chapter 5

 Patricia had not been in perfect health for a long while. It seemed to her, in retrospect¹, that ever since the agonies of little Roger's birth she had been the victim of what she described as "a sort of all-overishness." Then, too, as has been previously² recorded, Patricia had been operated upon by surgeons, and more than once….

 

"Good Lord!" as she herself declared, "it has reached the point that when I see a turkey coming to the dinner-table to be carved I can't help treating it as an ingénue."

 

Yet for the last four years she had never fainted, until this. It disquieted³ her. Then, too, awoke faint pricking⁴ memories of certain symptoms … which she had not talked about …

 

Now they alarmed her; and in consequence she took the next morning's train to Lichfield.

1 retrospect   

n.回顾，追溯；v.回顾，回想，追溯

参考例句：

• One's school life seems happier in retrospect than in reality.学校生活回忆起来显得比实际上要快乐。
• In retrospect,it's easy to see why we were wrong.回顾过去就很容易明白我们的错处了。

2 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

3 disquieted   

v.使不安，使忧虑，使烦恼( disquiet的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• People are disquieted [on tenterhooks]. 人心惶惶。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The bad news disquieted him. 恶讯使他焦急不安。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

4 pricking   

刺，刺痕，刺痛感

参考例句：

• She felt a pricking on her scalp. 她感到头皮上被扎了一下。
• Intercostal neuralgia causes paroxysmal burning pain or pricking pain. 肋间神经痛呈阵发性的灼痛或刺痛。