【有声英语文学名著】战争与和平 Book 7(12)
时间:2018-12-18 作者:英语课 分类:有声英语文学名著
英语课
Chapter 12 - The drive home
When they all drove back from Pelageya Danilovna’s, Natasha, who always saw and noticed everything, arranged that she and Madame Schoss should go back in the sleigh with Dimmler, and Sonya with Nikolai and the maids.
On the way back Nikolai drove at a steady pace instead of racing 1 and kept peering by that fantastic all-transforming light into Sonya’s face and searching beneath the eyebrows 2 and mustache for his former and his present Sonya from whom he had resolved never to be parted again. He looked and recognizing in her both the old and the new Sonya, and being reminded by the smell of burnt cork 3 of the sensation of her kiss, inhaled 4 the frosty air with a full breast and, looking at the ground flying beneath him and at the sparkling sky, felt himself again in fairyland.
“Sonya, is it well with thee?” he asked from time to time.
“Yes!” she replied. “And with thee?”
When halfway 5 home Nikolai handed the reins 6 to the coachman and ran for a moment to Natasha’s sleigh and stood on its wing.
“Natasha!” he whispered in French, “do you know I have made up my mind about Sonya?”
“Have you told her?” asked Natasha, suddenly beaming all over with joy.
“Oh, how strange you are with that mustache and those eyebrows! . . . Natasha — are you glad?”
“I am so glad, so glad! I was beginning to be vexed 7 with you. I did not tell you, but you have been treating her badly. What a heart she has, Nikolai! I am horrid 8 sometimes, but I was ashamed to be happy while Sonya was not,” continued Natasha. “Now I am so glad! Well, run back to her.”
“No, wait a bit. . . . Oh, how funny you look!” cried Nikolai, peering into her face and finding in his sister too something new, unusual, and bewitchingly tender that he had not seen in her before. “Natasha, it’s magical, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” she replied. “You have done splendidly.”
“Had I seen her before as she is now,” thought Nikolai, “I should long ago have asked her what to do and have done whatever she told me, and all would have been well.”
“So you are glad and I have done right?”
“Oh, quite right! I had a quarrel with Mamma some time ago about it. Mamma said she was angling for you. How could she say such a thing! I nearly stormed at Mamma. I will never let anyone say anything bad of Sonya, for there is nothing but good in her.”
“Then it’s all right?” said Nikolai, again scrutinizing 9 the expression of his sister’s face to see if she was in earnest. Then he jumped down and, his boots scrunching 10 the snow, ran back to his sleigh. The same happy, smiling Circassian, with mustache and beaming eyes looking up from under a sable 11 hood 12, was still sitting there, and that Circassian was Sonya, and that Sonya was certainly his future happy and loving wife.
When they reached home and had told their mother how they had spent the evening at the Melyukovs’, the girls went to their bedroom. When they had undressed, but without washing off the cork mustaches, they sat a long time talking of their happiness. They talked of how they would live when they were married, how their husbands would be friends, and how happy they would be. On Natasha’s table stood two looking glasses which Dunyasha had prepared beforehand.
“Only when will all that be? I am afraid never. . . . It would be too good!” said Natasha, rising and going to the looking glasses.
“Sit down, Natasha; perhaps you’ll see him,” said Sonya.
Natasha lit the candles, one on each side of one of the looking glasses, and sat down.
“I see someone with a mustache,” said Natasha, seeing her own face.
“You mustn’t laugh, Miss,” said Dunyasha.
With Sonya’s help and the maid’s, Natasha got the glass she held into the right position opposite the other; her face assumed a serious expression and she sat silent. She sat a long time looking at the receding 13 line of candles reflected in the glasses and expecting (from tales she had heard) to see a coffin 14, or him, Prince Andrey, in that last dim, indistinctly outlined square. But ready as she was to take the smallest speck 15 for the image of a man or of a coffin, she saw nothing. She began blinking rapidly and moved away from the looking glasses.
“Why is it others see things and I don’t?” she said. “You sit down now, Sonya. You absolutely must, tonight! Do it for me. . . . Today I feel so frightened!”
Sonya sat down before the glasses, got the right position, and began looking.
“Now, Miss Sonya is sure to see something,” whispered Dunyasha; “while you do nothing but laugh.”
Sonya heard this and Natasha’s whisper:
“I know she will. She saw something last year.”
For about three minutes all were silent.
“Of course she will!” whispered Natasha, but did not finish . . . suddenly Sonya pushed away the glass she was holding and covered her eyes with her hand.
“Oh, Natasha!” she cried.
“Did you see? Did you? What was it?” exclaimed Natasha, holding up the looking glass.
Sonya had not seen anything, she was just wanting to blink and to get up when she heard Natasha say, “Of course she will!” She did not wish to disappoint either Dunyasha or Natasha, but it was hard to sit still. She did not herself know how or why the exclamation 16 escaped her when she covered her eyes.
“You saw him?” urged Natasha, seizing her hand.
“Yes. Wait a bit . . . I . . . saw him,” Sonya could not help saying, not yet knowing whom Natasha meant by him, Nikolai or Prince Andrey.
“But why shouldn’t I say I saw something? Others do see! Besides who can tell whether I saw anything or not?” flashed through Sonya’s mind.
“Yes, I saw him,” she said.
“How? Standing 17 or lying?”
“No, I saw . . . At first there was nothing, then I saw him lying down.”
“Andrey lying? Is he ill?” asked Natasha, her frightened eyes fixed 18 on her friend.
“No, on the contrary, on the contrary! His face was cheerful, and he turned to me.” And when saying this she herself fancied she had really seen what she described.
“Well, and then, Sonya? . . . ”
“After that, I could not make out what there was; something blue and red . . . ”
“Sonya! When will he come back? When shall I see him! O, God, how afraid I am for him and for myself and about everything! . . . ” Natasha began, and without replying to Sonya’s words of comfort she got into bed, and long after her candle was out lay open-eyed and motionless, gazing at the moonlight through the frosty windowpanes.
1 racing
n.竞赛,赛马;adj.竞赛用的,赛马用的
- I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
- The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。
2 eyebrows
眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 )
- Eyebrows stop sweat from coming down into the eyes. 眉毛挡住汗水使其不能流进眼睛。
- His eyebrows project noticeably. 他的眉毛特别突出。
3 cork
n.软木,软木塞
- We heard the pop of a cork.我们听见瓶塞砰的一声打开。
- Cork is a very buoyant material.软木是极易浮起的材料。
4 inhaled
v.吸入( inhale的过去式和过去分词 )
- She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. 她合上双眼,深深吸了一口气。
- Janet inhaled sharply when she saw him. 珍妮特看到他时猛地吸了口气。 来自《简明英汉词典》
5 halfway
adj.中途的,不彻底的,部分的;adv.半路地,在中途,在半途
- We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路,天就黑了。
- In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上,最忌讳的是有始无终。
6 reins
感情,激情; 缰( rein的名词复数 ); 控制手段; 掌管; (成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的)保护带
- She pulled gently on the reins. 她轻轻地拉着缰绳。
- The government has imposed strict reins on the import of luxury goods. 政府对奢侈品的进口有严格的控制手段。
7 vexed
adj.争论不休的;(指问题等)棘手的;争论不休的问题;烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 );使苦恼;使生气;详细讨论
- The conference spent days discussing the vexed question of border controls. 会议花了几天的时间讨论边境关卡这个难题。
- He was vexed at his failure. 他因失败而懊恼。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
8 horrid
adj.可怕的;令人惊恐的;恐怖的;极讨厌的
- I'm not going to the horrid dinner party.我不打算去参加这次讨厌的宴会。
- The medicine is horrid and she couldn't get it down.这种药很难吃,她咽不下去。
9 scrutinizing
v.仔细检查,详审( scrutinize的现在分词 )
- His grandfather's stern eyes were scrutinizing him, and Chueh-hui felt his face reddening. 祖父的严厉的眼光射在他的脸上。 来自汉英文学 - 家(1-26) - 家(1-26)
- The machine hushed, extraction and injection nozzles poised, scrutinizing its targets. 机器“嘘”地一声静了下来,输入输出管道各就各位,检查着它的目标。 来自互联网
10 scrunching
v.发出喀嚓声( scrunch的现在分词 );蜷缩;压;挤压
- Her mother was sitting bolt upright, scrunching her white cotton gloves into a ball. 她母亲坐得笔直,把她的白手套揉成了球状。 来自柯林斯例句
11 sable
n.黑貂;adj.黑色的
- Artists' brushes are sometimes made of sable.画家的画笔有的是用貂毛制的。
- Down the sable flood they glided.他们在黑黝黝的洪水中随波逐流。
12 hood
n.头巾,兜帽,覆盖;v.罩上,以头巾覆盖
- She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
- The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。
13 receding
v.逐渐远离( recede的现在分词 );向后倾斜;自原处后退或避开别人的注视;尤指问题
- Desperately he struck out after the receding lights of the yacht. 游艇的灯光渐去渐远,他拼命划水追赶。 来自辞典例句
- Sounds produced by vehicles receding from us seem lower-pitched than usual. 渐渐远离我们的运载工具发出的声似乎比平常的音调低。 来自辞典例句
14 coffin
n.棺材,灵柩
- When one's coffin is covered,all discussion about him can be settled.盖棺论定。
- The coffin was placed in the grave.那口棺材已安放到坟墓里去了。
15 speck
n.微粒,小污点,小斑点
- I have not a speck of interest in it.我对它没有任何兴趣。
- The sky is clear and bright without a speck of cloud.天空晴朗,一星星云彩也没有。
16 exclamation
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。