【有声英语文学名著】CHAPTER ONE(9)

 Not much chance of sleep now. Instead he would pick out patterns in the grey 

Artex until she was completely asleep, then slip out and away without waking her.

Of course leaving now would mean that he would never see her again. He wondered if 

she  would  mind,  and  presumed  she  would:  they  usually  did.  But  would  he  mind?  He  had 

managed  perfectly  well  without  her  for  four  years.  Until  last  night  he  had  been  under  the 

impression that she was called Anna, and yet at the party he hadn‘t been able to look away. 

Why had he not noticed her until now? He examined her face as she slept. 

She was pretty, but seemed annoyed by the fact. Her bottled-red hair was almost wilfully 

badly cut, alone in front of the mirror probably, or by Tilly whatsername, that loud, large girl 

she  shared  this  flat  with.  Her  skin  had  a  pallid  puffiness  that  spoke  of  too  much  time  in 

libraries or drinking pints¹ in pubs, and her spectacles² made her seem owlish and prim³. Her 

chin was soft and a little plump⁴, though perhaps that was just puppy-fat (or were “plump”and 

"puppy-fat" things you weren't meant to say now? in the same way that you couldn't tell her 

she had tremendous breasts, even if it was true, without her getting all offended).

 

Never mind that, back to her face. There was a slight greasy⁵ sheen on the tip of her small, 

neat  nose  and  a  spattering  of  tiny  red  spots  on  her  forehead,  but  these  aside  there  was  no 

denying that her face  –  well, her face was a wonder. With her eyes closed he found that he 

couldn't recall their exact colour, only that they were large and bright and humorous, like the 

two  creases  in  the  corners  of  her  wide  mouth,  deep  parentheses  that  deepened  when  she 

smiled, which seemed to be often. Smooth, pink mottled cheeks, pillows of flesh that looked 

as if they would be warm  to the touch. No lipstick⁶ but soft, raspberry-coloured lips that she 

kept tightly⁷ closed when she smiled as if she didn‘t want to show her teeth, which were a 

little large for her mouth, the front tooth slightly chipped, all of this giving the impression 

that she was holding something back, laughter or a clever remark or a fantastic secret joke.

If  he  left  now  he  would  probably  never  see  this  face  again,  except  perhaps  at  some 

terrible  reunion  in  ten  years‘  time.  She‘d  be  overweight  and  disappointed  and  would 

complain  about  him  sneaking  off  without  saying  goodbye.

 

 

1 pints   

n.品脱( pint的名词复数 )；一品脱啤酒

参考例句：

• I drew off three pints of beer from the barrel. 我从酒桶里抽出三品脱啤酒。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Two pints today, please. 今天请来两品脱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 spectacles   

n.眼镜

参考例句：

• a pair of spectacles 一副眼镜
• People wear spectacles so that they can see better. 人们戴眼镜是为了看得更清楚。

3 prim   

adj.拘泥形式的，一本正经的；n.循规蹈矩，整洁；adv.循规蹈矩地，整洁地

参考例句：

• She's too prim to enjoy rude jokes!她太古板，不喜欢听粗野的笑话！
• He is prim and precise in manner.他的态度一本正经而严谨

4 plump   

adj.丰满的，丰富的，直接的；vi.下降，支持，变丰满；vt.突然放下，支持，使丰满；n.突然膨胀，坠落；adv.骤降，直线下降，不加限制的

参考例句：

• The baby is plump and very cute.那个婴儿白白胖胖的，十分可爱。
• The grains are quite plump.谷粒儿很饱。

5 greasy   

adj. 多脂的，油脂的

参考例句：

• He bought a heavy-duty cleanser to clean his greasy oven.昨天他买了强力清洁剂来清洗油污的炉子。
• You loathe the smell of greasy food when you are seasick.当你晕船时，你会厌恶油腻的气味。

6 lipstick   

n.口红，唇膏

参考例句：

• Taking out her lipstick,she began to paint her lips.她拿出口红，开始往嘴唇上抹。
• Lipstick and hair conditioner are cosmetics.口红和护发素都是化妆品。

7 tightly   

adv.紧紧地，坚固地，牢固地

参考例句：

• My child holds onto my hand tightly while we cross the street.横穿马路时，孩子紧拉着我的手不放。
• The crowd pressed together so tightly that we could hardly breathe.人群挤在一起，我们几乎喘不过气来。