【有声英语文学名著】英国病人 88

 She sits on the bed hugging nakedness. He slides his open palm along the sweat of her shoulder. This is my shoulder, he thinks, not her husband’s, this is my shoulder. （As lovers they have offered parts of their bodies to each other, like this. In this room on the periphery¹ of the river. In the few hours they have, the room has darkened to this pitch of light. Just river and desert light. Only when there is the rare shock of rain do they go towards the window and put their arms out, stretching, to bathe as much as they can of themselves in it. Shouts towards the brief downpour fill the streets. ）

 

“We will never love each other again. We can never see each other again.” 

“I know,” he says. 

The night of her insistence² on parting. 

She sits, enclosed within herself, in the armour³ of her terrible conscience. He is unable to reach through it. （Only his body is close to her. ）“Never again. Whatever happens.” 

“Yes.” 

“I think he will go mad. Do you understand?” 

He says nothing, abandoning the attempt to pull her within him. An hour later they walk into a dry night. They can hear the gramophone songs in the distance from the Music for All cinema, its windows open for the heat. They will have to part before that closes up and people she might know emerge from there. 

1 periphery   

n.(圆体的)外面；周围

参考例句：

• Geographically, the UK is on the periphery of Europe.从地理位置上讲，英国处于欧洲边缘。
• The periphery of the retina is very sensitive to motion.视网膜的外围对运动非常敏感。

2 insistence   

n.坚持；强调；坚决主张

参考例句：

• They were united in their insistence that she should go to college.他们一致坚持她应上大学。
• His insistence upon strict obedience is correct.他坚持绝对服从是对的。

3 armour   

（=armor）n.盔甲；装甲部队

参考例句：

• His body was encased in shining armour.他全身披着明晃晃的甲胄。
• Bulletproof cars sheathed in armour.防弹车护有装甲。