Norman Cortsby sat on a bench in the Park, with his back to strip of bush-planted sward, fenced by the park carriage drive. Hyde Park Corner, with its rattle and hoot of traffic, lay immediately to his right. It was some thirty minutes past six on an early March evening, and dusk had fallen heavily over the scene, dusk mitigated by some faint moonlight and many street lamps. There was a wide emptiness over road and sidewalk, and yet there were many unconsidered figures moving silently through the half-light or dotted unobtrusively on bench and chair, scarcely to be distinguished from the shadowed gloom in which they sat. The scene pleased Gortsby and harmonized with his present mood. Dusk, to his mind, was the hour of the defeated. Men and women, who had fought and lost, who hid their fallen fortunes and dead hopes as far as possible form the scrutiny of the curious, came forth in this hour of gloaming, when their shabby clothes and bowed shoulders and unhappy eyes might pass unnoticed, or, at any rate, unrecognized. The wanderers in the dusk did not choose to have strange looks fasten on them, therefore they out in this bat-fashion, taking their pleasure sadly in a pleasure-groundthatcamehad emptied of its rightful occupants. Beyond the sheltering screen of bushed and palings came a realm of brilliant light and noisy, rushing traffic. A blazing, many-tiered stretch of windows shone through the dusk and almost dispersed it, marking the haunts of those other people, who held their own in life’s struggle, or at any rate had not had to admit failure. So Gortsby’s imagination pictured things as he sat on his bench in the almost deserted walk.

（Adapted from Dusk by Saki）A Dry World
sward  草地，草皮
rattle  吵闹，喧嚣声
hoot  汽车喇叭声
mitigate  缓和，减轻
unobtrusively  不显眼地，不引人注目地
harmonize with  与。
 一致，和谐
scrutiny  仔细查看
gloaming  黄昏，薄暮
shabby  破旧的，褴褛的
bat-fashion  蝙蝠式昼伏夜出
occupant  占有者，享用者
palings  栅栏，篱笆
blazing  灯火辉煌的
many-tiered  多层的
disperse  驱散的，使分流 湖南教育资源网

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