英语15篇文章背完大学英语六级词汇Unit6Part1-查字典英语网
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英语15篇文章背完大学英语六级词汇Unit6Part1

发布时间:2016-03-02  编辑:查字典英语网小编

  UNIT6

  The Pasture

  Night settled, thick with the acrid

  odors of gunpowder and blood.

  No moon meant firing at

  muzzle flashes, an inexact method

  by which to combat ones foe,

  but the enemy had no advantage either.

  With artillery fire blanketing

  the field of battle, Jack had

  no opportunity to go to Mikes aid.

  He poked his head over

  the rim of the trench to

  see if he could spot Mikes corpse.

  He knew he was dead.

  He had heard his scream

  of pain when he was hit.

  His agonized moans had grown

  weaker and less frequent and finally

  ceased about ten minutes ago.

  The regiment had been under

  heavy bombardment for two days,

  without respite. He had been

  too late to stop Mike

  as he propelled himself out

  of the foxhole and staggered

  as he hit the muddy terrain.

  In hindsight, he should have

  seen it coming. Mike had

  started to break yesterday.

  He was becoming bizarre, talking

  about his patriotic duty to

  expel the enemy from these shores.

  Paradoxically, just before he

  hopped over the edge of the trench

  he scorned the day he had

  heeded the call to enlist.

  It pained him to realize that

  his one friend in this ungodly war

  had betrayed him by dying.

  Soldiers dont often make friends with

  one another, knowing they might die.

  He and Mike were different.

  They had known each other

  since they were children.

  Mike was the best man when

  Jack and Lily walked down

  the aisle just a week before

  they left the dock and crossed

  the channel to engage the enemy.

  Clouds tumbled and overlapped one another

  as the wind began to freshen.

  It was getting colder now.

  The prospect of another night

  of rain, or perhaps even snow,

  made Jack quiver with dread.

  Blood tinged water was beginning

  to crust over with ice.

  He could feel his toes and

  fingers stiffen as the temperature dropped.

  Maybe Mike was better off than he.

  At least the cold wouldnt

  bother him any more.

  Suddenly, comets of light began

  to streak across the night sky.

  They were using flares!

  The increased tempo of cannon fire

  coming from the left flank,

  shattering the earth around them,

  could only mean the enemy

  had sensed their weakness, and

  was coming in for the kill.

  They were heading straight

  for the underbelly!Jacks rifle misfired.

  The whole corps had been issued

  new guns a few days before

  this campaign had started.

  It wasnt long before they discovered

  that the alloy used in the barrels

  couldnt endure prolonged firing,

  causing the shell casings

  to adhere in the bore. How could

  he repel the enemy without a weapon?

  Jack felt a stab of pain

  in his right thigh.

  The ground around him ruptured.

  Jerking from side to side,

  he tried to dodge falling rocks

  and the clods of dirt

  raining down upon him.

  He slumped into a prone posture

  as he felt himself shoved

  from behind by an unknown force

  that felt as if it might

  have been a racing locomotive.

  The last thing he heard,

  before his world was overturned,

  was a chorus of screams.

  Am I dead? Where am I?

  Where is everybody? Cognitively,

  Jack realized he was still functioning

  physiologically so that meant

  he was still alive, but

  for how long? He couldnt move.

  Maybe the impact had fractured

  his spine and he was paralyzed.

  He tried,analytically,to assess

  the damage incurred by moving

  his limbs, one by one,

  in a clockwise direction,

  starting with his right arm.

  Everything appeared able to be

  mobilized but for some reason

  he couldnt get up off the ground.

  Everything went black again.

  Jack led his horse by the reins

  as they stepped onto the overpass

  bridging the gap between the plateaus.

  In the distance, he could see

  a twelve point buck grazing

  in the pasture, silhouetted against

  the waning sunset. Out of nowhere,

  a bull came charging across

  the meadow toward him. He tried

  to run but his feet

  were pegged to the bridge.

  Drifting in and out of consciousness,

  Jack tried to make sense of

  what had happened to him.

  He seemed to be in a cavity

  under the ground. The earth

  was compacted on his legs

  but he thought he might be

  able to rotate his body enough

  to make himself a little more comfortable.

  Was that a shaft of light

  he could see through the groove

  between the fingers of his left

  hand covering his eyes?

  He groped to clear a tiny

  bit more space for himself.

  The shutters of his consciousness

  closed again.The galaxy was

  being probed by lunar modules shuttling

  between Earth and the other planets.

  As a member of a federation of geologists,

  Jack and his team had to

  follow the seam of ore

  to its source, a pasture

  on a distant asteroid.

  Once again, Jack regained lucidity.

  Wow, he thought, that was

  like a bad paperback novel

  about astronomy! He sniffed the air.

  It was foul with the smell

  of death but qualitatively

  able to sustain life.

  Why was it so quiet?

  Was he deaf? Was the battle over?

  Was everyone dead? The weight

  on his legs was becoming oppressive.

  

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