CHAPTER VIII.

"I have," said the Angel, "a most unusual feeling—here. Have had since sunrise. I don't remember ever having any feeling—here before."

 

"Not pain, I hope," said the Vicar.

 

"Oh no! It is quite different from that—a kind of vacuous¹ feeling."

 

"The atmospheric² pressure, perhaps, is a little different," the Vicar began, feeling his chin.

 

"And do you know, I have also the most curious sensations in my mouth—almost as if—it's so absurd!—as if I wanted to stuff things into it."

 

"Bless me!" said the Vicar. "Of course! You're hungry!"

 

"Hungry!" said the Angel. "What's that?"

 

"Don't you eat?"

 

"Eat! The word's quite new to me."

 

"Put food into your mouth, you know. One has to here. You will soon learn. If you don't, you[Pg 32] get thin and miserable³, and suffer a great deal—pain, you know—and finally you die."

 

"Die!" said the Angel. "That's another strange word!"

 

"It's not strange here. It means leaving off, you know," said the Vicar.

 

"We never leave off," said the Angel.

 

"You don't know what may happen to you in this world," said the Vicar, thinking him over. "Possibly if you are feeling hungry, and can feel pain and have your wings broken, you may even have to die before you get out of it again. At anyrate you had better try eating. For my own part—ahem!—there are many more disagreeable things."

 

"I suppose I had better Eat," said the Angel. "If it's not too difficult. I don't like this 'Pain' of yours, and I don't like this 'Hungry.' If your 'Die' is anything like it, I would prefer to Eat. What a very odd world this is!"

 

"To Die," said the Vicar, "is generally considered worse than either pain or hunger.... It depends."

 

"You must explain all that to me later," said[Pg 33] the Angel. "Unless I wake up. At present, please show me how to eat. If you will. I feel a kind of urgency...."

 

"Pardon me," said the Vicar, and offered an elbow. "If I may have the pleasure of entertaining you. My house lies yonder—not a couple of miles from here."

 

"Your House!" said the Angel a little puzzled; but he took the Vicar's arm affectionately, and the two, conversing⁴ as they went, waded⁵ slowly through the luxuriant bracken, sun mottled under the trees, and on over the stile in the park palings, and so across the bee-swarming heather for a mile or more, down the hillside, home.

 

You would have been charmed at the couple could you have seen them. The Angel, slight of figure, scarcely five feet high, and with a beautiful, almost effeminate face, such as an Italian old Master might have painted. (Indeed, there is one in the National Gallery [Tobias and the Angel, by some artist unknown] not at all unlike him so far as face and spirit go.) He was robed simply in a purple-wrought saffron blouse, bare kneed and bare-footed, with his wings (broken[Pg 34] now, and a leaden grey) folded behind him. The Vicar was a short, rather stout⁶ figure, rubicund⁷, red-haired, clean-shaven, and with bright ruddy brown eyes. He wore a piebald straw hat with a black ribbon, a very neat white tie, and a fine gold watch-chain. He was so greatly interested in his companion that it only occurred to him when he was in sight of the Vicarage that he had left his gun lying just where he had dropped it amongst the bracken.

 

He was rejoiced to hear that the pain of the bandaged wing fell rapidly in intensity⁸.

 

1 vacuous   

adj.空的，漫散的，无聊的，愚蠢的

参考例句：

• Male models are not always so vacuous as they are made out to be.男模特儿并不总像人们说的那样愚蠢。
• His eyes looked dull,almost vacuous.他看上去目光呆滞，茫然若失。

2 atmospheric   

adj.大气的，空气的；大气层的；大气所引起的

参考例句：

• Sea surface temperatures and atmospheric circulation are strongly coupled.海洋表面温度与大气环流是密切相关的。
• Clouds return radiant energy to the surface primarily via the atmospheric window.云主要通过大气窗区向地表辐射能量。

3 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。

4 conversing   

v.交谈，谈话( converse的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I find that conversing with her is quite difficult. 和她交谈实在很困难。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They were conversing in the parlor. 他们正在客厅谈话。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

5 waded   

（从水、泥等）蹚，走过，跋( wade的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She tucked up her skirt and waded into the river. 她撩起裙子蹚水走进河里。
• He waded into the water to push the boat out. 他蹚进水里把船推出来。

6   

参考例句：

7 rubicund   

adj.(脸色)红润的

参考例句：

• She watched the colour drain from Colin's rubicund face.她看见科林原本红润的脸渐渐失去了血色。
• His rubicund face expressed consternation and fatigue.他那红通的脸显得又惊惶又疲乏。

8 intensity   

n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度

参考例句：

• I didn't realize the intensity of people's feelings on this issue.我没有意识到这一问题能引起群情激奋。
• The strike is growing in intensity.罢工日益加剧。