The Windmill
爱德华·凡尔·卢卡斯 / Edward Verrall Lucas
Think about the questions before you read this article.
1. What does the author feel after entering the windmill?
2. In fact, what else feeling lies behind the pity of the author?
Chance recently made me for a while the tenant of a windmill. Not to live in, and unhappily not to grind corn in, but to visit as the mood arose, and see the ships in the harbour from the topmost window, and look down on the sheep and the green world all around. For this mill stands high and white so white, indeed, that when there is a thunder-cloud behind it, it seems a thing of polished aluminium.
From its windows you can see four other mills, all like itself, idle, and one merely a ruin and one with only two sweeps left. But just over the next range of hills, out of sight, to the northeast, is a windmill that still merrily goes, and about five miles away to the northwest is another also active; so that things are not quite so bad hereabouts as in many parts of the country, where the good breezes blow altogether in vain?
Thinking over the losses which England has had forced upon her by steam and the ingenuity of the engineer, one is disposed to count the decay of the windmill among the first. Perhaps in the matter of pure picturesqueness the most serious thing that ever happened to England was the discovery of galvanized iron roofing; but, after all, there was never anything but quiet and rich and comfortable beauty about red roofs, whereas the living windmill is not only beautiful but romantic too: a willing, man-serving creature, yoked to the elements, a whirling monster, often a thing of terror. No one can stand very near the crashing sweeps of a windmill in half a gale without a tightening of the heart feeling comparable to that which comes from watching the waves break over a wall in a storm . And to be within the mill at such a time is to know something of sound’s very sources; it is the cave of noise itself. No doubt there are dens of hammering energy which are more shattering, but the noise of a windmill is largely natural, the product of wood striving with the good sou’wester; it fills the ears rather than assaults them. The effect, moreover,is by no means lessened by the absence of the wind itself and the silent nonchalance of the miller and his man, who move about in the midst of this appalling racket with the quiet efficiency of vergers.
In my mill, of course, there is no such uproar; nothing but the occasional shaking of the cross-pieces of the idle sails. Everything is still; and the pity of it is that everything is in almost perfect order for the day’s work. The mill one day some score years ago was full of life; the next, and ever after, mute and lifeless, like a stream frozen in a night or the palace in Tennyson’s ballad of the ‘Sleeping Beauty’. There is no decay merely inanition. One or two of the apple-wood cogs have been broken from the great wheel; a few floor planks have been rotted; but that is all. A week’s overhauling would put everything right but it will never come. And the cheerful winds that once were to drive a thousand English mills so happily now bustle over the Channel in vain.
不久前，一个偶然的机会使我成为一座风车房的驻客。但并不是真的住进去，而且说来遗憾，也不是进去磨点什么东西，只是兴致来时进去转了转，从它最上端的窗户遥望港口的船只，或俯视周围的羊群和田野。这座风车又大又白——而且白得很厉害，每当雷、雨、云绕到它的背后时，整个风车就光亮得如同铝制的一样。
从风车房的其他几个窗口往外看，你还可以看到另外的四个风车，这些风车和它一样，也都闲置着。其中一个已经破损得非常厉害，还有一个也只剩下了两个翼板。但就在下一道山冈、远得望不见的东北方向，有一座风车在那里欢快地转动着，另外由此再向西北四五英里的地方，也有一个风车在运转。所以这个地方的情形还不至于像全国其他地方那么糟糕，任由阵阵好风从身边白白吹过！
一想起因蒸汽机以及工程师的聪明才智带给英国的种种损失，人们总会把风车的衰落列为其中的第一项。也许只从景物的美观别致来说，英国所遭遇的最大不幸乃是镀锌铁屋顶的发明；不过，毕竟红色屋顶的美好也不只是安详富丽与舒适而已，但是转动着的风车不仅看起来美丽，而且非常浪漫：一个受制于自然的魔力但情愿为人类服务的温顺家伙，一个飞舞旋转的怪物，或者一个经常使人惧怕的东西。如果正在风力正强的时候靠近一座风车轰鸣的翼板，心里都会骤然紧张起来——那感觉就像人们在暴风雨中望见水浪冲击堤岸的情景一样。而此时待在风车房里面的话，就能对声音的来历有些体会，因为这里就是声音的洞穴。当然有些孔洞中所发出的轰鸣声震耳欲聋，具有很大的威力，但风车的声音大体来说是比较自然的，它们是木头与西南风搏斗时产生的，它充盈于人耳而不会震耳欲聋。而且这种效果并不因为没有风或者磨坊主人及其用人的冷漠而有所减弱，这些人即使是在震耳欲聋的喧闹之下，也总是一副文静态度，如同教堂管事人一般有条不紊地办事。
当然，我进入的磨坊并没有如此喧闹，我只是偶尔听到那些闲置的翼板上的横木做几下摆动罢了，一切都是如此寂静。更使人惆怅的是，一切又仿佛已完全就绪，就等着当天开工了。这个风车在大约几十年前，也曾是生气勃勃的，但是从那以后，它就永归沉寂，毫无生气，就像一条溪流在夜里突然遭遇封冻，或者像丁尼逊《睡美人》诗中的宫殿那样寂寞。这风车并没损坏——它只是失去了魂魄。风车上几个苹果木的榫子已从轮机上脱落下来，地板上的木条也有几根烂掉了，但也仅仅如此而已。只要一周的时间，就足以把这一切都修好。但永远没有这种可能了，因为，以前曾经使千千万万个英国风车一起欢舞的阵阵好风，而今也只能在英吉利海峡之上徒劳地吹过。
心灵小语
任何人或事物，一旦失去了灵魂，就等于行尸走肉，只是一个躯壳而已。
Seize Your Time
According to the speech, match each of the following verbs vith its
meaning.
(1) idle a. attack someone physically or emotionally
(2) mute b. in a joyous manner
(3) merrily c. not in action or at work
(4) assault d. silent, lacking power of speech
Practicing for Better Learning
Please fill in the blank with the proper words according to the given
sentences.
1. For many states in the developing world, the __ on Iraq in 2003 was a classic case of aggression.
对于绝大多数的发展中国家而言，2003年对伊拉克的入侵是典型的侵略行为。
2. We can use the skills and __ of the most dynamic country on Earth to reach a better day.
我们能利用世界上最具活力的国家的所有技术和聪明才智创造美好的未来。
3. They protested to the President but __.
他们向总统提抗议，但没有结果。
4. One could hear them singing and dancing __.
人们可以听到他们欢快的歌舞声。
5. I don’t think Father will fancy living an __ life.
我认为父亲不会想过无所事事的生活。
