📝 您未登录，登录后完成练习可保存成绩、查看最佳记录。
总字符
0
正确字符
0
错误字符
0
错误率
0.00%
耗时(秒)
0
速度 WPM
0
0 / 68
1The line on the London side of Woking station was still undergoing repair, so I descended at Byfleet station and took
2the road to Maybury, past the place where I and the artilleryman had talked to the hussars, and on by the spot where the
3Martian had appeared to me in the thunderstorm. Here, moved by curiosity, I turned aside to find, among a tangle of red
4fronds, the warped and broken dog cart with the whitened bones of the horse scattered and gnawed. For a time I stood
5regarding these vestiges. . . . Then I returned through the pine wood, neck-high with red weed here and there, to find
6the landlord of the Spotted Dog had already found burial, and so came home past the College Arms. A man standing at an
7open cottage door greeted me by name as I passed. I looked at my house with a quick flash of hope that faded
8immediately. The door had been forced; it was unfast and was opening slowly as I approached. It slammed again. The
9curtains of my study fluttered out of the open window from which I and the artilleryman had watched the dawn. No one had
10closed it since. The smashed bushes were just as I had left them nearly four weeks ago. I stumbled into the hall, and
11the house felt empty. The stair carpet was ruffled and discoloured where I had crouched, soaked to the skin from the
12thunderstorm the night of the catastrophe. Our muddy footsteps I saw still went up the stairs. I followed them to my
13study, and found lying on my writing-table still, with the selenite paper weight upon it, the sheet of work I had left
14on the afternoon of the opening of the cylinder. For a space I stood reading over my abandoned arguments. It was a paper
15on the probable development of Moral Ideas with the development of the civilising process; and the last sentence was the
16opening of a prophecy: "In about two hundred years," I had written, "we may expect----" The sentence ended abruptly. I
17remembered my inability to fix my mind that morning, scarcely a month gone by, and how I had broken off to get my Daily
18Chronicle from the newsboy. I remembered how I went down to the garden gate as he came along, and how I had listened to
19his odd story of "Men from Mars." I came down and went into the dining room. There were the mutton and the bread, both
20far gone now in decay, and a beer bottle overturned, just as I and the artilleryman had left them. My home was desolate.
21I perceived the folly of the faint hope I had cherished so long. And then a strange thing occurred. "It is no use," said
22a voice. "The house is deserted. No one has been here these ten days. Do not stay here to torment yourself. No one
23escaped but you." I was startled. Had I spoken my thought aloud? I turned, and the French window was open behind me. I
24made a step to it, and stood looking out. And there, amazed and afraid, even as I stood amazed and afraid, were my
25cousin and my wife--my wife white and tearless. She gave a faint cry. "I came," she said. "I knew--knew----" She put her
26hand to her throat--swayed. I made a step forward, and caught her in my arms. X. THE EPILOGUE. I cannot but regret, now
27that I am concluding my story, how little I am able to contribute to the discussion of the many debatable questions
28which are still unsettled. In one respect I shall certainly provoke criticism. My particular province is speculative
29philosophy. My knowledge of comparative physiology is confined to a book or two, but it seems to me that Carver's
30suggestions as to the reason of the rapid death of the Martians is so probable as to be regarded almost as a proven
31conclusion. I have assumed that in the body of my narrative. At any rate, in all the bodies of the Martians that were
32examined after the war, no bacteria except those already known as terrestrial species were found. That they did not bury
33any of their dead, and the reckless slaughter they perpetrated, point also to an entire ignorance of the putrefactive
34process. But probable as this seems, it is by no means a proven conclusion. Neither is the composition of the Black
35Smoke known, which the Martians used with such deadly effect, and the generator of the Heat-Rays remains a puzzle. The
36terrible disasters at the Ealing and South Kensington laboratories have disinclined analysts for further investigations
37upon the latter. Spectrum analysis of the black powder points unmistakably to the presence of an unknown element with a
38brilliant group of three lines in the green, and it is possible that it combines with argon to form a compound which
39acts at once with deadly effect upon some constituent in the blood. But such unproven speculations will scarcely be of
40interest to the general reader, to whom this story is addressed. None of the brown scum that drifted down the Thames
41after the destruction of Shepperton was examined at the time, and now none is forthcoming. The results of an anatomical
42examination of the Martians, so far as the prowling dogs had left such an examination possible, I have already given.
43But everyone is familiar with the magnificent and almost complete specimen in spirits at the Natural History Museum, and
44the countless drawings that have been made from it; and beyond that the interest of their physiology and structure is
45purely scientific. A question of graver and universal interest is the possibility of another attack from the Martians. I
46do not think that nearly enough attention is being given to this aspect of the matter. At present the planet Mars is in
47conjunction, but with every return to opposition I, for one, anticipate a renewal of their adventure. In any case, we
48should be prepared. It seems to me that it should be possible to define the position of the gun from which the shots are
49discharged, to keep a sustained watch upon this part of the planet, and to anticipate the arrival of the next attack. In
50that case the cylinder might be destroyed with dynamite or artillery before it was sufficiently cool for the Martians to
51emerge, or they might be butchered by means of guns so soon as the screw opened. It seems to me that they have lost a
52vast advantage in the failure of their first surprise. Possibly they see it in the same light. Lessing has advanced
53excellent reasons for supposing that the Martians have actually succeeded in effecting a landing on the planet Venus.
54Seven months ago now, Venus and Mars were in alignment with the sun; that is to say, Mars was in opposition from the
55point of view of an observer on Venus. Subsequently a peculiar luminous and sinuous marking appeared on the unillumined
56half of the inner planet, and almost simultaneously a faint dark mark of a similar sinuous character was detected upon a
57photograph of the Martian disk. One needs to see the drawings of these appearances in order to appreciate fully their
58remarkable resemblance in character. At any rate, whether we expect another invasion or not, our views of the human
59future must be greatly modified by these events. We have learned now that we cannot regard this planet as being fenced
60in and a secure abiding place for Man; we can never anticipate the unseen good or evil that may come upon us suddenly
61out of space. It may be that in the larger design of the universe this invasion from Mars is not without its ultimate
62benefit for men; it has robbed us of that serene confidence in the future which is the most fruitful source of
63decadence, the gifts to human science it has brought are enormous, and it has done much to promote the conception of the
64commonweal of mankind. It may be that across the immensity of space the Martians have watched the fate of these pioneers
65of theirs and learned their lesson, and that on the planet Venus they have found a securer settlement. Be that as it
66may, for many years yet there will certainly be no relaxation of the eager scrutiny of the Martian disk, and those fiery
67darts of the sky, the shooting stars, will bring with them as they fall an unavoidable apprehension to all the sons of
68men.
🎉 全部完成！共 68 行