A pleasant encounter?
文章来源:未知 文章作者:meng 发布时间:2009-09-30 06:50 字体: [ ]  进入论坛
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People have different views about which are "the best years of one's life." One common idea is that the teenage years form this happy period. The modern Irish novelist, Edna O'Brien, is particularly sensitive to the views of young women, and perhaps one can judge whether she views teenage as necessarily the happiest time in a young girl's life from this description of Caithleen in The Girl with Green Eyes. Living in Dublin, Caithleen has fallen in love with Eugene Gaillard, and has been seeking every possible way of `just bumping into him'. Now, unexpectedly, they meet in the street ...
 
Coming down the stone steps from the bookshop I met him. I saw him in that instant before he saw me and I was so astonished that I almost ran away.

"Oh, you!" he said as he looked up in surprise. He must have forgotten my name.

"Mr. Gaillard, hello," I said, trying to conceal1 my excitement.

In daylight his face looked different longer and more melancholy2. A shower of rain had brought us together. He came up to shelter in the porch and I stood in with him. My body became as jelly from standing3 close to him, smelling his nice smell.

"What have you been doing?" he said. "We went to a marvellous dance last night, a marvellous band and supper and everything."

Oh, God, I thought, I am as dull as old dishwater. Why can't I say something exciting, why can't I tell him what I feel about him?

"The rain sparkles on the brown pavement," I said in a false fit of eloquence4. "Sparkles?" he said, and smiled curiously5.

"Yes, it's a nice word." "Indeed." He nodded.

I felt that he was bored and I prayed there would be a deluge6 and that we would have to stay there for ever. I imagined the water rising inch by inch, covering the road, the pavement, the steps, our ankles, our legs, our bodies, drawing us together as in a dream, all other life cut off from us.

"It's getting worse," I said, pointing to a black cloud that hung over the darkening city of Dublin.

"It's only a shower," he said, shattering all my mad hopes. "What about a cup of tea, would you like some tea?" he asked. "I'd love it."

And in the rain we crossed the road to a tea shop. I forget what we talked about. I remember being speechless with happiness and feeling that God, or someone, had brought us together. I ate three cakes; he pressed me to have a fourth but I didn't, in case it was vulgar. It was then he asked my name. So he had forgotten it.

"Tell me, what do you read?" he asked. He had a habit of smiling whenever I caught his eye, and though his eyes were sad, he smiled nicely.

"Chekhov and James Joyce and James Stephens and ..." I stopped suddenly in case he should think that I was showing off.

"I must loan you a book some time," he said. Some time? When is some time, I thought as I looked at the tea leaves in the bottom of his cup.

"I often wonder what young girls like you think. What do you think of?" he asked, after he had been looking steadily7 at me for a few seconds.

I think about you, I thought, and blushed a bit. To him I said in a dull stupid voice, "I don't think very much really; I think about getting new clothes or going on my holidays or what we'll have for lunch."

It seems to me now that he sighed and that I tittered to hide my embarrassment8 and told him that some girls thought of marrying rich men, and one I knew of thought only of her hair; she washed it every night and measured how much it grew in a week. He looked at his watch and inevitably9 he had to go.

"I'm sorry, but I have to see somebody at four."

"I'm sorry for keeping you," I said, as we stood up. He paid the bill and took his cap off the hat rack inside the door.

"Thank you. A pleasant encounter," he said, as we stood on the stone step.

I thanked him, he raised his cap and went away from me. I watched him go. I saw him as a dark-faced God turning his back on me. I put out my hand to recall him and caught only the rain. I felt that it would rain forever, noiselessly.



点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 conceal DpYzt     
v.隐藏,隐瞒,隐蔽
参考例句:
  • He had to conceal his identity to escape the police.为了躲避警方,他只好隐瞒身份。
  • He could hardly conceal his joy at his departure.他几乎掩饰不住临行时的喜悦。
2 melancholy t7rz8     
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。
3 standing 2hCzgo     
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的
参考例句:
  • 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。
4 eloquence 6mVyM     
n.雄辩;口才,修辞
参考例句:
  • I am afraid my eloquence did not avail against the facts.恐怕我的雄辩也无补于事实了。
  • The people were charmed by his eloquence.人们被他的口才迷住了。
5 curiously 3v0zIc     
adv.有求知欲地;好问地;奇特地
参考例句:
  • He looked curiously at the people.他好奇地看着那些人。
  • He took long stealthy strides. His hands were curiously cold.他迈着悄没声息的大步。他的双手出奇地冷。
6 deluge a9nyg     
n./vt.洪水,暴雨,使泛滥
参考例句:
  • This little stream can become a deluge when it rains heavily.雨大的时候,这条小溪能变作洪流。
  • I got caught in the deluge on the way home.我在回家的路上遇到倾盆大雨。
7 steadily Qukw6     
adv.稳定地;不变地;持续地
参考例句:
  • The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
  • Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。
8 embarrassment fj9z8     
n.尴尬;使人为难的人(事物);障碍;窘迫
参考例句:
  • She could have died away with embarrassment.她窘迫得要死。
  • Coughing at a concert can be a real embarrassment.在音乐会上咳嗽真会使人难堪。
9 inevitably x7axc     
adv.不可避免地;必然发生地
参考例句:
  • In the way you go on,you are inevitably coming apart.照你们这样下去,毫无疑问是会散伙的。
  • Technological changes will inevitably lead to unemployment.技术变革必然会导致失业。
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