中文(簡體) 通用 Examinations will then become matters of capacity in the real meaning ofthat word, and we shall be tempted to invest our pocket-money byadvertisements of "A cheap line in Astrology," "Try our double-strength,two- minute course of Classics," "This is remnant day for Trig- onometryand Metaphysics," and so on. My friend did not get as far as that. With him the process did nottake more than a minute, but it was startling in its results, and reduced meto an extraordinary state of hypnotic receptibility. When it was over myinstructor tapped with a finger on my lips, uttering aloud as he did so thewords-"Know none; know some; know little; know morel" again and again;and the strangest part of it is that as he spoke I did know at first a little, then more, and still more, by swift accumulation, of his speech andmeaning. In fact, when pre- sently he suddenly laid a hand over my eyesand then let go of my head with a pleasantly put question as to how I felt, Ihad no difficulty whatever in answering him in his own tongue, and rosefrom the ground as one gets from a hair-dresser's chair, with a vague ideaof looking round for my hat and offering him his fee. "My word, sir!" I said, in lisping Martian, as I pulled down my cuffsand put my cravat straight, "that was a quick process. I once heard of aman who learnt a language in the moments he gave each day to having hisboots blacked; but this beats all. I trust I was a docile pupil?""Oh, fairly, sir," answered the soft, musical voice of the strange beingby me; "but your head is thick and your brain tough. I could have taughtanother in half the time.""Curiously enough," was my response, "those are almost the verywords with which my dear old tutor dismissed me the morning I leftcollege. Never mind, the thing is done. Shall I pay you anything?""I do not understand.""Any honorarium, then? Some people understand one word and notthe other." But the boy only shook his head in answer. Strangely enough, I was not greatly surprised all this time either at thenovelty of my whereabouts or at the hypnotic instruction in a newlanguage just received. Per- haps it was because my head still spun toogiddily with that flight in the old rug for much thought; perhaps be- causeI did not yet fully realise the thing that had happened. But, anyhow, thereis the fact, which, like so many others in my narrative, must, alas! remainunexplained for the moment. The rug, by the way, had completely disappeared, my friend comforting me on this score, however, by saying he hadseen it rolled up and taken away by one whom he knew. "We are very tidy people here, stranger," he said, "and everythingfound Lying about goes back to the Palace store- rooms. You will laughto see the lumber there, for few of us ever take the trouble to reclaim ourproperty."Heaven knows I was in no laughing mood when I saw that enchantedweb again! When I had lain and watched the brightening scene for a time, I got up,and having stretched and shaken my clothes into some sort of order, westrolled down the hill and joined the light-hearted crowds that twinedacross the plain and through the streets of their city of booths. They werethe prettiest, daintiest folk ever eyes looked upon, well-formed and like tous as could be in the main, but slender and willowy, so dainty and light,both the men and the women, so pretty of cheek and hair, so mild of aspect,I felt, as I strode amongst them, I could have plucked them like flowersand bound them up in bunches with my belt. And yet somehow I likedthem from the first minute; such a happy, careless, light-hearted race,again I say, never was seen before. There was not a stain of thought orcare on a single one of those white foreheads that eddied round me undertheir peaked, blossom-like caps, the perpetual smile their faces wore neversuffered rebuke anywhere; their very movements were graceful and slow,their laughter was low and musical, there was an odour of friendly,slothful happiness about them that made me admire whether I would orno. Unfortunately I was not able to live on laughter, as they appeared to be,so presently turning to my acquaintance, who had told me his name wasthe plain monosyllabic An, and clapping my hand on his shoulder as hestood lost in sleepy reflection, said, in a good, hearty way, "Hullo, friendYellow-jerkin! If a stranger might set himself athwart the cheerfulcurrent of your meditations, may such a one ask how far 'tis to the nearestwine-shop or a booth where a thirsty man may get a mug of ale at amoderate reckoning?"That gilded youth staggered under my friendly blow as though thehammer of Thor himself had suddenly lit upon his shoulder, and ruefullyrubbing his tender skin, he turned on me mild, handsome eyes, answeringafter a moment, dur-ing which his native mildness struggled with the painI had unwittingly given him-"If your thirst be as emphatic as your greeting, friend Heavy-fist, itwill certainly be a kindly deed to lead you to the drinking-place. Myshoulder tingles with your good- fellowship," he added, keeping twoarms'-lengths clear of me. "Do you wish," he said, "merely to cleanse a dusty throat, or for blue or pink oblivion?""Why," I answered laughingly, "I have come a longish journey sinceyesterday night--a journey out of count of all reasonable mileage--and Imight fairly plead a dusty throat as excuse for a beginning; but as to theother things mentioned, those tinted forgetfulnesses, I do not even knowwhat you mean.""Undoubtedly you are a stranger," said the friendly youth, eyeing mefrom top to toe with renewed wonder, "and by your unknown garb onefrom afar.""From how far no man can say--not even I--but from very far, in truth. Let that stay your curiosity for the time. And now to bench and ale-mug,on good fellow!--the short- est way. I was never so thirsty as this sinceour water-butts went overboard when I sailed the southern seas as a trampapprentice, and for three days we had to damp our black tongues with thepuddles the night-dews left in the lift of our mainsail."Without more words, being a little awed of me, I thought, the boy ledme through the good-humoured crowd to where, facing the main road tothe town, but a little sheltered by a thicket of trees covered with giganticpink blossoms, stood a drinking-place--a cluster of tables set round anopen grass-plot. Here he brought me a platter of some light inefficientcakes which merely served to make hunger more self-conscious, and somefine aromatic wine contained in a triple-bodied flask, each divisioncontaining vintage of a separate hue. We broke our biscuits, sipped thatmysterious wine, and talked of many things until at last something set uson the subject of astronomy, a study I found my dapper gallant had someknowledge of-- which was not to be wondered at seeing he dwelt underskies each night set thick above his curly head with tawny planets, andglittering constellations sprinkled through space like flowers in Maymeadows. He knew what worlds went round the sun, larger or lesser, andseeing this I be- gan to question him, for I was uneasy in my innermostmind and, you will remember, so far had no certain knowledge of where Iwas, only a dim, restless suspicion that I had come beyond the ken of allmen's knowledge. Therefore, sweeping clear the board with my sleeve, and breaking the wafer cake I was eating, I set down one central piece for the sun, and, "Seehere!" I said, "good fel- low! This morsel shall stand for that sun youhave just been welcoming back with quaint ritual. Now stretch yourstarry knowledge to the utmost, and put down that tankard for a moment. If this be yonder sun and this lesser crumb be the outermost one of ourrevolving system, and this the next within, and this the next, and so on;now if this be so tell me which of these fragmentary orbs is ours--which ofall these crumbs from the hand of the primordial would be that we standupon?" And I waited with an anxiety a light manner thinly hid, to hearhis answer. It came at once. Laughing as though the question were too trivial,and more to humour my wayward fancy than aught else, that boy circledhis rosy thumb about a minute and brought it down on the planet Mars! 百度翻譯字數限制為5000字, "Exa"及其後面沒有被翻譯! 考試將成為這個詞真正意義上的能力問題，我們將被誘惑去投資我們的零花錢，通過廣告「佔星術中的廉價路線」，「嘗試我們的雙重力量，兩分鐘的經典課程」，「今天是三角學和形上學的剩餘日」等等。 我的朋友沒有做到這一點。對他來說，這個過程不超過一分鐘，但它的結果令人吃驚，使我的催眠接受能力下降到一種非同尋常的狀態。講完後，我的老師用一根手指輕拍我的嘴唇，一邊大聲說：「不知道；知道一些；知道很少；知道莫雷爾」這幾個字，一遍又一遍；最奇怪的是，在他說話的時候，我一開始只知道一點，後來知道得更多，而且，通過迅速的積累，我對他的講話和意思了解得更多。事實上，當他突然把手放在我的眼睛上，然後放開我的頭，愉快地問我的感受時，我毫不費力地用自己的語言回答他，當一個人從理髮師的椅子上下來時，他從地上站了起來，含糊不清地想找我的帽子，給他錢。 「我保證，先生！」我說，在口齒不清火星人，我拉下袖口，把我的領帶直，「這是一個快速的過程。我曾經聽說過一個男人，他每天都在被人把靴子塗黑的瞬間學會了一門語言，但這比一切都重要。「我相信我是個溫順的學生？」「哦，公平地說，先生，」我旁邊那奇怪的人輕柔而悅耳的聲音回答說，「但是你的頭很厚，腦子也很硬。我的回答是：「奇怪的是，我親愛的老導師在我離開大學的那天早上幾乎就是用這些詞把我辭退的。」。沒關係，事情已經完成了。要我付你錢嗎？」「我不明白。」「那有酬金嗎？有些人聽得懂一個字而聽不懂另一個。」但男孩只是搖了搖頭回答。 奇怪的是，無論是對我的行蹤的了解，還是對我剛剛收到的用一種新語言催眠的指令，我一直都沒有感到驚訝。也許是因為我的頭還在那張舊地毯上轉得太暈了，想了很久；也許是因為我還沒有完全意識到發生了什麼事。但是，不管怎樣，這是一個事實，就像我敘述中的許多其他人一樣，必須，唉！暫時還沒有解釋。順便說一句，地毯已經完全不見了，不過我的朋友安慰我說，他看到地毯捲起來，被他認識的人拿走了。 「陌生人，我們這裡很整潔，」他說，「到處亂放的東西都會回到皇宮的儲藏室。你會笑著去看那裡的木材，因為很少有人會不辭辛勞地收回我們的財產！ 當我躺著看了一會兒明亮的景色後，我站起身來，把我的衣服拉長，抖得井井有條，然後下了山，加入了輕鬆愉快的人群中，他們穿過平原，穿過攤位之城的街道。他們是有史以來最漂亮、最精緻的人，體態勻稱，大體上像我們一樣，但又苗條、苗條，男人和女人都是那麼嬌嫩、輕盈，臉頰和頭髮都那麼漂亮，相貌也那麼溫和，我覺得，當我大步走到他們中間的時候，我可以把他們像花朵一樣摘下來，用腰帶把他們捆成一束。但不知怎的，我從一開始就喜歡上了他們；我再說一遍，這樣快樂、粗心、輕鬆的比賽，以前從未見過。在我周圍盤旋的白色額頭上，沒有一個思想的汙點，也沒有一個思想的汙點，在他們尖頂的花朵般的帽子下，他們臉上永遠帶著微笑，在任何地方都不受指責；他們的動作優美而緩慢，他們的笑聲低沉而悅耳，他們身上散發著友好而慵懶的幸福的氣息這讓我很佩服我是否願意。 不幸的是，我不能像他們看起來那樣靠笑聲生活，所以我立刻轉向我的熟人，他告訴我他的名字是一個簡單的單音節字母An，當海絲特陷入睏倦的沉思時，我用手拍著他的肩膀，用一種很好的、很誠懇的方式說：「喂，好朋友！如果一個陌生人可以衝破你冥想的快活水流，這樣的人會不會問，離最近的酒館或攤位有多遠，口渴的人可以在那裡隨便喝一杯麥酒？」那個鍍金的年輕人在我友好的一擊下蹣跚而行，仿佛託爾的錘子突然落在他的肩上，他懊悔地揉著他那嬌嫩的皮膚，轉過來對我溫柔而英俊的眼睛，過了一會兒回答說，在這過程中，他天生的溫和與我無意中給他帶來的痛苦作了鬥爭——「如果你的口渴像你的問候一樣強烈，朋友的重拳，帶你去喝酒的地方一定是一件仁慈的事。我的肩膀「你知道，阿爾貝，女人的心是很奇怪的，我喜歡看到伯爵在我的家裡吃些東西，即使一粒石榴也好。也許他不習慣法國的飲食，喜歡吃別的東西吧。」 「哦，不會的。在義大利的時候，我看他是什麼都吃的，顯然他今天晚上不想吃東西。」 「也許是」伯爵夫人說，「他是在熱帶過慣了的，他可能不象我們這樣怕熱。」 「我想不見得，因為他剛才還向我訴苦說，他感到熱得幾乎要窒息了，還問我為什麼不把百葉窗也象玻璃那樣打開。」 「可不是，」美塞苔絲說，「這倒是個好辦法，可以試試他是否故意不肯吃東西。」於是她離開大廳。一分鐘以後，百葉窗全部打開了，透過那些垂下素馨花和 女萎草的窗口，可以看到點綴著各色*燈籠的花園和擺列在帳幕底下的宴席。跳舞的，玩牌的，談話的所有的客人都發出了歡快的喊聲。每一個人都歡歡喜喜地享受著 微風。這時，美塞苔絲重新出現，她的臉色*比以前更蒼白了，但神色*很鎮定。她一直向以她丈夫為中心的那群人走過去。「別把這幾位先生拖在這兒，伯爵，」