I told Charlie I had a lot of homework to do, and that I didn't want anything to eat.  我告诉查理我有很多作业要做，什么也不想吃。

There was a basketball game on that he was excited about,  电视上正在直播一场让他情绪激昂的篮球赛，

though of course I had no idea what was special about it,  尽管理所当然地，我根本不知道精彩在那里，

so he wasn't aware of anything unusual in my face or tone. 所以，他完全没有注意到我的表情或是语气有什么不对劲。

Once in my room, I locked the door.  一进房间，我就把门锁上了。

I dug through my desk until I found my old headphones, and I plugged them into my little CD player.  我在书桌里一阵乱翻，直到找到我的旧耳机为止。我把它们塞进了我的小随身听的插孔里，

I picked up a CD that Phil had given to me for Christmas.  然后选了一张圣诞节时菲尔送给我的CD。

It was one of his favorite bands, but they used a little too much bass and shrieking for my tastes. 这是他最喜欢的乐队之一，但就我的品味而言，他们歌里的低吼和尖叫用得有点太多了。

I popped it into place and lay down on my bed.  我啪地一下把它放进随身听，然后躺倒在床上。

I put on the headphones, hit Play, and turned up the volume until it hurt my ears.  我戴上耳机，按下播放键，把声音调大到让我的耳朵刺痛为止。

I closed my eyes, but the light still intruded, so I added a pillow over the top half of my face. 我闭上眼睛，但还是觉得太亮了，于是我又加了一个枕头，压在脸上。

I concentrated very carefully on the music, trying to understand the lyrics,  我专心致志地听着歌，试图听懂那些歌词，

to unravel the complicated drum patterns.  弄懂那些复杂的鼓点和节拍。

By the third time I'd listened through the CD, I knew all the words to the choruses, at least. 当我听着这张CD听第三遍的时候，至少，我已经知道合唱部分的所有歌词了。

I was surprised to find that I really did like the band after all, once I got past the blaring noise.  我惊奇地发现，当我忽略那些嘈杂的噪音时，我真的喜欢上这支乐队了。

I'd have to thank Phil again. 我得再次感谢菲尔。

And it worked. The shattering beats made it impossible for me to think 这很有效。毁灭性的节拍让我没办法思考

which was the whole purpose of the exercise.  这正是我要这样练习的所有意图。

I listened to the CD again and again,  我一遍又一遍地听着这张CD，

until I was singing along with all the songs, until, finally, I fell asleep. 直到我能唱出里面所有的歌，直到，最后，我终于沉沉睡去。