3-11

 

11.

In the morning we needed sustenance¹. We phoned room service. When they knocked at the door, Ilooked around frantically² for a place to hide.

The room had nothing. No cubbyhole or wardrobes, no armoire.

So I lay flat on the bed and pulled the duvet over my head. Meg whispered to go into thebathroom but I preferred my hiding place.

Alas³, our breakfast wasn’t delivered by just any anonymous⁴ waiter. It was brought by a hotelassistant manager who loved Meg, and whom she loved, so he wanted to chat. He didn’t noticethat there were two breakfasts on the tray. He didn’t notice the prince-shaped lump under theduvet. He talked and talked, and caught her up on all the latest, while I, in my duvet cave, startedto run out of air.

Thank goodness for all that practice riding in the boot of Billy’s police car.

When the man finally left, I sat up, gasping⁵.

Then we both gasped⁶, we were laughing so hard.

We decided⁷ to have dinner that night at my place, invite some friends over. We’d cook. Fun,we said, but it would mean food shopping first. There was nothing in my fridge besides grapes andcottage pies.

We could go to Waitrose, I said.

Of course we couldn’t actually go to Waitrose together: that would cause a riot. So we drewup a plan to shop simultaneously⁸, in parallel, and in disguise, without visibly acknowledging eachother.

Meg got there minutes before me. She wore a flannel⁹ shirt, a bulky overcoat and a beanie, but Iwas still surprised that no one was recognizing her. Plenty of Brits watched Suits, surely, yet noone was staring. I’d have spotted¹⁰ her in a crowd of thousands.

Also, no one looked twice at her trolley¹¹, which was filled with her suitcases, and two largeSoho House bags containing fluffy¹² dressing-gowns she’d bought for us on checking out.

Equally anonymous, I grabbed a basket, walked casually¹³ up and down the aisles¹⁴. Beside thefruit and veg I felt her stroll past me. Actually, it was more a saunter than a stroll. Very saucy¹⁵. Weslid our eyes towards each other, just an instant, then quickly away.

Meg had cut out a roasted-salmon recipe from Food & Wine and with that we’d made a listand divided it in two. She was in charge of finding a baking sheet, while I was tasked with findingparchment paper.

I texted her: What the F is parchment paper?

She talked me onto the target.

Above your head.

I spun¹⁶ around. She was a few feet away, peering from behind a display.

We both laughed.

I looked back to the shelf.

This?

No, the one next to it.

We were cackling.

When we’d got through our list, I paid at the checkout¹⁷, then texted Meg about where to meet.

Down the parking ramp¹⁸, under the shop, people-carrier with blacked out windows. Moments later,our shopping snug¹⁹ in the boot, Billy the Rock at the wheel, we roared out of the car park, headingfor Nott Cott. I watched the city going past, all the houses and people, and I thought: I can’t waitfor you all to meet her.

 

1 sustenance   

n.食物，粮食；生活资料；生计

参考例句：

• We derive our sustenance from the land.我们从土地获取食物。
• The urban homeless are often in desperate need of sustenance.城市里无家可归的人极其需要食物来维持生命。

2 frantically   

ad.发狂地, 发疯地

参考例句：

• He dashed frantically across the road. 他疯狂地跑过马路。
• She bid frantically for the old chair. 她发狂地喊出高价要买那把古老的椅子。

3 alas   

int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等)

参考例句：

• Alas!The window is broken!哎呀！窗子破了！
• Alas,the truth is less romantic.然而，真理很少带有浪漫色彩。

4 anonymous   

adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的

参考例句：

• Sending anonymous letters is a cowardly act.寄匿名信是懦夫的行为。
• The author wishes to remain anonymous.作者希望姓名不公开。

5 gasping   

adj. 气喘的, 痉挛的 动词gasp的现在分词

参考例句：

• He was gasping for breath. 他在喘气。
• "Did you need a drink?""Yes, I'm gasping!” “你要喝点什么吗？”“我巴不得能喝点！”

6 gasped   

v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要

参考例句：

• She gasped at the wonderful view. 如此美景使她惊讶得屏住了呼吸。
• People gasped with admiration at the superb skill of the gymnasts. 体操运动员的高超技艺令人赞叹。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

8 simultaneously   

adv.同时发生地，同时进行地

参考例句：

• The radar beam can track a number of targets almost simultaneously.雷达波几乎可以同时追着多个目标。
• The Windows allow a computer user to execute multiple programs simultaneously.Windows允许计算机用户同时运行多个程序。

9 flannel   

n.法兰绒；法兰绒衣服

参考例句：

• She always wears a grey flannel trousers.她总是穿一条灰色法兰绒长裤。
• She was looking luscious in a flannel shirt.她穿着法兰绒裙子，看上去楚楚动人。

10 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

11 trolley   

n.手推车，台车；无轨电车；有轨电车

参考例句：

• The waiter had brought the sweet trolley.侍者已经推来了甜食推车。
• In a library,books are moved on a trolley.在图书馆，书籍是放在台车上搬动的。

12 fluffy   

adj.有绒毛的，空洞的

参考例句：

• Newly hatched chicks are like fluffy balls.刚孵出的小鸡像绒毛球。
• The steamed bread is very fluffy.馒头很暄。

13 casually   

adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地

参考例句：

• She remarked casually that she was changing her job.她当时漫不经心地说要换工作。
• I casually mentioned that I might be interested in working abroad.我不经意地提到我可能会对出国工作感兴趣。

14 aisles   

n. (席位间的)通道, 侧廊

参考例句：

• Aisles were added to the original Saxon building in the Norman period. 在诺曼时期，原来的萨克森风格的建筑物都增添了走廊。
• They walked about the Abbey aisles, and presently sat down. 他们走到大教堂的走廊附近，并且很快就坐了下来。

15 saucy   

adj.无礼的；俊俏的；活泼的

参考例句：

• He was saucy and mischievous when he was working.他工作时总爱调皮捣蛋。
• It was saucy of you to contradict your father.你顶撞父亲，真是无礼。

16 spun   

v.纺，杜撰，急转身

参考例句：

• His grandmother spun him a yarn at the fire.他奶奶在火炉边给他讲故事。
• Her skilful fingers spun the wool out to a fine thread.她那灵巧的手指把羊毛纺成了细毛线。

17 checkout   

n.（超市等）收银台，付款处

参考例句：

• Could you pay at the checkout.你能在结帐处付款吗。
• A man was wheeling his shopping trolley to the checkout.一个男人正推着购物车向付款台走去。

18 ramp   

n.暴怒，斜坡，坡道；vi.作恐吓姿势，暴怒，加速；vt.加速

参考例句：

• That driver drove the car up the ramp.那司机将车开上了斜坡。
• The factory don't have that capacity to ramp up.这家工厂没有能力加速生产。

19 snug   

adj.温暖舒适的，合身的，安全的；v.使整洁干净，舒适地依靠，紧贴；n.（英）酒吧里的私房

参考例句：

• He showed us into a snug little sitting room.他领我们走进了一间温暖而舒适的小客厅。
• She had a small but snug home.她有个小小的但很舒适的家。