Chapter 27

Later that evening I overheard my parents speaking.
"You said yes?" said Father.
"I believe he asked you too. You referred him to me,"replied Mother.
"Did I?""You did.""I had a very busy day…""You're not busy now. You're quite comfortably unemployedby the looks of it. If you want to march into his room andpull the prayer rug from under his feet and discuss thequestion of Christian¹ baptism with him, please go ahead. Iwon't object.""No, no." I could tell from his voice that Father was settlingdeeper into his chair. There was a pause.
"He seems to be attracting religions the way a dog attractsfleas," he pursued. "I don't understand it. We're a modernIndian family; we live in a modern way; India is on the cuspof becoming a truly modern and advanced nation – and herewe've produced a son who thinks he's the reincarnation of SriRamakrishna.""If Mrs. Gandhi is what being modern and advanced isabout, I'm not sure I like it," Mother said.
"Mrs. Gandhi will pass! Progress is unstoppable. It is adrumbeat to which we must all march. Technology helps andgood ideas spread – these are two laws of nature. If you don'tlet technology help you, if you -resist good ideas, you condemnyourself to dinosaurhood! I am utterly² convinced of this. Mrs.
Gandhi and her foolishness will pass. The New India willcome."(Indeed she would pass. And the New India, or one familyof it, would decide to move to Canada.)Father went on: "Did you hear when he said, ‘Bapu Gandhisaid, "All religions are true"'?""Yes."…"Bapu Gandhi? The boy is getting to be on affectionateterms with Gandhi? After Daddy Gandhi, what next? UncleJesus? And what's this nonsense – has he really become aMuslim?""It seems so.""A Muslim! A devout³ Hindu, all right, I can understand. AChristian in addition, it's getting to be a bit strange, but I canstretch my mind. The Christians⁴ have been here for a longtime – Saint Thomas, Saint Francis Xavier, the missionaries⁵ andso on. We owe them good schools.""Yes.""So all that I can sort of accept. But Muslim? It's totallyforeign to our tradition. They're outsiders.""They've been here a very long time too. They're a hundredtimes more numerous than the Christians.""That makes no difference. They're outsiders.""Perhaps Piscine is marching to a different drumbeat ofprogress.""You're defending the boy? You don't mind it that he'sfancying himself a Muslim?""What can we do, Santosh? He's taken it to heart, and it'snot doing anyone any harm. Maybe it's just a phase. It toomay pass – like Mrs. Gandhi.""Why can't he have the normal interests of a boy his age?
Look at Ravi. All he can think about is cricket, movies andmusic.""You think that's better?""No, no. Oh, I don't know what to think. It's been a longday." He sighed. "I wonder how far he'll go with theseinterests."Mother chuckled⁶. "Last week he finished a book called TheImitation of Christ.""The Imitation of Christ! I say again, I wonder how farhe'll go with these interests!" cried Father.
They laughed.

1 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。

2 utterly   

adv.完全地，绝对地

参考例句：

• Utterly devoted to the people,he gave his life in saving his patients.他忠于人民，把毕生精力用于挽救患者的生命。
• I was utterly ravished by the way she smiled.她的微笑使我完全陶醉了。

3 devout   

adj.虔诚的，虔敬的，衷心的 (n.devoutness)

参考例句：

• His devout Catholicism appeals to ordinary people.他对天主教的虔诚信仰感染了普通民众。
• The devout man prayed daily.那位虔诚的男士每天都祈祷。

4 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

5 missionaries   

n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Some missionaries came from England in the Qing Dynasty. 清朝时，从英国来了一些传教士。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The missionaries rebuked the natives for worshipping images. 传教士指责当地人崇拜偶像。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 chuckled   

轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She chuckled at the memory. 想起这件事她就暗自发笑。
• She chuckled softly to herself as she remembered his astonished look. 想起他那惊讶的表情，她就轻轻地暗自发笑。