Chapter 1 Passenger To Frankfurt（3）

III
Quite a good sprinkling of passengers rose to their feet to obey the sum-mons. By this time though, more passengers had entered the transitlounge waiting for other planes. Announcements followed as to fog atGeneva and other disabilities of travel. A slim man of middle height wear-ing a dark blue cloak with its red lining¹ showing and with a hood² drawnup over a close-cropped head, not noticeably more untidy than many ofthe heads of young men nowadays, walked across the floor to take hisplace in the queue for the plane. Showing a boarding ticket, he passed outthrough gate No. 9.
More announcements followed. Swissair flying to Zürich. BEA to Athensand Cyprus–and then a different type of announcement.
‘Will Miss Daphne Theodofanous, passenger to Geneva, kindly³ come tothe flight desk. Plane to Geneva is delayed owing to fog. Passengers willtravel by way of Athens. The aeroplane is now ready to leave.’
Other announcements followed dealing⁴ with passengers to Japan, toEgypt, to South Africa, air lines spanning the world. Mr Sidney Cook, pas-senger to South Africa, was urged to come to the flight desk where therewas a message for him. Daphne Theodofanous was called for again.
‘This is the last call before the departure of Flight 309.’
In a corner of the lounge a little girl was looking up at a man in a darksuit who was fast asleep, his head resting against the cushion of the redsettee. In his hand he held a small woolly panda.
The little girl’s hand stretched out towards the panda. Her mother said:
‘Now, Joan, don’t touch that. The poor gentleman’s asleep.’
‘Where is he going?’
‘Perhaps he’s going to Australiatoo,’ said her mother, ‘like we are.’
‘Has he got a little girl like me?’
‘I think he must have,’ said her mother.
The little girl sighed and looked at the panda again. Sir Stafford Nye con-tinued to sleep. He was dreaming that he was trying to shoot a leopard⁵. Avery dangerous animal, he was saying to the safari⁶ guide who was accom-panying him. ‘A very dangerous animal, so I’ve always heard. You can’ttrust a leopard.’
The dream switched at that moment, as dreams have a habit of doing,and he was having tea with his Great-Aunt Matilda, and trying to makeher hear. She was deafer than ever! He had not heard any of the an-nouncements except the first one for Miss Daphne Theodofanous. Thelittle girl’s mother said:
‘I’ve always wondered, you know, about a passenger that’s missing.
Nearly always, whenever you go anywhere by air, you hear it. Somebodythey can’t find. Somebody who hasn’t heard the call or isn’t on the planeor something like that. I always wonder who it is and what they’re doing,and why they haven’t come. I suppose this Miss What’s- a- name orwhatever it is will just have missed her plane. What will they do with herthen?’
Nobody was able to answer her question because nobody had theproper information.

1 lining   

n.衬里，衬料

参考例句：

• The lining of my coat is torn.我的外套衬里破了。
• Moss makes an attractive lining to wire baskets.用苔藓垫在铁丝篮里很漂亮。

2 hood   

n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖

参考例句：

• She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
• The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。

3 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。

4 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

5 leopard   

n.豹

参考例句：

• I saw a man in a leopard skin yesterday.我昨天看见一个穿着豹皮的男人。
• The leopard's skin is marked with black spots.豹皮上有黑色斑点。

6 safari   

n.远征旅行(探险、考察)；探险队，狩猎队

参考例句：

• When we go on safari we like to cook on an open fire.我们远行狩猎时，喜欢露天生火做饭。
• They went on safari searching for the rare black rhinoceros.他们进行探险旅行，搜寻那稀有的黑犀牛。