英语听力 暮光之城•暮色 第68期:第五章 血型(21)

 As was my routine, I glanced first toward the Cullens' table. 如同例行公事一样，我第一眼便向卡伦家的桌子看去。

A shiver of panic trembled in my stomach as I realized it was empty. 当我意识到它是空的时，一阵恐惧的颤抖在我的胃里翻腾着。

With dwindling¹ hope, my eyes scoured² the rest of the cafeteria, hoping to find him alone, waiting for me. 带着越来越渺茫的希望，我的眼睛搜索着自助餐厅的余下部分，希望能看见他独自坐着，等着我。

The place was nearly filled — Spanish had made us late — 到处都坐满了人——西班牙语课让我们来晚了——

but there was no sign of Edward or any of his family. Desolation hit me with crippling strength. 却没有任何爱德华或者他的某个家人的影子。一种无力的荒凉感袭击了我。

I shambled along behind Jessica, not bothering to pretend to listen anymore. 我蹒跚着走在杰西卡后面，不再费神假装在听她说话了。

We were late enough that everyone was already at our table. 我们来得太晚了，我们桌子上的人几乎都到齐了。

I avoided the empty chair next to Mike in favor of one by Angela. 我避开迈克旁边的那张空椅子，更青睐安吉拉旁边那张。

I vaguely³ noticed that Mike held the chair out politely for Jessica, and that her face lit up in response. 我隐约留意到迈克彬彬有礼地为杰西卡拉开椅子，她的脸立刻容光焕发。

Angela asked a few quiet questions about the Macbeth paper, 安吉拉安静地问了几个关于那篇《麦克白》的论文的问题，

which I answered as naturally as I could while spiraling downward in misery⁴. 我尽可能答得正常些，尽管此时我正盘旋着落入绝望的深渊。

She, too, invited me to go with them tonight, and I agreed now, grasping at anything to distract myself. 她也邀请我今晚和她们一起去，而我立刻答应了，想要抓住任何能让我分心的事。

I realized I'd been holding on to a last shred⁵ of hope when I entered Biology, 当我走进生物教室的时候，我意识到自己怀着最后一线希望。

saw his empty seat, and felt a new wave of disappointment. 但在看到他空空的座位以后，新一轮的失望向我涌来。

The rest of the day passed slowly, dismally⁶. 这一天剩下的时间过得漫长又沉默。

In Gym, we had a lecture on the rules of badminton, the next torture they had lined up for me. 体育课上，我们要听羽毛球的规则讲演，这是排着队等着我的又一次煎熬。

But at least it meant I got to sit and listen instead of stumbling around on the court. 但至少，这意味着我可以坐下来听课，而不是在庭院里到处被绊到。

The best part was the coach didn't finish, so I got another day off tomorrow. 最好的部分是教练没能讲完，所以明天我又将逃过一劫。

Never mind that the day after they would arm me with a racket before unleashing⁷ me on the rest of the class. 在我从余下的课里解放出来以前，我根本不去在乎后天他们就要让我拿上球拍了。

1 dwindling   

adj.逐渐减少的v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The number of wild animals on the earth is dwindling. 地球上野生动物的数量正日渐减少。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He is struggling to come to terms with his dwindling authority. 他正努力适应自己权力被削弱这一局面。 来自辞典例句

2 scoured   

走遍（某地）搜寻（人或物）( scour的过去式和过去分词 )； （用力）刷； 擦净； 擦亮

参考例句：

• We scoured the area for somewhere to pitch our tent. 我们四处查看，想找一个搭帐篷的地方。
• The torrents scoured out a channel down the hill side. 急流沿着山腰冲刷出一条水沟。

3 vaguely   

adv.含糊地，暖昧地

参考例句：

• He had talked vaguely of going to work abroad.他含糊其词地说了到国外工作的事。
• He looked vaguely before him with unseeing eyes.他迷迷糊糊的望着前面，对一切都视而不见。

4 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。

5 shred   

v.撕成碎片，变成碎片；n.碎布条，细片，些少

参考例句：

• There is not a shred of truth in what he says.他说的全是骗人的鬼话。
• The food processor can shred all kinds of vegetables.这架食品加工机可将各种蔬菜切丝切条。

6 dismally   

adv.阴暗地，沉闷地

参考例句：

• Fei Little Beard assented dismally. 费小胡子哭丧着脸回答。 来自子夜部分
• He began to howl dismally. 它就凄凉地吠叫起来。 来自辞典例句

7 unleashing   

v.把（感情、力量等）释放出来，发泄( unleash的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Company logos: making people's life better by unleashing Cummins power. 公司理念：以康明斯动力建设更美好的生活！ 来自互联网
• Sooner or later the dam will burst, unleashing catastrophic destruction. 否则堤坝将崩溃，酿成灾难。 来自互联网