【断背山】03

 They fended¹ off the night for an hour with the yellow kerosene² lamp andaround ten Ennis rode Cigar Butt³, a good night horse, through the glimmeringfrost back to the sheep, carrying leftover⁴ biscuits, a jar of jam and a jar of coffeewith him for the next day saying he’d save a trip, stay out until supper. 

     “Shot a coyote just first light,” he told Jack⁵ the next evening, sloshing his facewith hot water, lathering⁶ up soap and hoping his razor had some cut left in it,while Jack peeled potatoes. 

     “Big son of a bitch. Balls on him size a apples. Ibet he’d took a few lambs. Looked like he could a eat a camel. You want somea this hot water? There’s plenty.” 

     “It’s all yours.” 

     “Well, I’m goin a wash everthing I can reach,” he said, pulling off his bootsand jeans (no drawers, no socks, Jack noticed), slopping the green washclotharound until the fire spat⁷. 

     They had a high-time supper by the fire, a can of beans each, fried potatoesand a quart of whiskey on shares, sat with their backs against a log, bootsoles and copper⁸ jeans rivets⁹ hot, swapping¹⁰ the bottle while the lavender skyemptied of color and the chill air drained down, drinking, smoking cigarettes,getting up every now and then to piss, firelight throwing a sparkle in thearched stream, tossing sticks on the fire to keep the talk going, talking horsesand rodeo, roughstock events, wrecks¹¹ and injuries sustained, the submarineThresher lost two months earlier with all hands and how it must have been inthe last doomed¹² minutes, dogs each had owned and known, the draft, Jack’shome ranch¹³ where his father and mother held on, Ennis’s family place foldedyears ago after his folks died, the older brother in Signal and a married sisterin Casper. 

     Jack said his father had been a pretty well known bullrider yearsback but kept his secrets to himself, never gave Jack a word of advice, nevercame once to see Jack ride, though he had put him on the woolies when hewas a little kid. Ennis said the kind of riding that interested him lasted longerthan eight seconds and had some point to it. Money’s a good point, said Jack,and Ennis had to agree. They were respectful of each other’s opinions, eachglad to have a companion where none had been expected. Ennis, ridingagainst the wind back to the sheep in the treacherous¹⁴, drunken light, thoughthe’d never had such a good time, felt he could paw the white out of the moon. 

     The summer went on and they moved the herd¹⁵ to new pasture, shifted thecamp; the distance between the sheep and the new camp was greater and thenight ride longer. Ennis rode easy, sleeping with his eyes open, but the hourshe was away from the sheep stretched out and out. Jack pulled a squallingburr out of the harmonica, flattened¹⁶ a little from a fall off the skittish¹⁷ bay mare,and Ennis had a good raspy voice; a few nights they mangled¹⁸ their waythrough some songs. Ennis knew the salty words to “Strawberry Roan.” Jacktried a Carl Perkins song, bawling¹⁹ “what I say-ay-ay,” but he favored a sadhymn, “Water-Walking Jesus,” learned from his mother who believed in thePentecost, that he sang at dirge²⁰ slowness, setting off distant coyote yips. 

     “Too late to go out to them damn sheep,” said Ennis, dizzy drunk on all foursone cold hour when the moon had notched²¹ past two. The meadow stonesglowed white-green and a flinty wind worked over the meadow, scraped thefire low, then ruffled²² it into yellow silk sashes. 

     “Got you a extra blanket I’llroll up out here and grab forty winks²³, ride out at first light.” 

     “Freeze your ass²⁴ off when that fire dies down. Better off sleepin in the tent.” 

     “Doubt I’ll feel nothin.” But he staggered under canvas, pulled his boots off,snored on the ground cloth for a while, woke Jack with the clacking of hisjaw. 

     “Jesus Christ, quit hammerin and get over here. Bedroll’s big enough,” saidJack in an irritable²⁵ sleep-clogged voice. It was big enough, warm enough, andin a little while they deepened their intimacy²⁶ considerably²⁷. Ennis ran full throttleon all roads whether fence mending or money spending, and hewanted none of it when Jack seized his left hand and brought it to his erectcock. Ennis jerked his hand away as though he’d touched fire, got to hisknees, unbuckled his belt, shoved his pants down, hauled Jack onto all foursand, with the help of the clear slick and a little spit, entered him, nothing he’ddone before but no instruction manual needed. They went at it in silenceexcept for a few sharp intakes²⁸ of breath and Jack’s choked “gun’s goin off,”then out, down, and asleep.Ennis woke in red dawn with his pants around his knees, a top-gradeheadache, and Jack butted against him;

1 fended   

v.独立生活，照料自己( fend的过去式和过去分词 )；挡开，避开

参考例句：

• He neatly fended off a jab at his chest. 他利落地挡开了当胸的一击。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I fended off his sword thrust with my spear. 他一刀砍来，我拿枪架住。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 kerosene   

n.(kerosine)煤油，火油

参考例句：

• It is like putting out a fire with kerosene.这就像用煤油灭火。
• Instead of electricity,there were kerosene lanterns.没有电，有煤油灯。

3 butt   

n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶

参考例句：

• The water butt catches the overflow from this pipe.大水桶盛接管子里流出的东西。
• He was the butt of their jokes.他是他们的笑柄。

4 leftover   

n.剩货，残留物，剩饭；adj.残余的

参考例句：

• These narrow roads are a leftover from the days of horse-drawn carriages.这些小道是从马车时代沿用下来的。
• Wonder if that bakery lets us take leftover home.不知道那家糕饼店会不会让我们把卖剩的带回家。

5 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

6 lathering   

n.痛打，怒骂v.（指肥皂）形成泡沫( lather的现在分词 )；用皂沫覆盖；狠狠地打

参考例句：

• After this my skin is really illuminous and clean even though there was no lathering. 在这以后即使我不使用泡沬之类的，皮肤也特别光滑干净。 来自互联网
• And yet Carl is standing there lathering his face and not a single detail is altered. 可是卡尔却站在那儿往脸上抹肥皂，全然不动声色。 来自互联网

7 spat   

n.口角，掌击；v.发出呼噜呼噜声

参考例句：

• Her parents always have spats.她的父母经常有些小的口角。
• There is only a spat between the brother and sister.那只是兄妹间的小吵小闹。

8 copper   

n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的

参考例句：

• The students are asked to prove the purity of copper.要求学生们检验铜的纯度。
• Copper is a good medium for the conduction of heat and electricity.铜是热和电的良导体。

9 rivets   

铆钉( rivet的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Straighten the rivets, please. 请把那铆钉铆直。
• Instead of rivets there came an invasion, an infliction, and a visitation. 但是铆钉并没有运来，来的却是骚扰、混乱和视察。

10 swapping   

交换，交换技术

参考例句：

• The slow swapping and buying of horses went on. 马匹的买卖和交换就是这样慢慢地进行着。
• He was quite keen on swapping books with friends. 他非常热衷于和朋友们交换书籍。

11 wrecks   

n.沉船( wreck的名词复数 )；（事故中）遭严重毁坏的汽车（或飞机等）；（身体或精神上）受到严重损伤的人；状况非常糟糕的车辆（或建筑物等）v.毁坏[毁灭]某物( wreck的第三人称单数 )；使（船舶）失事，使遇难，使下沉

参考例句：

• The shores are strewn with wrecks. 海岸上满布失事船只的残骸。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• My next care was to get together the wrecks of my fortune. 第二件我所关心的事就是集聚破产后的余财。 来自辞典例句

12 doomed   

命定的

参考例句：

• The court doomed the accused to a long term of imprisonment. 法庭判处被告长期监禁。
• A country ruled by an iron hand is doomed to suffer. 被铁腕人物统治的国家定会遭受不幸的。

13 ranch   

n.大牧场，大农场

参考例句：

• He went to work on a ranch.他去一个大农场干活。
• The ranch is in the middle of a large plateau.该牧场位于一个辽阔高原的中部。

14 treacherous   

adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的

参考例句：

• The surface water made the road treacherous for drivers.路面的积水对驾车者构成危险。
• The frozen snow was treacherous to walk on.在冻雪上行走有潜在危险。

15 herd   

n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• He had no opinions of his own but simply follow the herd.他从无主见，只是人云亦云。

16 flattened   

[医]（水）平扁的，弄平的

参考例句：

• She flattened her nose and lips against the window. 她把鼻子和嘴唇紧贴着窗户。
• I flattened myself against the wall to let them pass. 我身体紧靠着墙让他们通过。

17 skittish   

adj.易激动的，轻佻的

参考例句：

• She gets very skittish when her boy-friend is around.她男朋友在场时，她就显得格外轻佻。
• I won't have my son associating with skittish girls.我不准我的儿子与轻佻的女孩交往。

18 mangled   

vt.乱砍（mangle的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• His hand was mangled in the machine. 他的手卷到机器里轧烂了。
• He was off work because he'd mangled his hand in a machine. 他没上班，因为他的手给机器严重压伤了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 bawling   

v.大叫，大喊( bawl的现在分词 )；放声大哭；大声叫出；叫卖（货物）

参考例句：

• We heard the dulcet tones of the sergeant, bawling at us to get on parade. 我们听到中士用“悦耳”的声音向我们大喊，让我们跟上队伍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• "Why are you bawling at me? “你向我们吼啥子？ 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

20 dirge   

n.哀乐，挽歌，庄重悲哀的乐曲

参考例句：

• She threw down her basket and intoned a peasant dirge.她撂下菜篮，唱起庄稼人的哀歌。
• The stranger,after listening for a moment,joined in the mournful dirge.听了一会儿后这个陌生人也跟著唱起了悲哀的挽歌。

21 notched   

a.有凹口的，有缺口的

参考例句：

• Torino notched up a 2-1 win at Lazio. 都灵队以2 比1 赢了拉齐奧队。
• He notched up ten points in the first five minutes of the game. 他在比赛开始后的五分钟里得了十分。

22 ruffled   

adj. 有褶饰边的, 起皱的 动词ruffle的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• She ruffled his hair affectionately. 她情意绵绵地拨弄着他的头发。
• All this talk of a strike has clearly ruffled the management's feathers. 所有这些关于罢工的闲言碎语显然让管理层很不高兴。

23 winks   

v.使眼色( wink的第三人称单数 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮

参考例句：

• I'll feel much better when I've had forty winks. 我打个盹就会感到好得多。
• The planes were little silver winks way out to the west. 飞机在西边老远的地方，看上去只是些很小的银色光点。 来自辞典例句

24 ass   

n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人

参考例句：

• He is not an ass as they make him.他不象大家猜想的那样笨。
• An ass endures his burden but not more than his burden.驴能负重但不能超过它能力所负担的。

25 irritable   

adj.急躁的；过敏的；易怒的

参考例句：

• He gets irritable when he's got toothache.他牙一疼就很容易发脾气。
• Our teacher is an irritable old lady.She gets angry easily.我们的老师是位脾气急躁的老太太。她很容易生气。

26 intimacy   

n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行

参考例句：

• His claims to an intimacy with the President are somewhat exaggerated.他声称自己与总统关系密切，这有点言过其实。
• I wish there were a rule book for intimacy.我希望能有个关于亲密的规则。

27 considerably   

adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上

参考例句：

• The economic situation has changed considerably.经济形势已发生了相当大的变化。
• The gap has narrowed considerably.分歧大大缩小了。

28 intakes   

吸入( intake的名词复数 )； （液体等）进入口； （一定时期内）进入或纳入的人数； （采煤）进风巷道

参考例句：

• The Tornado jet fighter-bomber has two air intakes. 旋风式喷气轰炸机有两个空气入口。
• The air intakes to the carburetors were filling up with freezing snow. 汽化器的进气道被积雪封住了。 来自英汉非文学 - 百科语料821