【饥饿游戏】22

In the deepening twilight¹, the firelight illuminates²

our faces. We seem to be leaving a trail of fire off the flowing

capes³. Cinna was right about the minimal⁴ makeup⁵, we both

look more attractive but utterly⁶ recognizable.

Remember, heads high. Smiles. They’re going to love you! I

hear Cinna’s voice in my head. I lift my chin a bit higher, put

on my most winning smile, and wave with my free hand. I’m

glad now I have Peeta to clutch for balance, he is so steady,

solid as a rock. As I gain confidence, I actually blow a few

kisses to the crowd. The people of the Capitol are going nuts,

showering us with flowers, shouting our names, our first

names, which they have bothered to find on the program.

The pounding music, the cheers, the admiration⁷ work their

way into my blood, and I can’t suppress my excitement. Cinna

has given me a great advantage. No one will forget me. Not my

look, not my name. Katniss. The girl who was on fire.

For the first time, I feel a flicker⁸ of hope rising up in me.

Surely, there must be one sponsor willing to take me on! And

with a little extra help, some food, the right weapon, why

should I count myself out of the Games?

Someone throws me a red rose. I catch it, give it a delicate

sniff⁹, and blow a kiss back in the general direction of the giver.

A hundred hands reach up to catch my kiss, as if it were a real

and tangible¹⁰ thing.

“Katniss! Katniss!” I can hear my name being called from all

sides. Everyone wants my kisses.

It’s not until we enter the City Circle that I realize I must

have completely stopped the circulation in Peeta’s hand.

That’s how tightly I’ve been holding it. I look down at our

linked fingers as I loosen my grasp, but he regains¹¹ his grip on

me. “No, don’t let go of me,” he says. The firelight flickers¹² off

his blue eyes. “Please. I might fall out of this thing.”

“Okay,” I say. So I keep holding on, but I can’t help feeling

strange about the way Cinna has linked us together. It’s not

really fair to present us as a team and then lock us into the

arena¹³ to kill each other.

The twelve chariots fill the loop of the City Circle. On the

buildings that surround the Circle, every window is packed

with the most prestigious¹⁴ citizens of the Capitol. Our horses

pull our chariot right up to President Snow’s mansion¹⁵, and we

come to a halt. The music ends with a flourish.

The president, a small, thin man with paper-white hair,

gives the official welcome from a balcony above us. It is 

traditional to cut away to the faces of the tributes during the

speech. But I can see on the screen that we are getting way

more than our share of airtime. The darker it becomes, the

more difficult it is to take your eyes off our flickering¹⁶. When

the national anthem¹⁷ plays, they do make an effort to do a

quick cut around to each pair of tributes, but the camera holds

on the District 12 chariot as it parades around the circle one

final time and disappears into the Training Center.

The doors have only just shut behind us when we’re engulfed¹⁸

by the prep teams, who are nearly unintelligible¹⁹ as they

babble²⁰ out praise. As I glance around, I notice a lot of the other

tributes are shooting us dirty looks, which confirms what I’ve

suspected, we’ve literally²¹ outshone them all. Then Cinna and

Portia are there, helping²² us down from the chariot, carefully

removing our flaming capes and headdresses. Portia extinguishes

them with some kind of spray from a canister.

I realize I’m still glued to Peeta and force my stiff fingers to

open. We both massage²³ our hands.

“Thanks for keeping hold of me. I was getting a little shaky

there,” says Peeta.

“It didn’t show,” I tell him. “I’m sure no one noticed.”

“I’m sure they didn’t notice anything but you. You should

wear flames more often,” he says. “They suit you.” And then he

gives me a smile that seems so genuinely sweet with just the

right touch of shyness that unexpected warmth rushes

through me.

A warning bell goes off in my head. Don’t be so stupid. Peeta

is planning how to kill you, I remind myself. He is luring²⁴ you in

to make you easy prey²⁵. The more likable he is, the more deadly

he is.

But because two can play at this game, I stand on tiptoe and

kiss his cheek. Right on his bruise²⁶.

1 twilight   

n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期

参考例句：

• Twilight merged into darkness.夕阳的光辉融于黑暗中。
• Twilight was sweet with the smell of lilac and freshly turned earth.薄暮充满紫丁香和新翻耕的泥土的香味。

2 illuminates   

v.使明亮( illuminate的第三人称单数 )；照亮；装饰；说明

参考例句：

• The light shines on from over there and illuminates the stage. 灯光从那边照进来，照亮了舞台。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sun illuminates the sky. 太阳照亮了天空。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 capes   

碎谷； 斗篷( cape的名词复数 )； 披肩； 海角； 岬

参考例句：

• It was cool and they were putting on their capes. 夜里阴冷，他们都穿上了披风。
• The pastor smiled to give son's two Capes five cents money. 牧师微笑着给了儿子二角五分钱。

4 minimal   

adj.尽可能少的，最小的

参考例句：

• They referred to this kind of art as minimal art.他们把这种艺术叫微型艺术。
• I stayed with friends, so my expenses were minimal.我住在朋友家，所以我的花费很小。

5 makeup   

n.组织；性格；化装品

参考例句：

• Those who failed the exam take a makeup exam.这次考试不及格的人必须参加补考。
• Do you think her beauty could makeup for her stupidity?你认为她的美丽能弥补她的愚蠢吗？

6 utterly   

adv.完全地，绝对地

参考例句：

• Utterly devoted to the people,he gave his life in saving his patients.他忠于人民，把毕生精力用于挽救患者的生命。
• I was utterly ravished by the way she smiled.她的微笑使我完全陶醉了。

7 admiration   

n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕

参考例句：

• He was lost in admiration of the beauty of the scene.他对风景之美赞不绝口。
• We have a great admiration for the gold medalists.我们对金牌获得者极为敬佩。

8 flicker   

vi./n.闪烁，摇曳，闪现

参考例句：

• There was a flicker of lights coming from the abandoned house.这所废弃的房屋中有灯光闪烁。
• At first,the flame may be a small flicker,barely shining.开始时，光辉可能是微弱地忽隐忽现，几乎并不灿烂。

9 sniff   

vi.嗅…味道；抽鼻涕；对嗤之以鼻，蔑视

参考例句：

• The police used dogs to sniff out the criminals in their hiding - place.警察使用警犬查出了罪犯的藏身地点。
• When Munchie meets a dog on the beach, they sniff each other for a while.当麦奇在海滩上碰到另一条狗的时候，他们会彼此嗅一会儿。

10 tangible   

adj.有形的，可触摸的，确凿的，实际的

参考例句：

• The policy has not yet brought any tangible benefits.这项政策还没有带来任何实质性的好处。
• There is no tangible proof.没有确凿的证据。

11 regains   

复得( regain的第三人称单数 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地

参考例句：

• It will take a lot of repair work before the theatre regains its former splendour. 要想剧院重拾昔日的辉煌，必须进行大规模整修。
• He lays down the book and regains the consciousness. 他惊悸初定，掩卷细思。

12 flickers   

电影制片业； （通常指灯光）闪烁，摇曳( flicker的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The fire flickers low. 炉火颤动欲灭。
• A strange idea flickers in my mind. 一种奇怪的思想又在我脑中燃烧了。

13 arena   

n.竞技场，运动场所；竞争场所，舞台

参考例句：

• She entered the political arena at the age of 25. 她25岁进入政界。
• He had not an adequate arena for the exercise of his talents.他没有充分发挥其才能的场所。

14 prestigious   

adj.有威望的，有声望的，受尊敬的

参考例句：

• The young man graduated from a prestigious university.这个年轻人毕业于一所名牌大学。
• You may even join a prestigious magazine as a contributing editor.甚至可能会加入一个知名杂志做编辑。

15 mansion   

n.大厦，大楼；宅第

参考例句：

• The old mansion was built in 1850.这座古宅建于1850年。
• The mansion has extensive grounds.这大厦四周的庭园广阔。

16 flickering   

adj.闪烁的，摇曳的，一闪一闪的

参考例句：

• The crisp autumn wind is flickering away. 清爽的秋风正在吹拂。
• The lights keep flickering. 灯光忽明忽暗。

17 anthem   

n.圣歌，赞美诗，颂歌

参考例句：

• All those present were standing solemnly when the national anthem was played.奏国歌时全场肃立。
• As he stood on the winner's rostrum,he sang the words of the national anthem.他站在冠军领奖台上，唱起了国歌。

18 engulfed   

v.吞没，包住( engulf的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was engulfed by a crowd of reporters. 他被一群记者团团围住。
• The little boat was engulfed by the waves. 小船被波浪吞没了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 unintelligible   

adj.无法了解的，难解的，莫明其妙的

参考例句：

• If a computer is given unintelligible data, it returns unintelligible results.如果计算机得到的是难以理解的数据，它给出的也将是难以理解的结果。
• The terms were unintelligible to ordinary folk.这些术语一般人是不懂的。

20 babble   

v.含糊不清地说，胡言乱语地说，儿语

参考例句：

• No one could understand the little baby's babble. 没人能听懂这个小婴孩的话。
• The babble of voices in the next compartment annoyed all of us.隔壁的车厢隔间里不间歇的嘈杂谈话声让我们都很气恼。

21 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

22 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

23 massage   

n.按摩，揉；vt.按摩，揉，美化，奉承，篡改数据

参考例句：

• He is really quite skilled in doing massage.他的按摩技术确实不错。
• Massage helps relieve the tension in one's muscles.按摩可使僵硬的肌肉松弛。

24 luring   

吸引，引诱（lure的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• Cheese is very good for luring a mouse into a trap. 奶酪是引诱老鼠上钩的极好的东西。
• Her training warned her of peril and of the wrong, subtle, mysterious, luring. 她的教养警告她：有危险，要出错儿，这是微妙、神秘而又诱人的。

25 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

26 bruise   

n.青肿，挫伤；伤痕；vt.打青；挫伤

参考例句：

• The bruise was caused by a kick.这伤痕是脚踢的。
• Jack fell down yesterday and got a big bruise on his face.杰克昨天摔了一跤，脸上摔出老大一块淤斑。