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1、Lesson4 奶酪的气味Lesson 14 The Odour of Cheese Cheese, like oil, makes too much of itself. It wants the whole boat to itself. It goes through the hamper, and gives a cheesy flavour to everything else there. You cant ell whether you are eating apple-pie or German sausage, or strawberries and cream. It al
2、l seems cheese. There is too much odour about cheese. I remember a friend of mine buying a couple of cheeses in Liverpool. Splendid cheeses they were, ripe and mellow, and with a two hundred horsepower scent about them that might have been warranted to carry three miles, and knock a men over at two
3、hundred yards. I was in Liverpool at the time, and my friend said that if I didnt mind he would get me to take them back with me to London, as he should not be coming up for a day or two himself, and he did not think the cheese ought to be kept much longer. “Oh, with pleasure, dear boy,” I replied,
4、“with pleasure.” I called for the cheeses, and took them away in a cab. It was a ramshackle affair, dragged along by a knock-kneed, broken-winded somnambulist, which his owner, in a moment of enthusiasm, during conversation, referred to as a horse. I put the cheeses on the top, and we started off at
5、 a shamble that would have done credit to the swiftest steam-roller ever built, and all went merry as a funeral bell, until we turned the corner. There, the wind carried a whiff from the cheeses full on to our steed. It woke him up, and with a snort of terror, he dashed off at three miles an hour. T
6、he wind still blew in his direction, and before we reached the end of the street he was laying himself out at the rate of nearly four miles an hour, leaving the cripples and stout ladies simple nowhere. It took two porters as well as the driver to hold him in at the station; and I do not think we wo
7、uld have done it, even then, had not one of the men had the presence of mind to put a handkerchief over his nose, and to light a bit of brown paper. I took my ticket, and marched proudly up the platform, with my cheeses, the people falling back respectfully on either side. The train was crowded, and
8、 I had to get into a carriage where there were already seven other people. One crusty old gentleman objected, but I got in, notwithstanding; and putting my cheeses upon the rack, squeezed down with a pleasant smile, and said it was a warm day. A few moments passed, and them the old gentleman began t
9、o fidget. “Very close in here,” he said. “Quite oppressive,” said the man next to him. And then they both began sniffing, and, at the third sniff, they caught it right on the chest, and rose up without another word and went out. And then a stout lady got up, and said it was disgraceful that a respec
10、table married women should be harried about in this way, and gathered up a bag and eight parcels and went. The remaining four passengers sat on for a while, until a solemn-looking man in the corner who, from his dress and general appearance, seemed to being to the undertaker class, said it put him i
11、n mind of a dead baby; and the other three passengers tried to get out of the door at the same time, and hurt themselves. I smiled at the black gentleman, and said I thought we were going to have the carriage to ourselves; and he laughed pleasantly and said that some people made such a fuss over a l
12、ittle thing. But even he grew strangely depressed after we had started, and so, when we reached Crewe, I asked him to come and have a drink. He accepted, and we forced our way into the buffet, where we yelled, and stamped, and waved our umbrellas for a quarter of an hour; and then a young lady came
13、and asked us if we wanted anything. “ Whats yours?” I said, turning to my friend. “Ill have a half a crowns worth of brandy, neat, if you please, miss,” he responded. And he went off quietly after he had drunk it and got into another carriage, which I thought mean. From Crewe I had the compartment t
14、o myself, though the train was crowded. As we drew up at the different stations, the people, seeing my empty carriage, would rush for it. “Here y are, Maria; come along, plenty of room.” “All right, Tom; well get in here,” they would shout. And they would run along, carrying heavy bags, and fight ar
15、ound 1 the door to get in first. And one would open the door and mount the steps and stagger back into the arms of the man behind him; and they would all come and have a sniff, and then troop off and squeeze into other carriages, or pay the difference and go first. Form Euston I took the cheeses dow
16、n to my friends house. When his wife came into the room she smelt round for an instant. Then she said: “ What is it? Tell me the worst.” I said: “Its cheeses. Tom bought them in Liverpool, and asked me to bring them up with me.” And I added that I hoped she understood that it had nothing to do with me; and she said that she was sure of that, but that she would speak to Tom about it when he came bac
