【英文读物】THREE JEWS.docx
《【英文读物】THREE JEWS.docx》由会员分享,可在线阅读,更多相关《【英文读物】THREE JEWS.docx(8页珍藏版)》请在得力文库 - 分享文档赚钱的网站上搜索。
1、【英文读物】THREE JEWSTHREE JEWS It was a Sunday and the first day of spring, the first day on which one felt at any rate spring in the air. It blew in at my window with its warm breath, with its inevitable little touch of sadness. I felt restless, and I had nowhere to go to; everyone I knew was out of to
2、wn. I looked out of my window at the black trees breaking into bud, the tulips and the hyacinths that even London could not rob of their reds and blues and yellows, the delicate spring sunshine on the asphalt, and the pale blue sky that the chimney pots broke into. I found myself muttering damn it f
3、or no very obvious reason. It was spring, I suppose, the first stirring of the blood. I wanted to see clean trees, and the sun shine upon grass; I wanted flowers and leaves unsoiled by soot; I wanted to see and smell the earth; above all I wanted the horizon. I felt that something was waiting for me
4、 beyond the houses and the chimney-pots: I should find it where earth and sky meet. I didnt of course but I took the train to Kew. If I did not find in Kew the place where earth and sky meet or even the smell of the earth, I saw at any rate the sun upon the brown bark of trees and the delicate green
5、 of grass. It was spring there, English spring with its fresh warm breath, and its pale blue sky above the trees. Yes, the quiet orderly English spring that embraced and sobered even the florid luxuriance of great flowers bursting in white cascades over strange tropical trees. And the spring had bro
6、ught the people out into the gardens, the quiet orderly English people. It was the first stirring of the blood. It had stirred them to come out in couples, in family parties, in tight matronly black dresses, in drab coats and trousers in dowdy skirts and hats. It had stirred some to come in elegant
7、costumes and morning suits and spats. They looked at the flaunting tropical trees, and made jokes, and chaffed one another, and laughed not very loud. They were happy in their quiet orderly English way, happy in the warmth of the sunshine, happy to be among quiet trees, and to feel the soft grass un
8、der their feet. They did not run about or shout, they walked slowly, quietly, taking care to keep off the edges of the grass because the notices told them to do so. It was very warm, very pleasant, and very tiring. I wandered cut at last through the big gates, and was waved by a man with a napkinhe
9、stood on the pavementthrough a Georgian house into a garden studded with white topped tables and dirty ricketty chairs. It was crowded with people, and I sat down at the only vacant table, and watched them eating plum-cake and drinking tea quietly, soberly, under the gentle apple-blossom. A man came
10、 up the garden looking quickly from side to side for an empty place. I watched him in a tired lazy way. There was a bustle and roll and energy in his walk. I noticed the thickness of his legs above the knee, the arms that hung so loosely and limply by his sides as they do with people who wear loose
11、hanging clothes without sleeves, his dark fat face and the sensual mouth, the great curve of the upper lip and the hanging lower one. A clever face, dark and inscrutable, with its large mysterious eyes and the heavy lids which went into deep folds at the corners. He stopped near my table, looked at
12、the empty chair and then at me, and said: Excuse me, Sir, but dyou mind my sitting at your table? I noticed the slight thickness of the voice, the overemphasis, and the little note of assertiveness in it. I said I didnt mind at all. He sat down, leaned back in his chair, and took his hat off. He had
13、 a high forehead, black hair, and well-shaped fat hands. Fine day, he said, wonderfully fine day, the finest day I ever remember. Nothing to beat a fine English spring day. I saw the delicate apple-blossom and the pale blue sky behind his large dark head. I smiled. He saw the smile, flushed, and the
14、n smiled himself. You are amused, he said, still smiling, I believe I know why. Yes, I said, You knew me at once and I knew you. We show up, dont we, under the apple-blossom and this sky. It doesnt belong to us, do you wish it did? Ah, he said seriously, thats the question. Or rather we dont belong
15、to it. We belong to Palestine still, but Im not sure that it doesnt belong to us for all that. Well, perhaps your version is truer than mine. Ill take it, but theres still the question, do you wish you belonged to it? He wasnt a bit offended. He tilted back his chair, put one thumb in the arm-hole o
16、f his waistcoat, and looked round the garden. He showed abominably concentrated, floridly intelligent, in the thin spring air and among the inconspicuous tea-drinkers. He didnt answer my question; he was thinking, and when he spoke, he asked another: Do you ever go to Synagogue? No. Nor do I, except
17、 on Yom Kippur. I still go then every yearpure habit. I dont believe in it, of course; I believe in nothingyou believe in nothingwere all sceptics. And yet we belong to Palestine still. Funny, aint it? How it comes out! Under the apple-blossom and blue sky, as you say, as well asasamong the tombs. A
18、mong the tombs? Ah, I was thinking of another man I met. He belongs to Palestine too. Shall I tell you about him? I said I wished he would. He put his hands in his pockets and began at once. * * * * * * * * * The first time I saw him, I remember the day well, as well as yesterday. There was no apple
19、-blossom then, a November day, cold, bitter cold, the coldest day I remember. It was the anniversary of my poor wifes death. She was my first wife, Rebecca. She made me a good wife, I tell youwe were very happy. (He took out a white silk pocket handkerchief, opened it with something of a flourish, a
20、nd blew his nose long and loudly. Then he continued.) I buried her at the cemetery in KRoad. You know it? What? No? You must know it, the big cemetery near the hospital. You know the hospital at any rate? Well, you turn down by it coming from the station, take the first turning to the right and the
21、second to the left, and there you are. Its a big cemetery, very big, almost as big as Golders Green, and they keep the gardens very nicely. Well, my poor wife lies theremy first wife, Ive married again, you see, and shes living and well, thank Godand I went on the first anniversary to visit the grav
22、e and put flowers on it. There you are now, theres another curious thing. I often wonder why we do it. Its not as if it did anyone any good. I dont believe in immortality, nor do you, nor do any of us. But I go and put flowers on her grave though it wont do her any good, poor soul. Its sentiment, I
23、suppose. No one can say we Jews havent got that, and family affection. Theyre among our very strongest characteristics. Yes, they dont like us. (He looked round at the quiet tea-drinkers.) Were too clever perhaps, too sharp, too go-ahead. Nous, thats what weve got, Nous, and they dont like it, eh? B
24、ut they cant deny us our other virtuessentiment and family affection. Now look at the Titanic disaster: who was it refused to get into the boats, unless her husband went too? Who met death hand in hand with him? Eh? A Jewess! There you are! Her children rise up and call her blessed: her husband also
- 配套讲稿:
如PPT文件的首页显示word图标,表示该PPT已包含配套word讲稿。双击word图标可打开word文档。
- 特殊限制:
部分文档作品中含有的国旗、国徽等图片,仅作为作品整体效果示例展示,禁止商用。设计者仅对作品中独创性部分享有著作权。
- 关 键 词:
- 英文读物 【英文读物】THREE JEWS 英文 读物 THREE
限制150内