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1、The Secret Life of Walter Mitty（1939）by James ThurberWERE going through! The Commanders voice was like thin ice breaking. He wore his full-dress uniform, with the heavily braided white cap pulled down rakishly over one cold gray eye. We cant make it, sir. Its spoiling for a hurricane, if you ask me.
2、 Im not asking you, Lieutenant Berg, said the Commander. Throw on the power lights! Rev her up to 8500! Were going through! The pounding of the cylinders increased: ta-pocketa-pocketa-pocketa-pocketa-pocketa. The Commander stared at the ice forming on the pilot window. He walked over and twisted a r
3、ow of complicated dials. Switch on No. 8 auxiliary! he shouted. Switch on No. 8 auxiliary! repeated Lieutenant Berg. Full strength in No. 3 turret! shouted the Commander. Full strength in No. 3 turret! The crew, bending to their various tasks in the huge, hurtling eight-engined Navy hydroplane, look
4、ed at each other and grinned. The Old Manll get us through, they said to one another. The Old Man aint afraid of hell! . . . Not so fast! Youre driving too fast! said Mrs. Mitty. What are you driving so fast for? Hmm? said Walter Mitty. He looked at his wife, in the seat beside him, with shocked ast
5、onishment. She seemed grossly unfamiliar, like a strange woman who had yelled at him in a crowd. You were up to fifty-five, she said. You know I dont like to go more than forty. You were up to fifty-five. Walter Mitty drove on toward Waterbury in silence, the roaring of the SN202 through the worst s
6、torm in twenty years of Navy flying fading in the remote, intimate airways of his mind. Youre tensed up again, said Mrs. Mitty. Its one of your days. I wish youd let Dr. Renshaw look you over. Walter Mitty stopped the car in front of the building where his wife went to have her hair done. Remember t
7、o get those overshoes while Im having my hair done, she said. I dont need overshoes, said Mitty. She put her mirror back into her bag. Weve been all through that, she said, getting out of the car. Youre not a young man any longer. He raced the engine a little. Why dont you wear your gloves? Have you
8、 lost your gloves? Walter Mitty reached in a pocket and brought out the gloves. He put them on, but after she had turned and gone into the building and he had driven on to a red light, he took them off again. Pick it up, brother! snapped a cop as the light changed, and Mitty hastily pulled on his gl
9、oves and lurched ahead. He drove around the streets aimlessly for a time, and then he drove past the hospital on his way to the parking lot. . . . Its the millionaire banker, Wellington McMillan, said the pretty nurse. Yes? said Walter Mitty, removing his gloves slowly. Who has the case? Dr. Renshaw
10、 and Dr. Benbow, but there are two specialists here, Dr. Remington from New York and Dr. Pritchard-Mitford from London. He flew over. A door opened down a long, cool corridor and Dr. Renshaw came out. He looked distraught and haggard. Hello, Mitty, he said. Were having the devils own time with McMil
11、lan, the millionaire banker and close personal friend of Roosevelt. Obstreosis of the ductal tract. Tertiary. Wish youd take a look at him. Glad to, said Mitty. In the operating room there were whispered introductions: Dr. Remington, Dr. Mitty. Dr. Pritchard-Mitford, Dr. Mitty. Ive read your book on
12、 streptothricosis, said Pritchard-Mitford, shaking hands. A brilliant performance, sir. Thank you, said Walter Mitty. Didnt know you were in the States, Mitty, grumbled Remington. Coals to Newcastle, bringing Mitford and me up here for a tertiary. You are very kind, said Mitty. A huge, complicated m
13、achine, connected to the operating table, with many tubes and wires, began at this moment to go pocketa-pocketa-pocketa. The new anesthetizer is giving away! shouted an intern. There is no one in the East who knows how to fix it! Quiet, man! said Mitty, in a low, cool voice. He sprang to the machine
14、, which was now going pocketa-pocketa-queep-pocketa-queep . He began fingering delicately a row of glistening dials. Give me a fountain pen! he snapped. Someone handed him a fountain pen. He pulled a faulty piston out of the machine and inserted the pen in its place. That will hold for ten minutes,
15、he said. Get on with the operation. A nurse hurried over and whispered to Renshaw, and Mitty saw the man turn pale. Coreopsis has set in, said Renshaw nervously. If you would take over, Mitty? Mitty looked at him and at the craven figure of Benbow, who drank, and at the grave, uncertain faces of the
16、 two great specialists. If you wish, he said. They slipped a white gown on him, he adjusted a mask and drew on thin gloves; nurses handed him shining . . . Back it up, Mac! Look out for that Buick! Walter Mitty jammed on the brakes. Wrong lane, Mac, said the parking-lot attendant, looking at Mitty closely. Gee. Yeh, muttered Mitty. He began cautiously to back out
