Gerald Scales walked about the Strand¹, staring up at its high narrow houses, crushed one against another as though they had been packed, unsorted, by a packer who thought of nothing but economy of space. Except by Somerset House, King's College, and one or two theatres and banks, the monotony of mean shops, with several storeys unevenly² perched over them, was unbroken, Then Gerald encountered Exeter Hall, and examined its prominent facade³ with a provincial's eye; for despite his travels he was not very familiar with London. Exeter Hall naturally took his mind back to his Uncle Boldero, that great and ardent⁴ Nonconformist, and his own godly youth. It was laughable to muse⁵ upon what his uncle would say and think, did the old man know that his nephew had run away with a girl, meaning to seduce⁶ her in Paris. It was enormously funny!

However, he had done with all that. He was well out of it. She had told him to go, and he had gone. She had money to get home; she had nothing to do but use the tongue in her head. The rest was her affair. He would go to Paris alone, and find another amusement. It was absurd to have supposed that Sophia would ever have suited him. Not in such a family as the Baineses could one reasonably expect to discover an ideal mistress. No! there had been a mistake. The whole business was wrong. She had nearly made a fool of him. But he was not the man to be made a fool of. He had kept his dignity intact.

So he said to himself. Yet all the time his dignity, and his pride also, were bleeding, dropping invisible blood along the length of the Strand pavements.

He was at Salisbury Street again. He pictured her in the bedroom. Damn her! He wanted her. He wanted her with an excessive desire. He hated to think that he had been baulked. He hated to think that she would remain immaculate. And he continued to picture her in the exciting privacy of that cursed bedroom.

Now he was walking down Salisbury Street. He did not wish to be walking down Salisbury Street; but there he was!

"Oh, hell!" he murmured. "I suppose I must go through with it."

He felt desperate. He was ready to pay any price in order to be able to say to himself that he had

点击收听单词发音  

1 strand
vt.使（船）搁浅，使（某人）困于（某地）
参考例句：
She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ears.她把一缕散发夹到了耳后。 The climbers had been stranded by a storm.登山者被暴风雨困住了。

2 unevenly
adv.不均匀的
参考例句：
Fuel resources are very unevenly distributed. 燃料资源分布很不均匀。 The cloth is dyed unevenly. 布染花了。

3 facade
n.(建筑物的)正面，临街正面；外表
参考例句：
The entrance facade consists of a large full height glass door.入口正面有一大型全高度玻璃门。 If you look carefully,you can see through Bob's facade.如果你仔细观察，你就能看穿鲍勃的外表。

4 ardent
adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的
参考例句：
He's an ardent supporter of the local football team.他是本地足球队的热情支持者。 Ardent expectations were held by his parents for his college career.他父母对他的大学学习抱着殷切的期望。

5 muse
n.缪斯（希腊神话中的女神），创作灵感
参考例句：
His muse had deserted him,and he could no longer write.他已无灵感，不能再写作了。 Many of the papers muse on the fate of the President.很多报纸都在揣测总统的命运。

6 seduce
vt.勾引，诱奸，诱惑，引诱
参考例句：
She has set out to seduce Stephen.她已经开始勾引斯蒂芬了。 Clever advertising would seduce more people into smoking.巧妙策划的广告会引诱更多的人吸烟。

7 accomplished
adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的
参考例句：
Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。 Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。

8 crumpled
adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式
参考例句：
She crumpled the letter up into a ball and threw it on the fire. 她把那封信揉成一团扔进了火里。 She flattened out the crumpled letter on the desk. 她在写字台上把皱巴巴的信展平。

9 sinuous
adj.蜿蜒的，迂回的
参考例句：
The river wound its sinuous way across the plain.这条河蜿蜒曲折地流过平原。 We moved along the sinuous gravel walks,with the great concourse of girls and boys.我们沿着曲折的石径,随着男孩女孩汇成的巨流一路走去。

10 silhouetted
显出轮廓的，显示影像的
参考例句：
We could see a church silhouetted against the skyline. 我们可以看到一座教堂凸现在天际。 The stark jagged rocks were silhouetted against the sky. 光秃嶙峋的岩石衬托着天空的背景矗立在那里。

11 spotted
adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的
参考例句：
The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。 Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

12 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。

13 affected
adj.不自然的，假装的
参考例句：
She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。 His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

14 constrained
adj.束缚的,节制的
参考例句：
The evidence was so compelling that he felt constrained to accept it. 证据是那样的令人折服，他觉得不得不接受。 I feel constrained to write and ask for your forgiveness. 我不得不写信请你原谅。

15 stifle
vt.使窒息；闷死；扼杀；抑止，阻止
参考例句：
She tried hard to stifle her laughter.她强忍住笑。 It was an uninteresting conversation and I had to stifle a yawn.那是一次枯燥无味的交谈，我不得不强忍住自己的呵欠。

16 sob
n.空间轨道的轰炸机；呜咽，哭泣
参考例句：
The child started to sob when he couldn't find his mother.孩子因找不到他妈妈哭了起来。 The girl didn't answer,but continued to sob with her head on the table.那个女孩不回答，也不抬起头来。她只顾低声哭着。

17 ambush
n.埋伏(地点)；伏兵；v.埋伏；伏击
参考例句：
Our soldiers lay in ambush in the jungle for the enemy.我方战士埋伏在丛林中等待敌人。 Four men led by a sergeant lay in ambush at the crossroads.由一名中士率领的四名士兵埋伏在十字路口。

18 articulation
n.（清楚的）发音；清晰度，咬合
参考例句：
His articulation is poor.他发音不清楚。 She spoke with a lazy articulation.她说话慢吞吞的。

19 sobs
啜泣（声），呜咽（声）( sob的名词复数 )
参考例句：
She was struggling to suppress her sobs. 她拼命不让自己哭出来。 She burst into a convulsive sobs. 她突然抽泣起来。

20 soothed
v.安慰( soothe的过去式和过去分词 )；抚慰；使舒服；减轻痛苦
参考例句：
The music soothed her for a while. 音乐让她稍微安静了一会儿。 The soft modulation of her voice soothed the infant. 她柔和的声调使婴儿安静了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

21 intensity
n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度
参考例句：
I didn't realize the intensity of people's feelings on this issue.我没有意识到这一问题能引起群情激奋。 The strike is growing in intensity.罢工日益加剧。

22 exquisite
adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的
参考例句：
I was admiring the exquisite workmanship in the mosaic.我当时正在欣赏镶嵌画的精致做工。 I still remember the exquisite pleasure I experienced in Bali.我依然记得在巴厘岛所经历的那种剧烈的快感。

23 bliss
n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福
参考例句：
It's sheer bliss to be able to spend the day in bed.整天都可以躺在床上真是幸福。 He's in bliss that he's won the Nobel Prize.他非常高兴，因为获得了诺贝尔奖金。

24 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。

25 drenched
adj.湿透的；充满的v.使湿透( drench的过去式和过去分词 )；在某人（某物）上大量使用（某液体）
参考例句：
We were caught in the storm and got drenched to the skin. 我们遇上了暴雨，淋得浑身透湿。 The rain drenched us. 雨把我们淋得湿透。 来自《简明英汉词典》

26 remorse
n.痛恨，悔恨，自责
参考例句：
She had no remorse about what she had said.她对所说的话不后悔。 He has shown no remorse for his actions.他对自己的行为没有任何悔恨之意。

27 supreme
adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的
参考例句：
It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。 He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

28 cavern
n.洞穴，大山洞
参考例句：
The cavern walls echoed his cries.大山洞的四壁回响着他的喊声。 It suddenly began to shower,and we took refuge in the cavern.天突然下起雨来，我们在一个山洞里避雨。

29 utterly
adv.完全地，绝对地
参考例句：
Utterly devoted to the people,he gave his life in saving his patients.他忠于人民，把毕生精力用于挽救患者的生命。 I was utterly ravished by the way she smiled.她的微笑使我完全陶醉了。

30 redeemed
adj. 可赎回的，可救赎的 动词redeem的过去式和过去分词形式
参考例句：
She has redeemed her pawned jewellery. 她赎回了当掉的珠宝。 He redeemed his watch from the pawnbroker's. 他从当铺赎回手表。

31 irreproachable
adj.不可指责的，无过失的
参考例句：
It emerged that his past behavior was far from irreproachable.事实表明，他过去的行为绝非无可非议。 She welcomed her unexpected visitor with irreproachable politeness.她以无可指责的礼仪接待了不速之客。

32 glibness
n.花言巧语；口若悬河
参考例句：
Mr Samgrass replied with such glibness and at such length, telling me of mislaid luggage. 桑格拉斯先生却油嘴滑舌，事无巨细地告诉我们说行李如何被错放了。 来自辞典例句

33 landlady
n.女房东，女地主
参考例句：
I heard my landlady creeping stealthily up to my door.我听到我的女房东偷偷地来到我的门前。 The landlady came over to serve me.女店主过来接待我。

34 entirely
ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地
参考例句：
The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。 His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

35 inquiry
n.打听，询问，调查，查问
参考例句：
Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。 The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。

36 abortive
adj.不成功的，发育不全的
参考例句：
We had to abandon our abortive attempts.我们的尝试没有成功，不得不放弃。 Somehow the whole abortive affair got into the FBI files.这件早已夭折的案子不知怎么就进了联邦调查局的档案。