【英文原著类】a passion in the desert(沙漠中的热情).pdf

A PASSION IN THE DESERT
A PASSION IN THE
DESERT
by HONORE DE BALZAC
1
A PASSION IN THE DESERT
"The whole show is dreadful," she ing out of the menagerie
of M. Martin. She had just been looking at that daring speculator "working
with his hyena,"--to speak in the style of the programme.
"By what means," she continued, "can he have tamed these animals to
such a point as to be certain of their affection for----"
"What seems to you a problem," said I, interrupting, "is really quite
natural."
"Oh!" she cried, letting an incredulous smile wander over her lips.
"You think that beasts are wholly without passions?" I asked her.
"Quite the reverse; we municate to them all the vices arising in
our own state of civilization."
She looked at me with an air of astonishment.
"But," I continued, "the first time I saw M. Martin, I admit, like you, I
did give vent to an exclamation of surprise. I found myself next to an old
soldier with the right leg amputated, who e in with me. His face
had struck me. He had one of those heroic heads, stamped with the seal of
warfare, and on which the battles of Napoleon are written. Besides, he had
that frank, good-humored expression which always impresses me
favorably. He was without doubt one of those troopers who are surprised
at nothing, who find matter for laughter in the contortions of a dying
comrade, who bury or plunder him quite light-heartedly, who stand
intrepidly in the way of bullets;--in fact, one of those men who waste no
time in deliberation, and would not hesitate to make friends with the devil
himself. After looking very attentively at the proprietor of the menagerie
getting out of his box, panion pursed up his lips with an air of
mockery and contempt, with that peculiar and expressive twist which
superior people assume to show they are not taken in. Then, when I was
expatiating on the courage of M. Martin, he smiled, shook his head
knowingly, and said, 'Well known.'
" 'How "well known"?