Of Human Bondage 人性的枷锁 Chapter 49

The story which Philip made out in one way and another was terrible. One of the grievances ¹ of the women-students was that Fanny Price would never share their gay meals in restaurants, and the reason was obvious: she had been oppressed by dire ² poverty. He remembered the luncheon ³ they had eaten together when first he came to Paris and the ghoulish appetite which had disgusted him: he realised now that she ate in that manner because she was ravenous ⁴. The concierge ⁵ told him what her food had consisted of. A bottle of milk was left for her every day and she brought in her own loaf of bread; she ate half the loaf and drank half the milk at mid-day when she came back from the school, and consumed the rest in the evening. It was the same day after day. Philip thought with anguish ⁶ of what she must have endured. She had never given anyone to understand that she was poorer than the rest, but it was clear that her money had been coming to an end, and at last she could not afford to come any more to the studio. The little room was almost bare of furniture, and there were no other clothes than the shabby brown dress she had always worn. Philip searched among her things for the address of some friend with whom he could communicate. He found a piece of paper on which his own name was written a score of times. It gave him a peculiar ⁷ shock. He supposed it was true that she had loved him; he thought of the emaciated ⁸ body, in the brown dress, hanging from the nail in the ceiling; and he shuddered ⁹. But if she had cared for him why did she not let him help her? He would so gladly have done all he could. He felt remorseful ¹⁰ because he had refused to see that she looked upon him with any particular feeling, and now these words in her letter were infinitely ¹¹ pathetic: I can't bear the thought that anyone else should touch me. She had died of starvation., ,Philip found at length a letter signed: your loving brother, Albert. it was two or three weeks old, dated from some road in Surbiton, and refused a loan of five pounds. The writer had his wife and family to think of, he didn't feel justified ¹² in lending money, and his advice was that Fanny should come back to London and try to get a situation. Philip telegraphed to Albert Price, and in a little while an answer came:, ,'Deeply distressed ¹³. Very awkward to leave my business. Is presence essential. Price.', , ,'My name's Price,' he said, when Philip opened the door., ,He was a commonish man in black with a band round his bowler ¹⁶ hat; he had something of Fanny's clumsy look; he wore a stubbly moustache, and had a cockney accent. Philip asked him to come in. He cast sidelong glances round the studio while Philip gave him details of the accident and told him what he had done., ,He gave air to his grievances. 他申诉了他的冤情 。 来自《简明英汉词典》,There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告
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