【饥饿游戏】16

 It was slow-going at first, but I was determined¹

to feed us. I stole eggs from nests, caught fish in nets,

sometimes managed to shoot a squirrel or rabbit for stew², and

gathered the various plants that sprung up beneath my feet.

Plants are tricky³. Many are edible⁴, but one false mouthful and

you’re dead. I checked and double-checked the plants I harvested

with my father’s pictures. I kept us alive.

Any sign of danger, a distant howl, the inexplicable⁵ break of

a branch, sent me flying back to the fence at first. Then I began

to risk climbing trees to escape the wild dogs that quickly got

bored and moved on. Bears and cats lived deeper in, perhaps

disliking the sooty reek⁶ of our district.

On May 8th, I went to the Justice Building, signed up for my

tesserae, and pulled home my first batch⁷ of grain and oil in

Prim⁸’s toy wagon⁹. On the eighth of every month, I was entitled

to do the same. I couldn’t stop hunting and gathering¹⁰, of

course. The grain was not enough to live on, and there were

other things to buy, soap and milk and thread. What we didn’t

absolutely have to eat, I began to trade at the Hob. It was

frightening to enter that place without my father at my side,

but people had respected him, and they accepted me. Game

was game after all, no matter who’d shot it. I also sold at the

back doors of the wealthier clients in town, trying to remember

what my father had told me and learning a few new tricks

as well. The butcher would buy my rabbits but not squirrels.

The baker¹¹ enjoyed squirrel but would only trade for one if his

wife wasn’t around. The Head Peacekeeper loved wild turkey.

The mayor had a passion for strawberries.

In late summer, I was washing up in a pond when I noticed

the plants growing around me. Tall with leaves like arrowheads.

Blossoms with three white petals¹². I knelt down in the

water, my fingers digging into the soft mud, and I pulled up

handfuls of the roots. Small, bluish tubers that don’t look like

much but boiled or baked are as good as any potato. “Katniss,”

I said aloud. It’s the plant I was named for. And I heard my father’s

voice joking, “As long as you can find yourself, you’ll

never starve.” I spent hours stirring up the pond bed with my

toes and a stick, gathering the tubers that floated to the top.

That night, we feasted on fish and katniss roots until we were

all, for the first time in months, full.

Slowly, my mother returned to us. She began to clean and

cook and preserve some of the food I brought in for winter.

People traded us or paid money for her medical remedies. One

day, I heard her singing.

Prim was thrilled to have her back, but I kept watching,

waiting for her to disappear on us again. I didn’t trust her. And

some small gnarled place inside me hated her for her weakness,

for her neglect, for the months she had put us through.

Prim forgave her, but I had taken a step back from my mother,

put up a wall to protect myself from needing her, and nothing

was ever the same between us again.

Now I was going to die without that ever being set right. I

thought of how I had yelled at her today in the Justice Building.

I had told her I loved her, too, though. So maybe it would

all balance out.

For a while I stand staring out the train window, wishing I

could open it again, but unsure of what would happen at such

high speed. In the distance, I see the lights of another district.

7? 10? I don’t know. I think about the people in their houses,

settling in for bed. I imagine my home, with its shutters¹³ drawn¹⁴

tight. What are they doing now, my mother and Prim? Were

they able to eat supper? The fish stew and the strawberries?

Or did it lay untouched on their plates? Did they watch the recap

of the day’s events on the battered¹⁵ old TV that sits on the

table against the wall? Surely, there were more tears. Is my

mother holding up, being strong for Prim? Or has she already

started to slip away, leaving the weight of the world on my sister’s

fragile shoulders?

Prim will undoubtedly¹⁶ sleep with my mother tonight. The

thought of that scruffy¹⁷ old Buttercup posting himself on the

bed to watch over Prim comforts me. If she cries, he will nose

his way into her arms and curl up there until she calms down

and falls asleep. I’m so glad I didn’t drown him.

Imagining my home makes me ache with loneliness. This

day has been endless. Could Gale¹⁸ and I have been eating

blackberries only this morning? It seems like a lifetime ago.

Like a long dream that deteriorated¹⁹ into a nightmare. Maybe,

if I go to sleep, I will wake up back in District 12, where I belong.

Probably the drawers hold any number of nightgowns, but I

just strip off my shirt and pants and climb into bed in my underwear.

The sheets are made of soft, silky fabric²⁰. A thick fluffy²¹

comforter gives immediate²² warmth.

If I’m going to cry, now is the time to do it. 

1 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

2 stew   

n.炖汤，焖，烦恼；v.炖汤，焖，忧虑

参考例句：

• The stew must be boiled up before serving.炖肉必须煮熟才能上桌。
• There's no need to get in a stew.没有必要烦恼。

3 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

4 edible   

n.食品，食物；adj.可食用的

参考例句：

• Edible wild herbs kept us from dying of starvation.我们靠着野菜才没被饿死。
• This kind of mushroom is edible,but that kind is not.这种蘑菇吃得，那种吃不得。

5 inexplicable   

adj.无法解释的，难理解的

参考例句：

• It is now inexplicable how that development was misinterpreted.当时对这一事态发展的错误理解究竟是怎么产生的，现在已经无法说清楚了。
• There are many things which are inexplicable by science.有很多事科学还无法解释。

6 reek   

v.发出臭气；n.恶臭

参考例句：

• Where there's reek,there's heat.哪里有恶臭，哪里必发热。
• That reek is from the fox.那股恶臭是狐狸发出的。

7 batch   

n.一批(组，群)；一批生产量

参考例句：

• The first batch of cakes was burnt.第一炉蛋糕烤焦了。
• I have a batch of letters to answer.我有一批信要回复。

8 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

9 wagon   

n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车

参考例句：

• We have to fork the hay into the wagon.我们得把干草用叉子挑进马车里去。
• The muddy road bemired the wagon.马车陷入了泥泞的道路。

10 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

11 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

12 petals   

n.花瓣( petal的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• white petals tinged with blue 略带蓝色的白花瓣
• The petals of many flowers expand in the sunshine. 许多花瓣在阳光下开放。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

13 shutters   

百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门

参考例句：

• The shop-front is fitted with rolling shutters. 那商店的店门装有卷门。
• The shutters thumped the wall in the wind. 在风中百叶窗砰砰地碰在墙上。

14 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

15 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。

16 undoubtedly   

adv.确实地，无疑地

参考例句：

• It is undoubtedly she who has said that.这话明明是她说的。
• He is undoubtedly the pride of China.毫无疑问他是中国的骄傲。

17 scruffy   

adj.肮脏的，不洁的

参考例句：

• Despite her scruffy clothes,there was an air of sophistication about her.尽管她衣衫褴褛，但神态老练世故。
• His scruffy appearance does not reflect his character.他邋遢的外表并不反映他的性格。

18 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。

19 deteriorated   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Her health deteriorated rapidly, and she died shortly afterwards. 她的健康状况急剧恶化，不久便去世了。
• His condition steadily deteriorated. 他的病情恶化，日甚一日。

20 fabric   

n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织

参考例句：

• The fabric will spot easily.这种织品很容易玷污。
• I don't like the pattern on the fabric.我不喜欢那块布料上的图案。

21 fluffy   

adj.有绒毛的，空洞的

参考例句：

• Newly hatched chicks are like fluffy balls.刚孵出的小鸡像绒毛球。
• The steamed bread is very fluffy.馒头很暄。

22 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。