Chapter 41

And then it wasn’t just a way to pass the time: I was wanting to tell him something about what was happening, to wake him up and tell him to take advantage, dammit! Even if it meant popping him in the nose like the guy in Rocky Ford². So I repeated, “Forty thousand feet!” He nodded at me again.) Lee begins to wonder if Hank is going to bring up the subject of choker-setting at all. (I’m a long ways from convinced by that nod, but I go on anyway: “Forty thousand feet!” and hoped; this time he nods like he gets the picture and I go on . . .) “Anyhow...you get to where it’s eighteen inches around and man, here comes the ride. Feel this breeze? Not so much down here, is it? But up there you’re weaving around like a drunk man. You lash³ yourself on with a couple loops of slack and go to work with the short saw. Zsh zsh zsh... till you feel it start to crack...start to pull ... eck, eckkk....Okay, now, see if you can get this: as that thirty-so feet of top above you cracks and leans, it bends the tree with it . . . till you’re leaned out, oh god, I don’t know, maybe fifteen degrees off vertical⁴ is all it is but it feels like you’re bent⁵ clean parallel with the ground! And when that top finally busts⁶ loose, whosh, back you come! And that tree waves you around up there like a football pennant⁸.” (I still knew he wasn’t getting any notion of it—the feeling, the charge a man gets rigging a tree . . .) Lee tries to step into the pause, starting to say something about his own particular morning in the woods. “I could have used a little of that wind down here. ...Look.” He pulls his soaked shirt from his chest with a thumb and finger. “You wouldn’t have thought a Yale man had this much juice in him, would you? God. Whoever that fellow on the other choke chain was, he gave me quite a workout.” And glances hopefully up at his brother . . . (So I ask myself: how can I show him? how can I give him some notion? how can I snap him outa that fog without getting in some hassle with him?) When Hank makes no comment Lee lifts a pant leg to show a lump on his shin like a blue egg. He touches it with his fingers, grimacing⁹ broadly. “There was a moment, just after I acquired this little gem¹⁰, when I’ll have to admit I was just the teeniest bit tempted¹¹ to chuck the whole business, chain and all, and let him have it. ‘You’ve managed to break your leg,’ I said to myself. ‘Do you want to try for a compound fracture just to keep ahead of that other fellow?’ Owee—” He blows on the wound. “Wowee, I’ll bet that’s a pretty color tonight. . . . See?” “What?” “Here...” His attention drawn¹², Hank acknowledges the bruise¹³ with a preoccupied¹⁴ grin, but says nothing; the jay calls distractedly as Lee inspects the bruise on his shin . . . When the day was half over I was sincerely a little proud of my stamina¹⁵, and actually expecting Brother Hank to give some small praise. Then suddenly Hank looks up from Lee’s leg, snapping his fingers. (And then it came to me...) “Hey! I’ll show you want I mean, bub; look here.” (I hold out both my hands for him to see. As usual after topping I was all bunged to hell, raw and bleeding, and the gimp hand was swole across the knuckles¹⁶ like a piece of raw corned beef.) “See? that’s what I mean: I was for chrissakes halfthe-damn-way up that sonofabitch before I remember, sonofagun! no gloves! Halfway¹⁷ up. See what I’m drivin’ at, now?” Lee lets the pant leg drop and stares at the extended hands. The nausea¹⁸ that he felt after the noon whistle clamps again on his full stomach, but he fights it back. But quite the opposite of praise, I received a rundown of all the extra jobs Hank had completed while waiting for me to catch up . . . “You see what I’m driving at, bub?” Hank repeats his question and Lee forces himself to meet his brother’s eyes. “Yes, I believe I see what you’re driving at,” he answers, trying to keep the burning in his nose and throat from coming through in his voice. (And when I ask him that he looks up at me really for the first  time since he’s come home and says, “Yes, I see.” And for the first time since he’s come home I think by god we’re getting someplace. I think, He ain’t completely lost to us, after all. College or no, we can still find ways of making contact. I think, Yessir! we still got a lot going. Joby and Jan was full of beans. Me and the kid’s gonna hit it off just fine.) And the folly¹⁹ of my first half-day swept over me: He’ll always be running ahead for me to catch up. He keeps changing the rules for the run, or the run itself. He’s either running twelve years ahead of me, or the other direction, or claiming to be in a different race from what I am altogether. He challenges me to setting chokers, then after I’ve half killed myself informs me that he’s been climbing trees. ...He will never give me the chance! The whistle on the donkey shrills²⁰ a quick shave-and-a-haircut, and Hank takes his watch from his pocket. “Hell. It’s goin’ on two. We farted away an hour.” He cups his hands to his mouth and shouts joyously²¹ toward the spar, “What say, Jooobee . . . ?” Joe Ben answered with shave-and-a-haircut on his whistle. Hank laughs. “That Joe . . .” He screws the lid back onto the Thermos²². He scratches at his chin to hide a smile... (That’s what I thought. But then something happened. I asked the boy, “Well-sir, bub...what do you think after a few hours on the end of a choker chain?”) Lee has averted²³ his face and is folding the rest of his candy carefully up in its foil. “I think,” he says thickly, “it probably ranks with the cleaning of King Augeas’ stables. I think dragging that ridiculous cable through berry bushes and thorn thickets²⁴ is probably one of the most miserable²⁵, most tiring, most demanding and and and least rewarding jobs offered on this fucking earth if you want to know what I think of choker-setting!” (And what he answered was, “You can take choker-setting and the whole business and shove it up your ass¹!”) They stood, with Lee’s words still shaking the air between them; Hank squinting²⁶ and taken aback momentarily; Lee trembling with outrage²⁷ and trying to clean his glasses on his sweat shirt. And the jay, inspired by Lee’s invective²⁸, it seems, screeches²⁹ louder than ever from a scrub cedar³⁰ not far away. (So there you go. Just when I thought we were in good shape. I just couldn’t figure it. Well, Hank old sport, I say to myself, this’ll give you something to puzzle over the second half of the day. And I headed on back to my rigging, leaving diplomacy³¹ to somebody else.) When the jay stops Lee raises his glasses and looks through them at his brother. “And that,” he says with a shrug³², “is what I think of your wonderful logging.” Hank smiles slightly, studying the tall boy before him. “Okay, bub, okeedoke. So now I’ll tell you something. . . .” He takes his cigarettes from his pocket and places one between his lips. “Did you know that every woods-worker who ever barked a shin or broke a finger agrees with you?—when it comes right down to the nuts of it—agrees with you to a T? That it’s one dirty, tough, miserable way to live. That it’s about as dangerous a way to make your bacon as you can find. That sometimes you’d be better off chuckin’ the whole scene and just flopping³³ down on the ground.” “Then what possible reason—” “Lee, I just gave you my reason. With that riggin’ story. Or as close as I can come to it. And my reason is pretty nearly Joe Ben’s reason or Andy’s or even that bastard³⁴ Les Gibbons’. What I was just studyin’ about, though, bub . . .” he pushes the last of the scraps³⁵ down into the sack and tosses the sack away down the hill “. . . was just what Leland Stamper’s reason might be?”—hitches his pants and starts away up the slope, leaving the question dangling³⁶ in front of Lee. “Let’s go, you coons!” he calls across the distance toward the men around the crummy, clapping his hands together. “If we don’t get him this round, we’ll get him the next!” And Joe’s radio answers with: Mister engineer take that throttle³⁷ in hand ’Cause this rattler’s the fastest in all the land, So keep movin’ on . . . The boy again watches him disappear over the southern ridge³⁸ into the veil of green needles. The jay calls incessantly³⁹ from the cedar, in a voice as coarse and dry as the afternoon heat. Lee cleans his glasses again: have to get my regular ones fixed⁴⁰. He doesn’t move from his stump⁴¹ until he hears the other boy toot the take-it-away signal; then he sighs, stands, and walks stiffly to his cable, without even a look in the direction of the other choker-setter. Screw him up there, whoever he is, blowing that damned whistle; he can bust⁷ his blood vessels⁴² if he is so inclined. I’m just going to make it through the day. That’s all. Just make it through the day. Even so, even though I coasted from noon on, that first day still came about as close to undoing⁴³ me completely, both physically⁴⁴ and mentally, as any day had in almost a week. I didn’t comprehend how devastating⁴⁵ it had actually been until it was nearly over, until we had returned to the carrier and reversed our up-river process and arrived back at the house—under a sky as dark as the one that had bade us farewell that morning—and I had struggled up the stairs to my room. And bed. A sight even more welcome than it had been the day before. If the days progress in this fashion, I advised myself, I would do well to attend to whatever I have in mind before the end of the week, because I’ll never last another. Lee lies on his bed, panting. Outside the silver chatter⁴⁶ of stars anticipates the moon’s arrival. Hank finishes securing the boat for the night and walks into the house. There is no one to be seen but the old man, seated before the television with his cast extended before him on a hassock. “You here by yourself?” Hanks asks. Henry doesn’t turn his gaze from the flickering⁴⁷ Western before him.

1 ass   

n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人

参考例句：

• He is not an ass as they make him.他不象大家猜想的那样笨。
• An ass endures his burden but not more than his burden.驴能负重但不能超过它能力所负担的。

2 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

3 lash   

v.系牢；鞭打；猛烈抨击；n.鞭打；眼睫毛

参考例句：

• He received a lash of her hand on his cheek.他突然被她打了一记耳光。
• With a lash of its tail the tiger leaped at her.老虎把尾巴一甩朝她扑过来。

4 vertical   

adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置

参考例句：

• The northern side of the mountain is almost vertical.这座山的北坡几乎是垂直的。
• Vertical air motions are not measured by this system.垂直气流的运动不用这种系统来测量。

5 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

6 busts   

半身雕塑像( bust的名词复数 )； 妇女的胸部； 胸围； 突击搜捕

参考例句：

• Dey bags swells up and busts. 那奶袋快胀破了。
• Marble busts all looked like a cemetery. 大理石的半身象，简直就象是坟山。

7 bust   

vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部

参考例句：

• I dropped my camera on the pavement and bust it. 我把照相机掉在人行道上摔坏了。
• She has worked up a lump of clay into a bust.她把一块黏土精心制作成一个半身像。

8 pennant   

n.三角旗；锦标旗

参考例句：

• The second car was flying the Ghanaian pennant.第二辆车插着加纳的三角旗。
• The revitalized team came from the cellar to win the pennant.该队重整旗鼓，从最后一名一跃而赢得冠军奖旗。

9 grimacing   

v.扮鬼相，做鬼脸( grimace的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• But then Boozer drove past Gasol for a rattling, grimacing slam dunk. 可布泽尔单吃家嫂，以一记强有力的扣篮将比分超出。 来自互联网
• The martyrdom of Archbishop Cranmer, said the don at last, grimacing with embarrassment. 最后那位老师尴尬地做个鬼脸，说，这是大主教克莱默的殉道士。 来自互联网

10 gem   

n.宝石，珠宝；受爱戴的人 [同]jewel

参考例句：

• The gem is beyond my pocket.这颗宝石我可买不起。
• The little gem is worth two thousand dollars.这块小宝石价值两千美元。

11 tempted   

v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词）

参考例句：

• I was sorely tempted to complain, but I didn't. 我极想发牢骚，但还是没开口。
• I was tempted by the dessert menu. 甜食菜单馋得我垂涎欲滴。

12 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

13 bruise   

n.青肿，挫伤；伤痕；vt.打青；挫伤

参考例句：

• The bruise was caused by a kick.这伤痕是脚踢的。
• Jack fell down yesterday and got a big bruise on his face.杰克昨天摔了一跤，脸上摔出老大一块淤斑。

14 preoccupied   

adj.全神贯注的，入神的；被抢先占有的；心事重重的v.占据（某人）思想，使对…全神贯注，使专心于( preoccupy的过去式)

参考例句：

• He was too preoccupied with his own thoughts to notice anything wrong. 他只顾想着心事，没注意到有什么不对。
• The question of going to the Mount Tai preoccupied his mind. 去游泰山的问题盘踞在他心头。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 stamina   

n.体力；精力；耐力

参考例句：

• I lacked the stamina to run the whole length of the race.我没有跑完全程的耐力。
• Giving up smoking had a magical effect on his stamina.戒烟神奇地增强了他的体力。

16 knuckles   

n.（指人）指关节( knuckle的名词复数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝v.（指人）指关节( knuckle的第三人称单数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝

参考例句：

• He gripped the wheel until his knuckles whitened. 他紧紧握住方向盘，握得指关节都变白了。
• Her thin hands were twisted by swollen knuckles. 她那双纤手因肿大的指关节而变了形。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 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。

18 nausea   

n.作呕，恶心；极端的憎恶(或厌恶)

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕期常有恶心的现象。
• He experienced nausea after eating octopus.吃了章鱼后他感到恶心。

19 folly   

n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话

参考例句：

• Learn wisdom by the folly of others.从别人的愚蠢行动中学到智慧。
• Events proved the folly of such calculations.事情的进展证明了这种估计是愚蠢的。

20 shrills   

（声音）尖锐的，刺耳的，高频率的( shrill的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The locust shrills his song of heat. 蝉儿唱出炎热季节的欢歌。

21 joyously   

ad.快乐地, 高兴地

参考例句：

• She opened the door for me and threw herself in my arms, screaming joyously and demanding that we decorate the tree immediately. 她打开门，直扑我的怀抱，欣喜地喊叫着要马上装饰圣诞树。
• They came running, crying out joyously in trilling girlish voices. 她们边跑边喊，那少女的颤音好不欢快。 来自名作英译部分

22 thermos   

n.保湿瓶，热水瓶

参考例句：

• Can I borrow your thermos?我可以借用你的暖水瓶吗？
• It's handy to have the thermos here.暖瓶放在这儿好拿。

23 averted   

防止，避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 )； 转移

参考例句：

• A disaster was narrowly averted. 及时防止了一场灾难。
• Thanks to her skilful handling of the affair, the problem was averted. 多亏她对事情处理得巧妙，才避免了麻烦。

24 thickets   

n.灌木丛( thicket的名词复数 )；丛状物

参考例句：

• Small trees became thinly scattered among less dense thickets. 小树稀稀朗朗地立在树林里。 来自辞典例句
• The entire surface is covered with dense thickets. 所有的地面盖满了密密层层的灌木丛。 来自辞典例句

25 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

26 squinting   

斜视( squint的现在分词 )； 眯着眼睛； 瞟； 从小孔或缝隙里看

参考例句：

• "More company," he said, squinting in the sun. "那边来人了，"他在阳光中眨巴着眼睛说。
• Squinting against the morning sun, Faulcon examined the boy carefully. 对着早晨的太阳斜起眼睛，富尔康仔细地打量着那个年轻人。

27 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

28 invective   

n.痛骂，恶意抨击

参考例句：

• He retorted the invective on her.他用恶言讽刺还击她。
• His command of irony and invective was said to be very classic and lethal.据说他嬉笑怒骂的本领是极其杰出的，令人无法招架的。

29 screeches   

n.尖锐的声音( screech的名词复数 )v.发出尖叫声( screech的第三人称单数 )；发出粗而刺耳的声音；高叫

参考例句：

• The boy's screeches brought his mother. 男孩的尖叫声招来了他母亲。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The woman's screeches brought the police. 这个妇女的尖叫声招来了警察。 来自辞典例句

30 cedar   

n.雪松，香柏(木)

参考例句：

• The cedar was about five feet high and very shapely.那棵雪松约有五尺高,风姿优美。
• She struck the snow from the branches of an old cedar with gray lichen.她把长有灰色地衣的老雪松树枝上的雪打了下来。

31 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

32 shrug   

v.耸肩(表示怀疑、冷漠、不知等)

参考例句：

• With a shrug,he went out of the room.他耸一下肩，走出了房间。
• I admire the way she is able to shrug off unfair criticism.我很佩服她能对错误的批评意见不予理会。

33 flopping   

n.贬调v.（指书、戏剧等）彻底失败( flop的现在分词 )；（因疲惫而）猛然坐下；（笨拙地、不由自主地或松弛地）移动或落下；砸锅

参考例句：

• The fish are still flopping about. 鱼还在扑腾。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• What do you mean by flopping yourself down and praying agin me?' 咚一声跪下地来咒我，你这是什么意思” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

34 bastard   

n.坏蛋，混蛋；私生子

参考例句：

• He was never concerned about being born a bastard.他从不介意自己是私生子。
• There was supposed to be no way to get at the bastard.据说没有办法买通那个混蛋。

35 scraps   

油渣

参考例句：

• Don't litter up the floor with scraps of paper. 不要在地板上乱扔纸屑。
• A patchwork quilt is a good way of using up scraps of material. 做杂拼花布棉被是利用零碎布料的好办法。

36 dangling   

悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口

参考例句：

• The tooth hung dangling by the bedpost, now. 结果，那颗牙就晃来晃去吊在床柱上了。
• The children sat on the high wall,their legs dangling. 孩子们坐在一堵高墙上，摇晃着他们的双腿。

37 throttle   

n.节流阀，节气阀，喉咙；v.扼喉咙，使窒息，压

参考例句：

• These government restrictions are going to throttle our trade.这些政府的限制将要扼杀我们的贸易。
• High tariffs throttle trade between countries.高的关税抑制了国与国之间的贸易。

38 ridge   

n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭

参考例句：

• We clambered up the hillside to the ridge above.我们沿着山坡费力地爬上了山脊。
• The infantry were advancing to attack the ridge.步兵部队正在向前挺进攻打山脊。

39 incessantly   

ad.不停地

参考例句：

• The machines roar incessantly during the hours of daylight. 机器在白天隆隆地响个不停。
• It rained incessantly for the whole two weeks. 雨不间断地下了整整两个星期。

40 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

41 stump   

n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走

参考例句：

• He went on the stump in his home state.他到故乡所在的州去发表演说。
• He used the stump as a table.他把树桩用作桌子。

42 vessels   

n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人

参考例句：

• The river is navigable by vessels of up to 90 tons. 90 吨以下的船只可以从这条河通过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All modern vessels of any size are fitted with radar installations. 所有现代化船只都有雷达装置。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

43 undoing   

n.毁灭的原因，祸根；破坏，毁灭

参考例句：

• That one mistake was his undoing. 他一失足即成千古恨。
• This hard attitude may have led to his undoing. 可能就是这种强硬的态度导致了他的垮台。

44 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

45 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

46 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。

47 flickering   

adj.闪烁的，摇曳的，一闪一闪的

参考例句：

• The crisp autumn wind is flickering away. 清爽的秋风正在吹拂。
• The lights keep flickering. 灯光忽明忽暗。