英语PK台 第749期:曼哈顿新贵的日常

 Top of the World

《金钱的落寞》—

The elevator was dark wood panelled and the doors were covered in gold leaf. Madison Avenue; top of the world. Mike knocked on one of the doors in the dim hallway. A thin girl wearing tight jeans and an even tighter black tank top opened the door. Her eyes, covered with eye shadow, seemed as though they peered out from two cavernous holes in her face.

电梯上嵌着深色木板，门上装饰着金箔。这所公寓大楼位于麦迪逊大街，这个世界最繁华之地。在这所公寓的昏暗走廊中，迈克敲响了一扇门。一位身材瘦小的女孩打开了门，她下身穿着一条紧身牛仔裤，上身穿着一件更紧身的黑色背心装。她涂着厚厚的眼影，好像她的双眼正躲在她脸上的两个深洞中窥视着。

Mike quickly brushed past her without any sort of salutation. As I walked up to introduce myself, she turned her back to me and followed Mike. “Mike, did you bring me my cigarettes?” she whined¹.

迈克快速地与她擦身而过，连一句寒暄都没有。当我走上前打算做自我介绍时，她转过身背对着我，朝迈克走去。 “迈克，你把我的香烟带来了吗？”她用抱怨的语气说道。

I looked at the elaborate decorations of the house; the paintings, the marble busts²... The entire floor of the apartment was lavishly³ covered with an immaculate white carpet. The kitchen was at least twice as large as any room in my own house. I thought that these kinds of apartments were merely myths.

我看着这所公寓里精致的装饰品——油画、大理石半身像......整个公寓的地板上 铺满了洁白无暇的地毯。厨房都至少是我家最大房间的两倍大。我觉得这样的公寓简直是神一般的存在。

Mike stood by an industrial sized fridge and beckoned⁴ me towards him. As he rummaged⁵ through the fridge he tossed a pack of cigarettes from his pocket to the girl with too much eye shadow. She lunged fervently⁶ for the box and began to tear it open. Mike reached into the fridge and passed me a coke, while retrieving⁷ one for himself as well. “I’m telling you man this girl is so rich—Just look around!” he exclaimed. Mike spent the majority of the taxi ride uptown divulging⁸ exactly “how rich this girl was.” 

迈克站在一个工业用大小的冰箱旁，招手示意让我去他身旁。他翻遍了整个冰箱，然后从自己的衣袋里掏出了一包香烟，仍给了那位涂着厚眼影的女孩。她猛地向前一步接到了那包香烟，然后开始撕开香烟的包装。迈克从冰箱里取出了一瓶可乐递给我，然后又为他自己取出了一瓶。“我告诉你，伙计，这个女孩很有钱的——你还是别打她主意了！”他大声说道。迈克已经在我们来这的出租车上，花了大把的时间向我详细介绍“这个女孩有多么有钱”。

Natalie walked over to Mike and looked at me carefully. “He looks like an icky homeless guy” she said decidedly. “What’s his name?” she inquired. “Ben meet Natalie—Natalie meet Ben,” Mike said in a slightly restless way. Then he quickly took a seat in front of the television and concentrated on his video game. I smiled jovially⁹ at Natalie to show that I wasn’t annoyed, but she merely looked past me.

娜塔莉走到迈克身边，仔细地打量着我。“他看起来像个无家可归的家伙。”她坚定地说。“他叫什么名字？”她问道。“本，这是娜塔莉；娜塔莉，这是本。”迈克稍显不安地说。然后，他快速地在电视机前找了个座位坐下，开始专心地打电子游戏。我愉快地向娜塔莉笑了笑，表明我并没有因为刚才的事情生气，但她只是随便看了我一眼。

I proceeded to sip¹⁰ my coke quietly as we both watched Mike play Nintendo. As we stared out into nothing my eyes drifted to Natalie’s; those black holes in her face. She looked up at me and for a split second, her eyes glistered, as if filled with tears. “Excuse me, I need a Perrier,” she whined, her eyes suddenly fixated on the wall.

我一边和娜塔莉一起看着迈克打任天堂，一边继续啜饮着我的可乐。当迈克的游戏场景没那么精彩时，我的双眼就会飘向娜塔莉的双眸——她脸上的那两个黑洞。她抬头看了看我，有那么一瞬间，她的双眼闪烁，似乎满是泪水。“帮个忙，给我拿一瓶毕雷矿泉水。”她用抱怨的语气说道，然后，突然将目光凝固在了墙上。

Mike ignored her, until a raspy voice called from the doorway¹¹. “Mike! You’re here, finally it’s been so boring here, let’s go somewhere!” she exclaimed desperately¹². This voice belonged to a girl wearing a tight blue dress with feisty green eyes. “Yeah, whatever, soon, just chill!” Mike said coolly. She entered, and I stood up to introduce myself, and just as I walked toward her she walked through me and sat in my seat at the table. “I need another cigarette. Pass them here Ashley” whined Natalie.

此时，从门口传来一阵刺耳的喊声——“迈克！你来了啊！这里真是太无聊了，我们找个别的地方待会儿吧！”——这个声音来自一位身穿蓝色紧身连衣裙的女孩，之前迈克并没有注意到她也在。“是的，的确挺无聊的，稍等我片刻，你先冷静一下！”迈克沉着地说。女孩走了进来，我站起身来打算做自我介绍，但就在我走向她时，她从我身边走了过去，坐在我的座位上，似乎并没有看到我。“我想再抽一支香烟。把香烟递给我，阿什利。”娜塔莉用抱怨的语气说。

“You know those things will kill you” I said teasingly. She abruptly¹³ turned to me and glared out from the black holes that were here eye sockets¹⁴. She smoothly¹⁵ proceeded to take another cigarette out of the carton bringing it to her lips and slowly lighting¹⁶ it.

“吸烟会害死你的”我戏弄地说。娜塔莉突然转向我，透过黑洞一样的眼窝瞪着我。然后，她非常熟练地又从烟盒里取出了一支香烟，叼在嘴里，悠悠地点燃了它。

A small, black poodle pranced¹⁷ into the kitchen. Ashley picked up the dog and placed it on her lap; she took a drag on her cigarette, and subsequently exhaled¹⁸ a cloud of smoke into the dog’s face. The dog, assaulted, leaped down and retreated to the safety of her cage.

一只黑色的小贵宾犬跑进了厨房。阿什利抱起这只小狗，将它放在娜塔莉的膝盖上。娜塔莉用力吸了一口香烟，然后将一团烟雾吐在了小狗的脸上。受到烟雾袭击，小狗从她的膝盖上跳下，逃回到自己的笼子里避险去了。

A small grin slowly creeped across Ashley’s face. It was the first sign of emotion I saw from her all night. “Let’s get out of here, I’m like so bored just sitting here!” Ashley winced¹⁹. “We could go to John’s house, I heard that he was gonna have people there” suggested Natalie. “Eww I really don’t like John, his house is so cramped²⁰ and small” Ashley complained. We all sat in silence for a few moments until Ashley got up and proceeded to the kitchen door. On her way out, she gave Mike a small, cold nod. Mike stood up, and quickly followed her out of the kitchen. This left Natalie and me alone in the kitchen.

阿什利忍不住咧嘴笑了出来。这是我整晚在她脸上看到的第一个表情。“我们离开这里吧，在这里干坐着太无聊了！”阿什利说话时脸部肌肉抽搐了一下。“我们可以去约翰家，听说他邀请人去他家了。”娜塔莉建议道。“呃，我真的不喜欢约翰，他家太狭窄、太小了。”阿什利抱怨说。之后是一阵沉默，我们每个人都坐在那里一言不发，直到阿什利起身朝厨房门走去。正要走出厨房时，她冷冷地向迈克轻轻点了一下头。迈克站起来，快速跟着她走出了厨房，留下娜塔莉和我单独在厨房里。

“So do they come by often?” I inquired. Her eyes remained fixated on the wall ahead of her as she answered me. “Meh, they just sorta show up. I don’t mind though; they are friends of mine” she said with a twinge of forced cheeriness in her voice. We sat in silence for several moments until Natalie went to her bedroom. I sat in the kitchen alone. I let myself out and took the elevator back to reality. I walked along the deserted²¹ Madison Avenue under the pallid²² glow of the street lamps overhead.

“嗯，他们经常来吗？”我问道。回答我时，她的眼睛依然凝视着前方的墙。“嗯，只是偶尔。但我不介意，他们都是我的朋友。”她回答说，声音中带着悲痛，却强作欢愉。我们默默地坐了好久，直到娜塔莉去了自己的卧室。然后，我独自坐在厨房里，让自己从这一幕中走出来。随后，我乘坐电梯下了楼，回到现实中来。我独自一人走在凄凉的麦迪逊大街上，只有苍白的路灯照在我的身上。

1 whined   

v.哀号( whine的过去式和过去分词 )；哀诉，诉怨

参考例句：

• The dog whined at the door, asking to be let out. 狗在门前嚎叫着要出去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• He whined and pouted when he did not get what he wanted. 他要是没得到想要的东西就会发牢骚、撅嘴。 来自辞典例句

2 busts   

半身雕塑像( bust的名词复数 )； 妇女的胸部； 胸围； 突击搜捕

参考例句：

• Dey bags swells up and busts. 那奶袋快胀破了。
• Marble busts all looked like a cemetery. 大理石的半身象，简直就象是坟山。

3 lavishly   

adv.慷慨地，大方地

参考例句：

• His house was lavishly adorned.他的屋子装饰得很华丽。
• The book is lavishly illustrated in full colour.这本书里有大量全彩插图。

4 beckoned   

v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He beckoned to the waiter to bring the bill. 他招手示意服务生把账单送过来。
• The seated figure in the corner beckoned me over. 那个坐在角落里的人向我招手让我过去。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 rummaged   

翻找，搜寻( rummage的过去式和过去分词 )； 已经海关检查

参考例句：

• I rummaged through all the boxes but still could not find it. 几个箱子都翻腾遍了也没有找到。
• The customs officers rummaged the ship suspected to have contraband goods. 海关人员仔细搜查了一艘有走私嫌疑的海轮。

6 fervently   

adv.热烈地，热情地，强烈地

参考例句：

• "Oh, I am glad!'she said fervently. “哦，我真高兴！”她热烈地说道。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• O my dear, my dear, will you bless me as fervently to-morrow?' 啊，我亲爱的，亲爱的，你明天也愿这样热烈地为我祝福么？” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

7 retrieving   

n.检索（过程），取还v.取回( retrieve的现在分词 )；恢复；寻回；检索（储存的信息）

参考例句：

• Ignoring all, he searches the ground carefully for any cigarette-end worth retrieving. 没管打锣的说了什么，他留神的在地上找，看有没有值得拾起来的烟头儿。 来自汉英文学 - 骆驼祥子
• Retrieving the nodules from these great depths is no easy task. 从这样的海底深渊中取回结核可不是容易的事情。 来自辞典例句

8 divulging   

v.吐露，泄露( divulge的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The soldier was shot for divulging the plans to the enemy. 这个士兵因向敌人泄密被击毙。 来自互联网
• Gives itself a small seat. Divulging heartily. 给自己一个小位子。尽情的宣泄。 来自互联网

9 jovially   

adv.愉快地，高兴地

参考例句：

• "Hello, Wilson, old man,'said Tom, slapping him jovially on the shoulder. "How's business?" “哈罗，威尔逊，你这家伙，”汤姆说，一面嘻嘻哈哈地拍拍他的肩膀，“生意怎么样？” 来自英汉文学 - 盖茨比
• Hall greeted him jovially enough, but Gorman and Walson scowled as they grunted curt "Good Mornings." 霍尔兴致十足地向他打招呼，戈曼和沃森却满脸不豫之色，敷衍地咕哝句“早安”。 来自辞典例句

10 sip   

v.小口地喝，抿，呷；n.一小口的量

参考例句：

• She took a sip of the cocktail.她啜饮一口鸡尾酒。
• Elizabeth took a sip of the hot coffee.伊丽莎白呷了一口热咖啡。

11 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。

12 desperately   

adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地

参考例句：

• He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
• He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。

13 abruptly   

adv.突然地，出其不意地

参考例句：

• He gestured abruptly for Virginia to get in the car.他粗鲁地示意弗吉尼亚上车。
• I was abruptly notified that a half-hour speech was expected of me.我突然被通知要讲半个小时的话。

14 sockets   

n.套接字，使应用程序能够读写与收发通讯协定(protocol)与资料的程序( Socket的名词复数 )；孔( socket的名词复数 )；（电器上的）插口；托座；凹穴

参考例句：

• All new PCs now have USB sockets. 新的个人计算机现在都有通用串行总线插孔。
• Make sure the sockets in your house are fingerproof. 确保你房中的插座是防触电的。 来自超越目标英语 第4册

15 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。

16 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。

17 pranced   

v.（马）腾跃( prance的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Their horses pranced and whinnied. 他们的马奔腾着、嘶鸣着。 来自辞典例句
• The little girl pranced about the room in her new clothes. 小女孩穿着新衣在屋里雀跃。 来自辞典例句

18 exhaled   

v.呼出，发散出( exhale的过去式和过去分词 )；吐出（肺中的空气、烟等），呼气

参考例句：

• He sat back and exhaled deeply. 他仰坐着深深地呼气。
• He stamped his feet and exhaled a long, white breath. 跺了跺脚，他吐了口长气，很长很白。 来自汉英文学 - 骆驼祥子

19 winced   

赶紧避开，畏缩( wince的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He winced as the dog nipped his ankle. 狗咬了他的脚腕子，疼得他龇牙咧嘴。
• He winced as a sharp pain shot through his left leg. 他左腿一阵剧痛疼得他直龇牙咧嘴。

20 cramped   

a.狭窄的

参考例句：

• The house was terribly small and cramped, but the agent described it as a bijou residence. 房子十分狭小拥挤，但经纪人却把它说成是小巧别致的住宅。
• working in cramped conditions 在拥挤的环境里工作

21 deserted   

adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的

参考例句：

• The deserted village was filled with a deathly silence.这个荒废的村庄死一般的寂静。
• The enemy chieftain was opposed and deserted by his followers.敌人头目众叛亲离。

22 pallid   

adj.苍白的，呆板的

参考例句：

• The moon drifted from behind the clouds and exposed the pallid face.月亮从云朵后面钻出来，照着尸体那张苍白的脸。
• His dry pallid face often looked gaunt.他那张干瘪苍白的脸常常显得憔悴。