Chapter 8

It had taken all summer, and the hymnals were beautiful. In three years the Pratt Institute of Art and Design would be knocking her door down. Still, Jenny felt sick with embarrassment² every time they used the hymnals, which was why she couldn't sing out loud. To sing aloud seemed like an act of bravado³, as if she were saying, “Look at me, I'm singing along to the hymnals I made! Aren't I cool?” Jenny preferred to be invisible. She was a curly-haired, tiny little freshman⁴, so invisible wasn't a hard thing to be. Actually, it would have been easier if her boobs weren't so incredibly huge. At fourteen, she was a 34D. Can you imagine? “Hark the heavenly host proclaims, ?Christ i-is born in Beth-le-hem!” Jenny was standing⁵ at the end of a row of folding chairs, next to the big auditorium⁶ windows overlooking Ninety-third Street. suddenly a movement out on the street caught her eye. Blond hair flying. Burberry plaid coat. Scuffed⁷ brown suede⁸ boots. New maroon⁹ uniform–odd choice, but she made it work. It looked like . . . it couldn't be . . . could it possibly . . . No! . . . Was it? Yes, it was. A moment later Serena van der Woodsen pushed open the heavy wooden door of the auditorium and stood in front of it, looking for her class. She was out of breath and her hair was windblown. Her cheeks were rosy¹⁰ and her eyes were bright from running the twelve blocks up Fifth Avenue to school. She looked even more perfect than Jenny had remembered. “Oh. My. God,” Rain whispered to Kati in the back of the room. “Did she like, pick up her clothes at a homeless shelter on the way here?” “She didn't even brush her hair,” Isabel giggled¹¹. “I wonder where she slept last night.” Mrs. Weeds ended the hymn¹ with a crashing chord. Mrs. M cleared her throat. “And now, a moment of silence for those less fortunate than we are. Especially for the Native Americans that were slaughtered¹² in the founding of this country, of whom we ask no hard feelings for celebrating Columbus Day yesterday,” she said. The room fell silent. Well, almost. “Look, see how Serena's resting her hands on her stomach? She's probably pregnant,” Isabel Coates whispered to Rain Hoffstetter. “You only do that when you're pregnant.” “She could have had an abortion¹³ this morning. Maybe that's why she's late,” Rain whispered back. “My father gives money to Phoenix¹⁴ House,” Kati told Laura Salmon¹⁵. “I'm going to find out if Serena's been there. I bet that's why she came back halfway¹⁶ through term. She's been in rehab.” “I hear they're doing this thing in boarding school where they mix Comet and cinnamon and instant coffee and snort it. It's like speed, but it makes your skin turn green if you do it too long,” Nicki Button piped up. “You go blind, and then you die.” Blair caught snippets of her friends' chatter¹⁷, and it made her smile. Mrs. M turned to nod at Serena. “Girls, I'd like you all to welcome back our old friend Serena van der Woodsen. Serena will be rejoining the senior class today.” Mrs. M smiled. “Why don't you find a seat, Serena?” Serena walked lightly down the center aisle¹⁸ of the auditorium and sat down in an empty chair next to a chronic¹⁹ nose-picking second grader named Lisa Sykes. Jenny could hardly contain herself. Serena van der Woodsen! She was there, in the same room, only a few feet away. So real. And so mature-looking now. I wonder how many times she's done it, Jenny wondered to herself. She imagined Serena and a blond Hanover boy leaning against the trunk of a big old tree, his coat wrapped around both of them. Serena had had to sneak²⁰ out of her dorm without a coat. She was very cold, and she got tree sap in her hair, but it was worth it. Then Jenny pictured Serena and another imaginary boy on a ski lift. The ski lift got stuck and Serena climbed into the boy's lap to get warm. They began to kiss and they couldn't stop themselves. By the time they were done, the ski lift had started again and their skis were all tangled²¹ up, so they stayed on the chair and rode it downhill and did it again. How cool, Jenny thought. Hands down, Serena van der Woodsen was absolutely the coolest girl in the entire world. Definitely cooler than any of the other seniors. And how cool to come in late, in the middle of the term, looking like that. No matter how rich and fabulous²² you are, boarding school does have a way of making you look like a homeless person. A glamorous²³ one, in Serena's case. She hadn't had a haircut in over a year. Last night she'd worn it pulled back, but today it was down and looking pretty shaggy. Her boy's white oxford²⁴ shirt was frayed²⁵ in the collar and cuffs²⁶, and through it, her purple lace bra was visible. On her feet was her favorite pair of brown lace-up boots, and her black stockings had a big hole behind one knee. Worst of all, she'd had to buy all new uniforms, since she'd thrown hers down the garbage chute when she'd gone away to boarding school. Her new uniform was what stuck out the most. The new uniforms were the plague of the sixth grade, which was the year Constance girls graduated from a tunic²⁷ to a skirt. The new skirts were made out of polyester and had pleats that were unnaturally²⁸ rigid²⁹. The material had a terrible, tacky sheen and came in a new color: maroon. It was hideous³⁰. And it was this maroon uniform that Serena had chosen to wear on her first day back at Constance. Plus, hers came all the way down to her knees! All of the other seniors were wearing the same old navy blue wool skirts they'd been wearing since sixth grade. They'd grown so much their skirts were extremely short. The shorter the skirt, the cooler the girl. Blair actually hadn't grown that much, so she'd secretly had hers shortened. “What the fuck is she wearing, anyway?” Kati Farkas hissed³¹. “Maybe she thinks the maroon looks like Prada or something,” Laura sniggered back. “I think she's trying to make some kind of statement,” Isabel whispered. “Like, look at me, I'm Serena, I'm beautiful, I can wear whatever I want.” And she can, Blair thought. That was one of the things that always infuriated her about Serena. She looked good in anything. But never mind how Serena looked. What Jenny and every other person in the room wanted to know was: Why is she back? They craned their necks to see. Did she have a black eye? Was she pregnant? Did she look stoned? Did she have all her teeth? Was there anything different about her at all? “Is that a scar on her cheek?” Rain whispered. “She was knifed one night dealing³² drugs,” Kati whispered back. “I heard she had plastic surgery in Europe this summer, but they didn't do a very good job.” Mrs. McLean was reading out loud now. Serena sat back in her chair, crossed her legs, and closed her eyes, basking³³ in the old familiar feeling of sitting in this room full of girls, listening to Mrs. M's voice. She didn't know why she'd been so nervous that morning before school. She'd overslept and gotten dressed in five minutes, ripping a hole in her black stocking with a jagged toenail. She'd chosen her brother Erik's frayed old shirt because it smelled like him. Erik had gone to the same boarding school as Serena, but now he was away at college, and she missed him terribly. Just as she was leaving the apartment, her mother caught sight of her and would have made her change her clothes if Serena hadn't been so late. “This weekend,” her mother said, “we're going shopping, and I'm taking you to my salon³⁴. You can't go around looking like that here, Serena. I don't care how they let you dress in boarding school.” Then she kissed her daughter on the cheek and went back to bed. “Oh my God, I think she's asleep,” Kati whispered to Laura. “Maybe she's just tired,” Laura whispered back. “I heard she got kicked out for sleeping with every boy on campus. There were notches³⁵ in the wall above her bed. Her roommate told on her, that's the only way they found out.” “Plus, all those late-night chicken dances,” Isabel added, sending the girls into a giggling³⁶ frenzy³⁷. Blair bit her lip, fighting back the laughter. It was just too funny. s 's other fan If Jenny Humphrey could have heard what the girls in the senior class were saying about Serena van der Woodsen, her idol³⁸, she would have punched their lights out. The minute Prayers was dismissed, Jenny pushed past her classmates and darted³⁹ out into the hallway to make a phone call. Her brother Daniel was going to totally lose his shit when she told him.“Hello?” Daniel Humphrey answered his cell phone on the third ring. He was standing on the corner of Seventy-seventh Street and West End Avenue, outside Riverside Prep, smoking a cigarette. He squinted⁴⁰ his dark brown eyes, trying to block out the harsh October sunlight. Dan wasn't into sun. He spent most of his free time in his room, reading morbid⁴¹, existentialist poetry about the bitter fate of being human.

1 hymn   

n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌

参考例句：

• They sang a hymn of praise to God.他们唱着圣歌，赞美上帝。
• The choir has sung only two verses of the last hymn.合唱团只唱了最后一首赞美诗的两个段落。

2 embarrassment   

n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫

参考例句：

• She could have died away with embarrassment.她窘迫得要死。
• Coughing at a concert can be a real embarrassment.在音乐会上咳嗽真会使人难堪。

3 bravado   

n.虚张声势，故作勇敢，逞能

参考例句：

• Their behaviour was just sheer bravado. 他们的行为完全是虚张声势。
• He flourished the weapon in an attempt at bravado. 他挥舞武器意在虚张声势。

4 freshman   

n.大学一年级学生(可兼指男女)

参考例句：

• Jack decided to live in during his freshman year at college.杰克决定大一时住校。
• He is a freshman in the show business.他在演艺界是一名新手。

5 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

6 auditorium   

n.观众席，听众席；会堂，礼堂

参考例句：

• The teacher gathered all the pupils in the auditorium.老师把全体同学集合在礼堂内。
• The stage is thrust forward into the auditorium.舞台向前突出，伸入观众席。

7 scuffed   

v.使磨损( scuff的过去式和过去分词 )；拖着脚走

参考例句：

• I scuffed the heel of my shoe on the stonework. 我的鞋跟儿给铺好的石头磨坏了。
• Polly dropped her head and scuffed her feet. 波莉低下头拖着脚走开了。 来自辞典例句

8 suede   

n.表面粗糙的软皮革

参考例句：

• I'm looking for a suede jacket.我想买一件皮制茄克。
• Her newly bought suede shoes look very fashionable.她新买的翻毛皮鞋看上去非常时尚。

9 maroon   

v.困住，使（人）处于孤独无助之境；n.逃亡黑奴；孤立的人；酱紫色，褐红色；adj.酱紫色的，褐红色的

参考例句：

• Five couples were marooned in their caravans when the River Avon broke its banks.埃文河决堤的时候，有5对夫妇被困在了他们的房车里。
• Robinson Crusoe has been marooned on a desert island for 26 years.鲁滨逊在荒岛上被困了26年。

10 rosy   

adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的

参考例句：

• She got a new job and her life looks rosy.她找到一份新工作，生活看上去很美好。
• She always takes a rosy view of life.她总是对生活持乐观态度。

11 giggled   

v.咯咯地笑( giggle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The girls giggled at the joke. 女孩子们让这笑话逗得咯咯笑。
• The children giggled hysterically. 孩子们歇斯底里地傻笑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 slaughtered   

v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The invading army slaughtered a lot of people. 侵略军杀了许多人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Hundreds of innocent civilians were cruelly slaughtered. 数百名无辜平民遭残杀。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

14 phoenix   

n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生

参考例句：

• The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
• The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。

15 salmon   

n.鲑，大马哈鱼，橙红色的

参考例句：

• We saw a salmon jumping in the waterfall there.我们看见一条大马哈鱼在那边瀑布中跳跃。
• Do you have any fresh salmon in at the moment?现在有新鲜大马哈鱼卖吗？

16 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

17 chatter   

vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战

参考例句：

• Her continuous chatter vexes me.她的喋喋不休使我烦透了。
• I've had enough of their continual chatter.我已厌烦了他们喋喋不休的闲谈。

18 aisle   

n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道

参考例句：

• The aisle was crammed with people.过道上挤满了人。
• The girl ushered me along the aisle to my seat.引座小姐带领我沿着通道到我的座位上去。

19 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

20 sneak   

vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行

参考例句：

• He raised his spear and sneak forward.他提起长矛悄悄地前进。
• I saw him sneak away from us.我看见他悄悄地从我们身边走开。

21 tangled   

adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Your hair's so tangled that I can't comb it. 你的头发太乱了，我梳不动。
• A movement caught his eye in the tangled undergrowth. 乱灌木丛里的晃动引起了他的注意。

22 fabulous   

adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的

参考例句：

• We had a fabulous time at the party.我们在晚会上玩得很痛快。
• This is a fabulous sum of money.这是一笔巨款。

23 glamorous   

adj.富有魅力的；美丽动人的；令人向往的

参考例句：

• The south coast is less glamorous but full of clean and attractive hotels.南海岸魅力稍逊，但却有很多干净漂亮的宾馆。
• It is hard work and not a glamorous job as portrayed by the media.这是份苦差，并非像媒体描绘的那般令人向往。

24 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

25 frayed   

adj.磨损的v.（使布、绳等）磨损，磨破( fray的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• His shirt was frayed. 他的衬衫穿破了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The argument frayed their nerves. 争辩使他们不快。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

26 cuffs   

n.袖口( cuff的名词复数 )v.掌打，拳打( cuff的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• a collar and cuffs of white lace 带白色蕾丝花边的衣领和袖口
• The cuffs of his shirt were fraying. 他衬衣的袖口磨破了。

27 tunic   

n.束腰外衣

参考例句：

• The light loose mantle was thrown over his tunic.一件轻质宽大的斗蓬披在上衣外面。
• Your tunic and hose match ill with that jewel,young man.你的外套和裤子跟你那首饰可不相称呢，年轻人。

28 unnaturally   

adv.违反习俗地；不自然地；勉强地；不近人情地

参考例句：

• Her voice sounded unnaturally loud. 她的嗓音很响亮，但是有点反常。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Her eyes were unnaturally bright. 她的眼睛亮得不自然。 来自《简明英汉词典》

29 rigid   

adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的

参考例句：

• She became as rigid as adamant.她变得如顽石般的固执。
• The examination was so rigid that nearly all aspirants were ruled out.考试很严，几乎所有的考生都被淘汰了。

30 hideous   

adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的

参考例句：

• The whole experience had been like some hideous nightmare.整个经历就像一场可怕的噩梦。
• They're not like dogs,they're hideous brutes.它们不像狗，是丑陋的畜牲。

31 hissed   

发嘶嘶声( hiss的过去式和过去分词 )； 发嘘声表示反对

参考例句：

• Have you ever been hissed at in the middle of a speech? 你在演讲中有没有被嘘过？
• The iron hissed as it pressed the wet cloth. 熨斗压在湿布上时发出了嘶嘶声。

32 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

33 basking   

v.晒太阳，取暖( bask的现在分词 )；对…感到乐趣；因他人的功绩而出名；仰仗…的余泽

参考例句：

• We sat basking in the warm sunshine. 我们坐着享受温暖的阳光。
• A colony of seals lay basking in the sun. 一群海豹躺着晒太阳。 来自《简明英汉词典》

34 salon   

n.[法]沙龙；客厅；营业性的高级服务室

参考例句：

• Do you go to the hairdresser or beauty salon more than twice a week?你每周去美容院或美容沙龙多过两次吗？
• You can hear a lot of dirt at a salon.你在沙龙上会听到很多流言蜚语。

35 notches   

n.（边缘或表面上的）V型痕迹( notch的名词复数 )；刻痕；水平；等级

参考例句：

• The Indians cut notches on a stick to keep count of numbers. 印第安人在棒上刻V形凹痕用来计数。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• They cut notches in the handle of their pistol for each man they shot. 他们每杀一个人就在枪托上刻下一个V形记号。 来自辞典例句

36 giggling   

v.咯咯地笑( giggle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• We just sat there giggling like naughty schoolchildren. 我们只是坐在那儿像调皮的小学生一样的咯咯地傻笑。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I can't stand her giggling, she's so silly. 她吃吃地笑，叫我真受不了，那样子傻透了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

37 frenzy   

n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动

参考例句：

• He was able to work the young students up into a frenzy.他能激起青年学生的狂热。
• They were singing in a frenzy of joy.他们欣喜若狂地高声歌唱。

38 idol   

n.偶像，红人，宠儿

参考例句：

• As an only child he was the idol of his parents.作为独子，他是父母的宠儿。
• Blind worship of this idol must be ended.对这个偶像的盲目崇拜应该结束了。

39 darted   

v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔

参考例句：

• The lizard darted out its tongue at the insect. 蜥蜴伸出舌头去吃小昆虫。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The old man was displeased and darted an angry look at me. 老人不高兴了，瞪了我一眼。 来自《简明英汉词典》

40 squinted   

斜视( squint的过去式和过去分词 )； 眯着眼睛； 瞟； 从小孔或缝隙里看

参考例句：

• Pulling his rifle to his shoulder he squinted along the barrel. 他把枪顶肩，眯起眼睛瞄准。
• I squinted through the keyhole. 我从锁眼窥看。

41 morbid   

adj.病的；致病的；病态的；可怕的

参考例句：

• Some people have a morbid fascination with crime.一些人对犯罪有一种病态的痴迷。
• It's morbid to dwell on cemeteries and such like.不厌其烦地谈论墓地以及诸如此类的事是一种病态。