218. The secret agent特工人员 temperance-terrace
Jeremy waited at the terminal, tense and nervous, awaiting orders to terminate a fellow tenant whom he had once known as a temporary acquaintance. He had gone to the temple that morning, tempting God to justify his actions. He had a tendency to be tentative about such things, and as he thought about it, it was tempting to just leave the scene altogether. The Secret Intelligence Bureau would not have hired him had they known about his tender heart. But now that he was in their service, he couldn’t escape. Their tentacles stretched far and wide. Though temperate by nature, at times he could be the opposite. He would go through bouts of temporarily cursing this temporal world. This would drive him to drink, an odd habit for a grandson of one of the founders of the Women’s Temperance Union. He would take a bottle of tequila back to his termite-infested tenement, head out to the terrace, and drink all night. This was rare, however, as his discipline in such matters was not so tensile.
As he heard the tempo of the movement of the approaching train, the tension increased. He thought of the tenuous basis upon which the Bureau was ordering the fellow tenant’s assassination, and of the dry terminology they used to describe the act of murder. The train approached the terminus. The passengers began to exit. Jeremy spotted his target. In a flash, he surreptitiously performed the deed. That night, he drank.
temperance n.节制,自制,戒酒,禁酒
temperate adj.(气候等)温和的,(欲望,饮食等)适度的,有节制的
temple n.寺庙,教堂
tempo n.(音乐)速度,拍子,节奏
temporal adj.一时的,暂时的,世俗的
temporarily adv.暂时地,临时地
temporary adj.短暂的,暂时的
tempt vt.诱使
tempting adj.诱惑人的
tenant n.承租人,房客
tendency n.趋势,倾向
tender adj.嫩的,柔软的
tenement n.(穷人)公寓
tense adj.紧张的
tensile adj.可拉长的,可伸长的
tension n.紧张(状态),压力
tentacle n.触角,触须,触手
tentative adj.暂时的,试验性质的
tenuous adj.纤细的,脆弱的
terminal n.终点,末端,总站,终站,(电脑)终端,接线端
terminate vt.停止,结束,暗杀
terminology n.用辞,术语
terminus n.(火车,汽车)终点站
termite n.白蚁
terrace n. 梯田,露台vt.使成梯田 |