Chapter 15 Aunt Matilda Takes A Cure（2）

II
Lady Matilda looked around her bedroom in the Gasthaus. It was well ap-pointed. It was very expensive. It combined comfort with an appearanceof such austerity as might lead the inhabitant to identify herself with anascetic course of exercises, diet and possibly painful courses of massage¹.
Its furnishings, she thought, were interesting. They provided for all tastes.
There was a large framed Gothic script on the wall. Lady Matilda’s Ger-man was not as good as it had been in her girlhood, but it dealt, shethought, with the golden and enchanting² idea of a return to youth. Notonly did youth hold the future in its hands but the old were being nicelyindoctrinated to feel that they themselves might know such a secondgolden flowering.
Here there were gentle aids so as to enable one to pursue the doctrine³ ofany of the many paths in life which attracted different classes of people.
(Always presuming that they had enough money to pay for it.) Beside thebed was a Gideon Bible such as Lady Matilda when travelling in theUnited States had often found by her bedside. She picked it up approv-ingly, opened it at random⁴ and dropped a finger on one particular verse.
She read it, nodding her head contentedly⁵ and made a brief note of it on anote pad that was lying on her bed table. She had often done that in thecourse of her life–it was her way of obtaining divine guidance at short no-tice.
I have been young and now am old, yet have I not seen therighteous forsaken⁶.
She made further researches of the room. Handily placed but not too ap-parent was an Almanach de Gotha, modestly situated⁷ on a lower shelf onthe bedside table. A most invaluable⁸ book for those who wished to famili-arize themselves with the higher strata⁹ of society reaching back for sev-eral hundred years and which were still being observed and noted¹⁰ andchecked by those of aristocratic lineage or interested in the same. It willcome in handy, she thought, I can read up a good deal on that.
Near the desk, by the stove of period porcelain¹¹, were paperback¹² editionsof certain preachings and tenets by the modern prophets of the world.
Those who were now or had recently been crying in the wilderness¹³ werehere to be studied and approved by young followers¹⁴ with haloes of hair,strange raiment, and earnest hearts. Marcuse, Guevara, Lévi- Strauss,Fanon.
In case she was going to hold any conversations with golden youth shehad better read up a little on that also.
At that moment there was a timid tap on the door. It opened slightly andthe face of the faithful Amy came round the corner. Amy, Lady Matildathought suddenly, would look exactly like a sheep when she was ten yearsolder. A nice, faithful, kindly¹⁵ sheep. At the moment, Lady Matilda was gladto think, she looked still like a very agreeable plump lamb with nice curlsof hair, thoughtful and kindly eyes, and able to give kindly baa’s ratherthan to bleat¹⁶.
‘I do hope you slept well.’
‘Yes, my dear, I did, excellently. Have you got that thing?’
Amy always knew what she meant. She handed it to her employer.
‘Ah, my diet sheet. I see.’ Lady Matilda perused¹⁷ it, then said, ‘How in-credibly unattractive! What’s this water like one’s supposed to drink?’
‘It doesn’t taste very nice.’
‘No, I don’t suppose it would. Come back in half an hour. I’ve got a letterI want you to post.’
Moving aside her breakfast tray, she moved over to the desk. Shethought for a few minutes and then wrote her letter. ‘It ought to do thetrick,’ she murmured.
‘I beg your pardon, Lady Matilda, what did you say?’
‘I was writing to the old friend I mentioned to you.’
‘The one you said you haven’t seen for about fifty or sixty years?’
Lady Matilda nodded.
‘I do hope–’ Amy was apologetic. ‘I mean–I–it’s such a long time. Peoplehave short memories nowadays. I do hope that she’ll remember all aboutyou and everything.’
‘Of course she will,’ said Lady Matilda. ‘The people you don’t forget arethe people you knew when you were about ten to twenty. They stick inyour mind for ever. You remember what hats they wore, and the way theylaughed, and you remember their faults and their good qualities andeverything about them. Now anyone I met twenty years ago, shall we say,I simply can’t remember who they are. Not if they’re mentioned to me,and not if I saw them even. Oh yes, she’ll remember about me. And allabout Lausanne. You get that letter posted. I’ve got to do a little home-work.’
She picked up the Almanach de Gotha and returned to bed, where shemade a serious study of such items as might come in useful. Some familyrelationships and various other kinships of the useful kind. Who had mar-ried whom, who had lived where, what misfortunes had overtaken others.
Not that the person whom she had in mind was herself likely to be foundin the Almanach de Gotha. But she lived in a part of the world, had comethere deliberately¹⁸ to live in a Schloss belonging to originally noble ancest-ors, and she had absorbed the local respect and adulation for those aboveall of good breeding. To good birth, even impaired¹⁹ with poverty, she her-self, as Lady Matilda well knew, had no claim whatever. She had had tomake do with money. Oceans of money. Incredible amounts of money.
Lady Matilda Cleckheaton had no doubt at all that she herself, thedaughter of an eighth Duke, would be bidden to some kind of festivity.
Coffee, perhaps, and delicious creamy cakes.

1 massage   

n.按摩，揉；vt.按摩，揉，美化，奉承，篡改数据

参考例句：

• He is really quite skilled in doing massage.他的按摩技术确实不错。
• Massage helps relieve the tension in one's muscles.按摩可使僵硬的肌肉松弛。

2 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。

3 doctrine   

n.教义；主义；学说

参考例句：

• He was impelled to proclaim his doctrine.他不得不宣扬他的教义。
• The council met to consider changes to doctrine.宗教议会开会考虑更改教义。

4 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

5 contentedly   

adv.心满意足地

参考例句：

• My father sat puffing contentedly on his pipe.父亲坐着心满意足地抽着烟斗。
• "This is brother John's writing,"said Sally,contentedly,as she opened the letter.

6 Forsaken   

adj. 被遗忘的, 被抛弃的 动词forsake的过去分词

参考例句：

• He was forsaken by his friends. 他被朋友们背弃了。
• He has forsaken his wife and children. 他遗弃了他的妻子和孩子。

7 situated   

adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的

参考例句：

• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。
• She is awkwardly situated.她的处境困难。

8 invaluable   

adj.无价的，非常宝贵的，极为贵重的

参考例句：

• A computer would have been invaluable for this job.一台计算机对这个工作的作用会是无法估计的。
• This information was invaluable to him.这个消息对他来说是非常宝贵的。

9 strata   

n.地层（复数）；社会阶层

参考例句：

• The older strata gradually disintegrate.较老的岩层渐渐风化。
• They represent all social strata.他们代表各个社会阶层。

10 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

11 porcelain   

n.瓷；adj.瓷的，瓷制的

参考例句：

• These porcelain plates have rather original designs on them.这些瓷盘的花纹很别致。
• The porcelain vase is enveloped in cotton.瓷花瓶用棉花裹着。

12 paperback   

n.平装本，简装本

参考例句：

• A paperback edition is now available at bookshops.平装本现在在书店可以买到。
• Many books that are out of print are reissued in paperback form.许多绝版的书籍又以平装本形式重新出现。

13 wilderness   

n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

14 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。

15 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。

16 bleat   

v.咩咩叫，(讲)废话，哭诉；n.咩咩叫，废话，哭诉

参考例句：

• He heard the bleat of a lamb.他听到小羊的叫声。
• They bleat about how miserable they are.他们诉说他们的生活是多么悲惨。

17 perused   

v.读（某篇文字）( peruse的过去式和过去分词 )；（尤指）细阅；审阅；匆匆读或心不在焉地浏览（某篇文字）

参考例句：

• I remained under the wall and perused Miss Cathy's affectionate composition. 我就留在墙跟底下阅读凯蒂小姐的爱情作品。 来自辞典例句
• Have you perused this article? 你细读了这篇文章了吗？ 来自互联网

18 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

19 impaired   

adj.受损的；出毛病的；有（身体或智力）缺陷的v.损害，削弱( impair的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Much reading has impaired his vision. 大量读书损害了他的视力。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• His hearing is somewhat impaired. 他的听觉已受到一定程度的损害。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》