【英语语言学习】一个流浪者的遭遇

DARNELL MOORE: At 13, I was a nerd. I took such great pride in wearing dress pants and button-up shirts, unfortunate white socks, like I was a preacher. And my grandmother would send us to the store. And I hated going to the store because I know that somewhere between my grandmom's house and the store would be somebody wanting to pick on me for some reason.

So at the time, I was coming from the store. It was broad daylight. And I see a group of boys walking towards me. And I knew that something was going to happen. As they approached me, they called me names - faggot, sissy. And they had a milk carton. I didn't know what it was filled with, but it spilled a bit. And it was gasoline¹.

My next-door neighbor was one of the young men. And he emptied the gasoline on me. I recall² him attempting to light a match, and it just wouldn't light. That happened about three times. And by the time he tried to light the match again, my aunt had came outside. I just remember my aunt dragging me to the local hospital with gasoline in my eyes. And I smelled like that for, like, 24 hours.

I was never really angry. I just was embarrassed³. You know, I was picked on in front of teachers, in front of adults on streets. So I was used to it. And I don't know why it took me until adulthood⁴ to actually get in my head that that was literally⁵ somebody trying to end my life.

BRYAN EPPS: Do you know where they are now?

MOORE: I don't. Actually I tried to search for the one neighbor, in particular, who poured the gasoline on me. And it's so funny, you know, in recalling⁶ a story - even while the other guys are punching⁷ me, I was only focused⁸ on him because I think I always wanted his friendship. I just never imagined that a kid who knows your name, who lives in the same neighborhood with you would want to do something like that.

I wish I could have asked why would you want to light me on fire? What did I do to make him want to do that?

1 gasoline   

n.(美)汽油

参考例句：

• This car runs 5 miles on a gallon of gasoline.这部汽车一加仑汽油可以行驶五英里。
• There is still some gasoline left in the tank.油箱里还剩下一些汽油。

2 recall   

n.回忆，召回，取消；vt.回想起，召回，与...相似，恢复

参考例句：

• As you may recall, he was in the army then.你可能记得当时他正在从军。
• We demand that you recall your army from our border.我们要求你们撤回在我们边境的部队。

3 embarrassed   

adj.尴尬的，不好意思的

参考例句：

• He was very embarrassed to hear people speak so highly of him.他听见别人这样夸他,感到很难为情。
• He is somewhat embarrassed.他稍微有点窘迫。

4 adulthood   

n.成年，成人期

参考例句：

• Some infantile actions survive into adulthood.某些婴儿期的行为一直保持到成年期。
• Few people nowadays are able to maintain friendships into adulthood.如今很少有人能将友谊维持到成年。

5 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。

6 recalling   

回忆起( recall的现在分词 )； 使想起； 使想到； 勾起

参考例句：

• I was afraid recalling the past would only hurt you. 我不愿给你唤起往事。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）
• The company said it was recalling one of its drugs. 这个公司说正在召回他们生产的一种药。

7 punching   

v.用拳猛击( punch的现在分词 )；打孔；冲压；冲切

参考例句：

• I will have no one punching anyone else up in my hotel. 在我的旅馆里我不让任何人动手同别人打架。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A white girl came and began punching the typewriter. 一个白人姑娘来了，开始用打字机打起字来。 来自辞典例句

8 focused   

adj.聚焦的v.（使）集中， （使）聚集( focus的过去式和过去分词 )；调整（镜头，眼睛）焦点[焦距]以便看清；（光、声等的）焦点；集中（光束于）

参考例句：

• Research has focused on improving the car's aerodynamics. 研究的重点是改善轿车的流线型。
• The discussion focused on three main problems. 讨论集中在三个主要问题上。