chapter 17

“We can ride together.” It was rush hour, and the subway was packed. Serena found herself jammed between a woman with a huge Daffy's bag and a fat little boy with nothing to hold onto but Serena's coat, which he kept grabbing every time the train lurched forward. Marjorie was holding onto the rail above their heads, but only her fingertips could reach it, and she kept staggering backwards¹, stepping on people's feet.“Don't you think Dan is majorly cute?” Marjorie asked Serena. “I can't wait until we start filming. I'll get to hang out with him every day!” Serena smiled. Obviously Marjorie thought she'd gotten the part, which was a little sad, because Serena was absolutely sure that she had the part. She had totally nailed it. Serena imagined getting to know Dan. She wondered which school he went to. He had dark, haunting eyes, and he said his lines like he meant them. She liked that. They'd have to practice quite a bit together after school. She wondered if he liked to go out, and what he liked to drink. The train came to a sudden stop at Fifty-ninth Street and Lexington–Bloomingdale's. Serena fell forward onto the little boy. “Ouch,” he said, glaring up at her. “This is my stop,” Marjorie said, pushing her way to the door. “Sorry if you didn't get the part. I'll see you at school tomorrow.” “Good luck!” Serena called. The subway car emptied out and she slid into a seat, her mind still on Dan. She imagined drinking Irish coffees with him in dark cafés and discussing Russian literature. Dan looked like he read a lot. He could give her books to read and help her with her acting². Maybe they'd even become friends. She could use some new ones. Disclaimer: All the real names of places, people, and events have been altered or abbreviated³ to protect the innocent. Namely, me. hey people! I was in an interschool play once. I had one great line: “Iceberg!” Guess which play I was in and what I was dressed as? The one hundredth person to get it right will win a free Remi brothers poster.But enough about me. S'S MODELING DEBUT⁴! Be on the lookout⁵ this weekend for the cool new poster decorating the sides of buses, the insides of subways, the tops of taxis, and available online through yours truly (I'm telling you, I'm connected). It's a great big picture of S–not her face, but it has her name on it so you'll know it's her. Congratulations to S on her modeling debut! SIGHTINGS B , K , and I all in 3 Guys eating fries and hot chocolates with big fat Intermix bags under the table. Don't those girls have anywhere else to go? And we thought they were always out boozing it up and partying down. So disappointing. I did see B slip a few splashes of brandy into her hot chocolate, though. Good girl. Also saw that same wigged⁶ girl going into the STD clinic downtown. If that is S , she's definitely got a bad case of the nasties. Oh, and in case you're wondering why I frequent the neighborhood of the STD clinic–I get my hair cut at a very trendy salon⁷ across the street. Your E-mail dear gossip girl, are u really even a girl? u seem like the type 2 pretend to be a girl when u'r really a 50-yrs-old bored journalist with nothing better 2 do than to harsh on kids like me. loser. –jdwack Dearest Jdwack, I'm the girliest girl you'd ever want to meet. And I'm pre-college, pre-voting age, too. How do I know you're not some fifty-year-old bitter dude with boils on your face taking his inner angst out on innocent girls like me? –GG Dear GG, I loooove your column so much I showed it to my Dad, who totally loved it!! He has friends who work at Paper and the Village Voice and other magazines. Don't be surprised if your column gets much, much bigger!! I hope you don't mind!!! Love always!!! –JNYHY Mind? No way. I'm all about being big. I'm going to be huge. No more crappy one-line parts in interschool plays for me. You might even see me on the side of a bus sometime soon. Bring it on! You know you love me, dissed at recess⁸ “Yum,” Serena said, eyeing the cookies laid out on a table in the Constance lunchroom. Peanut butter cream, chocolate chip, oatmeal. Next to the cookies were plastic cups full of orange juice or milk. A lunch lady was monitoring the cookies, making sure each girl took only two. This was recess, the daily twenty-minute break Constance gave its girls after second period, no matter what grade they were in. When the lunch lady's head was turned, Serena grabbed six peanut butter creams and glided⁹ away to stuff her face. It wasn't exactly a healthy breakfast, but it would have to do. She'd stayed up late the night before trying to read her father's leather-bound edition of War and Peace so she'd be better prepared for Vanessa's film. Whoa, War and Peace is like, two million pages long. Ever heard of CliffsNotes? Serena saw Vanessa, wearing her usual black turtleneck and bored expression, coming out of the cafeteria kitchen with a cup of tea in her hand. Serena waved a cookie at her, and Vanessa came over. “Hi,” Serena said cheerfully. “Made up your mind yet?” Vanessa sipped¹⁰ her tea. She'd been up half the night trying to decide between Serena and Marjorie for the part. But she couldn't get the look on Dan's face when he read with Serena out of her head. And no matter how good Serena was, she never wanted to see that look on Dan's face again. She certainly didn't want to capture it on film. “Actually, yes. I haven't told Marjorie yet,” Vanessa said calmly, “but I'm giving her the part.” Serena dropped the cookie she was eating on the floor, stunned¹¹. “Oh,” she said. “Yeah,” said Vanessa, scrambling¹² for a decent reason why she was using Marjorie when Serena was obviously perfect for the part. “Marjorie's really rough and innocent. That's what I'm looking for. Dan and I thought your performance was just a bit too . . . um . . . polished.” “Oh,” Serena said again. She could hardly believe it. Even Dan had vetoed her? She had thought they were going to be friends. “Sorry,” Vanessa said, feeling slightly bad. She knew she shouldn't have brought Dan into it; he didn't even know she was turning Serena down. But it sounded more professional that way. Like it wasn't anything she had against Serena personally, not at all. It was strictly¹³ a business decision. “You're a good actress though,” she added. “Don't be discouraged.” “Thanks,” Serena said. Now she wasn't going to hang out with Dan and practice their lines like she'd imagined. And what was she going to tell Ms. Glos? She still didn't have any extracurriculars, and no halfway¹⁴ decent college was going to want her. Vanessa walked away, looking for Marjorie so she could tell her the good news. She was going to have to change the entire film now that Marjorie was her star. It would have to be a comedy. But at least she had saved herself from making Endless Love in the Park After Dark, starring Serena van der Woodsen and Daniel Humphrey. Blech. Serena stood in the corner of the cafeteria, the remaining cookies crumbling¹⁵ in her hand. Gone With the Wind was a total cheese-fest, and she was too polished for War and Peace. What else could she do? She chewed on her thumbnail, deep in thought. Maybe she could make a movie of her own. Blair took film–she could help. When they were younger they'd always talked about making movies. Blair was always going to be the star, wearing cool Givenchy outfits¹⁶ like Audrey Hepburn, except Blair preferred Fendi. And Serena always wanted to direct. She would wear floppy¹⁷ linen¹⁸ pants and shout through a bullhorn and sit in a chair with the word “director” on it. This was their chance. “Blair,” Serena nearly shouted when she saw Blair by the milk table. She rushed over to her, overcome by the brilliance¹⁹ of her idea.

1 backwards   

adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地

参考例句：

• He turned on the light and began to pace backwards and forwards.他打开电灯并开始走来走去。
• All the girls fell over backwards to get the party ready.姑娘们迫不及待地为聚会做准备。

2 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

3 abbreviated   

adj. 简短的，省略的 动词abbreviate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He abbreviated so much that it was hard to understand his article. 他的文章缩写词使用太多，令人费解。
• The United States of America is commonly abbreviated to U.S.A.. 美利坚合众国常被缩略为U.S.A.。

4 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

5 lookout   

n.注意，前途，瞭望台

参考例句：

• You can see everything around from the lookout.从了望台上你可以看清周围的一切。
• It's a bad lookout for the company if interest rates don't come down.如果利率降不下来，公司的前景可就不妙了。

6 wigged   

adj.戴假发的

参考例句：

• I have wigged him well. 我已给他装好了假发。 来自辞典例句
• He wigged me for being late. 他因我来迟而责骂我。 来自辞典例句

7 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。

8 recess   

n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处）

参考例句：

• The chairman of the meeting announced a ten-minute recess.会议主席宣布休会10分钟。
• Parliament was hastily recalled from recess.休会的议员被匆匆召回开会。

9 glided   

v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔

参考例句：

• The President's motorcade glided by. 总统的车队一溜烟开了过去。
• They glided along the wall until they were out of sight. 他们沿着墙壁溜得无影无踪。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 sipped   

v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He sipped his coffee pleasurably. 他怡然地品味着咖啡。
• I sipped the hot chocolate she had made. 我小口喝着她调制的巧克力热饮。 来自辞典例句

11 stunned   

adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The fall stunned me for a moment. 那一下摔得我昏迷了片刻。
• The leaders of the Kopper Company were then stunned speechless. 科伯公司的领导们当时被惊得目瞪口呆。

12 scrambling   

v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Scrambling up her hair, she darted out of the house. 她匆忙扎起头发，冲出房去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• She is scrambling eggs. 她正在炒蛋。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 strictly   

adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地

参考例句：

• His doctor is dieting him strictly.他的医生严格规定他的饮食。
• The guests were seated strictly in order of precedence.客人严格按照地位高低就座。

14 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。

15 crumbling   

adj.摇摇欲坠的

参考例句：

• an old house with crumbling plaster and a leaking roof 一所灰泥剥落、屋顶漏水的老房子
• The boat was tied up alongside a crumbling limestone jetty. 这条船停泊在一个摇摇欲坠的石灰岩码头边。

16 outfits   

n.全套装备( outfit的名词复数 )；一套服装；集体；组织v.装备，配置设备，供给服装( outfit的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He jobbed out the contract to a number of small outfits. 他把承包工程分包给许多小单位。 来自辞典例句
• Some cyclists carry repair outfits because they may have a puncture. 有些骑自行车的人带修理工具，因为他们车胎可能小孔。 来自辞典例句

17 floppy   

adj.松软的，衰弱的

参考例句：

• She was wearing a big floppy hat.她戴了顶松软的大帽子。
• Can you copy those files onto this floppy disk?你能把那些文件复制到这张软盘上吗？

18 linen   

n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的

参考例句：

• The worker is starching the linen.这名工人正在给亚麻布上浆。
• Fine linen and cotton fabrics were known as well as wool.精细的亚麻织品和棉织品像羊毛一样闻名遐迩。

19 brilliance   

n.光辉，辉煌，壮丽，（卓越的）才华，才智

参考例句：

• I was totally amazed by the brilliance of her paintings.她的绘画才能令我惊歎不已。
• The gorgeous costume added to the brilliance of the dance.华丽的服装使舞蹈更加光彩夺目。