万圣节夜话：别开灯，千万别开灯

 　　She commandeered the room in the basement of her dorm as soon as she realized she would have to pull an all-nighter in order to prepare for tomorrow’s final exam. Her roommate, Jenna, liked to get to bed early, so she packed up everything she thought she would need and went downstairs to study . . . and study . . . and study some more.

　　她占用宿舍的地下室的那间房，因为她意识到为了准备明天的期末考试她今晚必须通宵。她的室友吉娜，习惯早睡，所以她打包好学习要用的东西去楼下学习，学习，尽可能多学习以下。

　　It was two o’clock, when she realized that she’d left one of the textbooks upstairs on her bed. With a dramatic sigh, she rose, and climbed the stairs slowly to her third-floor dorm room. The lights were dim in the long hallway, and the old boards creaked under her weary tread. She reached her room and turned the handle as softly as she could, pushing the door open just enough to slip inside, so that the hall lights wouldn’t wake her roommate.

　　凌晨两点那的时候，她意识到有一本教科书忘在了床上。她大叹了一口气，起身，然后满满爬上了她位于3楼的寝室。楼道的灯很暗，久木板在她疲惫的脚步下嘎吱作响。她到了宿舍，尽可能轻的转动门把手，把门推开成一个刚好能进入的小缝，以免楼道灯光照醒室友。

　　万圣节夜话：别开灯，千万别开灯

　　The room was filled with a strange, metallic¹ smell. She frowned a bit, her arms breaking out into chills. There was a strange feeling of malice² in the room, as if a malevolent³ gaze were fixed⁴ upon her. It was a mind trick; the all-nighter was catching⁵ up with her. She could hear Jenna breathing on the far side of the room—a heavy sound, almost as if she had been running. Jenna must have picked up a cold during the last tense week before finals.

　　整个房间弥漫着一股奇怪的金属气味。她微微皱了眉，手臂有些发抖。房间里似乎弥漫着一种恶意，仿佛有一种什么可怕的东西盯上她了，不过这肯定只是心理作用，一定是通宵复习害的。她能听见吉娜在房间另一边的呼吸声，有些浓重，像刚刚跑完步，吉娜肯定是因为上周紧锣密鼓的准备期末考试而染上感冒了。

　　She crept along the wall until she reached her bed, groping among the covers for the stray history textbook. In the silence, she could hear a steady drip-drip-drip sound. She sighed silently. Facilities would have to come to fix the sink in the bathroom…again.

　　她沿着墙慢慢地走，一直走到了她自己的床，她在床上胡乱摸索，想在一堆书中找到那本不知在哪的历史书。安静中，她能听见一种有规律的滴答声音。她在心里叹了口气：又要找人来修浴室里面的水池了。

　　Her fingers closed on the textbook. She picked it up softly and withdrew from the room as silently as she could. Relieved to be out of the room, she hurried back downstairs, collapsed⁶ into an overstuffed chair and studied until six o’clock. She finally decided⁷ that enough was enough. If she slipped upstairs now, she could get a couple hours’ sleep before her nine o’clock exam.

　　她终于找到了要的教科书。她轻轻拿起书来收好，然后尽可能不发出声响地退出了房间。离开房间以后，她赶紧下楼，一屁股坐进加了软垫的椅子里，一直学习到早晨六点。她终于觉得自己复习得够多了。如果她现在上楼，在9点开始考试之前，还能睡上几个小时。

　　The first of the sun’s rays were beaming through the windows as she slowly slid the door open, hoping not to awaken⁸ Jenna. Her nose was met by an earthy, metallic smell a second before her eyes registered the scene in her dorm room. Jenna was spread-eagled on top of her bed against the far wall, her throat cut from ear to ear and her nightdress stained with blood. Two drops of blood fell from the saturated⁹ blanket with a drip-drip noise that sounded like a leaky faucet¹⁰.

　　在第一道阳光照射进房间的时候，她慢慢地打开了宿舍的门，希望没有吵到吉娜。她突然闻到了房间里面的土腥和金属气味，然后被眼前的一幕惊呆了。吉娜像一只展翅的老鹰被钉在床头的墙上，她的喉咙被割开直至双耳处，她的睡裙上全是血迹。吉娜身下的毛毯浸满血迹，只见两滴血迹滴答滴答的掉落下来，声音就像漏水的水龙头。

　　Scream after scream poured from her mouth, but she couldn’t stop herself any more than she could cease wringing¹¹ her hands. All along the hallway, doors slammed and footsteps came running down the passage. Within moments other students had gathered in her doorway¹², and one of her friends gripped her arm with a shaking hand and pointed¹³ a trembling finger toward the wall. Her eyes widened in shock at what she saw. Then shefainted into her friend’s arms.

　　她忍不住一声又一声的尖叫起来，她已经不能自控，她的手紧紧的交织在一起。听到尖叫声，门廊处，其他寝室的门纷纷打开，通道内的脚步声此起彼伏，短短几分钟，其他学生都赶来，其中有学生是她的朋友，那名学生抓着她颤抖的手臂，她的手指哆哆嗦嗦的指向墙。她的眼睛由于惊恐而睁大，然后就在朋友臂弯处昏了过去。

1 metallic   

adj.金属的；金属制的；含金属的；产金属的；像金属的

参考例句：

• A sharp metallic note coming from the outside frightened me.外面传来尖锐铿锵的声音吓了我一跳。
• He picked up a metallic ring last night.昨夜他捡了一个金属戒指。

2 malice   

n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋

参考例句：

• I detected a suggestion of malice in his remarks.我觉察出他说的话略带恶意。
• There was a strong current of malice in many of his portraits.他的许多肖像画中都透着一股强烈的怨恨。

3 malevolent   

adj.有恶意的，恶毒的

参考例句：

• Why are they so malevolent to me?他们为什么对我如此恶毒？
• We must thwart his malevolent schemes.我们决不能让他的恶毒阴谋得逞。

4 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

5 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

6 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

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 awaken   

vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起

参考例句：

• Old people awaken early in the morning.老年人早晨醒得早。
• Please awaken me at six.请于六点叫醒我。

9 saturated   

a.饱和的，充满的

参考例句：

• The continuous rain had saturated the soil. 连绵不断的雨把土地淋了个透。
• a saturated solution of sodium chloride 氯化钠饱和溶液

10 faucet   

n.水龙头

参考例句：

• The faucet has developed a drip.那个水龙头已经开始滴水了。
• She turned off the faucet and dried her hands.她关掉水龙头，把手擦干。

11 wringing   

淋湿的，湿透的

参考例句：

• He was wringing wet after working in the field in the hot sun. 烈日下在田里干活使他汗流满面。
• He is wringing out the water from his swimming trunks. 他正在把游泳裤中的水绞出来。

12 doorway   

n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径

参考例句：

• They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
• Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。

13 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。