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

Thre Death of Olivier Becaille-Part3_Emile Zola(1840-1902)_Translated Works(翻译文学)-第2页

0 收藏 0 分享 0 赞

章节正文
文章总共2页
"Oh," said one of the men, "all kids are alike. Whenever there is a



corpse lying about they always want to see it."

I was commodiously stretched out, and I might have thought myself



still in bed, had it not been that my left arm felt a trifle cramped

from being squeezed against a board. The men had been right. I was



pretty comfortable inside on account of my diminutive stature.

"Stop!" suddenly exclaimed Mme Gabin. "I promised his wife to put a



pillow under his head."

The men, who were in a hurry, stuffed in the pillow roughly. One of



them, who had mislaid his hammer, began to swear. He had left the

tool below and went to fetch it, dropping the lid, and when two



sharp blows of the hammer drove in the first nail, a shock ran

through my being--I had ceased to live. The nails then entered in



rapid succession with a rhythmical cadence. It was as if some

packers had been closing a case of dried fruit with easy dexterity.



After that such sounds as reached me were deadened and strangely

prolonged, as if the deal coffin had been changed into a huge



musical box. The last words spoken in the room of the Rue Dauphine--

at least the last ones that I heard distinctly--were uttered by Mme



Gabin.

"Mind the staircase," she said; "the banister of the second flight



isn't safe, so be careful."

While I was being carried down I experienced a sensation similar to



that of pitching as when one is on board a ship in a rough sea.

However, from that moment my impressions became more and more vague.



I remember that the only distinct thought that still possessed me

was an imbecile, impulsivecuriosity as to the road by which I



should be taken to the cemetery. I was not acquainted with a single

street of Paris, and I was ignorant of the position of the large



burial grounds (though of course I had occasionally heard their

names), and yet every effort of my mind was directed toward



ascertaining whether we were turning to the right or to the left.

Meanwhile the jolting of the hearse over the paving stones, the



rumbling of passing vehicles, the steps of the foot passengers, all

created a confused clamor, intensified by the acoustical properties



of the coffin.

At first I followed our course pretty closely; then came a halt. I



was again lifted and carried about, and I concluded that we were in

church, but when the funeralprocession once more moved onward I



lost all consciousness of the road we took. A ringing of bells

informed me that we were passing another church, and then the softer



and easier progress of the wheels indicated that we were skirting a

garden or park. I was like a victim being taken to the gallows,



awaiting in stupor a deathblow that never came.

At last they stopped and pulled me out of the hearse. The business



proceeded rapidly. The noises had ceased; I knew that I was in a

deserted space amid avenues of trees and with the broad sky over my



head. No doubt a few persons followed the bier, some of the

inhabitants of the lodginghouse, perhaps--Simoneau and others, for



instance--for faint whisperings reached my ear. Then I heard a

psalm chanted and some Latin words mumbled by a priest, and



afterward I suddenly felt myself sinking, while the ropes rubbing

against the edges of the coffin elicited lugubrious sounds, as if a



bow were being drawn across the strings of a cracked violoncello.

It was the end. On the left side of my head I felt a violent shock



like that produced by the bursting of a bomb, with another under my

feet and a third more violent still on my chest. So forcible,



indeed, was this last one that I thought the lid was cleft atwain.

I fainted from it.



CHAPTER IV

THE NAIL



It is impossible for me to say how long my swoon lasted. Eternity

is not of longer duration than one second spent in nihility. I was



no more. It was slowly and confusedly that I regained some degree

of consciousness. I was still asleep, but I began to dream; a



nightmare started into shape amid the blackness of my horizon, a

nightmare compounded of a strange fancy which in other days had



haunted my morbid imaginationwhenever with my propensity for

dwelling upon hideous thoughts I had conjured up catastrophes.



Thus I dreamed that my wife was expecting me somewhere--at Guerande,

I believe--and that I was going to join her by rail. As we passed






文章总共2页
文章标签:翻译  译文  翻译文  

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