-
(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
有声名著之双城记
CHAPTER VThe Jackal
THOSE were drinking days, and moot1 men drank hard. So very great is theimprovement Time has brought about in such habits, that a moderate statementof the quantity of wine and punch which one man would swallow in the courseof a night, without any detriment2 to his reputation as a perfect gentleman,would seem, in these days, a ridiculous exaggeration. The learned professionof the law was certainly not behind any other learned profession in itsBacchanalian Propensities3; neither was Mr. Stryver, already fast shoulderinghis way to a large and lucrative4 practice, behind his compeers in thisparticular, any more than in the drier parts of the legal race.
A favourite at the Old Bailey, and eke5 at the Sessions, Mr. Stryver hadbegun cautiously to hew6 away the lower staves of the ladder on which hemounted. Sessions and Old Bailey had now to summon their favourite,specially, to their longing7 arms; and shouldering itself towards the visageof the Lord Chief Justice in the Court of King's Bench, the floridcountenance of Mr. Stryver might be daily seen, bursting out of the bed ofwigs, like a great sunflower pushing its way at the sun from among a rankgarden full of flaring8 companions.
ad once been noted9 at the Bar, that while Mr. Stryver was a glib10 man, andan unscrupulous, and a ready, and a bold, he had not that faculty11 ofextracting the essence from a heap of statements, which is among the moststriking and necessary of the advocate's accomplishments12. But a remarkableimprovement came upon him as to this. The more business he got, the greaterhis power seemed to grow of getting at its pith and marrow13; and however lateat night he sat carousing14 with Sydney Carton, he always had his points athis fingers' ends in the morning.
Sydney Carton, idlest and most unpromising of men, was Stryver's greatally. What the two drank together, between Hilary Term and Michaelmas, mighthave floated a king's ship. Stryver never had a case in hand, anywhere, butCarton was there, with his hands in his pockets, staring at the ceiling ofthe court; they went the same Circuit, and even there they prolonged theirusual orgies late into the night, and Carton was rumoured15 to be seen atbroad day, going home stealthily and unsteadily to his lodgings16, like adissipated cat. At last, it began to get about, among such as wereinterested in the matter, that although Sydney Carton would never be a lion,he was an amazingly good jackal, and that he rendered suit and service toStryver in that humble17 capacity.
`Ten o'clock, sir,' said the man at the tavern18, whom he had charged to wakehim--'ten o'clock, sir.'
`What's the matter?'
`Ten o'clock, sir.'
`What do you mean? Ten o'clock at night?'
`Yes, sir. Your honour told me to call you.'
`Oh! I remember. Very well, very well.'
After a few dull efforts to get to sleep again, which the man dexterouslycombated by stirring the fire continuously for five minutes, he got up,tossed his hat on, and walked out. He turned into the Temple, and, havingrevived himself by twice pacing the pavements of King's Bench-walk andPaper-buildings, turned into the Stryver chambers20.
The Stryver clerk, who never assisted at these conferences, had gone home,and the Stryver principal opened the door. He had his slippers21 on, and aloose bed-gown, and his throat was bare for his greater ease. He had thatrather wild, strained, seared marking about the eyes, which may be observedin all free livers of his class, from the portrait of Jeffries downward, andwhich can be traced, under various disguises of Art, through the portraitsof every Drinking Age.
`You are a little late, Memory,' said Stryver.
`About the usual time; it may be a quarter of an hour later.'
They went into a dingy22 room lined with books and littered with papers,where there was a blazing fire. A kettle steamed upon the hob, and in themidst of the wreck23 of papers a table shone, with plenty of wine upon it, andbrandy, and rum, and sugar, and lemons.
`You have had your bottle, I perceive, Sydney.'
`Two to-night, I think. I have been dining with the day's client; or seeinghim dine--it's all one!'
`That was a rare point, Sydney, that you brought to bear upon theidentification. How did you come by it? When did it strike you?'
`I thought he was rather a handsome fellow, and I thought I should havebeen much the same sort of fellow, if I had had any luck.'
Mr. Stryver laughed till he shook his precocious24 paunch.
`You and your luck, Sydney! Get to work, get to work.' Sullenly25 enough, thejackal loosened his dress, went into an adjoining room, and came back with alarge jug26 of cold water, a basin, and a towel or two. Steeping the towels inthe water, and partially27 wringing28 them out, he folded them on his head in amanner hideous29 to behold30, sat down at the table, and said, `Now I am ready!'
1 moot | |
v.提出;adj.未决议的;n.大会;辩论会 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2 detriment | |
n.损害;损害物,造成损害的根源 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3 propensities | |
n.倾向,习性( propensity的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4 lucrative | |
adj.赚钱的,可获利的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5 eke | |
v.勉强度日,节约使用 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6 hew | |
v.砍;伐;削 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7 longing | |
n.(for)渴望 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8 flaring | |
a.火焰摇曳的,过份艳丽的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9 noted | |
adj.著名的,知名的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10 glib | |
adj.圆滑的,油嘴滑舌的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
11 faculty | |
n.才能;学院,系;(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
12 accomplishments | |
n.造诣;完成( accomplishment的名词复数 );技能;成绩;成就 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
13 marrow | |
n.骨髓;精华;活力 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
14 carousing | |
v.痛饮,闹饮欢宴( carouse的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
15 rumoured | |
adj.谣传的;传说的;风 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
16 lodgings | |
n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
17 humble | |
adj.谦卑的,恭顺的;地位低下的;v.降低,贬低 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
18 tavern | |
n.小旅馆,客栈;小酒店 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
19 chamber | |
n.房间,寝室;会议厅;议院;会所 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
20 chambers | |
n.房间( chamber的名词复数 );(议会的)议院;卧室;会议厅 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
21 slippers | |
n. 拖鞋 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
22 dingy | |
adj.昏暗的,肮脏的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
23 wreck | |
n.失事,遇难;沉船;vt.(船等)失事,遇难 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
24 precocious | |
adj.早熟的;较早显出的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
25 sullenly | |
不高兴地,绷着脸,忧郁地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
26 jug | |
n.(有柄,小口,可盛水等的)大壶,罐,盂 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
27 partially | |
adv.部分地,从某些方面讲 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
28 wringing | |
淋湿的,湿透的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
29 hideous | |
adj.丑陋的,可憎的,可怕的,恐怖的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
30 behold | |
v.看,注视,看到 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
31 stint | |
v.节省,限制,停止;n.舍不得化,节约,限制;连续不断的一段时间从事某件事 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
32 flirting | |
v.调情,打情骂俏( flirt的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
33 lighter | |
n.打火机,点火器;驳船;v.用驳船运送;light的比较级 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
34 knotty | |
adj.有结的,多节的,多瘤的,棘手的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
35 imperative | |
n.命令,需要;规则;祈使语气;adj.强制的;紧急的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
36 fully | |
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
37 meditate | |
v.想,考虑,(尤指宗教上的)沉思,冥想 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
38 bumper | |
n.(汽车上的)保险杠;adj.特大的,丰盛的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
39 throttle | |
n.节流阀,节气阀,喉咙;v.扼喉咙,使窒息,压 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
40 applied | |
adj.应用的;v.应用,适用 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
41 gainsay | |
v.否认,反驳 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
42 grunt | |
v.嘟哝;作呼噜声;n.呼噜声,嘟哝 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
43 bullying | |
v.恐吓,威逼( bully的现在分词 );豪;跋扈 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
44 lame | |
adj.跛的,(辩解、论据等)无说服力的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
45 crumbs | |
int. (表示惊讶)哎呀 n. 碎屑 名词crumb的复数形式 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
46 rust | |
n.锈;v.生锈;(脑子)衰退 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
47 repose | |
v.(使)休息;n.安息 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
48 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
49 picturesque | |
adj.美丽如画的,(语言)生动的,绘声绘色的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
50 admiration | |
n.钦佩,赞美,羡慕 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
51 mirage | |
n.海市蜃楼,幻景 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
52 honourable | |
adj.可敬的;荣誉的,光荣的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
53 ripening | |
v.成熟,使熟( ripen的现在分词 );熟化;熟成 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
54 incapable | |
adj.无能力的,不能做某事的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
55 blight | |
n.枯萎病;造成破坏的因素;vt.破坏,摧残 | |
参考例句: |
|
|