【有声英语文学名著】CHAPTER ONE(3)

 Where  did  the  muscles  come  from? Certainly  not  sporting  activity,  unless  you counted skinny-dipping and playing pool. Probably it was just the kind of good  health that was  passed  down  in  the  family,  along  with  the  stocks  and  shares  and  the  good  furniture. Handsome then, or beautiful even, with his paisley boxer¹ shorts pulled down to his hip² bones and  somehow  here  in  her  single  bed  in  her  tiny  rented  room  at  the end  of  four  years  of college. "Handsome‘! Who do you think you are, Jane Eyre? Grow up. Be sensible. Don‘t get carried away.

She plucked the cigarette from his mouth. "I can imagine you at forty,‘ she said, a hint of malice³ in her voice. "I can picture it right now.‘

He smiled without opening his eyes."Go on then.‘

Alright—‘ She shuffled⁴ up the bed, the duvet tucked beneath her armpits. "You‘re in this sports  car  with  the  roof  down  in  Kensington  or  Chelsea  or  one  of  those  places and  the amazing thing about this car is it‘s silent, ‘cause all the cars‘ll be silent in, I don‘t know, what – 2006?‘

He scrunched⁵ his eyes to do the sum."2004—‘

And this car is hovering⁷ six inches off the ground down the King‘s Road and you‘ve got this  little  paunch  tucked  under  the  leather  steering  wheel  like  a  little  pillow  and  those backless gloves on, thinning hair and no chin. You‘re a big man in a small car with a tan like a basted⁸ turkey—‘

So shall we change the subject then?‘

And  there‘s  this  woman  next  to  you  in  sunglasses,  your  third,  no,  fourth  wife,  very beautiful, a model, no, an  ex-model, twenty-three, you met her while she was draped on the bonnetof a car at a motor-show in Nice or something, and she‘s stunning⁹ and thick as shit—‘

Well that‘s nice. Any kids?‘

No  kids,  just  three  divorces,  and  it‘s  a  Friday  in  July  and  you‘re  heading  off  to  some house in the country and in the tiny boot of your hover⁶ car are tennis racquets and croquet mallets and a hamper¹⁰ full of fine wines and South African grapes and poor  little quails¹¹ and asparagus and the wind‘s in your widow‘s peak and you‘re feeling very, very pleased with yourself and wife number three, four, whatever, smiles at you with about two hundred shiny white  teeth  and  you  smile  back  and  try  not  to  think  about  the  fact  that you  have  nothing, absolutely nothing, to say to each other.‘

She  came  to  an  abrupt  halt.  You  sound  insane,  she  told  herself.  Do  try  not  to sound insane.

 

    这肌肉是怎么来的？显然不是运动练就的，除非把裸体泡浴和打台球也算作锻炼。这副好身板大约同股票证券和名贵家具一样，也承袭自他的家族。就是这样一位英俊，甚至俊美的主儿，在她四年大学时光结束之际，不知怎的就来到了她租住的小屋，躺在了她的单人床上，涡纹图案的拳击短裤还低低地扯到髋骨上。英俊！她寻思着，算了，你以为自己是谁啊，简·爱？老大不小了，清醒点儿，别被他弄得神魂颠倒。

    她把烟从他嘴里取下。“我能想象你四十岁的样子，”语气里透出一丝邪劲儿，“我现在就能描绘出那个场面。”

 

 

    他依旧闭着眼睛，浅笑着，“说说看。”

 

 

    “好吧，”她挪动身子，将羽绒被夹在腋下，“你开着一辆敞篷跑车，行驶在肯辛顿的公路上，也可能是切尔西之类的地方，惊人的是跑车没有噪音，因为到那时所有的汽车都是静音的了，那已经是……我想想，哦，二○○六年了吧？”

 

 

    他眨着眼睛计算，“二○○四年了……”

 

 

    “跑车悬空六英寸顺着英皇大道飞驰。你的小肚腩垫在皮革方向盘下，像一个小枕头似的。手上戴着露手背的手套，头发稀疏，下巴的线条全无。你的身坯在小车里显得硕大，皮肤晒成棕褐色，好像涂了油的烤火鸡……”

 

 

    “好了，咱们换个话题，行吗？”

 

 

    “你身边还坐着一个女人，戴着太阳镜。她是你的第二，哦不，第三，不，第四任太太，非常美，是位模特，哦不，曾经是模特，二十三岁，是在一场奈斯车展上做模特时和你相遇的，当时她正在一辆名车的前盖上摆着姿势，光芒四射，艳色撩人。”

 

 

    “哟，真不错。我有孩子吗？”

 

 

    “没孩子，离过三次婚，当时是七月的一个周五，你们正赶往乡下的一处房子。悬浮车的后备箱里放着网球拍和门球球棒，你还带上了满满一篮子上等葡萄酒和南非葡萄、可怜的小鹌鹑，还有芦笋。挡风玻璃外风声呼啸，你的心情非常非常愉快。第三任，不，第四任太太对你微笑着，露出满嘴闪亮的雪白牙齿。你也冲她微笑，同时暗暗努力回避一桩事实：你们俩之间没有，完全、绝对没有共同语言。”

 

 

    她瞬间安静下来。你真是说疯话，她心想，快别那么荒唐了吧。

1 boxer   

n.制箱者，拳击手

参考例句：

• The boxer gave his opponent a punch on the nose.这个拳击手朝他对手的鼻子上猛击一拳。
• He moved lightly on his toes like a boxer.他像拳击手一样踮着脚轻盈移动。

2 hip   

n.臀部，髋；屋脊

参考例句：

• The thigh bone is connected to the hip bone.股骨连着髋骨。
• The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line.新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。

3 malice   

n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋

参考例句：

• I detected a suggestion of malice in his remarks.我觉察出他说的话略带恶意。
• There was a strong current of malice in many of his portraits.他的许多肖像画中都透着一股强烈的怨恨。

4 shuffled   

v.洗（纸牌）( shuffle的过去式和过去分词 )；拖着脚步走；粗心地做；摆脱尘世的烦恼

参考例句：

• He shuffled across the room to the window. 他拖着脚走到房间那头的窗户跟前。
• Simon shuffled awkwardly towards them. 西蒙笨拙地拖着脚朝他们走去。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 scrunched   

v.发出喀嚓声( scrunch的过去式和过去分词 )；蜷缩；压；挤压

参考例句：

• The snow scrunched underfoot. 雪在脚下发出嘎吱嘎吱的声音。
• He scrunched up the piece of paper and threw it at me. 他把那张纸揉成一个小团，朝我扔过来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 hover   

vi.翱翔，盘旋；徘徊；彷徨，犹豫

参考例句：

• You don't hover round the table.你不要围着桌子走来走去。
• A plane is hover on our house.有一架飞机在我们的房子上盘旋。

7 hovering   

鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫

参考例句：

• The helicopter was hovering about 100 metres above the pad. 直升机在离发射台一百米的上空盘旋。
• I'm hovering between the concert and the play tonight. 我犹豫不决今晚是听音乐会还是看戏。

8 basted   

v.打( baste的过去式和过去分词 )；粗缝；痛斥；（烤肉等时）往上抹[浇]油

参考例句：

• The turkey is basted to keep it from drying out. 烤火鸡时润以油脂以免烤干。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Meat is basted to keep it from drying out and to improve its flavour. 烤肉时润以脂油使不致烤焦并可增加香味。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 stunning   

adj.极好的；使人晕倒的

参考例句：

• His plays are distinguished only by their stunning mediocrity.他的戏剧与众不同之处就是平凡得出奇。
• The finished effect was absolutely stunning.完工后的效果非常美。

10 hamper   

vt.妨碍，束缚，限制；n.(有盖的)大篮子

参考例句：

• There are some apples in a picnic hamper.在野餐用的大篮子里有许多苹果。
• The emergence of such problems seriously hamper the development of enterprises.这些问题的出现严重阻碍了企业的发展。

11 quails   

鹌鹑( quail的名词复数 )； 鹌鹑肉

参考例句：

• Speckled quails rustled in the underbrush. 鹌鹑在矮树丛里沙沙作响。
• I went out to pop some quails. 我出去打几只鹌鹑。