英语听力 暮光之城•暮色 第41期:第四章 邀请(5)

 "Hey, Eric," I called.  "嘿，埃里克，"我招呼道。

"Hi, Bella."  "嗨，贝拉。"

"What's up?" I said as I was unlocking the door.  "什么事儿？"我边开门边问。

I wasn't paying attention to the uncomfortable edge in his voice, so his next words took me by surprise.  我没有注意到他语气中的不自在，所以他的下一句话令我大吃了一惊。

"Uh, I was just wondering… if you would go to the spring dance with me?"  "呃，我只是在想……你愿不愿意跟我一起去参加春季舞会？"

His voice broke on the last word.  他说到最后一个字的时候都声如蚊蚋了。

"I thought it was girls' choice," I said, too startled to be diplomatic.  "我想是女孩子说了算吧，"我惊讶得口不择言了。

"Well, yeah," he admitted, shamefaced.  "唔，对，"他承认道，一脸的羞愧。

I recovered my composure and tried to make my smile warm.  我恢复了镇静，想尽力笑得温暖一些：

"Thank you for asking me, but I'm going to be in Seattle that day."  "谢谢你邀请我呀，可那天我打算去西雅图。"

"Oh," he said. "Well, maybe next time."  "哦，"他说，"嗯，也许下次吧。"

"Sure," I agreed, and then bit my lip. "一定，"我同意道，然后咬住了嘴唇。

I wouldn't want him to take that too literally¹.  我不希望他把我的话理解得太死了。

He slouched off, back toward the school.  他垂头丧气地走开，回学校去了。

I heard a low chuckle².  我听见了一声吃吃的暗笑声。

Edward was walking past the front of my truck, looking straight forward, his lips pressed together.  爱德华正打我的车前经过，眼睛盯着正前方，抿着嘴。

I yanked the door open and jumped inside, slamming it loudly behind me.  我猛一把拉开了车门，跳了上去，随手砰地一声又把车门带上了。

I revved³ the engine deafeningly and reversed out into the aisle⁴.  我猛踩了一脚油门，轰得发动机山响，然后倒出来上了出口通道。

Edward was in his car already, two spaces down, sliding out smoothly⁵ in front of me, cutting me off.  爱德华已经上了车，距我两个车位，稳稳当当地将车溜到了我的前面，把我给挡住了。

He stopped there — to wait for his family;  他停在了那里，等他们家的其他几个；

I could see the four of them walking this way, but still by the cafeteria.  我看见他们四个正朝这边走来，但不过才到自助餐厅那里。

I considered taking out the rear of his shiny Volvo, but there were too many witnesses.  我恨不得把他那辆亮闪闪的沃尔沃的屁股撞成个稀巴烂，可惜边上的人太多了。

I looked in my rearview mirror.  我看了一眼后视镜，

A line was beginning to form.  后面已经排起了长队。

Directly behind me, Tyler Crowley was in his recently acquired used Sentra, waving.  紧接在我后面的是泰勒·克劳利，他坐在自己最近新买的一辆二手森特拉上向我挥手。

I was too aggravated⁶ to acknowledge him.  我当时正在气头上，全当没看见，没有理他。

While I was sitting there, looking everywhere but at the car in front of me, I heard a knock on my passenger side window.  我坐在车上等的时候，四下张望着，唯独就是没有看前面的那辆车，我听见有人敲了一下副驾驶那一侧的车窗。

I looked over; it was Tyler.  我一看，是泰勒。

I glanced back in my rearview mirror, confused.  我又看了一眼后视镜，怔住了。

His car was still running, the door left open.  他的车没熄火，开着车门。

I leaned across the cab to crank the window down.  我侧着身子够过去，想把车窗摇下来。

It was stiff.  可是很紧，

I got it halfway⁷ down, then gave up.  我摇了一半，就放弃了。

"I'm sorry, Tyler, I'm stuck behind Cullen."  "对不起，泰勒，我卡在卡伦后面了。"

I was annoyed — obviously the holdup wasn't my fault.  我很烦——一看就知道，这堵车又不是我的错。

"Oh, I know — I just wanted to ask you something while we're trapped here."  "噢，我知道——我不过是想趁我们堵在这儿的工夫，问你点儿事儿。"

He grinned.  他露齿笑道。

This could not be happening.  这倒是有点儿出乎我的意料。

"Will you ask me to the spring dance?" he continued.  "你愿意请我参加春季舞会吗？"他继续说道。

"I'm not going to be in town, Tyler."  "我那时不在城里，泰勒。"

My voice sounded a little sharp.  我的话听上去有些冲。

I had to remember it wasn't his fault that Mike and Eric had already used up my quota⁸ of patience for the day.  我得记住这不是他的错，谁叫迈克和埃里克已经把我今天的耐心耗尽了呢。

"Yeah, Mike said that," he admitted.  "是，我听迈克说过了，"他承认道。

"Then why—"  "那你干吗——？"

He shrugged⁹.  他耸了耸肩：

"I was hoping you were just letting him down easy."  "我以为你只不过是在委婉地拒绝他？"

Okay, it was completely his fault.  得了，这下就彻底是他的错了。

"Sorry, Tyler," I said, working to hide my irritation¹⁰.  "对不起，泰勒，"我说，竭力掩饰住自己的愤怒，

"I really am going out of town."  "我真的要出城去。"

"That's cool. We still have prom."  "那好。我们还有班级舞会。"

And before I could respond, he was walking back to his car.  我还没来得及回话，他已经在回自己车上去的路上了。

I could feel the shock on my face.  我能感觉到我脸上的震惊。

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 chuckle   

vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑

参考例句：

• He shook his head with a soft chuckle.他轻轻地笑着摇了摇头。
• I couldn't suppress a soft chuckle at the thought of it.想到这个，我忍不住轻轻地笑起来。

3 revved   

v.（使）加速( rev的过去式和过去分词 )；（数量、活动等）激增；（使发动机）快速旋转；（使）活跃起来

参考例句：

• The taxi driver revved up his engine. 出租车司机把发动机发动起来。
• The car revved up and roared away. 汽车发动起来，然后轰鸣着开走了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 aisle   

n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道

参考例句：

• The aisle was crammed with people.过道上挤满了人。
• The girl ushered me along the aisle to my seat.引座小姐带领我沿着通道到我的座位上去。

5 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。

6 aggravated   

使恶化( aggravate的过去式和过去分词 )； 使更严重； 激怒； 使恼火

参考例句：

• If he aggravated me any more I shall hit him. 假如他再激怒我，我就要揍他。
• Far from relieving my cough, the medicine aggravated it. 这药非但不镇咳，反而使我咳嗽得更厉害。

7 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

8 quota   

n.（生产、进出口等的）配额，（移民的）限额

参考例句：

• A restricted import quota was set for meat products.肉类产品设定了进口配额。
• He overfulfilled his production quota for two months running.他一连两个月超额完成生产指标。

9 shrugged   

vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀，什么也没说。
• She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩，装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 irritation   

n.激怒，恼怒，生气

参考例句：

• He could not hide his irritation that he had not been invited.他无法掩饰因未被邀请而生的气恼。
• Barbicane said nothing,but his silence covered serious irritation.巴比康什么也不说，但是他的沉默里潜伏着阴郁的怒火。