【有声英语文学名著】CHAPTER TWO（2）

 I mean they had loads of radical¹ theatre in Germany in the Thirties and look 

what a difference that  made. We’re going to banish² colour prejudice from the West Midlands, even if  we have to do it one child at a time.

There are four of  us in the cast. Kwame is the Noble Slave and despite us playing mistress and 

servant we actually get along alright (though I asked him to get me a packet of crisps in this café the 

other  day  and  he  looked  at  me  like  I  was  OPPRESSING  him  or  something).  But  he’s  nice  and 

serious about the work, though he did cry a lot in rehearsals³, which I thought was a bit much. He’s a 

bit of a weeper, if you know what I mean. In the play there’s meant to be this powerful sexual tension 

between us, but once again life is failing to imitate art.

 

Then there’s Sid, who plays my wicked father Obadiah. I know your whole childhood was spent 

playing French cricket on a bloody⁴ great chamomile lawn and you never did anything as déclassé as 

watch the telly, but Sid used to be quite famous, on this cop show called  City Beat and his disgust at 

being reduced to THIS shines through. He flatly refuses to mime⁵, like it’s beneath him to be seen with 

an object that isn’t really there, and every other sentence begins ‘when I was on telly’ which is his 

way  of  saying  ‘when  I  was  happy’.  Sid  pees  in  washbasins  and  has  these  scary  polyester  trousers 

which you WIPE DOWN instead of washing and subsists⁶ on service station minced⁷ beef pasties, and 

me and Kwame think he’s secretly really racist⁸, but apart from that he’s a lovely man, a lovely, lovely 

man.

And  then  there’s  Candy,  ah  Candy.  You’d  like  Candy,  she’s  exactly  what  she sounds  like.  She 

plays  Cheeky  Maid,  a  Plantation  Owner  and  Sir  William  Wilberforce,  and  is  very  beautiful  and 

spiritual and even though I don’t approve of the word, a complete bitch. She keeps asking me how old 

I am  really  and telling me I look tired or that if I got contact lenses I could actually be quite pretty, 

which  I  ADORE  of  course.  She’s  very  keen  to  make  it  clear  that  she’s  only  doing  this  to  get  her 

Equity⁹ card and bide¹⁰ her time until she’s spotted¹¹ by some Hollywood producer who presumably just 

happens to be passing through Dudley on a wet Tuesday afternoon on the lookout¹² for hot  TIE  talent. 

Acting¹³  is  rubbish,  isn’t  it? 

1 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

2 banish   

vt.放逐，驱逐；消除，排除

参考例句：

• The doctor advised her to banish fear and anxiety.医生劝她消除恐惧和忧虑。
• He tried to banish gloom from his thought.他试图驱除心中的忧愁。

3 rehearsals   

n.练习( rehearsal的名词复数 )；排练；复述；重复

参考例句：

• The earlier protests had just been dress rehearsals for full-scale revolution. 早期的抗议仅仅是大革命开始前的预演。
• She worked like a demon all through rehearsals. 她每次排演时始终精力过人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

5 mime   

n.指手画脚，做手势，哑剧演员，哑剧；vi./vt.指手画脚的表演，用哑剧的形式表演

参考例句：

• Several French mime artists will give some lectures this afternoon.几位法国哑剧表演艺术家将在今天下午做几场讲座。
• I couldn't speak Chinese,but I showed in mime that I wanted a drink.我不会讲汉语，但我作摹拟动作表示要一杯饮料。

6 subsists   

v.（靠很少的钱或食物）维持生活，生存下去( subsist的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• This plant subsists in water holes only during the rainy season. 这种植物只有雨季在水坑里出现。 来自辞典例句
• The hinge is that the enterprise subsists on suiting the development of data communication. 适应数据通信的发展是通信企业生存的关键。 来自互联网

7 minced   

v.切碎( mince的过去式和过去分词 )；剁碎；绞碎；用绞肉机绞（食物，尤指肉）

参考例句：

• He minced over to serve us. 他迈着碎步过来招待我们。
• A young fop minced up to George and introduced himself. 一个花花公子扭扭捏捏地走到乔治面前并作了自我介绍。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

9 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

10 bide   

v.忍耐；等候；住

参考例句：

• We'll have to bide our time until the rain stops.我们必须等到雨停。
• Bide here for a while. 请在这儿等一会儿。

11 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

12 lookout   

n.注意，前途，瞭望台

参考例句：

• You can see everything around from the lookout.从了望台上你可以看清周围的一切。
• It's a bad lookout for the company if interest rates don't come down.如果利率降不下来，公司的前景可就不妙了。

13 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。