走近有声世界
共听英文原著

 今日书目 

书名： 

The Phantom of

the Opera

《歌声魅影》

作者：

Gaston Leroux

往期回听 | 歌声魅影

有声书 | 歌声魅影 01

The Phantom of the Opera

Chapter Two: A Gala Performance

The gala performance for the two managers continued. Everyone in the audience was pleased with the music and the singing.

One of the singers in particular gave great pleasure. This was Christine Daae. She was new to the Opera, and she had not sung many important roles before. She was not one of the best singers at the Opera House. That night, however, she sang some short pieces from the famous operas Romeo and Juliet and Faust. Her voice was strong and pure. No one had heard anything like it before. They were astonished① by the beauty of her voice.

There was one man in the audience who listened to Christine Daae with special intensity②. This was the young Vicomte③ de Chagny, Raoul. He had come to the performance with his older brother the Comte de Chagny, Philippe.

'She never sang like that before,' Raoul said quietly to his brother. 'But she looks so ill!'

Raoul went backstage④ after the performance. He made his way to Christine Daae's dressing room. He knocked and entered the room. The singer looked at him with a strange expression on her face. She did not look well.

'Monsieur⑤,' she said very quietly, 'who are you?'

Raoul went over to the singer's sofa and kissed her hand.

'I am the little boy who went into the sea for your scarf⑥,' he said softly⑦.

Christine began to laugh at his words. Raoul became red with anger and stood up.

'I can see that you do not want to remember me,' he said coldly. 'But I have something important to tell you— very important.'

'Please come back when I am better,' Christine said.

Raoul walked out of the dressing room. He stood for a few moments in the corridor outside. He was in love, and he did not know what to do. He approached the door once again. He was about to knock on it when he heard a man's voice in the room.

'You must love me, Christine!' the voice said.

'How can you say that?' Christine's voice replied. 'I only sing for you, you know that!'

'Are you tired?' the man asked her tenderly⑧.

'I gave you my soul tonight,' Christine said. 'I'm very tired now.'

'It was beautiful,' the man's voice said. 'The angels wept⑨ to hear you sing this evening.'

Raoul moved away from the door. He was suffering very badly.

Suddenly he decided that he wanted to see the man that Christine loved. He waited in the corridor.

After a few minutes the singer came out of the dressing room.

The corridor was dark, and she did not see him. Raoul pushed open the door and looked inside. The room was empty!

Monsieur Debienne and Monsieur Poligny were the two managers who were retiring from the Opera. They had attended the gala performance, and they were now having dinner with some of the staff. The room was a large one, and there were many people around the table. The conversation was lively and joyful.

Suddenly people at the table began to whisper⑩ excitedly to each other, and to point at a strange figure who was standing at one end of the table. He was wearing a dress-suit, and his face was yellow and thin. It looked like a skull.

'The Opera ghost!' people were whispering to each other. 'It's the Phantom of the Opera!'

The strange figure took no notice of the remarks that people were making. After a few minutes, he looked up.

'The ballet girls are right,' he announced loudly. 'The death of poor Buquet was not suicide⑪.'

Debienne and Poligny were shocked. They had not heard of the sceneshifter's death. They looked at the strange man, and then they stood up hurriedly⑫. They made a quick sign to the two new managers to join them, and then they left the room.

Soon Debienne and Poligny were sitting in their office talking to the new managers, Monsieur Richard and Monsieur Moncharmin.

'We've given you all the help we can, gentlemen,' Monsieur Debienne said to the new managers. 'There is just one final thing you need to know about the Opera. It's the question of the ghost.'

Monsieur Richard smiled. He did not believe in the stories about the ghost, and he thought Monsieur Debienne was joking⑬.

'What does the ghost want?' he joked.

'It's simple really,' Monsieur Poligny replied. He showed the two new managers a document. 'It's all written down here.'

Monsieur Richard looked at the document. It was the lease⑭ for the Opera House. He passed it to Monsieur Moncharmin and they read it together.

The Managers of the opera must pay the opera ghost 20000 francs a month —240000 francs a year.

They must also keep box 5 available for him for every performance.

'That's why we're leaving,' Monsieur Debienne explained. 'We can't bear⑮ the ghost.'

'That's right,' Monsieur Poligny agreed. 'It's hard enough managing the Opera— but it's impossible with the ghost here!'

The new managers were convinced that all the talk of the ghost was simply a joke. They smiled politely. They were soon very busy with their new responsibilities, and they forgot about the ghost. A few days later they received a very surprising letter in the post. The handwriting was childlike, and the letter was written in red ink.

You have not kept box 5 for me as we agreed. If you want to live in peace. You must give me back my box.

'Opera Ghost'

The next day the managers received another letter from the ghost. There was the same childlike handwriting and the same red ink. This time he demanded his monthly payment of 20,000 francs. 

'It's just Debienne and Poligny,' Monsieur Richard told his colleague. 'They've started this stupid joke about the ghost, and they're continuing with it. We'll ignore⑯ it, that's all.'

The two managers decided to sell Box 5.

旺

财

旺

福

Words

① astonished：震惊。

② intensity：深情。

③ vicomte：子爵。

④ backstage：后台。

⑤ Monsieur：先生。

⑥ scarf：领巾。

⑦ softly：轻声的。

⑧ tenderly：柔情的。

⑨ wept：哭泣。

⑩ whisper：低声说话。

⑪ suicide：自杀。

⑫ hurriedly：迅速的。

⑬ joking：开玩笑。

⑭ lease：租约。

⑮ bear：忍受。

⑯ ignore：不理会。

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