【断背山】04

without saying anything about it both knew how it would go for the rest of the summer, sheep be damned. As it did go. They never talked about the sex, let it happen, at first only in the tent at night, then in the full daylight with the hot sun striking down, and at evening in the fire glow, quick, rough, laughing and snorting, no lack of noises, but saying not a goddamn word except once Ennis said, “I’m not no queer,” and Jack¹ jumped in with “Me neither. A one-shot thing. Nobody’s business but ours.” 

     There were only the two of them on the mountain flyingin the euphoric, bitter air, looking down on the hawk’s back and the crawling lights of vehicles on the plain below, suspended above ordinary affairs and distant from tame ranch² dogs barking in the dark hours. They believed themselves invisible, not knowing Joe Aguirre had watched them through his10x42 binoculars³ for ten minutes one day, waiting until they’d buttoned uptheir jeans, waiting until Ennis rode back to the sheep, before bringing up the message that Jack’s people had sent word that his uncle Harold was in the hospital with pneumonia⁴ and expected not to make it. Though he did, and Aguirre came up again to say so, fixing Jack with his bold stare, not bothering to dismount. 

     In August Ennis spent the whole night with Jack in the main camp and in ablowy hailstorm the sheep took off west and got among a herd⁵ in another allotment. There was a damn miserable⁶ time for five days, Ennis and a Chilean herder with no English trying to sort them out, the task almostimpossible as the paint brands were worn and faint at this late season. Even when the numbers were right Ennis knew the sheep were mixed. In a disquieting⁷ way everything seemed mixed. 

     The first snow came early, on August thirteenth, piling up a foot, but wasfollowed by a quick melt. The next week Joe Aguirre sent word to bring themdown -- another, bigger storm was moving in from the Pacific -- and theypacked in the game and moved off the mountain with the sheep, stone srolling at their heels, purple cloud crowding in from the west and the metal smell of coming snow pressing them on. The mountain boiled with demonicenergy, glazed⁸ with flickering⁹ broken-cloud light, the wind combed the grassand drew from the damaged krummholz and slit¹⁰ rock a bestial¹¹ drone.      As they descended¹² the slope Ennis felt he was in a slow-motion, but headlong, irreversible fall.Joe Aguirre paid them, said little. He had looked at the milling sheep with asour expression, said, 

     “Some a these never went up there with you.” The count was not what he’d hoped for either. Ranch stiffs never did much of ajob. 

     “You goin a do this next summer?” said Jack to Ennis in the street, one legalready up in his green pickup¹³. The wind was gusting¹⁴ hard and cold. 

     “Maybe not.” A dust plume¹⁵ rose and hazed¹⁶ the air with fine grit¹⁷ and he squinted¹⁸ against it. 

     “Like I said, Alma and me’s gettin married in December.Try to get somethin on a ranch. You?” He looked away from Jack’s jaw,bruised blue from the hard punch Ennis had thrown him on the last day. 

     “If nothin better comes along. Thought some about going back up to mydaddy’s place, give him a hand over the winter, then maybe head out forTexas in the spring. If the draft don’t get me.” 

     “Well, see you around, I guess.” The wind tumbled an empty feed bag downthe street until it fetched up under his truck. 

     “Right,” said Jack, and they shook hands, hit each other on the shoulder, thenthere was forty feet of distance between them and nothing to do but driveaway in opposite directions. Within a mile Ennis felt like someone waspulling his guts¹⁹ out hand over hand a yard at a time. He stopped at the sideof the road and, in the whirling new snow, tried to puke but nothing came up.He felt about as bad as he ever had and it took a long time for the feeling towear off. 

     In December Ennis married Alma Beers and had her pregnant by mid-January. He picked up a few short-lived ranch jobs, then settled in as awrangler on the old Elwood Hi-Top place north of Lost Cabin in WashakieCounty. He was still working there in September when Alma Jr., as he calledhis daughter, was born and their bedroom was full of the smell of old bloodand milk and baby shit, and the sounds were of squalling and sucking andAlma’s sleepy groans²⁰, all reassuring²¹ of fecundity²² and life’s continuance toone who worked with livestock²³.When the Hi-Top folded they moved to a small apartment in Riverton up overa laundry. Ennis got on the highway crew, tolerating it but workingweekends at the Rafter B in exchange for keeping his horses out there. Thesecond girl was born and Alma wanted to stay in town near the clinicbecause the child had an asthmatic wheeze²⁴. 

1 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

2 ranch   

n.大牧场，大农场

参考例句：

• He went to work on a ranch.他去一个大农场干活。
• The ranch is in the middle of a large plateau.该牧场位于一个辽阔高原的中部。

3 binoculars   

n.双筒望远镜

参考例句：

• He watched the play through his binoculars.他用双筒望远镜看戏。
• If I had binoculars,I could see that comet clearly.如果我有望远镜，我就可以清楚地看见那颗彗星。

4 pneumonia   

n.肺炎

参考例句：

• Cage was struck with pneumonia in her youth.凯奇年轻时得过肺炎。
• Pneumonia carried him off last week.肺炎上星期夺去了他的生命。

5 herd   

n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• He had no opinions of his own but simply follow the herd.他从无主见，只是人云亦云。

6 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

7 disquieting   

adj.令人不安的，令人不平静的v.使不安，使忧虑，使烦恼( disquiet的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The news from the African front was disquieting in the extreme. 非洲前线的消息极其令人不安。 来自英汉文学
• That locality was always vaguely disquieting, even in the broad glare of afternoon. 那一带地方一向隐隐约约使人感到心神不安甚至在下午耀眼的阳光里也一样。 来自辞典例句

8 glazed   

adj.光滑的，像玻璃的；上过釉的；呆滞无神的v.装玻璃( glaze的过去式)；上釉于，上光；（目光）变得呆滞无神

参考例句：

• eyes glazed with boredom 厌倦无神的眼睛
• His eyes glazed over at the sight of her. 看到她时，他的目光就变得呆滞。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 flickering   

adj.闪烁的，摇曳的，一闪一闪的

参考例句：

• The crisp autumn wind is flickering away. 清爽的秋风正在吹拂。
• The lights keep flickering. 灯光忽明忽暗。

10 slit   

n.狭长的切口；裂缝；vt.切开，撕裂

参考例句：

• The coat has been slit in two places.这件外衣有两处裂开了。
• He began to slit open each envelope.他开始裁开每个信封。

11 bestial   

adj.残忍的；野蛮的

参考例句：

• The Roman gladiatorial contests were bestial amusements.罗马角斗是残忍的娱乐。
• A statement on Amman Radio spoke of bestial aggression and a horrible massacre. 安曼广播电台播放的一则声明提到了野蛮的侵略和骇人的大屠杀。

12 descended   

a.为...后裔的，出身于...的

参考例句：

• A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
• The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。

13 pickup   

n.拾起，获得

参考例句：

• I would love to trade this car for a pickup truck.我愿意用这辆汽车换一辆小型轻便卡车。||The luck guy is a choice pickup for the girls.那位幸运的男孩是女孩子们想勾搭上的人。

14 gusting   

（风）猛刮（gust的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• Then the treacherous North Atlantic struck, with hail, rain, lightning and gusting wind. 这时，气候变幻莫测的北大西洋出现了冰雹、大雨、闪电和狂风。 来自英汉非文学 - 百科语料821
• Jeff: Sometimes, the partiality and miscarriage of justice are dis-gusting too. 杰夫： 有时，裁判的不公平和误判也真是令人讨厌的一件事情。

15 plume   

n.羽毛；v.整理羽毛，骚首弄姿，用羽毛装饰

参考例句：

• Her hat was adorned with a plume.她帽子上饰着羽毛。
• He does not plume himself on these achievements.他并不因这些成就而自夸。

16 hazed   

v.（使）笼罩在薄雾中( haze的过去式和过去分词 )；戏弄，欺凌（新生等，有时作为加入美国大学生联谊会的条件）

参考例句：

• I've had a' most enough of Cap'n Smollett; he's hazed me long enough, by thunder! 我已经受够了这个遭雷劈的斯摩莱特船长，再也不愿意听他使唤了！ 来自英汉文学 - 金银岛
• His eyes hazed over when he thought of her. 他想起她来时，眼前一片模糊。 来自互联网

17 grit   

n.沙粒，决心，勇气；v.下定决心，咬紧牙关

参考例句：

• The soldiers showed that they had plenty of grit. 士兵们表现得很有勇气。
• I've got some grit in my shoe.我的鞋子里弄进了一些砂子。

18 squinted   

斜视( squint的过去式和过去分词 )； 眯着眼睛； 瞟； 从小孔或缝隙里看

参考例句：

• Pulling his rifle to his shoulder he squinted along the barrel. 他把枪顶肩，眯起眼睛瞄准。
• I squinted through the keyhole. 我从锁眼窥看。

19 guts   

v.狼吞虎咽，贪婪地吃，飞碟游戏（比赛双方每组5人，相距15码，互相掷接飞碟）；毁坏（建筑物等）的内部( gut的第三人称单数 )；取出…的内脏n.勇气( gut的名词复数 )；内脏；消化道的下段；肠

参考例句：

• I'll only cook fish if the guts have been removed. 鱼若已收拾干净，我只需烧一下即可。
• Barbara hasn't got the guts to leave her mother. 巴巴拉没有勇气离开她妈妈。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 groans   

n.呻吟，叹息( groan的名词复数 )；呻吟般的声音v.呻吟( groan的第三人称单数 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦

参考例句：

• There were loud groans when he started to sing. 他刚开始歌唱时有人发出了很大的嘘声。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It was a weird old house, full of creaks and groans. 这是所神秘而可怕的旧宅，到处嘎吱嘎吱作响。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 reassuring   

a.使人消除恐惧和疑虑的，使人放心的

参考例句：

• He gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. 他轻拍了一下她的肩膀让她放心。
• With a reassuring pat on her arm, he left. 他鼓励地拍了拍她的手臂就离开了。

22 fecundity   

n.生产力；丰富

参考例句：

• The probability of survival is the reciprocal of fecundity.生存的概率是生殖力的倒数。
• The boy's fecundity of imagination amazed his teacher.男孩想像力的丰富使教师感到惊异。

23 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

24 wheeze   

n.喘息声，气喘声；v.喘息着说

参考例句：

• The old man managed to wheeze out a few words.老人勉强地喘息着说出了几句话。
• He has a slight wheeze in his chest.他呼吸时胸部发出轻微的响声。