Part 5 Book 1 Chapter 3 Light and Shadow

Enjolras had been to make a reconnaissance. He had made his way out through Mondetour lane, gliding¹ along close to the houses.

The insurgents², we will remark, were full of hope. The manner in which they had repulsed³ the attack of the preceding night had caused them to almost disdain⁴ in advance the attack at dawn. They waited for it with a smile. They had no more doubt as to their success than as to their cause. Moreover, succor⁵ was, evidently, on the way to them. They reckoned on it. With that facility of triumphant⁶ prophecy which is one of the sources of strength in the French combatant, they divided the day which was at hand into three distinct phases. At six o'clock in the morning a regiment⁷ "which had been labored⁸ with," would turn; at noon, the insurrection of all Paris; at sunset, revolution.

They heard the alarm bell of Saint-Merry, which had not been silent for an instant since the night before; a proof that the other barricade⁹, the great one, Jeanne's, still held out.

All these hopes were exchanged between the different groups in a sort of gay and formidable whisper which resembled the warlike hum of a hive of bees.

Enjolras reappeared. He returned from his sombre eagle flight into outer darkness. He listened for a moment to all this joy with folded arms, and one hand on his mouth. Then, fresh and rosy¹⁰ in the growing whiteness of the dawn, he said:

"The whole army of Paris is to strike. A third of the army is bearing down upon the barricades¹¹ in which you now are. There is the National Guard in addition. I have picked out the shakos of the fifth of the line, and the standard-bearers of the sixth legion. In one hour you will be attacked. As for the populace, it was seething¹² yesterday, to-day it is not stirring. There is nothing to expect; nothing to hope for. Neither from a faubourg nor from a regiment. You are abandoned."

These words fell upon the buzzing of the groups, and produced on them the effect caused on a swarm¹³ of bees by the first drops of a storm. A moment of indescribable silence ensued, in which death might have been heard flitting by.

This moment was brief.

A voice from the obscurest depths of the groups shouted to Enjolras:

"So be it. Let us raise the barricade to a height of twenty feet, and let us all remain in it. Citizens, let us offer the protests of corpses¹⁴. Let us show that, if the people abandon the republicans, the republicans do not abandon the people."

These words freed the thought of all from the painful cloud of individual anxieties. It was hailed with an enthusiastic acclamation.

No one ever has known the name of the man who spoke¹⁵ thus; he was some unknown blouse-wearer, a stranger, a man forgotten, a passing hero, that great anonymous¹⁶, always mingled¹⁷ in human crises and in social geneses who, at a given moment, utters in a supreme¹⁸ fashion the decisive word, and who vanishes into the shadows after having represented for a minute, in a lightning flash, the people and God.

This inexorable resolution so thoroughly¹⁹ impregnated the air of the 6th of June, 1832, that, almost at the very same hour, on the barricade Saint-Merry, the insurgents were raising that clamor which has become a matter of history and which has been consigned²⁰ to the documents in the case:--"What matters it whether they come to our assistance or not? Let us get ourselves killed here, to the very last man."

As the reader sees, the two barricades, though materially isolated²¹, were in communication with each other.

安灼拉出去侦察了一番，他从蒙德都巷子出去，转弯抹角地沿着墙走。

看来这些起义者是充满了希望的。他们晚间打退了敌人的进攻，这使他们几乎在事先就蔑视凌晨的袭击。他们含笑以待，对自己的事业既不发生怀疑，也不怀疑自己的胜利。再说，还有一支援军肯定会来协助他们。他们对这支援军寄托着希望。法兰西战士的部分力量来自这种轻易预料胜利的信心，他们把即将开始的一天分成明显的三个阶段：早晨六点，一个“他们做过工作的”联队将倒戈；午时，全巴黎起义；黄昏时刻，革命爆发。

从昨晚起，圣美里教堂的钟声从没停止过，这证明那位让娜的大街垒仍在坚持着。

所有这些希望，以愉快而又可怕的低语从一组传到另一组，仿佛蜂窝中嗡嗡的作战声。

安灼拉又出现了。他在外面黑暗中作了一次老鹰式阴郁的巡视。他双臂交叉，一只手按在嘴上，听了听这种愉快的谈论。接着，在逐渐转白的晨曦中，他面色红润、精神饱满地说：

“整个巴黎的军队都出动了。三分之一的军队压在你们所在的这个街垒上，还有国民自卫军。我认出了正规军第五营的军帽和宪兵第六队的军旗。一个钟头以后你们就要遭到攻打。至于人民，昨天还很激奋，可是今晨却没有动静了。不用期待，毫无希望。既没有一个郊区能相互呼应，也没有一支联队来接应。你们被遗弃了。”

这些话落在人们的嗡嗡声中，象暴风雨的第一个雨点打在蜂群上。大家哑口无言。在一阵无法形容的沉默中，好象听到死神在飞翔。

这只是短促的一刹那。

在最后面的人群里，一个声音向安灼拉喊道：

“就算情形是这样，我们还是把街垒加到了二十尺高，我们坚持到底。公民们，让我们提出用尸体来抗议。我们要表示，虽然人民抛弃共和党人，共和党人是不会背离人民的。”

这几句话，从个人的忧心忡忡里道出了大伙的想法，受到了热情的欢呼。

大家始终不知道讲这话的人叫什么名字，这是一个身穿工作服的无名小卒，一个陌生人，一个被遗忘的人，一个过路英雄，在人类的危境和社会的开创中，经常会有这样的无名伟人，他在一定的时刻，以至高无上的形式，说出决定性的言语，如同电光一闪，刹那间他代表了人民和上帝，此后就在黑暗中消失了。

这种不可动摇的坚定意志，散布在一八三二年六月六日的空气里，几乎同时，在圣美里街垒中，起义者也发出了这一具有历史意义并载入史册的呼声：“不管有没有人来支援我们，我们就在这儿拼到底，直到最后一人。”

我们可以看到，这两个街垒虽然分处两地，但却又互通声气。

1 gliding   

v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的

参考例句：

• Swans went gliding past. 天鹅滑行而过。
• The weather forecast has put a question mark against the chance of doing any gliding tomorrow. 天气预报对明天是否能举行滑翔表示怀疑。

2 insurgents   

n.起义，暴动，造反( insurgent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The regular troops of Baden joined the insurgents. 巴登的正规军参加到起义军方面来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Against the Taliban and Iraqi insurgents, these problems are manageable. 要对付塔利班与伊拉克叛乱分子，这些问题还是可以把握住的。 来自互联网

3 repulsed   

v.击退( repulse的过去式和过去分词 )；驳斥；拒绝

参考例句：

• I was repulsed by the horrible smell. 这种可怕的气味让我恶心。
• At the first brush,the enemy was repulsed. 敌人在第一次交火时就被击退了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 disdain   

n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑

参考例句：

• Some people disdain labour.有些人轻视劳动。
• A great man should disdain flatterers.伟大的人物应鄙视献媚者。

5 succor   

n.援助，帮助；v.给予帮助

参考例句：

• In two short hours we may look for succor from Webb.在短短的两小时内，韦布将军的救兵就可望到达。
• He was so much in need of succor,so totally alone.他当时孑然一身，形影相吊，特别需要援助。

6 triumphant   

adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的

参考例句：

• The army made a triumphant entry into the enemy's capital.部队胜利地进入了敌方首都。
• There was a positively triumphant note in her voice.她的声音里带有一种极为得意的语气。

7 regiment   

n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制

参考例句：

• As he hated army life,he decide to desert his regiment.因为他嫌恶军队生活，所以他决心背弃自己所在的那个团。
• They reformed a division into a regiment.他们将一个师整编成为一个团。

8 labored   

adj.吃力的，谨慎的v.努力争取(for)( labor的过去式和过去分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转

参考例句：

• I was close enough to the elk to hear its labored breathing. 我离那头麋鹿非常近，能听见它吃力的呼吸声。 来自辞典例句
• They have labored to complete the job. 他们努力完成这一工作。 来自辞典例句

9 barricade   

n.路障，栅栏，障碍；vt.设路障挡住

参考例句：

• The soldiers make a barricade across the road.士兵在路上设路障。
• It is difficult to break through a steel barricade.冲破钢铁障碍很难。

10 rosy   

adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的

参考例句：

• She got a new job and her life looks rosy.她找到一份新工作，生活看上去很美好。
• She always takes a rosy view of life.她总是对生活持乐观态度。

11 barricades   

路障，障碍物( barricade的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The police stormed the barricades the demonstrators had put up. 警察冲破了示威者筑起的街垒。
• Others died young, in prison or on the barricades. 另一些人年轻时就死在监牢里或街垒旁。

12 seething   

沸腾的，火热的

参考例句：

• The stadium was a seething cauldron of emotion. 体育场内群情沸腾。
• The meeting hall was seething at once. 会场上顿时沸腾起来了。

13 swarm   

n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入

参考例句：

• There is a swarm of bees in the tree.这树上有一窝蜜蜂。
• A swarm of ants are moving busily.一群蚂蚁正在忙碌地搬家。

14 corpses   

n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The living soldiers put corpses together and burned them. 活着的战士把尸体放在一起烧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Overhead, grayish-white clouds covered the sky, piling up heavily like decaying corpses. 天上罩满了灰白的薄云，同腐烂的尸体似的沉沉的盖在那里。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

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 anonymous   

adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的

参考例句：

• Sending anonymous letters is a cowardly act.寄匿名信是懦夫的行为。
• The author wishes to remain anonymous.作者希望姓名不公开。

17 mingled   

混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系]

参考例句：

• The sounds of laughter and singing mingled in the evening air. 笑声和歌声交织在夜空中。
• The man and the woman mingled as everyone started to relax. 当大家开始放松的时候，这一男一女就开始交往了。

18 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

19 thoroughly   

adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地

参考例句：

• The soil must be thoroughly turned over before planting.一定要先把土地深翻一遍再下种。
• The soldiers have been thoroughly instructed in the care of their weapons.士兵们都系统地接受过保护武器的训练。

20 consigned   

v.把…置于（令人不快的境地）( consign的过去式和过去分词 )；把…托付给；把…托人代售；丟弃

参考例句：

• I consigned her letter to the waste basket. 我把她的信丢进了废纸篓。
• The father consigned the child to his sister's care. 那位父亲把孩子托付给他妹妹照看。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

21 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。