登陆注册
16075200000246

第246章

-- They tell me on the best authority it is a simple substance and therefore incorruptible. It would be immortal, I understand, but for the possibility of its annihilation by its First Cause, Who, from all I can hear, is quite capable of adding that to the number of His other practical jokes, corruptio per se and corruptio per accidens both being excluded by court etiquette.

Mr Bloom thoroughly acquiesced in the general gist of this though the mystical finesse involved was a bit out of his sublunary depth still he felt bound to enter a demurrer on the head of simple, promptly rejoining:

-- Simple? I shouldn't think that is the proper word. Of course, I grant you, to concede a point, you do knock across a simple soul once in a blue moon. But what I am anxious to arrive at is it is one thing for instance to invent those rays R?ntgen did, Or the telescope like Edison, though I believe it was before his time, Galileo was the man I mean. The same applies to the laws, for example, of a farreaching natural phenomenon such as electricity but it's a horse of quite another colour to say you believe in the existence of a supernatural God.

-- O, that, Stephen expostulated, has been proved conclusively by several of the best known passages in Holy Writ, apart from circumstantial evidence. On this knotty point, however, the views of the pair, poles apart as they were, both in schooling and everything else, with the marked difference in their respective ages, clashed.

-- Has been? the more experienced of the two objected, sticking to his original point. I'm not so sure about that. That's a matter of every man's opinion and, without dragging in the sectarian side of the business, I beg to differ with you in toto there. My belief is, to tell you the candid truth, that those bits were genuine forgeries all of them put in by monks most probably or it's the big question of our national poet over again, who precisely wrote them, like Hamlet and Bacon, as you who know your Shakespeare infinitely better than I, of course I needn't tell you. Can't you drink that coffee, by the way? Let me stir it and take a piece of that bun. It's like one of our skipper's bricks disguised. Still, no one can give what he hasn't got. Try a bit.

-- Couldn't, Stephen contrived to get out, his mental organs for the moment refusing to dictate further.

Faultfinding being a proverbially bad hat, Mr Bloom thought well to stir, or try to, the clotted sugar from the bottom and reflected with something approaching acrimony on the Coffee Palace and its temperance (and lucrative) work. To be sure it was a legitimate object and beyond yea or nay did a world of good. Shelters such as the present one they were in run on teetotal lines for vagrants at night, concerts, dramatic evenings, and useful lectures (admittance free) by qualified men for the lower orders. On the other hand, he had a distinct and painful recollection they paid his wife, Madam Marion Tweedy who had been prominently associated with it at one time, a very modest remuneration indeed for her pianoplaying. The idea, he was strongly inclined to believe, was to do good and net a profit, there being no competition to speak of. Sulphate of copper poison, SO4 or something in some dried peas he remembered reading of in a cheap eatinghouse somewhere but he couldn't remember when it was or where. Anyhow, inspection, medical inspection, of all eatables, seemed to him more than ever necessary which possibly accounted for the vogue of Dr Tibble's Vi-Cocoa on account of the medical analysis involved.

-- Have a shot at it now, he ventured to say of the coffee after being stirred.

Thus prevailed on to at any rate taste it, Stephen lifted the heavy mug from the brown puddle - it clopped out of it when taken up - by the handle and took a sip of the offending beverage.

-- Still, it's solid food, his good genius urged, I'm a stickler for solid food, his one and only reason being not gormandising in the least but regular meals as the sine qua non for any kind of proper work, mental or manual. You ought to eat more solid food. You would feel a different man.

-- Liquids I can eat, Stephen said. But oblige me by taking away that knife. I can't look at the point of it. It reminds me of Roman history.

Mr Bloom promptly did as suggested and removed the incriminated article, a blunt hornhandled ordinary knife with nothing particularly Roman or antique about it to the lay eye, observing that the point was the least conspicuous point about it.

-- Our mutual friend's stories are like himself, Mr Bloom, apropos of knives, remarked to his confidente sotto voce. Do you think they are genuine? He could spin those yarns for hours on end all night long and lie like old boots. Look at him.

Yet still, though his eyes were thick with sleep and sea air, life was full of a host of things and coincidences of a terrible nature and it was quite within the bounds of possibility that it was not an entire fabrication though at first blush there was not much inherent probability in all the spoof he got off his chest being strictly accurate gospel.

同类推荐
  • 一本书读懂消失的文明

    一本书读懂消失的文明

    《一本书读懂消失的文明(英汉对照)》主要内容包括世界上已经消失的14大古代文明,它们是古希腊文明、古罗马文明、古埃及文明、古巴比伦明、古印度文明、奥尔梅克文明、印加文明、玛雅文明、阿兹特克文明、吴哥文明、波斯波利斯文明、蒲甘文明、楼兰古国文明。曾经的它们抑或奇特璀璨,抑或神奇飘渺,抑或深蕴着乡土文化,抑或笼罩着城市风采,这些早已逝去的文明却留下了醉人的印记,带领着我们走进古老神秘的文明探索之旅。
  • Songs of a Savoyard

    Songs of a Savoyard

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 英语常用短语大全集

    英语常用短语大全集

    创想外语研发团队编著的《英语常用短语大全集》不是要讲述英语短语高深的语法,也不是对其进行深入细致的研究,而是从学习、记忆和运用的目的出发,让学习者能准确记忆每一个短语,能准确运用每一短语,这就是编写本书的初衷。本书精选日常学习生活中常见的短语,剔除了那些比较生僻的内容,在一定程度上减轻了学习者的负担,而且更具有针对性。
  • 在耶鲁听演讲

    在耶鲁听演讲

    耶鲁大学是美国历史上建立的第三所大学。迄今为止。耶鲁大学的毕业生中共有5位曾当选为美国总统。除了政界领袖,耶鲁大学也培养了众多在其他行业发光发热的名人,其中还包括奥斯卡影后梅丽尔·斯特里普。这个被莘莘学子所向往的教育殿堂也吸引了众多有声望的名人前去演讲,对这些社会未来的栋梁之才一吐肺腑之言。本书独家精选了18篇各界名流在耶鲁经典、励志的演讲。中英双语,让你体验双重震撼!
  • 美国名家短篇小说赏析(高级)

    美国名家短篇小说赏析(高级)

    本书精选了八位美国文学巨匠的8篇美国短篇小说的精华之作,每篇文章前有简短的引言,文中还附有编者的评注和分析及作者简介。
热门推荐
  • 天地斩仙阵

    天地斩仙阵

    黑衣男子狂笑许久,口中言道:“你居然将斩仙剑附在了一名小道士身上,你自己躯体幻化的三清和十二祖巫都背叛了你,不愿陪你在此界等死,你居然指望一名连魂魄都未凝炼成形的道童。”
  • 中华歇后语(第四卷)

    中华歇后语(第四卷)

    歇后语是俗语的一种,也称俏皮话。一般由两部分组成,前一部分是“引子”,是一种具体的描述,或为现实生活、自然界的现象,或为历史上、文学中的典型人物,或纯粹是一种离奇的想象;后一部分则是从前一部分引申而出的、作者要表达的对事物的看法。它运用比喻、想象、夸张、借代、转义、谐音等手法,构思巧妙,生动形象,幽默俏皮,运用得当,常常会产生强烈的喜剧效果。在平时的言谈或文学创作中,如果能够使用恰当的歇后语,就会有助于交流思想、传达感情,使语言充满生活情趣,产生很强的感染力。
  • 想你多年——致妈妈

    想你多年——致妈妈

    她今年大四,23;她母亲今年49,已经是满头白发。她因为许许多多鸡毛蒜皮的小事而跟母亲一次又一次闹翻,即便最爱的男友劝她和母亲和好,却也无动于衷。可她从未想过,有一天母亲会先离开她……
  • 凤翔天下:绝杀罗刹三小姐

    凤翔天下:绝杀罗刹三小姐

    她如罗刹,是地狱的使者手握金针,生死尽在她一念之间生于血海,虽无父无母,照样活得精彩不甘平凡,强者路上,哪怕地狱幽冥,挡她路者,就要有死的觉悟!
  • 魔剑圣尊

    魔剑圣尊

    天才少年惨遭同门暗算,看他如何历经磨难,王者归来!诛邪魔,斗天神,挥剑破苍穹!
  • 女配上啊,逆袭女主

    女配上啊,逆袭女主

    女配就活该被虐死吗?女配就活该是垫脚石吗?女配就活该被炮灰吗?不,拒绝。且看我是如何逆转女配的人生,呵呵。女主你完了(简介无能,你们自己看吧)
  • 大仙小爱

    大仙小爱

    大仙的疯狂大学生活!现实与理想的错乱结合,只为弥补那些曾经错失的美好。
  • 现代社会保障概论

    现代社会保障概论

    本书阐述了现代社会保障的基本制度、基本理论以及历史演变。分章讨论了社会保障基金及其管理、养老保险、医疗保险、失业保险、工伤与生育保险、社会救助、社会福利及社会优抚等基本社保项目。本书在充分介绍和吸收西方社会保障制度和理论的同时,还以丰富的资料详细论述了我国社会保障制度的建立与发展、改革与创新,问题和前景。本书体系完整、论述详实、内容很新,是这一领域较为完整、较为成熟、较为规范、也较为先进的优秀教材。
  • 女王的霸气:简梦的女王

    女王的霸气:简梦的女王

    养尊处优的贵妇人,堂堂林氏集团的副总裁苏月,是什么让她创建了自己的公司,是什么让她打垮自家丈夫的公司?
  • 蜀山之天殇剑主

    蜀山之天殇剑主

    现代宅男失恋后酗酒穿越蜀山剑侠世界的故事。