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

Penguin Island-Part27_Anatole France_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

0 收藏 0 分享 0 赞

章节正文
文章总共2页


far back as that," answered M. Boutourle. "It dates from the day when the holy

apostle gave them clothes. But this self-importance was long kept in



restraint, and displayed itself fully only with increased luxury of dress and

in a small section of society. For go only two leagues from Alca into the



country at harvest time, and you will see whether women are over-precise or

self-important."



On that day M. Hippolyte Ceres paid his first call. He was a Deputy of Alca,

and one of the youngest members of the House. His father was said to have kept



a dram shop, but he himself was a lawyer of robust physique, a good though

prolix speaker, with a self-important air and a reputation for ability.



"M. Ceres," said the mistress of the house, "your constituency is one of the

finest in Alca."



"And there are fresh improvements made in it every day, Madame."

"Unfortunately, it is impossible to take a stroll through it any longer," said



M. Boutourle.

"Why?" asked M. Ceres.



"On account of the motors, of course."

"Do not give them a bad name," answered the Deputy. "They are our great



national industry."

"I know. The Penguins of to-day make me think of the ancient Egyptians.



According to Clement of Alexandria, Taine tells us--though he misquotes the

text--the Egyptians worshipped the crocodiles that devoured them. The Penguins



to-day worship the motors that crush them. Without a doubt the future belongs

to the metal beast. We are no more likely to go back to cabs than we are to go



back to the diligence. And the long martyrdom of the horse will come to an

end. The motor, which the frenzied cupidity of manufacturers hurls like a



juggernaut's car upon the bewildered people and of which the idle and

fashionable make a foolish though fatal elegance, will soon begin to perform



its true function, and putting its strength at the service of the entire

people, will behave like a docile, toiling monster. But in order that the



motor may cease to be injurious and become beneficent we must build roads

suited to its speed, roads which it cannot tear up with its ferocious tyres,



and from which it will send no clouds of poisonous dust into human lungs. We

ought not to allow slower vehicles or mere animals to go upon those roads, and



we should establish garages upon them and foot-bridges over them, and so

create order and harmony among the means of communication of the future. That



is the wish of every good citizen."

Madame Clarence led the conversation back to the improvements in M. Ceres'



constituency. M. Ceres showed his enthusiasm for demolitions, tunnelings,

constructions, reconstructions, and all other fruitful operations.



"We build to-day in an admirable style," said he; "everywhere majestic avenues

are being reared. Was ever anything as fine as our arcaded bridges and our



domed hotels!"

"You are forgetting that big palace surmounted an immense melon-shaped dome,"



grumbled by M. Daniset, an old art amateur, in a voice of restrained rage. "I

am amazed at the degree of ugliness which a modern city can attain. Alca is



becoming Americanised. Everywhere we are destroying all that is free,

unexpected, measured, restrained, human, or traditional among the things that



are left us. Everywhere we are destroying that charming object, a piece of an

old wall that bears up the branches of a tree. Everywhere we are suppressing



some fragment of light and air, some fragment of nature, some fragment of the

associations that still remain with us, some fragment of our fathers, some



fragment of ourselves. And we are putting up frightful, enormous, infamous

houses, surmounted in Viennese style by ridiculous domes, or fashioned after



the models of the 'new art' without mouldings, or having profiles with

sinister corbels and burlesque pinnacles, and such monsters as these



shamelessly peer over the surrounding buildings. We see bulbous protuberances

stuck on the fronts of buildings and we are told they are 'new art' motives. I






文章总共2页
文章标签:名著  

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