1-8

 

8.

Despite its two male headmasters—Mr. Gerald and Mr. Marston, both legends—Ludgrove waslargely run by women. We called them the matrons. Whatever tenderness we got, day to day,came from them. The matrons hugged us, kissed us, bandaged our injuries, wiped our tears. (Allexcept mine, that is. After that one graveside outburst I’d not cried again.) They fanciedthemselves our surrogates. Mums-Away-From-Mums, they’d always chirp¹, which had alwaysbeen odd, but now was especially confusing, because of Mummy’s disappearance², and alsobecause the matrons were suddenly…hot.

I had a crush on Miss Roberts. I felt certain I’d marry her one day. I also recall two MissLynns. Miss Lynn Major and Miss Lynn Minor³. They were sisters. I was deeply smitten⁴ with thelatter. I reckoned I’d marry her too.

Three times a week, after dinner, the matrons would assist the youngest boys with the nightlywash. I can still see the long row of white baths, each with a boy reclining like a little pharaoh,awaiting his personalized hair-washing. (For older boys who’d reached puberty there were twotubs in a separate room, behind a yellow door.) The matrons came down the row of tubs with stiffbrushes, bars of floral soap. Every boy had his own towel, embossed with his school number.

Mine was 116.

After shampooing a boy the matrons would ease back his head, give him a slow and luxuriousrinse.

Confusing as hell.

Matrons would also help with the crucial extraction of lice. Outbreaks were common. Nearlyevery week another boy would come down with a fierce case. We’d all point and laugh. Nyah,nyah, you’ve got nits! Before long a matron would be kneeling over the patient, rubbing somesolution into his scalp, then scraping out the dead beasts with a special comb.

As a thirteen-year-old I graduated from matronly bathing assistance. But I still depended ontheir nightly tuck-ins, still treasured their morning greetings. They were the first faces we saw eachday. They swept into our rooms, threw open our curtains. Morning, boys! Bleary, I’d gaze up intoa beautiful visage framed by a halo of sun…

Is that…could that be…?

It never was.

The matron I dealt with the most was Pat. Unlike the other matrons, Pat wasn’t hot. Pat wascold. Pat was small, mousy, frazzled, and her hair fell greasily⁶ into her always tired eyes. Patdidn’t seem to get much joy out of life, though she did find two things reliably satisfying—catching⁷ a boy somewhere he wasn’t supposed to be, and shutting down any bouts⁸ ofroughhousing. Before every pillow fight we’d put a sentry⁹ on the door. If Pat (or the headmasters)approached, the sentry was instructed to cry: KV! KV! Latin, I think? Someone said it meant: Thehead’s coming! Someone else said it meant: Beware!

Whichever, when you heard it you knew to get out of there. Or pretend to be asleep.

Only the newest and stupidest boys would go to Pat with a problem. Or, worse, a cut. Shewouldn’t bandage it: she’d poke¹⁰ it with a finger or squirt something into it that hurt twice as much.

She wasn’t a sadist, she just seemed “empathy- challenged.” Odd, because she knew aboutsuffering. Pat had many crosses to bear.

The biggest seemed her knees and spine¹¹. The latter was crooked¹², the former chronically¹³ stiff.

Walking was hard, stairs were torture. She’d descend¹⁴ backwards¹⁵, glacially. Often we’d stand onthe landing below her, doing antic dances, making faces.

Do I need to say which boy did this with the most enthusiasm?

We never worried about Pat catching us. She was a tortoise and we were tree frogs. Still, nowand then the tortoise would luck out. She’d lunge, grab a fistful of boy. Aha! That lad would thenbe well and truly fucked.

Didn’t stop us. We went on mocking her as she came down the stairs. The reward was worththe risk. For me, the reward wasn’t tormenting¹⁶ poor Pat, but making my mates laugh. It felt sogood to make others laugh, especially when I hadn’t laughed for months.

Maybe Pat knew this. Now and then she’d turn, see me being a perfect ass⁵, and she’d laughtoo. That was the best. I loved cracking up my mates, but nothing quite did it for me like makingthe otherwise miserable¹⁷ Pat bust¹⁸ a gut¹⁹.

 

1 chirp   

v.(尤指鸟)唧唧喳喳的叫

参考例句：

• The birds chirp merrily at the top of tree.鸟儿在枝头欢快地啾啾鸣唱。
• The sparrows chirp outside the window every morning.麻雀每天清晨在窗外嘁嘁喳喳地叫。

2 disappearance   

n.消失，消散，失踪

参考例句：

• He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。
• Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。

3 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

4 smitten   

猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去分词 )

参考例句：

• From the moment they met, he was completely smitten by her. 从一见面的那一刻起，他就完全被她迷住了。
• It was easy to see why she was smitten with him. 她很容易看出为何她为他倾倒。

5 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。

6 greasily   

adv.多脂，油腻，滑溜地

参考例句：

• Mugridge was back in the galley, he became greasily radiant. 茂格立治回到厨房里来，满面是小人得志的神气。 来自辞典例句
• He did not mean to be greasily confidential to Miss Quested, only to enlist her support. 他也不是故意向奎斯迪小姐献殷勤显示出好像推心置腹，不过想得到她的支持而已。 来自辞典例句

7 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

8 bouts   

n.拳击（或摔跤）比赛( bout的名词复数 )；一段（工作）；（尤指坏事的）一通；（疾病的）发作

参考例句：

• For much of his life he suffered from recurrent bouts of depression. 他的大半辈子反复发作抑郁症。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It was one of fistiana's most famous championship bouts. 这是拳击界最有名的冠军赛之一。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

9 sentry   

n.哨兵，警卫

参考例句：

• They often stood sentry on snowy nights.他们常常在雪夜放哨。
• The sentry challenged anyone approaching the tent.哨兵查问任一接近帐篷的人。

10 poke   

n.刺，戳，袋；vt.拨开，刺，戳；vi.戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢

参考例句：

• We never thought she would poke her nose into this.想不到她会插上一手。
• Don't poke fun at me.别拿我凑趣儿。

11 spine   

n.脊柱，脊椎；(动植物的)刺；书脊

参考例句：

• He broke his spine in a fall from a horse.他从马上跌下摔断了脊梁骨。
• His spine developed a slight curve.他的脊柱有点弯曲。

12 crooked   

adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的

参考例句：

• He crooked a finger to tell us to go over to him.他弯了弯手指，示意我们到他那儿去。
• You have to drive slowly on these crooked country roads.在这些弯弯曲曲的乡间小路上你得慢慢开车。

13 chronically   

ad.长期地

参考例句：

• Similarly, any pigment nevus that is chronically irritated should be excised. 同样，凡是经常受慢性刺激的各种色素痣切勿予以切除。
• People chronically exposed to chlorine develop some degree of tolerance. 人长期接触氯气可以产生某种程度的耐受性。

14 descend   

vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降

参考例句：

• I hope the grace of God would descend on me.我期望上帝的恩惠。
• We're not going to descend to such methods.我们不会沦落到使用这种手段。

15 backwards   

adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地

参考例句：

• He turned on the light and began to pace backwards and forwards.他打开电灯并开始走来走去。
• All the girls fell over backwards to get the party ready.姑娘们迫不及待地为聚会做准备。

16 tormenting   

使痛苦的，使苦恼的

参考例句：

• He took too much pleasure in tormenting an ugly monster called Caliban. 他喜欢一味捉弄一个名叫凯列班的丑妖怪。
• The children were scolded for tormenting animals. 孩子们因折磨动物而受到责骂。

17 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

18 bust   

vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部

参考例句：

• I dropped my camera on the pavement and bust it. 我把照相机掉在人行道上摔坏了。
• She has worked up a lump of clay into a bust.她把一块黏土精心制作成一个半身像。

19 gut   

n.[pl.]胆量；内脏；adj.本能的；vt.取出内脏

参考例句：

• It is not always necessary to gut the fish prior to freezing.冷冻鱼之前并不总是需要先把内脏掏空。
• My immediate gut feeling was to refuse.我本能的直接反应是拒绝。