【饥饿游戏】06

Chapter 2

One time, when I was in a blind in a tree, waiting motionless

for game(猎物）to wander by, I dozed¹ off and fell ten feet to the

ground, landing on my back. It was as if the impact had

knocked every wisp of air from my lungs, and I lay there

struggling to inhale², to exhale³, to do anything.

That’s how I feel now, trying to remember how to breathe,

unable to speak, totally stunned⁴ as the name bounces around

the inside of my skull⁵. Someone is gripping my arm, a boy

from the Seam, and I think maybe I started to fall and he

caught me.

There must have been some mistake. This can’t be happening.

Prim⁶ was one slip of paper in thousands! Her chances

of being chosen so remote that I’d not even bothered to worry

about her. Hadn’t I done everything? Taken the tesserae, refused

to let her do the same? One slip. One slip in thousands.

The odds⁷ had been entirely⁸ in her favor. But it hadn’t mattered.

Somewhere far away, I can hear the crowd murmuring unhappily

as they always do when a twelve-year-old gets chosen

because no one thinks this is fair. And then I see her, the blood

drained from her face, hands clenched⁹ in fists at her sides,

walking with stiff, small steps up toward the stage, passing

me, and I see the back of her blouse has become untucked and

hangs out over her skirt. It’s this detail, the untucked blouse

forming a ducktail, that brings me back to myself.

“Prim!” The strangled cry comes out of my throat, and my

muscles begin to move again. “Prim!” I don’t need to shove

through the crowd. The other kids make way immediately allowing

me a straight path to the stage. I reach her just as she is

about to mount the steps. With one sweep of my arm, I push

her behind me.

“I volunteer!” I gasp¹⁰. “I volunteer as tribute!”

There’s some confusion on the stage. District 12 hasn’t had

a volunteer in decades and the protocol¹¹ has become rusty¹². The

rule is that once a tribute’s name has been pulled from the

ball, another eligible¹³ boy, if a boy’s name has been read, or

girl, if a girl’s name has been read, can step forward to take his

or her place. In some districts, in which winning the reaping is

such a great honor, people are eager to risk their lives, the volunteering

is complicated. But in District 12, where the word

tribute is pretty much synonymous with the word corpse¹⁴, volunteers

are all but extinct.

“Lovely!” says Effie Trinket. “But I believe there’s a small

matter of introducing the reaping winner and then asking for

volunteers, and if one does come forth¹⁵ then we, um . . .” she

trails off, unsure herself.

“What does it matter?” says the mayor. He’s looking at me

with a pained expression on his face. He doesn’t know me really,

but there’s a faint recognition there. I am the girl who

brings the strawberries. The girl his daughter might have spoken 

of on occasion. The girl who five years ago stood huddled¹⁶

with her mother and sister, as he presented her, the oldest

child, with a medal of valor¹⁷. A medal for her father, vaporized

in the mines. Does he remember that? “What does it matter?”

he repeats gruffly. “Let her come forward.”

Prim is screaming hysterically¹⁸ behind me. She’s wrapped

her skinny arms around me like a vice¹⁹. “No, Katniss! No! You

can’t go!”

“Prim, let go,” I say harshly, because this is upsetting me

and I don’t want to cry. When they televise the replay of the

reapings tonight, everyone will make note of my tears, and I’ll

be marked as an easy target. A weakling. I will give no one

that satisfaction. “Let go!”

I can feel someone pulling her from my back. I turn and see

Gale²⁰ has lifted Prim off the ground and she’s thrashing in his

arms. “Up you go, Catnip,” he says, in a voice he’s fighting to

keep steady, and then he carries Prim off toward my mother. I

steel myself and climb the steps.

1 dozed   

v.打盹儿，打瞌睡( doze的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He boozed till daylight and dozed into the afternoon. 他喝了个通霄，昏沉沉地一直睡到下午。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• I dozed off during the soporific music. 我听到这催人入睡的音乐，便不知不觉打起盹儿来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 inhale   

v.吸入(气体等)，吸(烟)

参考例句：

• Don't inhale dust into your lung.别把灰尘吸进肺里。
• They are pleased to not inhale second hand smoke.他们很高兴他们再也不会吸到二手烟了。

3 exhale   

v.呼气，散出，吐出，蒸发

参考例句：

• Sweet odours exhale from flowers.花儿散发出花香。
• Wade exhaled a cloud of smoke and coughed.韦德吐出一口烟，然后咳嗽起来。

4 stunned   

adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The fall stunned me for a moment. 那一下摔得我昏迷了片刻。
• The leaders of the Kopper Company were then stunned speechless. 科伯公司的领导们当时被惊得目瞪口呆。

5 skull   

n.头骨；颅骨

参考例句：

• The skull bones fuse between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five.头骨在15至25岁之间长合。
• He fell out of the window and cracked his skull.他从窗子摔了出去，跌裂了颅骨。

6 prim   

adj.拘泥形式的，一本正经的；n.循规蹈矩，整洁；adv.循规蹈矩地，整洁地

参考例句：

• She's too prim to enjoy rude jokes!她太古板，不喜欢听粗野的笑话！
• He is prim and precise in manner.他的态度一本正经而严谨

7 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

8 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

9 clenched   

v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He clenched his fists in anger. 他愤怒地攥紧了拳头。
• She clenched her hands in her lap to hide their trembling. 她攥紧双手放在腿上，以掩饰其颤抖。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 gasp   

n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说

参考例句：

• She gave a gasp of surprise.她吃惊得大口喘气。
• The enemy are at their last gasp.敌人在做垂死的挣扎。

11 protocol   

n.议定书，草约，会谈记录，外交礼节

参考例句：

• We must observe the correct protocol.我们必须遵守应有的礼仪。
• The statesmen signed a protocol.那些政治家签了议定书。

12 rusty   

adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的

参考例句：

• The lock on the door is rusty and won't open.门上的锁锈住了。
• I haven't practiced my French for months and it's getting rusty.几个月不用，我的法语又荒疏了。

13 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。

14 corpse   

n.尸体，死尸

参考例句：

• What she saw was just an unfeeling corpse.她见到的只是一具全无感觉的尸体。
• The corpse was preserved from decay by embalming.尸体用香料涂抹以防腐烂。

15 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

16 huddled   

挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• We huddled together for warmth. 我们挤在一块取暖。
• We huddled together to keep warm. 我们挤在一起来保暖。

17 valor   

n.勇气，英勇

参考例句：

• Fortitude is distinct from valor.坚韧不拔有别于勇猛。
• Frequently banality is the better parts of valor.老生常谈往往比大胆打破常规更为人称道。

18 hysterically   

ad. 歇斯底里地

参考例句：

• The children giggled hysterically. 孩子们歇斯底里地傻笑。
• She sobbed hysterically, and her thin body was shaken. 她歇斯底里地抽泣着，她瘦弱的身体哭得直颤抖。

19 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

20 gale   

n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等）

参考例句：

• We got our roof blown off in the gale last night.昨夜的大风把我们的房顶给掀掉了。
• According to the weather forecast,there will be a gale tomorrow.据气象台预报，明天有大风。