Chapter 10 The Woman In The Schloss（1）

Book 2 Journey To Siegfried
Chapter 10 The Woman In The Schloss
I
They came out of the Festival Youth Theatre to the refreshing¹ night air. Be-low them in a sweep of the ground, was a lighted restaurant. On the sideof the hill was another, smaller one. The restaurants varied² slightly inprice though neither of them was inexpensive. Renata was in eveningdress of black velvet³, Sir Stafford Nye was in white tie and full eveningdress.
‘A very distinguished⁴ audience,’ murmured Stafford Nye to his compan-ion. ‘Plenty of money there. A young audience on the whole. You wouldn’tthink they could afford it.’
‘Oh! that can be seen to–it is seen to.’
‘A subsidy⁵ for the élite of youth? That kind of thing?’ ‘Yes.’
They walked towards the restaurant on the high side of the hill.
‘They give you an hour for the meal. Is that right?’
‘Technically an hour. Actually an hour and a quarter.’
‘That audience,’ said Sir Stafford Nye, ‘most of them, nearly all of them, Ishould say, are real lovers of music.’
‘Most of them, yes. It’s important, you know.’
‘What do you mean–important?’
‘That the enthusiasm should be genuine. At both ends of the scale,’ sheadded.
‘What did you mean, exactly, by that?’
‘Those who practise and organize violence must love violence, mustwant it, must yearn⁶ for it. The seal of ecstasy⁷ in every movement, of slash-ing, hurting, destroying. And the same thing with the music. The ears mustappreciate every moment of the harmonies and beauties. There can be nopretending in this game.’
‘Can you double the r?les–do you mean you can combine violence and alove of music or a love of art?’
‘It is not always easy, I think, but yes. There are many who can. It issafer really, if they don’t have to combine r?les.’
‘It’s better to keep it simple, as our fat friend Mr Robinson would say?
Let the lovers of music love music, let the violent practitioners⁸ love viol-ence. Is that what you mean?’
‘I think so.’
‘I am enjoying this very much. The two days that we have stayed here,the two nights of music that we have enjoyed. I have not enjoyed all themusic because I am not perhaps sufficiently⁹ modern in my taste. I find theclothes very interesting.’
‘Are you talking of the stage production?’
‘No, no, I was talking of the audience, really. You and I, the squares, theold-fashioned. You, Countess, in your society gown, I in my white tie andtails. Not a comfortable get-up, it never has been. And then the others, thesilks and the velvets, the ruffled¹⁰ shirts of the men, real lace, I noticed, sev-eral times–and the plush and the hair and the luxury of avant garde, theluxury of the eighteen- hundreds or you might almost say of the Eliza-bethan age or of Van Dyck pictures.’
‘Yes, you are right.’
‘I’m no nearer, though, to what it all means. I haven’t learnt anything. Ihaven’t found out anything.’
‘You mustn’t be impatient. This is a rich show, supported, asked for, de-manded perhaps by youth and provided by–’
‘By whom?’
‘We don’t know yet. We shall know.’
‘I’m so glad you are sure of it.’
They went into the restaurant and sat down. The food was good thoughnot in any way ornate or luxurious¹¹. Once or twice they were spoken to byan acquaintance or a friend. Two people who recognized Sir Stafford Nyeexpressed pleasure and surprise at seeing him. Renata had a bigger circleof acquaintances since she knew more foreigners–well-dressed women, aman or two, mostly German or Austrian, Stafford Nye thought, one or twoAmericans. Just a few desultory¹² words. Where people had come from orwere going to, criticism or appreciation¹³ of the musical fare. Nobodywasted much time since the interval¹⁴ for eating had not been very long.
They returned to their seats for the two final musical offerings. A Sym-phonic Poem, ‘Disintegration in Joy’, by a new young composer,Solukonov, and then the solemn grandeur¹⁵ of the March of the Meistersing-ers.
They came out again into the night. The car which was at their disposalevery day was waiting there to take them back to the small but exclusivehotel in the village street. Stafford Nye said good- night to Renata. Shespoke to him in a lowered voice.
‘Four a.m.,’ she said. ‘Be ready.’
She went straight into her room and shut the door and he went to his.
The faint scrape of fingers on his door came precisely¹⁶ at three minutesto four the next morning. He opened the door and stood ready.
‘The car is waiting,’ she said. ‘Come.’

1 refreshing   

adj.使精神振作的，使人清爽的，使人喜欢的

参考例句：

• I find it'so refreshing to work with young people in this department.我发现和这一部门的青年一起工作令人精神振奋。
• The water was cold and wonderfully refreshing.水很涼，特别解乏提神。

2 varied   

adj.多样的，多变化的

参考例句：

• The forms of art are many and varied.艺术的形式是多种多样的。
• The hotel has a varied programme of nightly entertainment.宾馆有各种晚间娱乐活动。

3 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。

4 distinguished   

adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的

参考例句：

• Elephants are distinguished from other animals by their long noses.大象以其长长的鼻子显示出与其他动物的不同。
• A banquet was given in honor of the distinguished guests.宴会是为了向贵宾们致敬而举行的。

5 subsidy   

n.补助金，津贴

参考例句：

• The university will receive a subsidy for research in artificial intelligence.那个大学将得到一笔人工智能研究的补助费。
• The living subsidy for senior expert's family is included in the remuneration.报酬已包含高级专家家人的生活补贴。

6 yearn   

v.想念；怀念；渴望

参考例句：

• We yearn to surrender our entire being.我们渴望着放纵我们整个的生命。
• Many people living in big cities yearn for an idyllic country life.现在的很多都市人向往那种田园化的生活。

7 ecstasy   

n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷

参考例句：

• He listened to the music with ecstasy.他听音乐听得入了神。
• Speechless with ecstasy,the little boys gazed at the toys.小孩注视着那些玩具，高兴得说不出话来。

8 practitioners   

n.习艺者，实习者( practitioner的名词复数 )；从业者（尤指医师）

参考例句：

• one of the greatest practitioners of science fiction 最了不起的科幻小说家之一
• The technique is experimental, but the list of its practitioners is growing. 这种技术是试验性的，但是采用它的人正在增加。 来自辞典例句

9 sufficiently   

adv.足够地，充分地

参考例句：

• It turned out he had not insured the house sufficiently.原来他没有给房屋投足保险。
• The new policy was sufficiently elastic to accommodate both views.新政策充分灵活地适用两种观点。

10 ruffled   

adj. 有褶饰边的, 起皱的 动词ruffle的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• She ruffled his hair affectionately. 她情意绵绵地拨弄着他的头发。
• All this talk of a strike has clearly ruffled the management's feathers. 所有这些关于罢工的闲言碎语显然让管理层很不高兴。

11 luxurious   

adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的

参考例句：

• This is a luxurious car complete with air conditioning and telephone.这是一辆附有空调设备和电话的豪华轿车。
• The rich man lives in luxurious surroundings.这位富人生活在奢侈的环境中。

12 desultory   

adj.散漫的，无方法的

参考例句：

• Do not let the discussion fragment into a desultory conversation with no clear direction.不要让讨论变得支离破碎，成为没有明确方向的漫谈。
• The constables made a desultory attempt to keep them away from the barn.警察漫不经心地拦着不让他们靠近谷仓。

13 appreciation   

n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨

参考例句：

• I would like to express my appreciation and thanks to you all.我想对你们所有人表达我的感激和谢意。
• I'll be sending them a donation in appreciation of their help.我将送给他们一笔捐款以感谢他们的帮助。

14 interval   

n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息

参考例句：

• The interval between the two trees measures 40 feet.这两棵树的间隔是40英尺。
• There was a long interval before he anwsered the telephone.隔了好久他才回了电话。

15 grandeur   

n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华

参考例句：

• The grandeur of the Great Wall is unmatched.长城的壮观是独一无二的。
• These ruins sufficiently attest the former grandeur of the place.这些遗迹充分证明此处昔日的宏伟。

16 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。