LESSON 80 A HOT DAY IN NEW YORK
第八十课 纽约一个大热天
When they alighted, they took their way up through one of the streets of the great wholesale businesses, to Broadway.
他们突然醒过来神儿时,已经踏上了通往百老汇一条专门做批发生意的繁忙街道。
On this street was a throng of trucks and wagons, lading and unlading;
这条街道上塞满了卡车和小手推车,有的在装货,有的在卸货;
bales and boxes rose and sank by pulleys overhead; the footway was a labyrinth of packages of every shape and size;
头顶上的滑车将货包和箱子竖起来后又放倒;旁边的人行道成了各种形状和尺寸的包装箱堆成的迷宫一般的小径;
there was no flagging of the pitiless energy that moved all forward,
除了毫无帮助的工具那令人作呕的外表,没有一直朝前的冷酷无情的石板路,
no sign of how heavy a weight lay on it, save in the reeking faces of its helpless instruments.
也没有上面可以承载多重的重物的标识。
It was four o'clock, the deadliest hour of the deadly summer day.
现在是下午四点,正是酷热难耐的夏日最难熬的时刻。
The spiritless air seemed to have a quality of blackness in it, as if filled with the gloom of low-hovering wings.
无精打采的空气里似乎有一种阴郁的特征,仿佛被在低空盘旋的翅膀遮盖着。
One half the street lay in shadow, and one half in sun;
大街一半处在阴影里,一半则暴露在太阳之下;
but the sunshine itself was dim, as if a heat greater than its own had smitten it with languor.
阳光本身有点暗淡,热量好像超过了懒散地打了一下所达到的程度。
Little gusts of sick, warm wind blew across the great avenue at the corners of the intersecting streets.
没有强风,只有暖风刮过位于十字街道角落的大街。