【有声英语文学名著】CHAPTER THREE(10)

 

That’s providing you can overcome your sexual¹ attraction to me ha ha. If the worst comes to the worst, I’ll lock you in your room at nights. Anyway, now the  big one—

3  –  As soon as you’ve read this, go to the student travel agency on Tottenham Court Road and book an OPEN RETURN flight to Delhi to arrive as near as possible to August 1st, two weeks’ time, 

which  in  case  you’ve  forgotten  is  my  birthday.  The night  before  get  a  train  to  Agra  and  stay  in  a cheap  motel.  Next  morning  get  up  early  and  go  to  the  Taj Mahal.  Perhaps  you’ve  heard  of it,  big white building named after that Indian restaurant on the Lothian Road. Have a look around and at precisely² 12 midday you stand directly under the centre of the dome³ with a red rose in one hand and a copy of  Nicholas Nickleby in the other and I will come and find you, Em. I will be carrying a white rose and my copy of Howards End and when I see you I will throw it at your head.

Isn’t that the greatest plan you’ve ever heard of in your life?

Ah,typical Dexter you say, isn’t he forgetting something? Money! Plane tickets don’t grow on 

trees and what about social security and the work ethic⁴ etc. etc. Well don’t worry, I’m payi ng. Yes, I’m  paying. I’m  going  to wire  the  money  to  you  for  your  plane  ticket  (I’ve  always  wanted  to  wire money) and I’m going to pay for everything when you’re here which sounds swanky but isn’t because it is so  DAMN CHEAP  here. We can live for months, Em, me and you, heading down to Kerala or across to Thailand. We could go to a full moon party  –  imagine staying awake all night not because you’re worried about the future but because it’s  FUN. (Remember when we stayed up all night after graduation, Em? Anyway. Moving on.)

For three hundred pounds of someone else’s money, you could change your life, and you mustn’t worry about it because frankly⁵ I have money that I haven’t earned, and you work really hard and yet you don’t have money, so it’s socialism in action isn’t it? And if you really want you can pay me back when you’re a famous playwright⁶, or when the poetry-money kicks in or whatever.

1 sexual   

adj.性的，两性的，性别的

参考例句：

• He was a person of gross sexual appetites.他是个性欲旺盛的人。
• It is socially irresponsible to refuse young people advice on sexual matters.拒绝向年轻人提供性方面的建议是对社会不负责任。

2 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

3 dome   

n.圆屋顶，拱顶

参考例句：

• The dome was supported by white marble columns.圆顶由白色大理石柱支撑着。
• They formed the dome with the tree's branches.他们用树枝搭成圆屋顶。

4 ethic   

n.道德标准，行为准则

参考例句：

• They instilled the work ethic into their children.他们在孩子们的心中注入了职业道德的理念。
• The connotation of education ethic is rooted in human nature's mobility.教育伦理的内涵根源于人本性的变动性。

5 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

6 playwright   

n.剧作家，编写剧本的人

参考例句：

• Gwyn Thomas was a famous playwright.格温·托马斯是著名的剧作家。
• The playwright was slaughtered by the press.这位剧作家受到新闻界的无情批判。