【有声英语文学名著】螺丝在拧紧(12)
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
XII
The particular impression I had received proved in the morning light, I repeat, not quite successfully presentable to Mrs. Grose, though I reinforced it with the mention of still another remark that he had made before we separated. “It all lies in half a dozen words,” I said to her, “words that really settle the matter. ‘Think, you know, what I MIGHT do!’ He threw that off to show me how good he is. He knows down to the ground what he ‘might’ do. That’s what he gave them a taste of at school.”
“Lord, you do change!” cried my friend.
“I don’t change — I simply make it out. The four, depend upon it, perpetually meet. If on either of these last nights you had been with either child, you would clearly have understood. The more I’ve watched and waited the more I’ve felt that if there were nothing else to make it sure it would be made so by the systematic 2 silence of each. NEVER, by a slip of the tongue, have they so much as alluded 3 to either of their old friends, any more than Miles has alluded to his expulsion. Oh, yes, we may sit here and look at them, and they may show off to us there to their fill; but even while they pretend to be lost in their fairytale they’re steeped in their vision of the dead restored. He’s not reading to her,” I declared; “they’re talking of THEM— they’re talking horrors! I go on, I know, as if I were crazy; and it’s a wonder I’m not. What I’ve seen would have made YOU so; but it has only made me more lucid 4, made me get hold of still other things.”
My lucidity 5 must have seemed awful, but the charming creatures who were victims of it, passing and repassing in their interlocked sweetness, gave my colleague something to hold on by; and I felt how tight she held as, without stirring in the breath of my passion, she covered them still with her eyes. “Of what other things have you got hold?”
“Why, of the very things that have delighted, fascinated, and yet, at bottom, as I now so strangely see, mystified and troubled me. Their more than earthly beauty, their absolutely unnatural 6 goodness. It’s a game,” I went on; “it’s a policy and a fraud!”
“On the part of little darlings —?”
“As yet mere 7 lovely babies? Yes, mad as that seems!” The very act of bringing it out really helped me to trace it — follow it all up and piece it all together. “They haven’t been good — they’ve only been absent. It has been easy to live with them, because they’re simply leading a life of their own. They’re not mine — they’re not ours. They’re his and they’re hers!”
“Quint’s and that woman’s?”
“Quint’s and that woman’s. They want to get to them.”
Oh, how, at this, poor Mrs. Grose appeared to study them! “But for what?”
“For the love of all the evil that, in those dreadful days, the pair put into them. And to ply 1 them with that evil still, to keep up the work of demons 8, is what brings the others back.”
“Laws!” said my friend under her breath. The exclamation 9 was homely 10, but it revealed a real acceptance of my further proof of what, in the bad time — for there had been a worse even than this! — must have occurred. There could have been no such justification 11 for me as the plain assent 12 of her experience to whatever depth of depravity I found credible 13 in our brace 14 of scoundrels. It was in obvious submission 15 of memory that she brought out after a moment: “They WERE rascals 16! But what can they now do?” she pursued.
“Do?” I echoed so loud that Miles and Flora 17, as they passed at their distance, paused an instant in their walk and looked at us. “Don’t they do enough?” I demanded in a lower tone, while the children, having smiled and nodded and kissed hands to us, resumed their exhibition. We were held by it a minute; then I answered: “They can destroy them!” At this my companion did turn, but the inquiry 18 she launched was a silent one, the effect of which was to make me more explicit 19. “They don’t know, as yet, quite how — but they’re trying hard. They’re seen only across, as it were, and beyond — in strange places and on high places, the top of towers, the roof of houses, the outside of windows, the further edge of pools; but there’s a deep design, on either side, to shorten the distance and overcome the obstacle; and the success of the tempters is only a question of time. They’ve only to keep to their suggestions of danger.”
“For the children to come?”
“And perish in the attempt!” Mrs. Grose slowly got up, and I scrupulously 20 added: “Unless, of course, we can prevent!”
Standing 21 there before me while I kept my seat, she visibly turned things over. “Their uncle must do the preventing. He must take them away.”
“And who’s to make him?”
She had been scanning the distance, but she now dropped on me a foolish face. “You, miss.”
“By writing to him that his house is poisoned and his little nephew and niece mad?”
“But if they ARE, miss?”
“And if I am myself, you mean? That’s charming news to be sent him by a governess whose prime undertaking 22 was to give him no worry.”
Mrs. Grose considered, following the children again. “Yes, he do hate worry. That was the great reason — ”
“Why those fiends took him in so long? No doubt, though his indifference 23 must have been awful. As I’m not a fiend, at any rate, I shouldn’t take him in.”
My companion, after an instant and for all answer, sat down again and grasped my arm. “Make him at any rate come to you.”
I stared. “To ME?” I had a sudden fear of what she might do. “‘Him’?”
“He ought to BE here — he ought to help.”
I quickly rose, and I think I must have shown her a queerer face than ever yet. “You see me asking him for a visit?” No, with her eyes on my face she evidently couldn’t. Instead of it even — as a woman reads another — she could see what I myself saw: his derision, his amusement, his contempt for the breakdown 24 of my resignation at being left alone and for the fine machinery 25 I had set in motion to attract his attention to my slighted charms. She didn’t know — no one knew — how proud I had been to serve him and to stick to our terms; yet she nonetheless took the measure, I think, of the warning I now gave her. “If you should so lose your head as to appeal to him for me — ”
She was really frightened. “Yes, miss?”
“I would leave, on the spot, both him and you.”
v.(搬运工等)等候顾客,弯曲
- Taxis licensed to ply for hire at the railway station.许可计程车在火车站候客。
- Ferryboats ply across the English Channel.渡船定期往返于英吉利海峡。
adj.有系统的,有计划的,有方法的
- The way he works isn't very systematic.他的工作不是很有条理。
- The teacher made a systematic work of teaching.这个教师进行系统的教学工作。
提及,暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 )
- In your remarks you alluded to a certain sinister design. 在你的谈话中,你提到了某个阴谋。
- She also alluded to her rival's past marital troubles. 她还影射了对手过去的婚姻问题。
adj.明白易懂的,清晰的,头脑清楚的
- His explanation was lucid and to the point.他的解释扼要易懂。
- He wasn't very lucid,he didn't quite know where he was.他神志不是很清醒,不太知道自己在哪里。
n.明朗,清晰,透明
- His writings were marked by an extraordinary lucidity and elegance of style.他的作品简洁明晰,文风典雅。
- The pain had lessened in the night, but so had his lucidity.夜里他的痛苦是减轻了,但人也不那么清醒了。
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。
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过
- That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
- It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。
n.恶人( demon的名词复数 );恶魔;精力过人的人;邪念
- demons torturing the sinners in Hell 地狱里折磨罪人的魔鬼
- He is plagued by demons which go back to his traumatic childhood. 他为心魔所困扰,那可追溯至他饱受创伤的童年。 来自《简明英汉词典》
n.感叹号,惊呼,惊叹词
- He could not restrain an exclamation of approval.他禁不住喝一声采。
- The author used three exclamation marks at the end of the last sentence to wake up the readers.作者在文章的最后一句连用了三个惊叹号,以引起读者的注意。
adj.家常的,简朴的;不漂亮的
- We had a homely meal of bread and cheese.我们吃了一顿面包加乳酪的家常便餐。
- Come and have a homely meal with us,will you?来和我们一起吃顿家常便饭,好吗?
n.正当的理由;辩解的理由
- There's no justification for dividing the company into smaller units. 没有理由把公司划分成小单位。
- In the young there is a justification for this feeling. 在年轻人中有这种感觉是有理由的。
v.批准,认可;n.批准,认可
- I cannot assent to what you ask.我不能应允你的要求。
- The new bill passed by Parliament has received Royal Assent.议会所通过的新方案已获国王批准。
adj.可信任的,可靠的
- The news report is hardly credible.这则新闻报道令人难以置信。
- Is there a credible alternative to the nuclear deterrent?是否有可以取代核威慑力量的可靠办法?
n. 支柱,曲柄,大括号; v. 绷紧,顶住,(为困难或坏事)做准备
- My daughter has to wear a brace on her teeth. 我的女儿得戴牙套以矫正牙齿。
- You had better brace yourself for some bad news. 有些坏消息,你最好做好准备。
n.服从,投降;温顺,谦虚;提出
- The defeated general showed his submission by giving up his sword.战败将军缴剑表示投降。
- No enemy can frighten us into submission.任何敌人的恐吓都不能使我们屈服。
流氓( rascal的名词复数 ); 无赖; (开玩笑说法)淘气的人(尤指小孩); 恶作剧的人
- "Oh, but I like rascals. "唔,不过我喜欢流氓。
- "They're all second-raters, black sheep, rascals. "他们都是二流人物,是流氓,是恶棍。
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。
n.打听,询问,调查,查问
- 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。
adj.详述的,明确的;坦率的;显然的
- She was quite explicit about why she left.她对自己离去的原因直言不讳。
- He avoids the explicit answer to us.他避免给我们明确的回答。
adv.一丝不苟地;小心翼翼地,多顾虑地
- She toed scrupulously into the room. 她小心翼翼地踮着脚走进房间。 来自辞典例句
- To others he would be scrupulously fair. 对待别人,他力求公正。 来自英汉非文学 - 文明史
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的
- 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。
n.保证,许诺,事业
- He gave her an undertaking that he would pay the money back with in a year.他向她做了一年内还钱的保证。
- He is too timid to venture upon an undertaking.他太胆小,不敢从事任何事业。
n.不感兴趣,不关心,冷淡,不在乎
- 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。
n.垮,衰竭;损坏,故障,倒塌
- She suffered a nervous breakdown.她患神经衰弱。
- The plane had a breakdown in the air,but it was fortunately removed by the ace pilot.飞机在空中发生了故障,但幸运的是被王牌驾驶员排除了。