【有声英语文学名著】螺丝在拧紧（17）
时间：2019-02-24 作者：英语课 分类：有声英语文学名著
英语课
The Turn of the Screw
by Henry James
XVII
I went so far, in the evening, as to make a beginning. The weather had changed back, a great wind was abroad, and beneath the lamp, in my room, with Flora 1 at peace beside me, I sat for a long time before a blank sheet of paper and listened to the lash 2 of the rain and the batter 3 of the gusts 5. Finally I went out, taking a candle; I crossed the passage and listened a minute at Miles’s door. What, under my endless obsession 6, I had been impelled 7 to listen for was some betrayal of his not being at rest, and I presently caught one, but not in the form I had expected. His voice tinkled 8 out. “I say, you there — come in.” It was a gaiety in the gloom!
I went in with my light and found him, in bed, very wide awake, but very much at his ease. “Well, what are YOU up to?” he asked with a grace of sociability 9 in which it occurred to me that Mrs. Grose, had she been present, might have looked in vain for proof that anything was “out.”
I stood over him with my candle. “How did you know I was there?”
“Why, of course I heard you. Did you fancy you made no noise? You’re like a troop of cavalry 10!” he beautifully laughed.
“Then you weren’t asleep?”
“Not much! I lie awake and think.”
I had put my candle, designedly, a short way off, and then, as he held out his friendly old hand to me, had sat down on the edge of his bed. “What is it,” I asked, “that you think of?”
“What in the world, my dear, but YOU?”
“Ah, the pride I take in your appreciation 11 doesn’t insist on that! I had so far rather you slept.”
“Well, I think also, you know, of this queer business of ours.”
I marked the coolness of his firm little hand. “Of what queer business, Miles?”
“Why, the way you bring me up. And all the rest!”
I fairly held my breath a minute, and even from my glimmering 12 taper 13 there was light enough to show how he smiled up at me from his pillow. “What do you mean by all the rest?”
“Oh, you know, you know!”
I could say nothing for a minute, though I felt, as I held his hand and our eyes continued to meet, that my silence had all the air of admitting his charge and that nothing in the whole world of reality was perhaps at that moment so fabulous 14 as our actual relation. “Certainly you shall go back to school,” I said, “if it be that that troubles you. But not to the old place — we must find another, a better. How could I know it did trouble you, this question, when you never told me so, never spoke 15 of it at all?” His clear, listening face, framed in its smooth whiteness, made him for the minute as appealing as some wistful patient in a children’s hospital; and I would have given, as the resemblance came to me, all I possessed 16 on earth really to be the nurse or the sister of charity who might have helped to cure him. Well, even as it was, I perhaps might help! “Do you know you’ve never said a word to me about your school — I mean the old one; never mentioned it in any way?”
He seemed to wonder; he smiled with the same loveliness. But he clearly gained time; he waited, he called for guidance. “Haven’t I?” It wasn’t for ME to help him — it was for the thing I had met!
Something in his tone and the expression of his face, as I got this from him, set my heart aching with such a pang 17 as it had never yet known; so unutterably touching 18 was it to see his little brain puzzled and his little resources taxed to play, under the spell laid on him, a part of innocence 19 and consistency 20. “No, never — from the hour you came back. You’ve never mentioned to me one of your masters, one of your comrades, nor the least little thing that ever happened to you at school. Never, little Miles — no, never — have you given me an inkling of anything that MAY have happened there. Therefore you can fancy how much I’m in the dark. Until you came out, that way, this morning, you had, since the first hour I saw you, scarce even made a reference to anything in your previous life. You seemed so perfectly 21 to accept the present.” It was extraordinary how my absolute conviction of his secret precocity 22 (or whatever I might call the poison of an influence that I dared but half to phrase) made him, in spite of the faint breath of his inward trouble, appear as accessible as an older person — imposed him almost as an intellectual equal. “I thought you wanted to go on as you are.”
It struck me that at this he just faintly colored. He gave, at any rate, like a convalescent slightly fatigued 23, a languid shake of his head. “I don’t — I don’t. I want to get away.”
“You’re tired of Bly?”
“Oh, no, I like Bly.”
“Well, then —?”
“Oh, YOU know what a boy wants!”
I felt that I didn’t know so well as Miles, and I took temporary refuge. “You want to go to your uncle?”
Again, at this, with his sweet ironic 24 face, he made a movement on the pillow. “Ah, you can’t get off with that!”
I was silent a little, and it was I, now, I think, who changed color. “My dear, I don’t want to get off!”
“You can’t, even if you do. You can’t, you can’t!” — he lay beautifully staring. “My uncle must come down, and you must completely settle things.”
“If we do,” I returned with some spirit, “you may be sure it will be to take you quite away.”
“Well, don’t you understand that that’s exactly what I’m working for? You’ll have to tell him — about the way you’ve let it all drop: you’ll have to tell him a tremendous lot!”
The exultation 25 with which he uttered this helped me somehow, for the instant, to meet him rather more. “And how much will YOU, Miles, have to tell him? There are things he’ll ask you!”
He turned it over. “Very likely. But what things?”
“The things you’ve never told me. To make up his mind what to do with you. He can’t send you back — ”
“Oh, I don’t want to go back!” he broke in. “I want a new field.”
He said it with admirable serenity 26, with positive unimpeachable 27 gaiety; and doubtless it was that very note that most evoked 28 for me the poignancy 29, the unnatural 30 childish tragedy, of his probable reappearance at the end of three months with all this bravado 31 and still more dishonor. It overwhelmed me now that I should never be able to bear that, and it made me let myself go. I threw myself upon him and in the tenderness of my pity I embraced him. “Dear little Miles, dear little Miles —!”
My face was close to his, and he let me kiss him, simply taking it with indulgent good humor. “Well, old lady?”
“Is there nothing — nothing at all that you want to tell me?”
He turned off a little, facing round toward the wall and holding up his hand to look at as one had seen sick children look. “I’ve told you — I told you this morning.”
Oh, I was sorry for him! “That you just want me not to worry you?”
He looked round at me now, as if in recognition of my understanding him; then ever so gently, “To let me alone,” he replied.
There was even a singular little dignity in it, something that made me release him, yet, when I had slowly risen, linger beside him. God knows I never wished to harass 32 him, but I felt that merely, at this, to turn my back on him was to abandon or, to put it more truly, to lose him. “I’ve just begun a letter to your uncle,” I said.
“Well, then, finish it!”
I waited a minute. “What happened before?”
He gazed up at me again. “Before what?”
“Before you came back. And before you went away.”
For some time he was silent, but he continued to meet my eyes. “What happened?”
It made me, the sound of the words, in which it seemed to me that I caught for the very first time a small faint quaver of consenting consciousness — it made me drop on my knees beside the bed and seize once more the chance of possessing him. “Dear little Miles, dear little Miles, if you KNEW how I want to help you! It’s only that, it’s nothing but that, and I’d rather die than give you a pain or do you a wrong — I’d rather die than hurt a hair of you. Dear little Miles” — oh, I brought it out now even if I SHOULD go too far — “I just want you to help me to save you!” But I knew in a moment after this that I had gone too far. The answer to my appeal was instantaneous, but it came in the form of an extraordinary blast and chill, a gust 4 of frozen air, and a shake of the room as great as if, in the wild wind, the casement 33 had crashed in. The boy gave a loud, high shriek 34, which, lost in the rest of the shock of sound, might have seemed, indistinctly, though I was so close to him, a note either of jubilation 35 or of terror. I jumped to my feet again and was conscious of darkness. So for a moment we remained, while I stared about me and saw that the drawn 36 curtains were unstirred and the window tight. “Why, the candle’s out!” I then cried.
“It was I who blew it, dear!” said Miles.
by Henry James
XVII
I went so far, in the evening, as to make a beginning. The weather had changed back, a great wind was abroad, and beneath the lamp, in my room, with Flora 1 at peace beside me, I sat for a long time before a blank sheet of paper and listened to the lash 2 of the rain and the batter 3 of the gusts 5. Finally I went out, taking a candle; I crossed the passage and listened a minute at Miles’s door. What, under my endless obsession 6, I had been impelled 7 to listen for was some betrayal of his not being at rest, and I presently caught one, but not in the form I had expected. His voice tinkled 8 out. “I say, you there — come in.” It was a gaiety in the gloom!
I went in with my light and found him, in bed, very wide awake, but very much at his ease. “Well, what are YOU up to?” he asked with a grace of sociability 9 in which it occurred to me that Mrs. Grose, had she been present, might have looked in vain for proof that anything was “out.”
I stood over him with my candle. “How did you know I was there?”
“Why, of course I heard you. Did you fancy you made no noise? You’re like a troop of cavalry 10!” he beautifully laughed.
“Then you weren’t asleep?”
“Not much! I lie awake and think.”
I had put my candle, designedly, a short way off, and then, as he held out his friendly old hand to me, had sat down on the edge of his bed. “What is it,” I asked, “that you think of?”
“What in the world, my dear, but YOU?”
“Ah, the pride I take in your appreciation 11 doesn’t insist on that! I had so far rather you slept.”
“Well, I think also, you know, of this queer business of ours.”
I marked the coolness of his firm little hand. “Of what queer business, Miles?”
“Why, the way you bring me up. And all the rest!”
I fairly held my breath a minute, and even from my glimmering 12 taper 13 there was light enough to show how he smiled up at me from his pillow. “What do you mean by all the rest?”
“Oh, you know, you know!”
I could say nothing for a minute, though I felt, as I held his hand and our eyes continued to meet, that my silence had all the air of admitting his charge and that nothing in the whole world of reality was perhaps at that moment so fabulous 14 as our actual relation. “Certainly you shall go back to school,” I said, “if it be that that troubles you. But not to the old place — we must find another, a better. How could I know it did trouble you, this question, when you never told me so, never spoke 15 of it at all?” His clear, listening face, framed in its smooth whiteness, made him for the minute as appealing as some wistful patient in a children’s hospital; and I would have given, as the resemblance came to me, all I possessed 16 on earth really to be the nurse or the sister of charity who might have helped to cure him. Well, even as it was, I perhaps might help! “Do you know you’ve never said a word to me about your school — I mean the old one; never mentioned it in any way?”
He seemed to wonder; he smiled with the same loveliness. But he clearly gained time; he waited, he called for guidance. “Haven’t I?” It wasn’t for ME to help him — it was for the thing I had met!
Something in his tone and the expression of his face, as I got this from him, set my heart aching with such a pang 17 as it had never yet known; so unutterably touching 18 was it to see his little brain puzzled and his little resources taxed to play, under the spell laid on him, a part of innocence 19 and consistency 20. “No, never — from the hour you came back. You’ve never mentioned to me one of your masters, one of your comrades, nor the least little thing that ever happened to you at school. Never, little Miles — no, never — have you given me an inkling of anything that MAY have happened there. Therefore you can fancy how much I’m in the dark. Until you came out, that way, this morning, you had, since the first hour I saw you, scarce even made a reference to anything in your previous life. You seemed so perfectly 21 to accept the present.” It was extraordinary how my absolute conviction of his secret precocity 22 (or whatever I might call the poison of an influence that I dared but half to phrase) made him, in spite of the faint breath of his inward trouble, appear as accessible as an older person — imposed him almost as an intellectual equal. “I thought you wanted to go on as you are.”
It struck me that at this he just faintly colored. He gave, at any rate, like a convalescent slightly fatigued 23, a languid shake of his head. “I don’t — I don’t. I want to get away.”
“You’re tired of Bly?”
“Oh, no, I like Bly.”
“Well, then —?”
“Oh, YOU know what a boy wants!”
I felt that I didn’t know so well as Miles, and I took temporary refuge. “You want to go to your uncle?”
Again, at this, with his sweet ironic 24 face, he made a movement on the pillow. “Ah, you can’t get off with that!”
I was silent a little, and it was I, now, I think, who changed color. “My dear, I don’t want to get off!”
“You can’t, even if you do. You can’t, you can’t!” — he lay beautifully staring. “My uncle must come down, and you must completely settle things.”
“If we do,” I returned with some spirit, “you may be sure it will be to take you quite away.”
“Well, don’t you understand that that’s exactly what I’m working for? You’ll have to tell him — about the way you’ve let it all drop: you’ll have to tell him a tremendous lot!”
The exultation 25 with which he uttered this helped me somehow, for the instant, to meet him rather more. “And how much will YOU, Miles, have to tell him? There are things he’ll ask you!”
He turned it over. “Very likely. But what things?”
“The things you’ve never told me. To make up his mind what to do with you. He can’t send you back — ”
“Oh, I don’t want to go back!” he broke in. “I want a new field.”
He said it with admirable serenity 26, with positive unimpeachable 27 gaiety; and doubtless it was that very note that most evoked 28 for me the poignancy 29, the unnatural 30 childish tragedy, of his probable reappearance at the end of three months with all this bravado 31 and still more dishonor. It overwhelmed me now that I should never be able to bear that, and it made me let myself go. I threw myself upon him and in the tenderness of my pity I embraced him. “Dear little Miles, dear little Miles —!”
My face was close to his, and he let me kiss him, simply taking it with indulgent good humor. “Well, old lady?”
“Is there nothing — nothing at all that you want to tell me?”
He turned off a little, facing round toward the wall and holding up his hand to look at as one had seen sick children look. “I’ve told you — I told you this morning.”
Oh, I was sorry for him! “That you just want me not to worry you?”
He looked round at me now, as if in recognition of my understanding him; then ever so gently, “To let me alone,” he replied.
There was even a singular little dignity in it, something that made me release him, yet, when I had slowly risen, linger beside him. God knows I never wished to harass 32 him, but I felt that merely, at this, to turn my back on him was to abandon or, to put it more truly, to lose him. “I’ve just begun a letter to your uncle,” I said.
“Well, then, finish it!”
I waited a minute. “What happened before?”
He gazed up at me again. “Before what?”
“Before you came back. And before you went away.”
For some time he was silent, but he continued to meet my eyes. “What happened?”
It made me, the sound of the words, in which it seemed to me that I caught for the very first time a small faint quaver of consenting consciousness — it made me drop on my knees beside the bed and seize once more the chance of possessing him. “Dear little Miles, dear little Miles, if you KNEW how I want to help you! It’s only that, it’s nothing but that, and I’d rather die than give you a pain or do you a wrong — I’d rather die than hurt a hair of you. Dear little Miles” — oh, I brought it out now even if I SHOULD go too far — “I just want you to help me to save you!” But I knew in a moment after this that I had gone too far. The answer to my appeal was instantaneous, but it came in the form of an extraordinary blast and chill, a gust 4 of frozen air, and a shake of the room as great as if, in the wild wind, the casement 33 had crashed in. The boy gave a loud, high shriek 34, which, lost in the rest of the shock of sound, might have seemed, indistinctly, though I was so close to him, a note either of jubilation 35 or of terror. I jumped to my feet again and was conscious of darkness. So for a moment we remained, while I stared about me and saw that the drawn 36 curtains were unstirred and the window tight. “Why, the candle’s out!” I then cried.
“It was I who blew it, dear!” said Miles.
n.(某一地区的)植物群
- The subtropical island has a remarkably rich native flora.这个亚热带岛屿有相当丰富的乡土植物种类。
- All flora need water and light.一切草木都需要水和阳光。
v.系牢；鞭打；猛烈抨击；n.鞭打；眼睫毛
- He received a lash of her hand on his cheek.他突然被她打了一记耳光。
- With a lash of its tail the tiger leaped at her.老虎把尾巴一甩朝她扑过来。
v.接连重击；磨损；n.牛奶面糊；击球员
- The batter skied to the center fielder.击球手打出一个高飞球到中外野手。
- Put a small quantity of sugar into the batter.在面糊里放少量的糖。
n.阵风，突然一阵（雨、烟等），（感情的）迸发
- A gust of wind blew the front door shut.一阵大风吹来，把前门关上了。
- A gust of happiness swept through her.一股幸福的暖流流遍她的全身。
一阵强风( gust的名词复数 )； （怒、笑等的）爆发； （感情的）迸发； 发作
- Her profuse skirt bosomed out with the gusts. 她的宽大的裙子被风吹得鼓鼓的。
- Turbulence is defined as a series of irregular gusts. 紊流定义为一组无规则的突风。
n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感)
- I was suffering from obsession that my career would be ended.那时的我陷入了我的事业有可能就此终止的困扰当中。
- She would try to forget her obsession with Christopher.她会努力忘记对克里斯托弗的迷恋。
v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的过去式和过去分词 )
- He felt impelled to investigate further. 他觉得有必要作进一步调查。
- I feel impelled to express grave doubts about the project. 我觉得不得不对这项计划深表怀疑。 来自《简明英汉词典》
（使）发出丁当声，（使）发铃铃声( tinkle的过去式和过去分词 )； 叮当响着发出，铃铃响着报出
- The sheep's bell tinkled through the hills. 羊的铃铛叮当叮当地响彻整个山区。
- A piano tinkled gently in the background. 背景音是悠扬的钢琴声。
n.好交际，社交性，善于交际
- A fire of withered pine boughs added sociability to the gathering. 枯松枝生起的篝火给这次聚合增添了随和、友善的气氛。 来自辞典例句
- A certain sociability degree is a specific character of most plants. 特定的群集度是多数植物特有的特征。 来自辞典例句
n.骑兵；轻装甲部队
- We were taken in flank by a troop of cavalry. 我们翼侧受到一队骑兵的袭击。
- The enemy cavalry rode our men down. 敌人的骑兵撞倒了我们的人。
n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨
- I would like to express my appreciation and thanks to you all.我想对你们所有人表达我的感激和谢意。
- I'll be sending them a donation in appreciation of their help.我将送给他们一笔捐款以感谢他们的帮助。
n.微光，隐约的一瞥adj.薄弱地发光的v.发闪光，发微光( glimmer的现在分词 )
- I got some glimmering of what he was driving at. 他这么说是什么意思，我有点明白了。 来自辞典例句
- Now that darkness was falling, only their silhouettes were outlined against the faintly glimmering sky. 这时节两山只剩余一抹深黑，赖天空微明为画出一个轮廓。 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译
n.小蜡烛，尖细，渐弱；adj.尖细的；v.逐渐变小
- You'd better taper off the amount of time given to rest.你最好逐渐地减少休息时间。
- Pulmonary arteries taper towards periphery.肺动脉向周围逐渐变细。
adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的
- We had a fabulous time at the party.我们在晚会上玩得很痛快。
- This is a fabulous sum of money.这是一笔巨款。
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
- 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。
adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的
- He flew out of the room like a man possessed.他像着了魔似地猛然冲出房门。
- He behaved like someone possessed.他行为举止像是魔怔了。
n.剧痛，悲痛，苦闷
- She experienced a sharp pang of disappointment.她经历了失望的巨大痛苦。
- She was beginning to know the pang of disappointed love.她开始尝到了失恋的痛苦。
n.无罪；天真；无害
- There was a touching air of innocence about the boy.这个男孩有一种令人感动的天真神情。
- The accused man proved his innocence of the crime.被告人经证实无罪。
n.一贯性，前后一致，稳定性；(液体的)浓度
- Your behaviour lacks consistency.你的行为缺乏一贯性。
- We appreciate the consistency and stability in China and in Chinese politics.我们赞赏中国及其政策的连续性和稳定性。
adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地
- The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
- Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。
n.早熟，早成
- The boy is remarkable for precocity. 这孩子早熟得惊人。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
- He is remarkable for precocity. 他早熟得惊人。 来自辞典例句
adj. 疲乏的
- The exercises fatigued her. 操练使她感到很疲乏。
- The President smiled, with fatigued tolerance for a minor person's naivety. 总统笑了笑，疲惫地表现出对一个下级人员的天真想法的宽容。
adj.讽刺的，有讽刺意味的，出乎意料的
- That is a summary and ironic end.那是一个具有概括性和讽刺意味的结局。
- People used to call me Mr Popularity at high school,but they were being ironic.人们中学时常把我称作“万人迷先生”，但他们是在挖苦我。
n.狂喜，得意
- It made him catch his breath, it lit his face with exultation. 听了这个名字，他屏住呼吸，乐得脸上放光。
- He could get up no exultation that was really worthy the name. 他一点都激动不起来。
n.宁静，沉着，晴朗
- Her face,though sad,still evoked a feeling of serenity.她的脸色虽然悲伤，但仍使人感觉安详。
- She escaped to the comparative serenity of the kitchen.她逃到相对安静的厨房里。
adj.无可指责的；adv.无可怀疑地
- He said all five were men of unimpeachable character.他说这五个都是品格完美无缺的人。
- It is the revenge that nature takes on persons of unimpeachable character.这是自然对人品无瑕的人的报复。
[医]诱发的
- The music evoked memories of her youth. 这乐曲勾起了她对青年时代的回忆。
- Her face, though sad, still evoked a feeling of serenity. 她的脸色虽然悲伤，但仍使人感觉安详。
n.辛酸事，尖锐
- As she sat in church her face had a pathos and poignancy. 当她坐在教堂里时，脸上带着一种哀婉和辛辣的表情。
- The movie, "Trains, Planes, and Automobiles" treats this with hilarity and poignancy. 电影“火车，飞机和汽车”是以欢娱和热情庆祝这个节日。
adj.不自然的；反常的
- Did her behaviour seem unnatural in any way?她有任何反常表现吗？
- She has an unnatural smile on her face.她脸上挂着做作的微笑。
n.虚张声势，故作勇敢，逞能
- Their behaviour was just sheer bravado. 他们的行为完全是虚张声势。
- He flourished the weapon in an attempt at bravado. 他挥舞武器意在虚张声势。
vt.使烦恼，折磨，骚扰
- Our mission is to harass the landing of the main Japaness expeditionary force.我们的任务是骚乱日本远征军主力的登陆。
- They received the order to harass the enemy's rear.他们接到骚扰敌人后方的命令。
n.竖铰链窗；窗扉
- A casement is a window that opens by means of hinges at the side.竖铰链窗是一种用边上的铰链开启的窗户。
- With the casement half open,a cold breeze rushed inside.窗扉半开，凉风袭来。
v./n.尖叫，叫喊
- Suddenly he began to shriek loudly.突然他开始大声尖叫起来。
- People sometimes shriek because of terror,anger,or pain.人们有时会因为恐惧，气愤或疼痛而尖叫。
n.欢庆，喜悦
- The goal was greeted by jubilation from the home fans.主场球迷为进球欢呼。
- The whole city was a scene of jubilation.全市一片欢腾。