Book ii Young Faustus xxiv

For a long time now, McGuire had sat there without moving, sprawled¹ out upon the desk in a kind of drunken stupor². About half-past three the telephone upon the desk began to ring, jangling the hospital silence with its ominous³ and insistent⁴ clangour, but the big burly figure of the man did not stir, he made no move to answer. Presently he heard the brisk heel-taps of Creasman, the night superintendent⁵, coming along the heavy oiled linoleum⁶ of the corridor. She entered, glanced quickly at him, and saying, “Shall I take it?” picked up the phone, took the receiver from its hook, said “hello” and listened for a moment. He did not move.

In a moment, the night superintendent said quietly:

“Yes, I’ll ask him.”

When she spoke⁷ to him, however, her tone had changed completely from the cool professional courtesy of her speech into the telephone: putting the instrument down upon the top of the desk, and covering the mouth-piece with her hand, she spoke quietly to him, but with a note of cynical⁸ humour in her voice, bold, coarse, a trifle mocking.

“It’s your wife,” she said. “What shall I tell her?”

He regarded her stupidly for a moment before he answered.

“What does she want?” he grunted⁹.

She looked at him with hard eyes touched with pity and regret.

“What do you think a woman wants?” she said. “She wants to know if you are coming home tonight.”

He stared at her and then grunted:

“Won’t go home.”

She took her hand away from the mouth-piece instantly, and taking up the phone again, spoke smoothly¹⁰, quietly, with cool crisp courtesy:

“The doctor will not be able to go home tonight, Mrs. McGuire. He has to operate at seven-thirty. . . . Yes. . . . Yes. . . . At seven-thirty. . . . He has decided¹¹ it is best to stay here until the operation is over. . . . Yes. . . . I’ll tell him. . . . Thank YOU. . . . Good-bye.”

She hung up quietly and then turning to him, her hands arched cleanly on starched¹² hips¹³, she looked at him for a moment with a bold sardonic¹⁴ humour.

“What did she say?” he mumbled¹⁵ thickly.

“Nothing,” she said quietly. “Nothing at all. What else is there to say?”

He made no answer but just kept staring at her in his bloated drunken way with nothing but the numb¹⁶ swelter of that irremediable anguish¹⁷ in his heart. In a moment, her voice hardening imperceptibly, the nurse spoke quietly again:

“Oh, yes — and I forgot to tell you — you had another call tonight.”

He moistened his thick lips, and mumbled:

“Who was it?”

“It was that woman of yours.”

There was no sound save the stertorous¹⁸ labour of his breath; he stared at her with his veined and yellowed eyes, and grunted stolidly¹⁹:

“What did she want?”

“She wanted to know if the doc-taw was theah,” Creasman said in a coarse and throaty parody²⁰ of refinement²¹. “And is he coming in tonight? Really, I should like to know. . . . Ooh, yaas,” Creasman went on throatily, adding a broad stroke or two on her own account. “I simply must find out! I cawn’t get my sleep in until I do. . . . Well,” she demanded harshly, “what am I going to tell her if she calls again?”

“What did she say to tell me?”

“She said”— the nurse’s tone again was lewdly²² tinged²³ with parody — “to tell you that she is having guests for dinner tomorrow night — this evening — and that you simply GOT to be th?h, you, and your wife, too — ooh, Gawd, yes! — the Reids are comin’, don’t-cherknow — and if you are not th?h Gawd only knows what will happen!”

He glowered²⁴ at her drunkenly for a moment, and then, waving thick fingers at her in disgust, he mumbled:

“You got a dirty mouth . . . don’t become you. . . . Unlady-like. . . . Don’t like a dirty-talkin’ woman. . . . Never did. . . . Unbecomin’. . . . Unlady-like. . . . Nurses all alike . . . all dirty talkers . . . don’t like ’em.”

“Oh, dirty talkers, your granny!” she said coarsely. “Now you leave the nurses alone. . . . They’re decent enough girls, most of ’em, until they come here and listen to you for a month or two. . . . You listen to me, Hugh McGuire; don’t blame the nurses. When it comes to dirty talking, you can walk off with the medals any day in the week. . . . Even if I am your cousin, I had a good Christian²⁵ raising out in the country before I came here. So don’t talk to me about nurses’ dirty talk: after a few sessions with you in the operating room even the Virgin²⁶ Mary could use language fit to make a monkey blush. So don’t blame it on the nurses. Most of them are white as snow compared to you.”

“You’re dirty talkers — all of you,” he muttered, waving his thick fingers in her direction. “Don’t like it. . . . Unbecomin’ in a lady.”

For a moment she did not answer, but stood looking at him, arms akimbo on her starched white hips, a glance that was bold, hard, sardonic, but somehow tinged with a deep and broad affection.

Then, taking her hands off her hips, she bent²⁷ swiftly over him, reached down between his legs, and got the jug²⁸ and lifting it up to the light in order to make her cynical inspection²⁹ of its depleted³⁰ contents more accurate, she remarked with ironic³¹ approbation³²:

“My, my! You’re doing pretty well, aren’t you? . . . Well, it won’t be long NOW, will it?” she said cheerfully, and then turning to him abruptly³³ and accusingly, demanded:

“Do you realize that you were supposed to call Helen Gant at twelve o’clock?” She glanced swiftly at the clock. “Just three and a half hours ago. Or did you forget it?”

He passed his thick hand across the reddish unshaved stubble of his beard.

“Who?” he said stupidly. “Where? What is it?”

“Oh, nothing to worry about,” she said with a light hard humour. “Just a little case of carcinoma of the prostate. He’s going to die anyway, so you’ve got nothing to worry about at all.”

“Who?” he said stupidly again. “Who is it?”

“Oh, just a man,” she said gaily³⁴. “An old, old man name Mr. Gant. — You’ve been his physician for twenty years, but maybe you’ve forgotten him. You know — they come and go; some live and others die — it’s all right — this one’s going to die. They’ll bury him — it’ll all come out right one way or the other — so you’ve nothing to worry about at all. . . . Even if you kill him,” she said cheerfully. “He’s just an old, old man with cancer, and bound to die anyway, so promise me you won’t worry about it too much, will you?”

She looked at him a moment longer; then, putting her hand under his fat chin, she jerked his head up sharply. He stared at her stupidly with his yellowed drunken eyes, and in them she saw the mute anguish of a tortured animal, and suddenly her heart was twisted with pity for him.

“Look here,” she said, in a hard and quiet voice, “what’s wrong with you?”

In a moment he mumbled thickly:

“Nothing’s wrong with me.”

“Is it the woman business again? For God’s sake, are you never going to grow up, McGuire? Are you going to remain an overgrown schoolboy all your life? Are you going to keep on eating your heart out over a bitch who thinks that spring is here every time her hind³⁵ end itches³⁶? Are you going to throw your life away, and let your work go to smash because some damned woman in the change of life has done you dirt? What kind of man are you, anyway?” she jeered³⁷. “Jesus God! If it’s a woman that you want the woods are full of ’em. Besides,” she added, “what’s wrong with your own wife! She’s worth a million of those flossy sluts.”

He made no answer and in a moment she went on in a harsh and jeering³⁸ tone that was almost deliberately³⁹ coarse:

“Haven’t you learned yet, with all you’ve seen of it, that a piece of tail is just a piece of tail, and that in the dark it doesn’t matter one good God-damn whether it’s brown, black, white, or yellow?”

Even as she spoke, something cold and surgical⁴⁰ in his mind, which no amount of alcohol seemed to dull or blur⁴¹, was saying accurately⁴²: “Why do they all feel such contempt for one another? What is it in them that makes them despise themselves?”

Aloud, however, waving his thick fingers at her in a gesture of fat disgust, he said:

“Creasman, you got a dirty tongue. . . . Don’t like to hear a woman talk like that. . . . Never liked to hear a dirty-talkin’ woman. . . . You’re no lady!”

“Ah-h! No lady!” she said bitterly, and let her hands fall in a gesture of defeat. “All right, you poor fool, if that’s the way you feel about it, go ahead and drink yourself to death over your ‘lady.’ That’s what’s wrong with you.”

And, muttering angrily, she left him. He sat there stupidly, without moving, until her firm heel-taps had receded⁴³ down the silent hall, and he heard a door close. Then he reached down between his knees and got the jug and drank again. And again there was nothing in the place except the sound of silence, the rapid ticking of a little clock, the thick short breathing of the man.

1 sprawled   

v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的过去式和过去分词)；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着）

参考例句：

• He was sprawled full-length across the bed. 他手脚摊开横躺在床上。
• He was lying sprawled in an armchair, watching TV. 他四肢伸开正懒散地靠在扶手椅上看电视。

2 stupor   

v.昏迷；不省人事

参考例句：

• As the whisky took effect, he gradually fell into a drunken stupor.随着威士忌酒力发作，他逐渐醉得不省人事。
• The noise of someone banging at the door roused her from her stupor.梆梆的敲门声把她从昏迷中唤醒了。

3 ominous   

adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的

参考例句：

• Those black clouds look ominous for our picnic.那些乌云对我们的野餐来说是个不祥之兆。
• There was an ominous silence at the other end of the phone.电话那头出现了不祥的沉默。

4 insistent   

adj.迫切的，坚持的

参考例句：

• There was an insistent knock on my door.我听到一阵急促的敲门声。
• He is most insistent on this point.他在这点上很坚持。

5 superintendent   

n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长

参考例句：

• He was soon promoted to the post of superintendent of Foreign Trade.他很快就被擢升为对外贸易总监。
• He decided to call the superintendent of the building.他决定给楼房管理员打电话。

6 linoleum   

n.油布，油毯

参考例句：

• They mislaid the linoleum.他们把油毡放错了地方。
• Who will lay the linoleum?谁将铺设地板油毡？

7 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。

8 cynical   

adj.(对人性或动机)怀疑的，不信世道向善的

参考例句：

• The enormous difficulty makes him cynical about the feasibility of the idea.由于困难很大，他对这个主意是否可行持怀疑态度。
• He was cynical that any good could come of democracy.他不相信民主会带来什么好处。

9 grunted   

（猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说

参考例句：

• She just grunted, not deigning to look up from the page. 她只咕哝了一声，继续看书，不屑抬起头来看一眼。
• She grunted some incomprehensible reply. 她咕噜着回答了些令人费解的话。

10 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。

11 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

12 starched   

adj.浆硬的，硬挺的，拘泥刻板的v.把（衣服、床单等）浆一浆( starch的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• My clothes are not starched enough. 我的衣服浆得不够硬。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The ruffles on his white shirt were starched and clean. 白衬衫的褶边浆过了，很干净。 来自辞典例句

13 hips   

abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯，耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 )；[建筑学]屋脊；臀围（尺寸）；臀部…的

参考例句：

• She stood with her hands on her hips. 她双手叉腰站着。
• They wiggled their hips to the sound of pop music. 他们随着流行音乐的声音摇晃着臀部。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 sardonic   

adj.嘲笑的，冷笑的，讥讽的

参考例句：

• She gave him a sardonic smile.她朝他讥讽地笑了一笑。
• There was a sardonic expression on her face.她脸上有一种嘲讽的表情。

15 mumbled   

含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He mumbled something to me which I did not quite catch. 他对我叽咕了几句话，可我没太听清楚。
• George mumbled incoherently to himself. 乔治语无伦次地喃喃自语。

16 numb   

adj.麻木的，失去感觉的；v.使麻木

参考例句：

• His fingers were numb with cold.他的手冻得发麻。
• Numb with cold,we urged the weary horses forward.我们冻得发僵，催着疲惫的马继续往前走。

17 anguish   

n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼

参考例句：

• She cried out for anguish at parting.分手时，她由于痛苦而失声大哭。
• The unspeakable anguish wrung his heart.难言的痛苦折磨着他的心。

18 stertorous   

adj.打鼾的

参考例句：

• Mrs. Tremaine grew more and more worried at his pallid face and stertorous breathing.屈里曼太太看他那苍白的脸色和急促的喘气，倒越来越担心。
• Her breathing became loud and stertorous.她的呼吸变成很响的呼噜声。

19 stolidly   

adv.迟钝地，神经麻木地

参考例句：

• Too often people sat stolidly watching the noisy little fiddler. 人们往往不动声色地坐在那里，瞧着这位瘦小的提琴手闹腾一番。 来自辞典例句
• He dropped into a chair and sat looking stolidly at the floor. 他坐在椅子上，两眼呆呆地望着地板。 来自辞典例句

20 parody   

n.打油诗文，诙谐的改编诗文，拙劣的模仿；v.拙劣模仿，作模仿诗文

参考例句：

• The parody was just a form of teasing.那个拙劣的模仿只是一种揶揄。
• North Korea looks like a grotesque parody of Mao's centrally controlled China,precisely the sort of system that Beijing has left behind.朝鲜看上去像是毛时代中央集权的中国的怪诞模仿，其体制恰恰是北京方面已经抛弃的。

21 refinement   

n.文雅；高尚；精美；精制；精炼

参考例句：

• Sally is a woman of great refinement and beauty. 莎莉是个温文尔雅又很漂亮的女士。
• Good manners and correct speech are marks of refinement.彬彬有礼和谈吐得体是文雅的标志。

22 lewdly   

参考例句：

• He rubbed his forehead harshly with his knuckles, like stupor, and snickered lewdly. 他用指关节使劲擦了擦自己的额头，象个醉鬼一样，一面色迷迷地嘻嘻笑着。 来自互联网

23 tinged   

v.（使）发丁丁声( ting的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• memories tinged with sadness 略带悲伤的往事
• white petals tinged with blue 略带蓝色的白花瓣

24 glowered   

v.怒视( glower的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He just glowered without speaking. 他一言不发地皱眉怒视我。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He glowered at me but said nothing. 他怒视着我，却一言不发。 来自辞典例句

25 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

26 virgin   

n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的

参考例句：

• Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？
• There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。

27 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

28 jug   

n.(有柄，小口，可盛水等的)大壶，罐，盂

参考例句：

• He walked along with a jug poised on his head.他头上顶着一个水罐，保持着平衡往前走。
• She filled the jug with fresh water.她将水壶注满了清水。

29 inspection   

n.检查，审查，检阅

参考例句：

• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
• The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。

30 depleted   

adj. 枯竭的, 废弃的 动词deplete的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Food supplies were severely depleted. 食物供应已严重不足。
• Both teams were severely depleted by injuries. 两个队都因队员受伤而实力大减。

31 ironic   

adj.讽刺的，有讽刺意味的，出乎意料的

参考例句：

• That is a summary and ironic end.那是一个具有概括性和讽刺意味的结局。
• People used to call me Mr Popularity at high school,but they were being ironic.人们中学时常把我称作“万人迷先生”，但他们是在挖苦我。

32 approbation   

n.称赞；认可

参考例句：

• He tasted the wine of audience approbation.他尝到了像酒般令人陶醉的听众赞许滋味。
• The result has not met universal approbation.该结果尚未获得普遍认同。

33 abruptly   

adv.突然地，出其不意地

参考例句：

• He gestured abruptly for Virginia to get in the car.他粗鲁地示意弗吉尼亚上车。
• I was abruptly notified that a half-hour speech was expected of me.我突然被通知要讲半个小时的话。

34 gaily   

adv.欢乐地，高兴地

参考例句：

• The children sing gaily.孩子们欢唱着。
• She waved goodbye very gaily.她欢快地挥手告别。

35 hind   

adj.后面的，后部的

参考例句：

• The animal is able to stand up on its hind limbs.这种动物能够用后肢站立。
• Don't hind her in her studies.不要在学业上扯她后腿。

36 itches   

n.痒( itch的名词复数 )；渴望，热望v.发痒( itch的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• His wool shirt always itches him. 他的羊毛内衣总是使他发痒。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• This wool shirt itches my back. 这件羊毛衫使我背上发痒。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

37 jeered   

v.嘲笑( jeer的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The police were jeered at by the waiting crowd. 警察受到在等待的人群的嘲弄。
• The crowd jeered when the boxer was knocked down. 当那个拳击手被打倒时，人们开始嘲笑他。 来自《简明英汉词典》

38 jeering   

adj.嘲弄的，揶揄的v.嘲笑( jeer的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Hecklers interrupted her speech with jeering. 捣乱分子以嘲笑打断了她的讲话。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He interrupted my speech with jeering. 他以嘲笑打断了我的讲话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

39 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

40 surgical   

adj.外科的，外科医生的，手术上的

参考例句：

• He performs the surgical operations at the Red Cross Hospital.他在红十字会医院做外科手术。
• All surgical instruments must be sterilised before use.所有的外科手术器械在使用之前，必须消毒。

41 blur   

n.模糊不清的事物；vt.使模糊，使看不清楚

参考例句：

• The houses appeared as a blur in the mist.房子在薄雾中隐隐约约看不清。
• If you move your eyes and your head,the picture will blur.如果你的眼睛或头动了，图像就会变得模糊不清。

42 accurately   

adv.准确地，精确地

参考例句：

• It is hard to hit the ball accurately.准确地击中球很难。
• Now scientists can forecast the weather accurately.现在科学家们能准确地预报天气。

43 receded   

v.逐渐远离( recede的过去式和过去分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题

参考例句：

• The floodwaters have now receded. 洪水现已消退。
• The sound of the truck receded into the distance. 卡车的声音渐渐在远处消失了。