think of that, old man.”

 

So I took him up to Dolly and presented him. Dolly was very gracious; George is an evidently presentable boy. We fell into conversation.

 

“My cousin, Lady Mickleham,” said I, “has been telling me—”

 

“Oh, shut up, Sam!” said George, not, however, appearing very angry.

 

“About a subject on which you can assist him more than I can, inasmuch as you are married. He is in love.”

 

Dolly glanced at George.

 

“Oh, what fun!” said she.

 

“Fun!” cried George.

 

“I mean, how awfully interesting,” said Dolly, suddenly transforming her expression.

 

“And he wanted to be introduced to you because you might ask her and him to—”

 

George became red, and began to stammer²² an apology.

 

“Oh, I don’t believe him,” said Dolly kindly²³; “he always makes people uncomfortable if he can. What were you telling him, Mr. George?”

 

“It’s no use telling him anything. He can’t understand,” said George.

 

“Is she very—?” asked Dolly, fixing doubtfully grave eyes on my young cousin.

 

“Sam’s seen her,” said he, in an excess of shyness.

 

Dolly turned to me for an opinion, and I gave one:

 

“She is just,” said I, “as charming as he thinks her.”

 

Dolly leant over to my cousin, and whispered, “Tell me her name.” And he whispered something back to Dolly.

 

“It’s awfully kind of you, Lady Mickleham,” he said.

 

“I am a kind old thing,” said Dolly, all over dimples. “I can easily get to know them.”

 

“Oh, you really are awfully kind, Lady Mickleham.”

 

Dolly smiled upon him, waved her hand to me, and drove off, crying—

 

“Do try to make Mr. Carter understand!”

 

We were left along. George wore a meditative²⁴ smile. Presently he roused himself to say:

 

“She’s really a very kind woman. She’s so sympathetic. She’s not like you. I expect she felt it once herself, you know.”

 

“One can never tell,” said I carelessly. “Perhaps she did—once.”

 

George fell to brooding again. I thought I would try an experiment.

 

“Not altogether bad-looking, either, is she?” I asked, lighting a cigarette.

 

George started.

 

“What? Oh, well, I don’t know. I suppose some people might think so.”

 

He paused, and added, with a bashful, knowing smile—

 

“You can hardly expect me to go into raptures²⁵ about her, can you, old man?”

 

I turned my head away, but he caught me.

 

“Oh, you needn’t smile in that infernally patronizing way,” he cried angrily.

 

“Upon my word, George,” said I, “I don’t know that I need.”

 

  该作者的其它作品

《曾达的囚徒 The Prisoner of Zenda》
《The Heart of Princess Osra》

 

1 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

2 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

3 luncheon   

n.午宴，午餐，便宴

参考例句：

• We have luncheon at twelve o'clock.我们十二点钟用午餐。
• I have a luncheon engagement.我午饭有约。

4 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

5 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

6 crimson   

n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色

参考例句：

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

7 awfully   

adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地

参考例句：

• Agriculture was awfully neglected in the past.过去农业遭到严重忽视。
• I've been feeling awfully bad about it.对这我一直感到很难受。

8 confidentially   

ad.秘密地，悄悄地

参考例句：

• She was leaning confidentially across the table. 她神神秘秘地从桌子上靠过来。
• Kao Sung-nien and Wang Ch'u-hou talked confidentially in low tones. 高松年汪处厚两人低声密谈。

9 peculiar   

adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的

参考例句：

• He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
• He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。

10 flicked   

（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）

参考例句：

• She flicked the dust off her collar. 她轻轻弹掉了衣领上的灰尘。
• I idly picked up a magazine and flicked through it. 我漫不经心地拿起一本杂志翻看着。

11 asses   

n. 驴，愚蠢的人，臀部 adv. (常用作后置)用于贬损或骂人

参考例句：

• Sometimes I got to kick asses to make this place run right. 有时我为了把这个地方搞得像个样子，也不得不踢踢别人的屁股。 来自教父部分
• Those were wild asses maybe, or zebras flying around in herds. 那些也许是野驴或斑马在成群地奔跑。

12 penitence   

n.忏悔，赎罪；悔过

参考例句：

• The thief expressed penitence for all his past actions. 那盗贼对他犯过的一切罪恶表示忏悔。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Of penitence, there has been none! 可是悔过呢，还一点没有！ 来自英汉文学 - 红字

13 assented   

同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The judge assented to allow the prisoner to speak. 法官同意允许犯人申辩。
• "No," assented Tom, "they don't kill the women -- they're too noble. “对，”汤姆表示赞同地说，“他们不杀女人——真伟大！

14 soothingly   

adv.抚慰地，安慰地；镇痛地

参考例句：

• The mother talked soothingly to her child. 母亲对自己的孩子安慰地说。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He continued to talk quietly and soothingly to the girl until her frightened grip on his arm was relaxed. 他继续柔声安慰那姑娘，她那因恐惧而紧抓住他的手终于放松了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

16 vehemence   

n.热切；激烈；愤怒

参考例句：

• The attack increased in vehemence.进攻越来越猛烈。
• She was astonished at his vehemence.她对他的激昂感到惊讶。

17 preoccupied   

adj.全神贯注的，入神的；被抢先占有的；心事重重的v.占据（某人）思想，使对…全神贯注，使专心于( preoccupy的过去式)

参考例句：

• He was too preoccupied with his own thoughts to notice anything wrong. 他只顾想着心事，没注意到有什么不对。
• The question of going to the Mount Tai preoccupied his mind. 去游泰山的问题盘踞在他心头。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 uncommon   

adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的

参考例句：

• Such attitudes were not at all uncommon thirty years ago.这些看法在30年前很常见。
• Phil has uncommon intelligence.菲尔智力超群。

19 expectancy   

n.期望，预期，（根据概率统计求得）预期数额

参考例句：

• Japanese people have a very high life expectancy.日本人的平均寿命非常长。
• The atomosphere of tense expectancy sobered everyone.这种期望的紧张气氛使每个人变得严肃起来。

20 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

21 indifference   

n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎

参考例句：

• I was disappointed by his indifference more than somewhat.他的漠不关心使我很失望。
• He feigned indifference to criticism of his work.他假装毫不在意别人批评他的作品。

22 stammer   

n.结巴，口吃；v.结结巴巴地说

参考例句：

• He's got a bad stammer.他口吃非常严重。
• We must not try to play off the boy troubled with a stammer.我们不可以取笑这个有口吃病的男孩。

23 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。

24 meditative   

adj.沉思的，冥想的

参考例句：

• A stupid fellow is talkative;a wise man is meditative.蠢人饶舌，智者思虑。
• Music can induce a meditative state in the listener.音乐能够引导倾听者沉思。

25 raptures   

极度欢喜( rapture的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Her heart melted away in secret raptures. 她暗自高兴得心花怒放。
• The mere thought of his bride moves Pinkerton to raptures. 一想起新娘，平克顿不禁心花怒放。