ANNA

SUNDAY, AUGUST 18, 2013
EARLY MORNING
I hurl¹ the phone over the fence, as far as I can; itlands somewhere on the edge of the scree at the topof the embankment. I think I can hear it rollingdown towards the track. I think I can still hear hervoice. Hi. It’s me. Leave a message. I think I mightbe hearing her voice for a long time to come.
He’s at the bottom of the stairs by the time I getback to the house. He’s watching me, blinking,bleary-eyed, struggling out of sleep.
“What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” I say, but I can hear the tremor² in myvoice.
“What were you doing outside?”
“I thought I heard someone,” I tell him. “Somethingwoke me. I couldn’t get back to sleep.”
“The phone rang,” he says, rubbing his eyes.
I clasp my hands together to stop them shaking.
“What? What phone?”
“The phone.” He’s looking at me as though I’minsane. “The phone rang. Someone called and hungup.”
“Oh. I don’t know. I don’t know who that was.”
He laughs. “Of course you don’t. Are you all right?”
He comes across to me and puts his arms aroundmy waist. “You’re being weird³.” He holds me for abit, his head bowed against my chest. “You should’vewoken me if you heard something,” he says. “Youshouldn’t be going out there on your own. That’s myjob.”
“I’m fine,” I say, but I have to clench⁴ my jaw⁵ tostop my teeth from chattering⁶. He kisses my lips,pushes his tongue into my mouth.
“Let’s go back to bed,” he says.
“I think I’m going to have a coffee,” I say, trying topull away from him.
He’s not letting me go. His arms are tight aroundme, his hand gripping the back of my neck.
“Come on,” he says. “Come with me. I’m not takingno for an answer.”

1 hurl   

vt.猛投，力掷，声叫骂

参考例句：

• The best cure for unhappiness is to hurl yourself into your work.医治愁苦的最好办法就是全身心地投入工作。
• To hurl abuse is no way to fight.谩骂决不是战斗。

2 tremor   

n.震动，颤动，战栗，兴奋，地震

参考例句：

• There was a slight tremor in his voice.他的声音有点颤抖。
• A slight earth tremor was felt in California.加利福尼亚发生了轻微的地震。

3 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

4 clench   

vt.捏紧（拳头等），咬紧（牙齿等），紧紧握住

参考例句：

• I clenched the arms of my chair.我死死抓住椅子扶手。
• Slowly,he released his breath through clenched teeth.他从紧咬的牙缝间慢慢地舒了口气。

5 jaw   

n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训

参考例句：

• He delivered a right hook to his opponent's jaw.他给了对方下巴一记右钩拳。
• A strong square jaw is a sign of firm character.强健的方下巴是刚毅性格的标志。

6 chattering   

n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The teacher told the children to stop chattering in class. 老师叫孩子们在课堂上不要叽叽喳喳讲话。
• I was so cold that my teeth were chattering. 我冷得牙齿直打战。