Twenty-five

Twenty-five
“It’s beautiful,” said Miranda, looking round her.
Kilterbury Ring was a local beauty spot though its remains¹ were not particularly famous. Theyhad been dismantled² many hundreds of years ago. Yet here and there a tall megalithic stone stillstood, upright, telling of a long past ritual worship. Miranda asked questions.
“Why did they have all these stones here?”
“For ritual. Ritual worship. Ritual sacrifice. You understand about sacrifice, don’t you,Miranda?”
“I think so.”
“It has to be, you see. It’s important.”
“You mean, it’s not a sort of punishment? It’s something else?”
“Yes, it’s something else. You die so that others should live. You die so that beauty should live.
Should come into being. That’s the important thing.”
“I thought perhaps—”
“Yes, Miranda?”
“I thought perhaps you ought to die because what you’ve done has killed someone else.”
“What put that into your head?”
“I was thinking of Joyce. If I hadn’t told her about something, she wouldn’t have died, wouldshe?”
“Perhaps not.”
“I’ve felt worried since Joyce died. I needn’t have told her, need I? I told her because I wantedto have something worth while telling her. She’d been to India and she kept talking about it—about the tigers and about the elephants and their gold hangings and decorations and theirtrappings. And I think, too—suddenly I wanted somebody else to know, because you see I hadn’treally thought about it before.” She added: “Was—was that a sacrifice, too?”
“In a way.”
Miranda remained contemplative, then she said, “Isn’t it time yet?”
“The sun is not quite right yet. Another five minutes, perhaps, and then it will fall directly onthe stone.”
Again they sat silent, beside the car.
“Now, I think,” said Miranda’s companion, looking up at the sky where the sun was dippingtowards the horizon. “Now is a wonderful moment. No one here. Nobody comes up at this time ofday and walks up to the top of Kilterbury Down to see Kilterbury Ring. Too cold in Novemberand the blackberries are over. I’ll show you the double axe³ first. The double axe on the stone.
Carved there when they came from Mycenae or from Crete hundreds of years ago. It’s wonderful,Miranda, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it’s very wonderful,” said Miranda. “Show it me.”
They walked up to the topmost stone. Beside it lay a fallen one and a little farther down theslope a slightly inclined one leant as though bent⁴ with the weariness of years.
“Are you happy, Miranda?”
“Yes, I’m very happy.”
“There’s the sign here.”
“Is that really the double axe?”
“Yes, it’s worn with time but that’s it. That’s the symbol. Put your hand on it. And now—nowwe will drink to the past and the future and to beauty.”
“Oh, how lovely,” said Miranda.
A golden cup was put into her hand, and from a flask⁵ her companion poured a golden liquid intoit.
“It tastes of fruit, of peaches. Drink it, Miranda, and you will be happier still.”
Miranda took the gilt⁶ cup. She sniffed⁷ at it.
“Yes. Yes, it does smell of peaches. Oh look, there’s the sun. Really red gold—looking asthough it was lying on the edge of the world.”
He turned her towards it.
“Hold the cup and drink.”
She turned obediently. One hand was still on the megalithic stone and its semierased sign. Hercompanion now was standing⁸ behind her. From below the inclined stone down the hill, two figuresslipped out, bent half double. Those on the summit had their backs to them, and did not evennotice them. Quickly but stealthily they ran up the hill.
“Drink to beauty, Miranda.”
“Like hell she does!” said a voice behind them.
A rose velvet⁹ coat shot over a head, a knife was knocked from the hand that was slowly rising.
Nicholas Ransom¹⁰ caught hold of Miranda, clasping her tightly and dragging her away from theother two who were struggling.
“You bloody¹¹ little idiot,” said Nicholas Ransom. “Coming up here with a barmy murderer. Youshould have known what you were doing.”
“I did in a way,” said Miranda. “I was going to be a sacrifice, I think, because you see it was allmy fault. It was because of me that Joyce was killed. So it was right for me to be a sacrifice,wasn’t it? It would be a kind of ritual killing¹².”
“Don’t start talking nonsense about ritual killings¹³. They’ve found that other girl. You know, theau pair girl who has been missing so long. A couple of years or something like that. They allthought she’d run away because she’d forged a Will. She hadn’t run away. Her body was found inthe well.”
“Oh!” Miranda gave a sudden cry of anguish¹⁴. “Not in the wishing well? Not in the wishing wellthat I wanted to find so badly? Oh, I don’t want her to be in the wishing well. Who—who put herthere?”
“The same person who brought you here.”

1 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

2 dismantled   

拆开( dismantle的过去式和过去分词 )； 拆卸； 废除； 取消

参考例句：

• The plant was dismantled of all its equipment and furniture. 这家工厂的设备和家具全被拆除了。
• The Japanese empire was quickly dismantled. 日本帝国很快被打垮了。

3 axe   

n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减

参考例句：

• Be careful with that sharp axe.那把斧子很锋利，你要当心。
• The edge of this axe has turned.这把斧子卷了刃了。

4 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。

5 flask   

n.瓶，火药筒，砂箱

参考例句：

• There is some deposit in the bottom of the flask.这只烧杯的底部有些沉淀物。
• He took out a metal flask from a canvas bag.他从帆布包里拿出一个金属瓶子。

6 gilt   

adj.镀金的；n.金边证券

参考例句：

• The plates have a gilt edge.这些盘子的边是镀金的。
• The rest of the money is invested in gilt.其余的钱投资于金边证券。

7 sniffed   

v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说

参考例句：

• When Jenney had stopped crying she sniffed and dried her eyes. 珍妮停止了哭泣，吸了吸鼻子，擦干了眼泪。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The dog sniffed suspiciously at the stranger. 狗疑惑地嗅着那个陌生人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

9 velvet   

n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的

参考例句：

• This material feels like velvet.这料子摸起来像丝绒。
• The new settlers wore the finest silk and velvet clothing.新来的移民穿着最华丽的丝绸和天鹅绒衣服。

10 ransom   

n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救

参考例句：

• We'd better arrange the ransom right away.我们最好马上把索取赎金的事安排好。
• The kidnappers exacted a ransom of 10000 from the family.绑架者向这家人家勒索10000英镑的赎金。

11 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

12 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

13 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

14 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。