"I hear you've seen Blanche," he said.

 

"How on earth did you find out?"

 

"I was told by someone who saw you sitting with them. Why didn't you tell me?"

 

"I thought it would only pain you."

 

"What do I care if it does? You must know that I want to hear the smallest thing about her."

 

I waited for him to ask me questions.

 

"What does she look like?" he said.

 

"Absolutely unchanged."

 

"Does she seem happy?"

 

I shrugged¹ my shoulders.

 

"How can I tell? We were in a cafe; we were playing chess; I had no opportunity to speak to her."

 

"Oh, but couldn't you tell by her face?"

 

I shook my head. I could only repeat that by no word, by no hinted gesture, had she given an indication of her feelings. He must know better than I how great were her powers of self-control. He clasped his hands emotionally.

 

"Oh, I'm so frightened. I know something is going to happen, something terrible, and I can do nothing to stop it."

 

"What sort of thing?" I asked.

 

"Oh, I don't know," he moaned, seizing his head with his hands. "I foresee some terrible catastrophe²."

 

Stroeve had always been excitable, but now he was beside himself; there was no reasoning with him. I thought it probable enough that Blanche Stroeve would not continue to find life with Strickland tolerable, but one of the falsest of proverbs is that you must lie on the bed that you have made. The experience of life shows that people are constantly doing things which must lead to disaster, and yet by some chance manage to evade³ the result of their folly⁴. When Blanche quarrelled with Strickland she had only to leave him, and her husband was waiting humbly5

首页  上一页 [1] [2]  下一页  尾页

点击收听单词发音  

1 shrugged
vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式）
参考例句：
Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀，什么也没说。 She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩，装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 catastrophe
n.大灾难，大祸
参考例句：
I owe it to you that I survived the catastrophe.亏得你我才大难不死。 This is a catastrophe beyond human control.这是一场人类无法控制的灾难。

3 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？

4 folly
n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话
参考例句：
Learn wisdom by the folly of others.从别人的愚蠢行动中学到智慧。 Events proved the folly of such calculations.事情的进展证明了这种估计是愚蠢的。

5 humbly
adv. 恭顺地，谦卑地
参考例句：
We humbly beg Your Majesty to show mercy. 我们恳请陛下发发慈悲。 "You must be right, Sir,'said John humbly. “你一定是对的，先生，”约翰恭顺地说道。

6 indifference
n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎
参考例句：
I was disappointed by his indifference more than somewhat.他的漠不关心使我很失望。 He feigned indifference to criticism of his work.他假装毫不在意别人批评他的作品。

分享到：