【有声英语文学名著】CHAPTER FOUR（2）

 She  pressed  two  wads  of  rough  blue  paper  against  her  eyes.  Sorry,  sorry, sorry, you were saying.‘

I‘ve lost my place now, you bursting into tears like that.‘

I think you were telling me that my life was going nowhere,‘ and she began to laugh and cry at the same time. She grabbed a third piece of kitchen paper and wadded it against her mouth.

Scott waited until her shoulders had stopped heaving. So are you interested in the job or not?‘

You  mean  to  say—‘  She  placed  her  hand  on  a  twenty-litre  tub of  Thousand  Island Dressing¹ —all this could one day be mine?‘

Emma, if you don‘t want the job, just say, but I have been doing it for four years now—‘

And you‘ve done it really well, Scott—‘

The money‘s adequate, you‘d never have to clean the toilets again—‘

And I appreciate the offer.‘

So why the waterworks then?‘

Just I‘ve been a little . . . depressed² that‘s all.‘

De-pressed.‘ Scott frowned as if hearing the word for the first time.

You know. Bit blue.‘

Right.  I  see.‘  He  contemplated  putting  a  paternal  arm  around  her,  but  it  would  mean climbing over a ten-gallon drum of mayonnaise, so instead he leant further across the desk. 

Is it . . . boy trouble?‘

Emma laughed once. Hardly. Scott, it‘s nothing, you just caught me at a  low ebb³, that‘s all.‘ She shook her head vigorously. See, all gone, right as rain. Let‘s forget it.‘

So what do you think? About being manager?‘

Can I think about it? Tell you tomorrow?‘

Scott  smiled  benignly  and  nodded.  Go  on  then!  Take  a  break—‘  He  stretched  an  arm towards the door, adding with infinite compassion⁴: Go get yourself some nachos.‘

1 dressing   

n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料

参考例句：

• Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
• The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。

2 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

3 ebb   

vi.衰退，减退；n.处于低潮，处于衰退状态

参考例句：

• The flood and ebb tides alternates with each other.涨潮和落潮交替更迭。
• They swam till the tide began to ebb.他们一直游到开始退潮。

4 compassion   

n.同情，怜悯

参考例句：

• He could not help having compassion for the poor creature.他情不自禁地怜悯起那个可怜的人来。
• Her heart was filled with compassion for the motherless children.她对于没有母亲的孩子们充满了怜悯心。