Plague - Mar 18

He had gone the round of offices, taken every step that could be taken, and realized that for the present all ________(方法/途径/管道) of that kind were closed to him.

After that he sat down in a corner. An old cast-iron stove, which had been ________(冰冷如石) for months, rose like a sort of landmark in the middle of the room, surrounded by ________(8字形) on the floor, the traceries of long-past sprinklings.

There rose before his eyes, unsummoned, vistas of old stones and riverbanks, the pigeons of the Palais-Royal, the Gare du Nord, quiet old streets round the Pantheon, and ________(许多) scene of the city he’d never known he loved so much, and these mental pictures ________(扼制住了所有的兴趣) for any form of action.

Yes, everyone sleeps at that hour, and this is reassuring, since the great longing of an unquiet heart is to possess constantly and consciously the loved one, or, failing that, to be able to ________(使爱的人进入一场无梦的酣睡中) timed to last unbroken until the day they meet again when a time of absence intervenes.

Gray dusk was ________(渗入/流入/影响) the room, the pink of sunset glowed in the wall mirrors, and the marble-topped tables glimmered white in the gathering darkness.

And then the sun ________(掌控/负责), incessant waves of heat and light swept the town daylong, and but for arcaded streets and the interiors of houses, everything lay naked to the dazzling impact of the light.