Robert Shoreham struggled into raucous1 difficult speech.
‘I have destroyed my brain child and nobody in the world knows how Iarrived at it. One man helped me but he is dead. He died of tuberculosis2 ayear after we had come to success. You must go away again. I cannot helpyou.’
‘But this knowledge of yours means you could save the world!’
The man in the chair made a curious noise. It was laughter. Laughter ofa crippled man.
‘Save the world. Save the world! What a phrase! That’s what your youngpeople are doing, they think! They’re going ahead in violence and hatredto save the world. But they don’t know how! They will have to do it them-selves, out of their own hearts, out of their own minds. We can’t give theman artificial way of doing it. No. An artificial goodness? An artificial kind-ness? None of that. It wouldn’t be real. It wouldn’t mean anything. It wouldbe against Nature.’ He said slowly: ‘Against God.’
The last two words came out unexpectedly, clearly enunciated3.
He looked round at his listeners. It was as though he pleaded with themfor understanding, yet at the same time had no real hope of it.
‘I had a right to destroy what I had created–’
‘I doubt it very much,’ said Mr Robinson, ‘knowledge is knowledge.
What you have given birth to– what you have made come to life, youshould not destroy.’
‘You have a right to your opinion–but the fact you will have to accept.’
‘No,’ Mr Robinson brought the word out with force.
Lisa Neumann turned on him angrily.
‘What do you mean by “No”?’
Her eyes were flashing. A handsome woman, Mr Robinson thought. Awoman who had been in love with Robert Shoreham all her life probably.
Had loved him, worked with him, and now lived beside him, ministeringto him with her intellect, giving him devotion in its purest form withoutpity.
‘There are things one gets to know in the course of one’s lifetime,’ saidMr Robinson. ‘I don’t suppose mine will be a long life. I carry too muchweight to begin with.’ He sighed as he looked down at his bulk. ‘But I doknow some things. I’m right, you know, Shoreham. You’ll have to admitI’m right, too. You’re an honest man. You wouldn’t have destroyed yourwork. You couldn’t have brought yourself to do it. You’ve got it some-where still, locked away, hidden away, not in this house, probably. I’dguess, and I’m only making a guess, that you’ve got it somewhere in a safedeposit or a bank. She knows you’ve got it there, too. You trust her. She’sthe only person in the world you do trust.’
Shoreham said, and this time his voice was almost distinct:
‘Who are you? Who the devil are you?’
‘I’m just a man who knows about money,’ said Mr Robinson, ‘and thethings that branch off from money, you know. People and their idiosyn-crasies and their practices in life. If you liked to, you could lay your handon the work that you’ve put away. I’m not saying that you could do thesame work now, but I think it’s all there somewhere. You’ve told us yourviews, and I wouldn’t say they were all wrong,’ said Mr Robinson.
‘Possibly you’re right. Benefits to humanity are tricky5 things to dealwith. Poor old Beveridge, freedom from want, freedom from fear, freedomfrom whatever it was, he thought he was making a heaven on earth bysaying that and planning for it and getting it done. But it hasn’t madeheaven on earth and I don’t suppose your benvo or whatever you call it(sounds like a patent food) will bring heaven on earth either. Benevolencehas its dangers just like everything else. What it will do is save a lot of suf-fering, pain, anarchy6, violence, slavery to drugs. Yes, it’ll save quite a lot ofbad things from happening, and it might save something that was import-ant. It might–just might–make a difference to people. Young people. ThisBenvoleo of yours–now I’ve made it sound like a patent cleaner–is going tomake people benevolent7 and I’ll admit perhaps that it’s going to makethem condescending8, smug and pleased with themselves, but there’s just achance, too, that if you change people’s natures by force and they have togo on using that particular kind of nature until they die, one or two ofthem–not many–might discover that they had a natural vocation9, in humil-ity, not pride, for what they were being forced to do. Really change them-selves, I mean, before they died. Not be able to get out of a new habitthey’d learnt.’
Colonel Munro said, ‘I don’t understand what the hell you’re all talkingabout.’
Miss Neumann said, ‘He’s talking nonsense. You have to take ProfessorShoreham’s answer. He will do what he likes with his own discoveries.
You can’t coerce10 him.’
‘No,’ said Lord Altamount. ‘We’re not going to coerce you or torture you,Robert, or force you to reveal your hiding-places. You’ll do what you thinkright. That’s agreed.’
‘Edward?’ said Robert Shoreham. His speech failed him slightly again,his hands moved in gesture, and Miss Neumann translated quickly.
‘Edward? He says you are Edward Altamount?’
Shoreham spoke11 again and she took the words from him.
‘He asks you, Lord Altamount, if you are definitely, with your wholeheart and mind, asking him to put Project Benvo in your jurisdiction12. Hesays–’ she paused, watching, listening–‘he says you are the only man inpublic life that he ever trusted. If it is your wish–’
James Kleek was suddenly on his feet. Anxious, quick to move like light-ning, he stood by Lord Altamount’s chair.
‘Let me help you up, sir. You’re ill. You’re not well. Please stand back alittle, Miss Neumann. I–I must get to him. I–I have his remedies here. Iknow what to do–’
His hand went into his pocket and came out again with a hypodermicsyringe.
‘Unless he gets this at once it’ll be too late–’ He had caught up LordAltamount’s arm, rolling up his sleeve, pinching the flesh between his fin-gers, he held the hypodermic ready.
But someone else moved. Horsham was across the room, pushing Col-onel Munro aside: his hand closed over James Kleek’s as he wrenched13 thehypodermic away. Kleek struggled but Horsham was too strong for him.
And Munro was now there, too.
‘So it’s been you, James Kleek,’ he said. ‘You who’ve been the traitor14, afaithful disciple15 who wasn’t a faithful disciple.’
Miss Neumann had gone to the door–had flung it open and was calling.
‘Nurse! Come quickly. Come.’
The nurse appeared. She gave one quick glance to Professor Shoreham,but he waved her away and pointed16 across the room to where Horshamand Munro still held a struggling Kleek. Her hand went into the pocket ofher uniform.
Shoreham stammered17 out, ‘It’s Altamount. A heart attack.’
‘Heart attack, my foot,’ roared Munro. ‘It’s attempted murder.’ Hestopped.
‘Hold the chap,’ he said to Horsham, and leapt across the room.
‘Mrs Cortman? Since when have you entered the nursing profession?
We’d rather lost sight of you since you gave us the slip in Baltimore.’
Milly Jean was still wrestling with her pocket. Now her hand came outwith the small automatic in it. She glanced towards Shoreham but Munroblocked her, and Lisa Neumann was standing4 in front of Shoreham’schair.
James Kleek yelled, ‘Get Altamount, Juanita–quick–get Altamount.’
Her arm flashed up and she fired.
James Kleek said,
‘Damned good shot!’
Lord Altamount had had a classical education. He murmured faintly,looking at James Kleek,
‘Jamie? Et tu Brute18?’ and collapsed19 against the back of his chair.
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收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
raucous
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| adj.(声音)沙哑的，粗糙的 | |
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2
tuberculosis
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| n.结核病，肺结核 | |
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3
enunciated
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| v.（清晰地）发音( enunciate的过去式和过去分词 )；确切地说明 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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tricky
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| adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的 | |
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6
anarchy
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| n.无政府状态；社会秩序混乱，无秩序 | |
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7
benevolent
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| adj.仁慈的，乐善好施的 | |
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8
condescending
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| adj.谦逊的,故意屈尊的 | |
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9
vocation
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| n.职业，行业 | |
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10
coerce
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| v.强迫，压制 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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12
jurisdiction
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| n.司法权，审判权，管辖权，控制权 | |
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13
wrenched
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| v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的过去式和过去分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛 | |
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14
traitor
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| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
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15
disciple
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| n.信徒，门徒，追随者 | |
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16
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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17
stammered
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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18
brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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collapsed
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| adj.倒塌的 | |
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