地下墓穴（3）

 

And yet for some years there had been an acquaintanceship which appeared to be slowly ripening¹ into a friendship between these two very different rivals. The base and origin of this lay in the fact that in their own studies each was the only one of the younger men who had knowledge and enthusiasm enough to properly appreciate the other. Their common interests and pursuits had brought them together, and each had been attracted by the other’s knowledge. And then gradually something had been added to this. Kennedy had been amused by the frankness and simplicity² of his rival, while Burger in turn had been fascinated by the brilliancy and vivacity³ which had made Kennedy such a favourite in Roman society. I say “had,” because just at the moment the young Englishman was somewhat under a cloud. A love-affair, the details of which had never quite come out, had indicated a heartlessness and callousness⁴ upon his part which shocked many of his friends. But in the bachelor circles of students and artists in which he preferred to move there is no very rigid⁵ code of honour in such matters, and though a head might be shaken or a pair of shoulders shrugged⁶ over the flight of two and the return of one, the general sentiment was probably one of curiosity and perhaps of envy rather than of reprobation⁷.

“Look here, Burger,” said Kennedy, looking hard at the placid⁸ face of his companion, “I do wish that you would confide⁹ in me.”

As he spoke¹⁰ he waved his hand in the direction of a rug which lay upon the floor. On the rug stood a long, shallow fruit-basket of the light wicker-work which is used in the Campagna, and this was heaped with a litter of objects, inscribed¹¹ tiles, broken inscriptions¹², cracked mosaics¹³, torn papyri, rusty¹⁴ metal ornaments¹⁵, which to the uninitiated might have seemed to have come straight from a dustman’s bin¹⁶, but which a specialist would have speedily recognized as unique of their kind. The pile of odds¹⁷ and ends in the flat wicker-work basket supplied exactly one of those missing links of social development which are of such interest to the student. It was the German who had brought them in, and the Englishman’s eyes were hungry as he looked at them.

不过，近几年这两个完全不同类型的人从相识慢慢变成了朋友。友谊的基础和源泉是两个年轻人在各自的研究工作中，由于拥有渊博的知识和极大的热情，发现只有对方才能真正欣赏自己，共同的兴趣和追求把他们聚到一起，每个人都为对方的知识渊博所折服。渐渐地，彼此在对方身上发现了更多的东西。肯尼迪喜欢同伴的率直和单纯，而伯格则着迷于曾经使肯尼迪成为罗马上流社会宠儿的风采和机敏。我说“曾经”是因为现在这个英国人已经失宠了。一桩桃色事件——具体情形尚不明了一一表明他是个冷酷无情的人，这使他的许多朋友大为震惊。不过在他喜欢与之交往的单身学者和艺术家的圈子里并没有严格的道德准则，对于私奔时是两个人而回来的只有一个这件事，尽管有人摇头，有人耸肩，但更多的反应却是好奇和妒忌，而不是遣责。

“嘿，伯格，"肯尼迪盯着同伴平静的脸说道，“真希望你能信任我。”

的水果篮，是细柳条编的，平原地区常见。篮子里堆满了破烂一一雕花瓦片，残缺的碑文，破碎的马赛克，撕破的纸草纸，生锈的金属饰物。在外行人眼里这全是从垃圾箱捡来的，可是一名专家会很快认出它们是举世无双的珍品。扁平的柳条篮子里放的这堆零碎可以弥补社会发展链条中缺失的一环，对学者来说实在太有趣了。把它们带来的是这个德国人，而英国人的目光在盯着它们的时候显得极为贪婪。

1 ripening   

v.成熟，使熟( ripen的现在分词 )；熟化；熟成

参考例句：

• The corn is blossoming [ripening]. 玉米正在开花[成熟]。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• When the summer crop is ripening, the autumn crop has to be sowed. 夏季作物成熟时，就得播种秋季作物。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 simplicity   

n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯

参考例句：

• She dressed with elegant simplicity.她穿着朴素高雅。
• The beauty of this plan is its simplicity.简明扼要是这个计划的一大特点。

3 vivacity   

n.快活，活泼，精神充沛

参考例句：

• Her charm resides in her vivacity.她的魅力存在于她的活泼。
• He was charmed by her vivacity and high spirits.她的活泼与兴高采烈的情绪把他迷住了。

4 callousness   

参考例句：

• He remembered with what callousness he had watched her. 他记得自己以何等无情的态度瞧着她。 来自辞典例句
• She also lacks the callousness required of a truly great leader. 她还缺乏一个真正伟大领袖所应具备的铁石心肠。 来自辞典例句

5 rigid   

adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的

参考例句：

• She became as rigid as adamant.她变得如顽石般的固执。
• The examination was so rigid that nearly all aspirants were ruled out.考试很严，几乎所有的考生都被淘汰了。

6 shrugged   

vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀，什么也没说。
• She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩，装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 reprobation   

n.斥责

参考例句：

• Nearly everyone had something to say in reprobation of the views suggested by Owen. 几乎每个人都说几句话来表示反对欧文的见解。 来自辞典例句

8 placid   

adj.安静的，平和的

参考例句：

• He had been leading a placid life for the past eight years.八年来他一直过着平静的生活。
• You should be in a placid mood and have a heart-to- heart talk with her.你应该心平气和的好好和她谈谈心。

9 confide   

v.向某人吐露秘密

参考例句：

• I would never readily confide in anybody.我从不轻易向人吐露秘密。
• He is going to confide the secrets of his heart to us.他将向我们吐露他心里的秘密。

10 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

11 inscribed   

v.写，刻( inscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；内接

参考例句：

• His name was inscribed on the trophy. 他的名字刻在奖杯上。
• The names of the dead were inscribed on the wall. 死者的名字被刻在墙上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 inscriptions   

（作者）题词( inscription的名词复数 )； 献词； 碑文； 证劵持有人的登记

参考例句：

• Centuries of wind and rain had worn away the inscriptions on the gravestones. 几个世纪的风雨已磨损了墓碑上的碑文。
• The inscriptions on the stone tablet have become blurred with the passage of time. 年代久了，石碑上的字迹已经模糊了。

13 mosaics   

n.马赛克( mosaic的名词复数 )；镶嵌；镶嵌工艺；镶嵌图案

参考例句：

• The panel shows marked similarities with mosaics found elsewhere. 这块嵌板和在其他地方找到的镶嵌图案有明显的相似之处。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The unsullied and shining floor was paved with white mosaics. 干净明亮的地上镶嵌着白色图案。 来自辞典例句

14 rusty   

adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的

参考例句：

• The lock on the door is rusty and won't open.门上的锁锈住了。
• I haven't practiced my French for months and it's getting rusty.几个月不用，我的法语又荒疏了。

15 ornaments   

n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The shelves were chock-a-block with ornaments. 架子上堆满了装饰品。
• Playing the piano sets up resonance in those glass ornaments. 一弹钢琴那些玻璃饰物就会产生共振。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

17 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？