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经典名著:月亮与六便士46
添加时间:2024-02-26 10:57:15 浏览次数: 作者:未知
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  • HAD not been in Tahiti long before I met Captain Nichols. He came in one morning when I was having breakfast on the terrace of the hotel and introduced himself. He had heard that I was interested in Charles Strickland, and announced that he was come to have a talk about him. They are as fond of gossip in Tahiti as in an English village, and one or two enquiries I had made for pictures by Strickland had been quickly spread. I asked the stranger if he had breakfasted.

    “Yes; I have my coffee early,” he answered, “but I don’t mind having a drop of whisky.”

    I called the Chinese boy.

    “You don’t think it’s too early?” said the Captain.

    “You and your liver must decide that between you,” I replied.

    “I’m practically a teetotaller,” he said, as he poured himself out a good half-tumbler of Canadian Club.

    When he smiled he showed broken and discoloured teeth. He was a very lean man, of no more than average height, with gray hair cut short and a stubbly gray moustache. He had not shaved for a couple of days. His face was deeply lined, burned brown by long exposure to the sun, and he had a pair of small blue eyes which were astonishingly shifty. They moved quickly, following my smallest gesture, and they gave him the look of a very thorough rogue1. But at the moment he was all heartiness2 and good-fellowship. He was dressed in a bedraggled suit of khaki, and his hands would have been all the better for a wash.

    “I knew Strickland well,” he said, as he leaned back in his chair and lit the cigar I had offered him. “It’s through me he came out to the islands.”

    “Where did you meet him?” I asked.

    “In Marseilles.”

    “What were you doing there?”

    He gave me an ingratiating smile.

    “Well, I guess I was on the beach.”

    My friend’s appearance suggested that he was now in the same predicament, and I prepared myself to cultivate an agreeable acquaintance. The society of beach-combers always repays the small pains you need be at to enjoy it. They are easy of approach and affable in conversation. They seldom put on airs, and the offer of a drink is a sure way to their hearts. You need no laborious3 steps to enter upon familiarity with them, and you can earn not only their confidence, but their gratitude4, by turning an attentive5 ear to their discourse6. They look upon conversation as the great pleasure of life, thereby7 proving the excellence8 of their civilisation9, and for the most part they are entertaining talkers. The extent of their experience is pleasantly balanced by the fertility of their imagination. It cannot be said that they are without guile10, but they have a tolerant respect for the law, when the law is supported by strength. It is hazardous11 to play poker12 with them, but their ingenuity13 adds a peculiar14 excitement to the best game in the world. I came to know Captain Nichols very well before I left Tahiti, and I am the richer for his acquaintance. I do not consider that the cigars and whisky he consumed at my expense (he always refused cocktails15, since he was practically a teetotaller), and the few dollars, borrowed with a civil air of conferring a favour upon me, that passed from my pocket to his, were in any way equivalent to the entertainment he afforded me. I remained his debtor16. I should be sorry if my conscience, insisting on a rigid17 attention to the matter in hand, forced me to dismiss him in a couple of lines.

    I do not know why Captain Nichols first left England. It was a matter upon which he was reticent18, and with persons of his kind a direct question is never very discreet19. He hinted at undeserved misfortune, and there is no doubt that he looked upon himself as the victim of injustice20. My fancy played with the various forms of fraud and violence, and I agreed with him sympathetically when he remarked that the authorities in the old country were so damned technical. But it was nice to see that any unpleasantness he had endured in his native land had not impaired21 his ardent22 patriotism23. He frequently declared that England was the finest country in the world, sir, and he felt a lively superiority over Americans, Colonials, Dagos, Dutchmen, and Kanakas.

    But I do not think he was a happy man. He suffered from dyspepsia, and he might often be seen sucking a tablet of pepsin; in the morning his appetite was poor; but this affliction alone would hardly have impaired his spirits. He had a greater cause of discontent with life than this. Eight years before he had rashly married a wife. There are men whom a merciful Providence24 has undoubtedly25 ordained26 to a single life, but who from wilfulness27 or through circumstances they could not cope with have flown in the face of its decrees. There is no object more deserving of pity than the married bachelor. Of such was Captain Nichols. I met his wife. She was a woman of twenty-eight, I should think, though of a type whose age is always doubtful; for she cannot have looked different when she was twenty, and at forty would look no older. She gave me an impression of extraordinary tightness. Her plain face with its narrow lips was tight, her skin was stretched tightly over her bones, her smile was tight, her hair was tight, her clothes were tight, and the white drill she wore had all the effect of black bombazine. I could not imagine why Captain Nichols had married her, and having married her why he had not deserted28 her. Perhaps he had, often, and his melancholy29 arose from the fact that he could never succeed. However far he went and in howsoever secret a place he hid himself, I felt sure that Mrs. Nichols, inexorable as fate and remorseless as conscience, would presently rejoin him. He could as little escape her as the cause can escape the effect.

    The rogue, like the artist and perhaps the gentleman, belongs to no class. He is not embarrassed by the sans gene of the hobo, nor put out of countenance30 by the etiquette31 of the prince. But Mrs. Nichols belonged to the well-defined class, of late become vocal32, which is known as the lower-middle. Her father, in fact, was a policeman. I am certain that he was an efficient one. I do not know what her hold was on the Captain, but I do not think it was love. I never heard her speak, but it may be that in private she had a copious33 conversation. At any rate, Captain Nichols was frightened to death of her. Sometimes, sitting with me on the terrace of the hotel, he would become conscious that she was walking in the road outside. She did not call him; she gave no sign that she was aware of his existence; she merely walked up and down composedly. Then a strange uneasiness would seize the Captain; he would look at his watch and sigh.

    “Well, I must be off,” he said.

    Neither wit nor whisky could detain him then. Yet he was a man who had faced undaunted hurricane and typhoon, and would not have hesitated to fight a dozen unarmed niggers with nothing but a revolver to help him. Sometimes Mrs. Nichols would send her daughter, a pale-faced, sullen34 child of seven, to the hotel.

    “Mother wants you,” she said, in a whining35 tone.

    “Very well, my dear,” said Captain Nichols.

    He rose to his feet at once, and accompanied his daughter along the road. I suppose it was a very pretty example of the triumph of spirit over matter, and so my digression has at least the advantage of a moral.



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    1 rogue [rəʊg] qCfzo   第12级
    n.流氓;v.游手好闲
    参考例句:
    • The little rogue had his grandpa's glasses on. 这淘气鬼带上了他祖父的眼镜。
    • They defined him as a rogue. 他们确定他为骗子。
    2 heartiness ['hɑ:tɪnəs] 6f75b254a04302d633e3c8c743724849   第7级
    诚实,热心
    参考例句:
    • However, he realized the air of empty-headed heartiness might also mask a shrewd mind. 但他知道,盲目的热情可能使伶俐的头脑发昏。
    • There was in him the heartiness and intolerant joviality of the prosperous farmer. 在他身上有种生意昌隆的农场主常常表现出的春风得意欢天喜地的劲头,叫人消受不了。
    3 laborious [ləˈbɔ:riəs] VxoyD   第9级
    adj.吃力的,努力的,不流畅,勤劳的
    参考例句:
    • They had the laborious task of cutting down the huge tree. 他们接受了伐大树的艰苦工作。
    • Ants and bees are laborious insects. 蚂蚁与蜜蜂是勤劳的昆虫。
    4 gratitude [ˈgrætɪtju:d] p6wyS   第7级
    adj.感激,感谢
    参考例句:
    • I have expressed the depth of my gratitude to him. 我向他表示了深切的谢意。
    • She could not help her tears of gratitude rolling down her face. 她感激的泪珠禁不住沿着面颊流了下来。
    5 attentive [əˈtentɪv] pOKyB   第7级
    adj.注意的,专心的;关心(别人)的,殷勤的
    参考例句:
    • She was very attentive to her guests. 她对客人招待得十分周到。
    • The speaker likes to have an attentive audience. 演讲者喜欢注意力集中的听众。
    6 discourse [ˈdɪskɔ:s] 2lGz0   第7级
    n.论文,演说;谈话;话语;vi.讲述,著述
    参考例句:
    • We'll discourse on the subject tonight. 我们今晚要谈论这个问题。
    • He fell into discourse with the customers who were drinking at the counter. 他和站在柜台旁的酒客谈了起来。
    7 thereby [ˌðeəˈbaɪ] Sokwv   第8级
    adv.因此,从而
    参考例句:
    • I have never been to that city, thereby I don't know much about it. 我从未去过那座城市,因此对它不怎么熟悉。
    • He became a British citizen, thereby gaining the right to vote. 他成了英国公民,因而得到了投票权。
    8 excellence [ˈeksələns] ZnhxM   第8级
    n.优秀,杰出,(pl.)优点,美德
    参考例句:
    • His art has reached a high degree of excellence. 他的艺术已达到炉火纯青的地步。
    • My performance is far below excellence. 我的表演离优秀还差得远呢。
    9 civilisation [sɪvɪlaɪ'zeɪʃən] civilisation   第8级
    n.文明,文化,开化,教化
    参考例句:
    • Energy and ideas are the twin bases of our civilisation. 能源和思想是我们文明的两大基石。
    • This opera is one of the cultural totems of Western civilisation. 这部歌剧是西方文明的文化标志物之一。
    10 guile [gaɪl] olNyJ   第11级
    n.诈术
    参考例句:
    • He is full of guile. 他非常狡诈。
    • A swindler uses guile; a robber uses force. 骗子用诈术;强盗用武力。
    11 hazardous [ˈhæzədəs] Iddxz   第9级
    adj.(有)危险的,冒险的;碰运气的
    参考例句:
    • These conditions are very hazardous for shipping. 这些情况对航海非常不利。
    • Everybody said that it was a hazardous investment. 大家都说那是一次危险的投资。
    12 poker [ˈpəʊkə(r)] ilozCG   第10级
    n.扑克;vt.烙制
    参考例句:
    • He was cleared out in the poker game. 他打扑克牌,把钱都输光了。
    • I'm old enough to play poker and do something with it. 我打扑克是老手了,可以玩些花样。
    13 ingenuity [ˌɪndʒəˈnju:əti] 77TxM   第7级
    n.别出心裁;善于发明创造
    参考例句:
    • The boy showed ingenuity in making toys. 那个小男孩做玩具很有创造力。
    • I admire your ingenuity and perseverance. 我钦佩你的别出心裁和毅力。
    14 peculiar [pɪˈkju:liə(r)] cinyo   第7级
    adj.古怪的,异常的;特殊的,特有的
    参考例句:
    • He walks in a peculiar fashion. 他走路的样子很奇特。
    • He looked at me with a very peculiar expression. 他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。
    15 cocktails ['kɒkteɪlz] a8cac8f94e713cc85d516a6e94112418   第7级
    n.鸡尾酒( cocktail的名词复数 );餐前开胃菜;混合物
    参考例句:
    • Come about 4 o'clock. We'll have cocktails and grill steaks. 请四点钟左右来,我们喝鸡尾酒,吃烤牛排。 来自辞典例句
    • Cocktails were a nasty American habit. 喝鸡尾酒是讨厌的美国习惯。 来自辞典例句
    16 debtor [ˈdetə(r)] bxfxy   第8级
    n.借方,债务人
    参考例句:
    • He crowded the debtor for payment. 他催逼负债人还债。
    • The court granted me a lien on my debtor's property. 法庭授予我对我债务人财产的留置权。
    17 rigid [ˈrɪdʒɪd] jDPyf   第7级
    adj.严格的,死板的;刚硬的,僵硬的
    参考例句:
    • She became as rigid as adamant. 她变得如顽石般的固执。
    • The examination was so rigid that nearly all aspirants were ruled out. 考试很严,几乎所有的考生都被淘汰了。
    18 reticent [ˈretɪsnt] dW9xG   第10级
    adj.沉默寡言的;言不如意的
    参考例句:
    • He was reticent about his opinion. 他有保留意见。
    • He was extremely reticent about his personal life. 他对自己的个人生活讳莫如深。
    19 discreet [dɪˈskri:t] xZezn   第8级
    adj.(言行)谨慎的;慎重的;有判断力的
    参考例句:
    • He is very discreet in giving his opinions. 发表意见他十分慎重。
    • It wasn't discreet of you to ring me up at the office. 你打电话到我办公室真是太鲁莽了。
    20 injustice [ɪnˈdʒʌstɪs] O45yL   第8级
    n.非正义,不公正,不公平,侵犯(别人的)权利
    参考例句:
    • They complained of injustice in the way they had been treated. 他们抱怨受到不公平的对待。
    • All his life he has been struggling against injustice. 他一生都在与不公正现象作斗争。
    21 impaired [ɪm'peəd] sqtzdr   第7级
    adj.受损的;出毛病的;有(身体或智力)缺陷的v.损害,削弱( impair的过去式和过去分词 )
    参考例句:
    • Much reading has impaired his vision. 大量读书损害了他的视力。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
    • His hearing is somewhat impaired. 他的听觉已受到一定程度的损害。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
    22 ardent [ˈɑ:dnt] yvjzd   第8级
    adj.热情的,热烈的,强烈的,烈性的
    参考例句:
    • He's an ardent supporter of the local football team. 他是本地足球队的热情支持者。
    • Ardent expectations were held by his parents for his college career. 他父母对他的大学学习抱着殷切的期望。
    23 patriotism [ˈpeɪtriətɪzəm] 63lzt   第9级
    n.爱国精神,爱国心,爱国主义
    参考例句:
    • His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism. 他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
    • They obtained money under the false pretenses of patriotism. 他们以虚伪的爱国主义为借口获得金钱。
    24 providence [ˈprɒvɪdəns] 8tdyh   第12级
    n.深谋远虑,天道,天意;远见;节约;上帝
    参考例句:
    • It is tempting Providence to go in that old boat. 乘那艘旧船前往是冒大险。
    • To act as you have done is to fly in the face of Providence. 照你的所作所为那样去行事,是违背上帝的意志的。
    25 undoubtedly [ʌn'daʊtɪdlɪ] Mfjz6l   第7级
    adv.确实地,无疑地
    参考例句:
    • It is undoubtedly she who has said that. 这话明明是她说的。
    • He is undoubtedly the pride of China. 毫无疑问他是中国的骄傲。
    26 ordained [ɔ:ˈdeɪnd] 629f6c8a1f6bf34be2caf3a3959a61f1   第10级
    v.任命(某人)为牧师( ordain的过去式和过去分词 );授予(某人)圣职;(上帝、法律等)命令;判定
    参考例句:
    • He was ordained in 1984. 他在一九八四年被任命为牧师。 来自《简明英汉词典》
    • He was ordained priest. 他被任命为牧师。 来自辞典例句
    27 wilfulness ['wɪlfəlnɪs] 922df0f2716e8273f9323afc2b0c72af   第12级
    任性;倔强
    参考例句:
    • I refuse to stand by and see the company allowed to run aground because of one woman's wilfulness. 我不会袖手旁观,眼看公司因为一个女人的一意孤行而触礁。 来自柯林斯例句
    28 deserted [dɪˈzɜ:tɪd] GukzoL   第8级
    adj.荒芜的,荒废的,无人的,被遗弃的
    参考例句:
    • The deserted village was filled with a deathly silence. 这个荒废的村庄死一般的寂静。
    • The enemy chieftain was opposed and deserted by his followers. 敌人头目众叛亲离。
    29 melancholy [ˈmelənkəli] t7rz8   第8级
    n.忧郁,愁思;adj.令人感伤(沮丧)的,忧郁的
    参考例句:
    • All at once he fell into a state of profound melancholy. 他立即陷入无尽的忧思之中。
    • He felt melancholy after he failed the exam. 这次考试没通过,他感到很郁闷。
    30 countenance [ˈkaʊntənəns] iztxc   第9级
    n.脸色,面容;面部表情;vt.支持,赞同
    参考例句:
    • At the sight of this photograph he changed his countenance. 他一看见这张照片脸色就变了。
    • I made a fierce countenance as if I would eat him alive. 我脸色恶狠狠地,仿佛要把他活生生地吞下去。
    31 etiquette [ˈetɪket] Xiyz0   第7级
    n.礼仪,礼节;规矩
    参考例句:
    • The rules of etiquette are not so strict nowadays. 如今的礼仪规则已不那么严格了。
    • According to etiquette, you should stand up to meet a guest. 按照礼节你应该站起来接待客人。
    32 vocal [ˈvəʊkl] vhOwA   第7级
    adj.直言不讳的;嗓音的;n.[pl.]声乐节目
    参考例句:
    • The tongue is a vocal organ. 舌头是一个发音器官。
    • Public opinion at last became vocal. 终于舆论哗然。
    33 copious [ˈkəʊpiəs] koizs   第9级
    adj.丰富的,大量的
    参考例句:
    • She supports her theory with copious evidences. 她以大量的例证来充实自己的理论。
    • Every star is a copious source of neutrinos. 每颗恒星都是丰富的中微子源。
    34 sullen [ˈsʌlən] kHGzl   第9级
    adj.愠怒的,闷闷不乐的,(天气等)阴沉的
    参考例句:
    • He looked up at the sullen sky. 他抬头看了一眼阴沉的天空。
    • Susan was sullen in the morning because she hadn't slept well. 苏珊今天早上郁闷不乐, 因为昨晚没睡好。
    35 whining [hwaɪnɪŋ] whining   第11级
    n. 抱怨,牢骚 v. 哭诉,发牢骚
    参考例句:
    • That's the way with you whining, puny, pitiful players. 你们这种又爱哭、又软弱、又可怜的赌棍就是这样。
    • The dog sat outside the door whining (to be let in). 那条狗坐在门外狺狺叫着(要进来)。

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