【饥饿游戏】36

 until I’m literally¹ spitting out answers at him.

“All right, enough,” he says. “We’ve got to find another angle.

Not only are you hostile, I don’t know anything about you.

I’ve asked you fifty questions and still have no sense of your

life, your family, what you care about. They want to know

about you, Katniss.”

“But I don’t want them to! They’re already taking my future!

They can’t have the things that mattered to me in the

past!” I say.

“Then lie! Make something up!” says Haymitch.

“I’m not good at lying,” I say.

“Well, you better learn fast. You’ve got about as much

charm as a dead slug,” says Haymitch. Ouch. That hurts. Even 

Haymitch must know he’s been too harsh because his voice 

softens². “Here’s an idea. Try acting³ humble⁴.”

“Humble,” I echo.

“That you can’t believe a little girl from District Twelve has

done this well. The whole thing’s been more than you ever

could have dreamed of. Talk about Cinna’s clothes. How nice

the people are. How the city amazes you. If you won’t talk

about yourself, at least compliment the audience. Just keep

turning it back around, all right. Gush⁵.”

The next hours are agonizing⁶. At once, it’s clear I cannot

gush. We try me playing cocky, but I just don’t have the 

arrogance⁷. Apparently⁸, I’m too “vulnerable” for ferocity. 

I’m not witty⁹. Funny. Sexy. Or mysterious.

By the end of the session, I am no one at all. Haymitch

started drinking somewhere around witty, and a nasty edge

has crept into his voice. “I give up, sweetheart. Just answer the

questions and try not to let the audience see how openly you

despise them.”

I have dinner that night in my room, ordering an outrageous¹⁰

number of delicacies¹¹, eating myself sick, and then taking out 

my anger at Haymitch, at the Hunger Games, at every living 

being in the Capitol by smashing dishes around my room. 

When the girl with the red hair comes in to turn down my bed, 

her eyes widen at the mess. “Just leave it!” I yell at her. “Just 

leave it alone!”

I hate her, too, with her knowing reproachful eyes that call

me a coward, a monster, a puppet of the Capitol, both now and

then. For her, justice must finally be happening. At least my

death will help pay for the life of the boy in the woods. But 

instead of fleeing the room, the girl closes the door behind

her and goes to the bathroom. She comes back with a damp cloth 

and wipes my face gently then cleans the blood from a broken 

plate off my hands. Why is she doing this? Why am I letting her?

“I should have tried to save you,” I whisper.

She shakes her head. Does this mean we were right to stand

by? That she has forgiven me?

“No, it was wrong,” I say.

She taps her lips with her fingers then points to my chest. I

think she means that I would just have ended up an Avox, too.

Probably would have. An Avox or dead. I spend the next hour 

helping¹² the redheaded girl clean the room. When all the garbage 

has been dropped down a disposal and the food cleaned away, 

she turns down my bed. I crawl in between the sheets like a 

five-year-old and let her tuck me in. Then she goes. I want her 

to stay until I fall asleep. To be there when I wake up. I want the 

protection of this girl, even though she never had mine.

In the morning, it’s not the girl but my prep team who are

hanging over me. My lessons with Effie and Haymitch are

over. This day belongs to Cinna. He’s my last hope. Maybe he

can make me look so wonderful, no one will care what comes

out of my mouth.

The team works on me until late afternoon, turning my skin

to glowing satin, stenciling¹³ patterns on my arms, painting

flame designs on my twenty perfect nails. Then Venia goes to

work on my hair, weaving strands¹⁴ of red into a pattern that

begins at my left ear, wraps around my head, and then falls in

one braid down my right shoulder. They erase¹⁵ my face with a

layer of pale makeup¹⁶ and draw my features back out. Huge

dark eyes, full red lips, lashes¹⁷ that throw off bits of light when

I blink. Finally, they cover my entire body in a powder that

makes me shimmer¹⁸ in gold dust.

Then Cinna enters with what I assume is my dress, but I can’t 

really see it because it’s covered. “Close your eyes,” he orders.

I can feel the silken inside as they slip it down over my

naked body, then the weight. It must be forty pounds. I clutch

Octavia’s hand as I blindly step into my shoes, glad to find

they are at least two inches lower than the pair Effie had me

practice in. There’s some adjusting and fidgeting. Then silence.

“Can I open my eyes?” I ask.

“Yes,” says Cinna. “Open them.”

1 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

2 softens   

（使）变软( soften的第三人称单数 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰

参考例句：

• Iron softens with heat. 铁受热就软化。
• Moonlight softens our faults; all shabbiness dissolves into shadow. 月光淡化了我们的各种缺点，所有的卑微都化解为依稀朦胧的阴影。 来自名作英译部分

3 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。

4 humble   

adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低

参考例句：

• In my humble opinion,he will win the election.依我拙见，他将在选举中获胜。
• Defeat and failure make people humble.挫折与失败会使人谦卑。

5 gush   

v.喷，涌；滔滔不绝(说话)；n.喷，涌流；迸发

参考例句：

• There was a gush of blood from the wound.血从伤口流出。
• There was a gush of blood as the arrow was pulled out from the arm.当从手臂上拔出箭来时，一股鲜血涌了出来。

6 agonizing   

adj.痛苦难忍的；使人苦恼的v.使极度痛苦；折磨(agonize的ing形式)

参考例句：

• I spent days agonizing over whether to take the job or not. 我用了好些天苦苦思考是否接受这个工作。
• his father's agonizing death 他父亲极度痛苦的死

7 arrogance   

n.傲慢，自大

参考例句：

• His arrogance comes out in every speech he makes.他每次讲话都表现得骄傲自大。
• Arrogance arrested his progress.骄傲阻碍了他的进步。

8 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

9 witty   

adj.机智的，风趣的

参考例句：

• Her witty remarks added a little salt to the conversation.她的妙语使谈话增添了一些风趣。
• He scored a bull's-eye in their argument with that witty retort.在他们的辩论中他那一句机智的反驳击中了要害。

10 outrageous   

adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的

参考例句：

• Her outrageous behaviour at the party offended everyone.她在聚会上的无礼行为触怒了每一个人。
• Charges for local telephone calls are particularly outrageous.本地电话资费贵得出奇。

11 delicacies   

n.棘手( delicacy的名词复数 )；精致；精美的食物；周到

参考例句：

• Its flesh has exceptional delicacies. 它的肉异常鲜美。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• After these delicacies, the trappers were ready for their feast. 在享用了这些美食之后，狩猎者开始其大餐。 来自英汉非文学 - 民俗

12 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。

13 stenciling   

n.镂花涂装v.用模板印（文字或图案）( stencil的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Part II covers elementary 3D techniques, such as lighting, texturing, alpha blending, and stenciling. 四川大学工程硕士学位论文基于DireCtX 9.0的3D游戏设计介绍了怎样在Direct3D中显示3D对象，顶点及索引的存储方式，3D技术的一些元素，诸如光，包括光源的种类和光与表面相交的情况等。 来自互联网

14 strands   

n.（线、绳、金属线、毛发等的）股( strand的名词复数 )；缕；海洋、湖或河的)岸；（观点、计划、故事等的）部份v.使滞留，使搁浅( strand的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Twist a length of rope from strands of hemp. 用几股麻搓成了一段绳子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She laced strands into a braid. 她把几股线编织成一根穗带。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 erase   

v.擦掉；消除某事物的痕迹

参考例句：

• He tried to erase the idea from his mind.他试图从头脑中抹掉这个想法。
• Please erase my name from the list.请把我的名字从名单上擦去。

16 makeup   

n.组织；性格；化装品

参考例句：

• Those who failed the exam take a makeup exam.这次考试不及格的人必须参加补考。
• Do you think her beauty could makeup for her stupidity?你认为她的美丽能弥补她的愚蠢吗？

17 lashes   

n.鞭挞( lash的名词复数 )；鞭子；突然猛烈的一击；急速挥动v.鞭打( lash的第三人称单数 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥

参考例句：

• Mother always lashes out food for the children's party. 孩子们聚会时，母亲总是给他们许多吃的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Never walk behind a horse in case it lashes out. 绝对不要跟在马后面，以防它突然猛踢。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 shimmer   

v./n.发微光，发闪光；微光

参考例句：

• The room was dark,but there was a shimmer of moonlight at the window.屋子里很黑，但靠近窗户的地方有点微光。
• Nor is there anything more virginal than the shimmer of young foliage.没有什么比新叶的微光更纯洁无瑕了。