365个英语简短小故事-144. Red Flowers

“What are these flowers doing here?” Anita asked as she was about to sit in the car’s passenger seat. The towel that covered the leather seat had a couple of small red flowers sitting in a crease¹. The flowers appeared as she straightened out the towel before she sat down. She always straightened out the towel before sitting down, because Logan sometimes left his glasses, pen, or other items² on the passenger seat. She didn’t want to break anything by sitting on it, nor did she want to injure herself by sitting on something sharp.

“What flowers?” Logan asked. “These flowers!” she said sharply³, holding the two little flowers up to his nose. He said he didn’t know. He said he thought they had been there for quite a while. No, they hadn’t, she told him, as she put them into a tissue⁴ and then put the tissue in her purse. They weren’t there two days ago when she had last been in his car. Maybe they had been there, but she hadn’t seen them, he suggested. “Maybe you’re lying! Who did you buy flowers for?” she yelled⁵ at him. This was not the first time she had “caught” him cheating on her. She had never really caught him, of course, because he had never cheated on her. It was a little game she liked to play, just to remind Logan not to cheat.

“Well? Who did you buy these flowers for?” she asked again. He was trying to think. He was sure he had seen the flowers lying there for days, but he had no idea where they had come from. He told her that he had driven for a while yesterday with all the windows open, to freshen the car. “You know how windy it was yesterday. Maybe the flowers got blown into the car.”

“Ha!” she snorted. “If I ever catch you even thinking about cheating on me, we’re through! Got it?” On the one hand, Logan was too much in love with Anita to ever cheat on her. On the other, when she got bossy⁶ like this, he did think—however fleetingly—about moving on.

 

1 crease   

n.折缝，褶痕，皱褶；v.(使)起皱

参考例句：

• Does artificial silk crease more easily than natural silk?人造丝比天然丝更易起皱吗？
• Please don't crease the blouse when you pack it.包装时请不要将衬衫弄皱了。

2 items   

n.物料项目 （任何一种自制或采购的零部件或组装件，如最终产品、部件、子部件、零件或原材料）；条( item的名词复数 )；一项；一则；一件商品（或物品）

参考例句：

• Bulky items will be collected separately. 大件物品将分开收集。
• Customers with ten items or less can use the express lane. 购买十件商品以内的顾客可使用快速购物通道。

3 sharply   

adj.锐利地，急速；adv.严厉地，鲜明地

参考例句：

• The plane dived sharply and rose again.飞机猛然俯冲而后又拉了起来。
• Demand for personal computers has risen sharply.对个人电脑的需求急剧增长。

4 tissue   

n.组织；薄纱，薄纸，手巾纸

参考例句：

• As we age we lose muscle tissue.肌肉组织会随着我们日趋衰老而萎缩。
• Athletes have hardly any fatty tissue.运动员几乎没有什么脂肪组织。

5 yelled   

v.叫喊，号叫，叫着说( yell的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He yelled at the other driver. 他冲着另一位司机大叫。
• The lost man yelled, hoping someone in the woods would hear him. 迷路的人大声喊着，希望林子里的人会听见。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 bossy   

adj.爱发号施令的，作威作福的

参考例句：

• She turned me off with her bossy manner.她态度专橫很讨我嫌。
• She moved out because her mother-in-law is too bossy.她的婆婆爱指使人,所以她搬出去住了。