Three（1）

Three
On the sheltered terrace outside, Miss Minton was knitting.
Miss Minton was thin and angular, her neck was stringy. She wore palesky-blue jumpers, and chains or bead¹ necklaces. Her skirts were tweedyand had a depressed² droop³ at the back. She greeted Tuppence with alac-rity.
“Good morning, Mrs. Blenkensop. I do hope you slept well.”
Mrs. Blenkensop confessed that she never slept very well the first nightor two in a strange bed. Miss Minton said, Now, wasn’t that curious? Itwas exactly the same with her.
Mrs. Blenkensop said, “What a coincidence, and what a very prettystitch that was.” Miss Minton, flushing with pleasure, displayed it. Yes, itwas rather uncommon⁴, and really quite simple. She could easily show it toMrs. Blenkensop if Mrs. Blenkensop liked. Oh, that was very kind of MissMinton, but Mrs. Blenkensop was so stupid, she wasn’t really very good atknitting, not at following patterns, that was to say. She could only dosimple things like Balaclava helmets, and even now she was afraid shehad gone wrong somewhere. It didn’t look right, somehow, did it?
Miss Minton cast an expert eye over the khaki mass. Gently she pointedout just what had gone wrong. Thankfully, Tuppence handed the faultyhelmet over. Miss Minton exuded⁵ kindness and patronage⁶. Oh, no, itwasn’t a trouble at all. She had knitted for so many years.
“I’m afraid I’ve never done any before this dreadful war,” confessedTuppence. “But one feels so terribly, doesn’t one, that one must do some-thing.”
“Oh yes, indeed. And you actually have a boy in the Navy, I think I heardyou say last night?”
“Yes, my eldest⁷ boy. Such a splendid boy he is — though I suppose amother shouldn’t say so. Then I have a boy in the Air Force and Cyril, mybaby, is out in France.”
“Oh dear, dear, how terribly anxious you must be.”
Tuppence thought:
“Oh Derek, my darling Derek .?.?. Out in the hell and mess—and here Iam playing the fool—acting⁸ the thing I’m really feeling. .?.?.”
She said in her most righteous voice:
“We must all be brave, mustn’t we? Let’s hope it will all be over soon. Iwas told the other day on very high authority indeed that the Germanscan’t possibly last out more than another two months.”
Miss Minton nodded with so much vigour⁹ that all her bead chainsrattled and shook.
“Yes, indeed, and I believe”—(her voice lowered mysteriously)—“thatHitler is suffering from a disease—absolutely fatal—he’ll be raving¹⁰ mad byAugust.”
Tuppence replied briskly:
“All this Blitzkrieg is just the Germans’ last effort. I believe the shortageis something frightful¹¹ in Germany. The men in the factories are very dis-satisfied. The whole thing will crack up.”
“What’s this? What’s all this?”
Mr. and Mrs. Cayley came out on the terrace, Mr. Cayley putting hisquestions fretfully. He settled himself in a chair and his wife put a rugover his knees. He repeated fretfully:
“What’s that you are saying?”
“We’re saying,” said Miss Minton, “that it will all be over by the au-tumn.”
“Nonsense,” said Mr. Cayley. “This war is going to last at least six years.”
“Oh, Mr. Cayley,” protested Tuppence. “You don’t really think so?”
Mr. Cayley was peering about him suspiciously.
“Now I wonder,” he murmured. “Is there a draught¹²? Perhaps it wouldbe better if I moved my chair back into the corner.”
The resettlement of Mr. Cayley took place. His wife, an anxious-facedwoman who seemed to have no other aim in life than to minister to Mr.
Cayley’s wants, manipulating cushions and rugs, asking from time to time:
“Now how is that, Alfred? Do you think that will be all right? Ought you,perhaps, to have your sunglasses? There is rather a glare this morning.”
Mr. Cayley said irritably¹³:
“No, no. Don’t fuss, Elizabeth. Have you got my muffler? No, no, my silkmuffler. Oh well, it doesn’t matter. I dare say this will do—for once. But Idon’t want to get my throat overheated, and wool—in this sunlight—well,perhaps you had better fetch the other.” He turned his attention back tomatters of public interest. “Yes,” he said. “I give it six years.”
He listened with pleasure to the protests of the two women.
“You dear ladies are just indulging in what we call wishful thinking.
Now I know Germany. I may say I know Germany extremely well. In thecourse of my business before I retired¹⁴ I used to be constantly to and fro.
Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, I know them all. I can assure you that Germanycan hold out practically indefinitely. With Russia behind her—”
Mr. Cayley plunged¹⁵ triumphantly¹⁶ on, his voice rising and falling inpleasurably melancholy¹⁷ cadences¹⁸, only interrupted when he paused to re-ceive the silk muffler his wife brought him and wind it round his throat.
Mrs. Sprot brought out Betty and plumped her down with a small wool-len dog that lacked an ear and a woolly doll’s jacket.
“There, Betty,” she said. “You dress up Bonzo ready for his walk whileMummy gets ready to go out.”
Mr. Cayley’s voice droned on, reciting statistics and figures, all of a de-pressing character. The monologue¹⁹ was punctuated²⁰ by a cheerful twitter-ing from Betty talking busily to Bonzo in her own language.
“Truckle—truckly—pah bat,” said Betty. Then, as a bird alighted nearher, she stretched out loving hands to it and gurgled. The bird flew awayand Betty glanced round the assembled company and remarked clearly:
“Dicky,” and nodded her head with great satisfaction.
“That child is learning to talk in the most wonderful way,” said MissMinton. “Say ‘Ta ta,’ Betty. ‘Ta ta.’ ”
Betty looked at her coldly and remarked:
“Gluck!”
Then she forced Bonzo’s one arm into his woolly coat and, toddling²¹ overto a chair, picked up the cushion and pushed Bonzo behind it. Chucklinggleefully, she said with terrific pains:
“Hide! Bow wow. Hide!”
Miss Minton, acting as a kind of interpreter, said with vicarious pride:
“She loves hide-and-seek. She’s always hiding things.” She cried out withexaggerated surprise:
“Where is Bonzo? Where is Bonzo? Where can Bonzo have gone?”
Betty flung herself down and went into ecstasies²² of mirth.
Mr. Cayley, finding attention diverted from his explanation of Ger-many’s methods of substitution of raw materials, looked put out andcoughed aggressively.
Mrs. Sprot came out with her hat on and picked up Betty.
Attention returned to Mr. Cayley.
“You were saying, Mr. Cayley?” said Tuppence.
But Mr. Cayley was affronted²³. He said coldly:
“That woman is always plumping that child down and expecting peopleto look after it. I think I’ll have the woollen muffler after all, dear. The sunis going in.”
“Oh, but, Mr. Cayley, do go on with what you were telling us. It was sointeresting,” said Miss Minton.
Mollified, Mr. Cayley weightily resumed his discourse²⁴, drawing the foldsof the woolly muffler closer round his stringy neck.
“As I was saying, Germany has so perfected her system of—”
Tuppence turned to Mrs. Cayley, and asked:
“What do you think about the war, Mrs. Cayley?”
Mrs. Cayley jumped.
“Oh, what do I think? What—what do you mean?”
“Do you think it will last as long as six years?”
Mrs. Cayley said doubtfully:
“Oh, I hope not. It’s a very long time, isn’t it?”
“Yes. A long time. What do you really think?”
Mrs. Cayley seemed quite alarmed by the question. She said:
“Oh, I—I don’t know. I don’t know at all. Alfred says it will.”
“But you don’t think so?”
“Oh, I don’t know. It’s difficult to say, isn’t it?”
Tuppence felt a wave of exasperation²⁵. The chirruping Miss Minton, thedictatorial Mr. Cayley, the nitwitted Mrs. Cayley—were these people reallytypical of her fellow countrymen? Was Mrs. Sprot any better with herslightly vacant face and boiled gooseberry eyes? What could she, Tup-pence, ever find out here? Not one of these people, surely—Her thought was checked. She was aware of a shadow. Someone behindher who stood between her and the sun. She turned her head.
Mrs. Perenna, standing²⁶ on the terrace, her eyes on the group. And some-thing in those eyes—scorn, was it? A kind of withering²⁷ contempt. Tup-pence thought:
“I must find out more about Mrs. Perenna.”

1 bead   

n.念珠；(pl.)珠子项链；水珠

参考例句：

• She accidentally swallowed a glass bead.她不小心吞下了一颗玻璃珠。
• She has a beautiful glass bead and a bracelet in the box.盒子里有一颗美丽的玻璃珠和手镯。

2 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

3 droop   

v.低垂，下垂；凋萎，萎靡

参考例句：

• The heavy snow made the branches droop.大雪使树枝垂下来。
• Don't let your spirits droop.不要萎靡不振。

4 uncommon   

adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的

参考例句：

• Such attitudes were not at all uncommon thirty years ago.这些看法在30年前很常见。
• Phil has uncommon intelligence.菲尔智力超群。

5 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

6 patronage   

n.赞助，支援，援助；光顾，捧场

参考例句：

• Though it was not yet noon,there was considerable patronage.虽然时间未到中午，店中已有许多顾客惠顾。
• I am sorry to say that my patronage ends with this.很抱歉，我的赞助只能到此为止。

7 eldest   

adj.最年长的，最年老的

参考例句：

• The King's eldest son is the heir to the throne.国王的长子是王位的继承人。
• The castle and the land are entailed on the eldest son.城堡和土地限定由长子继承。

8 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

9 vigour   

（=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力

参考例句：

• She is full of vigour and enthusiasm.她有热情，有朝气。
• At 40,he was in his prime and full of vigour.他40岁时正年富力强。

10 raving   

adj.说胡话的；疯狂的，怒吼的；非常漂亮的；令人醉心[痴心]的v.胡言乱语(rave的现在分词)n.胡话；疯话adv.胡言乱语地；疯狂地

参考例句：

• The man's a raving lunatic. 那个男子是个语无伦次的疯子。
• When I told her I'd crashed her car, she went stark raving bonkers. 我告诉她我把她的车撞坏了时，她暴跳如雷。

11 frightful   

adj.可怕的；讨厌的

参考例句：

• How frightful to have a husband who snores!有一个发鼾声的丈夫多讨厌啊！
• We're having frightful weather these days.这几天天气坏极了。

12 draught   

n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计

参考例句：

• He emptied his glass at one draught.他将杯中物一饮而尽。
• It's a pity the room has no north window and you don't get a draught.可惜这房间没北窗，没有过堂风。

13 irritably   

ad.易生气地

参考例句：

• He lost his temper and snapped irritably at the children. 他发火了，暴躁地斥责孩子们。
• On this account the silence was irritably broken by a reproof. 为了这件事，他妻子大声斥责，令人恼火地打破了宁静。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

14 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。

15 plunged   

v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• The train derailed and plunged into the river. 火车脱轨栽进了河里。
• She lost her balance and plunged 100 feet to her death. 她没有站稳，从100英尺的高处跌下摔死了。

16 triumphantly   

ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地

参考例句：

• The lion was roaring triumphantly. 狮子正在发出胜利的吼叫。
• Robert was looking at me triumphantly. 罗伯特正得意扬扬地看着我。

17 melancholy   

n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的

参考例句：

• All at once he fell into a state of profound melancholy.他立即陷入无尽的忧思之中。
• He felt melancholy after he failed the exam.这次考试没通过，他感到很郁闷。

18 cadences   

n.（声音的）抑扬顿挫( cadence的名词复数 )；节奏；韵律；调子

参考例句：

• He delivered his words in slow, measured cadences. 他讲话缓慢而抑扬顿挫、把握有度。
• He recognized the Polish cadences in her voice. 他从她的口音中听出了波兰腔。 来自辞典例句

19 monologue   

n.长篇大论，（戏剧等中的）独白

参考例句：

• The comedian gave a long monologue of jokes.喜剧演员讲了一长段由笑话组成的独白。
• He went into a long monologue.他一个人滔滔不绝地讲话。

20 punctuated   

v.（在文字中）加标点符号，加标点( punctuate的过去式和过去分词 )；不时打断某事物

参考例句：

• Her speech was punctuated by bursts of applause. 她的讲演不时被阵阵掌声打断。
• The audience punctuated his speech by outbursts of applause. 听众不时以阵阵掌声打断他的讲话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 toddling   

v.（幼儿等）东倒西歪地走( toddle的现在分词 )；蹒跚行走；溜达；散步

参考例句：

• You could see his grandson toddling around in the garden. 你可以看到他的孙子在花园里蹒跚行走。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She fell while toddling around. 她摇摇摆摆地到处走时摔倒了 来自辞典例句

22 ecstasies   

狂喜( ecstasy的名词复数 )； 出神； 入迷； 迷幻药

参考例句：

• In such ecstasies that he even controlled his tongue and was silent. 但他闭着嘴，一言不发。
• We were in ecstasies at the thought of going home. 一想到回家，我们高兴极了。

23 affronted   

adj.被侮辱的，被冒犯的v.勇敢地面对( affront的过去式和过去分词 )；相遇

参考例句：

• He hoped they would not feel affronted if they were not invited . 他希望如果他们没有获得邀请也不要感到受辱。
• Affronted at his impertinence,she stared at him coldly and wordlessly. 被他的无礼而冒犯，她冷冷地、无言地盯着他。 来自《简明英汉词典》

24 discourse   

n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述

参考例句：

• We'll discourse on the subject tonight.我们今晚要谈论这个问题。
• He fell into discourse with the customers who were drinking at the counter.他和站在柜台旁的酒客谈了起来。

25 exasperation   

n.愤慨

参考例句：

• He snorted with exasperation.他愤怒地哼了一声。
• She rolled her eyes in sheer exasperation.她气急败坏地转动着眼珠。

26 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

27 withering   

使人畏缩的，使人害羞的，使人难堪的

参考例句：

• She gave him a withering look. 她极其蔑视地看了他一眼。
• The grass is gradually dried-up and withering and pallen leaves. 草渐渐干枯、枯萎并落叶。