In the year 1860, of which I now write, so much of prejudice against railways still existed among many people of a pious1 or superstitious2 turn of mind, that I can quote much immediate3 precedent4 in support of my resolve to walk to London rather than further tempt5 a Providence6 I had already put to so severe a strain. It must be borne in mind of course that we Trenders were little more than barbarians7 of an unusual order, who had been nourished on a scorn of progress and redeemed8 only by a natural leaning toward picturesqueness9 of a pagan kind. Moreover, the sense of mystery, which was an integral part of our daily experience, had ingrained in us all a general antagonism10 toward unconstructed agencies. Lastly, not one of us had ever as yet been in a train.
Still, it was with no feeling of inability to carve a road for myself through the barriers to existence that I drew, on the evening of my third day’s tramp, toward the overlapping11 pall12 that was the roof of the “City of Dreadful Night.”
I had slept, on my road, respectively at Farnham and Guildford, where, in either case, cheap accommodation was easily procurable13, and foresaw a difficulty, only greater in proportion, in finding reasonable lodging14 in London during the time I was seeking work. Indifferently I pictured this city to myself as only an elongated15 High street, with ramifications16 more numerous and extended than those of the old burgh that was my native town. I was startled, overwhelmed, dazed with the black, aimless scurrying17 of those interwoven strings18 of human ants, that ran by their thronging19 brick heaps, eager in search for what they never seemed to find, or shot and vanished into tunnels and alleys20 of darkness, or were attracted to and scorched21 up by, apparently22, the broad sheets of flame that were the shop windows of their Vanity Fair. Moving amid the swarm23 from vision to vision—always an inconsiderable atom there without meaning or individuality—always stunned24 and stupefied by the threatening masses of masonry25 that hemmed26 me in, and accompanied me, and broke upon me in new dark forms through every vista27 and gap that the rank growth of ages had failed to block—the inevitable28 sense grew upon me, as it grows upon all who pace its interminable streets friendless, of walking in a world to which I was by heavenly birthright an alien.
I had entered London by way of Waterloo bridge, as the wintry dusk was falling over house and river, and all these hours since had I been pacing its crashing thoroughfares, alive only to wonder and the cruel sense of personal insignificance30. As to a lodging and bed for my weary limbs—sooner had Childe Roland dared the dark tower than I the burrows31, that night, of the unknown pandemonium32 around me. I had slept in the open of the fields before now. Here, though winter, it hardly seemed that there was an out-of-doors, but that the buildings were only so many sleeping closets in a dark hall.
All round the square inside was a great inclosure encompassed33 by a frouzy hoarding34 of wood, and set in the middle of the inclosure was some dim object that looked like a ruined statue. Such by day, indeed, I found it to be, and of no less a person than his late majesty35, King George the First. When my waking eyes first lighted on him, I saw him to be half-sunk into his horse, as if seeking to shield himself therein from the shafts36 of his persecutors, who, nothing discomposed, had daubed what remained of the crippled charger himself with blotches37 of red and white paint.
I walked once or twice round the square, seeking vainly, at first, to still the tumult38 of my brain. The oppressive night of locked-up London, laden39 like a thunder cloud with store of slumbering41 passions, was lowering now and settling down like a fog. The theaters were closed; the streets echoing to the last foot-falls. Seeing a hole in the hoarding, I squeezed through it and withdrew into the rank grass and weeds that choked the interior of the inclosure. I had bought and brought some food with me, and this I fell to munching42 as I sat on a hummock43 of rubbish, and was presently much comforted thereby44, so that nothing but sleep seemed desirable to me in all the world. Therefore I lay down where I was and buttoning my coat about me, was, despite the frosty air, soon lost in delicious forgetfulness. At first my slumber40 was broken by reason of the fitful rumble45 of wheels, or pierced by voices and dim cries that yet resounded46 phantomly here and there, as if I lay in some stricken city, where only the dying yet lived and wailed47, but gradually these all passed from me.
I awoke with the gray of dawn on my face and sat up. My limbs were cramped48 and stiff with the cold, and a light rime49 lay upon my clothes. Otherwise no bitterer result had followed my rather untoward50 experiment.
Then I looked about me and saw for the first time that I was not alone. Certain haggard and unclean creatures were my bed-fellows in that desolate51 oasis52. They lay huddled53 here and there, like mere54 scarecrows blown over by the wind and lying where they fell. There were women among them, and more than one pinched and tattered55 urchin56, with drawn57, white face resolved by sleep into nothing but pathos58 and starvation.
There they lay at intervals59, as if on a battlefield where the crows had been busy, and each one seemed to lie flattened60 into the earth as dead bodies lie.
I could not but be thankful that I had stumbled over no one of them when I had entered—an accident which would very possibly have lost me my little store of money, if it had, indeed, led to nothing worse. As it was, I prepared for a hasty exit, and was about to rise, when I became conscious that my movements were under observation by one who lay not twenty feet from me.
He was so hidden by the rank grass that at first I could make out nothing but a long, large-boned face peering at me above the stems through eyes as black and glinting as boot buttons. A thatch61 of dark hair fell about his ears and forehead, and his eyebrows62, also black, were sleek63 and pointed64 like ermine tips.
The face was so full and fine that I was startled when its owner rose, which he did on the instant, to see that he was a thick-set and stunted65 cripple. He shambled toward me with a winning smile on his lips, and before I could summon resolution to retreat, had come and sat down beside me.
“We seem the cocks of this company,” he said, in a deep musical voice. “Among the blind the one-eyed—eh?”
He was warmly and decently clad, and I could only wonder at his choice of bedroom. He read me in a look.
“No,” I said; “I suppose not.”
“Nor yours?” he went on, with a keen glance at me.
To give my confidence to a stranger was an unwise proceeding67, but I was guileless as to the craft of great cities, and in this case my innocence68 was in a manner my good fortune.
I told him that I was only yesterday from the country, after a three days’ tramp, and how I was benighted70.
“Ah,” he said. “Up after work, I suppose?”
“Yes,” I answered.
“Well,” said he, “let’s understand your capacities. Guess my age first.”
“Forty,” said I, at a venture, for indeed he might have been that or anything else.
“I’m 21,” he said. “Don’t I look it? We mature early in London here. What do you think’s my business?”
“Oh, you’re a gentleman, aren’t you?” I asked, with some stir of shyness.
“I’m a printer’s hand. That means something very different to you, don’t it? Maybe you’ll develop in time. Where are you from?”
I told him.
“Ah,” he said. “You’ve a proverb down your way: ‘Manners makeyth man.’ So they may, as they construe71 it—a fork for the fingers and a pretty trick of speech; but it’s the manners of the soul make the gentleman. Do you believe in after-life?”
“Of course I do. Where do the ghosts come from otherwise?”
He laughed pleasantly, rubbing his chin in a perplexed72 manner, and then I noticed that his fingers were stunted like a mechanic’s and stained with printer’s ink.
“Old Ripley would fancy you,” he said.
“Who’s he?”
“My governor—printer, binder73 and pamphleteer, an opponent of all governments but his own. He’s an anarchist74, who’d like to transfer himself and his personal belongings75 to some desert satellite, after laying a train to blow up the earth with nitro-glycerin and then he’d want to overturn the heavenly system.”
“He doesn’t sound hopeful.”
“Oh, thanks!” I exclaimed.
“Nonsense; you needn’t mind him. He’s only gas. Unmixed with his native air he wouldn’t be explosive, you know. I can imagine him a very unprogressive angel. It’s notoriety he wants. Nothing satisfies his sort in the end like a scaffold outside of Newgate with 40,000 eyes looking on and 12 guineas paid for a window in the ‘Magpie and Stump77.’”
“Are you——” I began, when he took me up with:
“His kind? Not a bit of it. I’m an idealist—a dreamer asking the way to Utopia. I look about for the finger-posts in places like this. One must learn and suffer to dream properly.”
“That oughtn’t to be so,” he said, looking curiously79 at me. “Nightmare comes from self-indulgence. Cosset80 your grievances81 and they’ll control you. You must be an ascetic82 in the art of sensation.”
“And starve on a pillar like that old saint Mr. Tennyson wrote of,” I answered.
“Go and hang yourself,” he cried, pushing at me with a laugh. “Hullo! Who’s here?”
A couple of the scarecrows, evil-looking men both, had risen, and stood over us to one side, listening.
“Toff kenners,” I heard one of them mutter, “and good for jink, by the looks.”
“Good for a midjick, matey?” asked the more ruffianly looking of the two in a menacing tone.
I started, bewildered by their jargon84. My companion looked up at them smiling and drumming out a tune69 on his knee.
“Stow it,” said the smaller man to the other; “I’ve tried the griffin and it don’t take.” Then he bent85 his body and whined86 in a fulsome87 voice: “Overtaken with a drop, good gentlemen? And won’t you pay a trifle for your lodgings88, now?”
I was about to rise, but a gesture on the part of both fellows showed me that they intended to keep us at our disadvantage. A blowzed and noisome89 woman was advancing to join the group.
“Be alert,” whispered my companion. “We must get out of this.”
The words were for me, but the men gathered their import and assumed a threatening manner. No doubt, seeing but a boy and a cripple, they valued us beneath our muscular worth.
“Come,” said the big man, “we don’t stand on ceremony; we want the price of a drink.”
He advanced upon us, as he spoke90, with an ugly look and in a moment my companion had seized him by the ankles and whirled him over against his friend, so that the two crashed down together. The woman set up a screech91, as we jumped to our feet, and we saw wild heads start up here and there like snakes from the grass. But before any one could follow us we had gained the rent in the hoarding and slipped through. Glancing back, after I had made my exit, I saw one of the men strike the woman full in the face and fell her to the ground. It was his gentle corrective to her for not having stopped us, and the sight made my blood so boil that I was on the point of tearing back, had not my companion seized and fairly carried me off. As in many cripples, his strength of arm was prodigious92.
“Now,” he said, when he had quieted me, “we’ll go home to breakfast.”
“Where?” said I.
“Home, my friend. Oh, I have one, you know, for all my sleeping out there. That was a test for experience; my first one of the kind, but valuable in its way.”
“But——” I began.
“Yes, you will,” he cried. “You’ll be my guest. I’ve taken a bit of a fancy to you. What’s your name?”
When I had told him, “Duke Straw’s mine,” he said; “though I’m not of strawberry-leaf descent. But it’s a good name for a dreamer, isn’t it? Have you ever read ‘Feathertop,’ by Hawthorne?”
“No,” I said.
“Never mind, then. When you do, you’ll recognize my portrait—a poor creature of straw that moves by smoke.”
“What smoke?” I asked, bewildered.
“Perhaps you’ll find out some day—if Ripley takes a fancy to you.”
“You don’t want me to go to him?”
“Certainly I do. I’m going to take you with me when I tramp to work at 9 o’clock.”
He was so cool and masterful that I could only laugh and walk on with him.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
pious
|
|
| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
superstitious
|
|
| adj.迷信的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
immediate
|
|
| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
precedent
|
|
| n.先例，前例；惯例；adj.在前的，在先的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
tempt
|
|
| vt.引诱，勾引，吸引，引起…的兴趣 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
providence
|
|
| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
barbarians
|
|
| n.野蛮人( barbarian的名词复数 )；外国人；粗野的人；无教养的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
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： |
|
|
|
|
9
picturesqueness
|
|
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
antagonism
|
|
| n.对抗，敌对，对立 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
overlapping
|
|
| adj./n.交迭（的） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
pall
|
|
| v.覆盖，使平淡无味；n.柩衣，棺罩；棺材；帷幕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
procurable
|
|
| adj.可得到的，得手的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
lodging
|
|
| n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
elongated
|
|
| v.延长，加长( elongate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
ramifications
|
|
| n.结果，后果( ramification的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
scurrying
|
|
| v.急匆匆地走( scurry的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
strings
|
|
| n.弦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
thronging
|
|
| v.成群，挤满( throng的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
alleys
|
|
| 胡同，小巷( alley的名词复数 )； 小径 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
scorched
|
|
| 烧焦，烤焦( scorch的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（植物）枯萎，把…晒枯； 高速行驶； 枯焦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
apparently
|
|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
swarm
|
|
| n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
stunned
|
|
| adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
masonry
|
|
| n.砖土建筑；砖石 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
hemmed
|
|
| 缝…的褶边( hem的过去式和过去分词 )； 包围 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
vista
|
|
| n.远景，深景，展望，回想 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
inevitable
|
|
| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
reigned
|
|
| vi.当政，统治（reign的过去式形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
insignificance
|
|
| n.不重要；无价值；无意义 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
burrows
|
|
| n.地洞( burrow的名词复数 )v.挖掘（洞穴），挖洞( burrow的第三人称单数 )；翻寻 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
pandemonium
|
|
| n.喧嚣，大混乱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
encompassed
|
|
| v.围绕( encompass的过去式和过去分词 )；包围；包含；包括 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
hoarding
|
|
| n.贮藏；积蓄；临时围墙；囤积v.积蓄并储藏（某物）( hoard的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
majesty
|
|
| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
shafts
|
|
| n.轴( shaft的名词复数 )；（箭、高尔夫球棒等的）杆；通风井；一阵（疼痛、害怕等） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
blotches
|
|
| n.（皮肤上的）红斑，疹块( blotch的名词复数 )；大滴 [大片]（墨水或颜色的）污渍 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
tumult
|
|
| n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
laden
|
|
| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
slumber
|
|
| n.睡眠，沉睡状态 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
slumbering
|
|
| 微睡，睡眠（slumber的现在分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
munching
|
|
| v.用力咀嚼（某物），大嚼( munch的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
hummock
|
|
| n.小丘 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
thereby
|
|
| adv.因此，从而 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
rumble
|
|
| n.隆隆声；吵嚷；v.隆隆响；低沉地说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
resounded
|
|
| v.（指声音等）回荡于某处( resound的过去式和过去分词 )；产生回响；（指某处）回荡着声音 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
wailed
|
|
| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
cramped
|
|
| a.狭窄的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
rime
|
|
| n.白霜；v.使蒙霜 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
untoward
|
|
| adj.不利的，不幸的，困难重重的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
desolate
|
|
| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
oasis
|
|
| n.（沙漠中的）绿洲，宜人的地方 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
huddled
|
|
| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
mere
|
|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
tattered
|
|
| adj.破旧的，衣衫破的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
urchin
|
|
| n.顽童；海胆 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
drawn
|
|
| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
pathos
|
|
| n.哀婉，悲怆 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
intervals
|
|
| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
flattened
|
|
| [医]（水）平扁的，弄平的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
thatch
|
|
| vt.用茅草覆盖…的顶部；n.茅草(屋) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
eyebrows
|
|
| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
sleek
|
|
| adj.光滑的，井然有序的；v.使光滑，梳拢 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
stunted
|
|
| adj.矮小的；发育迟缓的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
craving
|
|
| n.渴望,热望 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
proceeding
|
|
| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
innocence
|
|
| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
tune
|
|
| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
benighted
|
|
| adj.蒙昧的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
construe
|
|
| v.翻译，解释 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
perplexed
|
|
| adj.不知所措的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
binder
|
|
| n.包扎物，包扎工具；[法]临时契约；粘合剂；装订工 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
anarchist
|
|
| n.无政府主义者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
belongings
|
|
| n.私人物品，私人财物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
fanatic
|
|
| n.狂热者，入迷者；adj.狂热入迷的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
stump
|
|
| n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
subdued
|
|
| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
curiously
|
|
| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
cosset
|
|
| v.宠爱，溺爱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
grievances
|
|
| n.委屈( grievance的名词复数 )；苦衷；不满；牢骚 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
ascetic
|
|
| adj.禁欲的；严肃的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
83
shuffled
|
|
| v.洗（纸牌）( shuffle的过去式和过去分词 )；拖着脚步走；粗心地做；摆脱尘世的烦恼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
84
jargon
|
|
| n.术语，行话 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
85
bent
|
|
| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
86
whined
|
|
| v.哀号( whine的过去式和过去分词 )；哀诉，诉怨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
87
fulsome
|
|
| adj.可恶的，虚伪的，过分恭维的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
88
lodgings
|
|
| n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
89
noisome
|
|
| adj.有害的，可厌的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
90
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： |
|
|
|
|
91
screech
|
|
| n./v.尖叫；(发出)刺耳的声音 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
92
prodigious
|
|
| adj.惊人的，奇妙的；异常的；巨大的；庞大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |