【有声英语文学名著】CHAPTER THREE(9)

Really?‘

Evensong at seven.‘

No, but really.‘

It‘s a nice offer, but after my shift here I‘m wiped out. I like to just go home, comfort eat, cry. So I‘ll have to give it a miss, I‘m afraid.‘

Another  time  then?  I‘m  playing  the  Bent  Banana  at  the  Cheshire  Cat  in  Balham  on Friday—

Over his shoulder Emma could see the cooks watching, Benoit laughing with his hand to his mouth. Maybe another time,‘ she said, kindly¹ but decisively, then sought to change the subject.

Now, this—‘ She tapped another bucket with her toe. This stuff here is salsa. Try not to get it on your skin. It burns.‘

The thing is, Em, running back to the hostel² in the rain just now  –  the rain is warm here, hot even sometimes, not like London rain  –  I was, like I said, pretty drunk and I found myself thinking about you and thinking what a shame Em isn’t here to see this, to experience this, and I had this revelation and it’s this.

You should be here with me. In India.

And this is my big idea, and it might  be insane, but I’m going to post this before I change my mind. Follow these simple instructions.

1  –  Leave that crappy job right now. Let them find someone else to melt cheese on tortilla chips for 2.20 an hour. Put a bottle of tequila in your bag and walk  out the door. Think what that will feel like, Em. Walk out now. Just do it.

2  –  I also think you should leave that flat. Tilly’s ripping you off, charging all that money for a room  without  a  window.  It  isn’t  a  box  room,  it’s  a  box,  and  you  should  get  out  of  there  and  let someone else wring³ out her great big grey bras for her. When I get back to the so-called real world I’m going to buy a flat because that’s the kind of over-privileged capitalist monster I am and you’re always welcome to come and stay for a  bit, or permanently⁴ if you like, because I think we’d get on, don’t you? As, you know,  FLATMATES.

1 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。

2 hostel   

n.（学生）宿舍，招待所

参考例句：

• I lived in a hostel while I was a student.我求学期间住在青年招待所里。
• He says he's staying at a Youth Hostel.他说他现住在一家青年招待所。

3 wring   

n.扭绞；v.拧，绞出，扭

参考例句：

• My socks were so wet that I had to wring them.我的袜子很湿，我不得不拧干它们。
• I'll wring your neck if you don't behave!你要是不规矩，我就拧断你的脖子。

4 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。