顺水推舟06

时间：2025-01-30 17:16:11

（单词翻译:单击）

II
“Yes, if only….”
Far away, Lynn had been shocked and grieved by the news of her uncle’s death, but the true
significance of it was only now beginning to come home to her.
For as long as she could remember, her life, all their lives, had been dominated by Gordon
Cloade. The rich, childless man had taken all his relatives completely under his wing.
Even Rowley…Rowley and his friend Johnnie Vavasour had started in partnership1 on the farm.
Their capital was small, but they had been full of hope and energy. And Gordon Cloade had
approved.
To her he had said more.
“You can’t get anywhere in farming without capital. But the first thing to find out is whether
these boys have really got the will and the energy to make a go of it. If I set them up now, I
wouldn’t know that—maybe for years. If they’ve got the right stuff in them, if I’m satisfied
that their side of it is all right, well then, Lynn, you needn’t worry. I’ll finance them on the
proper scale. So don’t think badly of your prospects2, my girl. You’re just the wife Rowley
needs. But keep what I’ve told you under your hat.”
Well, she had done that, but Rowley himself had sensed his uncle’s benevolent3 interest. It was
up to him to prove to the old boy that Rowley and Johnnie were a good investment for money.
Yes, they had all depended on Gordon Cloade. Not that any of the family had been spongers or
idlers. Jeremy Cloade was senior partner in a firm of solicitors4, Lionel Cloade was in practice as a
doctor.
But behind the workaday life was the comforting assurance of money in the background. There
was never any need to stint5 or to save. The future was assured. Gordon Cloade, a childless
widower6, would see to that. He had told them all, more than once, that that was so.
His widowed sister, Adela Marchmont, had stayed on at the White House when she might,
perhaps, have moved into a smaller, more labour-saving house. Lynn went to first-class schools. If
the war had not come, she would have been able to take any kind of expensive training she had
pleased. Cheques from Uncle Gordon flowed in with comfortable regularity7 to provide little
luxuries.
Everything had been so settled, so secure. And then had come Gordon Cloade’s wholly
unexpected marriage.
“Of course, darling,” Adela went on, “we were all flabbergasted. If there was one thing that
seemed quite certain, it was that Gordon would never marry again. It wasn’t, you see, as though
he hadn’t got plenty of family ties.”
Yes, thought Lynn, plenty of family. Sometimes, possibly, rather too much family?
“He was so kind always,” went on Mrs. Marchmont. “Though perhaps just a weeny bit
tyrannical on occasions. He never liked the habit of dining off a polished table. Always insisted on
my sticking to the old-fashioned tablecloths8. In fact, he sent me the most beautiful Venetian lace
ones when he was in Italy.”
“It certainly paid to fall in with his wishes,” said Lynn dryly. She added with some curiosity,
“How did he meet this—second wife? You never told me in your letters.”
“Oh, my dear, on some boat or plane or other. Coming from South America to New York, I
believe. After all those years! And after all those secretaries and typists and housekeepers9 and
everything.”
Lynn smiled. Ever since she could remember, Gordon Cloade’s secretaries, housekeepers, and
office staff had been subjected to the closest scrutiny10 and suspicion.
She asked curiously11, “She’s good-looking, I suppose?”
“Well, dear,” said Adela, “I think myself she has rather a silly face.”
“You’re not a man, Mums!”
“Of course,” Mrs. Marchmont went on, “the poor girl was blitzed and had shock from blast
and was really frightfully ill and all that, and it’s my opinion she’s never really quite recovered.
She’s a mass of nerves, if you know what I mean. And really, sometimes, she looks quite half-
witted. I don’t feel she could ever have made much of a companion for poor Gordon.
Lynn smiled. She doubted whether Gordon Cloade had chosen to marry a woman years younger
than himself for her intellectual companionship.
“And then, dear,” Mrs. Marchmont lowered her voice, “I hate to say it, but of course she’s
not a lady!”
“What an expression, Mums! What does that matter nowadays?”
“It still matters in the country, dear,” said Adela placidly12. “I simply mean that she isn’t
exactly one of us!”
“Poor little devil!”
“Really, Lynn, I don’t know what you mean. We have all been most careful to be kind and
polite and to welcome her amongst us for Gordon’s sake.”
“She’s at Furrowbank, then?” Lynn asked curiously.
“Yes, naturally. Where else was there for her to go when she came out of the nursing home?
The doctors said she must be out of London. She’s at Furrowbank with her brother.”
“What’s he like?” Lynn asked.
“A dreadful young man!” Mrs. Marchmont paused, and then added with a good deal of
intensity13: “Rude.”
A momentary14 flicker15 of sympathy crossed Lynn’s mind. She thought: “I bet I’d be rude in
his place!”
She asked: “What’s his name?”
“Hunter. David Hunter. Irish, I believe. Of course they are not people one has ever heard of.
She was a widow—a Mrs. Underhay. One doesn’t wish to be uncharitable, but one can’t help
asking oneself—what kind of a widow would be likely to be travelling about from South America
in wartime? One can’t help feeling, you know, that she was just looking for a rich husband.”
“In which case, she didn’t look in vain,” remarked Lynn.
Mrs. Marchmont sighed.
“It seems so extraordinary. Gordon was such a shrewd man always. And it wasn’t, I mean,
that women hadn’t tried. That last secretary but one, for instance. Really quite blatant16. She was
very efficient, I believe, but he had to get rid of her.”
Lynn said vaguely17: “I suppose there’s always a Waterloo.”
“Sixty- two,” said Mrs. Marchmont. “A very dangerous age. And a war, I imagine, is
unsettling. But I can’t tell you what a shock it was when we got his letter from New York.”
“What did it say exactly?”
“He wrote to Frances—I really can’t think why. Perhaps he imagined that owing to her
upbringing she might be more sympathetic. He said that we’d probably be surprised to hear that
he was married. It had all been rather sudden, but he was sure we should all soon grow very fond
of Rosaleen (such a very theatrical18 name, don’t you think, dear? I mean definitely rather bogus).
She had had a very sad life, he said, and had gone through a lot although she was so young. Really
it was wonderful the plucky19 way she had stood up to life.”
“Quite a well-known gambit,” murmured Lynn.
“Oh, I know. I do agree. One has heard it so many times. But one would really think that
Gordon with all his experience—still, there it is. She has the most enormous eyes—dark blue and
what they call put in with a smutty finger.”
“Attractive?”
“Oh, yes, she is certainly very pretty. It’s not the kind of prettiness I admire.”
“It never is,” said Lynn with a wry20 smile.
“No, dear. Really, men—but well, there’s no accounting21 for men! Even the most well-
balanced of them do the most incredibly foolish things! Gordon’s letter went on to say that we
mustn’t think for a moment that this would mean any loosening of old ties. He still considered us
all his special responsibility.”
“But he didn’t,” said Lynn, “make a will after his marriage?”
Mrs. Marchmont shook her head.
“The last will he made was in 1940. I don’t know any details, but he gave us to understand at
the time that we were all taken care of by it if anything should happen to him. That will, of course,
was revoked22 by his marriage. I suppose he would have made a new will when he got home—but
there just wasn’t time. He was killed practically the day after he landed in this country.”
“And so she—Rosaleen—gets everything?”
“Yes. The old will was invalidated by his marriage.”
Lynn was silent. She was not more mercenary than most, but she would not have been human if
she had not resented the new state of affairs. It was not, she felt, at all what Gordon Cloade
himself would have envisaged23. The bulk of his fortune he might have left to his young wife, but
certain provisions he would certainly have made for the family he had encouraged to depend upon
him. Again and again he had urged them not to save, not to make provision for the future. She had
heard him say to Jeremy, “You’ll be a rich man when I die.” To her mother he had often said,
“Don’t worry, Adela. I’ll always look after Lynn—you know that, and I’d hate you to leave
this house—it’s your home. Send all the bills for repairs to me.” Rowley he had encouraged to
take up farming. Antony, Jeremy’s son, he had insisted should go into the Guards and he had
always made him a handsome allowance. Lionel Cloade had been encouraged to follow up certain
lines of medical research that were not immediately profitable and to let his practice run down.
Lynn’s thoughts were broken into. Dramatically, and with a trembling lip, Mrs. Marchmont
produced a sheaf of bills.
“And look at all these,” she wailed24. “What am I to do? What on earth am I to do, Lynn?
The bank manager wrote me only this morning that I’m overdrawn25. I don’t see how I can be.
I’ve been so careful. But it seems my investments just aren’t producing what they used to.
Increased taxation26 he says. And all these yellow things, War Damage Insurance or something—
one has to pay them whether one wants to or not.”
Lynn took the bills and glanced through them. There were no records of extravagance amongst
them. They were for slates27 replaced on the roof, the mending of fences, replacement28 of a worn-out
kitchen boiler—a new main water pipe. They amounted to a considerable sum.
Mrs. Marchmont said piteously:
“I suppose I ought to move from here. But where could I go? There isn’t a small house
anywhere—there just isn’t such a thing. Oh, I don’t want to worry you with all this, Lynn. Not
just as soon as you’ve come home. But I don’t know what to do. I really don’t.”
Lynn looked at her mother. She was over sixty. She had never been a very strong woman.
During the war she had taken in evacuees29 from London, had cooked and cleaned for them, had
worked with the W.V.S., made jam, helped with school meals. She had worked fourteen hours a
day in contrast to a pleasant easy life before the war. She was now, as Lynn saw, very near a
breakdown30. Tired out and frightened of the future.
A slow quiet anger rose in Lynn. She said slowly:
“Couldn’t this Rosaleen—help?”
Mrs. Marchmont flushed.
“We’ve no right to anything—anything at all.”
Lynn demurred31.
“I think you’ve a moral right. Uncle Gordon always helped.”
Mrs. Marchmont shook her head. She said:
“It wouldn’t be very nice, dear, to ask favours—not of someone one doesn’t like very
much. And anyway that brother of hers would never let her give away a penny!”
And she added, heroism32 giving place to pure female cattiness: “If he really is her brother, that
is to say!”

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1 partnership NmfzPy     
n.合作关系，伙伴关系
参考例句：
  • The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
  • Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。
2 prospects fkVzpY     
n.希望，前途(恒为复数)
参考例句：
  • There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
  • They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。
3 benevolent Wtfzx     
adj.仁慈的，乐善好施的
参考例句：
  • His benevolent nature prevented him from refusing any beggar who accosted him.他乐善好施的本性使他不会拒绝走上前向他行乞的任何一个乞丐。
  • He was a benevolent old man and he wouldn't hurt a fly.他是一个仁慈的老人，连只苍蝇都不愿伤害。
4 solicitors 53ed50f93b0d64a6b74a2e21c5841f88     
初级律师( solicitor的名词复数 )
参考例句：
  • Most solicitors in England and Wales are in private practice . 英格兰和威尔士的大多数律师都是私人执业者。
  • The family has instructed solicitors to sue Thomson for compensation. 那家人已经指示律师起诉汤姆森，要求赔偿。
5 stint 9GAzB     
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：
  • He lavished money on his children without stint.他在孩子们身上花钱毫不吝惜。
  • We hope that you will not stint your criticism.我们希望您不吝指教。
6 widower fe4z2a     
n.鳏夫
参考例句：
  • George was a widower with six young children.乔治是个带著六个小孩子的鳏夫。
  • Having been a widower for many years,he finally decided to marry again.丧偶多年后，他终于决定二婚了。
7 regularity sVCxx     
n.规律性，规则性；匀称，整齐
参考例句：
  • The idea is to maintain the regularity of the heartbeat.问题就是要维持心跳的规律性。
  • He exercised with a regularity that amazed us.他锻炼的规律程度令我们非常惊讶。
8 tablecloths abb41060c43ebc073d86c1c49f8fb98f     
n.桌布，台布( tablecloth的名词复数 )
参考例句：
  • Champagne corks popped, and on lace tablecloths seven-course dinners were laid. 桌上铺着带装饰图案的网织的桌布，上面是七道菜的晚餐。 来自飘（部分）
  • At the moment the cause of her concern was a pile of soiled tablecloths. 此刻她关心的事是一堆弄脏了的台布。 来自辞典例句
9 housekeepers 5a9e2352a6ee995ab07d759da5565f52     
n.（女）管家( housekeeper的名词复数 )
参考例句：
  • Can you send up one of your housekeepers to make bed? 请你派个女服务员来整理床铺好吗？ 来自互联网
  • They work as gas station attendants, firemen, housekeepers,and security personnel. 本句翻译：机器人也能够作为煤气站的服务员，救火队员等保安作用。 来自互联网
10 scrutiny ZDgz6     
n.详细检查，仔细观察
参考例句：
  • His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好，但是经不起仔细检查。
  • Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。
11 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。
12 placidly c0c28951cb36e0d70b9b64b1d177906e     
adv.平稳地，平静地
参考例句：
  • Hurstwood stood placidly by, while the car rolled back into the yard. 当车子开回场地时，赫斯渥沉着地站在一边。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
  • The water chestnut floated placidly there, where it would grow. 那棵菱角就又安安稳稳浮在水面上生长去了。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说
13 intensity 45Ixd     
n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度
参考例句：
  • I didn't realize the intensity of people's feelings on this issue.我没有意识到这一问题能引起群情激奋。
  • The strike is growing in intensity.罢工日益加剧。
14 momentary hj3ya     
adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的
参考例句：
  • We are in momentary expectation of the arrival of you.我们无时无刻不在盼望你的到来。
  • I caught a momentary glimpse of them.我瞥了他们一眼。
15 flicker Gjxxb     
vi./n.闪烁，摇曳，闪现
参考例句：
  • There was a flicker of lights coming from the abandoned house.这所废弃的房屋中有灯光闪烁。
  • At first,the flame may be a small flicker,barely shining.开始时，光辉可能是微弱地忽隐忽现，几乎并不灿烂。
16 blatant ENCzP     
adj.厚颜无耻的；显眼的；炫耀的
参考例句：
  • I cannot believe that so blatant a comedy can hoodwink anybody.我无法相信这么显眼的一出喜剧能够欺骗谁。
  • His treatment of his secretary was a blatant example of managerial arrogance.他管理的傲慢作风在他对待秘书的态度上表露无遗。
17 vaguely BfuzOy     
adv.含糊地，暖昧地
参考例句：
  • He had talked vaguely of going to work abroad.他含糊其词地说了到国外工作的事。
  • He looked vaguely before him with unseeing eyes.他迷迷糊糊的望着前面，对一切都视而不见。
18 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。
19 plucky RBOyw     
adj.勇敢的
参考例句：
  • The plucky schoolgirl amazed doctors by hanging on to life for nearly two months.这名勇敢的女生坚持不放弃生命近两个月的精神令医生感到震惊。
  • This story featured a plucky heroine.这个故事描述了一个勇敢的女英雄。
20 wry hMQzK     
adj.讽刺的；扭曲的
参考例句：
  • He made a wry face and attempted to wash the taste away with coffee.他做了个鬼脸，打算用咖啡把那怪味地冲下去。
  • Bethune released Tung's horse and made a wry mouth.白求恩放开了董的马，噘了噘嘴。
21 accounting nzSzsY     
n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表
参考例句：
  • A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
  • There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。
22 revoked 80b785d265b6419ab99251d8f4340a1d     
adj.[法]取消的v.撤销，取消，废除( revoke的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句：
  • It may be revoked if the check is later dishonoured. 以后如支票被拒绝支付，结算可以撤销。 来自辞典例句
  • A will is revoked expressly. 遗嘱可以通过明示推翻。 来自辞典例句
23 envisaged 40d5ad82152f6e596b8f8c766f0778db     
想像，设想( envisage的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句：
  • He envisaged an old age of loneliness and poverty. 他面对着一个孤独而贫困的晚年。
  • Henry Ford envisaged an important future for the motor car. 亨利·福特为汽车设想了一个远大前程。
24 wailed e27902fd534535a9f82ffa06a5b6937a     
v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句：
  • She wailed over her father's remains. 她对着父亲的遗体嚎啕大哭。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • The women of the town wailed over the war victims. 城里的妇女为战争的死难者们痛哭。 来自辞典例句
25 overdrawn 4eb10eff40c3bcd30842eb8b379808ff     
透支( overdraw的过去分词 )； (overdraw的过去分词)
参考例句：
  • The characters in this novel are rather overdrawn. 这本小说中的人物描写得有些夸张。
  • His account of the bank robbery is somewhat overdrawn. 他对银行抢案的叙述有些夸张。
26 taxation tqVwP     
n.征税，税收，税金
参考例句：
  • He made a number of simplifications in the taxation system.他在税制上作了一些简化。
  • The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
27 slates ba298a474e572b7bb22ea6b59e127028     
（旧时学生用以写字的）石板( slate的名词复数 )； 板岩； 石板瓦； 石板色
参考例句：
  • The contract specifies red tiles, not slates, for the roof. 合同规定屋顶用红瓦，并非石板瓦。
  • They roofed the house with slates. 他们用石板瓦做屋顶。
28 replacement UVxxM     
n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品
参考例句：
  • We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
  • They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。
29 evacuees 68c032ac020acca4ffde7910b32b673f     
n.被疏散者( evacuee的名词复数 )
参考例句：
  • Moreover, for multi-exits, evacuees select a exit based on game theory. 在有多个出口时，疏散人员根据对策论选择出口。 来自互联网
  • Evacuees wade through flooded area following heavy monsoon rains in Peshawar on Saturday, July 31, 2010. 撤离灾区涉水通过后在白沙瓦沉重的季风降雨在周六，2010年7月31日。 来自互联网
30 breakdown cS0yx     
n.垮，衰竭；损坏，故障，倒塌
参考例句：
  • She suffered a nervous breakdown.她患神经衰弱。
  • The plane had a breakdown in the air,but it was fortunately removed by the ace pilot.飞机在空中发生了故障，但幸运的是被王牌驾驶员排除了。
31 demurred demurred     
v.表示异议，反对( demur的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句：
  • At first she demurred, but then finally agreed. 她开始表示反对，但最终还是同意了。
  • They demurred at working on Sundays. 他们反对星期日工作。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
32 heroism 5dyx0     
n.大无畏精神，英勇
参考例句：
  • He received a medal for his heroism.他由于英勇而获得一枚奖章。
  • Stories of his heroism resounded through the country.他的英雄故事传遍全国。

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