our landlady and telling him to take the lobster and the crab to her

house.



"Do you earn enough to live on?" I asked the man, in order to discover

the cause of his evident penury.



"With great hardships, and always poorly," he replied. "Fishing on the

coast, when one hasn't a boat or deep-sea nets, nothing but pole and



line, is a very uncertain business. You see we have to wait for the

fish, or the shell-fish; whereas a real fisherman puts out to sea for



them. It is so hard to earn a living this way that I'm the only man in

these parts who fishes along-shore. I spend whole days without getting



anything. To catch a crab, it must go to sleep, as this one did, and a

lobster must be silly enough to stay among the rocks. Sometimes after



a high tide the mussels come in and I grab them."

"Well, taking one day with another, how much do you earn?"



"Oh, eleven or twelve sous. I could do with that if I were alone; but

I have got my old father to keep, and he can't do anything, the good



man, because he's blind."

At these words, said simply, Pauline and I looked at each other



without a word; then I asked,--

"Haven't you a wife, or some good friend?"



He cast upon us one of the most lamentable glances that I ever saw as

he answered,--



"If I had a wife I must abandon my father; I could not feed him and a

wife and children too."



"Well, my poor lad, why don't you try to earn more at the salt

marshes, or by carrying the salt to the harbor?"



"Ah, monsieur, I couldn't do that work three months. I am not strong

enough, and if I died my father would have to beg. I am forced to take



a business which only needs a little knack and a great deal of

patience."



"But how can two persons live on twelve sous a day?"

"Oh, monsieur, we eat cakes made of buckwheat, and barnacles which I



get off the rocks."

"How old are you?"



"Thirty-seven."

"Did you ever leave Croisic?"



"I went once to Guerande to draw for the conscription; and I went to

Savenay to the messieurs who measure for the army. If I had been half



an inch taller they'd have made me a soldier. I should have died of my

first march, and my poor father would to-day be begging his bread."



I had thought out many dramas; Pauline was accustomed to great

emotions beside a man so suffering as myself; well, never had either



of us listened to words so moving as these. We walked on in silence,

measuring, each of us, the silent depths of that obscure life,



admiring the nobility of a devotion which was ignorant of itself. The

strength of that feebleness amazed us; the man's unconscious



generosity belittled us. I saw that poor being of instinct chained to

that rock like a galley-slave to his ball; watching through twenty



years for shell-fish to earn a living, and sustained in his patience

by a single sentiment. How many hours wasted on a lonely shore! How



many hopes defeated by a change of weather! He was hanging there to a

granite rock, his arm extended like that of an Indian fakir, while his



father, sitting in their hovel, awaited, in silence and darkness, a

meal of the coarsest bread and shell-fish, if the sea permitted.



"Do you ever drink wine?" I asked.

"Three or four times a year," he replied.



"Well, you shall drink it to-day,--you and your father; and we will

send you some white bread."



"You are very kind, monsieur."

"We will give you your dinner if you will show us the way along the



shore to Batz, where we wish to see the tower which overlooks the bay

between Batz and Croisic."



"With pleasure," he said. "Go straight before you, along the path you

are now on, and I will follow you when I have put away my tackle."



We nodded consent, and he ran off joyfully toward the town. This

meeting maintained us in our previousmental condition; but it



lessened our gay lightheartedness.

"Poor man!" said Pauline, with that accent which removes from the



compassion of a woman all that is mortifying in human pity, "ought we

not to feel ashamed of our happiness in presence of such misery?"



"Nothing is so cruellypainful as to have powerless desires," I

answered. "Those two poor creatures, the father and son, will never

• compass [´kʌmpəs] n.指南针；圆规 (初中英语单词)


• standing [´stændiŋ] n.持续 a.直立的 (初中英语单词)


• presently [´prezəntli] ad.不久；目前 (初中英语单词)


• undertake [,ʌndə´teik] vt.从事；承担；担保 (初中英语单词)


• glorious [´glɔ:riəs] a.光荣的；辉煌的 (初中英语单词)


• upward [´ʌpwəd] a.&ad.向上(的)；以上 (初中英语单词)


• running [´rʌniŋ] a.奔跑的；流动的 (初中英语单词)


• horizon [hə´raizən] n.地平线；范围；视野 (初中英语单词)


• fisherman [´fiʃəmən] n.渔民，渔夫，打鱼人 (初中英语单词)


• trousers [´trauzəz] n.裤子，长裤 (初中英语单词)


• jacket [´dʒækit] n.茄克衫；外套 (初中英语单词)


• poverty [´pɔvəti] n.贫穷(乏，瘠)；不足 (初中英语单词)


• intention [in´tenʃən] n.意图；打算；意义 (初中英语单词)


• pressure [´preʃə] n.压榨 vt.对…施压力 (初中英语单词)


• lightly [´laitli] ad.轻微地，稍微 (初中英语单词)


• celebrated [´selibreitid] a.著名的 (初中英语单词)


• savage [´sævidʒ] a.野蛮的 n.蛮人 (初中英语单词)


• patience [´peiʃəns] n.忍耐(力)；耐心；坚韧 (初中英语单词)


• evidently [´evidəntli] ad.明显地 (初中英语单词)


• ambition [æm´biʃən] n.雄心，野心；企图 (初中英语单词)


• countenance [´kauntinəns] n.面部表情；脸色；面容 (初中英语单词)


• delicate [´delikət] a.精美的；微妙的 (初中英语单词)


• monkey [´mʌŋki] n.猴子 v.乱弄；胡闹 (初中英语单词)


• evident [´evidənt] a.明显的，明白的 (初中英语单词)


• uncertain [ʌn´sə:tn] a.不定的；不可靠的 (初中英语单词)


• whereas [weər´æz] conj.鉴于；因此；而 (初中英语单词)


• abandon [ə´bændən] vt.抛弃，放弃，离弃 (初中英语单词)


• monsieur [mə´sjə:] n.先生 (初中英语单词)


• measure [´meʒə] n.量度；范围 vt.测量 (初中英语单词)


• suffering [´sʌfəriŋ] n.痛苦；灾害 (初中英语单词)


• devotion [di´vəuʃən] n.献身；忠诚；热爱 (初中英语单词)


• ignorant [´ignərənt] a.无知的，愚昧的 (初中英语单词)


• instinct [´instiŋkt] n.本能；直觉；天资 (初中英语单词)


• sentiment [´sentimənt] n.情绪；多愁善感 (初中英语单词)


• lonely [´ləunli] a.孤独的；无人烟的 (初中英语单词)


• indian [´indiən] a.印度的 n.印度人 (初中英语单词)


• previous [´pri:viəs] a.先，前，以前的 (初中英语单词)


• mental [´mentl] a.精神的；心理的 (初中英语单词)


• accent [´æksənt, æk´sent] n.重音；口音 vt.重读 (初中英语单词)


• ashamed [ə´ʃeimd] a.惭愧；不好意思 (初中英语单词)


• homage [´hɔmidʒ] n.敬意，尊敬 (高中英语单词)


• breadth [bredθ] n.宽度，幅面，广度 (高中英语单词)


• theirs [ðeəz] pron.他们的 (高中英语单词)


• caesar [´si:zə] n.凯撒；暴君；独裁者 (高中英语单词)


• builder [´bildə] n.建筑者；创造者 (高中英语单词)


• granite [´grænit] n.花岗岩 (高中英语单词)


• peninsula [pi´ninsjulə] n.半岛 (高中英语单词)


• conception [kən´sepʃən] n.构思；概念；怀孕 (高中英语单词)


• joyous [´dʒɔiəs] a.充满快乐的 (高中英语单词)


• hearing [´hiəriŋ] n.听力；听证会；审讯 (高中英语单词)


• radiant [´reidiənt] a.发光的 n.光源(体) (高中英语单词)


• pebble [´pebəl] n.卵石 v.(用卵石)铺 (高中英语单词)


• ripple [´ripəl] n.涟漪 v.(使)起涟漪 (高中英语单词)


• nourish [´nʌriʃ] vt.养育；施肥于 (高中英语单词)


• translation [træns´leiʃən, trænz-] n.翻译；译文；译本 (高中英语单词)


• ragged [´rægid] a.衣服破烂的 (高中英语单词)


• stillness [´stilnis] n.不动；无声，寂静 (高中英语单词)


• rugged [´rʌgid] a.不平的；粗犷的 (高中英语单词)


• festival [´festivəl] n.节日；庆祝；欢庆 (高中英语单词)


• resignation [,rezig´neiʃən] n.辞职(书)；放弃；顺从 (高中英语单词)


• landlady [´lænd,leidi] n.女房东；女店主 (高中英语单词)


• nobility [nəu´biliti, nə-] n.高贵；贵金属性 (高中英语单词)


• hanging [´hæŋiŋ] n.绞刑 a.悬挂着的 (高中英语单词)


• painful [´peinfəl] a.痛(苦)的；费力的 (高中英语单词)


• newton [´nju:tn] n.牛顿 (英语四级单词)


• whence [wens] ad.从何处；从那里 (英语四级单词)


• lobster [´lɔbstə] n.龙虾(肉) (英语四级单词)


• ardent [´ɑ:dənt] a.热心的；热情洋溢的 (英语四级单词)


• vegetation [,vedʒi´teiʃən] n.植物；生长 (英语四级单词)


• joyfully [´dʒɔifuli] ad.高兴地，快乐地 (英语四级单词)


• cruelly [´kruəli] ad.残酷地；极，非常 (英语四级单词)


• phenomena [fi´nɔminə] phenomenon的复数 (英语六级单词)


• taking [´teikiŋ] a.迷人的 n.捕获物 (英语六级单词)


• discord [´diskɔ:d] n.不一致；不和谐 (英语六级单词)


• dreamer [´dri:mə] n.做梦的人；梦想者 (英语六级单词)


• emblem [´embləm] n.象征；标志；徽章 (英语六级单词)


• lamentable [´læməntəbl, lə´mentəbl] a.可悲的 (英语六级单词)


• buckwheat [´bʌkwi:t] n.荞麦(粉) (英语六级单词)


• extended [iks´tendid] a.伸长的；广大的 (英语六级单词)


• powerless [´pauələs] a.软弱的；无资源的 (英语六级单词)