顺水推舟02

时间：2025-01-30 17:09:54

（单词翻译:单击）

Prologue1
I
In every club there is a club bore. The Coronation Club was no exception, and the fact that an air
raid was in progress made no difference to normal procedure.
Major Porter, late Indian Army, rustled2 his newspaper and cleared his throat. Every one avoided
his eye, but it was no use.
“I see they’ve got the announcement of Gordon Cloade’s death in the Times,” he said.
“Discreetly put, of course. On Oct. 5th, result of enemy action. No address given. As a matter of
fact it was just round the corner from my little place. One of those big houses on top of Campden
Hill. I can tell you it shook me up a bit. I’m a Warden3, you know. Cloade had only just got back
from the States. He’d been over on that Government Purchase business. Got married while he
was over there. A young widow—young enough to be his daughter. Mrs. Underhay. As a matter
of fact I knew her first husband out in Nigeria.”
Major Porter paused. Nobody displayed any interest or asked him to continue. Newspapers were
held up sedulously4 in front of faces, but it took more than that to discourage Major Porter. He
always had long histories to relate, mostly about people whom nobody knew.
“Interesting,” said Major Porter, firmly, his eyes fixed5 absently on a pair of extremely pointed6
patent-leather shoes—a type of foot-wear of which he profoundly disapproved7. “As I said, I’m
a Warden. Funny business this blast. Never know what it’s going to do. Blew the basement in
and ripped off the roof. First floor practically wasn’t touched. Six people in the house. Three
servants: married couple and a housemaid, Gordon Cloade, his wife and the wife’s brother. They
were all down in the basement except the wife’s brother—ex-Commando fellow—he preferred
his own comfortable bedroom on the first floor—and by Jove, he escaped with a few bruises9. The
three servants were all killed by blast — Gordon Cloade must have been worth well over a
million.”
Again Major Porter paused. His eyes had travelled up from the patent-leather shoes—striped
trousers — black coat — egg- shaped head and colossal10 moustaches. Foreign, of course! That
explained the shoes. “Really,” thought Major Porter, “what’s the club coming to? Can’t get
away from foreigners even here.” This separate train of thought ran alongside his narrative11.
The fact that the foreigner in question appeared to be giving him full attention did not abate12
Major Porter’s prejudice in the slightest.
“She can’t be more than about twenty-five,” he went on. “And a widow for the second
time. Or at any rate—that’s what she thinks….”
He paused, hoping for curiosity—for comment. Not getting it, he nevertheless went doggedly13
on:
“Matter of fact I’ve got my own ideas about that. Queer business. As I told you, I knew her
first husband, Underhay. Nice fellow—district commissioner14 in Nigeria at one time. Absolutely
dead keen on his job—first-class chap. He married this girl in Cape8 Town. She was out there with
some touring company. Very down on her luck, and pretty and helpless and all that. Listened to
poor old Underhay raving15 about his district and the great wide-open spaces—and breathed out,
‘Wasn’t it wonderful?’ and how she wanted ‘to get away from everything.’ Well, she
married him and got away from it. He was very much in love, poor fellow—but the thing didn’t
tick over from the first. She hated the bush and was terrified of the natives and was bored to death.
Her idea of life was to go round to the local and meet the theatrical16 crowd and talk shop. Solitude17
à deux in the jungle wasn’t at all her cup of tea. Mind you, I never met her myself—I heard all
this from poor old Underhay. It hit him pretty hard. He did the decent thing, sent her home and
agreed to give her a divorce. It was just after that I met him. He was all on edge and in the mood
when a man’s got to talk. He was a funny old-fashioned kind of chap in some ways—an R.C.,
and he didn’t care for divorce. He said to me, ‘There are other ways of giving a woman her
freedom.’ ‘Now, look here, old boy,’ I said, ‘don’t go doing anything foolish. No woman
in the world is worth putting a bullet through your head.’
“He said that that wasn’t his idea at all. ‘But I’m a lonely man,’ he said. ‘Got no
relations to bother about me. If a report of my death gets back that will make Rosaleen a widow,
which is what she wants.’ ‘And what about you?’ I said. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘maybe a Mr.
Enoch Arden will turn up somewhere a thousand miles or so away and start life anew.’ ‘Might
be awkward for her some day,’ I warned him. ‘Oh, no,’ he says, ‘I’d play the game.
Robert Underhay would be dead all right.’
“Well, I didn’t think any more of it, but six months later I heard that Underhay had died of
fever up in the bush somewhere. His natives were a trustworthy lot and they came back with a
good circumstantial tale and a few last words scrawled18 in Underhay’s writing saying they’d
done all they could for him, and he was afraid he was pegging19 out, and praising up his headman.
That man was devoted20 to him and so were all the others. Whatever he told them to swear to, they
would swear to. So there it is…Maybe Underhay’s buried up country in the midst of equatorial
Africa but maybe he isn’t—and if he isn’t Mrs. Gordon Cloade may get a shock one day. And
serve her right, I say. I never met her, but I know the sound of a little gold digger! She broke up
poor old Underhay all right. It’s an interesting story.”
Major Porter looked round rather wistfully for confirmation21 of this assertion. He met two bored
and fishy22 stares, the half-averted gaze of young Mr. Mellon and the polite attention of M. Hercule
Poirot.
Then the newspaper rustled and a grey-haired man with a singularly impassive face rose quietly
from his armchair by the fire and went out.
Major Porter’s jaw23 dropped, and young Mr. Mellon gave a faint whistle.
“Now you’ve done it!” he remarked. “Know who that was?”
“God bless my soul,” said Major Porter in some agitation24. “Of course. I don’t know him
intimately but we are acquainted…Jeremy Cloade, isn’t it, Gordon Cloade’s brother? Upon my
word, how extremely unfortunate! If I’d had any idea—”
“He’s a solicitor,” said young Mr. Mellon. “Bet he sues you for slander25 or defamation26 of
character or something.”
For young Mr. Mellon enjoyed creating alarm and despondency in such places as it was not
forbidden by the Defence of the Realm Act.
Major Porter continued to repeat in an agitated27 manner:
“Most unfortunate. Most unfortunate!”
“It will be all over Warmsley Heath by this evening,” said Mr. Mellon. “That’s where all
the Cloades hang out. They’ll sit up late discussing what action to take.”
But at that moment the All Clear sounded, and young Mr. Mellon stopped being malicious28, and
tenderly piloted his friend Hercule Poirot out into the street.
“Terrible atmosphere, these clubs,” he said. “The most crashing collection of old bores.
Porter’s easily the worst, though. His description of the Indian rope trick takes three-quarters of
an hour, and he knows everybody whose mother ever passed through Poona!”
This was in the autumn of 1944. It was in late spring, 1946, that Hercule Poirot received a visit.

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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 prologue mRpxq     
n.开场白，序言；开端，序幕
参考例句：
  • A poor wedding is a prologue to misery.不幸的婚姻是痛苦的开始。
  • The prologue to the novel is written in the form of a newspaper account.这本小说的序言是以报纸报道的形式写的。
2 rustled f68661cf4ba60e94dc1960741a892551     
v.发出沙沙的声音( rustle的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句：
  • He rustled his papers. 他把试卷弄得沙沙地响。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Leaves rustled gently in the breeze. 树叶迎着微风沙沙作响。 来自《简明英汉词典》
3 warden jMszo     
n.监察员，监狱长，看守人，监护人
参考例句：
  • He is the warden of an old people's home.他是一家养老院的管理员。
  • The warden of the prison signed the release.监狱长签发释放令。
4 sedulously c8c26b43645f472a76c56ac7fe5a2cd8     
ad.孜孜不倦地
参考例句：
  • In this view they were sedulously abetted by their mother, aunts and other elderly female relatives. 在这方面，他们得到了他们的母亲，婶婶以及其它年长的女亲戚们孜孜不倦的怂恿。
  • The clerk laid the two sheets of paper alongside and sedulously compared their contents. 那职员把两张纸并排放在前面，仔细比较。
5 fixed JsKzzj     
adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的
参考例句：
  • Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
  • Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。
6 pointed Il8zB4     
adj.尖的，直截了当的
参考例句：
  • He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
  • She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。
7 disapproved 3ee9b7bf3f16130a59cb22aafdea92d0     
v.不赞成( disapprove的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句：
  • My parents disapproved of my marriage. 我父母不赞成我的婚事。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • She disapproved of her son's indiscriminate television viewing. 她不赞成儿子不加选择地收看电视。 来自《简明英汉词典》
8 cape ITEy6     
n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风
参考例句：
  • I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
  • She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。
9 bruises bruises     
n.瘀伤，伤痕，擦伤( bruise的名词复数 )
参考例句：
  • He was covered with bruises after falling off his bicycle. 他从自行车上摔了下来，摔得浑身伤痕。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The pear had bruises of dark spots. 这个梨子有碰伤的黑斑。 来自《简明英汉词典》
10 colossal sbwyJ     
adj.异常的，庞大的
参考例句：
  • There has been a colossal waste of public money.一直存在巨大的公款浪费。
  • Some of the tall buildings in that city are colossal.那座城市里的一些高层建筑很庞大。
11 narrative CFmxS     
n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的
参考例句：
  • He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
  • Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。
12 abate SoAyj     
vi.(风势，疼痛等)减弱，减轻，减退
参考例句：
  • We must abate the noise pollution in our city.我们必须消除我们城里的噪音污染。
  • The doctor gave him some medicine to abate the powerful pain.医生给了他一些药，以减弱那剧烈的疼痛。
13 doggedly 6upzAY     
adv.顽强地，固执地
参考例句：
  • He was still doggedly pursuing his studies.他仍然顽强地进行着自己的研究。
  • He trudged doggedly on until he reached the flat.他顽强地、步履艰难地走着，一直走回了公寓。
14 commissioner gq3zX     
n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员
参考例句：
  • The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
  • He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。
15 raving c42d0882009d28726dc86bae11d3aaa7     
adj.说胡话的；疯狂的，怒吼的；非常漂亮的；令人醉心[痴心]的v.胡言乱语(rave的现在分词)n.胡话；疯话adv.胡言乱语地；疯狂地
参考例句：
  • The man's a raving lunatic. 那个男子是个语无伦次的疯子。
  • When I told her I'd crashed her car, she went stark raving bonkers. 我告诉她我把她的车撞坏了时，她暴跳如雷。
16 theatrical pIRzF     
adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的
参考例句：
  • The final scene was dismayingly lacking in theatrical effect.最后一场缺乏戏剧效果，叫人失望。
  • She always makes some theatrical gesture.她老在做些夸张的手势。
17 solitude xF9yw     
n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方
参考例句：
  • People need a chance to reflect on spiritual matters in solitude. 人们需要独处的机会来反思精神上的事情。
  • They searched for a place where they could live in solitude. 他们寻找一个可以过隐居生活的地方。
18 scrawled ace4673c0afd4a6c301d0b51c37c7c86     
乱涂，潦草地写( scrawl的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句：
  • I tried to read his directions, scrawled on a piece of paper. 我尽量弄明白他草草写在一片纸上的指示。
  • Tom scrawled on his slate, "Please take it -- I got more." 汤姆在他的写字板上写了几个字：“请你收下吧，我多得是哩。”
19 pegging e0267dc579cdee0424847f2cd6cd6cb6     
n.外汇钉住，固定证券价格v.用夹子或钉子固定( peg的现在分词 )；使固定在某水平
参考例句：
  • To write a novel,one must keep pegging away at it consistently. 要写小说，必须不断辛勤劳动。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • She was pegging the clothes out on the line to dry. 她正在把衣服夹在晒衣绳上晾干。 来自辞典例句
20 devoted xu9zka     
adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的
参考例句：
  • He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
  • We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
21 confirmation ZYMya     
n.证实，确认，批准
参考例句：
  • We are waiting for confirmation of the news.我们正在等待证实那个消息。
  • We need confirmation in writing before we can send your order out.给你们发送订购的货物之前，我们需要书面确认。
22 fishy ysgzzF     
adj. 值得怀疑的
参考例句：
  • It all sounds very fishy to me.所有这些在我听起来都很可疑。
  • There was definitely something fishy going on.肯定当时有可疑的事情在进行中。
23 jaw 5xgy9     
n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训
参考例句：
  • He delivered a right hook to his opponent's jaw.他给了对方下巴一记右钩拳。
  • A strong square jaw is a sign of firm character.强健的方下巴是刚毅性格的标志。
24 agitation TN0zi     
n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动
参考例句：
  • Small shopkeepers carried on a long agitation against the big department stores.小店主们长期以来一直在煽动人们反对大型百货商店。
  • These materials require constant agitation to keep them in suspension.这些药剂要经常搅动以保持悬浮状态。
25 slander 7ESzF     
n./v.诽谤，污蔑
参考例句：
  • The article is a slander on ordinary working people.那篇文章是对普通劳动大众的诋毁。
  • He threatened to go public with the slander.他威胁要把丑闻宣扬出去。
26 defamation FY3zV     
n.诽谤；中伤
参考例句：
  • Character defamation can be either oral or written.人格诽谤既可以是口头的也可以是书面的。
  • The company sued for defamation.这个公司因受到诽谤而提起诉讼。
27 agitated dzgzc2     
adj.被鼓动的，不安的
参考例句：
  • His answers were all mixed up,so agitated was he.他是那样心神不定，回答全乱了。
  • She was agitated because her train was an hour late.她乘坐的火车晚点一个小时，她十分焦虑。
28 malicious e8UzX     
adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的
参考例句：
  • You ought to kick back at such malicious slander. 你应当反击这种恶毒的污蔑。
  • Their talk was slightly malicious.他们的谈话有点儿心怀不轨。

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