【饥饿游戏】04

Gale¹, who is eighteen and has been either helping² or 

single-handedly feeding a family of five for seven years, 

will have his name in forty-two times.You can see why 

someone like Madge, who has never been at risk of needing 

a tessera, can set him off. The chance of her name being 

drawn³ is very slim compared to those of us who live in the 

Seam. Not impossible, but slim. And even though the rules 

were set up by the Capitol, not the districts, certainly not 

Madge’s family, it’s hard not to resent those who don’t

have to sign up for tesserae.

Gale knows his anger at Madge is misdirected. On other

days, deep in the woods, I’ve listened to him rant⁴ about how

the tesserae are just another tool to cause misery⁵ in our district.

A way to plant hatred⁶ between the starving workers of

the Seam and those who can generally count on supper and

thereby⁷ ensure we will never trust one another. “It’s to the

Capitol’s advantage to have us divided among ourselves,” he

might say if there were no ears to hear but mine. If it wasn’t

reaping day. If a girl with a gold pin and no tesserae had not

made what I’m sure she thought was a harmless comment.

As we walk, I glance over at Gale’s face, still smoldering⁸ underneath⁹

his stony¹⁰ expression. His rages seem pointless to me,

although I never say so. It’s not that I don’t agree with him. I

do. But what good is yelling about the Capitol in the middle of

the woods? It doesn’t change anything. It doesn’t make things

fair. It doesn’t fill our stomachs. In fact, it scares off the nearby

game. I let him yell though. Better he does it in the woods than

in the district.

Gale and I divide our spoils, leaving two fish, a couple of

loaves of good bread, greens, a quart of strawberries, salt, paraffin,

and a bit of money for each.

“See you in the square,” I say.

“Wear something pretty,” he says flatly.

At home, I find my mother and sister are ready to go. My

mother wears a fine dress from her apothecary¹¹ days. Prim¹² is

in my first reaping outfit¹³, a skirt and ruffled¹⁴ blouse. It’s a bit

big on her, but my mother has made it stay with pins. Even so,

she’s having trouble keeping the blouse tucked in at the back.

A tub of warm water waits for me. I scrub off the dirt and

sweat from the woods and even wash my hair. To my surprise,

my mother has laid out one of her own lovely dresses for me.

A soft blue thing with matching shoes.

“Are you sure?” I ask. I’m trying to get past rejecting offers

of help from her. For a while, I was so angry, I wouldn’t allow

her to do anything for me. And this is something special. Her

clothes from her past are very precious to her.

“Of course. Let’s put your hair up, too,” she says. I let her

towel-dry it and braid it up on my head. I can hardly recognize

myself in the cracked mirror that leans against the wall.

“You look beautiful,” says Prim in a hushed voice.

“And nothing like myself,” I say. I hug her, because I know

these next few hours will be terrible for her. Her first reaping.

She’s about as safe as you can get, since she’s only entered

once. I wouldn’t let her take out any tesserae. But she’s worried

about me. That the unthinkable might happen.

I protect Prim in every way I can, but I’m powerless against

the reaping. The anguish¹⁵ I always feel when she’s in pain wells

up in my chest and threatens to register on my face. I notice

her blouse has pulled out of her skirt in the back again and

force myself to stay calm. “Tuck your tail in, little duck,” I say,

smoothing the blouse back in place.

Prim giggles¹⁶ and gives me a small “Quack.”

“Quack yourself,” I say with a light laugh. The kind only

Prim can draw out of me. “Come on, let’s eat,” I say and plant a

quick kiss on the top of her head.

The fish and greens are already cooking in a stew¹⁷, but that

will be for supper. We decide to save the strawberries and bakery

bread for this evening’s meal, to make it special we say.

Instead we drink milk from Prim’s goat, Lady, and eat the

rough bread made from the tessera grain, although no one has

much appetite anyway.

At one o’clock, we head for the square. Attendance is mandatory¹⁸

unless you are on death’s door. This evening, officials

will come around and check to see if this is the case. If not,

you’ll be imprisoned¹⁹.

It’s too bad, really, that they hold the reaping in the square

— one of the few places in District 12 that can be pleasant.

The square’s surrounded by shops, and on public market days,

especially if there’s good weather, it has a holiday feel to it.

But today, despite the bright banners hanging on the buildings,

there’s an air of grimness. The camera crews, perched

like buzzards on rooftops, only add to the effect.

People file in silently and sign in. The reaping is a good opportunity

for the Capitol to keep tabs on the population as

well. Twelve- through eighteen-year-olds are herded²⁰ into

roped areas marked off by ages, the oldest in the front, the

young ones, like Prim, toward the back. Family members line

up around the perimeter²¹, holding tightly to one another’s

hands. But there are others, too, who have no one they love at

stake, or who no longer care, who slip among the crowd, taking

bets on the two kids whose names will be drawn. Odds²² are

given on their ages, whether they’re Seam or merchant, if they

will break down and weep. Most refuse dealing²³ with the racketeers

but carefully, carefully. These same people tend to be

informers, and who hasn’t broken the law? I could be shot on

a daily basis for hunting, but the appetites of those in charge

protect me. Not everyone can claim the same.

Anyway, Gale and I agree that if we have to choose between

dying of hunger and a bullet in the head, the bullet would be

much quicker.

1 gale   

n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等）

参考例句：

• We got our roof blown off in the gale last night.昨夜的大风把我们的房顶给掀掉了。
• According to the weather forecast,there will be a gale tomorrow.据气象台预报，明天有大风。

2 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

3 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

4 rant   

v.咆哮；怒吼；n.大话；粗野的话

参考例句：

• You can rant and rave at the fine,but you'll still have to pay it.你闹也好，骂也好，罚金还是得交。
• If we rant on the net,the world is our audience.如果我们在网络上大声嚷嚷，全世界都是我们的听众。

5 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。

6 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

7 thereby   

adv.因此，从而

参考例句：

• I have never been to that city,,ereby I don't know much about it.我从未去过那座城市，因此对它不怎么熟悉。
• He became a British citizen,thereby gaining the right to vote.他成了英国公民，因而得到了投票权。

8 smoldering   

v.用文火焖烧，熏烧，慢燃( smolder的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The mat was smoldering where the burning log had fallen. 燃烧的木棒落下的地方垫子慢慢燃烧起来。 来自辞典例句
• The wood was smoldering in the fireplace. 木柴在壁炉中闷烧。 来自辞典例句

9 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

10 stony   

adj.石头的，多石头的，冷酷的，无情的

参考例句：

• The ground is too dry and stony.这块地太干，而且布满了石头。
• He listened to her story with a stony expression.他带着冷漠的表情听她讲经历。

11 apothecary   

n.药剂师

参考例句：

• I am an apothecary of that hospital.我是那家医院的一名药剂师。
• He was the usual cut and dry apothecary,of no particular age and color.他是那种再普通不过的行医者，说不出多大年纪，相貌也没什么值得一提的。

12 prim   

adj.拘泥形式的，一本正经的；n.循规蹈矩，整洁；adv.循规蹈矩地，整洁地

参考例句：

• She's too prim to enjoy rude jokes!她太古板，不喜欢听粗野的笑话！
• He is prim and precise in manner.他的态度一本正经而严谨

13 outfit   

n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装

参考例句：

• Jenney bought a new outfit for her daughter's wedding.珍妮为参加女儿的婚礼买了一套新装。
• His father bought a ski outfit for him on his birthday.他父亲在他生日那天给他买了一套滑雪用具。

14 ruffled   

adj. 有褶饰边的, 起皱的 动词ruffle的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• She ruffled his hair affectionately. 她情意绵绵地拨弄着他的头发。
• All this talk of a strike has clearly ruffled the management's feathers. 所有这些关于罢工的闲言碎语显然让管理层很不高兴。

15 anguish   

n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼

参考例句：

• She cried out for anguish at parting.分手时，她由于痛苦而失声大哭。
• The unspeakable anguish wrung his heart.难言的痛苦折磨着他的心。

16 giggles   

n.咯咯的笑( giggle的名词复数 )；傻笑；玩笑；the giggles 止不住的格格笑v.咯咯地笑( giggle的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Her nervous giggles annoyed me. 她神经质的傻笑把我惹火了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I had to rush to the loo to avoid an attack of hysterical giggles. 我不得不冲向卫生间，以免遭到别人的疯狂嘲笑。 来自辞典例句

17 stew   

n.炖汤，焖，烦恼；v.炖汤，焖，忧虑

参考例句：

• The stew must be boiled up before serving.炖肉必须煮熟才能上桌。
• There's no need to get in a stew.没有必要烦恼。

18 mandatory   

adj.命令的；强制的；义务的；n.受托者

参考例句：

• It's mandatory to pay taxes.缴税是义务性的。
• There is no mandatory paid annual leave in the U.S.美国没有强制带薪年假。

19 imprisoned   

下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was imprisoned for two concurrent terms of 30 months and 18 months. 他被判处30个月和18个月的监禁，合并执行。
• They were imprisoned for possession of drugs. 他们因拥有毒品而被监禁。

20 herded   

群集，纠结( herd的过去式和过去分词 )； 放牧； （使）向…移动

参考例句：

• He herded up his goats. 他把山羊赶拢在一起。
• They herded into the corner. 他们往角落里聚集。

21 perimeter   

n.周边，周长，周界

参考例句：

• The river marks the eastern perimeter of our land.这条河标示我们的土地东面的边界。
• Drinks in hands,they wandered around the perimeter of the ball field.他们手里拿着饮料在球场周围漫不经心地遛跶。

22 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

23 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。