Seven（3）

III
“So you’re leaving for Marrakesh tomorrow,” said Miss Hetherington.
“You haven’t made a very long stay in Fez, have you? Wouldn’t it havebeen much easier to go to Marrakesh first and then to Fez, returning toCasablanca afterwards?”
“I suppose it would really,” said Hilary, “but reservations are rather dif-ficult to obtain. It’s pretty crowded here.”
“Not with English people,” said Miss Hetherington, rather disconsol-ately. “It really seems dreadful nowadays the way one meets hardly any ofone’s fellow-countrymen.” She looked round her disparagingly¹ and said,“It’s the French.”
Hilary smiled faintly. The fact that Morocco was a French colonial pos-session did not seem to count much with Miss Hetherington. Hotels any-where abroad she regarded as the prerogative² of the English travellingpublic.
“The French and the Germans and the Armenians and the Greeks,” saidMrs. Calvin Baker³, with a little cackle of laughter. “That scruffy⁴ little oldman is a Greek, I believe.”
“I was told he was,” said Hilary.
“Seems a person of importance,” said Mrs. Baker. “You just notice howthe waiters fly about for him.”
“They give the English hardly any attention nowadays,” said Miss Heth-erington, gloomily. “They always give them the most terrible back bed-rooms—the ones maids and valets used to have in the old days.”
“Well, I can’t say I’ve found any fault with the accommodation I’ve hadsince I came to Morocco,” said Mrs. Calvin Baker. “I’ve managed to get amost comfortable room and bath every time.”
“You’re an American,” said Miss Hetherington, sharply, and with somevenom in her voice. She clicked her knitting needles furiously.
“I wish I could persuade you two to come to Marrakesh with me,” saidHilary. “It’s been so pleasant meeting you and talking to you here. Really,it’s very lonely travelling all by oneself.”
“I’ve been to Marrakesh,” said Miss Hetherington in a shocked voice.
Mrs. Calvin Baker, however, appeared to be somewhat sold on the idea.
“Well, it certainly is an idea,” she said. “It’s over a month since I was inMarrakesh. I’d be quite happy to go there again for a spell, and I couldshow you round, too, Mrs. Betterton, and prevent you being imposedupon. It’s not until you’ve been to a place and looked right round it thatyou learn the strings⁵. I wonder now. I’ll go right to the office and see whatI can fix up.”
Miss Hetherington said acidly, when she had departed:
“That’s exactly like these American women. Rushing from place to place,never settling down anywhere. Egypt one day, Palestine the next. Some-times I really don’t think they know what country they’re in.”
She shut her lips with a snap, and rising and gathering⁶ up her knittingcarefully she left the Turkish room with a little nod to Hilary as she went.
Hilary glanced down at her watch. She felt inclined not to change thisevening for dinner, as she usually did. She sat on there alone in the low,rather dark room with its oriental hangings. A waiter looked in, then wentaway after turning on two lamps. They did not give out very much lightand the room seemed pleasantly dim. It had an Eastern sort of serenity⁷.
Hilary sat back on the low divan⁸, thinking of the future.
Only yesterday she had been wondering if the whole business uponwhich she had been engaged was a mare’s nest. And now—now she wason the point of starting on her real journey. She must be careful, verycareful. She must make no slip. She must be Olive Betterton, moderatelywell-educated, inartistic, conventional but with definite Left Wing sym-pathies, and a woman who was devoted⁹ to her husband.
“I must make no mistake,” said Hilary to herself, under her breath.
How strange it felt to be sitting here alone in Morocco. She felt as thoughshe had got into a land of mystery and enchantment¹⁰. That dim lamp be-side her! If she were to take the carved brass¹¹ between her hands and rub,would a Djinn of the Lamp appear? As the thought came to her, she star-ted. Materializing quite suddenly from beyond the lamp, she saw the smallwrinkled face and pointed¹² beard of Mr. Aristides. He bowed politely be-fore sitting down beside her, saying:
“You permit, Madame?” Hilary responded politely.
Taking out his cigarette case he offered her a cigarette. She accepted andhe lit one himself also.
“It pleases you, this country, Madame?” he asked, after a moment ortwo.
“I have been here only a very short time,” said Hilary. “I find it so farquite enchanting¹³.”
“Ah. And you have been into the old city? You liked it?”
“I think it is wonderful.”
“Yes, it is wonderful. It is the past there—the past of commerce, of in-trigue, of whispering voices, shuttered activities, all the mystery and pas-sion of a city enclosed in its narrow streets and walls. Do you know what Ithink of, Madame, when I walk through the streets of Fez?”
“No?”
“I think of your Great West Road in London. I think of your great factorybuildings on each side of the road. I think of those buildings lit throughoutwith their neon lighting¹⁴ and the people inside, that you see so clearly fromthe road as you drive along in your car. There is nothing hidden, there isnothing mysterious. There are not even curtains to the windows. No, theydo their work there with the whole world observing them if it wants to doso. It is like slicing off the top of an anthill.”
“You mean,” said Hilary, interested, “that it is the contrast that interestsyou?”
Mr. Aristides nodded his elderly, tortoise-like head.
“Yes,” he said. “There everything is in the open and in the old streets ofFez nothing is à jour. Everything is hidden, dark .?.?. But—” he leant for-ward and tapped a finger on the little brass coffee table “—but the samethings go on. The same cruelties, the same oppressions, the same wish forpower, the same bargaining and haggling¹⁵.”
“You think that human nature is the same everywhere?” Hilary asked.
“In every country. In the past as in the present there are always the twothings that rule. Cruelty and benevolence¹⁶! One or the other. Sometimesboth.” He continued with hardly a change of manner. “They have told me,Madame, that you were in a very bad aeroplane accident the other day atCasablanca?”
“Yes, that is true.”
“I envy you,” Mr. Aristides said unexpectedly.
Hilary looked at him in an astonished manner. Again he waggled hishead in vehement¹⁷ assertion.
“Yes,” he added, “you are to be envied. You have had an experience. Ishould like the experience of having come so near to death. To have that,yet survive—do you not feel yourself different since then, Madame?”
“In a rather unfortunate way,” said Hilary. “I had concussion¹⁸ and thatgives me very bad headaches, and it also affects my memory.”
“Those are mere¹⁹ inconveniences,” said Mr. Aristides, with a wave of thehand, “but it is an adventure of the spirit you have passed through, is itnot?”
“It is true,” said Hilary slowly, “that I have passed through an adventureof the spirit.”
She was thinking of a bottle of Vichy water and a little heap of sleepingpills.
“I have never had that experience,” said Mr. Aristides, in his dissatisfiedvoice. “So many other things, but not that.” He rose, bowed, said “Meshommages, Madame,” and left her.

1 disparagingly   

adv.以贬抑的口吻，以轻视的态度

参考例句：

• These mythological figures are described disparagingly as belonging only to a story. 这些神话人物被轻蔑地描述为“仅在传说中出现”的人物。 来自互联网
• In his memoirs he often speaks disparagingly about the private sector. 在他的回忆录里面他经常轻蔑的谈及私营（商业）部门。 来自互联网

2 prerogative   

n.特权

参考例句：

• It is within his prerogative to do so.他是有权这样做的。
• Making such decisions is not the sole prerogative of managers.作这类决定并不是管理者的专有特权。

3 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

4 scruffy   

adj.肮脏的，不洁的

参考例句：

• Despite her scruffy clothes,there was an air of sophistication about her.尽管她衣衫褴褛，但神态老练世故。
• His scruffy appearance does not reflect his character.他邋遢的外表并不反映他的性格。

5 strings   

n.弦

参考例句：

• He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上，随意地拨着吉他的弦。
• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。

6 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

7 serenity   

n.宁静，沉着，晴朗

参考例句：

• Her face,though sad,still evoked a feeling of serenity.她的脸色虽然悲伤，但仍使人感觉安详。
• She escaped to the comparative serenity of the kitchen.她逃到相对安静的厨房里。

8 divan   

n.长沙发；（波斯或其他东方诗人的）诗集

参考例句：

• Lord Henry stretched himself out on the divan and laughed.亨利勋爵伸手摊脚地躺在沙发椅上，笑着。
• She noticed that Muffat was sitting resignedly on a narrow divan-bed.她看见莫法正垂头丧气地坐在一张不宽的坐床上。

9 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

10 enchantment   

n.迷惑，妖术，魅力

参考例句：

• The beauty of the scene filled us with enchantment.风景的秀丽令我们陶醉。
• The countryside lay as under some dread enchantment.乡村好像躺在某种可怖的魔法之下。

11 brass   

n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器

参考例句：

• Many of the workers play in the factory's brass band.许多工人都在工厂铜管乐队中演奏。
• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc.黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。

12 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

13 enchanting   

a.讨人喜欢的

参考例句：

• His smile, at once enchanting and melancholy, is just his father's. 他那种既迷人又有些忧郁的微笑，活脱儿象他父亲。
• Its interior was an enchanting place that both lured and frightened me. 它的里头是个吸引人的地方，我又向往又害怕。

14 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

15 haggling   

v.讨价还价( haggle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I left him in the market haggling over the price of a shirt. 我扔下他自己在市场上就一件衬衫讨价还价。
• Some were haggling loudly with traders as they hawked their wares. 有些人正在大声同兜售货物的商贩讲价钱。 来自辞典例句

16 benevolence   

n.慈悲，捐助

参考例句：

• We definitely do not apply a policy of benevolence to the reactionaries.我们对反动派决不施仁政。
• He did it out of pure benevolence. 他做那件事完全出于善意。

17 vehement   

adj.感情强烈的；热烈的；(人)有强烈感情的

参考例句：

• She made a vehement attack on the government's policies.她强烈谴责政府的政策。
• His proposal met with vehement opposition.他的倡导遭到了激烈的反对。

18 concussion   

n.脑震荡；震动

参考例句：

• He was carried off the field with slight concussion.他因轻微脑震荡给抬离了现场。
• She suffers from brain concussion.她得了脑震荡。

19 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。