Nothing loth to keep the distance between himself and Nell at a minimum, Howard Eliot entered with zest5 into the boy’s plans.
“Mar6 said she’d like to see the sights too onct again,” said Moses, watching with the air of an investigator7 the wart8 on his hand grow pale as he punched it with his finger, “It seemed so lonesome-like soon as Betty an’ Miss Gordon left, Mar says, says she, ‘Let’s go plum to Calgary ourselves’.” This diplomatic stroke crowned Moses’ arguments and his case was won.
As Mrs. Wopp adjusted her bonnet9 before leaving the house, she gave minute instructions to Mr. Wopp.
“You’d think this here day’s trip to Calgary was a journey to Jeroosalem,” he complained, all his slips of paper used up in jottings to remind him of duties imposed.
“Well I only go ’way about onct in a blue moon,” declared Mrs. Wopp, “an’ I feel so unsartin ’bout everything. Here we are a pack of Gadarene swine goin’ orff to a great city to eat husks I s’pose like the prodigal10 son. Never mind Ebenezer we’ll come back right glad I’ll bet to the fatted calf11.” She pinched his ear in an elephantine playfulness as though he might be the fatted calf himself.
Howard Eliot guided his charges through the mazes12 of the city to a restaurant. Moses with the perennial13 appetite of fourteen ate silently and steadily14, not omitting one item on the menu. He gorged15.
Mrs. Wopp’s bonnet with its imitation osprey looked as though adorned16 with fragments of barbed-wire. Her jet earrings17 seemed entirely18 superfluous19 as the lobes20 of her generous ears glowed like rubies21.
Howard sat back in his chair and thought of the possibilities of seeing Nell. He reflected that they were as good as engaged. Mrs. Wopp had given her diagnosis22 of the case enigmatically, perhaps, but with a degree of accuracy denoting keen observation on the evening of his last visit at the Wopp household. For fully23 a fraction of a minute Nell had let him hold her hand, and then her face all dimpling had turned to say good-night. He was rehearsing what he should say next time she dimpled so irresistibly24 and he breathed anathemas25 on his asinine26 conduct in being so shy and tardy27. He was brought to the immediate28 present by Moses who was regarding an ice-cream soda29 with suspicion.
“This froth looks like soapsuds,” he complained.
“Soapsuds is Moses’ strong weakness,” commented Mrs. Wopp, laughing till her fat shoulders quaked perilously30.
To stay the cloud that began to gather over Moses’ brow, Howard suggested going to see a vaudeville31 show.
“Oh Mar,” asked Moses as they passed a brilliantly colored and illuminated32 poster, “Is them the actor people?”
“Them’s thum,” was the sophisticated answer.
Fate led the trio to the theatre where Mr. Zalhambra was playing. Howard took his friends to a box and no sooner were they seated than he espied33 Nell and Betty.
The orchestra were tuning34 up, that delightful35 tilting36 at the notes that precedes the overture37. To Moses were revealed such vistaed glimpses of trees and mountains and rivers as his young eyes had never seen. He saw nothing but the gorgeous scenery and the blaze of lights, and heard nothing but the booming of the drum in the overture. Then becoming more used to the glare and clamor, he cocked one eye aloft and saw youths of his own age eating peanuts in the gallery. It made his mouth water. He surveyed the obnoxious38 offenders39 however with the nonchalance40 of one who has already dined sumptuously41. Outwardly Moses was an overgrown, freckle-faced, well-fed boy of commonplace propensities42; inwardly he was a battery fully charged.
“Jist look at that black man’s chest swellin’ in an’ out like an accorjun,” remarked Mrs. Wopp highly entertained with the sight. Moses leaned over till he was in danger of capsizing. His eager look trailed off into a point of vacuity44 when the performers left the stage. Bewilderment had left his eyes incapable45 of properly focussing. Suddenly he caught sight of Betty and he could hardly repress an exclamation46 of joy as he pointed47 her out to his mother.
“Don’t Betty look jist too sweet,” she murmured when she had finally located the child, “Her hair looks as ef she had got tangled48 up in the milky49 way an’ there was nothin’ on it but star-dust.”
The pianist walked on the stage as the eyes of Mrs. Wopp and Moses rested on Betty. Howard Eliot had not taken his gaze from Nell Gordon expecting momentarily to catch her glance and to be rewarded by a smile. A smile radiated her fair face, but alas50! It was not for him.
As the program went on Moses finally caught the eye of his little sister. The joyful51 news was passed on and Nell looked up, but it was a disconcertingly cold look that returned her inquiring gaze at Howard. So frigid52 was his expression that she did not attempt to turn her head in that direction again. From time to time Betty turned to wave her hand thereby53 causing much merriment among those who watched her childish enjoyment54.
When the program was over Moses noticed enviously55 that Betty was so close to the orchestra that her ear was almost in the trombone.
Mrs. Newman and Nell waited after the show for the unique trio that had occupied the box but they were nowhere to be seen. Howard Eliot had whisked his companions off under a pretext58 of urgent business.
The next day was spent in sight seeing but visions of neglected poultry59 and cows haunted the anxious housewife, and notwithstanding the expostulations of Moses they started home that evening.
Mrs. Wopp surmised60 from the dejected appearance of the young rancher, coupled with the smiles over the footlights which she had observed with rising wrath61, that trouble was brewing62, and she whispered audibly to herself, “A musician’s orl right on a pianner stool, but when it comes to gittin’ up in the mornin’ an’ choppin’ wood to bile the kettle give me a farmer.” Her cogitations became louder. “I s’pose he thinks cos he has a percession of carpital letters arter his name he can git anyone fer the arskin’. When he smiled so at our Miss Gordon I could of slain63 him with the jawrbone of an arss.” In her championship of Howard’s interests, Mrs. Wopp became an ardent64 villifier of the pianist and she administered an oral castigation65 with feminine vigor66.
“That man Zalhambone’s playin’ rasped all up an’ down my spine,” she criticized. Then harking back to thrills she really had felt despite her prejudice, she admitted grudgingly67, “My, but his han’s did fly over them keys permiscuous-like.”
“He smiles sich a toothy grin,” commented Moses.
“Put a nose an’ eyes over his own planner an’ you’d think there’s the man hisself,” flung back Mrs. Wopp.
Presently Moses’ thoughts returned to the meals provided by the restaurants of Calgary, and he decided68 it would be a good pastime for some rainy day to relate it all to Betty especially about the “little minners suffercated in rice an’ tryin’ to climb onto rafts of lemon-slices.”
Howard Eliot having left his charges safely at home went to his lonely ranch2 haunted by rebellious69 thoughts which Mrs. Wopp would have translated, “Here endeth my knowledge of the female speeshie.”
点击收听单词发音
1 affiliation | |
n.联系,联合 | |
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2 ranch | |
n.大牧场,大农场 | |
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3 inveigle | |
v.诱骗 | |
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4 conspiracy | |
n.阴谋,密谋,共谋 | |
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5 zest | |
n.乐趣;滋味,风味;兴趣 | |
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6 mar | |
vt.破坏,毁坏,弄糟 | |
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7 investigator | |
n.研究者,调查者,审查者 | |
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8 wart | |
n.疣,肉赘;瑕疵 | |
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9 bonnet | |
n.无边女帽;童帽 | |
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10 prodigal | |
adj.浪费的,挥霍的,放荡的 | |
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11 calf | |
n.小牛,犊,幼仔,小牛皮 | |
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12 mazes | |
迷宫( maze的名词复数 ); 纷繁复杂的规则; 复杂难懂的细节; 迷宫图 | |
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13 perennial | |
adj.终年的;长久的 | |
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14 steadily | |
adv.稳定地;不变地;持续地 | |
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15 gorged | |
v.(用食物把自己)塞饱,填饱( gorge的过去式和过去分词 );作呕 | |
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16 adorned | |
[计]被修饰的 | |
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17 earrings | |
n.耳环( earring的名词复数 );耳坠子 | |
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18 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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19 superfluous | |
adj.过多的,过剩的,多余的 | |
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20 lobes | |
n.耳垂( lobe的名词复数 );(器官的)叶;肺叶;脑叶 | |
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21 rubies | |
红宝石( ruby的名词复数 ); 红宝石色,深红色 | |
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22 diagnosis | |
n.诊断,诊断结果,调查分析,判断 | |
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23 fully | |
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地 | |
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24 irresistibly | |
adv.无法抵抗地,不能自持地;极为诱惑人地 | |
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25 anathemas | |
n.(天主教的)革出教门( anathema的名词复数 );诅咒;令人极其讨厌的事;被基督教诅咒的人或事 | |
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26 asinine | |
adj.愚蠢的 | |
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27 tardy | |
adj.缓慢的,迟缓的 | |
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28 immediate | |
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的 | |
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29 soda | |
n.苏打水;汽水 | |
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30 perilously | |
adv.充满危险地,危机四伏地 | |
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31 vaudeville | |
n.歌舞杂耍表演 | |
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32 illuminated | |
adj.被照明的;受启迪的 | |
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33 espied | |
v.看到( espy的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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34 tuning | |
n.调谐,调整,调音v.调音( tune的现在分词 );调整;(给收音机、电视等)调谐;使协调 | |
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35 delightful | |
adj.令人高兴的,使人快乐的 | |
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36 tilting | |
倾斜,倾卸 | |
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37 overture | |
n.前奏曲、序曲,提议,提案,初步交涉 | |
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38 obnoxious | |
adj.极恼人的,讨人厌的,可憎的 | |
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39 offenders | |
n.冒犯者( offender的名词复数 );犯规者;罪犯;妨害…的人(或事物) | |
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40 nonchalance | |
n.冷淡,漠不关心 | |
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41 sumptuously | |
奢侈地,豪华地 | |
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42 propensities | |
n.倾向,习性( propensity的名词复数 ) | |
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43 comedians | |
n.喜剧演员,丑角( comedian的名词复数 ) | |
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44 vacuity | |
n.(想象力等)贫乏,无聊,空白 | |
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45 incapable | |
adj.无能力的,不能做某事的 | |
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46 exclamation | |
n.感叹号,惊呼,惊叹词 | |
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47 pointed | |
adj.尖的,直截了当的 | |
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48 tangled | |
adj. 纠缠的,紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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49 milky | |
adj.牛奶的,多奶的;乳白色的 | |
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50 alas | |
int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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51 joyful | |
adj.欢乐的,令人欢欣的 | |
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52 frigid | |
adj.寒冷的,凛冽的;冷淡的;拘禁的 | |
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53 thereby | |
adv.因此,从而 | |
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54 enjoyment | |
n.乐趣;享有;享用 | |
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55 enviously | |
adv.满怀嫉妒地 | |
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56 brass | |
n.黄铜;黄铜器,铜管乐器 | |
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57 grumbled | |
抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 ); 发牢骚; 咕哝; 发哼声 | |
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58 pretext | |
n.借口,托词 | |
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59 poultry | |
n.家禽,禽肉 | |
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60 surmised | |
v.臆测,推断( surmise的过去式和过去分词 );揣测;猜想 | |
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61 wrath | |
n.愤怒,愤慨,暴怒 | |
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62 brewing | |
n. 酿造, 一次酿造的量 动词brew的现在分词形式 | |
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63 slain | |
杀死,宰杀,杀戮( slay的过去分词 ); (slay的过去分词) | |
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64 ardent | |
adj.热情的,热烈的,强烈的,烈性的 | |
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65 castigation | |
n.申斥,强烈反对 | |
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66 vigor | |
n.活力,精力,元气 | |
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67 grudgingly | |
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68 decided | |
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
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69 rebellious | |
adj.造反的,反抗的,难控制的 | |
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