|
|
发表于 2016-7-10 10:07:34
|
显示全部楼层
collision *
n. 碰撞
e.g. Few drivers survive high-speed collisions on motorways.
creature *
n. anything that is living, but not a plant 生物(尤指动物)
e.g. She was the most beautiful creature I ever saw.
criminal *
n. person who commits a crime or crimes 犯人
currency *
n. 货币
e.g. The German mark is one of the strongest European currencies.
damn *
v. 罚......入地狱
deceitful
adj. 欺骗的
e.g. The ambassador (大使) called the report deceitful and misleading.
destination *
n. the place that someone or something is going to 目的地
e.g. Only half the emergency supplies have reached their destination.
elbow *
n. 肘部
enumerate
v. name a list of things one by one 数，点
e.g. I enumerate the work that will have to be done.
fare *
n. the money that is paid for a journey, for example, in a bus, train, or taxi
e.g. He could barely afford the railway fare.
glossy
adj. shiny and smooth 有光泽的
grimace
n. 怪相
grit
v. 咬紧
heartbeat
n. 心跳
identification *
n. 身份证明
identity *
n. who or what somebody or something is 身份
e.g. There is no clue to the identity of the thief.
instant *
n. a moment 瞬间，片刻
e.g. In an instant the mood of the room changed.
intact *
adj. 完好无损的
e.g. The church was destroyed in the bombing but the altar (祭坛) survived intact.
knot *
n. 结
marine *
adj. 海军的
meantime *
n. 期间
e.g. The new hospital will be built next year, but doctors are having to work in the meantime in seriously over-crowded conditions in the old one.
membership *
n. 会员身份
missing *
adj. that cannot be found or that is not in its usual place 找不到的;丢失的
e.g. It was only an hour or so later that I discovered that my gun was missing.
movie *
n. 电影
muster
v. 振作，鼓起
e.g. muster a smile 强做笑颜
policeman *
n. 警察
presence *
n. 在场
rage *
n. a strong feeling of uncontrollable anger 狂怒
recede
v. go away gradually 退去，远去
e.g. As she receded, he waved goodbye.
relieved *
adj. 如释重负的
e.g. I'm very relieved that it's over.
remarkable *
adj. worth noticing or unusual 值得注意的，不寻常的
e.g. It was a remarkable achievement.
rip *
v. tear something or be torn quickly and violently 撕裂或拉破
e.g. His new trousers ripped when he bent down.
scatter *
v. 散开
e.g. The soldiers fired a round of rubber bullets and the crowd scattered.
shyness *
n. 羞怯，腼腆
somehow *
adv. for a reason that is unknown or unspecified 由于未知的或未确指的原因
e.g. Somehow, I don't feel I can trust him.
startle *
v. make someone suddenly surprised or slightly shocked 使惊吓
e.g. Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you.
stray *
adj. 走失的，流浪的
e.g. A stray dog came up to him.
suffocating
adj. 使人窒息的
terminal *
n. a big building where people wait to get onto planes, buses, or ships or where goods are loaded on (铁路、公共汽车、航空线的)终点站，总站
tightly
adv. 紧紧地
tile *
n. 瓷砖
trim *
v. 用......镶边
e.g. She was wearing a plaid (格子呢) nightgown trimmed with white.
unmarried *
adj. not married
vanish *
v. disappear suddenly 突然不见，消失
e.g. The child vanished while on her way home after a game of tennis.
worldly
adj. 尘世的，世俗的
X-ray *
n. X射线，X光
zigzag
v. 呈之字形移动
Thief
He is waiting at the airline ticket counter when he first notices[1] the young woman. She has glossy black hair pulled tightly into a knot at the back of her head—the man imagines it loosened and falling to the small of her back[2]—and carries over the shoulder of her leather coat a heavy black purse. She wears black boots of soft leather. He struggles to see her face—she is ahead of him in line—but it is not until she has bought her ticket and turns to walk away that he realizes her beauty, which is pale and dark-eyed and full-mouthed[3], and which quickens his heartbeat. She seems aware that he is staring at her and lowers her gaze abruptly.
The airline clerk interrupts. The man gives up looking at the woman—he thinks she may be about twenty-five—and buys a round-trip[4], coach class[5] ticket to an eastern city.
His flight leaves in an hour. To kill time, the man steps into one of the airport cocktail bars and orders a Scotch[6] and water. While he sips it he watches the flow of travelers through the terminal—including a remarkable number, he thinks, of unmarried pretty women dressed in fashion magazine clothes[7] —until he catches sight of the black-haired girl in the leather coat. She is standing near a Travelers Aid[8] counter, deep in conversation with a second girl, a blonde in a cloth coat trimmed with gray fur. He wants somehow to attract the brunette's attention, to invite her to have a drink with him before her own flight leaves for wherever she is traveling, but even though he believes for a moment she is looking his way he cannot catch her eye from out of the shadows of the bar.[9] In another instant the two women separate; neither of their directions is toward him. He orders a second Scotch and water.
When next he sees her, he is buying a magazine to read during the flight and he becomes aware that someone is pushing him. At first he is startled that anyone would be so close as to touch him, but when he sees who it is he musters a smile.
"Busy place," he says.
She looks up at him—Is she blushing?—and an odd grimace crosses her mouth and vanishes. She moves away from him and joins the crowds in the terminal.
The man is at the counter with his magazine, but when he reaches into his back pocket for his wallet the pocket is empty. Where could I have lost it? He thinks. His mind begins enumerating the credit cards, the currency, the membership and identification cards; his stomach churns with something very like fear. The girl who was so near to me, he thinks—and all at once he understands that she has picked his pocket.
What is he to do? He still has his ticket, safely tucked inside his coat—he reaches into the jacket to feel the envelope, to make sure. He can take the flight, call someone to pick him up at his destination—since he cannot even afford bus fare—conduct his business and fly home. But in the meantime he will have to do something about the lost credit cards—call home, have his wife get the numbers out of the top desk drawer, phone the card companies—so difficult a process, the whole thing suffocating. What shall he do?
First: Find a policeman, tell what has happened, describe the young woman; damn her, he thinks, for seeming to be attentive to him, to let herself stand so close to him, to blush prettily when he spoke—and all the time she wanted only to steal from him. And her blush was not shyness but the anxiety of being caught; that was most disturbing of all. Damned deceitful creatures. He will spare the policeman the details—just tell what she has done, what is in the wallet. He grits his teeth. He will probably never see his wallet again.
He is trying to decide if he should save time by talking to a guard near the X-ray machines when he is appalled—and extremely happy—to see the black-haired girl. She is seated against a front window of the terminal, taxis and private cars moving slowly beyond her in the gathering darkness[10]; she seems interested in a book. A seat beside her is empty, and the man occupies it.
"I've been looking for you," he said.
She glances at him with no sort of recognition. "I don't know you," she says.
"Sure you do."
She sighs and puts the book aside. "Is this all you characters think about—picking up girls like we were stray animals?[11] What do you think I am?"
"You lifted my wallet," he says. He is pleased to have said "lifted," thinking it sounds more worldly than stole or took or even ripped off.
"I beg your pardon?" the girl says.
"I know you did—at the magazine counter. If you'll just give it back, we can forget the whole thing. If you don't, then I'll hand you over to the police."
She studies him, her face serious, "All right," she says. She pulls the black bag onto her lap, reaches into it and draws out a wallet.
He takes it from her. "Wait a minute," he says. "This isn't mine."
The girl runs; he runs after her. It is like a scene in a movie—bystanders scattering, the girl zigzagging to avoid collisions, the sound of his own breathing reminding him how old he is—until he hears a woman's voice behind him:
"Stop, thief! Stop that man!"
Ahead of him the brunette disappears around a corner and in the same moment a young man in a marine uniform puts out a foot to trip him up. He falls hard, banging knee and elbow on the tile floor of the terminal, but manages to hang on to the wallet which is not his.
The wallet is a woman's, fat with money and credit cards from different stores, and it belongs to the blonde in the fur-trimmed coat—the blonde he has earlier seen in conversation with the criminal brunette. She, too, is breathless, as is the policeman with her.
"That's him," the blonde girl says. "He lifted my wallet."
It occurs to the man that he cannot even prove his own identity to the policeman.
Two weeks later—the embarrassment and rage have diminished, the family lawyer has been paid, the confusion in his household has receded—the wallet turns up without explanation in one morning's mail. It is intact, no money is missing, all the cards are in place. Though he is relieved, the man thinks that for the rest of his life he will feel guilty around policemen, and ashamed in the presence of women. (1,148 words)
Phrases and Expressions
all at once
suddenly
e.g. All at once there was a loud banging on the door.
hand...over 把......交给
e.g. They handed their weapons over to the police.
hang on to
hold something tightly
e.g. Hang on to the rail or you'll fall.
in place
in the correct or usual position
e.g. Have you got all the lights in place yet?
in the presence of 当着某人，有某人在场
e.g. The talk took place in the presence of a diplomatic observer.
kill time
do something that is not very useful or interesting while you are waiting for something to happen 消磨时间
e.g. My flight was late, so I killed time by reading a book.
pick up
become friendly with someone you have just met because you find them sexually attractive 偶然结识(常指与异性调情)
e.g. He picked up a girl in the cinema.
rip off
steal
e.g. Somebody's ripped off my bike.
trip somebody up 用脚绊某人
e.g. He made a sudden dive for Uncle Jim's legs to try to trip him up.
turn up
suddenly appear after having been lost or searched for (失去后)被发现或找到(尤指偶然地)
e.g. I couldn't find my watch for ages, but then one day it turned up in a coat pocket. |
|
