Chapter 16

The candidate’s name was Bianca Rivera and she met allcriteria.
There was one obstacle, to which I would need to devote time.
She noted¹ that she had twice won the state ballroom² dancingchampionship, and required her partner to be an accomplisheddancer. It seemed perfectly³ reasonable for her to have somecriteria of her own, and this one was easy to satisfy. And Ihad the perfect place to take her.
I called Regina, the Dean’s assistant, and confirmed that shewas still selling tickets for the faculty⁴ ball. Then I emailedBianca and invited her as my partner. She accepted! I had adate – the perfect date.
Now I had ten days to learn to dance.
Gene⁵ entered my office as I was practising my dance steps.
‘I think the longevity⁶ statistics were based on marriages to livewomen, Don.’
He was referring to the skeleton I was using for practice. Ihad obtained it on loan from the Anatomy⁷ Department, and noone had asked what I required it for. Judging from the pelvissize, it was almost133/290certainly a male skeleton, but this was irrelevant⁸ for dancingpractice.
I explained its purpose to Gene, pointing out the scene fromthe film Grease that was showing on the wall of my office.
‘So,’ said Gene, ‘Ms Right – sorry, Dr Right, PhD, just poppedinto your inbox.’
‘Her name’s not Wright,’ I said, ‘it’s Rivera.’
‘Photo?’
‘Not necessary. The meeting arrangements are quite precise.
She’s coming to the faculty ball.’
‘Oh shit.’ Gene went silent for a while and I resumed dancingpractice. ‘Don, the faculty ball is Friday after next.’
‘Correct.’
‘You can’t learn to dance in nine days.’
‘Ten. I started yesterday. The steps are trivial to remember. Ijust need to practise the mechanics. They’re considerably⁹ lessdemanding than martial¹⁰ arts.’
I demonstrated a sequence.
‘Very impressive,’ said Gene. ‘Sit down, Don.’
I sat.
‘I hope you’re not too pissed off at me about Rosie,’ he said.
I had almost forgotten. ‘Why didn’t you tell me she was apsychology student? And about the bet?’
‘From what Claudia said, you guys seemed to be having agood time.
I thought if she wasn’t telling you it was for a reason. Shemay be a bit twisted but she’s not stupid.’
‘Perfectly reasonable,’ I said. On matters of human interaction,why argue with a professor of psychology¹¹?
‘I’m glad one of you is all right with it,’ said Gene. ‘I have totell you, Rosie was a little unhappy with me. A little unhappywith life. Listen, Don, I persuaded her to go to the ball. Alone.
If you knew how often134/290Rosie takes my advice, you’d realise what a big deal that was.
I was going to suggest you do the same.’
‘Take your advice?’
‘No, go to the ball – alone. Or invite Rosie as your partner.’
I now saw what Gene was suggesting. Gene is so focused onattraction and sex that he sees it everywhere. This time he wastotally in error.
‘Rosie and I discussed the question of a relationship explicitly¹².
Neither of us is interested.’
‘Since when do women discuss anything explicitly?’ said Gene.
I visited Claudia for some advice on my crucial date withBianca. I assumed that she would be there in her role asGene’s wife, and I advised her that I might require assistanceon the night. It turned out she wasn’t even aware of the ball.
‘Just be yourself, Don. If she doesn’t want you for yourself,then she’s not the right person for you.’
‘I think it’s unlikely that any woman would accept me formyself.’
‘What about Daphne?’ asked Claudia.
It was true – Daphne was unlike the women I had dated. Thiswas excellent therapy; refutation by counter-example. PerhapsBianca would be a younger, dancing, version of Daphne.
‘And what about Rosie?’ asked Claudia.
‘Rosie is totally unsuitable.’
‘I wasn’t asking that,’ said Claudia. ‘Just whether she acceptsyou for yourself.’
I thought about it for a few moments. It was a difficultquestion.
‘I think so. Because she isn’t evaluating me as a partner.’
‘It’s probably good that you feel like that,’ said Claudia.
135/290Feel! Feel, feel, feel! Feelings were disrupting my sense ofwell-being.
In addition to a nagging¹⁴ desire to be working on the FatherProject rather than the Wife Project, I now had a high level ofanxiety related to Bianca.
Throughout my life I have been criticised for a perceived lackof emotion, as if this were some absolute fault. Interactions withpsychiatrists and psychologists – even including Claudia – startfrom the premise¹⁵ that I should be more ‘in touch’ with myemotions. What they really mean is that I should give in tothem. I am perfectly happy to detect, recognise and analyseemotions. This is a useful skill and I would like to be better atit. Occasionally an emotion can be enjoyed –the gratitude¹⁶ I felt for my sister who visited me even duringthe bad times, the primitive¹⁷ feeling of well-being¹³ after a glass ofwine – but we need to be vigilant¹⁸ that emotions do not crippleus.
I diagnosed brain overload¹⁹ and set up a spreadsheet to analysethe situation.
I began by listing the recent disturbances²⁰ to my schedule. Twowere unquestionably positive. Eva, the short-skirted cleaner, wasdoing an excellent job and had freed up considerable time.
Without her, most of the recent additional activities would nothave been possible. And, anxiety notwithstanding, I had my firstfully qualified²² applicant²³ for the Wife Project. I had made adecision that I wanted a partner and for the first time I had aviable candidate. Logic²⁴ dictated²⁵ that the Wife Project, to which Ihad planned to allocate²⁶ most of my free time, should nowreceive maximum attention. Here, I identified Problem NumberOne.
My emotions were not aligned²⁷ with logic. I was reluctant topursue the opportunity.
I did not know whether to list the Father Project as positive ornegative but it had consumed enormous time for zero outcome.
My arguments for pursuing it had always been weak, and Ihad done far more than could reasonably be expected of me.
If Rosie wanted to locate and136/290obtain DNA²⁸ from the remaining candidates, she could do soherself.
She now had substantial practical experience with the collectionprocedure. I could offer to perform the actual tests. Once again,logic and emotion were not in step. I wanted to continue theFather Project.
Why?
It is virtually impossible to make useful comparisons of levels ofhappiness, especially across long periods of time. But if I hadbeen asked to choose the happiest day of my life, I wouldhave nominated, without hesitation²⁹, the first day I spent at theAmerican Museum of Natural History in New York when Itravelled there for a conference during my PhD studies. Thesecond-best day was the second day there, and the third-bestthe third day there. But after recent events, it was not soclear. It was difficult to choose between the Natural HistoryMuseum and the night of cocktail³⁰-making at the golf club.
Should I therefore consider resigning my job and acceptingAmghad’s offer of a partnership³¹ in a cocktail bar? Would I bepermanently happier? The idea seemed ludicrous.
The cause of my confusion was that I was dealing³² with anequation which contained large negative values – most seriouslythe disruption to my schedule – and large positive values – theconsequential enjoyable experiences. My inability to quantifythese factors accurately³³ meant that I could not determine thenet result – negative or positive.
And the margin³⁴ of error was huge. I marked the FatherProject as being of undetermined net value, and ranked it themost serious disturbance²¹.
The last item on my spreadsheet was the immediate³⁵ risk thatmy nervousness and ambivalence³⁶ about the Wife Project wouldimpede my social interaction with Bianca. I was not concernedabout the dancing – I was confident that I could draw on myexperience of preparing for martial-arts competitions, with thesupplementary advantage of an optimum intake³⁷ of alcohol,which for martial arts is not permitted. My137/290concern was more with social faux pas. It would be terrible tolose the perfect relationship because I failed to detect sarcasmor looked into her eyes for greater or less than theconventional period of time. I reassured³⁸ myself that Claudia wasessentially correct: if these things concerned Bianca excessively,she was not the perfect match, and I would at least be in aposition to refine the questionnaire for future use.
I visited a formal costume hire establishment as recommendedby Gene and specified³⁹ maximum formality. I did not want arepeat of the Jacket Incident.

1 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

2 ballroom   

n.舞厅

参考例句：

• The boss of the ballroom excused them the fee.舞厅老板给他们免费。
• I go ballroom dancing twice a week.我一个星期跳两次交际舞。

3 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

4 faculty   

n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员

参考例句：

• He has a great faculty for learning foreign languages.他有学习外语的天赋。
• He has the faculty of saying the right thing at the right time.他有在恰当的时候说恰当的话的才智。

5 gene   

n.遗传因子，基因

参考例句：

• A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
• The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。

6 longevity   

n.长命；长寿

参考例句：

• Good habits promote longevity.良好的习惯能增长寿命。
• Human longevity runs in families.人类的长寿具有家族遗传性。

7 anatomy   

n.解剖学，解剖；功能，结构，组织

参考例句：

• He found out a great deal about the anatomy of animals.在动物解剖学方面，他有过许多发现。
• The hurricane's anatomy was powerful and complex.对飓风的剖析是一项庞大而复杂的工作。

8 irrelevant   

adj.不恰当的，无关系的，不相干的

参考例句：

• That is completely irrelevant to the subject under discussion.这跟讨论的主题完全不相关。
• A question about arithmetic is irrelevant in a music lesson.在音乐课上，一个数学的问题是风马牛不相及的。

9 considerably   

adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上

参考例句：

• The economic situation has changed considerably.经济形势已发生了相当大的变化。
• The gap has narrowed considerably.分歧大大缩小了。

10 martial   

adj.战争的，军事的，尚武的，威武的

参考例句：

• The sound of martial music is always inspiring.军乐声总是鼓舞人心的。
• The officer was convicted of desertion at a court martial.这名军官在军事法庭上被判犯了擅离职守罪。

11 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

12 explicitly   

ad.明确地，显然地

参考例句：

• The plan does not explicitly endorse the private ownership of land. 该计划没有明确地支持土地私有制。
• SARA amended section 113 to provide explicitly for a right to contribution. 《最高基金修正与再授权法案》修正了第123条，清楚地规定了分配权。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

13 well-being   

n.安康，安乐，幸福

参考例句：

• He always has the well-being of the masses at heart.他总是把群众的疾苦挂在心上。
• My concern for their well-being was misunderstood as interference.我关心他们的幸福，却被误解为多管闲事。

14 nagging   

adj.唠叨的，挑剔的；使人不得安宁的v.不断地挑剔或批评（某人）( nag的现在分词 )；不断地烦扰或伤害（某人）；无休止地抱怨；不断指责

参考例句：

• Stop nagging—I'll do it as soon as I can. 别唠叨了—我会尽快做的。
• I've got a nagging pain in my lower back. 我后背下方老是疼。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 premise   

n.前提；v.提论，预述

参考例句：

• Let me premise my argument with a bit of history.让我引述一些史实作为我立论的前提。
• We can deduce a conclusion from the premise.我们可以从这个前提推出结论。

16 gratitude   

adj.感激，感谢

参考例句：

• I have expressed the depth of my gratitude to him.我向他表示了深切的谢意。
• She could not help her tears of gratitude rolling down her face.她感激的泪珠禁不住沿着面颊流了下来。

17 primitive   

adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物

参考例句：

• It is a primitive instinct to flee a place of danger.逃离危险的地方是一种原始本能。
• His book describes the march of the civilization of a primitive society.他的著作描述了一个原始社会的开化过程。

18 vigilant   

adj.警觉的，警戒的，警惕的

参考例句：

• He has to learn how to remain vigilant through these long nights.他得学会如何在这漫长的黑夜里保持警觉。
• The dog kept a vigilant guard over the house.这只狗警醒地守护着这所房屋。

19 overload   

vt.使超载；n.超载

参考例句：

• Don't overload the boat or it will sink.别超载，否则船会沉。
• Large meals overload the digestive system.吃得太饱会加重消化系统的负担。

20 disturbances   

n.骚乱( disturbance的名词复数 )；打扰；困扰；障碍

参考例句：

• The government has set up a commission of inquiry into the disturbances at the prison. 政府成立了一个委员会来调查监狱骚乱事件。
• Extra police were called in to quell the disturbances. 已调集了增援警力来平定骚乱。

21 disturbance   

n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调

参考例句：

• He is suffering an emotional disturbance.他的情绪受到了困扰。
• You can work in here without any disturbance.在这儿你可不受任何干扰地工作。

22 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

23 applicant   

n.申请人，求职者，请求者

参考例句：

• He was the hundredth applicant for the job. 他是第100个申请这项工作的人。
• In my estimation, the applicant is well qualified for this job. 据我看, 这位应征者完全具备这项工作的条件。

24 logic   

n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性

参考例句：

• What sort of logic is that?这是什么逻辑？
• I don't follow the logic of your argument.我不明白你的论点逻辑性何在。

25 dictated   

v.大声讲或读( dictate的过去式和过去分词 )；口授；支配；摆布

参考例句：

• He dictated a letter to his secretary. 他向秘书口授信稿。
• No person of a strong character likes to be dictated to. 没有一个个性强的人愿受人使唤。 来自《简明英汉词典》

26 allocate   

vt.分配，分派；把…拨给；把…划归

参考例句：

• You must allocate the money carefully.你们必须谨慎地分配钱。
• They will allocate fund for housing.他们将拨出经费建房。

27 aligned   

adj.对齐的，均衡的

参考例句：

• Make sure the shelf is aligned with the top of the cupboard.务必使搁架与橱柜顶端对齐。

28 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

29 hesitation   

n.犹豫，踌躇

参考例句：

• After a long hesitation, he told the truth at last.踌躇了半天，他终于直说了。
• There was a certain hesitation in her manner.她的态度有些犹豫不决。

30 cocktail   

n.鸡尾酒；餐前开胃小吃；混合物

参考例句：

• We invited some foreign friends for a cocktail party.我们邀请了一些外国朋友参加鸡尾酒会。
• At a cocktail party in Hollywood,I was introduced to Charlie Chaplin.在好莱坞的一次鸡尾酒会上，人家把我介绍给查理·卓别林。

31 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

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 accurately   

adv.准确地，精确地

参考例句：

• It is hard to hit the ball accurately.准确地击中球很难。
• Now scientists can forecast the weather accurately.现在科学家们能准确地预报天气。

34 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。

35 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

36 ambivalence   

n.矛盾心理

参考例句：

• She viewed her daughter's education with ambivalence.她看待女儿的教育问题态度矛盾。
• She felt a certain ambivalence towards him.她对他的态度有些矛盾。

37 intake   

n.吸入，纳入；进气口，入口

参考例句：

• Reduce your salt intake.减少盐的摄入量。
• There was a horrified intake of breath from every child.所有的孩子都害怕地倒抽了一口凉气。

38 reassured   

adj.使消除疑虑的；使放心的v.再保证，恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The captain's confidence during the storm reassured the passengers. 在风暴中船长的信念使旅客们恢复了信心。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The doctor reassured the old lady. 医生叫那位老妇人放心。 来自《简明英汉词典》

39 specified   

adj.特定的

参考例句：

• The architect specified oak for the wood trim. 那位建筑师指定用橡木做木饰条。
• It is generated by some specified means. 这是由某些未加说明的方法产生的。