顺水推舟08

时间：2025-01-30 17:16:13

（单词翻译:单击）

Three
“Money!” said Lynn.
Rowley Cloade nodded. He was a big square young man with a brick-red skin, thoughtful blue
eyes and very fair hair. He had a slowness that seemed more purposeful than ingrained. He used
deliberation as others use quickness of repartee1.
“Yes,” he said, “everything seems to boil down to money these days.”
“But I thought farmers had done so well during the war?”
“Oh, yes—but that doesn’t do you any permanent good. In a year we’ll be back where we
were—with wages up, workers unwilling2, everybody dissatisfied and nobody knowing where they
are. Unless, of course, you can farm in a really big way. Old Gordon knew. That was where he
was preparing to come in.”
“And now—” Lynn asked.
Rowley grinned.
“And now Mrs. Gordon goes to London and spends a couple of thousand on a nice mink3
coat.”
“It’s—it’s wicked!”
“Oh, no—” He paused and said: “I’d rather like to give you a mink coat, Lynn—”
“What’s she like, Rowley?” She wanted to get a contemporary judgment4.
“You’ll see her tonight. At Uncle Lionel’s and Aunt Kathie’s party.”
“Yes, I know. But I want you to tell me. Mums says she’s half-witted?”
Rowley considered.
“Well—I shouldn’t say intellect was her strong point. But I think really she only seems half-
witted because she’s being so frightfully careful.”
“Careful? Careful about what?”
“Oh, just careful. Mainly, I imagine, about her accent—she’s got quite a brogue, you know,
or else about the right fork, and any literary allusions5 that might be flying around.”
“Then she really is—quite—well, uneducated?”
Rowley grinned.
“Oh, she’s not a lady, if that’s what you mean. She’s got lovely eyes, and a very good
complexion—and I suppose old Gordon fell for that, with her extraordinary air of being quite
unsophisticated. I don’t think it’s put on—though of course you never know. She just stands
around looking dumb and letting David run her.”
“David?”
“That’s the brother. I should say there’s nothing much about sharp practice he doesn’t
know!” Rowley added: “He doesn’t like any of us much.”
“Why should he?” said Lynn sharply, and added as he looked at her, slightly surprised, “I
mean you don’t like him.”
“I certainly don’t. You won’t either. He’s not our sort.”
“You don’t know who I like, Rowley, or who I don’t! I’ve seen a lot of the world in the
last three years. I—I think my outlook has broadened.”
“You’ve seen more of the world than I have, that’s true.”
He said it quietly—but Lynn looked up sharply.
There had been something—behind those even tones.
He returned her glance squarely, his face unemotional. It had never, Lynn remembered, been
easy to know exactly what Rowley was thinking.
What a queer topsy-turvy world it was, thought Lynn. It used to be the man who went to the
wars, the woman who stayed at home. But here the positions were reversed.
Of the two young men, Rowley and Johnnie, one had had perforce to stay on the farm. They had
tossed for it and Johnnie Vavasour had been the one to go. He had been killed almost at once—in
Norway. All through the years of war Rowley had never been more than a mile or two from home.
And she, Lynn, had been to Egypt, to North Africa, to Sicily. She had been under fire more than
once.
Here was Lynn Home-from-the-wars, and here was Rowley Stay-at-home.
She wondered, suddenly, if he minded….
She gave a nervous little half laugh. “Things seem sometimes a bit upside down, don’t
they?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” Rowley stared vacantly out over the countryside. “Depends.”
“Rowley,” she hesitated, “did you mind—I mean—Johnnie—”
His cold level gaze threw her back on herself.
“Let’s leave Johnnie out of it! The war’s over—and I’ve been lucky.”
“Lucky, you mean”—she paused doubtfully—“not to have had to—to go?”
“Wonderful luck, don’t you think so?” She didn’t know quite how to take that. His voice
was smooth with hard edges. He added with a smile, “But, of course, you service girls will find it
hard to settle down at home.”
She said irritably6, “Oh, don’t be stupid, Rowley.”
(But why be irritable7? Why — unless, because his words touched a raw nerve of truth
somewhere.)
“Oh well,” said Rowley. “I suppose we might as well consider getting married. Unless
you’ve changed your mind?”
“Of course I haven’t changed my mind. Why should I?”
He said vaguely8:
“One never knows.”
“You mean you think I’m”—Lynn paused—“different?”
“Not particularly.”
“Perhaps you’ve changed your mind?”
“Oh, no, I’ve not changed. Very little change down on the farm, you know.”
“All right, then,” said Lynn — conscious, somehow, of anticlimax9, “let’s get married.
Whenever you like.”
“June or thereabouts?”
“Yes.”
They were silent. It was settled. In spite of herself, Lynn felt terribly depressed10. Yet Rowley
was Rowley — just as he always had been. Affectionate, unemotional, painstakingly11 given to
understatement.
They loved each other. They had always loved each other. They had never talked about their
love very much—so why should they begin now?
They would get married in June and live at Long Willows12 (a nice name, she had always
thought) and she would never go away again. Go away, that is to say, in the sense that the words
now held for her. The excitement of gangplanks being pulled up, the racing13 of a ship’s screw, the
thrill as an aeroplane became airborne and soared up and over the earth beneath. Watching a
strange coastline take form and shape. The smell of hot dust, and paraffin, and garlic—the clatter14
and gabble of foreign tongues. Strange flowers, red poinsettias rising proudly from a dusty
garden…Packing, unpacking—where next?
All that was over. The war was over. Lynn Marchmont had come home. Home is the sailor,
home from the sea…But I’m not the same Lynn who went away, she thought.
She looked up and saw Rowley watching her….

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1 repartee usjyz     
n.机敏的应答
参考例句：
  • This diplomat possessed an excellent gift for repartee.这位外交官具有卓越的应对才能。
  • He was a brilliant debater and his gift of repartee was celebrated.他擅长辩论，以敏于应答著称。
2 unwilling CjpwB     
adj.不情愿的
参考例句：
  • The natives were unwilling to be bent by colonial power.土著居民不愿受殖民势力的摆布。
  • His tightfisted employer was unwilling to give him a raise.他那吝啬的雇主不肯给他加薪。
3 mink ZoXzYR     
n.貂，貂皮
参考例句：
  • She was wearing a blue dress and a mink coat.她穿着一身蓝色的套装和一件貂皮大衣。
  • He started a mink ranch and made a fortune in five years. 他开了个水貂养殖场，五年之内就赚了不少钱。
4 judgment e3xxC     
n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见
参考例句：
  • The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
  • He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。
5 allusions c86da6c28e67372f86a9828c085dd3ad     
暗指，间接提到( allusion的名词复数 )
参考例句：
  • We should not use proverbs and allusions indiscriminately. 不要滥用成语典故。
  • The background lent itself to allusions to European scenes. 眼前的情景容易使人联想到欧洲风光。
6 irritably e3uxw     
ad.易生气地
参考例句：
  • He lost his temper and snapped irritably at the children. 他发火了，暴躁地斥责孩子们。
  • On this account the silence was irritably broken by a reproof. 为了这件事，他妻子大声斥责，令人恼火地打破了宁静。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
7 irritable LRuzn     
adj.急躁的；过敏的；易怒的
参考例句：
  • He gets irritable when he's got toothache.他牙一疼就很容易发脾气。
  • Our teacher is an irritable old lady.She gets angry easily.我们的老师是位脾气急躁的老太太。她很容易生气。
8 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。
9 anticlimax Penyh     
n.令人扫兴的结局；突降法
参考例句：
  • Travelling in Europe was something of an anticlimax after the years he'd spent in Africa.他在非洲生活了多年，到欧洲旅行真是有点太平淡了。
  • It was an anticlimax when they abandoned the game.他们放弃比赛，真是扫兴。
10 depressed xu8zp9     
adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的
参考例句：
  • When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
  • His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。
11 painstakingly painstakingly     
adv. 费力地 苦心地
参考例句：
  • Every aspect of the original has been closely studied and painstakingly reconstructed. 原作的每一细节都经过了仔细研究，费尽苦心才得以重现。
  • The cause they contrived so painstakingly also ended in failure. 他们惨淡经营的事业也以失败而告终。
12 willows 79355ee67d20ddbc021d3e9cb3acd236     
n.柳树( willow的名词复数 )；柳木
参考例句：
  • The willows along the river bank look very beautiful. 河岸边的柳树很美。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Willows are planted on both sides of the streets. 街道两侧种着柳树。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
13 racing 1ksz3w     
n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的
参考例句：
  • I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
  • The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。
14 clatter 3bay7     
v./n.(使)发出连续而清脆的撞击声
参考例句：
  • The dishes and bowls slid together with a clatter.碟子碗碰得丁丁当当的。
  • Don't clatter your knives and forks.别把刀叉碰得咔哒响。

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