【有声英语文学名著】CHAPTER TWO（3）

When  we  started  STC  (Sledgehammer  Theatre  Co-operative)  we  were 

really  keen  to  set  up  a  progressive  theatrical  collective  with  none  of  that  ego-fame-getting-on-thetelly-ego-showing-off bullshit, and just do really good, exciting original political devised  work. That 

may  all  sound  dopey  to  you,  but  that’s  what  we  wanted  to  do.  But  the  problem  with  democratic egalitarian collectives is that you have to listen to twots like Sid and Candy. I wouldn’t mind if she 

could act but her Geordie accent is unbelievable,  like she’s had a stroke or something and she’s also 

got this thing about doing yoga warm-ups in her lingerie. There, that’s got your attention, hasn’t it? 

It’s the first time I’ve seen someone do the Sun Worship in hold-up stockings and a basque. That can’t 

be right, can it? Poor old Sid can barely chew his curried¹ beef slice, keeps missing his mouth. When 

the time finally comes for her to put some clothes on and go on stage one of the kids usually wolf whistles or something and in the mini-bus afterwards  she always pretends to be really affronted² and 

feminist³ about it. ‘I hate being judged on my looks all my life I’ve been judged on my exquisite⁴ face 

and firm young body,’ she says as she adjusts her suspender belt, like it’s a big  POLITICAL  issue, 

like we should be doing agit-prop street theatre about the plight⁵ of women cursed with great tits. Am I 

ranting⁶? Are you in love with her yet? Maybe I’ll introduce you when you get back. I can see you 

now,  giving  her  that  look  where  you  clench  your  jaw  and  play  with  your  lips  and  ask  about  her 

careeeeeer. Maybe I won’t introduce you after all . . .

 

Emma Morley turned the page face down as Gary Nutkin entered, skinny and anxious, and it was  time  for  the  pre-show  pep-talk  from  the  director  and  co-founder  of  Sledgehammer 

Theatre Co-operative. The unisex dressing⁷ room was not a dressing room at all, just the girls‘ 

changing  room  at  an  inner-city  comprehensive  which,  even  at  the  weekend,  still  had  that 

school smell she remembered: hormones⁸, pink liquid soap, mildewed⁹ towels.

In the doorway¹⁰, Gary Nutkin cleared his throat; pale and razor-burned, the top-button of 

his  black  shirt  fastened  tight,  a  man  whose  personal  style  icon  was  George  Orwell.  "Great 

crowd  tonight,  people!  Nearly  half  full  which  isn‘t  bad  considering!‘  though  considering 

what exactly he didn‘t say, perhaps because he was distracted by Candy, performing pelvic 

rolls  in  a  polka-dot  all-in-one. "Let‘s  give  ‘em  one  hell  of  a  show,  folks.  Let‘s  knock  ‘em 

dead!‘

I‘d  like  to  knock  ‘em  dead," growled¹¹  Sid,  watching  Candy  while  picking  at  pastry 

crumbs¹². "Cricket bat with nails in, little bastards¹³."

1 curried   

adj.加了咖喱（或咖喱粉的），用咖哩粉调理的

参考例句：

• She curried favor with the leader by contemptible means. 她用卑鄙的手段博取领导的欢心。 来自互联网
• Fresh ham, curried beef? 鲜火腿？咖喱牛肉？ 来自互联网

2 affronted   

adj.被侮辱的，被冒犯的v.勇敢地面对( affront的过去式和过去分词 )；相遇

参考例句：

• He hoped they would not feel affronted if they were not invited . 他希望如果他们没有获得邀请也不要感到受辱。
• Affronted at his impertinence,she stared at him coldly and wordlessly. 被他的无礼而冒犯，她冷冷地、无言地盯着他。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 feminist   

adj.主张男女平等的，女权主义的

参考例句：

• She followed the feminist movement.她支持女权运动。
• From then on,feminist studies on literature boomed.从那时起，男女平等受教育的现象开始迅速兴起。

4 exquisite   

adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的

参考例句：

• I was admiring the exquisite workmanship in the mosaic.我当时正在欣赏镶嵌画的精致做工。
• I still remember the exquisite pleasure I experienced in Bali.我依然记得在巴厘岛所经历的那种剧烈的快感。

5 plight   

n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定

参考例句：

• The leader was much concerned over the plight of the refugees.那位领袖对难民的困境很担忧。
• She was in a most helpless plight.她真不知如何是好。

6 ranting   

v.夸夸其谈( rant的现在分词 )；大叫大嚷地以…说教；气愤地)大叫大嚷；不停地大声抱怨

参考例句：

• Mrs. Sakagawa stopped her ranting. 坂川太太戛然中断悲声。 来自辞典例句
• He was ranting about the murder of his dad. 他大叫她就是杀死他父亲的凶手。 来自电影对白

7 dressing   

n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料

参考例句：

• Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
• The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。

8 hormones   

n. 荷尔蒙，激素 名词hormone的复数形式

参考例句：

• This hormone interacts closely with other hormones in the body. 这种荷尔蒙与体內其他荷尔蒙紧密地相互作用。
• The adrenals produce a large per cent of a man's sex hormones. 肾上腺分泌人体的大部分性激素。

9 mildewed   

adj.发了霉的，陈腐的，长了霉花的v.（使）发霉，（使）长霉( mildew的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Things easily get mildewed in the rainy season. 梅雨季节东西容易发霉。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The colonel was gorgeous, he had a cavernous mouth, cavernous cheeks, cavernous, sad, mildewed eyes. 这位上校样子挺神气，他的嘴巴、双颊和两眼都深深地凹进去，目光黯淡，象发了霉似的。 来自辞典例句

10 doorway   

n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径

参考例句：

• They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
• Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。

11 growled   

v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说

参考例句：

• \"They ought to be birched, \" growled the old man. 老人咆哮道：“他们应受到鞭打。” 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He growled out an answer. 他低声威胁着回答。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 crumbs   

int. (表示惊讶)哎呀 n. 碎屑 名词crumb的复数形式

参考例句：

• She stood up and brushed the crumbs from her sweater. 她站起身掸掉了毛衣上的面包屑。
• Oh crumbs! Is that the time? 啊，天哪！都这会儿啦？

13 bastards   

私生子( bastard的名词复数 )； 坏蛋； 讨厌的事物； 麻烦事 （认为别人走运或不幸时说）家伙

参考例句：

• Those bastards don't care a damn about the welfare of the factory! 这批狗养的，不顾大局！ 来自子夜部分
• Let the first bastards to find out be the goddam Germans. 就让那些混账的德国佬去做最先发现的倒霉鬼吧。 来自演讲部分