【有声英语文学名著】CHAPTER ONE(6)

 From the bathroom came the warning rattle¹ and bang of an ancient 

toilet  cistern²,  and  he  hurriedly  replaced  the  book,  finding  beneath  the  bed  a  small  yellow 

Colman‘s mustard tin that he flipped³ open to confirm that, yes, it did contain condoms, along

with the small grey remains⁴ of a joint⁵, like a mouse dropping. With the possibility of sex  and

drugs in a small yellow tin he felt hopeful again, and decided⁶ that he might stay a little longer 

at least.

In  the  bathroom,  Emma  Morley  wiped  the  crescents  of  toothpaste  from  the  corner  of  her 

mouth and wondered if this was all a terrible mistake. Here she was, after four romantically 

barren years, finally, finally in bed with someone she really liked, had liked since she‘d first 

seen him at a party in 1984, and in just a few hours he‘d be gone. Forever probably. He was 

hardly likely to ask her to go to China with him, and besides she was boycotting⁷ China. And 

he was alright, wasn‘t he? Dexter Mayhew. In truth she suspected he wasn‘t all that bright, 

and a little too pleased with himself, but he was popular and funny and – no point fighting it –

very handsome. So why was she being so stroppy and sarcastic⁸? Why couldn‘t she just be 

self-confident and fun, like those scrubbed, bouncy girls he usually hung around with? She 

saw the dawn light at the tiny bathroom window. Sobriety. Scratching at her awful hair with 

her fingertips, she pulled a face, then yanked the chain of the ancient toilet cistern and headed 

back into the room.

 

From  the  bed,  Dexter  watched  her  appear  in  the  doorway,  wearing  the  gown  and  mortar⁹ 

board that they‘d been obliged to hire for the  graduation ceremony, her  leg hooked mockseductively around the doorframe, her rolled degree certificate in one hand. She peered over 

her spectacles and pulled the mortar board down low over one eye. ""What d‘you think?‘

Suits you. I like the jaunty¹⁰ angle. Now take it off and come back to bed.‘

No way. Thirty quid this cost me. I‘m going to get my money‘s worth.‘ She swirled¹¹ the 

gown like a vampire‘s cape¹². Dexter grabbed at a corner but she swiped at him with the rolledup certificate before sitting on the edge of the bed, folding her spectacles and shrugging off 

her gown. He had one last glimpse of her naked back and the curve of her breast before they 

disappeared  beneath  a  black  t-shirt  that  demanded  unilateral  nuclear  disarmament now. 

 

 

1 rattle   

v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓

参考例句：

• The baby only shook the rattle and laughed and crowed.孩子只是摇着拨浪鼓，笑着叫着。
• She could hear the rattle of the teacups.她听见茶具叮当响。

2 cistern   

n.贮水池

参考例句：

• The cistern is empty but soon fills again.蓄水池里现在没水，但不久就会储满水的。
• The lavatory cistern overflowed.厕所水箱的水溢出来了

3 flipped   

轻弹( flip的过去式和过去分词 )； 按（开关）； 快速翻转； 急挥

参考例句：

• The plane flipped and crashed. 飞机猛地翻转，撞毁了。
• The carter flipped at the horse with his whip. 赶大车的人扬鞭朝着马轻轻地抽打。

4 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

5 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

6 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

7 boycotting   

抵制，拒绝参加( boycott的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• They're boycotting the shop because the people there are on strike. 他们抵制那家商店，因为那里的店员在罢工。
• The main opposition parties are boycotting the elections. 主要反对党都抵制此次选举。

8 sarcastic   

adj.讥讽的，讽刺的，嘲弄的

参考例句：

• I squashed him with a sarcastic remark.我说了一句讽刺的话把他给镇住了。
• She poked fun at people's shortcomings with sarcastic remarks.她冷嘲热讽地拿别人的缺点开玩笑。

9 mortar   

n.灰浆，灰泥；迫击炮；v.把…用灰浆涂接合

参考例句：

• The mason flushed the joint with mortar.泥工用灰浆把接缝处嵌平。
• The sound of mortar fire seemed to be closing in.迫击炮的吼声似乎正在逼近。

10 jaunty   

adj．愉快的，满足的；adv.心满意足地，洋洋得意地；n.心满意足；洋洋得意

参考例句：

• She cocked her hat at a jaunty angle.她把帽子歪戴成俏皮的样子。
• The happy boy walked with jaunty steps.这个快乐的孩子以轻快活泼的步子走着。

11 swirled   

v.旋转，打旋( swirl的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The waves swirled and eddied around the rocks. 波浪翻滚着在岩石周围打旋。
• The water swirled down the drain. 水打着旋流进了下水道。

12 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。