Port Burdock was never the same place for Mr. Polly after Parsons had left it. There were no chest notes in his occasional letters, and little of the “Joy de Vive” got through by them. Parsons had gone, he said, to London, and found a place as warehouseman in a cheap outfitting1 shop near St. Paul’s Churchyard, where references were not required. It became apparent as time passed that new interests were absorbing him. He wrote of socialism and the rights of man, things that had no appeal for Mr. Polly. He felt strangers had got hold of his Parsons, were at work upon him, making him into someone else, something less picturesque2. . . . Port Burdock became a dreariness3 full of faded memories of Parsons and work a bore. Platt revealed himself alone as a tiresome4 companion, obsessed5 by romantic ideas about intrigues6 and vices7 and “society women.”
Mr. Polly’s depression manifested itself in a general slackness. A certain impatience8 in the manner of Mr. Garvace presently got upon his nerves. Relations were becoming strained. He asked for a rise of salary to test his position, and gave notice to leave when it was refused.
It took him two months to place himself in another situation, and during that time he had quite a disagreeable amount of loneliness, disappointment, anxiety and humiliation9.
He went at first to stay with a married cousin who had a house at Easewood. His widowed father had recently given up the music and bicycle shop (with the post of organist at the parish church) that had sustained his home, and was living upon a small annuity10 as a guest with this cousin, and growing a little tiresome on account of some mysterious internal discomfort11 that the local practitioner12 diagnosed as imagination. He had aged13 with mysterious rapidity and become excessively irritable14, but the cousin’s wife was a born manager, and contrived15 to get along with him. Our Mr. Polly’s status was that of a guest pure and simple, but after a fortnight of congested hospitality in which he wrote nearly a hundred letters beginning:
Sir:
Referring to your advt. in the “Christian16 World” for an improver in Gents’ outfitting I beg to submit myself for the situation. Have had six years’ experience. . . .
and upset a bottle of ink over a toilet cover and the bedroom carpet, his cousin took him for a walk and pointed17 out the superior advantages of apartments in London from which to swoop18 upon the briefly19 yawning vacancy20.
“Helpful,” said Mr. Polly; “very helpful, O’ Man indeed. I might have gone on there for weeks,” and packed.
He got a room in an institution that was partly a benevolent21 hostel22 for men in his circumstances and partly a high minded but forbidding coffee house and a centre for pleasant Sunday afternoons. Mr. Polly spent a critical but pleasant Sunday afternoon in a back seat, inventing such phrases as:
“Soulful Owner of the Exorbiant Largenial Development.”— An Adam’s Apple being in question.
“Earnest Joy.”
“Exultant, Urgent Loogoobuosity.”
A manly23 young curate, marking and misunderstanding his preoccupied24 face and moving lips, came and sat by him and entered into conversation with the idea of making him feel more at home. The conversation was awkward and disconnected for a minute or so, and then suddenly a memory of the Port Burdock Bazaar25 occurred to Mr. Polly, and with a baffling whisper of “Lill’ dog,” and a reassuring26 nod, he rose up and escaped, to wander out relieved and observant into the varied27 London streets.
He found the collection of men he found waiting about in wholesale28 establishments in Wood Street and St. Paul’s Churchyard (where they interview the buyers who have come up from the country) interesting and stimulating29, but far too strongly charged with the suggestion of his own fate to be really joyful30. There were men in all degrees between confidence and distress31, and in every stage between extravagant32 smartness and the last stages of decay. There were sunny young men full of an abounding33 and elbowing energy, before whom the soul of Polly sank in hate and dismay. “Smart Juniors,” said Polly to himself, “full of Smart Juniosity. The Shoveacious Cult34.” There were hungry looking individuals of thirty-five or so that he decided35 must be “Proletelerians”— he had often wanted to find someone who fitted that attractive word. Middle-aged36 men, “too Old at Forty,” discoursed37 in the waiting-rooms on the outlook in the trade; it had never been so bad, they said, while Mr. Polly wondered if “De-juiced” was a permissible38 epithet39. There were men with an overweening sense of their importance, manifestly annoyed and angry to find themselves still disengaged, and inclined to suspect a plot, and men so faint-hearted one was terrified to imagine their behaviour when it came to an interview. There was a fresh-faced young man with an unintelligent face who seemed to think himself equipped against the world beyond all misadventure by a collar of exceptional height, and another who introduced a note of gaiety by wearing a flannel40 shirt and a check suit of remarkable41 virulence42. Every day Mr. Polly looked round to mark how many of the familiar faces had gone, and the deepening anxiety (reflecting his own) on the faces that remained, and every day some new type joined the drifting shoal. He realised how small a chance his poor letter from Easewood ran against this hungry cluster of competitors at the fountain head.
At the back of Mr. Polly’s mind while he made his observations was a disagreeable flavour of dentist’s parlour. At any moment his name might be shouted, and he might have to haul himself into the presence of some fresh specimen43 of employer, and to repeat once more his passionate44 protestation of interest in the business, his possession of a capacity for zeal45 — zeal on behalf of anyone who would pay him a yearly salary of twenty-six pounds a year. The prospective46 employer would unfold his ideals of the employee. “I want a smart, willing young man, thoroughly47 willing — who won’t object to take trouble. I don’t want a slacker, the sort of fellow who has to be pushed up to his work and held there. I’ve got no use for him.”
At the back of Mr. Polly’s mind, and quite beyond his control, the insubordinate phrasemaker would be proffering48 such combinations as “Chubby49 Chops,” or “Chubby Charmer,” as suitable for the gentleman, very much as a hat salesman proffers50 hats.
“I don’t think you’d find much slackness about me, sir,” said Mr. Polly brightly, trying to disregard his deeper self.
“I want a young man who means getting on.”
“Exactly, sir. Excelsior.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“I said excelsior, sir. It’s a sort of motto of mine. From Longfellow. Would you want me to serve through?”
The chubby gentleman explained and reverted51 to his ideals, with a faint air of suspicion. “Do you mean getting on?” he asked.
“I hope so, sir,” said Mr. Polly.
“Get on or get out, eh?”
Mr. Polly made a rapturous noise, nodded appreciation52, and said indistinctly —”Quite my style.”
“Some of my people have been with me twenty years,” said the employer. “My Manchester buyer came to me as a boy of twelve. You’re a Christian?”
“Church of England,” said Mr. Polly.
“H’m,” said the employer a little checked. “For good all round business work I should have preferred a Baptist. Still —”
He studied Mr. Polly’s tie, which was severely53 neat and businesslike, as became an aspiring54 outfitter. Mr. Polly’s conception of his own pose and expression was rendered by that uncontrollable phrasemonger at the back as “Obsequies Deference55.”
“I am inclined,” said the prospective employer in a conclusive56 manner, “to look up your reference.”
Mr. Polly stood up abruptly57.
“Thank you,” said the employer and dismissed him.
“Chump chops! How about chump chops?” said the phrasemonger with an air of inspiration.
“I hope then to hear from you, sir,” said Mr. Polly in his best salesman manner.
“If everything is satisfactory,” said the prospective employer.
收听单词发音 |
1
outfitting
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| v.装备，配置设备，供给服装( outfit的现在分词 ) | |
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picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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dreariness
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| 沉寂，可怕，凄凉 | |
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tiresome
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| adj.令人疲劳的，令人厌倦的 | |
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obsessed
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| adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的 | |
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intrigues
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| n.密谋策划( intrigue的名词复数 )；神秘气氛；引人入胜的复杂情节v.搞阴谋诡计( intrigue的第三人称单数 )；激起…的好奇心 | |
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vices
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| 缺陷( vice的名词复数 )； 恶习； 不道德行为； 台钳 | |
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impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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humiliation
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| n.羞辱 | |
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annuity
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| n.年金；养老金 | |
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discomfort
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| n.不舒服，不安，难过，困难，不方便 | |
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practitioner
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| n.实践者，从事者；(医生或律师等)开业者 | |
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aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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irritable
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| adj.急躁的；过敏的；易怒的 | |
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contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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swoop
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| n.俯冲，攫取；v.抓取，突然袭击 | |
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briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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vacancy
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| n.（旅馆的）空位，空房，（职务的）空缺 | |
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benevolent
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| adj.仁慈的，乐善好施的 | |
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hostel
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| n.（学生）宿舍，招待所 | |
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manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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preoccupied
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| 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) | |
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bazaar
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| n.集市，商店集中区 | |
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26
reassuring
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| a.使人消除恐惧和疑虑的，使人放心的 | |
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varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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wholesale
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| n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售 | |
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stimulating
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| adj.有启发性的，能激发人思考的 | |
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joyful
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| adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的 | |
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distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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abounding
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| adj.丰富的，大量的v.大量存在，充满，富于( abound的现在分词 ) | |
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34
cult
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| n.异教，邪教；时尚，狂热的崇拜 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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middle-aged
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| adj.中年的 | |
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37
discoursed
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| 演说（discourse的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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permissible
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| adj.可允许的，许可的 | |
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epithet
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| n.（用于褒贬人物等的）表述形容词，修饰语 | |
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40
flannel
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| n.法兰绒；法兰绒衣服 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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virulence
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| n.毒力，毒性；病毒性；致病力 | |
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43
specimen
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| n.样本，标本 | |
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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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45
zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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46
prospective
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| adj.预期的，未来的，前瞻性的 | |
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47
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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48
proffering
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| v.提供，贡献，提出( proffer的现在分词 ) | |
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49
chubby
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| adj.丰满的，圆胖的 | |
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50
proffers
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| v.提供，贡献，提出( proffer的第三人称单数 ) | |
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51
reverted
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| 恢复( revert的过去式和过去分词 )； 重提； 回到…上； 归还 | |
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52
appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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53
severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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54
aspiring
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| adj.有志气的；有抱负的；高耸的v.渴望；追求 | |
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55
deference
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| n.尊重，顺从；敬意 | |
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56
conclusive
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| adj.最后的，结论的；确凿的，消除怀疑的 | |
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57
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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