Continuity of the Parks
by Julio Cortázar (1914-1984)
Translated by Paul Blackburn
634 words我们所知道的生活
He had begun to read the novel a few days before. He had put it aside becau of some urgent business conferences, opened it again on his way back to the estate by train; he permitted himlf a slowly growing interest in the plot, in the characterizations. That afternoon, after writing a letter giving his power of attorney and discussing a matter of joint ownership with the manager of his estate, he returned to the book in the tranquility of his study which looked out upon the park with its oaks. Sprawled in his favorite armchair, its back toward the door caa是什么难民奥运代表队>kraft— even the possibility of an intrusion would have irritated him, had he thought of it--he let his left hand caress repeatedly the green velvet upholstery and t to reading the final chapters. He remembered effortlessly the names and his mental image of t
he characters; the novel spread its glamour over him almost at once. He tasted the almost perver pleasure of dingaging himlf line by line from the things around him, and at the same time feeling his head rest comfortably on the green velvet of the chair with its high back, nsing that the cigarettes rested within reach of his hand, that beyond the great windows the air of afternoon danced under the oak trees in the park. Word by word, licked up the sordid dilemma of the hero and heroine, letting himlf be absorbed to the point where the images ttled down and took on color and movement, he was witness to the final encounter in the mountain cabin. The woman arrived first, apprehensive; now the lover came in, his face cut by the backlash of a branch. Admirably, she stanched the blood with her kiss, but he 按时间顺序 英文rebuffed her caress, he had not come to perform again the ceremonies of a cret passion, protected by a world of dry leaves and furtive paths through the forest. The dagger warmed itlf against his chest, and underneath liberty pounded, hidden clo. A lustful, panting dialogue raced down the pages like a rivulet of snakes, and one felt it had all been decided from eternity. Even to tho caress which writhed about the lover's body, as though wishing
to keep him there, to dissuade him from it; they sketched abominably the frame of that other body it was necessary to destroy. Nothing had been forgotten: yesterday oncemorealibis, unforeen hazards, possible mistakes. From this hour on, each instant had its u minutely assigned. The cold-blooded, twice-gone-over reexamination of the details was barely broken off so that a hand could caress a cheek. It was beginning to get dark.
Not looking at each other now, rigidly fixed upon the task which awaited them, they parated at the cabin door. She was to follow the trail that led north. On the path leading in the opposite direction, he turned for a moment to watch her running, her hair looned and flying. He ran in turn, crouching among the trees and hedges until, in the yellowish fog of dusk, he could distinguish the avenue of trees which led up to the hou. The dogs were not suppod to bark, and they did not bark. The estate manager would not be there at this hour, and he was not there. He went up the three porch steps and entered. The woman's words reached him over a thudding of blood in his ears: first a blue chamber, then a hall, then a carpeted stairway. At the top, two doors. No one in the first room, no one in the cond. The door of the salon, and then, the knife in his hand, the lig
ht from the great windows, the high back of an armchair covered in green velvet, the head of the man in the chair reading a novel.推行英文
1967
attorney=lawyer；power of attorney授权(委托)书；caress=vt. n. stroke s/s gently and affectionately；velvet天鹅绒（的）；upholstery装饰；垫衬物；perver=abnormal, freak反常的，有悖常理的；dingage=parate from；lick up=gulf, swallow, devour吞没/噬；sordid=mirable, pitiable; apprehensivetoso=anxious; stanch=stem the flow; 薪酬管理办法rebuff=refu; ceremony=courtesy, formula客套; furtive=cretive, stealthy; rivulet=a small stream; writhe=twist and turn one’s body violently backward and forward, usually becau you are in great pain or discomfort; abominably=despicably, detestably; alibiexposure=proof for sb.’s abnce when a crime occurs; thud=(make) a dull sound
