【荆棘鸟】第二章 14

During lesson breaks in the playground they walked with arms looped around each other's waists, which was the sign that you were "best friends" and not available for courting by anyone else. And they talked, talked, talked. One lunchtime Teresa took her into the cafe to meet her mother and father and grown-up brothers and sisters. They were as charmed with her golden fire as Meggie was with their darkness, likening her to an angel when she turned her wide, beautifully flecked grey eyes upon them. From her mother she had inherited an indefinable air of breeding which everyone felt immediately; so did the Annunzio family. As eager as Teresa to woo her, they gave her big fat potato chips fried in sizzling cauldrons of lamb dripping, and a piece of boned fish which tasted delicious, dipped as it was in floury batter¹ and fried in the smoking well of liquid fat along with the chips, only in a separate wire basket. Meggie had never eaten food so delicious, and wished she could lunch at the cafe more often. But this had been a treat, requiring special permission from her mother and the nuns². Her conversation at home was all "Teresa says" and "Do you know what Teresa did?" until Paddy roared that he had heard more than enough about Teresa. "I don't know that it's such a good idea to be too thick with Dagos," he muttered, sharing the British community's instinctive³ mistrust of any dark or Mediterranean⁴ people. "Dagos are dirty, Meggie girl, they don't wash too often," he explained lamely⁵, wilting⁶ under the look of hurt reproach Meggie gave him.

  Fiercely jealous, Frank agreed with him. So Meggie spoke⁷ less often of her friend when she was at home. But home disapproval⁸ couldn't interfere⁹ with the relationship, confined as it was by distance to school days and hours; Bob and the boys were only too pleased to see her utterly¹⁰ engrossed¹¹ in Teresa. It left them to career madly around the playground just as if their sister did not exist.

  The unintelligible¹² things Sister Agatha was always writing on the blackboard gradually began to make sense, and Meggie learned that a "plus was meant you counted all the numbers up to a total, where a "com" meant you took the numbers on the bottom away from the numbers on the top and wound up with less than you had in the first place. She was a bright child, and would have been an excellent if not brilliant student had she only been able to overcome her fear of Sister Agatha. But the minute those gimlet eyes turned her way and that dry old voice rapped a curt¹³ question at her, she stammered¹⁴ and stuttered and could not think.

课间休息时，她们俩相互搂着腰在操场上散步，这标志着她们是“最好的朋友”，别的人甭想前来插一杠子。她们谈哪，谈哪，没完没了地谈着。

    有一天吃午饭的时候，特丽萨把她带到酒吧去见她的妈妈、爸爸和已经长大成人的哥哥、姐姐。他们对梅吉那一头金发的着迷不亚于她对他们那黑皮肤的赞叹。当她把那双大大的、闪着美丽的光芒的灰眼睛转向他们时，他们都把她比作一位安琪儿。她从妈妈那里继承了一种难以言喻的、极有教养的神态，这种神态每个人都能立刻感到，安南奇奥家也是这样。他们都像特丽萨一样渴望得到她的欢心。他们让她吃又大又腻的、在咝咝作响的羊油锅里炸出来的土豆片，还有一块味道鲜美的蘸过鸡蛋糊的、与上豆片在烟气腾腾的油锅里一起炸出来的去骨鱼，只是炸的时候把它放在一个铁丝篮里隔开炸就是了。梅吉还从来没吃过这样好吃的饭菜呢，她希望她以后能常常到酒吧来吃午饭。不过这是难得的乐事，需要得到妈妈和修女们的特殊允许才行。

    她在家里谈话的时候总是一个劲儿地讲“特丽萨如何如何说”以及“你知道特丽萨干什么来着吗？”直到帕迪吼道，关于特丽萨他已经听得太多了的时候才算罢休。

    “我不以为与达戈人过份亲密就这么干。”他嘟囔着，他也有英国人对所有黑皮肤或地中海沿岸人的本能的不信任。“达戈人脏，梅吉姑娘，他们不常洗。”他拙劣地解释道，在梅吉受了伤害的、责难的目光下，他把后半截话咽了下去。弗兰克带着强烈的嫉妒心赞同父亲的意见。因此，梅吉在家里就不那么经常谈起她的朋友了。可是家人的非难并没有影响她们的关系，只不过是由于两家离得较远，交往被限制在上学的时间罢了；鲍勃和别的男孩子们瞧见她和特丽萨泡在一起，真是求之不得。这使他们能在操场上满处疯跑，就好像他们没有她这个妹妹似的。

    阿加莎嬷嬷在黑板上写的那些难懂的东西梅吉也开始逐渐明白了。她懂得了“十”是指把所有的数合在一起得出一个总数，“一”是指从上面一个数中去掉底下的那个数，所得的数小于头一数。她是个聪明伶俐的孩子，要是她能克服对阿加莎嬷嬷的恐惧，那么她即使成不了最好的学生，也可以成为优等生的。可是当那锐利的目光转向她，那衰老而又干巴巴的嗓音一个出其不意地向她抛出过于简单的问题时，她就只有结结巴巴地说不出话，也动不了脑筋了。

 

 

1 batter   

v.接连重击；磨损；n.牛奶面糊；击球员

参考例句：

• The batter skied to the center fielder.击球手打出一个高飞球到中外野手。
• Put a small quantity of sugar into the batter.在面糊里放少量的糖。

2 nuns   

n.（通常指基督教的）修女， （佛教的）尼姑( nun的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Ah Q had always had the greatest contempt for such people as little nuns. 小尼姑之流是阿Q本来视如草芥的。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Nuns are under vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. 修女须立誓保持清贫、贞洁、顺从。 来自辞典例句

3 instinctive   

adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的

参考例句：

• He tried to conceal his instinctive revulsion at the idea.他试图饰盖自己对这一想法本能的厌恶。
• Animals have an instinctive fear of fire.动物本能地怕火。

4 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

5 lamely   

一瘸一拐地，不完全地

参考例句：

• I replied lamely that I hope to justify his confidence. 我漫不经心地回答说，我希望我能不辜负他对我的信任。
• The wolf leaped lamely back, losing its footing and falling in its weakness. 那只狼一跛一跛地跳回去，它因为身体虚弱，一失足摔了一跤。

6 wilting   

萎蔫

参考例句：

• The spectators were wilting visibly in the hot sun. 看得出观众在炎热的阳光下快支撑不住了。
• The petunias were already wilting in the hot sun. 在烈日下矮牵牛花已经开始枯萎了。

7 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

8 disapproval   

n.反对，不赞成

参考例句：

• The teacher made an outward show of disapproval.老师表面上表示不同意。
• They shouted their disapproval.他们喊叫表示反对。

9 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

10 utterly   

adv.完全地，绝对地

参考例句：

• Utterly devoted to the people,he gave his life in saving his patients.他忠于人民，把毕生精力用于挽救患者的生命。
• I was utterly ravished by the way she smiled.她的微笑使我完全陶醉了。

11 engrossed   

adj.全神贯注的

参考例句：

• The student is engrossed in his book.这名学生正在专心致志地看书。
• No one had ever been quite so engrossed in an evening paper.没人会对一份晚报如此全神贯注。

12 unintelligible   

adj.无法了解的，难解的，莫明其妙的

参考例句：

• If a computer is given unintelligible data, it returns unintelligible results.如果计算机得到的是难以理解的数据，它给出的也将是难以理解的结果。
• The terms were unintelligible to ordinary folk.这些术语一般人是不懂的。

13 curt   

adj.简短的，草率的

参考例句：

• He gave me an extremely curt answer.他对我作了极为草率的答复。
• He rapped out a series of curt commands.他大声发出了一连串简短的命令。

14 stammered   

v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He stammered most when he was nervous. 他一紧张往往口吃。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Barsad leaned back in his chair, and stammered, \"What do you mean?\" 巴萨往椅背上一靠，结结巴巴地说，“你是什么意思？” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记