英语听力 暮光之城•暮色 第80期:第六章 惊悚故事(6)

 We picked our way down to the beach, Mike leading the way to a ring of driftwood logs that had obviously been used for parties like ours before.  我们循路走下沙滩，迈克在前头领路，把我们带向一圈圆浮木。显然，这圈浮木之前也曾为像我们这样的成群结队的旅人服务过。

There was a fire circle already in place, filled with black ashes.  那里有个摆得恰到好处的篝火堆，上面铺满了黑色的灰烬。

Eric and the boy I thought was named Ben gathered broken branches of driftwood from the drier piles against the forest edge,  埃里克和另一个男孩——我想他的名字是本——从树林边缘干燥的木头堆里收集了不少破碎的浮木块，

and soon had a teepee-shaped construction built atop the old cinders¹. 然后很快在那些经年累月的灰烬上垒起了一个摇摇晃晃的木架。

"Have you ever seen a driftwood fire?" Mike asked me. “你见过浮木篝火吗？”迈克问我。

I was sitting on one of the bone-colored benches;  我坐在其中一张骨白色的长凳上，

the other girls clustered, gossiping excitedly, on either side of me.  别的女孩都聚在一起，兴奋地说着闲话，坐在了我的另一边。

Mike kneeled by the fire, lighting² one of the smaller sticks with a cigarette lighter³. 迈克跪在篝火旁，正在用打火机点燃其中一根比较细的干枝。

"No," I said as he placed the blazing twig⁴ carefully against the teepee. “没有。”我说，看着他把那个熊熊燃烧着的细枝小心地放到那堆摇摇晃晃的木架上。

"You'll like this then — watch the colors."  “那你一定会喜欢这个的——看它的颜色。”

He lit another small branch and laid it alongside the first.  他点燃了另一根树枝，并排着放到刚才那根树枝旁。

The flames started to lick quickly up the dry wood. 火焰开始迅速地吞没着干燥的木块。

"It's blue," I said in surprise. “那是蓝色的！”我惊讶地说。

"The salt does it. Pretty, isn't it?" He lit one more piece, placed it where the fire hadn't yet caught, and then came to sit by me.  “因为有盐。很漂亮，对吧？”他又点燃了一片木屑，放到木架上火还没烧到的地方，然后过来坐到我旁边。

Thankfully, Jess was on his other side. She turned to him and claimed his attention.  谢天谢地，杰西坐在他的另一边。她转向他，努力吸引他的注意力。

I watched the strange blue and green flames crackle toward the sky. 我看着那堆古怪的蓝绿色火焰冲着天空劈啪作响。

1 cinders   

n.煤渣( cinder的名词复数 )；炭渣；煤渣路；煤渣跑道

参考例句：

• This material is variously termed ash, clinker, cinders or slag. 这种材料有不同的名称，如灰、炉渣、煤渣或矿渣。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Rake out the cinders before you start a new fire. 在重新点火前先把煤渣耙出来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

3 lighter   

n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级

参考例句：

• The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色，色调明朗了一些。
• The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。

4 twig   

n.小树枝，嫩枝；v.理解

参考例句：

• He heard the sharp crack of a twig.他听到树枝清脆的断裂声。
• The sharp sound of a twig snapping scared the badger away.细枝突然折断的刺耳声把獾惊跑了。