【断背山】05

 “Ennis, please, no more damn lonesome ranches¹ for us,”

    she said, sitting onhis lap, wrapping her thin, freckled² arms around him. 

    “Let’s get a place herein town?” 

   “I guess,” said Ennis, slipping his hand up her blouse sleeve and stirring thesilky armpit hair, then easing her down, fingers moving up her ribs³ to the jellybreast, over the round belly⁴ and knee and up into the wet gap all the way tothe north pole or the equator depending which way you thought you weresailing,（最后来到北极或是赤道——就看你选择哪条航道了。）working at it until she shuddered⁵ and bucked⁶ against his hand andhe rolled her over, did quickly what she hated. 

    They stayed in the littleapartment which he favored because it could be left at any time.The fourth summer since Brokeback Mountain came on and in June Ennishad a general delivery letter from Jack⁷ Twist, the first sign of life in all thattime.Friend this letter is a long time over due. Hope you get it. Heard you was inRiverton. Im coming thru on the 24th, thought Id stop and buy you a beerDrop me a line if you can, say if your there.The return address was Childress, Texas. Ennis wrote back, you bet, gave theRiverton address.The day was hot and clear in the morning, but by noon the clouds hadpushed up out of the west rolling a little sultry air before them. Ennis,wearing his best shirt, white with wide black stripes, didn’t know what timeJack would get there and so had taken the day off, paced back and forth,looking down into a street pale with dust. 

    Alma was saying something abouttaking his friend to the Knife & Fork for supper instead of cooking it was sohot, if they could get a baby-sitter, but Ennis said more likely he’d just go outwith Jack and get drunk. Jack was not a restaurant type, he said, thinking ofthe dirty spoons sticking out of the cans of cold beans balanced on the log.Late in the afternoon, thunder growling⁸, that same old green pickup⁹ rolled inand he saw Jack get out of the truck, beat-up Resistol tilted¹⁰ back. A hot joltscalded Ennis and he was out on the landing pulling the door closed behindhim. Jack took the stairs two and two. They seized each other by theshoulders, hugged mightily¹¹, squeezing the breath out of each other, saying,son of a bitch, son of a bitch, then, and easily as the right key turns the locktumblers, their mouths came together, and hard, Jack’s big teeth bringingblood, his hat falling to the floor, stubble rasping, wet saliva¹² welling, and thedoor opening and Alma looking out for a few seconds at Ennis’s strainingshoulders and shutting the door again and still they clinched¹³, pressing chestand groin and thigh¹⁴ and leg together, treading on each other’s toes until theypulled apart to breathe and Ennis, not big on endearments¹⁵, said what he saidto his horses and daughters, little darlin. 

    The door opened again a few inches and Alma stood in the narrow light.What could he say? 

    “Alma, this is Jack Twist, Jack, my wife Alma.” His chestwas heaving. He could smell Jack -- the intensely familiar odor of cigarettes,musky sweat and a faint sweetness like grass, and with it the rushing cold ofthe mountain. 

    “Alma,” he said, 

    “Jack and me ain’t seen each other in fouryears.” As if it were a reason. He was glad the light was dim on the landingbut did not turn away from her. 

    “Sure enough,” said Alma in a low voice. She had seen what she had seen.Behind her in the room lightning lit the window like a white sheet wavingand the baby cried.         “You got a kid?” said Jack. His shaking hand grazed Ennis’s hand, electricalcurrent snapped between them. 

    “Two little girls,” Ennis said. “Alma Jr. and Francine. Love them to pieces.”Alma’s mouth twitched¹⁶. 

    “I got a boy,” said Jack. 

    “Eight months old. Tell you what, I married a cutelittle old Texas girl down in Childress -- Lureen.” From the vibration¹⁷ of thefloorboard on which they both stood Ennis could feel how hard Jack wasshaking. 

    “Alma,” he said. 

    “Jack and me is goin out and get a drink. Might not get backtonight, we get drinkin and talkin.” 

    “Sure enough,” Alma said, taking a dollar bill from her pocket. Ennis guessedshe was going to ask him to get her a pack of cigarettes, bring him backsooner. 

    “Please to meet you,” said Jack, trembling like a run-out horse. 

    “Ennis -- “ said Alma in her misery¹⁸ voice, but that didn’t slow him down onthe stairs and he called back, 

    “Alma, you want smokes there’s some in thepocket a my blue shirt in the bedroom.”They went off in Jack’s truck, bought a bottle of whiskey and within twentyminutes were in the Motel Siesta¹⁹ jouncing a bed. 

1 ranches   

大农场， （兼种果树，养鸡等的）大牧场( ranch的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They hauled feedlot manure from the ranches to fertilize their fields. 他们从牧场的饲养场拖走肥料去肥田。
• Many abandoned ranches are purchased or leased by other poultrymen. 许多被放弃的牧场会由其他家禽监主收买或租用。

2 freckled   

adj.雀斑；斑点；晒斑；（使）生雀斑v.雀斑，斑点( freckle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Her face was freckled all over. 她的脸长满雀斑。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Her freckled skin glowed with health again. 她长有雀斑的皮肤又泛出了健康的红光。 来自辞典例句

3 ribs   

n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹

参考例句：

• He suffered cracked ribs and bruising. 他断了肋骨还有挫伤。
• Make a small incision below the ribs. 在肋骨下方切开一个小口。

4 belly   

n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛

参考例句：

• The boss has a large belly.老板大腹便便。
• His eyes are bigger than his belly.他眼馋肚饱。

5 shuddered   

v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动

参考例句：

• He slammed on the brakes and the car shuddered to a halt. 他猛踩刹车，车颤抖着停住了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I shuddered at the sight of the dead body. 我一看见那尸体就战栗。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 bucked   

adj.快v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的过去式和过去分词 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃

参考例句：

• When he tried to ride the horse, it bucked wildly. 当他试图骑上这匹马时，它突然狂暴地跃了起来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The plane bucked a strong head wind. 飞机顶着强烈的逆风飞行。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

7 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。

8 growling   

n.吠声, 咆哮声 v.怒吠, 咆哮, 吼

参考例句：

• We heard thunder growling in the distance. 我们听见远处有隆隆雷声。
• The lay about the deck growling together in talk. 他们在甲板上到处游荡，聚集在一起发牢骚。

9 pickup   

n.拾起，获得

参考例句：

• I would love to trade this car for a pickup truck.我愿意用这辆汽车换一辆小型轻便卡车。||The luck guy is a choice pickup for the girls.那位幸运的男孩是女孩子们想勾搭上的人。

10 tilted   

v. 倾斜的

参考例句：

• Suddenly the boat tilted to one side. 小船突然倾向一侧。
• She tilted her chin at him defiantly. 她向他翘起下巴表示挑衅。

11 mightily   

ad.强烈地；非常地

参考例句：

• He hit the peg mightily on the top with a mallet. 他用木槌猛敲木栓顶。
• This seemed mightily to relieve him. 干完这件事后，他似乎轻松了许多。

12 saliva   

n.唾液，口水

参考例句：

• He wiped a dribble of saliva from his chin.他擦掉了下巴上的几滴口水。
• Saliva dribbled from the baby's mouth.唾液从婴儿的嘴里流了出来。

13 clinched   

v.（尤指两人）互相紧紧抱[扭]住( clinch的过去式和过去分词 )；解决（争端、交易），达成（协议）

参考例句：

• The two businessmen clinched the deal quickly. 两位生意人很快达成了协议。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Evidently this information clinched the matter. 显然，这一消息使问题得以最终解决。 来自辞典例句

14 thigh   

n.大腿；股骨

参考例句：

• He is suffering from a strained thigh muscle.他的大腿肌肉拉伤了，疼得很。
• The thigh bone is connected to the hip bone.股骨连着髋骨。

15 endearments   

n.表示爱慕的话语，亲热的表示( endearment的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They were whispering endearments to each other. 他们彼此低声倾吐着爱慕之情。
• He held me close to him, murmuring endearments. 他抱紧了我，喃喃述说着爱意。 来自辞典例句

16 twitched   

vt.& vi.（使）抽动，（使）颤动（twitch的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Her lips twitched with amusement. 她忍俊不禁地颤动着嘴唇。
• The child's mouth twitched as if she were about to cry. 这小孩的嘴抽动着，像是要哭。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 vibration   

n.颤动，振动；摆动

参考例句：

• There is so much vibration on a ship that one cannot write.船上的震动大得使人无法书写。
• The vibration of the window woke me up.窗子的震动把我惊醒了。

18 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

19 siesta   

n.午睡

参考例句：

• Lots of people were taking a short siesta in the shade.午后很多人在阴凉处小睡。
• He had acquired the knack of snatching his siesta in the most unfavourable circumstance.他学会了在最喧闹的场合下抓紧时间睡觉的诀窍。