Five（1）

Five
Mark Easterbrook’s Narrative¹
“What a relief,” sighed Mrs. Oliver. “To think it’s over and nothing hashappened!”
It was a moment of relaxation². Rhoda’s fête had passed off in the man-ner of fêtes. Violent anxiety about the weather which in the early morningappeared capricious in the extreme. Considerable argument as to whetherany stalls should be set up in the open, or whether everything should takeplace in the long barn and the marquee. Various passionate³ local disputesregarding tea arrangements, produce stalls, et cetera. Tactful settlement ofsame by Rhoda. Periodical escapes of Rhoda’s delightful⁴ but undisciplineddogs who were supposed to be incarcerated⁵ in the house, owing to doubtsas to their behaviour on this great occasion. Doubts fully⁶ justified⁷! Arrivalof pleasant but vague starlet in a profusion⁸ of pale fur, to open the fête,which she did very charmingly, adding a few moving words about theplight of refugees which puzzled everybody, since the object of the fêtewas the restoration of the church tower. Enormous success of the bottlestall. The usual difficulties about change. Pandemonium⁹ at teatime whenevery patron wanted to invade the marquee and partake of it simultan-eously.
Finally, blessed arrival of evening. Displays of local dancing in the longbarn were still going on. Fireworks and a bonfire were scheduled, but theweary household had now retired¹⁰ to the house, and were partaking of asketchy cold meal in the dining room, indulging meanwhile in one ofthose desultory¹¹ conversations where everyone utters their own thoughts,and pays little attention to those of other people. It was all disjointed andcomfortable. The released dogs crunched¹² bones happily under the table.
“We shall take more than we did for the Save the Children last year,”
said Rhoda gleefully.
“It seems very extraordinary to me,” said Miss Macalister, the children’sScottish nursery governess, “that Michael Brent should find the buriedtreasure three years in succession. I’m wondering if he gets some advanceinformation?”
“Lady Brookbank won the pig,” said Rhoda. “I don’t think she wanted it.
She looked terribly embarrassed.”
The party consisted of my cousin Rhoda, and her husband Colonel Des-pard, Miss Macalister, a young woman with red hair suitably calledGinger, Mrs. Oliver, and the vicar, the Rev¹⁴. Caleb Dane Calthrop and hiswife. The vicar was a charming elderly scholar whose principal pleasurewas finding some apposite comment from the classics. This, though oftenan embarrassment¹⁵, and a cause of bringing the conversation to a close,was perfectly¹⁶ in order now. The vicar never required acknowledgement ofhis sonorous¹⁷ Latin, his pleasure in having found an apt quotation¹⁸ was itsown reward.
“As Horace says…” he observed, beaming round the table.
The usual pause happened and then:
“I think Mrs. Horsefall cheated over the bottle of champagne,” saidGinger thoughtfully. “Her nephew got it.”
Mrs. Dane Calthrop, a disconcerting woman with fine eyes, was studyingMrs. Oliver thoughtfully. She asked abruptly¹⁹:
“What did you expect to happen at this fête?”
“Well, really, a murder or something like that?”
Mrs. Dane Calthrop looked interested.
“But why should it?”
“No reason at all. Most unlikely, really. But there was one at the last fêteI went to.”
“I see. And it upset you?”
“Very much.”
The vicar changed from Latin to Greek.
After the pause, Miss Macalister cast doubts on the honesty of the rafflefor the live duck.
“Very sporting of old Lugg at the King’s Arms to send us twelve dozenbeer for the bottle stall,” said Despard.
“King’s Arms?” I asked sharply.
“Our local, darling,” said Rhoda.
“Isn’t there another pub round here? The—Pale Horse, didn’t you say,” Iasked, turning to Mrs. Oliver.
There was no such reaction here as I had half expected. The facesturned towards me were vague and uninterested.
“The Pale Horse isn’t a pub,” said Rhoda. “I mean, not now.”
“It was an old inn,” said Despard. “Mostly sixteenth century I’d say. Butit’s just an ordinary house now. I always think they should have changedthe name.”
“Oh, no,” exclaimed Ginger¹³. “It would have been awfully²⁰ silly to call itWayside, or Fairview. I think the Pale Horse is much nicer, and there’s alovely old inn sign. They’ve got it framed in the hall.”
“Who’s they?” I asked.
“It belongs to Thyrza Grey,” said Rhoda. “I don’t know if you saw hertoday? Tall woman with short grey hair.”
“She’s very occult,” said Despard. “Goes in for spiritualism and trances,and magic. Not quite black masses, but that sort of thing.”
Ginger gave a sudden peal²¹ of laughter.
“I’m sorry,” she said apologetically. “I was just thinking of Miss Grey asMadame de Montespan on a black velvet²² altar.”
“Ginger!” said Rhoda. “Not in front of the vicar.”
“Sorry, Mr. Dane Calthrop.”
“Not at all,” said the vicar, beaming. “As the ancients put it—” he contin-ued for some time in Greek.
After a respectful silence of appreciation²³, I returned to the attack.
“I still want to know who are ‘they’—Miss Grey and who else?”
“Oh, there’s a friend who lives with her. Sybil Stamfordis. She acts asmedium, I believe. You must have seen her about—Lots of scarabs andbeads—and sometimes she puts on a sari—I can’t think why—she’s neverbeen in India—”
“And then there’s Bella,” said Mrs. Dane Calthrop. “She’s their cook,” sheexplained. “And she’s also a witch. She comes from the village of LittleDunning. She had quite a reputation for witchcraft²⁴ there. It runs in thefamily. Her mother was a witch, too.”
She spoke²⁵ in a matter-of-fact way.
“You sound as though you believe in witchcraft, Mrs. Dane Calthrop,” Isaid.
“But of course! There’s nothing mysterious or secretive about it. It’s allquite matter-of-fact. It’s a family asset that you inherit. Children are toldnot to tease your cat, and people give you a cottage cheese or a pot ofhomemade jam from time to time.”
I looked at her doubtfully. She appeared to be quite serious.
“Sybil helped us today by telling fortunes,” said Rhoda. “She was in thegreen tent. She’s quite good at it, I believe.”
“She gave me a lovely fortune,” said Ginger. “Money in my hand. Ahandsome dark stranger from overseas, two husbands and six children.
Really very generous.”
“I saw the Curtis girl come out giggling,” said Rhoda. “And she was verycoy with her young man afterwards. Told him not to think he was the onlypebble on the beach.”
“Poor Tom,” said her husband. “Did he make any comeback?”
“Oh, yes. ‘I’m not telling you what she promised me,’ he said. ‘Mebbeyou wouldn’t like it too well, my girl!’”
“Good for Tom.”
“Old Mrs. Parker was quite sour,” said Ginger, laughing. “‘’Tis all foolish-ness,’ that’s what she said. ‘Don’t you believe none of it, you two.’ But thenMrs. Cripps piped up and said, ‘You know, Lizzie, as well as I do, that MissStamfordis sees things as others can’t see, and Miss Grey knows to a daywhen there’s going to be a death. Never wrong, she is! Fairly gives me thecreeps sometimes.’ And Mrs. Parker said: ‘Death—that’s different. It’s agift.’ And Mrs. Cripps said: ‘Anyway I wouldn’t like to offend none of thosethree, that I wouldn’t!’”
“It does all sound exciting. I’d love to meet them,” said Mrs. Oliver wist-fully.
“We’ll take you over there tomorrow,” Colonel Despard promised. “Theold inn is really worth seeing. They’ve been very clever in making it com-fortable without spoiling its character.”
“I’ll ring up Thyrza tomorrow morning,” said Rhoda.
I must admit that I went to bed with a slight feeling of deflation.
The Pale Horse which had loomed²⁶ in my mind as a symbol of somethingunknown and sinister²⁷ had turned out to be nothing of the sort.
Unless, of course, there was another Pale Horse somewhere else?
I considered that idea until I fell asleep.

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 relaxation   

n.松弛，放松；休息；消遣；娱乐

参考例句：

• The minister has consistently opposed any relaxation in the law.部长一向反对法律上的任何放宽。
• She listens to classical music for relaxation.她听古典音乐放松。

3 passionate   

adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的

参考例句：

• He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
• He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。

4 delightful   

adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的

参考例句：

• We had a delightful time by the seashore last Sunday.上星期天我们在海滨玩得真痛快。
• Peter played a delightful melody on his flute.彼得用笛子吹奏了一支欢快的曲子。

5 incarcerated   

钳闭的

参考例句：

• They were incarcerated for the duration of the war. 战争期间，他们被关在狱中。 来自辞典例句
• I don't want to worry them by being incarcerated. 我不想让他们知道我被拘禁的事情。 来自电影对白

6 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

7 justified   

a.正当的，有理的

参考例句：

• She felt fully justified in asking for her money back. 她认为有充分的理由要求退款。
• The prisoner has certainly justified his claims by his actions. 那个囚犯确实已用自己的行动表明他的要求是正当的。

8 profusion   

n.挥霍；丰富

参考例句：

• He is liberal to profusion.他挥霍无度。
• The leaves are falling in profusion.落叶纷纷。

9 pandemonium   

n.喧嚣，大混乱

参考例句：

• The whole lobby was a perfect pandemonium,and the din was terrific.整个门厅一片嘈杂，而且喧嚣刺耳。
• I had found Adlai unperturbed in the midst of pandemonium.我觉得艾德莱在一片大混乱中仍然镇定自若。

10 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

11 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。

12 crunched   

v.嘎吱嘎吱地咬嚼( crunch的过去式和过去分词 )；嘎吱作响；（快速大量地）处理信息；数字捣弄

参考例句：

• Our feet crunched on the frozen snow. 我们的脚嘎吱嘎吱地踩在冻雪上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He closed his jaws on the bones and crunched. 他咬紧骨头，使劲地嚼。 来自英汉文学 - 热爱生命

13 ginger   

n.姜，精力，淡赤黄色；adj.淡赤黄色的；vt.使活泼，使有生气

参考例句：

• There is no ginger in the young man.这个年轻人没有精神。
• Ginger shall be hot in the mouth.生姜吃到嘴里总是辣的。

14 rev   

v.发动机旋转，加快速度

参考例句：

• It's his job to rev up the audience before the show starts.他要负责在表演开始前鼓动观众的热情。
• Don't rev the engine so hard.别让发动机转得太快。

15 embarrassment   

n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫

参考例句：

• She could have died away with embarrassment.她窘迫得要死。
• Coughing at a concert can be a real embarrassment.在音乐会上咳嗽真会使人难堪。

16 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

17 sonorous   

adj.响亮的，回响的；adv.圆润低沉地；感人地；n.感人，堂皇

参考例句：

• The sonorous voice of the speaker echoed round the room.那位演讲人洪亮的声音在室内回荡。
• He has a deep sonorous voice.他的声音深沉而洪亮。

18 quotation   

n.引文，引语，语录；报价，牌价，行情

参考例句：

• He finished his speech with a quotation from Shakespeare.他讲话结束时引用了莎士比亚的语录。
• The quotation is omitted here.此处引文从略。

19 abruptly   

adv.突然地，出其不意地

参考例句：

• He gestured abruptly for Virginia to get in the car.他粗鲁地示意弗吉尼亚上车。
• I was abruptly notified that a half-hour speech was expected of me.我突然被通知要讲半个小时的话。

20 awfully   

adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地

参考例句：

• Agriculture was awfully neglected in the past.过去农业遭到严重忽视。
• I've been feeling awfully bad about it.对这我一直感到很难受。

21 peal   

n.钟声；v.鸣响

参考例句：

• The bells of the cathedral rang out their loud peal.大教堂响起了响亮的钟声。
• A sudden peal of thunder leaves no time to cover the ears.迅雷不及掩耳。

22 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。

23 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。

24 witchcraft   

n.魔法，巫术

参考例句：

• The woman practising witchcraft claimed that she could conjure up the spirits of the dead.那个女巫说她能用魔法召唤亡灵。
• All these things that you call witchcraft are capable of a natural explanation.被你们统统叫做巫术的那些东西都可以得到合情合理的解释。

25 spoke   

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

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

26 loomed   

v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• A dark shape loomed up ahead of us. 一个黑糊糊的影子隐隐出现在我们的前面。
• The prospect of war loomed large in everyone's mind. 战事将起的庞大阴影占据每个人的心。 来自《简明英汉词典》

27 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。