地下墓穴（16）

 

“This is most interesting,” said he, and his voice seemed to boom against the concave vault¹. “As far as my experience goes, it is unique. Bring the lantern over, Burger, for I want to see them all.”

But the German had strolled away, and was standing² in the middle of a yellow circle of light at the other side of the hall.

“Do you know how many wrong turnings there are between this and the stairs?” he asked. “There are over two thousand. No doubt it was one of the means of protection which the Christians³ adopted. The odds⁴ are two thousand to one against a man getting out, even if he had a light; but if he were in the dark it would, of course, be far more difficult.”

“So I should think.”

“And the darkness is something dreadful. I tried it once for an experiment. Let us try it again!” He stooped to the lantern, and in an instant it was as if an invisible hand was squeezed tightly over each of Kennedy’s eyes. Never had he known what such darkness was. It seemed to press upon him and to smother⁵ him. It was a solid obstacle against which the body shrank from advancing. He put his hands out to push it back from him.

“That will do, Burger,” said he, “let’s have the light again.”

But his companion began to laugh, and in that circular room the sound seemed to come from every side at once.

“太有意思了，"他说。他的声音隆隆作响，仿佛从拱顶上面回荡下来。“根据我的经验，这是绝无仅有的一个了。

伯格，把灯拿过来，我想把他们都看一看，”可是德国人已经走开了，正站在大厅另一头，身子周围呈现一圈淡黄色的灯光。

你知道从这里到出口之间有多少假岔道吗"他问。

“不下两千个。无疑，这是基督徒采用的保护措施之一。即使有灯，从这儿出去的机会也只有两千分之一：而没有灯的话，要在一片黑暗中摸出去，当然就更是难上加难了。”

“我也这么想，”

“黑暗是个可怕的东西。我曾经做过一次尝试。咱们再试一次吧！"说着，他弯腰把灯熄灭，顿时，肯尼迪的眼睛仿佛被一双无形的手紧紧蒙住了。他从来没有感受过这样的黑暗。他像是被黑暗压迫着，室息着。黑暗仿佛一个有形的障碍挡在身体前面，他伸出手想把它推开。

“行了，行了，伯格，"他说，“把灯点上吧。”

可是他的朋友却格格地笑起来，在这个圆形大厅里，这笑声就像来自四面八方。

1 vault   

n.拱形圆顶，地窖，地下室

参考例句：

• The vault of this cathedral is very high.这座天主教堂的拱顶非常高。
• The old patrician was buried in the family vault.这位老贵族埋在家族的墓地里。

2 standing   

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。

3 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

4 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

5 smother   

vt./vi.使窒息；抑制；闷死；n.浓烟；窒息

参考例句：

• They tried to smother the flames with a damp blanket.他们试图用一条湿毯子去灭火。
• We tried to smother our laughter.我们强忍住笑。