【英文原著类】THE FIRST MEN IN THE MOON(最先登上月球的人).pdf

THE FIRST MEN IN THE MOON
THE FIRST MEN IN
THE MOON
by . Wells
1
THE FIRST MEN IN THE MOON
CHAPTER I
Mr. Bedford Meets Mr. Cavor at Lympne
As I sit down to write here amidst the shadows of vine-leaves under
the blue sky of southern Italy, es to me with a certain quality of
astonishment that my participation in these amazing adventures of Mr.
Cavor was, after all, the e of the purest accident. It might have
been any one. I fell into these things at a time when I thought myself
removed from the slightest possibility of disturbing experiences. I had
gone to Lympne because I had imagined it the most uneventful place in
the world. "Here, at any rate," said I, "I shall find peace and a chance to
work!"
And this book is the sequel. So utterly at variance is destiny with all
the little plans of men. I may perhaps mention here that very recently I had
come an ugly cropper in certain business enterprises. Sitting now
surrounded by all the circumstances of wealth, there is a luxury in
admitting my extremity. I can admit, even, that to a certain extent my
disasters were conceivably of my own making. It may be there are
directions in which I have some capacity, but the conduct of business
operations is not among these. But in those days I was young, and my
youth among other objectionable forms took that of a pride in my capacity
for affairs. I am young still in years, but the things that have happened to
me have rubbed something of the youth from my mind. Whether they have
brought any wisdom to light below it is a more doubtful matter.
It is scarcely necessary to go into the details of the speculations that
landed me at Lympne, in Kent. Nowadays even about business
transactions there is a strong spice of adventure. I took risks. In these
things there is invariably a certain amount of give and take, and it fell to
me finally to do the giving. Reluctantly enough. Even when I had got out
of everything, one cantankerous creditor saw fit t