Oliver Twist 雾都孤儿 - Chapter 24

It was no unfit messenger of death, who had disturbed the quiet of the matron's room., ,Her body was bent ¹ by age; her limbs trembled with palsy; her face, distorted into a mumbling ² leer, resembled more the grotesque ³ shaping of some wild pencil, than the work of Nature's hand. Alas ⁴!, ,How few of Nature's faces are left alone to gladden us with their beauty!, , ,It is a common thing for the countenances ⁵ of the dead, even in that fixed ⁶ and rigid ⁷ state, to subside ⁸ into the long-forgotten expression of sleeping infancy ⁹, and settle into the very look of early life; so calm, so peaceful, do they grow again, that those who knew them in their happy childhood, kneel by the coffin's side in awe ¹⁰, and see the Angel even upon earth. The old crone tottered ¹¹ along the passages, and up the stairs, muttering some indistinct answers to the chidings of her companion; being at length compelled to pause for breath, she gave the light into her hand, and remained behind to follow as she might: while the more nimble superior made her way to the room where the sick woman lay. It was a bare garret-room, with a dim light burning at the farther end., ,There was another old woman watching by the bed; the parish apothecary ¹²'s apprentice ¹³ was standing ¹⁴ by the fire, making a toothpick out of a quill ¹⁵. 'Cold night, Mrs. Corney,' said this young gentleman, as the matron entered. 'Very cold, indeed, sir,' replied the mistress, in her most civil tones, and dropping a curtsey as she spoke ¹⁶. 'You should get better coals out of your contractors,' said the apothecary's deputy, breaking a lump on the top of the fire with the rusty ¹⁷ poker ¹⁸; 'these are not at all the sort of thing for a cold night.' 'They're the board's choosing, sir,' returned the matron. 'The least they could do, would be to keep us pretty warm:, ,We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。,I could hear him mumbling to himself. 我听到他在喃喃自语 。