Chapter 42 Jellicoe Goes On The Sick-List

Mike woke next morning with a confused memory of having listened to agreat deal of incoherent conversation from Jellicoe, and a painfullyvivid recollection of handing over the bulk of his worldly wealth tohim. The thought depressed¹ him, though it seemed to please Jellicoe,for the latter carolled in a gay undertone as he dressed, till Psmith,who had a sensitive ear, asked as a favour that these farm-yardimitations might cease until he was out of the room.

　　There were other things to make Mike low-spirited that morning. Tobegin with, he was in detention², which in itself is enough to spoil aday. It was a particularly fine day, which made the matter worse. Inaddition to this, he had never felt stiffer in his life. It seemed tohim that the creaking of his joints³ as he walked must be audible toevery one within a radius⁴ of several yards. Finally, there was theinterview with Mr. Downing to come. That would probably be unpleasant.

　　As Psmith had said, Mr. Downing was the sort of master who would belikely to make trouble. The great match had not been an ordinarymatch. Mr. Downing was a curious man in many ways, but he did not makea fuss on ordinary occasions when his bowling⁵ proved expensive.

　　Yesterday's performance, however, stood in a class by itself. It stoodforth without disguise as a deliberate rag. One side does not keepanother in the field the whole day in a one-day match except as agrisly kind of practical joke. And Mr. Downing and his house realisedthis. The house's way of signifying its comprehension of the fact wasto be cold and distant as far as the seniors were concerned, andabusive and pugnacious⁷ as regards the juniors. Young blood had beenshed overnight, and more flowed during the eleven o'clock intervalthat morning to avenge⁹ the insult.

　　Mr. Downing's methods of retaliation¹⁰ would have to be, of necessity,more elusive¹¹; but Mike did not doubt that in some way or other hisform-master would endeavour to get a bit of his own back.

　　As events turned out, he was perfectly¹² right. When a master has gothis knife into a boy, especially a master who allows himself to beinfluenced by his likes and dislikes, he is inclined to single him outin times of stress, and savage¹³ him as if he were the officialrepresentative of the evildoers. Just as, at sea, the skipper, when hehas trouble with the crew, works it off on the boy.

　　Mr. Downing was in a sarcastic¹⁴ mood when he met Mike. That is to say,he began in a sarcastic strain. But this sort of thing is difficult tokeep up. By the time he had reached his peroration¹⁵, the rapier hadgiven place to the bludgeon. For sarcasm¹⁷ to be effective, the user ofit must be met half-way. His hearer must appear to be conscious of thesarcasm and moved by it. Mike, when masters waxed sarcastic towardshim, always assumed an air of stolid¹⁸ stupidity, which was as a suit ofmail against satire¹⁹.

　　So Mr. Downing came down from the heights with a run, and began toexpress himself with a simple strength which it did his form good tolisten to. Veterans who had been in the form for terms said afterwardsthat there had been nothing to touch it, in their experience of theorator, since the glorious day when Dunster, that prince of raggers,who had left at Christmas to go to a crammer's, had introduced threelively grass-snakes into the room during a Latin lesson.

　　"You are surrounded," concluded Mr. Downing, snapping his pencil intwo in his emotion, "by an impenetrable mass of conceit²⁰ and vanity andselfishness. It does not occur to you to admit your capabilities²¹ as acricketer in an open, straightforward²² way and place them at thedisposal of the school. No, that would not be dramatic enough for you.

　　It would be too commonplace altogether. Far too commonplace!" Mr.

　　Downing laughed bitterly. "No, you must conceal²³ your capabilities. Youmust act a lie. You must--who is that shuffling²⁴ his feet? I will nothave it, I _will_ have silence--you must hang back in order tomake a more effective entrance, like some wretched actor who--I will_not_ have this shuffling. I have spoken of this before. Macpherson,are you shuffling your feet?""Sir, no, sir.""Please, sir.""Well, Parsons?""I think it's the noise of the draught²⁵ under the door, sir."Instant departure of Parsons for the outer regions. And, in theexcitement of this side-issue, the speaker lost his inspiration, andabruptly concluded his remarks by putting Mike on to translate inCicero. Which Mike, who happened to have prepared the first half-page,did with much success.

　　* * * * *The Old Boys' match was timed to begin shortly after eleven o'clock.

　　During the interval⁸ most of the school walked across the field to lookat the pitch. One or two of the Old Boys had already changed and werepractising in front of the pavilion.

　　It was through one of these batsmen that an accident occurred whichhad a good deal of influence on Mike's affairs.

　　Mike had strolled out by himself. Half-way across the field Jellicoejoined him. Jellicoe was cheerful, and rather embarrassingly grateful.

　　He was just in the middle of his harangue²⁶ when the accident happened.

　　To their left, as they crossed the field, a long youth, with the faintbeginnings of a moustache and a blazer that lit up the surroundinglandscape like a glowing beacon²⁷, was lashing²⁸ out recklessly at afriend's bowling. Already he had gone within an ace¹⁶ of slaying²⁹ a smallboy. As Mike and Jellicoe proceeded on their way, there was a shout of"Heads!"The almost universal habit of batsmen of shouting "Heads!" at whateverheight from the ground the ball may be, is not a little confusing. Theaverage person, on hearing the shout, puts his hands over his skull,crouches down and trusts to luck. This is an excellent plan if theball is falling, but is not much protection against a skimming drivealong the ground.

　　When "Heads!" was called on the present occasion, Mike and Jellicoeinstantly assumed the crouching³⁰ attitude.

　　Jellicoe was the first to abandon it. He uttered a yell and spranginto the air. After which he sat down and began to nurse his ankle.

　　The bright-blazered youth walked up.

　　"Awfully³¹ sorry, you know, man. Hurt?"Jellicoe was pressing the injured spot tenderly with his finger-tips,uttering sharp howls whenever, zeal³² outrunning discretion³³, he proddedhimself too energetically.

　　"Silly ass⁶, Dunster," he groaned³⁴, "slamming about like that.""Awfully sorry. But I did yell.""It's swelling³⁵ up rather," said Mike. "You'd better get over to thehouse and have it looked at. Can you walk?"Jellicoe tried, but sat down again with a loud "Ow!" At that momentthe bell rang.

　　"I shall have to be going in," said Mike, "or I'd have helped youover.""I'll give you a hand," said Dunster.

　　He helped the sufferer to his feet and they staggered off together,Jellicoe hopping³⁶, Dunster advancing with a sort of polka step. Mikewatched them start and then turned to go in.

1 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。

2 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

3 joints   

接头( joint的名词复数 )； 关节； 公共场所（尤指价格低廉的饮食和娱乐场所） （非正式）； 一块烤肉 （英式英语）

参考例句：

• Expansion joints of various kinds are fitted on gas mains. 各种各样的伸缩接头被安装在煤气的总管道上了。
• Expansion joints of various kinds are fitted on steam pipes. 各种各样的伸缩接头被安装在蒸气管道上了。

4 radius   

n.半径，半径范围；有效航程，范围，界限

参考例句：

• He has visited every shop within a radius of two miles.周围两英里以内的店铺他都去过。
• We are measuring the radius of the circle.我们正在测量圆的半径。

5 bowling   

n.保龄球运动

参考例句：

• Bowling is a popular sport with young and old.保龄球是老少都爱的运动。
• Which sport do you 1ike most,golf or bowling?你最喜欢什么运动，高尔夫还是保龄球？

6 ass   

n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人

参考例句：

• He is not an ass as they make him.他不象大家猜想的那样笨。
• An ass endures his burden but not more than his burden.驴能负重但不能超过它能力所负担的。

7 pugnacious   

adj.好斗的

参考例句：

• He is a pugnacious fighter.他是个好斗的战士。
• When he was a child,he was pugnacious and fought with everyone.他小时候很好斗，跟每个人都打过架。

8 interval   

n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息

参考例句：

• The interval between the two trees measures 40 feet.这两棵树的间隔是40英尺。
• There was a long interval before he anwsered the telephone.隔了好久他才回了电话。

9 avenge   

v.为...复仇，为...报仇

参考例句：

• He swore to avenge himself on the mafia.他发誓说要向黑手党报仇。
• He will avenge the people on their oppressor.他将为人民向压迫者报仇。

10 retaliation   

n.报复，反击

参考例句：

• retaliation against UN workers 对联合国工作人员的报复
• He never said a single word in retaliation. 他从未说过一句反击的话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 elusive   

adj.难以表达(捉摸)的；令人困惑的；逃避的

参考例句：

• Try to catch the elusive charm of the original in translation.翻译时设法把握住原文中难以捉摸的风韵。
• Interpol have searched all the corners of the earth for the elusive hijackers.国际刑警组织已在世界各地搜查在逃的飞机劫持者。

12 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

13 savage   

adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人

参考例句：

• The poor man received a savage beating from the thugs.那可怜的人遭到暴徒的痛打。
• He has a savage temper.他脾气粗暴。

14 sarcastic   

adj.讥讽的，讽刺的，嘲弄的

参考例句：

• I squashed him with a sarcastic remark.我说了一句讽刺的话把他给镇住了。
• She poked fun at people's shortcomings with sarcastic remarks.她冷嘲热讽地拿别人的缺点开玩笑。

15 peroration   

n.（演说等之）结论

参考例句：

• As he worked his way from ethos and logos to the pathos of peroration,he bade us think of the connection between deprivation and belligerence,and to do something about it.当他在演讲中从道义和理念，转到结尾处的感伤时，他请我们考虑贫困与好战的关系，并为此做些什么。
• He summarized his main points in his peroration.他在结束语中总结了他的演讲要点。

16 ace   

n.A牌；发球得分；佼佼者；adj.杰出的

参考例句：

• A good negotiator always has more than one ace in the hole.谈判高手总有数张王牌在手。
• He is an ace mechanic.He can repair any cars.他是一流的机械师,什么车都会修。

17 sarcasm   

n.讥讽，讽刺，嘲弄，反话 （adj.sarcastic）

参考例句：

• His sarcasm hurt her feelings.他的讽刺伤害了她的感情。
• She was given to using bitter sarcasm.她惯于用尖酸刻薄语言挖苦人。

18 stolid   

adj.无动于衷的，感情麻木的

参考例句：

• Her face showed nothing but stolid indifference.她的脸上毫无表情，只有麻木的无动于衷。
• He conceals his feelings behind a rather stolid manner.他装作无动于衷的样子以掩盖自己的感情。

19 satire   

n.讽刺，讽刺文学，讽刺作品

参考例句：

• The movie is a clever satire on the advertising industry.那部影片是关于广告业的一部巧妙的讽刺作品。
• Satire is often a form of protest against injustice.讽刺往往是一种对不公正的抗议形式。

20 conceit   

n.自负，自高自大

参考例句：

• As conceit makes one lag behind,so modesty helps one make progress.骄傲使人落后，谦虚使人进步。
• She seems to be eaten up with her own conceit.她仿佛已经被骄傲冲昏了头脑。

21 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

22 straightforward   

adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的

参考例句：

• A straightforward talk is better than a flowery speech.巧言不如直说。
• I must insist on your giving me a straightforward answer.我一定要你给我一个直截了当的回答。

23 conceal   

v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽

参考例句：

• He had to conceal his identity to escape the police.为了躲避警方，他只好隐瞒身份。
• He could hardly conceal his joy at his departure.他几乎掩饰不住临行时的喜悦。

24 shuffling   

adj. 慢慢移动的, 滑移的 动词shuffle的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• Don't go shuffling along as if you were dead. 别像个死人似地拖着脚走。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Some one was shuffling by on the sidewalk. 外面的人行道上有人拖着脚走过。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

25 draught   

n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计

参考例句：

• He emptied his glass at one draught.他将杯中物一饮而尽。
• It's a pity the room has no north window and you don't get a draught.可惜这房间没北窗，没有过堂风。

26 harangue   

n.慷慨冗长的训话，言辞激烈的讲话

参考例句：

• We had to listen to a long harangue about our own shortcomings.我们必须去听一有关我们缺点的长篇大论。
• The minister of propaganda delivered his usual harangue.宣传部长一如既往发表了他的长篇大论。

27 beacon   

n.烽火，（警告用的）闪火灯，灯塔

参考例句：

• The blink of beacon could be seen for miles.灯塔的光亮在数英里之外都能看见。
• The only light over the deep black sea was the blink shone from the beacon.黑黢黢的海面上唯一的光明就只有灯塔上闪现的亮光了。

28 lashing   

n.鞭打；痛斥；大量；许多v.鞭打( lash的现在分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥

参考例句：

• The speaker was lashing the crowd. 演讲人正在煽动人群。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The rain was lashing the windows. 雨急打着窗子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

29 slaying   

杀戮。

参考例句：

• The man mimed the slaying of an enemy. 此人比手划脚地表演砍死一个敌人的情况。
• He is suspected of having been an accomplice in the slaying,butthey can't pin it on him. 他有嫌疑曾参与该杀人案，但他们找不到证据来指控他。

30 crouching   

v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• a hulking figure crouching in the darkness 黑暗中蹲伏着的一个庞大身影
• A young man was crouching by the table, busily searching for something. 一个年轻人正蹲在桌边翻看什么。 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译

31 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。

32 zeal   

n.热心，热情，热忱

参考例句：

• Revolutionary zeal caught them up,and they joined the army.革命热情激励他们，于是他们从军了。
• They worked with great zeal to finish the project.他们热情高涨地工作，以期完成这个项目。

33 discretion   

n.谨慎；随意处理

参考例句：

• You must show discretion in choosing your friend.你择友时必须慎重。
• Please use your best discretion to handle the matter.请慎重处理此事。

34 groaned   

v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦

参考例句：

• He groaned in anguish. 他痛苦地呻吟。
• The cart groaned under the weight of the piano. 大车在钢琴的重压下嘎吱作响。 来自《简明英汉词典》

35 swelling   

n.肿胀

参考例句：

• Use ice to reduce the swelling. 用冰敷消肿。
• There is a marked swelling of the lymph nodes. 淋巴结处有明显的肿块。

36 hopping   

n. 跳跃 动词hop的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The clubs in town are really hopping. 城里的俱乐部真够热闹的。
• I'm hopping over to Paris for the weekend. 我要去巴黎度周末。