One Mark Easterbrook’s Narrative（1）

One Mark Easterbrook’s Narrative¹
I
The Espresso machine behind my shoulder hissed² like an angry snake.
The noise it made had a sinister³, not to say devilish, suggestion about it.
Perhaps, I reflected, most of our contemporary noises carry that implica-tion. The intimidating⁴ angry scream of jet planes as they flash across thesky; the slow menacing rumble⁵ of a tube train approaching through itstunnel; the heavy road transport that shakes the very foundations of yourhouse… Even the minor⁶ domestic noises of today, beneficial in actionthough they may be, yet carry a kind of alert. The dishwashers, the refri-gerators, the pressure cookers, the whining⁷ vacuum cleaners—“Be care-ful,” they all seem to say. “I am a genie⁸ harnessed to your service, but ifyour control of me fails….”
A dangerous world—that was it, a dangerous world.
I stirred the foaming⁹ cup placed in front of me. It smelt¹⁰ pleasant.
“What else will you have? Nice banana and bacon sandwich?”
It seemed an odd juxtaposition¹¹ to me. Bananas I connected with mychildhood — or occasionally flambé with sugar and rum. Bacon, in mymind, was firmly associated with eggs. However, when in Chelsea, eat asChelsea does. I agreed to a nice banana and bacon sandwich.
Although I lived in Chelsea—that is to say, I had had a furnished flatthere for the last three months—I was in every other way a stranger inthese parts. I was writing a book on certain aspects of Mogul architecture,but for that purpose I could have lived in Hampstead or Bloomsbury orStreatham or Chelsea and it would have been all the same to me. I was ob-livious of my surroundings except for the tools of my trade, and the neigh-bourhood in which I lived was completely indifferent to me, I existed in aworld of my own.
On this particular evening, however, I had suffered from one of thosesudden revulsions that all writers know.
Mogul architecture, Mogul Emperors, the Mogul way of life—and all thefascinating problems it raised, became suddenly as dust and ashes. Whatdid they matter? Why did I want to write about them?
I flicked¹² back various pages, rereading what I had written. It all seemedto me uniformly bad—poorly written and singularly devoid¹³ of interest.
Whoever had said “History is bunk” (Henry Ford¹⁴?) had been absolutelyright.
I pushed back my manuscript with loathing¹⁵, got up and looked at mywatch. The time was close on eleven p.m. I tried to remember if I had haddinner… From my inner sensations I thought not. Lunch, yes, at the Athen-aeum. That was a long time ago.
I went and looked into the refrigerator. There was a small remnant ofdesiccated tongue. I looked at it without favour. So it was that I wanderedout into the King’s Road, and eventually turned into an Espresso CoffeeBar with the name Luigi written in red neon light across its window, andwas now contemplating¹⁶ a bacon and banana sandwich whilst I reflectedon the sinister implications of present-day noises and their atmosphericeffects.
All of them, I thought, had something in common with my early memor-ies of pantomime. Davy Jones arriving from his locker¹⁷ in clouds of smoke!
Trap doors and windows that exuded¹⁸ the infernal powers of evil, challen-ging and defying a Good Fairy Diamond, or some such name, who in turnwaved an inadequate-looking wand and recited hopeful platitudes¹⁹ as tothe ultimate triumph of good in a flat voice, thus prefacing the inevitable“song of the moment” which never had anything to do with the story ofthat particular pantomime.
It came to me suddenly that evil was, perhaps, necessarily always moreimpressive than good. It had to make a show! It had to startle and chal-lenge! It was instability attacking stability. And in the end, I thought, sta-bility will always win. Stability can survive the triteness²⁰ of Good Fairy Dia-mond; the flat voice, the rhymed couplet, even the irrelevant²¹ vocal²² state-ment of “There’s a Winding²³ Road runs down the Hill, To the Olde WorldTown I love.” All very poor weapons it would seem, and yet thoseweapons would inevitably²⁴ prevail. The pantomime would end in the wayit always ended. The staircase, and the descending²⁵ cast in order of senior-ity, with Good Fairy Diamond, practising the Christian²⁶ virtue²⁷ of humilityand not seeking to be first (or, in this case, last) but arriving about halfwaythrough the procession, side by side with her late opponent, now seen tobe no longer the snarling²⁸ Demon²⁹ King breathing fire and brimstone, butjust a man dressed up in red tights.
The Espresso hissed again in my ear. I signalled for another cup of cof-fee and looked around me. A sister of mine was always accusing me of notbeing observant, not noticing what was going on. “You live in a world ofyour own,” she would say accusingly. Now, with a feeling of conscious vir-tue, I took note of what was going on. It was almost impossible not to readabout the coffee bars of Chelsea and their patrons every day in the news-papers; this was my chance to make my own appraisal³⁰ of contemporarylife.
It was rather dark in the Espresso, so you could not see very clearly. Theclientele were almost all young people. They were, I supposed vaguely,what was called the offbeat³¹ generation. The girls looked, as girls alwaysdid look to me nowadays, dirty. They also seemed to be much too warmlydressed. I had noticed that when I had gone out a few weeks ago to dinewith some friends. The girl who had sat next to me had been abouttwenty. The restaurant was hot, but she had worn a yellow wool pullover,a black skirt and black woollen stockings, and the perspiration³² poureddown her face all through the meal. She smelt of perspiration-soaked wooland also, strongly, of unwashed hair. She was said, according to myfriends, to be very attractive. Not to me! My only reaction was a yearningto throw her into a hot bath, give her a cake of soap and urge her to get onwith it! Which just showed, I suppose, how out of touch with the times Iwas. Perhaps it came of having lived abroad so much. I recalled withpleasure Indian women with their beautifully-coiled black hair, and theirsaris of pure bright colours hanging in graceful³³ folds, and the rhythmicsway of their bodies as they walked….
I was recalled from these pleasant thoughts by a sudden accentuation ofnoise. Two young women at the table next to me had started a quarrel.
The young men who were with them tried to adjust things, but withoutavail.
Suddenly they were screaming at each other. One girl slapped theother’s face, the second dragged the first from her chair. They fought eachother like fishwives, screaming abuse hysterically³⁴. One was a tousled red-head, the other a lank³⁵-haired blonde.
What the quarrel was about, apart from terms of abuse, I did not gather.
Cries and catcalls arose from other tables.
“Attagirl! Sock her, Lou!”
The proprietor³⁶ behind the bar, a slim Italian-looking fellow with side-burns, whom I had taken to be Luigi, came to intervene in a voice that waspure cockney London.
“Nah then—break it up—break it up—You’ll ’ave the whole street in in aminute. You’ll ’ave the coppers³⁷ here. Stop it, I say.”
But the lank blonde had the redhead by the hair and was tugging³⁸ furi-ously as she screamed:
“You’re nothing but a man-stealing bitch!”
“Bitch yourself.”
Luigi and the two embarrassed escorts forced the girls apart. In theblonde’s fingers were large tufts of red hair. She held them aloft gleefully,then dropped them on the floor.
The door from the street was pushed open and Authority, dressed inblue, stood on the threshold and uttered the regulation words majestic-ally.
“What’s going on here?”
Immediately a common front was presented to the enemy.
“Just a bit of fun,” said one of the young men.
“That’s all,” said Luigi. “Just a bit of fun among friends.”
With his foot he kicked the tufts of hair adroitly³⁹ under the nearest table.
The contestants⁴⁰ smiled at each other in false amnesty.
The policeman looked at everybody suspiciously.
“We’re just going now,” said the blonde sweetly. “Come on, Doug.”
By a coincidence several other people were just going. Authoritywatched them go grimly. His eye said that he was overlooking it this time,but he’d got his eye on them. He withdrew slowly.
The redhead’s escort paid the check.
“You all right?” said Luigi to the girl who was adjusting a headscarf.
“Lou served you pretty bad, tearing out your hair by the roots like that.”
“It didn’t hurt,” said the girl nonchalantly. She smiled at him. “Sorry forthe row, Luigi.”
The party went out. The bar was now practically empty. I felt in mypocket for change.
“She’s a sport all right,” said Luigi approvingly watching the door close.
He seized a floor brush and swept the tufts of red hair behind the counter.
“It must have been agony,” I said.
“I’d have hollered if it had been me,” admitted Luigi. “But she’s a realsport, Tommy is.”
“You know her well?”
“Oh, she’s in here most evenings. Tuckerton, that’s her name, Thomas-ina Tuckerton, if you want the whole set out. But Tommy Tucker’s whatshe’s called round here. Stinking⁴¹ rich, too. Her old man left her a fortune,and what does she go and do? Comes to Chelsea, lives in a slummy roomhalfway to Wandsworth Bridge, and mooches around with a gang all do-ing the same thing. Beats me, half of that crowd’s got money. Could haveany mortal thing they want; stay at the Ritz if they liked. But they seem toget a kick out of living the way they do. Yes—it beats me.”
“It wouldn’t be your choice?”
“Ar, I’ve got sense!” said Luigi. “As it is, I just cash in.”
I rose to go and asked what the quarrel was about.
“Oh, Tommy’s got hold of the other girl’s boyfriend. He’s not worth fight-ing about, believe me!”
“The other girl seemed to think he was,” I observed.
“Oh, Lou’s very romantic,” said Luigi tolerantly.
It was not my idea of romance, but I did not say so.

1 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

2 hissed   

发嘶嘶声( hiss的过去式和过去分词 )； 发嘘声表示反对

参考例句：

• Have you ever been hissed at in the middle of a speech? 你在演讲中有没有被嘘过？
• The iron hissed as it pressed the wet cloth. 熨斗压在湿布上时发出了嘶嘶声。

3 sinister   

adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的

参考例句：

• There is something sinister at the back of that series of crimes.在这一系列罪行背后有险恶的阴谋。
• Their proposals are all worthless and designed out of sinister motives.他们的建议不仅一钱不值，而且包藏祸心。

4 intimidating   

vt.恐吓，威胁( intimidate的现在分词)

参考例句：

• They were accused of intimidating people into voting for them. 他们被控胁迫选民投他们的票。
• This kind of questioning can be very intimidating to children. 这种问话的方式可能让孩子们非常害怕。

5 rumble   

n.隆隆声；吵嚷；v.隆隆响；低沉地说

参考例句：

• I hear the rumble of thunder in the distance.我听到远处雷声隆隆。
• We could tell from the rumble of the thunder that rain was coming.我们根据雷的轰隆声可断定，天要下雨了。

6 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

7 whining   

n. 抱怨，牢骚 v. 哭诉，发牢骚

参考例句：

• That's the way with you whining, puny, pitiful players. 你们这种又爱哭、又软弱、又可怜的赌棍就是这样。
• The dog sat outside the door whining (to be let in). 那条狗坐在门外狺狺叫着（要进来）。

8 genie   

n.妖怪，神怪

参考例句：

• Now the genie of his darkest and weakest side was speaking.他心灵中最阴暗最软弱的部分有一个精灵在说话。
• He had to turn to the Genie of the Ring for help.他不得不向戒指神求助。

9 foaming   

adj.布满泡沫的；发泡

参考例句：

• He looked like a madman, foaming at the mouth. 他口吐白沫，看上去像个疯子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He is foaming at the mouth about the committee's decision. 他正为委员会的决定大发其火。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 smelt   

v.熔解，熔炼；n.银白鱼，胡瓜鱼

参考例句：

• Tin is a comparatively easy metal to smelt.锡是比较容易熔化的金属。
• Darby was looking for a way to improve iron when he hit upon the idea of smelting it with coke instead of charcoal.达比一直在寻找改善铁质的方法，他猛然想到可以不用木炭熔炼，而改用焦炭。

11 juxtaposition   

n.毗邻，并置，并列

参考例句：

• The juxtaposition of these two remarks was startling.这两句话连在一起使人听了震惊。
• It is the result of the juxtaposition of contrasting colors.这是并列对比色的结果。

12 flicked   

（尤指用手指或手快速地）轻击( flick的过去式和过去分词 )； （用…）轻挥； （快速地）按开关； 向…笑了一下（或瞥了一眼等）

参考例句：

• She flicked the dust off her collar. 她轻轻弹掉了衣领上的灰尘。
• I idly picked up a magazine and flicked through it. 我漫不经心地拿起一本杂志翻看着。

13 devoid   

adj.全无的，缺乏的

参考例句：

• He is completely devoid of humour.他十分缺乏幽默。
• The house is totally devoid of furniture.这所房子里什么家具都没有。

14 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

15 loathing   

n.厌恶，憎恨v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的现在分词)；极不喜欢

参考例句：

• She looked at her attacker with fear and loathing . 她盯着襲擊她的歹徒，既害怕又憎恨。
• They looked upon the creature with a loathing undisguised. 他们流露出明显的厌恶看那动物。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

16 contemplating   

深思，细想，仔细考虑( contemplate的现在分词 )； 注视，凝视； 考虑接受（发生某事的可能性）； 深思熟虑，沉思，苦思冥想

参考例句：

• You're too young to be contemplating retirement. 你考虑退休还太年轻。
• She stood contemplating the painting. 她站在那儿凝视那幅图画。

17 locker   

n.更衣箱，储物柜，冷藏室，上锁的人

参考例句：

• At the swimming pool I put my clothes in a locker.在游泳池我把衣服锁在小柜里。
• He moved into the locker room and began to slip out of his scrub suit.他走进更衣室把手术服脱下来。

18 exuded   

v.缓慢流出，渗出，分泌出( exude的过去式和过去分词 )；流露出对（某物）的神态或感情

参考例句：

• Nearby was a factory which exuded a pungent smell. 旁边是一家散发出刺鼻气味的工厂。 来自辞典例句
• The old drawer exuded a smell of camphor. 陈年抽屉放出樟脑气味。 来自辞典例句

19 platitudes   

n.平常的话，老生常谈，陈词滥调( platitude的名词复数 )；滥套子

参考例句：

• He was mouthing the usual platitudes about the need for more compassion. 他言不由衷地说了些需要更加同情之类的陈腔滥调。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He delivered a long prose full of platitudes. 他发表了一篇充满陈词滥调的文章。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

20 triteness   

n.平凡，陈腐

参考例句：

21 irrelevant   

adj.不恰当的，无关系的，不相干的

参考例句：

• That is completely irrelevant to the subject under discussion.这跟讨论的主题完全不相关。
• A question about arithmetic is irrelevant in a music lesson.在音乐课上，一个数学的问题是风马牛不相及的。

22 vocal   

adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目

参考例句：

• The tongue is a vocal organ.舌头是一个发音器官。
• Public opinion at last became vocal.终于舆论哗然。

23 winding   

n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈

参考例句：

• A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
• The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。

24 inevitably   

adv.不可避免地；必然发生地

参考例句：

• In the way you go on,you are inevitably coming apart.照你们这样下去，毫无疑问是会散伙的。
• Technological changes will inevitably lead to unemployment.技术变革必然会导致失业。

25 descending   

n. 下行 adj. 下降的

参考例句：

• The results are expressed in descending numerical order . 结果按数字降序列出。
• The climbers stopped to orient themselves before descending the mountain. 登山者先停下来确定所在的位置，然后再下山。

26 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

27 virtue   

n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力

参考例句：

• He was considered to be a paragon of virtue.他被认为是品德尽善尽美的典范。
• You need to decorate your mind with virtue.你应该用德行美化心灵。

28 snarling   

v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的现在分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说

参考例句：

• "I didn't marry you," he said, in a snarling tone. “我没有娶你，"他咆哮着说。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• So he got into the shoes snarling. 于是，汤姆一边大喊大叫，一边穿上了那双鞋。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险

29 demon   

n.魔鬼，恶魔

参考例句：

• The demon of greed ruined the miser's happiness.贪得无厌的恶习毁掉了那个守财奴的幸福。
• He has been possessed by the demon of disease for years.他多年来病魔缠身。

30 appraisal   

n.对…作出的评价；评价，鉴定，评估

参考例句：

• What's your appraisal of the situation?你对局势是如何评估的？
• We need to make a proper appraisal of his work.对于他的工作我们需要做出适当的评价。

31 offbeat   

adj.不平常的，离奇的

参考例句：

• She adores old,offbeat antiques.她非常喜欢那些稀奇古怪的老古董。
• His style is offbeat but highly creative.他的风格很不寻常但非常有创造力。

32 perspiration   

n.汗水；出汗

参考例句：

• It is so hot that my clothes are wet with perspiration.天太热了，我的衣服被汗水湿透了。
• The perspiration was running down my back.汗从我背上淌下来。

33 graceful   

adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的

参考例句：

• His movements on the parallel bars were very graceful.他的双杠动作可帅了!
• The ballet dancer is so graceful.芭蕾舞演员的姿态是如此的优美。

34 hysterically   

ad. 歇斯底里地

参考例句：

• The children giggled hysterically. 孩子们歇斯底里地傻笑。
• She sobbed hysterically, and her thin body was shaken. 她歇斯底里地抽泣着，她瘦弱的身体哭得直颤抖。

35 lank   

adj.瘦削的；稀疏的

参考例句：

• He rose to lank height and grasped Billy McMahan's hand.他瘦削的身躯站了起来，紧紧地握住比利·麦默恩的手。
• The old man has lank hair.那位老人头发稀疏

36 proprietor   

n.所有人；业主；经营者

参考例句：

• The proprietor was an old acquaintance of his.业主是他的一位旧相识。
• The proprietor of the corner grocery was a strange thing in my life.拐角杂货店店主是我生活中的一个怪物。

37 coppers   

铜( copper的名词复数 )； 铜币

参考例句：

• I only paid a few coppers for it. 我只花了几个铜板买下这东西。
• He had only a few coppers in his pocket. 他兜里仅有几个铜板。

38 tugging   

n.牵引感v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Tom was tugging at a button-hole and looking sheepish. 汤姆捏住一个钮扣眼使劲地拉，样子显得很害羞。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险
• She kicked him, tugging his thick hair. 她一边踢他，一边扯着他那浓密的头发。 来自辞典例句

39 adroitly   

adv.熟练地，敏捷地

参考例句：

• He displayed the cigarette holder grandly on every occasion and had learned to manipulate it adroitly. 他学会了一套用手灵巧地摆弄烟嘴的动作，一有机会就要拿它炫耀一番。 来自辞典例句
• The waitress passes a fine menu to Molly who orders dishes adroitly. 女服务生捧来菜单递给茉莉，后者轻车熟路地点菜。 来自互联网

40 contestants   

n.竞争者，参赛者( contestant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The competition attracted over 500 contestants representing 8 different countries. 这次比赛吸引了代表8个不同国家的500多名参赛者。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency. 两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。 来自《简明英汉词典》

41 stinking   

adj.臭的，烂醉的，讨厌的v.散发出恶臭( stink的现在分词 )；发臭味；名声臭；糟透

参考例句：

• I was pushed into a filthy, stinking room. 我被推进一间又脏又臭的屋子里。
• Those lousy, stinking ships. It was them that destroyed us. 是的！就是那些该死的蠢猪似的臭飞船！是它们毁了我们。 来自英汉非文学 - 科幻