酷兔英语
    当前位置:
  1. 首页
  2. 文章
  3. 娱乐英语
  4. 原版小说
  5. 正文

Penguin Island-Part34_Anatole France_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

0 收藏 0 分享 0 赞

章节正文
文章总共2页


determine the engine employed in the work of destruction. According to their

conjectures the new explosive emanated from a gas which radium evolves, and it



was supposed that electric waves, produced by a special type of oscillator,

were propagated through space and thus caused the explosion. But even the



ablest chemist could say nothing precise or certain. At last two policemen,

who were passing in front of the Hotel Meyer, found on the pavement, close to



a ventilator, an egg made of white metal and provided with a capsule at each

end. They picked it up carefully, and, on the orders of their chief, carried



it to the municipallaboratory. Scarcely had the experts assembled to examine

it, than the egg burst and blew up the amphitheatre and the dome. All the



experts perished, and with them Collin, the General of Artillery, and the

famous Professor Tigre.



The capitalist society did not allow itself to be daunted by this fresh

disaster. The great banks re-opened their doors, declaring that they would



meet demands partly in bullion and partly in paper money guaranteed by the

State: The Stock Exchange and the Trade Exchange, in spite of the complete



cessation of business, decided not to suspend their sittings.

In the mean time the magisterial investigation into the case of those who had



been first accused had come to an end. Perhaps the evidence brought against

them might have appeared insufficient under other circumstances, but the zeal



both of the magistrates and the public made up for this insufficiency. On the

eve of the day fixed for the trial the Courts of justice were blown up and



eight hundred people were killed, the greater number of them being judges and

lawyers. A furious crowd broke into the prison and lynched the prisoners. The



troops sent to restore order were received with showers of stones and revolver

shots; several soldiers being dragged from their horses and trampled



underfoot. The soldiers fired on the mob and many persons were killed. At last

the public authorities succeeded in establishing tranquillity. Next day the



Bank was blown up.

From that time onwards unheard-of things took place. The factory workers, who



had refused to strike, rushed in crowds into the town and set fire to the

houses. Entire regiments, led by their officers, joined the workmen, went with



them through the town singing revolutionary hymns, and took barrels of

petroleum from the docks with which to feed the fires. Explosions were



continual. One morning a monstrous tree of smoke, like the ghost of a huge

palm tree half a mile in height, rose above the giant Telegraph Hall which



suddenly fell into a complete ruin.

Whilst half the town was in flames, the other half pursued its accustomed



life. In the mornings, milk pails could be heard jingling in the dairy carts.

In a deserted avenue some old navvy might be seen seated against a wall slowly



eating hunks of bread with perhaps a little meat. Almost all the presidents of

the trusts remained at their posts. Some of them performed their duty with



heroic simplicity. Raphael Box, the son of a martyred multi-millionaire, was

blown up as he was presiding at the general meeting of the Sugar Trust. He was



given a magnificentfuneral and the procession on its way to the cemetery had

to climb six times over piles of ruins or cross upon planks over the uprooted



roads.

The ordinary helpers of the rich, the clerks, employees, brokers, and agents,



preserved an unshaken fidelity. The surviving clerks of the Bank that had been

blown up, made their way along the ruined streets through the midst of smoking



houses to hand in their bills of exchange, and several were swallowed up in

the flames while endeavouring to present their receipts.



Nevertheless, any illusionconcerning the state of affairs was impossible. The

enemy was master of the town. Instead of silence the noise of explosions was



now continuous and produced an insurmountable feeling of horror. The lighting

apparatus having been destroyed, the city was plunged in darkness all through



the night, and appalling crimes were committed. The populous districts alone,

having suffered the least, still preserved measures of protection. The were



paraded by patrols of volunteers who shot the robbers, and at every street

corner one stumbled over a body lying in a pool of blood, the hands bound



behind the back, a handkerchief over the face, and a placard pinned upon the

breast.



It became impossible to clear away the ruins or to bury the dead. Soon the

stench from the corpses became intolerable. Epidemics raged and caused



innumerable deaths, while they also rendered the survivors feeble and

listless. Famine carried off almost all who were left. A hundred and one days



after the first outrage, whilst six army corps with field artillery and siege




文章总共2页
文章标签:名著  

章节正文
Copyright © 2023 Qeto All rights reserved.
商务合作 | 联系我们 | 关于我们 | 版权声明 | 隐私条款 | 如果智培

京ICP备05059198号-1 京公网安备 11011202003401号