Twenty（1）

Twenty
Mark Easterbrook’s Narrative¹
I
Ringing up Ginger² on the following morning, I told her that I was movingto Bournemouth the next day.
“I’ve found a nice quiet little hotel called (heaven knows why) the DeerPark. It’s got a couple of nice unobtrusive side exits. I might sneak³ up toLondon and see you.”
“You oughtn’t to really, I suppose. But I must say it would be ratherheaven if you did. The boredom⁴! You’ve no idea! If you couldn’t comehere, I could sneak out and meet you somewhere.”
Something suddenly struck me.
“Ginger! Your voice… It’s different somehow….”
“Oh that! It’s all right. Don’t worry.”
“But your voice?”
“I’ve just got a bit of a sore throat or something, that’s all.”
“Ginger!”
“Now look, Mark, anyone can have a sore throat. I’m starting a cold, Iexpect. Or a touch of ’flu.”
“’Flu? Look here, don’t evade⁵ the point. Are you all right, or aren’t you?”
“Don’t fuss. I’m all right.”
“Tell me exactly how you’re feeling. Do you feel as though you might bestarting ’flu?”
“Well—perhaps… Aching a bit all over, you know the kind of thing—”
“Temperature?”
“Well, perhaps a bit of a temperature….”
I sat there, a horrible cold sort of feeling stealing over me. I wasfrightened. I knew, too, that however much Ginger might refuse to admitit, Ginger was frightened also.
Her voice spoke⁶ again.
“Mark—don’t panic. You are panicking—and really there’s nothing topanic about.”
“Perhaps not. But we’ve got to take every precaution. Ring up your doc-tor and get him to come and see you. At once.”
“All right… But—he’ll think I’m a terrible fusspot.”
“Never mind. Do it! Then, when he’s been, ring me back.”
After I had rung off, I sat for a long time staring at the black inhumanoutline of the telephone. Panic—I mustn’t give way to panic… There wasalways ’flu about at this time of year… The doctor would be reassuring…perhaps it would be only a slight chill….
I saw in my mind’s eye Sybil in her peacock dress with its scrawled⁷ sym-bols of evil. I heard Thyrza’s voice, willing, commanding… On the chalkedfloor, Bella, chanting her evil spells, held up a struggling white cock….
Nonsense, all nonsense…Of course it was all superstitious⁸ nonsense…The box—not so easy, somehow, to dismiss the box. The box represen-ted, not human superstition⁹, but a development of scientific possibility…But it wasn’t possible—it couldn’t be possible that—Mrs. Dane Calthrop found me there, sitting staring at the telephone. Shesaid at once:
“What’s happened?”
“Ginger,” I said, “isn’t feeling well….”
I wanted her to say that it was all nonsense. I wanted her to reassureme. But she didn’t reassure¹⁰ me.
“That’s bad,” she said. “Yes, I think that’s bad.”
“It’s not possible,” I urged. “It’s not possible for a moment that they cando what they say!”
“Isn’t it?”
“You don’t believe—you can’t believe—”
“My dear Mark,” said Mrs. Dane Calthrop, “both you and Ginger havealready admitted the possibility of such a thing, or you wouldn’t be doingwhat you are doing.”
“And our believing makes it worse—makes it more likely!”
“You don’t go so far as believing—you just admit that, with evidence, youmight believe.”
“Evidence? What evidence?”
“Ginger’s becoming ill is evidence,” said Mrs. Dane Calthrop.
I hated her. My voice rose angrily.
“Why must you be so pessimistic? It’s just a simple cold—something ofthat kind. Why must you persist in believing the worst?”
“Because if it’s the worst, we’ve got to face it—not bury our heads in thesand until it’s too late.”
“You think that this ridiculous mumbo jumbo works? These trances andspells and cock sacrifices and all the bag of tricks?”
“Something works,” said Mrs. Dane Calthrop. “That’s what we’ve got toface. A lot of it, most of it, I think, is trappings. It’s just to create atmo-sphere—atmosphere is important. But concealed¹¹ amongst the trappings,there must be the real thing—the thing that does work.”
“Something like radioactivity at a distance?”
“Something of that kind. You see, people are discovering things all thetime—frightening things. Some variation of this new knowledge might beadapted by some unscrupulous person for their own purposes— Thyrza’sfather was a physicist¹², you know—”
“But what? What? That damned box! If we could get it examined? If thepolice—”
“Police aren’t very keen on getting a search warrant and removing prop-erty without a good deal more to go on than we’ve got.”
“If I went round there and smashed up the damned thing?”
Mrs. Dane Calthrop shook her head.
“From what you told me, the damage, if there has been damage, wasdone that night.”
I dropped my head in my hands and groaned¹³.
“I wish we’d never started this damned business.”
Mrs. Dane Calthrop said firmly: “Your motives¹⁴ were excellent. Andwhat’s done is done. You’ll know more when Ginger rings back after thedoctor has been. She’ll ring Rhoda’s, I suppose—”
I took the hint.
“I’d better get back.”
“I’m being stupid,” said Mrs. Dane Calthrop suddenly as I left. “I knowI’m being stupid. Trappings! We’re letting ourselves be obsessed¹⁵ by trap-pings. I can’t help feeling that we’re thinking the way they want us tothink.”
Perhaps she was right. But I couldn’t see any other way of thinking.
Ginger rang me two hours later.
“He’s been,” she said. “He seemed a bit puzzled, but he says it’s probably’flu. There’s quite a lot about. He’s sent me to bed and is sending alongsome medicine. My temperature is quite high. But it would be with ’flu,wouldn’t it?”
There was a forlorn appeal in her hoarse¹⁶ voice, under its surfacebravery.
“You’ll be all right,” I said miserably¹⁷. “Do you hear? You’ll be all right.
Do you feel very awful?”
“Well—fever—and aching, and everything hurts, my feet and my skin. Ihate anything touching¹⁸ me… And I’m so hot.”
“That’s the fever, darling. Listen, I’m coming up to you! I’m leaving now—at once. No, don’t protest.”
“All right. I’m glad you’re coming, Mark. I daresay—I’m not so brave as Ithought….”

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 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。

3 sneak   

vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行

参考例句：

• He raised his spear and sneak forward.他提起长矛悄悄地前进。
• I saw him sneak away from us.我看见他悄悄地从我们身边走开。

4 boredom   

n.厌烦，厌倦，乏味，无聊

参考例句：

• Unemployment can drive you mad with boredom.失业会让你无聊得发疯。
• A walkman can relieve the boredom of running.跑步时带着随身听就不那么乏味了。

5 evade   

vt.逃避，回避；避开，躲避

参考例句：

• He tried to evade the embarrassing question.他企图回避这令人难堪的问题。
• You are in charge of the job.How could you evade the issue?你是负责人，你怎么能对这个问题不置可否？

6 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。

7 scrawled   

乱涂，潦草地写( scrawl的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I tried to read his directions, scrawled on a piece of paper. 我尽量弄明白他草草写在一片纸上的指示。
• Tom scrawled on his slate, "Please take it -- I got more." 汤姆在他的写字板上写了几个字：“请你收下吧，我多得是哩。”

8 superstitious   

adj.迷信的

参考例句：

• They aim to deliver the people who are in bondage to superstitious belief.他们的目的在于解脱那些受迷信束缚的人。
• These superstitious practices should be abolished as soon as possible.这些迷信做法应尽早取消。

9 superstition   

n.迷信，迷信行为

参考例句：

• It's a common superstition that black cats are unlucky.认为黑猫不吉祥是一种很普遍的迷信。
• Superstition results from ignorance.迷信产生于无知。

10 reassure   

v.使放心，使消除疑虑

参考例句：

• This seemed to reassure him and he continued more confidently.这似乎使他放心一点，于是他更有信心地继续说了下去。
• The airline tried to reassure the customers that the planes were safe.航空公司尽力让乘客相信飞机是安全的。

11 concealed   

a.隐藏的，隐蔽的

参考例句：

• The paintings were concealed beneath a thick layer of plaster. 那些画被隐藏在厚厚的灰泥层下面。
• I think he had a gun concealed about his person. 我认为他当时身上藏有一支枪。

12 physicist   

n.物理学家，研究物理学的人

参考例句：

• He is a physicist of the first rank.他是一流的物理学家。
• The successful physicist never puts on airs.这位卓有成就的物理学家从不摆架子。

13 groaned   

v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦

参考例句：

• He groaned in anguish. 他痛苦地呻吟。
• The cart groaned under the weight of the piano. 大车在钢琴的重压下嘎吱作响。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 motives   

n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• to impeach sb's motives 怀疑某人的动机
• His motives are unclear. 他的用意不明。

15 obsessed   

adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的

参考例句：

• He's obsessed by computers. 他迷上了电脑。
• The fear of death obsessed him throughout his old life. 他晚年一直受着死亡恐惧的困扰。

16 hoarse   

adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的

参考例句：

• He asked me a question in a hoarse voice.他用嘶哑的声音问了我一个问题。
• He was too excited and roared himself hoarse.他过于激动，嗓子都喊哑了。

17 miserably   

adv.痛苦地；悲惨地；糟糕地；极度地

参考例句：

• The little girl was wailing miserably. 那小女孩难过得号啕大哭。
• It was drizzling, and miserably cold and damp. 外面下着毛毛细雨，天气又冷又湿，令人难受。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。