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

The Magic Skin-Part4_Honore de Balzac(1799-1850)_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


piece of opium can produce.

But this apparition had appeared in Paris, on the Quai Voltaire, and



in the nineteenth century; the time and place made sorcery impossible.

The idol of French scepticism had died in the house just opposite, the



disciple of Gay-Lussac and Arago, who had held the charlatanism of

intellect in contempt. And yet the stranger submitted himself to the



influence of an imaginative spell, as all of us do at times, when we

wish to escape from an inevitablecertainty, or to tempt the power of



Providence. So some mysteriousapprehension of a strange force made

him tremble before the old man with the lamp. All of us have been



stirred in the same way by the sight of Napoleon, or of some other

great man, made illustrious by his genius or by fame.



"You wish to see Raphael's portrait of Jesus Christ, monsieur?" the

old man asked politely. There was something metallic in the clear,



sharp ring of his voice.

He set the lamp upon a broken column, so that all its light might fall



on the brown case.

At the sacred names of Christ and Raphael the young man showed some



curiosity. The merchant, who no doubt looked for this, pressed a

spring, and suddenly the mahogany panel slid noiselessly back in its



groove, and discovered the canvas to the stranger's admiring gaze. At

sight of this deathless creation, he forgot his fancies in the show-



rooms and the freaks of his dreams, and became himself again. The old

man became a being of flesh and blood, very much alive, with nothing



chimerical about him, and took up his existence at once upon solid

earth.



The sympathy and love, and the gentle serenity in the divine face,

exerted an instant sway over the younger spectator. Some influence



falling from heaven bade cease the burning torment that consumed the

marrow of his bones. The head of the Saviour of mankind seemed to



issue from among the shadows represented by a dark background; an

aureole of light shone out brightly from his hair; an impassioned



belief seemed to glow through him, and to thrill every feature. The

word of life had just been uttered by those red lips, the sacred



sounds seemed to linger still in the air; the spectatorbesought the

silence for those captivating parables, hearkened for them in the



future, and had to turn to the teachings of the past. The untroubled

peace of the divine eyes, the comfort of sorrowing souls, seemed an



interpretation of the Evangel. The sweet triumphant smile revealed the

secret of the Catholic religion, which sums up all things in the



precept, "Love one another." This picture breathed the spirit of

prayer, enjoined forgiveness, overcame self, caused sleeping powers of



good to waken. For this work of Raphael's had the imperious charm of

music; you were brought under the spell of memories of the past; his



triumph was so absolute that the artist was forgotten. The witchery of

the lamplight heightened the wonder; the head seemed at times to



flicker in the distance, enveloped in cloud.

"I covered the surface of that picture with gold pieces," said the



merchant carelessly.

"And now for death!" cried the young man, awakened from his musings.



His last thought had recalled his fate to him, as it led him

imperceptibly back from the forlorn hopes to which he had clung.



"Ah, ha! then my suspicions were well founded!" said the other, and

his hands held the young man's wrists in a grip like that of a vice.



The younger man smiled wearily at his mistake, and said gently:

"You, sir, have nothing to fear; it is not your life, but my own that



is in question. . . . But why should I hide a harmless fraud?" he went




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