高级英语第一册 4.Everyday Use for your grandmamma

　　4.Everyday Use for your grandmamma

　　I will wait for her in the yard that Maggie and I made so clean and wavy yester day afternoon. A yard like this is more comfortable than most people know. It is not just a yard. It is like an extended living room. When the hard clay is swept clean as a floor and the fine sand around the edges lined with tiny, irregular grooves, anyone can come and sit and look up into the elm tree and wait for the breezes that never come inside the house.

　　Maggie will be nervous until after her sister goes: she will stand hopelessly in corners, homely and ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs, eying her sister with a mixture of envy and awe. She thinks her sister has held life always in the palm of one hand, that "no" is a word the world never learned to say to her.

　　You've no doubt seen those TV shows where the child who has "made it" is confronted, as a surprise, by her own mother and father, tottering in weakly from backstage. (A Pleasant surprise, of course: What would they do if parent and child came on the show only to curse out and insult each other?) On TV mother and child embrace and smile into each other's face. Sometimes the mother and father weep, the child wraps them in her arms and leans across the table to tell how she would not have made it without their help. I have seen these programs.

　　Sometimes I dream a dream in which Dee and I are suddenly brought together on a TV program of this sort. Out of a cark and soft-seated limousine I am ushered into a bright room filled with many people. There I meet a smiling, gray, sporty man like Johnny Carson who shakes my hand and tells me what a fine girl I have. Then we are on the stage and Dee is embracing me with tear s in her eyes. She pins on my dress a large orchid, even though she has told me once that she thinks or chides are tacky flowers.

　　In real life I am a large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands. In the winter I wear flannel nightgowns to bed and overalls during the day. I can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man. My fat keeps me hot in zero weather. I can work outside all day, breaking ice to get water for washing; I can eat pork liver cooked over the open tire minutes after it comes steaming from the hog. One winter I knocked a bull calf straight in the brain between the eyes with a sledge hammer and had the meat hung up to chill be-fore nightfall. But of course all this does not show on television. I am the way my daughter would want me to be: a hundred pounds lighter, my skin like an uncooked barley pan-cake. My hair glistens in the hot bright lights. Johnny Car – son has much to do to keep up with my quick and witty tongue.

　　But that is a mistake. I know even before I wake up. Who ever knew a Johnson with a quick tongue? Who can even imagine me looking a strange white man in the eye? It seems to me I have talked to them always with one toot raised in flight, with my head turned in whichever way is farthest from them. Dee, though. She would always look anyone in the eye. Hesitation was no part of her nature.

　　"How do I look, Mama?" Maggie says, showing just enough of her thin body enveloped in pink skirt and red blouse for me to know she's there, almost hidden by the door.

　　"Come out into the yard," I say.

　　Have you ever seen a lame animal, perhaps a dog run over by some careless person rich enough to own a car, sidle up to someone who is ignorant enough to be kind of him? That is the way my Maggie walks. She has been like this, chin on chest, eyes on ground, feet in shuffle, ever since the fire that burned the other house to the ground.

　　Dee is lighter than Maggie, with nicer hair and a fuller figure. She's a woman now, though sometimes I forget. How long ago was it that the other house burned? Ten, twelve years? Sometimes I can still hear the flames and feel Maggie's arms sticking to me, her hair smoking and her dress falling off her in little black papery flakes. Her eyes seemed stretched open, blazed open by the flames reflect-ed in them. And Dee. I see her standing off under the sweet gum tree she used to dig gum out of; a look at concentration on her face as she watched the last dingy gray board of the house tall in toward the red-hot brick chimney. Why don't you do a dance around the ashes? I'd wanted to ask her. She had hated the house that much.

　　I used to think she hated Maggie, too. But that was before we raised the money, the church and me, to send her to Augusta to school. She used to read to us without pity, forcing words, lies, other folks' habits, whole lives upon us two, sitting trapped and ignorant underneath her voice. She washed us in a river of make-believe, burned us with a lot of knowledge we didn't necessarily need to know. Pressed us to her with the serious way she read, to shove us away at just the moment, like dimwits, we seemed about to understand.

　　Dee wanted nice things. A yellow organdy dress to wear to her graduation from high school; black pumps to match a green suit she'd made from an old suit somebody gave me. She was determined to stare down any disaster in her efforts. Her eyelids would not flicker for minutes at a time. Often I fought off the temptation to shake her. At sixteen she had a style of her own' and knew what style was.

　　I never had an education myself. After second grade the school was closed down. Don't ask me why. in 1927 colored asked fewer questions than they do now. Sometimes Maggie reads to me. She stumbles along good-naturedly but can't see well. She knows she is not bright. Like good looks and money, quickness passed her by. She will marry John Thomas (who has mossy teeth in an earnest face) and then I'll be free to sit here and I guess just sing church songs to myself. Although I never was a good singer. Never could carry a tune. I was always better at a man's job. 1 used to love to milk till I was hooked in the side in '49. Cows are soothing and slow and don't bother you, unless you try to milk them the wrong way.

　　I have deliberately turned my back on the house. It is three rooms, just like the one that burned, except the roof is tin: they don't make shingle roofs any more. There are no real windows, just some holes cut in the sides, like the portholes in a ship, but not round and not square, with rawhide holding the shutter s up on the outside. This house is in a pasture, too, like the other one. No doubt when Dee sees it she will want to tear it down. She wrote me once that no matter where we "choose" to live, she will manage to come see us. But she will never bring her friends. Maggie and I thought about this and Maggie asked me, Mama, when did Dee ever have any friends?"

　　She had a few. Furtive boys in pink shirts hanging about on washday after school. Nervous girls who never laughed. Impressed with her they worshiped the well-turned phrase, the cute shape, the scalding humor that erupted like bubbles in lye. She read to them.

　　When she was courting Jimmy T she didn't have much time to pay to us, but turned all her faultfinding power on him. He flew to marry a cheap city girl from a family of ignorant flashy people. She hardly had time to recompose herself.

　　When she comes I will meet -- but there they are!

　　Maggie attempts to make a dash for the house, in her shuffling way, but I stay her with my hand. "Come back here," I say. And she stops and tries to dig a well in the sand with her toe.

　　It is hard to see them clearly through the strong sun. But even the first glimpse of leg out of the car tells me it is Dee. Her feet were always neat-looking, as it God himself had shaped them with a certain style. From the other side of the car comes a short, stocky man. Hair is all over his head a foot long and hanging from his chin like a kinky mule tail. I hear Maggie suck in her breath. "Uhnnnh," is what it sounds like. Like when you see the wriggling end of a snake just in front of your toot on the road. "Uhnnnh."

　　Dee next. A dress down to the ground, in this hot weather. A dress so loud it hurts my eyes. There are yel-lows and oranges enough to throw back the light of the sun. I feel my whole face warming from the heat waves it throws out. Earrings gold, too, and hanging down to her shoulders. Bracelets dangling and making noises when she moves her arm up to shake the folds of the dress out of her armpits. The dress is loose and flows, and as she walks closer, I like it. I hear Maggie go "Uhnnnh" again. It is her sister's hair. It stands straight up like the wool on a sheep. It is black as night and around the edges are two long pigtails that rope about like small lizards disappearing behind her ears.

　　"Wa-su-zo-Tean-o!" she says, coming on in that gliding way the dress makes her move. The short stocky fellow with the hair to his navel is all grinning and he follows up with "Asalamalakim, my mother and sister!" He moves to hug Maggie but she falls back, right up against the back of my chair. I feel her trembling there and when I look up I see the perspiration falling off her chin.

　　"Don't get up," says Dee. Since I am stout it takes something of a push. You can see me trying to move a second or two before I make it. She turns, showing white heels through her sandals, and goes back to the car. Out she peeks next with a Polaroid. She stoops down quickly and lines up picture after picture of me sitting there in front of the house with Maggie cowering behind me. She never takes a shot without making sure the house is included. When a cow comes nibbling around the edge of the yard she snaps it and me and Maggie and the house. Then she puts the Polaroid in the back seat of the car, and comes up and kisses me on the forehead.

　　Meanwhile Asalamalakim is going through motions with Maggie's hand. Maggie's hand is as limp as a fish, and probably as cold, despite the sweat, and she keeps trying to pull it back. It looks like Asalamalakim wants to shake hands but wants to do it fancy. Or maybe he don't know how people shake hands. Anyhow, he soon gives up on Maggie.

　　"Well," I say. "Dee."

　　"No, Mama," she says. "Not 'Dee', Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo!"

　　"What happened to 'Dee'?" I wanted to know.

　　"She's dead," Wangero said. "I couldn't bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me."

　　"You know as well as me you was named after your aunt Dicle," I said. Dicie is my sister. She named Dee. We called her "Big D, , ee" after Dee was born.

　　"But who was she named after?" asked Wangero.

　　"I guess after Grandma Dee," I said.

　　"And who was she named after?" asked Wangero.

　　"Her mother," I said, and saw Wangero was getting tired. "That's about as far back as I can trace it," I said.

　　Though, in fact, I probably could have carried it back beyond the Civil War through the branches.

　　"Well," said Asalamalakim, "there you are."

　　"Uhnnnh," I heard Maggie say.

　　"There I was not," I said, before 'Dicie' cro, pped up in our family, so why should I try to trace it that far back?"

　　He just stood there grinning, looking down on me like somebody inspecting a Model A car. Every once in a while he and Wangero sent eye signals over my head.

　　"How do you pronounce this name?" I asked.

　　"You don't have to call me by it if you don't want to," said Wangero.

　　"Why shouldn't I?" I asked. "If that's what you want us to call you, we'll call you. "

　　"I know it might sound awkward at first," said Wangero.

　　"I'll get used to it," I said. "Ream it out again."

　　Well, soon we got the name out of the way. Asalamalakim had a name twice as long and three times as hard. After I tripped over it two or three times he told me to just call him Hakim-a-barber. I wanted to ask him was he a barber, but I didn't really think he was, so I don't ask.

　　"You must belong to those beet-cattle peoples down the road," I said. They said "Asalamalakirn" when they met you too, but they didn't Shake hands. Always too busy feeding the cattle, fixing the fences, putting up salt-lick shelters, throwing down hay. When the white folks poisoned some of the herd the men stayed up all night with rifles in their hands. I walked a mile and a half just to see the sight.

　　Hakim-a-barber said, "I accept some of their doctrines, but farming and raising cattle is not my style." (They didn't tell me, and I didn't ask, whether Wangero (Dee) had really gone and married him.)

　　We sat down to eat and right away he said he didn't eat collards and pork was unclean. Wangero, though, went on through the chitlins and corn bread, the greens and every-thing else. She talked a blue streak over the sweet potatoes. Everything delighted her. Even the fact that we still used the benches her daddy made for the table when we couldn't afford to buy chairs.

　　"Oh, Mama!" she cried. Then turned to Hakim-a-barber. "I never knew how lovely these benches are. You can feel the rump prints," she said, running her hands underneath her and along the bench. Then she gave a sigh and her hand closed over Grandma Dee's butter dish. "That's it!" she said. "I knew there was something I wanted to ask you if I could have." She jumped up from the table and went over in the corner where the churn stood, the milk in it clabber by now. She looked at the churn and looked at it.

　　"This churn top is what I need," she said. "Didn't Uncle Buddy whittle it out of a tree you all used to have?"

　　"Yes," I said.

　　"Uh huh, " she said happily. "And I want the dasher,too."

　　"Uncle Buddy whittle that, too?" asked the barber.

　　Dee (Wangero) looked up at me.

　　"Aunt Dee's first husband whittled the dash," said Maggie so low you almost couldn't hear her. "His name was Henry, but they called him Stash."

　　"Maggie's brain is like an elephants," Wanglero said, laughing. "I can use the churn top as a center piece for the alcove table,”she said, sliding a plate over the churn, "and I'll think of something artistic to do with the dasher."

　　When she finished wrapping the dasher the handle stuck out. I took it for a moment in my hands. You didn't even have to look close to see where hands pushing the dasher up and down to make butter had left a kind of sink in the wood. In fact, there were a lot of small sinks; you could see where thumbs and fingers had sunk into the wood. It was beautiful light yellow wood, from a tree that grew in the yard where Big Dee and Stash had lived.

　　After dinner Dee (Wangero) went to the trunk at the foot of my bed and started rifling through it. Maggie hung back in the kitchen over the dishpan. Out came Wangero with two quilts. They had been pieced by Grandma Dee and then Big Dee and me had hung them on the quilt frames on the front porch and quilted them. One was in the Lone Star pattern. The other was Walk Around the Mountain. In both of them were scraps of dresses Grandma Dee had worn fifty and more years ago. Bit sand pieces of Grandpa Jarrell's Paisley shirts. And one teeny faded blue piece, about the size of a penny matchbox, that was from Great Grandpa Ezra's uniform that he wore in the Civil War.

　　"Mama," Wangero said sweet as a bird. "Can I have these old quilts?"

　　I heard something fall in the kitchen, and a minute later the kitchen door slammed.

　　"Why don't you take one or two of the others?” 1 asked. "These old things was just done by me and Big Dee from some tops your grandma pieced before she died."

　　"No," said Wangero. "I don't want those. They are stitched around the borders by machine."

　　"That'll make them last better," I said.

　　"That's not the point," said Wanglero. "These are all pieces of dresses Grandma used to wear. She did all this stitching by hand. Imagine!" She held the quilts securely in her arms, stroking them.

　　"Some of the pieces, like those lavender ones, come from old clothes her mother handed down to her,” I said, moving up to touch the quilts. Dee (Wangero) moved back just enough so that I couldn't reach the quilts. They already belonged to her. "Imagine!" she breathed again, clutching them closely to her bosom.

　　"The truth is," I said, "I promised to give them quilts to Maggie, for when she marries John Thomas."

　　She gasped like a bee had stung her.

　　"Maggie can't appreciate these quilts!" she said. "She'd probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use."

　　"I reckon she would," I said. "God knows I been savage ’em for long enough with nobody using 'em. I hope she will! ” I didn't want to bring up how I had offered Dee (Wangero) a quilt when she went away to college. Then she had told me they were old-fashioned, out of style.

　　"But they're priceless!" she was saying now, furiously, for she has a temper. "Maggie would put them on the bed and in five years they'd be in rags. Less than that!" "She can always make some more,” I said. "Maggie knows how to quilt. "

　　Dee (Wangero) looked at me with hatred. "You just will not understand. The point is these quilts, these quilts!"

　　"Well," I said,, stumped. "What would you do with them?"

　　"Hang them," she said. As it that was the only thing you could do with quilts.

　　Maggie by now was standing in the door. I could almost hear the sound her feet made as they scraped over each other.

　　"She can have them, Mama,” she said like somebody used to never winning anything, or having anything reserved for her. "I can 'member Grandma Dee without the quilts."

　　I looked at her hard. She had filled her bottom lip with checkerberry snuff and it gave her face a kind of dopey, hangdog look. It was Grandma Dee and Big Dee who taught her how to quilt herself. She stood there with her scarred hands hidden in the folds of her skirt. She looked at her sister with something like fear but she wasn't mad at her. This was Maggie's portion. This was the way she knew God to work.

　　When I looked at her like that something hit me in the top of my head and ran down to the soles of my feet. Just like when I'm in church and the spirit of God touches me and I get happy and shout. I did something I never had done before: hugged Maggie to me, then dragged her on into the room, snatched the quilts out of Miss Wangero's hands and dumped them into Maggie's lap. Maggie just sat there on my bed with her mouth open.

　　"Take one or two of the others," I said to Dee.

　　But she turned without a word and went out to Hakim-a-barber.

　　"You just don't understand," she said, as Maggie and I came out to the car.

　　"What don't I under stand?" I wanted to know.

　　"Your heritage," she said. And then she turned to Maggie, kissed her, and said, "You ought to try to make some-thing of yourself, too, Maggie. It's really a new day for us. But from the way you and Mama still live you'd never know it."

　　She put on some sunglasses that hid everything above the tip of her nose and her chin.

　　Maggie smiled; maybe at the sunglasses. But a real mile, not scared. After we watched the car dust settle I asked Maggie to bring me a dip of snuff. And then the two of us sat there just enjoying, until it was time to go in the house and go to bed.

　　第四课

　　外婆的日用家当

　　艾丽斯o沃克尔

　　"我会慢慢习惯的，"我说，"你给我再念一遍吧。"

　　就这样，我们很快就不再提名字发音问题了。阿萨拉马拉吉姆的名字有两倍那么长，三倍那么难念。我试着念了两三次都念错了，于是他就叫我干脆称呼他哈吉姆阿巴波就行了。我本想问他究竟是不是开巴波(理发)店的，但我觉得他不像是个理发师，所以就没有问。 "你一定属于马路那边的那些养牛部族，"我说。那些人见人打招呼也是说"阿萨拉马拉吉姆"，但他们不同人握手。他们总是忙忙碌碌的：喂牲口，修篱笆，扎帐篷，堆草料，等等。当白人毒死了一些牛以后，那些人便彻夜不眠地端着枪戒备。为了一睹这种情景，我走了一英里半的路程。

　　哈吉姆阿巴波说，"我接受他们的一些观念，但种田和养牛却不是我干的事业。"(他们没有告诉我，我也没开口去问，万杰萝(迪伊)究竟是不是同他结婚了。)

　　我们开始坐下吃饭，他马上声明他不吃羽衣甘蓝，猪肉也不干净。万杰萝却是猪肠、玉米面包、蔬菜，什么都吃。吃红薯时她更是谈笑风生。一切都令她高兴，就连我们仍在使用着当初她爸爸因为买不起椅子而做的条凳这种事情也令她感兴趣。

　　"啊，妈妈!"她惊叫道。接着转头向着哈吉姆阿巴波。"我以前还从来不知道这些条凳有这么可爱，在上面还摸得出屁股印迹来，"她一边说着，一边将手伸到屁股下面去摸凳子。接着，她叹了一口气，她的手放在迪伊外婆的黄油碟上捏拢了。"对了!"她说。"我早知道这儿有些我想问您能不能给我的东西。"她离桌起身，走到角落处，那儿放着一个搅乳器，里面的牛奶已结成了酸奶。她看了看搅乳器，又望了望里面的酸奶。

　　"这个搅乳器的盖子我想要，"她说。"那不是巴迪叔叔用你们原有的一棵树的木头做成的吗?"

　　"是的，"我说。

　　"啊哈，"她兴高采烈地说。"我还想要那根搅乳棒。"

　　"那也是巴迪叔叔做的吗?"巴波问道。

　　迪伊(万杰萝)仰头望着我。

　　"那是迪伊姨妈的第一个丈夫做的，"麦姬用低得几乎听不见的声音说。"他的名字叫亨利，但人们总叫他史大西。"

　　"麦姬的脑袋像大象一样，"万杰萝说着哈哈大笑。"我可以将这搅乳器盖子放在凹室餐桌中央做装饰品，"她一边拿一个托盘盖在搅乳器上，一边说道。"至于那根搅乳棒，我也会想出一个艺术化的用途的。"

　　她将搅乳棒包裹起来，把柄还露在外头。我伸手将把柄握了一会儿。不用将眼睛凑近去细看也可以看出搅乳棒把柄上由于长年累月握着搅动而留下的凹陷的握痕。那上面的小槽子很多，你可以分辨出哪儿是拇指压出的印子，哪儿是其他手指压出的印子。搅乳棒的木料取自大迪伊和史大西住过的庭院中长的一棵树，木质呈浅黄色，甚是好看。

　　晚饭后，迪伊(万杰萝)走到放在我床脚边的衣箱那儿，开始翻找起来。麦姬在厨房里洗碗，故意延挨着不愿早出来。万杰萝忽然从房里抱出两床被子。这两床被子是迪伊外婆用一块块小布片拼起来，然后由迪伊姨妈和我两人在前厅的缝被架上绗缝而成的。其中一床绘的是单星图案，另一床是踏遍群山图案。两床被子上都缝有从迪伊外婆五十多年前穿过的衣服上拆下来的布片，还有杰雷尔爷爷的佩兹利涡旋纹花呢衬衣上拆下来的碎布片，还有一小块褪了色的兰布片，大小只相当于一个小火柴盒，那是从依兹拉曾祖父在南北战争时穿的军服上拆下来的。

　　"妈妈，"万杰萝用莺声燕语般的甜蜜声调问，"我可不可以把这两床被子拿走?" 我听到厨房里有什么东西掉落地上的声音，紧接着又听见厨房的门砰地关上的声音。 "你何不拿另外一两床呢?"我问道。"这两床还是你外婆去世前用布条拼起来，然后由大迪伊和我两人缝起来的旧被子。"

　　"不，"万杰萝说。"我不要那些被子。那些被子的边线都是机缝的。"

　　"那样还耐用一些，"我说。

　　"这一点并不重要，"万杰萝说。"这两床被子都是用外婆曾穿过的衣服拆成布片，然后由她靠手工一针一线拼缀而成的。想想看吧!"她生怕别人会抢去似的牢牢抓住被子，一边用手在上面抚摸。

　　"那上面有些布片，比如那些淡紫色的布片，还是从她妈妈传给她的旧衣服上拆下来的，"我说着便伸手去摸被子。迪伊(万杰萝)往后退缩，让我摸不着被子。那两床被子已经属于她了。

　　"你看多不简单!"她又低声赞叹了一句，一边把被子紧紧抱在怀里。

　　"问题是，"我说，"我已说好等麦姬和约翰o托马斯结婚时将那两床被子送给麦姬的。"

　　她像挨了蜂蜇似的惊叫了一声。

　　"麦姬可不懂这两床被子的价值!"她说。"她可能会蠢得将它们当成普通被子来使用。"

　　"我也认为她会这样，"我说。"上帝知道这两床被子我留了多久，一直都没有人用它们。我希望她来用!"我不想说出迪伊(万杰萝)上大学时我送给她一床被子的事。她当时对我说那被子老掉牙了，没个样子。

　　"可那两床被子是无价之宝呀!"她此时这样说着，样子很是生气--她是很爱生气的。"麦姬将会把它们放在床上每天用，那样的话，五年之后，那两床被子就会变成破烂了，还用不了五年!""破了她会再重新缝，"我说。"麦姬学会了缝被子。"

　　迪伊(万杰萝)恶狠狠地看着我。"你不懂，关键是这些被子，这两床被子!"

　　"那么说，"我真有点茫然不解，便问道，"你要那两床被子作什么呢?"

　　"把它们挂起来，"她说道。似乎这就是被子所能派上的唯一的用场。

　　麦姬这时正站在门口，我几乎能听见她的双脚互相摩擦发出的声音。

　　"让她拿去吧，妈妈，"她说着，就像一个已经习惯于从来也得不到什么，或从来没有什么东西属于她一样。"不要那些被子我也能记得迪伊外婆。"

　　我紧紧地盯视着她。她的下嘴唇上沾满了黑草莓汁，这使她看起来有一种迟钝而又羞惭的神色。她能自己缝制被子是迪伊外婆和大迪伊教的。她站在那儿，将一双疤痕累累的手藏在裙褶缝里。她怯生生地望着她姐姐，但并没有对她姐姐生气。这就是麦姬的命运，她知道这就是上帝的安排。

　　我这样看着她时，突然产生了这样一种感觉：似乎头顶上受了什么东西的敲击，其力量白头顶直透脚心。这就像在教堂里受到上帝的神力感动后激动得狂喊乱叫时的那种感觉。于是，我做了一件以前从未做过的事：将麦姬一把搂过来，把她拉进卧房里，然后一把从万杰萝小姐手中夺过被子放到麦姬的大腿上。麦姬就这样坐在我的床上，一副目瞪口呆的样子。 "你拿两床别的被子吧，"我对迪伊说。

　　但她一声不吭就转身出屋．往哈吉姆阿巴波身边走去。

　　"你完全不懂，"当我和麦姬来到汽车旁边时，她说。

　　"我不懂什么?"我问道。

　　"你的遗产，"她说。随后，她转向麦姬，吻了吻她，说，"麦姬，你也该努力活出个人样儿来啊。现在我们所处的是新时代。但照你和妈妈现在仍过着的这种生活来看，你是绝对体会不到这一点的。"

　　她戴上一副大太阳镜，把下巴和鼻尖以上的整个面孔全遮住了。

　　麦姬笑起来了，大概看到太阳镜发笑的吧，但这是真正的喜悦的笑，一点没有害怕的意思。目送汽车远去，车轮扬起的灰尘消失后，我叫麦姬给我舀来一碗草莓汁。然后我们娘儿俩便坐下来细细地品味着，直到天时已晚才进屋就寝。

　　词汇(Vocabulary)

　　wavy ( adj. ) :like，characteristic of，or suggestive of waves波状的；有起伏的

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　　groove ( n.) :a long，narrow furrow or hollow cut in a surface with a tool纹(道)；纹槽

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　　elm ( adj.) : designating a family(Ulmaceae)of trees growing largely in the N．Temperate Zone[植]榆科的

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　　totter ( v.) :be unsteady on one's feet；stagger蹒跚而行

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　　limousine ( n.) :any large luxurious sedan，esp. one driven by a chauffeur(配有司机的)高级轿车

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　　sporty ( adj.) :characteristic of a sport or sporting man运动员似的

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　　tacky ( adj.) : untidy；neglected；unrefined；vulgar劣等的；破旧的；粗俗的

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　　flannel ( n.) :a soft，lightweight，loosely woven woolen cloth with a slightly napped surface法兰绒

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　　barley ( n.) :a cereal grass(Hordeum vulgare and related species)with dense，bearded spikes of flowers，each made up of three single-seeded spikelets大麦

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　　lame (adj. ) :crippled；disabled；esp. having an injured leg or foot that makes one limp瘸的；残废的

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　　sidle ( v．) :move sideways，esp. in a shy or stealthy manner(羞怯或偷偷地)侧身行走

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　　shuffle ( n.) :a slow dragging walk拖着脚走

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　　papery ( adj.) :thin，light，etc．1ike paper(在厚薄、质地等方面)像纸的

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　　dingy (adj.) :dirty-colored；not bright or clean；grimy昏暗的，不明亮的；不干净的；无光泽的；弄脏了的

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　　make-believe ( n.) :① n. pretense；feigning假装；虚假②adj. pretended；feigned；sham假装的；虚假的

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　　dimwit ( n.) :[slang]a stupid person；simpleton[俚]蠢人，笨蛋，傻子

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　　organdy ( n.) : very sheer，crisp cotton fabric used for dresses，curtains，etc．蝉翼纱；玻璃纱(一种细薄的透明布)

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　　pump ( n.) :．a low-cut shoe without straps or ties一种浅口无带皮鞋

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　　flicker ( v．) :move with a quick，light，wavering motion摇曳，摇动；晃动

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　　mossy ( adj.) : full of or covered with moss or a mosslike growth生了苔的；多苔的；苔状的

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　　hook ( v．) :attack with the horns，as a bull；gore(牛等以角)抵破，抵伤

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　　shingle ( n.) :a thin，wedgeshaped piece of wood，slate, etc．1aid with others in a series of overlapping rows as a covering for roofs and the sides of the houses屋顶板；木瓦

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　　porthole ( n.) :an opening in a ship's side，as for admitting light and air(船侧采光、通气的)舷窗；舱口

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　　rawhide ( adj. ) :done or acting in a stealthy manner，as if to hinder observation；surreptitious；stealthy；sneaky；secret鬼鬼祟祟的，偷偷摸摸的；秘密的

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　　cute ( adj.) :[Am．colloq．]pretty or attractive，esp. in a delicate or dainty way[美口]漂亮的，俏的，迷人的；逗人喜爱的

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　　scalding ( adj.) :fierce in attacking in words措辞尖锐的

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　　lye ( n.) :any strongly alkaline substance，usually sodium or potassium hydroxide，used in cleaning，making soap，etc．碱液

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　　recompose ( v. ) : restore to composure使恢复镇静

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　　stocky ( adj.) :heavily built；sturdy；short and thickset矮胖的；结实的

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　　kinky (adj.) :full of kinks；tightly curled，esp．of hair(尤指头发)绞缠的；纽结的；弯曲的

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　　wriggle ( v． ) :．twist from side to side，either in one place or when moving along蠕动；扭动

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　　earring ( n.) :[usu．p1.] an ornament worn on the ear[常用复数]耳环，耳饰

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　　bracelet ( n.) :an ornamental band or chain worn about the wrist or arm手镯

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　　armpit ( n.) :the hollow place under the arm at the shoulder腋下，腋窝

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　　lizard ( n.) :any of several types of(usu．)small creatures which are reptiles。with a rough skin，4 legs，and a long tail蜥蜴

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　　nave ( z．) :a small mark or sunken place in the middle of he stomach．1eft when the connection to the mother(the umbilical cord)was cut at birth肚脐

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　　hug ( v．) :hold(someone)tightly in the arms搂抱；紧抱

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　　perspiration ( n.) :the act or action of sweating出汗；汗

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　　peek ( v．) :glance or look quickly and furtively，esp. through an opening or from behind something(尤指从缝隙或隐蔽处)偷看；窥视

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　　Polaroid ( n.) :[short for Polaroid Land Camera]a portable camera that develops the film negative internally and produces a print within seconds after the process is initiated (Polaroid Land Camera的缩略式)(一种即照即成相片的照相机)波拉罗伊德照相机；"拍立来"照相机

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　　stoop ( v．) :bend(the head and shoulders)forwards and down屈身；弯腰

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　　nibble ( v.) :take small bites(out of something)；eat(something)with small bites细咬，细食；一点点地咬

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　　snap ( v．) :take a snapshot of抢拍；用快照拍摄

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　　limp (adj.) :1acking or having lost stiffness；flaccid，drooping，wilted，etc．柔软的

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　　crop ( v．) :(used in crop up)arise，happen，or appear，unexpectedly(用于crop up)突然出现；突然发生

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　　trip [trip] :口．(used in￡rip over)make an awkward mistake in(something such as words)(用于trip over)(在语言上)出差错；卡壳，支吾

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　　herd ( n.) :a number of cattle or other large animals feeding，living，or being driven together牛群；畜群

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　　collard ( n.) :a kind of kale(Brassica oleracea acephala) whose coarse leaves are borne in tufts羽衣甘蓝

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　　chitlins ( n.) :[p1.]the small intestines of pigs，used for food[复](猪等的)小肠(供食用)

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　　streak ( n.) :streak [colloq．](used in talk a blue streak)talk much and rapidly[口]连珠炮似地谈话；滔滔不绝地讲话

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　　rump ( n.) :[humor](of a human being)the part of the body one sits on[幽]臀部

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　　churn ( n.) :．a container in which milk is moved about violently until it becomes butter搅乳器(用以搅拌牛乳而制成黄油)

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　　clabber ( n.) :thickly curdled sour milk酸牛奶

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　　whittle ( v．) :cut(wood)to a smaller size by taking off small thin pieces削(木头)

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　　dasher ( n.) :a rotating device for whipping cream，as in a churn，etc．(奶油)搅拌器

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　　centerpiece ( n.) :an ornament，a bowl of flowers，etc．for the center of a table放在桌子中央的装饰品(如花瓶等)

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　　alcove ( n.) :a recessed section of a room，as a breakfast nook凹室(如早餐座)

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　　sink ( n.) :[geo1．]an area of slightly sunken land，esp. one in which water collects or disappears by evaporation or percolation into the ground渗坑；洼地 、

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　　rifle ( v. ) :ransack and rob(a place，building etc．)；pillage；plunder抢劫，掠夺(某地)

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　　scrap ( n.) :a small piece；bit；fragment；shred小片；碎片

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　　teeny ( adj.) :[colloq．]variation of the word "tiny" tiny的口语体

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　　slam ( v．) :shut or allow to shut with force and noise使劲关(门等)；砰地(把门等)关上

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　　lavender ( adj．) :pale-purple淡紫色的

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　　stump ( v．) :[colloq．]puzzle，perplex；baffle[口]使困惑；使茫然不知所措

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　　scrape ( v．) :(cause to)rub roughly(使)磨擦

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　　checkerberry ( n.) :[Am．]the edible，red，berrylike fruit of the wintergreen[美]平铺白珠树的果实

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　　snuff ( n.) :smell；scent气味，气息

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　　dopey ( adj.) :[colloq．]mentally slow or confused；stupid[口](感觉)迟钝的；迷迷糊糊的，昏昏沉沉的；愚蠢的；呆傻的

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　　hangdog (adj．) :ashamed and cringing羞愧的

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　　短语 (Expressions)

　　crop up:   v．to appear unexpectedly or occasionally意外出现，偶然出现

　　例： All sorts of difficulties have cropped up at work．在工作中，各种各样的困难意想不到地出现了。