ANNA

SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 2013
MORNING
I drove to the gym in Northcote for my spin classthis morning, then dropped into the Matches storeon the way back and treated myself to a very cuteMax Mara minidress (Tom will forgive me once hesees me in it). I was having a perfectly¹ lovelymorning, but as I parked the car there was somesort of commotion² outside the Hipwells’ place—thereare photographers there all the time now—and thereshe was. Again! I could hardly believe it. Rachel,barrelling past a photographer, looking rough. I’mpretty sure she’d just left Scott’s house.
I didn’t even get upset. I was just astounded³. Andwhen I brought it up with Tom—calmly,matter-of-factly—he was just as baffled⁴ as I was.
“I’ll get in touch with her,” he said. “I’ll find outwhat’s going on.”
“You’ve tried that,” I said as gently as I could. “Itdoesn’t make any difference.” I suggested that maybeit was time to take legal advice, to look into getting arestraining order or something.
“She isn’t actually harassing⁵ us, though, is she?” hesaid. “The phone calls have stopped, she hasn’tapproached us or come to the house. Don’t worryabout it, darling. I’ll sort it.”
He’s right, of course, about the harassment⁶ thing.
But I don’t care. There’s something up, and I’m notprepared to just ignore it. I’m tired of being told notto worry. I’m tired of being told that he’ll sort thingsout, that he’ll talk to her, that eventually she’ll goaway. I think the time has come to take matters intomy own hands. The next time I see her, I’m callingthat police officer—the woman, Detective Riley. Sheseemed nice, sympathetic. I know Tom feels sorry forRachel, but honestly I think it’s time I dealt with thatbitch once and for all.

1 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。

2 commotion   

n.骚动，动乱

参考例句：

• They made a commotion by yelling at each other in the theatre.他们在剧院里相互争吵，引起了一阵骚乱。
• Suddenly the whole street was in commotion.突然间，整条街道变得一片混乱。

3 astounded   

v.使震惊(astound的过去式和过去分词)；愕然；愕；惊讶

参考例句：

• His arrogance astounded her. 他的傲慢使她震惊。
• How can you say that? I'm absolutely astounded. 你怎么能说出那种话？我感到大为震惊。

4 baffled   

adj.带有障板的，阻挡的v.使困难，使为难( baffle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The question baffled me completely and I couldn't answer it. 这个问题把我彻底难倒了，我答不出来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Her question has baffled me. 她的问题把我难倒了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 harassing   

v.侵扰，骚扰( harass的现在分词 )；不断攻击（敌人）

参考例句：

• The court ordered him to stop harassing his ex-wife. 法庭命令他不得再骚扰前妻。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It was too close to be merely harassing fire. 打得这么近，不能完全是扰乱射击。 来自辞典例句

6 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。