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1、【英文读物】The Sound of SilenceChapter 1Nobody at Hoskins, Haskell & Chapman, Incorporated, knew jut why Lucilla Brown, G.G. Hoskins secretary, came to work half an hour early every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Even G.G. himself, had he been asked, would have had trouble explaining how his occasional e
2、xasperated wish that just once somebody would reach the office ahead of him could have caused his attractive young secretary to start doing so three times a week . or kept her at it all the months since that first gloomy March day. Nobody asked G.G. howevernot even Paul Chapman, the very junior part
3、ner in the advertising firm, who had displayed more than a little interest in Lucilla all fall and winter, but very little interest in anything all spring and summer. Nobody asked Lucilla why she left early on the days she arrived earlyafter all, eight hours is long enough. And certainly nobody knew
4、 where Lucilla went at 4:30 on those three daysnor would anybody in the office have believed it, had he known.Lucky Brown? seeing a psychiatrist? The typist would have giggled, the office boy would have snorted, and every salesman on the force would have guffawed. Even Paul Chapman might have manage
5、d a wry smile. A real laugh had been beyond him for several monthsever since he asked Lucilla confidently, Will you marry me? and she answered, Im sorry, Paulthanks, but no thanks.Not that seeing a psychiatrist was anything to laugh at, in itself. After all, the year was 1962, and there were almost
6、as many serious articles about mental health as there were cartoons about psychoanalysts, even in the magazines that specialized in poking fun. In certain citiesincluding Los Angelesand certain industriesespecially advertisingI have an appointment with my psychiatrist was a perfectly acceptable excu
7、se for leaving work early. The idea of a secretary employed by almost the largest advertising firm in one of the best-known suburbs in the sprawling City of the Angels doing so should not, therefore, have seemed particularly odd. Not would it have, if the person involved had been anyone at all excep
8、t Lucilla Brown.The idea that she might need aid of any kind, particularly psychiatric, was ridiculous. She had been born twenty-two years earlier in undisputed possession of a sizable silver spoonand she was, in addition, bright, beautiful, and charming, with 20/20 vision, perfect teeth, a father a
9、nd mother who adored her, friends who did likewise . and the kind of luck youd have to see to believe. Other people entered contestsLucilla won them. Other people drove five miles over the legal speed limit and got caught doing itLucilla out-distanced them, but fortuitously slowed down just before t
10、he highway patrol appeared from nowhere. Other people waited in the wrong line at the bank while the woman ahead of them learned how to roll penniesLucilla was always in the line that moved right up to the tellers window.Lucky was not, in other words, just a happenstance abbreviation of Lucillait wa
11、s an exceedingly apt nickname. And Lucky Browns co-workers would have been quite justified in laughing at the very idea of her being unhappy enough about anything to spend three precious hours a week stretched out on a brown leather couch staring miserably at a pale blue ceiling and fumbling for wor
12、ds that refused to come. There were a good many days when Lucilla felt like laughing at the idea herself. And there were other days when she didnt even feel like smiling.Wednesday, the 25th of July, was one of the days when she didnt feel like smiling. Or talking. Or moving. It had started out badly
13、 when she opened her eyes and found herself staring at a familiar blue ceiling. I dont know, she said irritably. I tell you, I simply dont know what happens. Ill start to answer someone and the words will be right on the tip of my tongue, ready to be spoken, then Ill say something altogether differe
14、nt. Or Ill start to cross the street and, for no reason at all, be unable to even step off the curb.For no reason at all? Dr. Andrews asked. Are you sure you arent withholding something you ought to tell me?She shifted a little, suddenly uncomfortable . and then she was fully awake and the ceiling w
15、as ivory, not blue. She stared at it for a long moment, completely disoriented, before she realized that she was in her own bed, not on Dr. Andrews brown leather couch, and that the conversation had been another of the interminable imaginary dialogues she found herself carrying on with the psychiatr
16、ist, day and night, awake and asleep.Get out of my dreams, she ordered crossly, summoning up a quick mental picture of Dr. Andrews expressive face, level gray eyes, and silvering temples, the better to banish him from her thoughts. She was immediately sorry she had done so, for the image remained fi
17、xed in her mind; she could almost feel his eyes as she heard his voice ask again, For no reason at all, Lucilla?Chapter 2The weatherman had promised a scorcher, and the heat that already lay like a blanket over the room made it seem probable the promise would be fulfilled. She moved listlessly, show
18、ering patting herself dry, lingering over the choice of a dress until her mother called urgently from the kitchen.She was long minutes behind schedule when she left the house. Usually she rather enjoyed easing her small car into the stream of automobiles pouring down Sepulveda toward the San Diego F
19、reeway, jockeying for position, shifting expertly from one lane to another to take advantage of every break in the traffic. This morning she felt only angry impatience; she choked back on the irritated impulse to drive directly into the side of a car that cut across in front of her, held her horn bu
20、tton down furiously when a slow-starting truck hesitated fractionally after the light turned green.When she finally edged her Renault up on the on ramp and the freeway stretched straight and unobstructed ahead, she stepped down on the accelerator and watched the needle climb up and past the legal 65
21、-mile limit. The sound of her tires on the smooth concrete was soothing and the rush of wind outside gave the morning an illusion of coolness. She edged away from the tangle of cars that had pulled onto the freeway with her and momentarily was alone on the road, with her rear-view mirror blank, the
22、oncoming lanes bare, and a small rise shutting off the world ahead.That was when it happened. Get out of the way! a voice shrieked out of the way, out of the way, OUT OF THE WAY! Her heart lurched, her stomach twisted convulsively, and there was a brassy taste in her mouth. Instinctively, she stampe
23、d down on the brake pedal, swerved sharply into the outer lane. By the time she had topped the rise, she was going a cautious 50 miles an hour and hugging the far edge of the freeway. Then, and only then, she heard the squeal of agonized tires and saw the cumbersome semitrailer coming from the oppos
24、ite direction rock dangerously, jackknife into the dividing posts that separated north and south-bound traffic, crunch ponderously through them, and crash to a stop, several hundred feet ahead of her and squarely athwart the lane down which she had been speeding only seconds earlier.The highway patr
25、ol materialized within minutes. Even so, it was after eight by the time Lucilla gave them her statement, agreed for the umpteenth time with the shaken but uninjured truck driver that it was indeed fortunate she hadnt been in the center lane, and drove slowly the remaining miles to the office. The gr
26、ay mood of early morning had changed to black. Now there were two voices in her mind, competing for attention. I knew it was going to happen, the truck driver said, I couldnt see over the top of that hill. All I could do was fight the wheel and pray that if anybody was coming, hed get out of the way
27、. She could almost hear him repeating the words, Get out of the way, out of the way. And right on the heel of his cry came Dr. Andrews soft query, For no reason at all, Lucilla?She pulled into the company parking lot, jerked the wheel savagely to the left, jammed on the brakes. Shut up! she said. Sh
28、ut up, both of you! She started into the building, then hesitated. She was already late, but there was something. (Get out of the way, the way. For no reason at all, at all.) She yielded to impulse and walked hurriedly downstairs to the basement library.That stuff I asked you to get together for me
29、by tomorrow, Ruthie, she said to the gray-haired librarian. You wouldnt by any chance have already done it, would you?Funny you should ask. The elderly woman bobbed down behind the counter and popped back up with an armload of magazines and newspapers. Just happened to have some free time last thing
30、 yesterday. Its already charged out to you, so you just go right ahead and take it, dearie.Chapter 3It was 8:30 when Lucilla reached the office.When I need you, where are you? G.G. asked sourly. Learned last night that the top dog at Karry Karton Korporation is in town today, so theyve pushed that c
31、onference up from Friday to ten this morning. If youd been here earlyor even on timewe might at least have gotten some of the information together.Lucilla laid the stack of material on his desk. I havent had time to flag the pages yet, she said, but theyre listed on the library request on top. We di
32、d nineteen ads for KK last year and three of premium offers. I stopped by Sales on my way inSusies digging out figures for you now.Hm-m-m, said G.G. Well. So thats where youve been. You could at least have let me know. There was grudging approval beneath his gruffness. Say, howd you know I needed th
33、is today, anyhow?Didnt, said Lucilla, putting her purse away and whisking the cover off her typewriter. Happenstance, thats all. (Just happened to go down to the library . for no reason at all . withholding something . get out of the way.) The telephones demand for attention overrode her thoughts. S
34、he reached for it almost gratefully. Mr. Hoskins office, she said. Yes. Yes, he knows about the ten oclock meeting this morning. Thanks for calling, anyway. She hung up and glanced at G.G., but he was so immersed in one of the magazines that the ringing telephone hadnt even disturbed him. Ringing? T
35、he last thing she did before she left the office each night was set the lever in the instruments base to off, so that the bell would not disturb G.G. if he worked late. So far today, nobody had set it back to on.Chapter 4Its getting worse, she said miserably to the pale blue ceiling. The phone didnt
36、 ring this morningit couldnt havebut I answered it. Dr. Andrews said nothing at all. She let her eyes flicker sidewise, but he was outside her range of vision. I dont LIKE having you sit where I cant see you, she said crossly. Freud may have thought it was a good idea, but I think its a lousy one. S
37、he clenched her hands and stared at nothing. The silence stretched thinner and thinner, like a balloon blown big, until the temptation to rupture it was too great to resist. I didnt see the truck this morning. Nor hear it. There was no reason at all for me to slow down and pull over.You might be dea
38、d if you hadnt. Would you like that better?The matter-of-fact question was like a hand laid across Lucillas mouth. I dont want to be dead, she admitted finally. Neither do I want to go on like this, hearing words that arent spoken and bells that dont ring. When it gets to the point that I pick up a
39、phone just because somebodys thinking. She stopped abruptly.I didnt quite catch the end of that sentence, Dr. Andrews said.I didnt quite finish it. I cant.Cant? Or wont? Dont hold anything back, Lucilla. You were saying that you picked up the phone just because somebody was thinking. He paused expec
40、tantly. Lucilla reread the ornate letters on the framed diploma on the wall, looked critically at the picture of Mrs. Andrewswhom shed metand her impish daughterwhom she hadntcounted the number of pleats in the billowing drapes, ran a tentative finger over the face of her wristwatch, straightened a
41、fold of her skirt . and could stand the silence no longer.All right, she said wearily. The girl at Karry Karton thought about talking to me, and I heard my phone ring, even though the bell was disconnected. G.G. thought about needing backup material for the conference and I went to the library. The
42、truck driver thought about warning people and I got out of his way. So I can read peoples mindssome peoples minds, some of the time, anyway . only theres no such thing as telepathy. And if Im not telepathic, then. She caught herself in the brink of time and bit back the final word, fighting for self
43、-control.Then what? The peremptory question toppled Lucillas defenses.Im crazy, she said. Speaking the word released all the others dammed up behind it. Ever since I can remember, things like this have happenedall at once, in the middle of doing something or saying something, Id find myself thinking
44、 about what somebody else was doing or saying. Not thinkingknowing. Id be playing hide-and-seek, and I could see the places where the other kids were hiding just as plainly as I could see my own surroundings. Or Id be worrying over the answers to an exam question, and Id know what somebody in the ba
45、ck of the room had decided to write down, or what the teacher was expecting us to write. Not alwaysbut it happened often enough so that it bothered me, just the way it does now when I answer a question before its been asked, or know what the driver ahead of me is going to do a split second before he
46、 does it, or win a bridge game because I can see everybody elses hand through his own eyes, almost.Has it always . bothered you, Lucilla?No-o-o-o. She drew the word out, considering, trying to think when it was that she hadnt felt uneasy about the unexpected moments of perceptiveness. When she was v
47、ery little, perhaps. She thought of the tiny, laughing girl in the faded snaps of the old albumand suddenly, inexplicably, she was that self, moving through remembered rooms, pausing to collect a word from a boyish father, a thought from a pretty young mother. Reluctantly, she closed her eyes agains
48、t that distant time. Way back, she said, when I didnt know any better, I just took it for granted that sometimes people talked to each other and that sometimes they passed thoughts along without putting them into words. I was about six, I guess, when I found out it wasnt so. She slipped into her six-year-old self as easily as she had donned the younger Lucilla. This time she wasnt in a house, but high on a hillside, walking on springy pine needles instead of prosaic carpet.Talk, Dr. Andre