I am the Shade.
Through the dolent city, I flee.
Through the eternal woe, I take flight.
Along the banks of the river Arno, I scramble, breathless . . . turning left onto Via dei Castellani, making my way northward, huddling in the shadows of the Uffizi.
And still they pursue me.
Their footsteps grow louder now as they hunt with relentless determination.
For years they have pursued me. Their persistence has kept me underground . . . forced me to live in purgatory . . . laboring beneath the earth like a chthonic monster.
I am the Shade.
Here aboveground, I raise my eyes to the north, but I am unable to find a direct path to salvation . . . for the Apennine Mountains are blotting out the first light of dawn.
I pass behind the palazzo with its crenellated tower and one- handed clock . . . snaking through the early- morning vendors in Piazza San Firenze with their hoarse voices smelling of lampredotto and roasted olives. Crossing before the Bargello, I cut west toward the spire of the Badia and come up hard against the iron gate at the base of the stairs.
Here all hesitation must be left behind.
I turn the handle and step into the passage from which I know there will be no return. I urge my leaden legs up the narrow staircase . . . spiraling skyward on soft marble treads, pitted and worn.
The voices echo from below. Beseeching.
They are behind me, unyielding, closing in.
They do not understand what is coming . . . nor what I have done for them!
Ungrateful land!
As I climb, the visions come hard . . . the lustful bodies writhing in fiery rain, the gluttonous souls floating in excrement, the treacherous villains frozen in Satan's icy grasp.
I climb the final stairs and arrive at the top, staggering near dead into the damp morning air. I rush to the head- high wall, peering through the slits. Far below is the blessed city that I have made my sanctuary from those who exiled me.
The voices call out, arriving close behind me. "What you've done is madness!"
Madness breeds madness.
"For the love of God," they shout, "tell us where you've hidden it!"
For precisely the love of God, I will not.
I stand now, cornered, my back to the cold stone. They stare deep into my clear green eyes, and their expressions darken, no longer cajoling, but threatening. "You know we have our methods. We can force you to tell us where it is."
For that reason, I have climbed halfway to heaven.
Without warning, I turn and reach up, curling my fingers onto the high ledge, pulling myself up, scrambling onto my knees, then standing. . . unsteady at the precipice. Guide me, dear Virgil, across the void.
They rush forward in disbelief, wanting to grab at my feet, but fearing they will upset my balance and knock me off. They beg now, in quiet desperation, but I have turned my back. I know what I must do.
Beneath me, dizzyingly far beneath me, the red tile roofs spread out like a sea of fire on the countryside, illuminating the fair land upon which giants once roamed . . . Giotto, Donatello, Brunelleschi, Michelangelo, Botticelli.
I inch my toes to the edge.
"Come down!" they shout. "It's not too late!"
O, willful ignorants! Do you not see the future? Do you not grasp the splendor of my creation? The necessity?
I will gladly make this ultimate sacrifice . . . and with it I will extinguish your final hope of finding what you seek.
You will never locate it in time.
Hundreds of feet below, the cobblestone piazza beckons like a tranquil oasis. How I long for more time . . . but time is the one commodity even my vast fortunes cannot afford.
In these final seconds, I gaze down at the piazza, and I behold a sight that startles me.
I see your face.
You are gazing up at me from the shadows. Your eyes are mournful, and yet in them I sense a veneration for what I have accomplished. You understand I have no choice. For the love of Mankind, I must protect my masterpiece.
It grows even now . . . waiting . . . simmering beneath the bloodred waters of the lagoon that reflects no stars.
And so, I lift my eyes from yours and I contemplate the horizon. High above this burdened world, I make my final supplication.
Dearest God, I pray the world remembers my name not as a monstrous sinner, but as the glorious savior you know I truly am. I pray Mankind will understand the gift I leave behind.
My gift is the future.
My gift is salvation.
My gift is Inferno.
With that, I whisper my amen . . . and take my final step, into the abyss.
Chapter 1
The memories materialized slowly . . . like bubbles surfacing from the darkness of a bottomless well.
A veiled woman.
Robert Langdon gazed at her across a river whose churning waters ran red with blood. On the far bank, the woman stood facing him, motionless, solemn, her face hidden by a shroud. In her hand she gripped a blue tainia cloth, which she now raised in honor of the sea of corpses at her feet. The smell of death hung everywhere.
Seek, the woman whispered. And ye shall find.
Langdon heard the words as if she had spoken them inside his head. "Who are you?" he called out, but his voice made no sound.
Time grows short, she whispered. Seek and find.
Langdon took a step toward the river, but he could see the waters were bloodred and too deep to traverse. When Langdon raised his eyes again to the veiled woman, the bodies at her feet had multiplied. There were hundreds of them now, maybe thousands, some still alive, writhing in agony, dying unthinkable deaths . . . consumed by fire, buried in feces, devouring one another. He could hear the mournful cries of human suffering e
Rajesh Koothrappali (Kunal Nayyar,
评分 评分“火星生命发现者”的称号失之交臂),其实Howard不过是个喜欢拿一些过时的手段把妹的家伙,很多时候他的把妹手法都让对方感到恶心。来自印度的
评分还没有看,但是很期待啊。没有塑封,当保存完好。很厚,但是很轻!
评分全球发行都没多长时间,京东竟然就已经有了,拿回来一看感觉真心不错。首先从书的装帧来说品质绝对高端,纸张很考究(毕竟是Printed in USA) 丹布朗的小说一向是以Acknowledgements 和Facts组成,从这部小说的内容来看,现实性好像略微有点遥远,毕竟不是每个会英语的人都会意大利语。在小说的一些语言对话里出现的意大利文并没有为英语读者很明确的给出对应的英语翻译,但也正是因为如此小说开篇便渲染除了一幅非常有异域情调的氛围,从主人公离奇的梦境回归到现实这一写法也确实略显老套。相较于对以往丹布朗作品的开篇的高节奏,强烈化的戏剧冲突,包括人物的死亡,在这部作品中却出现的靠后了很多。也不妨说丹布朗在这几年的写法构思上逐渐慢热化,也能够摈弃一些浮夸的描写从而更加凸显主题。这部小说从销量上可能不一定能赶得上前几部非常经典的作品,但是其内容的深度仍然非常值得研究。开篇的一句The darkest place in the hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis. 为整部作品奠定了一中很严肃的基调,由于涉及到但丁的作品"Inferno",内容也多牵扯于死亡。整体上来说,这仍然是一部让人期待的作品,不忍心太快读完。
评分送给朋友的礼物 书很好
评分做工很好,确实原装进口,送货也很快。
评分丹.布朗对题材的掌握令人激赏,叙事手法高超,远胜惊悚类小说的其他作家。——《科克斯评论》
评分故事中,兰登为了揭开谜团,穿梭于典籍之间,受困于神秘通道,惊讶于未来科学,最后的时间眼看就要到了,兰登还在但丁那段黑暗的诗行中苦苦寻觅着。
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