The Open Window

*The Open Window*（《*敞开的落地窗*》），是英国（苏格兰）作家Hector Hugh Munro（1870-1916）所作的短篇小说（笔名Saki，萨基）。

## 英文原文

"My aunt will be down presently, Mr. Nuttel," said a very self-possessed young lady of fifteen; "in the meantime you must try and put up with me."

Framton Nuttel endeavored to say the correct something which should duly flatter the niece of the moment without unduly discounting the aunt that was to come. Privately he doubted more than ever whether these formal visits on a succession of total strangers would do much towards helping the nerve cure which he was supposed to be undergoing

"I know how it will be," his sister had said when he was preparing to migrate to this rural retreat; "you will bury yourself down there and not speak to a living soul, and your nerves will be worse than ever from moping. I shall just give you letters of introduction to all the people I know there. Some of them, as far as I can remember, were quite nice."

Framton wondered whether Mrs. Sappleton, the lady to whom he was presenting one of the letters of introduction came into the nice division.

"Do you know many of the people round here?" asked the niece, when she judged that they had had sufficient silent communion.

"Hardly a soul," said Framton. "My sister was staying here, at the rectory, you know, some four years ago, and she gave me letters of introduction to some of the people here."

He made the last statement in a tone of distinct regret.

"Then you know practically nothing about my aunt?" pursued the self-possessed young lady.

"Only her name and address," admitted the caller. He was wondering whether Mrs. Sappleton was in the married or widowed state. An undefinable something about the room seemed to suggest masculine habitation.

"Her great tragedy happened just three years ago," said the child; "that would be since your sister's time."

"Her tragedy?" asked Framton; somehow in this restful country spot tragedies seemed out of place.

"You may wonder why we keep that window wide open on an October afternoon," said the niece, indicating a large French window that opened on to a lawn.

"It is quite warm for the time of the year," said Framton; "but has that window got anything to do with the tragedy?"

"Out through that window, three years ago to a day, her husband and her two young brothers went off for their day's shooting. They never came back. In crossing the moor to their favorite snipe-shooting ground they were all three engulfed in a treacherous piece of bog. It had been that dreadful wet summer, you know, and places that were safe in other years gave way suddenly without warning. Their bodies were never recovered. That was the dreadful part of it." Here the child's voice lost its self-possessed note and became falteringly human. "Poor aunt always thinks that they will come back someday, they and the little brown spaniel that was lost with them, and walk in at that window just as they used to do. That is why the window is kept open every evening till it is quite dusk. Poor dear aunt, she has often told me how they went out, her husband with his white waterproof coat over his arm, and Ronnie, her youngest brother, singing 'Bertie, why do you bound?' as he always did to tease her, because she said it got on her nerves. Do you know, sometimes on still, quiet evenings like this, I almost get a creepy feeling that they will all walk in through that window--"

She broke off with a little shudder. It was a relief to Framton when the aunt bustled into the room with a whirl of apologies for being late in making her appearance.

"I hope Vera has been amusing you?" she said.

"She has been very interesting," said Framton.

"I hope you don't mind the open window," said Mrs. Sappleton briskly; "my husband and brothers will be home directly from shooting, and they always come in this way. They've been out for snipe in the marshes today, so they'll make a fine mess over my poor carpets. So like you menfolk, isn't it?"

She rattled on cheerfully about the shooting and the scarcity of birds, and the prospects for duck in the winter. To Framton it was all purely horrible. He made a desperate but only partially successful effort to turn the talk on to a less ghastly topic, he was conscious that his hostess was giving him only a fragment of her attention, and her eyes were constantly straying past him to the open window and the lawn beyond. It was certainly an unfortunate coincidence that he should have paid his visit on this tragic anniversary.

"The doctors agree in ordering me complete rest, an absence of mental excitement, and avoidance of anything in the nature of violent physical exercise," announced Framton, who labored under the tolerably widespread delusion that total strangers and chance acquaintances are hungry for the least detail of one's ailments and infirmities, their cause and cure. "On the matter of diet they are not so much in agreement," he continued.

"No?" said Mrs. Sappleton, in a voice which only replaced a yawn at the last moment. Then she suddenly brightened into alert attention--but not to what Framton was saying.

"Here they are at last!" she cried. "Just in time for tea, and don't they look as if they were muddy up to the eyes!"

Framton shivered slightly and turned towards the niece with a look intended to convey sympathetic comprehension. The child was staring out through the open window with a dazed horror in her eyes. In a chill shock of nameless fear Framton swung round in his seat and looked in the same direction.

In the deepening twilight three figures were walking across the lawn towards the window, they all carried guns under their arms, and one of them was additionally burdened with a white coat hung over his shoulders. A tired brown spaniel kept close at their heels. Noiselessly they neared the house, and then a hoarse young voice chanted out of the dusk: "I said, Bertie, why do you bound?"

Framton grabbed wildly at his stick and hat; the hall door, the gravel drive, and the front gate were dimly noted stages in his headlong retreat. A cyclist coming along the road had to run into the hedge to avoid imminent collision.

"Here we are, my dear," said the bearer of the white mackintosh, coming in through the window, "fairly muddy, but most of it's dry. Who was that who bolted out as we came up?"

"A most extraordinary man, a Mr. Nuttel," said Mrs. Sappleton; "could only talk about his illnesses, and dashed off without a word of goodby or apology when you arrived. One would think he had seen a ghost."

"I expect it was the spaniel," said the niece calmly; "he told me he had a horror of dogs. He was once hunted into a cemetery somewhere on the banks of the Ganges by a pack of pariah dogs, and had to spend the night in a newly dug grave with the creatures snarling and grinning and foaming just above him. Enough to make anyone lose their nerve."

Romance at short notice was her speciality.

## Vocabulary

* self-possessed：able to remain calm and confident in a difficult situation 沉着的；镇定的；泰然自若的（...,said a very self-possessed young lady of fifteen）

例句：She is clearly the most articulate and self-possessed member of her family.

* endeavour： to try very hard to do sth （Framton Nuttel endeavored to say the correct something...）

例句：I will endeavour to do my best for my country. 我将竭尽全力报效祖国。

* duly： in the correct or expected manner 适当地；恰当地 （Framton Nuttel endeavored to say the correct something which should duly flatter the niece of the moment）

例句：The document was duly signed by the inspector. 这份文件已由检查员签妥。

* discount： to think or say that sth is not important or not true 认为…不重要；对…不全信；低估（unduly discounting the aunt that was to come）

例句：The news reports were being discounted as propaganda. 人们认为这些新闻报道不过是为了宣传，不可全信。

* succession：a number of people or things that follow each other in time or order 一连串；一系列；连续的人（或事物）（these formal visits on a succession of total strangers）

例句：He's been hit by a succession of injuries since he joined the team. 自入队以来他一再受伤。

* undergo：to experience sth, especially a change or sth unpleasant 经历，经受（变化、不快的事等）（the nerve cure which he was supposed to be undergoing）

例句：My mother **underwent** major **surgery** last year. 我母亲去年动过大手术。

* retreat：a quiet, private place that you go to in order to get away from your usual life 僻静处；隐居处（he was preparing to migrate to this rural retreat）

例句：He spent yesterday hidden away in his country retreat.

* communion：~ (with sb/sth)( *formal* ) the state of sharing or exchanging thoughts and feelings; the feeling of being part of sth （思想感情的）交流，交融（she judged that they had had sufficient silent communion）

例句：We longed for communion; we got DVD players delivered in under an hour.

* rectory：a house where the ***rector*** of a church lives, or lived in the past 堂区主持人的住宅（My sister was staying here, at the rectory）

例句：The rectory burned but the church itself was spared.

* distinct：easily or clearly heard, seen, felt, etc. 清晰的；清楚的；明白的；明显的（He made the last statement in a tone of distinct regret.）

例句：There was a distinct smell of gas. 有一股明显的煤气味。

* practically：almost; very nearly 几乎；差不多；很接近（Then you know practically nothing about my aunt?）

例句：The theatre was practically empty. 剧院几乎是空的。

* pursue：to continue to discuss, find out about or be involved in sth 继续探讨（或追究、从事）（pursued the self-possessed young lady）

例句：We have decided not to pursue the matter. 我们决定不再追究这件事。

* caller：a person who goes to a house or a building 访问者；来访者（"Only her name and address," admitted the caller.）

* undefinable：not capable of being precisely or readily described; not easily put into words 难以言表的，不可名状的（An undefinable something about the room seemed to suggest masculine habitation.）
* restful：that makes you feel relaxed and peaceful 闲适宁静的；使人感到悠闲的（somehow in this restful country spot tragedies seemed out of place）

例句：I live in Mentone, a quiet, simple, restful place, where the rich never come.

* indicate：to make sb notice sb/sth, especially by pointing or moving your head 指示；指出（said the niece, indicating a large French window that opened on to a lawn）

例句：She took out a map and indicated the quickest route to us. 她拿出一张地图，给我们指出最快捷的路线。

* snipe：to shoot at sb from a hiding place, usually from a distance 狙击；打冷枪

例句：Gunmen continued to snipe at people leaving their homes to find food. 枪手不断伏击外出找寻食物的人。

* treacherous：dangerous, especially when seeming safe 有潜在危险的（they were all three engulfed in a treacherous piece of bog）

例句：The ice on the roads made driving conditions treacherous. 路上的冰对驾车构成了隐患。

* falteringly：to speak hesitatingly; stammer（Here the child's voice lost its self-possessed note and became falteringly human.）

例句："John," Wendy said falteringly, "perhaps we don't remember the old life as well as we thoughtwe did."

* spaniel：a dog with large soft ears that hang down. There are several types of **spaniel** . 獚，西班牙猎狗（大耳下垂，品种甚多）（ the little brown spaniel that was lost with them）

例句：The dog was similar in general appearance to a spaniel.

* get on sb's ˈnerves：to annoy sb 烦扰；使心神不定（because she said it got on her nerves）
* nerve：the courage to do sth difficult or dangerous 勇气；气魄

例句：I was going to have a go at parachuting but **lost my nerve** at the last minute. 我想尝试一下跳伞，可到最后关头却没有勇气了。

* break off：If you break off when you are doing or saying something, you suddenly stop doing it or saying it. 突然停止（She broke off with a little shudder. ）

例句：Barry broke off in mid-sentence.

* shudder：a shaking movement you make because you are cold, frightened or disgusted （因寒冷、害怕或反感等引起的）发抖，打颤，战栗（She broke off with a little shudder.）

例句：She gave an involuntary shudder. 她不由自主地抖了一下。

* bustle：to move around in a busy way or to hurry sb in a particular direction 四下忙碌；催促（某人向某方向）（the aunt bustled into the room with a whirl of apologies）

例句：She bustled around in the kitchen. 她在厨房里忙得团团转。

* briskly：in an active, quick, or energetic way （ said Mrs. Sappleton briskly）

例句：He entered the room briskly and stood near the door.

* rattle on： to talk continuously about sth that is not important or interesting, especially in an annoying way 对…喋喋不休（She rattled on cheerfully about the shooting）

例句：Once she started to talk about herself, she would rattle away for a long time.

* labour under sth：to believe sth that is not true 为…所蒙蔽（who labored under the tolerably widespread delusion that）

例句：to **labour under a misapprehension/delusion, etc.** 有误解、错觉等

He's still labouring under the impression that he's written a great book. 他仍然有这样的错觉，以为自己撰写了一部巨著。

* infirmity：weakness or illness over a long period （长期的）体弱，生病（...total strangers and chance acquaintances are hungry for the least detail of one's ailments and infirmities）

例句：We all fear disability or infirmity. 我们都害怕伤残或体弱。

* shiver：to shake slightly because you are cold, frightened, excited, etc. 颤抖，哆嗦（因寒冷、恐惧、激动等）（Framton shivered slightly）

例句：A violent shiver convulsed him.

* dazed：unable to think clearly, especially because of a shock or because you have been hit on the head（由于震惊或打击）神志不清的，茫然的（The child was staring out through the open window with a dazed horror in her eyes.）

例句：Survivors waited for the rescue boats, dazed and frightened.

* headlong：quickly and without looking where you are going 莽撞地；慌慌张张地（Framton grabbed wildly at his stick and hat; the hall door, the gravel drive, and the front gate were dimly noted stages in his headlong retreat. ）

例句：He ran headlong into a police car. 他一头撞上了一辆警车。

* imminent：likely to happen very soon 即将发生的；临近的（A cyclist coming along the road had to run into the hedge to avoid imminent collision.）

例句：The system is **in imminent danger of** collapse. 这个体制面临着崩溃的危险。

* mackintosh（mac）： a coat made of material that keeps you dry in the rain 雨衣
* bolt： to run away, especially in order to escape 跑开；（尤指）逃跑（Who was that who bolted out as we came up?）

例句：When he saw the police arrive, he bolted down an alley. 他看见警察来了，便从小巷逃走了。

* pariah：a person who is not acceptable to society and is avoided by everyone 被社会遗弃者；贱民

例句：His landlady had treated him like a dangerous criminal, a pariah.

* snarl： to show the teeth and make a deep angry noise in the throat 龇牙低吼

例句：The dog snarled at us. 狗朝我们低声吼叫。

## 外部链接

https://literature.fandom.com/wiki/The\_Open\_Window

中文译本：https://wenku.baidu.com/view/1410a4661ed9ad51f01df222.html

## 参考资料

1. ↑ https://americanliterature.com/author/hh-munro-saki/short-story/the-open-window