小说搜索     点击排行榜   最新入库
首页 » 经典英文小说 » Little Brother » Chapter 4
选择底色: 选择字号:【大】【中】【小】
Chapter 4
关注小说网官方公众号(noveltingroom),原版名著免费领。
This chapter is dedicated1 to Barnes and Noble, a US national chain ofbookstores. As America's mom-and-pop bookstores were vanishing,Barnes and Noble started to build these gigantic temples to reading allacross the land. Stocking tens of thousands of titles (the mall bookstoresand grocery-store spinner racks had stocked a small fraction of that) andkeeping long hours that were convenient to families, working people andothers potential readers, the B&N stores kept the careers of manywriters afloat, stocking titles that smaller stores couldn't possibly affordto keep on their limited shelves. B&N has always had strong communityoutreach programs, and I've done some of my best-attended, best-organ-ized signings at B&N stores, including the great events at the (sadly de-parted) B&N in union Square, New York, where the mega-signing afterthe Nebula2 Awards took place, and the B&N in Chicago that hosted theevent after the Nebs a few years later. Best of all is that B&N's "geeky"buyers really Get It when it comes to science fiction, comics and manga,games and similar titles. They're passionate3 and knowledgeable4 aboutthe field and it shows in the excellent selection on display at the stores.
Barnes and Noble, nationwideThey re-shackled and re-hooded me and left me there. A long timelater, the truck started to move, rolling downhill, and then I was hauledback to my feet. I immediately fell over. My legs were so asleep they feltlike blocks of ice, all except my knees, which were swollen6 and tenderfrom all the hours of kneeling.
Hands grabbed my shoulders and feet and I was picked up like a sackof potatoes. There were indistinct voices around me. Someone crying.
Someone cursing.
I was carried a short distance, then set down and re-shackled to anoth-er railing. My knees wouldn't support me anymore and I pitched49forward, ending up twisted on the ground like a pretzel, strainingagainst the chains holding my wrists.
Then we were moving again, and this time, it wasn't like driving in atruck. The floor beneath me rocked gently and vibrated with heavy dies-el engines and I realized I was on a ship! My stomach turned to ice. I wasbeing taken off America's shores to somewhere else, and who the hellknew where that was? I'd been scared before, but this thought terrifiedme, left me paralyzed and wordless with fear. I realized that I might nev-er see my parents again and I actually tasted a little vomit8 burn up mythroat. The bag over my head closed in on me and I could barely breathe,something that was compounded by the weird9 position I was twistedinto.
But mercifully we weren't on the water for very long. It felt like anhour, but I know now that it was a mere10 fifteen minutes, and then I feltus docking, felt footsteps on the decking around me and felt other pris-oners being unshackled and carried or led away. When they came forme, I tried to stand again, but couldn't, and they carried me again, im-personally, roughly.
When they took the hood5 off again, I was in a cell.
The cell was old and crumbled11, and smelled of sea air. There was onewindow high up, and rusted12 bars guarded it. It was still dark outside.
There was a blanket on the floor and a little metal toilet without a seat,set into the wall. The guard who took off my hood grinned at me andclosed the solid steel door behind him.
I gently massaged13 my legs, hissing14 as the blood came back into themand into my hands. Eventually I was able to stand, and then to pace. Iheard other people talking, crying, shouting. I did some shouting too:
"Jolu! Darryl! Vanessa!" Other voices on the cell-block took up the cry,shouting out names, too, shouting out obscenities. The nearest voicessounded like drunks losing their minds on a street-corner. Maybe I soun-ded like that too.
Guards shouted at us to be quiet and that just made everyone yelllouder. Eventually we were all howling, screaming our heads off,screaming our throats raw. Why not? What did we have to lose?
The next time they came to question me, I was filthy15 and tired, thirstyand hungry. Severe haircut lady was in the new questioning party, aswere three big guys who moved me around like a cut of meat. One was50black, the other two were white, though one might have been hispanic.
They all carried guns. It was like a Benneton's ad crossed with a game ofCounter-Strike.
They'd taken me from my cell and chained my wrists and ankles to-gether. I paid attention to my surroundings as we went. I heard wateroutside and thought that maybe we were on Alcatraz — it was a prison,after all, even if it had been a tourist attraction for generations, the placewhere you went to see where Al Capone and his gangster16 contemporar-ies did their time. But I'd been to Alcatraz on a school trip. It was old andrusted, medieval. This place felt like it dated back to World War Two,not colonial times.
There were bar-codes laser-printed on stickers and placed on each ofthe cell-doors, and numbers, but other than that, there was no way to tellwho or what might be behind them.
The interrogation room was modern, with fluorescent18 lights, ergonom-ic chairs — not for me, though, I got a folding plastic garden-chair — anda big wooden board-room table. A mirror lined one wall, just like in thecop shows, and I figured someone or other must be watching from be-hind it. Severe haircut lady and her friends helped themselves to coffeesfrom an urn7 on a side-table (I could have torn her throat out with myteeth and taken her coffee just then), and then set a styrofoam cup of wa-ter down next to me — without unlocking my wrists from behind myback, so I couldn't reach it. Hardy19 har har.
"Hello, Marcus," Severe Haircut woman said. "How's your 'tude doingtoday?"I didn't say anything.
"This isn't as bad as it gets you know," she said. "This is as good as itgets from now on. Even once you tell us what we want to know, even ifthat convinces us that you were just in the wrong place at the wrongtime, you're a marked man now. We'll be watching you everywhere yougo and everything you do. You've acted like you've got something tohide, and we don't like that."It's pathetic, but all my brain could think about was that phrase,"convince us that you were in the wrong place at the wrong time." Thiswas the worst thing that had ever happened to me. I had never, ever feltthis bad or this scared before. Those words, "wrong place at the wrongtime," those six words, they were like a lifeline dangling20 before me as Ithrashed to stay on the surface.
51"Hello, Marcus?" she snapped her fingers in front of my face. "Overhere, Marcus." There was a little smile on her face and I hated myself forletting her see my fear. "Marcus, it can be a lot worse than this. This isn'tthe worst place we can put you, not by a damned sight." She reacheddown below the table and came out with a briefcase21, which she snappedopen. From it, she withdrew my phone, my arphid sniper/cloner, mywifinder, and my memory keys. She set them down on the table oneafter the other.
"Here's what we want from you. You unlock the phone for us today. Ifyou do that, you'll get outdoor and bathing privileges. You'll get ashower and you'll be allowed to walk around in the exercise yard. To-morrow, we'll bring you back and ask you to decrypt the data on thesememory sticks. Do that, and you'll get to eat in the mess hall. The dayafter, we're going to want your email passwords, and that will get youlibrary privileges."The word "no" was on my lips, like a burp trying to come up, but itwouldn't come. "Why?" is what came out instead.
"We want to be sure that you're what you seem to be. This is aboutyour security, Marcus. Say you're innocent. You might be, though whyan innocent man would act like he's got so much to hide is beyond me.
But say you are: you could have been on that bridge when it blew. Yourparents could have been. Your friends. Don't you want us to catch thepeople who attacked your home?"It's funny, but when she was talking about my getting "privileges" itscared me into submission22. I felt like I'd done something to end up whereI was, like maybe it was partially23 my fault, like I could do something tochange it.
But as soon as she switched to this BS about "safety" and "security," myspine came back. "Lady," I said, "you're talking about attacking myhome, but as far as I can tell, you're the only one who's attacked melately. I thought I lived in a country with a constitution. I thought I livedin a country where I had rights. You're talking about defending my free-dom by tearing up the Bill of Rights."A flicker24 of annoyance25 passed over her face, then went away. "So me-lodramatic, Marcus. No one's attacked you. You've been detained byyour country's government while we seek details on the worst terroristattack ever perpetrated on our nation's soil. You have it within yourpower to help us fight this war on our nation's enemies. You want to pre-serve the Bill of Rights? Help us stop bad people from blowing up your52city. Now, you have exactly thirty seconds to unlock that phone before Isend you back to your cell. We have lots of other people to interviewtoday."She looked at her watch. I rattled26 my wrists, rattled the chains thatkept me from reaching around and unlocking the phone. Yes, I was go-ing to do it. She'd told me what my path was to freedom — to the world,to my parents — and that had given me hope. Now she'd threatened tosend me away, to take me off that path, and my hope had crashed and allI could think of was how to get back on it.
So I rattled my wrists, wanting to get to my phone and unlock it forher, and she just looked at me coldly, checking her watch.
"The password," I said, finally understanding what she wanted of me.
She wanted me to say it out loud, here, where she could record it, whereher pals27 could hear it. She didn't want me to just unlock the phone. Shewanted me to submit to her. To put her in charge of me. To give upevery secret, all my privacy. "The password," I said again, and then I toldher the password. God help me, I submitted to her will.
She smiled a little prim28 smile, which had to be her ice-queen equival-ent of a touchdown dance, and the guards led me away. As the doorclosed, I saw her bend down over the phone and key the password in.
I wish I could say that I'd anticipated this possibility in advance andcreated a fake password that unlocked a completely innocuous partitionon my phone, but I wasn't nearly that paranoid/clever.
You might be wondering at this point what dark secrets I had lockedaway on my phone and memory sticks and email. I'm just a kid, after all.
The truth is that I had everything to hide, and nothing. Between myphone and my memory sticks, you could get a pretty good idea of whomy friends were, what I thought of them, all the goofy things we'd done.
You could read the transcripts29 of the electronic arguments we'd carriedout and the electronic reconciliations30 we'd arrived at.
You see, I don't delete stuff. Why would I? Storage is cheap, and younever know when you're going to want to go back to that stuff. Espe-cially the stupid stuff. You know that feeling you get sometimes whereyou're sitting on the subway and there's no one to talk to and you sud-denly remember some bitter fight you had, some terrible thing you said?
Well, it's usually never as bad as you remember. Being able to go backand see it again is a great way to remind yourself that you're not as53horrible a person as you think you are. Darryl and I have gotten overmore fights that way than I can count.
And even that's not it. I know my phone is private. I know mymemory sticks are private. That's because of cryptography — messagescrambling. The math behind crypto is good and solid, and you and meget access to the same crypto that banks and the National SecurityAgency use. There's only one kind of crypto that anyone uses: cryptothat's public, open and can be deployed31 by anyone. That's how youknow it works.
There's something really liberating32 about having some corner of yourlife that's yours, that no one gets to see except you. It's a little like nudityor taking a dump. Everyone gets naked every once in a while. Everyonehas to squat33 on the toilet. There's nothing shameful34, deviant or weirdabout either of them. But what if I decreed that from now on, every timeyou went to evacuate35 some solid waste, you'd have to do it in a glassroom perched in the middle of Times Square, and you'd be buck36 naked?
Even if you've got nothing wrong or weird with your body — andhow many of us can say that? — you'd have to be pretty strange to likethat idea. Most of us would run screaming. Most of us would hold it inuntil we exploded.
It's not about doing something shameful. It's about doing somethingprivate. It's about your life belonging to you.
They were taking that from me, piece by piece. As I walked back to mycell, that feeling of deserving it came back to me. I'd broken a lot of rulesall my life and I'd gotten away with it, by and large. Maybe this wasjustice. Maybe this was my past coming back to me. After all, I had beenwhere I was because I'd snuck out of school.
I got my shower. I got to walk around the yard. There was a patch ofsky overhead, and it smelled like the Bay Area, but beyond that, I had noclue where I was being held. No other prisoners were visible during myexercise period, and I got pretty bored with walking in circles. I strainedmy ears for any sound that might help me understand what this placewas, but all I heard was the occasional vehicle, some distant conversa-tions, a plane landing somewhere nearby.
They brought me back to my cell and fed me, a half a pepperoni piefrom Goat Hill Pizza, which I knew well, up on Potrero Hill. The cartonwith its familiar graphic37 and 415 phone number was a reminder38 thatonly a day before, I'd been a free man in a free country and that now Iwas a prisoner. I worried constantly about Darryl and fretted39 about my54other friends. Maybe they'd been more cooperative and had been re-leased. Maybe they'd told my parents and they were frantically40 callingaround.
Maybe not.
The cell was fantastically spare, empty as my soul. I fantasized that thewall opposite my bunk41 was a screen, that I could be hacking42 right now,opening the cell-door. I fantasized about my workbench and the projectsthere — the old cans I was turning into a ghetto43 surround-sound rig, theaerial photography kite-cam I was building, my homebrew laptop.
I wanted to get out of there. I wanted to go home and have my friendsand my school and my parents and my life back. I wanted to be able togo where I wanted to go, not be stuck pacing and pacing and pacing.
They took my passwords for my USB keys next. Those held some in-teresting messages I'd downloaded from one online discussion group oranother, some chat transcripts, things where people had helped me outwith some of the knowledge I needed to do the things I did. There wasnothing on there you couldn't find with Google, of course, but I didn'tthink that would count in my favor.
I got exercise again that afternoon, and this time there were others inthe yard when I got there, four other guys and two women, of all agesand racial backgrounds. I guess lots of people were doing things to earntheir "privileges."They gave me half an hour, and I tried to make conversation with themost normal-seeming of the other prisoners, a black guy about my agewith a short afro. But when I introduced myself and stuck my hand out,he cut his eyes toward the cameras mounted ominously44 in the corners ofthe yard and kept walking without ever changing his facial expression.
But then, just before they called my name and brought me back intothe building, the door opened and out came — Vanessa! I'd never beenmore glad to see a friendly face. She looked tired and grumpy, but nothurt, and when she saw me, she shouted my name and ran to me. Wehugged each other hard and I realized I was shaking. Then I realized shewas shaking, too.
"Are you OK?" she said, holding me at arms' length.
"I'm OK," I said. "They told me they'd let me go if I gave them mypasswords.""They keep asking me questions about you and Darryl."55There was a voice blaring over the loudspeaker, shouting at us to stoptalking, to walk, but we ignored it.
"Answer them," I said, instantly. "Anything they ask, answer them. Ifit'll get you out.""How are Darryl and Jolu?""I haven't seen them."The door banged open and four big guards boiled out. Two took meand two took Vanessa. They forced me to the ground and turned myhead away from Vanessa, though I heard her getting the same treatment.
Plastic cuffs45 went around my wrists and then I was yanked to my feetand brought back to my cell.
No dinner came that night. No breakfast came the next morning. Noone came and brought me to the interrogation room to extract more ofmy secrets. The plastic cuffs didn't come off, and my shoulders burned,then ached, then went numb17, then burned again. I lost all feeling in myhands.
I had to pee. I couldn't undo46 my pants. I really, really had to pee.
I pissed myself.
They came for me after that, once the hot piss had cooled and goneclammy, making my already filthy jeans stick to my legs. They came forme and walked me down the long hall lined with doors, each door withits own bar code, each bar code a prisoner like me. They walked medown the corridor and brought me to the interrogation room and it waslike a different planet when I entered there, a world where things werenormal, where everything didn't reek47 of urine. I felt so dirty andashamed, and all those feelings of deserving what I got came back to me.
Severe haircut lady was already sitting. She was perfect: coifed andwith just a little makeup48. I smelled her hair stuff. She wrinkled her noseat me. I felt the shame rise in me.
"Well, you've been a very naughty boy, haven't you? Aren't you afilthy thing?"Shame. I looked down at the table. I couldn't bear to look up. I wantedto tell her my email password and get gone.
"What did you and your friend talk about in the yard?"I barked a laugh at the table. "I told her to answer your questions. Itold her to cooperate.""So do you give the orders?"56I felt the blood sing in my ears. "Oh come on," I said. "We play a gametogether, it's called Harajuku Fun Madness. I'm the team captain. We'renot terrorists, we're high school students. I don't give her orders. I toldher that we needed to be honest with you so that we could clear up anysuspicion and get out of here."She didn't say anything for a moment.
"How is Darryl?" I said.
"Who?""Darryl. You picked us up together. My friend. Someone had stabbedhim in the Powell Street BART. That's why we were up on the surface.
To get him help.""I'm sure he's fine, then," she said.
My stomach knotted and I almost threw up. "You don't know? Youhaven't got him here?""Who we have here and who we don't have here is not somethingwe're going to discuss with you, ever. That's not something you're goingto know. Marcus, you've seen what happens when you don't cooperatewith us. You've seen what happens when you disobey our orders.
You've been a little cooperative, and it's gotten you almost to the pointwhere you might go free again. If you want to make that possibility intoa reality, you'll stick to answering my questions."I didn't say anything.
"You're learning, that's good. Now, your email passwords, please."I was ready for this. I gave them everything: server address, login,password. This didn't matter. I didn't keep any email on my server. Idownloaded it all and kept it on my laptop at home, which downloadedand deleted my mail from the server every sixty seconds. They wouldn'tget anything out of my mail — it got cleared off the server and stored onmy laptop at home.
Back to the cell, but they cut loose my hands and they gave me ashower and a pair of orange prison pants to wear. They were too big forme and hung down low on my hips49, like a Mexican gang-kid in the Mis-sion. That's where the baggy-pants-down-your-ass look comes from youknow that? From prison. I tell you what, it's less fun when it's not a fash-ion statement.
They took away my jeans, and I spent another day in the cell. Thewalls were scratched cement over a steel grid50. You could tell, because the57steel was rusting51 in the salt air, and the grid shone through the greenpaint in red-orange. My parents were out that window, somewhere.
They came for me again the next day.
"We've been reading your mail for a day now. We changed the pass-word so that your home computer couldn't fetch it."Well, of course they had. I would have done the same, now that Ithought of it.
"We have enough on you now to put you away for a very long time,Marcus. Your possession of these articles —" she gestured at all my littlegizmos — "and the data we recovered from your phone and memorysticks, as well as the subversive52 material we'd no doubt find if we raidedyour house and took your computer. It's enough to put you away untilyou're an old man. Do you understand that?"I didn't believe it for a second. There's no way a judge would say thatall this stuff constituted any kind of real crime. It was free speech, it wastechnological tinkering. It wasn't a crime.
But who said that these people would ever put me in front of a judge.
"We know where you live, we know who your friends are. We knowhow you operate and how you think."It dawned on me then. They were about to let me go. The roomseemed to brighten. I heard myself breathing, short little breaths.
"We just want to know one thing: what was the delivery mechanismfor the bombs on the bridge?"I stopped breathing. The room darkened again.
"What?""There were ten charges on the bridge, all along its length. Theyweren't in car-trunks. They'd been placed there. Who placed them there,and how did they get there?""What?" I said it again.
"This is your last chance, Marcus," she said. She looked sad. "You weredoing so well until now. Tell us this and you can go home. You can get alawyer and defend yourself in a court of law. There are doubtless exten-uating circumstances that you can use to explain your actions. Just tell usthis thing, and you're gone.""I don't know what you're talking about!" I was crying and I didn'teven care. Sobbing53, blubbering. "I have no idea what you're talking about!"58She shook her head. "Marcus, please. Let us help you. By now youknow that we always get what we're after."There was a gibbering sound in the back of my mind. They were in-sane. I pulled myself together, working hard to stop the tears. "Listen,lady, this is nuts. You've been into my stuff, you've seen it all. I'm a sev-enteen year old high school student, not a terrorist! You can't seriouslythink —""Marcus, haven't you figured out that we're serious yet?" She shookher head. "You get pretty good grades. I thought you'd be smarter thanthat." She made a flicking54 gesture and the guards picked me up by thearmpits.
Back in my cell, a hundred little speeches occurred to me. The Frenchcall this "esprit d'escalier" — the spirit of the staircase, the snappy rebut-tals that come to you after you leave the room and slink down the stairs.
In my mind, I stood and delivered, telling her that I was a citizen wholoved my freedom, which made me the patriot55 and made her the traitor56.
In my mind, I shamed her for turning my country into an armed camp.
In my mind, I was eloquent57 and brilliant and reduced her to tears.
But you know what? None of those fine words came back to me whenthey pulled me out the next day. All I could think of was freedom. Myparents.
"Hello, Marcus," she said. "How are you feeling?"I looked down at the table. She had a neat pile of documents in front ofher, and her ubiquitous go-cup of Starbucks beside her. I found it com-forting somehow, a reminder that there was a real world out there some-where, beyond the walls.
"We're through investigating you, for now." She let that hang there.
Maybe it meant that she was letting me go. Maybe it meant that she wasgoing to throw me in a pit and forget that I existed.
"And?" I said finally.
"And I want you to impress on you again that we are very seriousabout this. Our country has experienced the worst attack ever committedon its soil. How many 9/11s do you want us to suffer before you're will-ing to cooperate? The details of our investigation58 are secret. We won'tstop at anything in our efforts to bring the perpetrators of these heinouscrimes to justice. Do you understand that?""Yes," I mumbled59.
59"We are going to send you home today, but you are a marked man.
You have not been found to be above suspicion — we're only releasingyou because we're done questioning you for now. But from now on, youbelong to us. We will be watching you. We'll be waiting for you to make amisstep. Do you understand that we can watch you closely, all the time?""Yes," I mumbled.
"Good. You will never speak of what happened here to anyone, ever.
This is a matter of national security. Do you know that the death penaltystill holds for treason in time of war?""Yes," I mumbled.
"Good boy," she purred. "We have some papers here for you to sign."She pushed the stack of papers across the table to me. Little post-its withSIGN HERE printed on them had been stuck throughout them. A guardundid my cuffs.
I paged through the papers and my eyes watered and my head swam.
I couldn't make sense of them. I tried to decipher the legalese. It seemedthat I was signing a declaration that I had been voluntarily held and sub-mitted to voluntary questioning, of my own free will.
"What happens if I don't sign this?" I said.
She snatched the papers back and made that flicking gesture again.
The guards jerked me to my feet.
"Wait!" I cried. "Please! I'll sign them!" They dragged me to the door.
All I could see was that door, all I could think of was it closing behindme.
I lost it. I wept. I begged to be allowed to sign the papers. To be soclose to freedom and have it snatched away, it made me ready to do any-thing. I can't count the number of times I've heard someone say, "Oh, I'drather die than do something-or-other" — I've said it myself now andagain. But that was the first time I understood what it really meant. Iwould have rather died than go back to my cell.
I begged as they took me out into the corridor. I told them I'd signanything.
She called out to the guards and they stopped. They brought me back.
They sat me down. One of them put the pen in my hand.
Of course, I signed, and signed and signed.
60My jeans and t-shirt were back in my cell, laundered60 and folded. Theysmelled of detergent61. I put them on and washed my face and sat on mycot and stared at the wall. They'd taken everything from me. First myprivacy, then my dignity. I'd been ready to sign anything. I would havesigned a confession62 that said I'd assassinated63 Abraham Lincoln.
I tried to cry, but it was like my eyes were dry, out of tears.
They got me again. A guard approached me with a hood, like the hoodI'd been put in when they picked us up, whenever that was, days ago,weeks ago.
The hood went over my head and cinched tight at my neck. I was intotal darkness and the air was stifling64 and stale. I was raised to my feetand walked down corridors, up stairs, on gravel65. Up a gangplank. On aship's steel deck. My hands were chained behind me, to a railing. I knelton the deck and listened to the thrum of the diesel66 engines.
The ship moved. A hint of salt air made its way into the hood. It wasdrizzling and my clothes were heavy with water. I was outside, even ifmy head was in a bag. I was outside, in the world, moments from myfreedom.
They came for me and led me off the boat and over uneven68 ground.
Up three metal stairs. My wrists were unshackled. My hood wasremoved.
I was back in the truck. Severe haircut woman was there, at the littledesk she'd sat at before. She had a ziploc bag with her, and inside it weremy phone and other little devices, my wallet and the change from mypockets. She handed them to me wordlessly.
I filled my pockets. It felt so weird to have everything back in its famil-iar place, to be wearing my familiar clothes. Outside the truck's backdoor, I heard the familiar sounds of my familiar city.
A guard passed me my backpack. The woman extended her hand tome. I just looked at it. She put it down and gave me a wry69 smile. Thenshe mimed70 zipping up her lips and pointed71 to me, and opened the door.
It was daylight outside, gray and drizzling67. I was looking down an al-ley toward cars and trucks and bikes zipping down the road. I stoodtransfixed on the truck's top step, staring at freedom.
My knees shook. I knew now that they were playing with me again. Ina moment, the guards would grab me and drag me back inside, the bagwould go over my head again, and I would be back on the boat and sent61off to the prison again, to the endless, unanswerable questions. I barelyheld myself back from stuffing my fist in my mouth.
Then I forced myself to go down one stair. Another stair. The last stair.
My sneakers crunched72 down on the crap on the alley's floor, brokenglass, a needle, gravel. I took a step. Another. I reached the mouth of thealley and stepped onto the sidewalk.
No one grabbed me.
I was free.
Then strong arms threw themselves around me. I nearly cried.


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 dedicated duHzy2     
adj.一心一意的;献身的;热诚的
参考例句:
  • He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
  • His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。
2 nebula E55zw     
n.星云,喷雾剂
参考例句:
  • A powerful telescope can resolve a nebula into stars.一架高性能的望远镜能从星云中分辨出星球来。
  • A nebula is really a discrete mass of innumerous stars.一团星云实际上是无数星体不连续的集合体。
3 passionate rLDxd     
adj.热情的,热烈的,激昂的,易动情的,易怒的,性情暴躁的
参考例句:
  • He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
  • He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。
4 knowledgeable m2Yxg     
adj.知识渊博的;有见识的
参考例句:
  • He's quite knowledgeable about the theatre.他对戏剧很有心得。
  • He made some knowledgeable remarks at the meeting.他在会上的发言颇有见地。
5 hood ddwzJ     
n.头巾,兜帽,覆盖;v.罩上,以头巾覆盖
参考例句:
  • She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
  • The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。
6 swollen DrcwL     
adj.肿大的,水涨的;v.使变大,肿胀
参考例句:
  • Her legs had got swollen from standing up all day.因为整天站着,她的双腿已经肿了。
  • A mosquito had bitten her and her arm had swollen up.蚊子叮了她,她的手臂肿起来了。
7 urn jHaya     
n.(有座脚的)瓮;坟墓;骨灰瓮
参考例句:
  • The urn was unearthed entire.这只瓮出土完整无缺。
  • She put the big hot coffee urn on the table and plugged it in.她将大咖啡壶放在桌子上,接上电源。
8 vomit TL9zV     
v.呕吐,作呕;n.呕吐物,吐出物
参考例句:
  • They gave her salty water to make her vomit.他们给她喝盐水好让她吐出来。
  • She was stricken by pain and began to vomit.她感到一阵疼痛,开始呕吐起来。
9 weird bghw8     
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。
10 mere rC1xE     
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过
参考例句:
  • That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
  • It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。
11 crumbled 32aad1ed72782925f55b2641d6bf1516     
(把…)弄碎, (使)碎成细屑( crumble的过去式和过去分词 ); 衰落; 坍塌; 损坏
参考例句:
  • He crumbled the bread in his fingers. 他用手指把面包捻碎。
  • Our hopes crumbled when the business went bankrupt. 商行破产了,我们的希望也破灭了。
12 rusted 79e453270dbdbb2c5fc11d284e95ff6e     
v.(使)生锈( rust的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • I can't get these screws out; they've rusted in. 我无法取出这些螺丝,它们都锈住了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • My bike has rusted and needs oil. 我的自行车生锈了,需要上油。 来自《简明英汉词典》
13 massaged 1c85a5a34468851346edc436a3c0926a     
按摩,推拿( massage的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • He massaged her back with scented oil. 他用芳香油按摩她的背部。
  • The script is massaged into final form. 这篇稿子经过修改已定稿。
14 hissing hissing     
n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式
参考例句:
  • The steam escaped with a loud hissing noise. 蒸汽大声地嘶嘶冒了出来。
  • His ears were still hissing with the rustle of the leaves. 他耳朵里还听得萨萨萨的声音和屑索屑索的怪声。 来自汉英文学 - 春蚕
15 filthy ZgOzj     
adj.卑劣的;恶劣的,肮脏的
参考例句:
  • The whole river has been fouled up with filthy waste from factories.整条河都被工厂的污秽废物污染了。
  • You really should throw out that filthy old sofa and get a new one.你真的应该扔掉那张肮脏的旧沙发,然后再去买张新的。
16 gangster FfDzH     
n.匪徒,歹徒,暴徒
参考例句:
  • The gangster's friends bought off the police witness.那匪徒的朋友买通了警察方面的证人。
  • He is obviously a gangster,but he pretends to be a saint.分明是强盗,却要装圣贤。
17 numb 0RIzK     
adj.麻木的,失去感觉的;v.使麻木
参考例句:
  • His fingers were numb with cold.他的手冻得发麻。
  • Numb with cold,we urged the weary horses forward.我们冻得发僵,催着疲惫的马继续往前走。
18 fluorescent Zz2y3     
adj.荧光的,发出荧光的
参考例句:
  • They observed the deflections of the particles by allowing them to fall on a fluorescent screen.他们让粒子落在荧光屏上以观察他们的偏移。
  • This fluorescent lighting certainly gives the food a peculiar color.这萤光灯当然增添了食物特别的色彩。
19 hardy EenxM     
adj.勇敢的,果断的,吃苦的;耐寒的
参考例句:
  • The kind of plant is a hardy annual.这种植物是耐寒的一年生植物。
  • He is a hardy person.他是一个能吃苦耐劳的人。
20 dangling 4930128e58930768b1c1c75026ebc649     
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。
21 briefcase lxdz6A     
n.手提箱,公事皮包
参考例句:
  • He packed a briefcase with what might be required.他把所有可能需要的东西都装进公文包。
  • He requested the old man to look after the briefcase.他请求那位老人照看这个公事包。
22 submission lUVzr     
n.服从,投降;温顺,谦虚;提出
参考例句:
  • The defeated general showed his submission by giving up his sword.战败将军缴剑表示投降。
  • No enemy can frighten us into submission.任何敌人的恐吓都不能使我们屈服。
23 partially yL7xm     
adv.部分地,从某些方面讲
参考例句:
  • The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
  • The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静,宵禁部分解除。
24 flicker Gjxxb     
vi./n.闪烁,摇曳,闪现
参考例句:
  • There was a flicker of lights coming from the abandoned house.这所废弃的房屋中有灯光闪烁。
  • At first,the flame may be a small flicker,barely shining.开始时,光辉可能是微弱地忽隐忽现,几乎并不灿烂。
25 annoyance Bw4zE     
n.恼怒,生气,烦恼
参考例句:
  • Why do you always take your annoyance out on me?为什么你不高兴时总是对我出气?
  • I felt annoyance at being teased.我恼恨别人取笑我。
26 rattled b4606e4247aadf3467575ffedf66305b     
慌乱的,恼火的
参考例句:
  • The truck jolted and rattled over the rough ground. 卡车嘎吱嘎吱地在凹凸不平的地面上颠簸而行。
  • Every time a bus went past, the windows rattled. 每逢公共汽车经过这里,窗户都格格作响。
27 pals 51a8824fc053bfaf8746439dc2b2d6d0     
n.朋友( pal的名词复数 );老兄;小子;(对男子的不友好的称呼)家伙
参考例句:
  • We've been pals for years. 我们是多年的哥们儿了。
  • CD 8 positive cells remarkably increased in PALS and RP(P CD8+细胞在再生脾PALS和RP内均明显增加(P 来自互联网
28 prim SSIz3     
adj.拘泥形式的,一本正经的;n.循规蹈矩,整洁;adv.循规蹈矩地,整洁地
参考例句:
  • She's too prim to enjoy rude jokes!她太古板,不喜欢听粗野的笑话!
  • He is prim and precise in manner.他的态度一本正经而严谨
29 transcripts 525c0b10bb61e5ddfdd47d7faa92db26     
n.抄本( transcript的名词复数 );转写本;文字本;副本
参考例句:
  • Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样,都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
  • You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书,你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句
30 reconciliations d0b19a18049abe7044966fc531b72319     
和解( reconciliation的名词复数 ); 一致; 勉强接受; (争吵等的)止息
参考例句:
  • You mean long-lost mother-son reconciliations in a restaurant? 你是说在餐厅调解分开多年的母子?
  • Responsible for communications with financial institutions, daily cash processing and daily and monthly cash bank reconciliations. 负责与各财务机构的沟通,了解现金日流动状况,确认与银行往来的现金日对账单和月对账单。
31 deployed 4ceaf19fb3d0a70e329fcd3777bb05ea     
(尤指军事行动)使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 ); 施展; 部署; 有效地利用
参考例句:
  • Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
  • The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。
32 liberating f5d558ed9cd728539ee8f7d9a52a7668     
解放,释放( liberate的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • Revolution means liberating the productive forces. 革命就是为了解放生产力。
  • They had already taken on their shoulders the burden of reforming society and liberating mankind. 甚至在这些集会聚谈中,他们就已经夸大地把改革社会、解放人群的责任放在自己的肩头了。 来自汉英文学 - 家(1-26) - 家(1-26)
33 squat 2GRzp     
v.蹲坐,蹲下;n.蹲下;adj.矮胖的,粗矮的
参考例句:
  • For this exercise you need to get into a squat.在这次练习中你需要蹲下来。
  • He is a squat man.他是一个矮胖的男人。
34 shameful DzzwR     
adj.可耻的,不道德的
参考例句:
  • It is very shameful of him to show off.他向人炫耀自己,真不害臊。
  • We must expose this shameful activity to the newspapers.我们一定要向报社揭露这一无耻行径。
35 evacuate ai1zL     
v.遣送;搬空;抽出;排泄;大(小)便
参考例句:
  • We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵!
  • They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。
36 buck ESky8     
n.雄鹿,雄兔;v.马离地跳跃
参考例句:
  • The boy bent curiously to the skeleton of the buck.这个男孩好奇地弯下身去看鹿的骸骨。
  • The female deer attracts the buck with high-pitched sounds.雌鹿以尖声吸引雄鹿。
37 graphic Aedz7     
adj.生动的,形象的,绘画的,文字的,图表的
参考例句:
  • The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
  • Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。
38 reminder WkzzTb     
n.提醒物,纪念品;暗示,提示
参考例句:
  • I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
  • It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知,她才付应该交的房租。
39 fretted 82ebd7663e04782d30d15d67e7c45965     
焦躁的,附有弦马的,腐蚀的
参考例句:
  • The wind whistled through the twigs and fretted the occasional, dirty-looking crocuses. 寒风穿过枯枝,有时把发脏的藏红花吹刮跑了。 来自英汉文学
  • The lady's fame for hitting the mark fretted him. 这位太太看问题深刻的名声在折磨着他。
40 frantically ui9xL     
ad.发狂地, 发疯地
参考例句:
  • He dashed frantically across the road. 他疯狂地跑过马路。
  • She bid frantically for the old chair. 她发狂地喊出高价要买那把古老的椅子。
41 bunk zWyzS     
n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位;废话
参考例句:
  • He left his bunk and went up on deck again.他离开自己的铺位再次走到甲板上。
  • Most economists think his theories are sheer bunk.大多数经济学家认为他的理论纯属胡说。
42 hacking KrIzgm     
n.非法访问计算机系统和数据库的活动
参考例句:
  • The patient with emphysema is hacking all day. 这个肺气肿病人整天不断地干咳。
  • We undertook the task of hacking our way through the jungle. 我们负责在丛林中开路。
43 ghetto nzGyV     
n.少数民族聚居区,贫民区
参考例句:
  • Racism and crime still flourish in the ghetto.城市贫民区的种族主义和犯罪仍然十分猖獗。
  • I saw that achievement as a possible pattern for the entire ghetto.我把获得的成就看作整个黑人区可以仿效的榜样。
44 ominously Gm6znd     
adv.恶兆地,不吉利地;预示地
参考例句:
  • The wheels scooped up stones which hammered ominously under the car. 车轮搅起的石块,在车身下发出不吉祥的锤击声。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Mammy shook her head ominously. 嬷嬷不祥地摇着头。 来自飘(部分)
45 cuffs 4f67c64175ca73d89c78d4bd6a85e3ed     
n.袖口( cuff的名词复数 )v.掌打,拳打( cuff的第三人称单数 )
参考例句:
  • a collar and cuffs of white lace 带白色蕾丝花边的衣领和袖口
  • The cuffs of his shirt were fraying. 他衬衣的袖口磨破了。
46 undo Ok5wj     
vt.解开,松开;取消,撤销
参考例句:
  • His pride will undo him some day.他的傲慢总有一天会毁了他。
  • I managed secretly to undo a corner of the parcel.我悄悄地设法解开了包裹的一角。
47 reek 8tcyP     
v.发出臭气;n.恶臭
参考例句:
  • Where there's reek,there's heat.哪里有恶臭,哪里必发热。
  • That reek is from the fox.那股恶臭是狐狸发出的。
48 makeup 4AXxO     
n.组织;性格;化装品
参考例句:
  • Those who failed the exam take a makeup exam.这次考试不及格的人必须参加补考。
  • Do you think her beauty could makeup for her stupidity?你认为她的美丽能弥补她的愚蠢吗?
49 hips f8c80f9a170ee6ab52ed1e87054f32d4     
abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯,耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 );[建筑学]屋脊;臀围(尺寸);臀部…的
参考例句:
  • She stood with her hands on her hips. 她双手叉腰站着。
  • They wiggled their hips to the sound of pop music. 他们随着流行音乐的声音摇晃着臀部。 来自《简明英汉词典》
50 grid 5rPzpK     
n.高压输电线路网;地图坐标方格;格栅
参考例句:
  • In this application,the carrier is used to encapsulate the grid.在这种情况下,要用载体把格栅密封起来。
  • Modern gauges consist of metal foil in the form of a grid.现代应变仪则由网格形式的金属片组成。
51 rusting 58458e5caedcd1cfd059f818dae47166     
n.生锈v.(使)生锈( rust的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • There was an old rusting bolt on the door. 门上有一个生锈的旧门闩。 来自辞典例句
  • Zinc can be used to cover other metals to stop them rusting. 锌可用来涂在其他金属表面以防锈。 来自辞典例句
52 subversive IHbzr     
adj.颠覆性的,破坏性的;n.破坏份子,危险份子
参考例句:
  • She was seen as a potentially subversive within the party.她被看成党内潜在的颠覆分子。
  • The police is investigating subversive group in the student organization.警方正调查学生组织中的搞颠覆阴谋的集团。
53 sobbing df75b14f92e64fc9e1d7eaf6dcfc083a     
<主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的
参考例句:
  • I heard a child sobbing loudly. 我听见有个孩子在呜呜地哭。
  • Her eyes were red with recent sobbing. 她的眼睛因刚哭过而发红。
54 flicking 856751237583a36a24c558b09c2a932a     
(尤指用手指或手快速地)轻击( flick的现在分词 ); (用…)轻挥; (快速地)按开关; 向…笑了一下(或瞥了一眼等)
参考例句:
  • He helped her up before flicking the reins. 他帮她上马,之后挥动了缰绳。
  • There's something flicking around my toes. 有什么东西老在叮我的脚指头。
55 patriot a3kzu     
n.爱国者,爱国主义者
参考例句:
  • He avowed himself a patriot.他自称自己是爱国者。
  • He is a patriot who has won the admiration of the French already.他是一个已经赢得法国人敬仰的爱国者。
56 traitor GqByW     
n.叛徒,卖国贼
参考例句:
  • The traitor was finally found out and put in prison.那个卖国贼终于被人发现并被监禁了起来。
  • He was sold out by a traitor and arrested.他被叛徒出卖而被捕了。
57 eloquent ymLyN     
adj.雄辩的,口才流利的;明白显示出的
参考例句:
  • He was so eloquent that he cut down the finest orator.他能言善辩,胜过最好的演说家。
  • These ruins are an eloquent reminder of the horrors of war.这些废墟形象地提醒人们不要忘记战争的恐怖。
58 investigation MRKzq     
n.调查,调查研究
参考例句:
  • In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
  • He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。
59 mumbled 3855fd60b1f055fa928ebec8bcf3f539     
含糊地说某事,叽咕,咕哝( mumble的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • He mumbled something to me which I did not quite catch. 他对我叽咕了几句话,可我没太听清楚。
  • George mumbled incoherently to himself. 乔治语无伦次地喃喃自语。
60 laundered 95074eccc0837ff352682b72828e8414     
v.洗(衣服等),洗烫(衣服等)( launder的过去式和过去分词 );洗(黑钱)(把非法收入改头换面,变为貌似合法的收入)
参考例句:
  • Send these sheets to be laundered. 把这些床单送去洗熨。 来自辞典例句
  • The air seems freshly laundered. Sydney thinks of good drying weather. 空气似乎被清洗过,让悉妮想起晴朗干爽适合晒衣服的好天气。 来自互联网
61 detergent dm1zW     
n.洗涤剂;adj.有洗净力的
参考例句:
  • He recommended a new detergent to me.他向我推荐一种新的洗涤剂。
  • This detergent can remove stubborn stains.这种去污剂能去除难洗的污渍。
62 confession 8Ygye     
n.自白,供认,承认
参考例句:
  • Her confession was simply tantamount to a casual explanation.她的自白简直等于一篇即席说明。
  • The police used torture to extort a confession from him.警察对他用刑逼供。
63 assassinated 0c3415de7f33014bd40a19b41ce568df     
v.暗杀( assassinate的过去式和过去分词 );中伤;诋毁;破坏
参考例句:
  • The prime minister was assassinated by extremists. 首相遭极端分子暗杀。
  • Then, just two days later, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. 跟着在两天以后,肯尼迪总统在达拉斯被人暗杀。 来自辞典例句
64 stifling dhxz7C     
a.令人窒息的
参考例句:
  • The weather is stifling. It looks like rain. 今天太闷热,光景是要下雨。
  • We were stifling in that hot room with all the windows closed. 我们在那间关着窗户的热屋子里,简直透不过气来。
65 gravel s6hyT     
n.砂跞;砂砾层;结石
参考例句:
  • We bought six bags of gravel for the garden path.我们购买了六袋碎石用来铺花园的小路。
  • More gravel is needed to fill the hollow in the drive.需要更多的砾石来填平车道上的坑洼。
66 diesel ql6zo     
n.柴油发动机,内燃机
参考例句:
  • We experimented with diesel engines to drive the pumps.我们试着用柴油机来带动水泵。
  • My tractor operates on diesel oil.我的那台拖拉机用柴油开动。
67 drizzling 8f6f5e23378bc3f31c8df87ea9439592     
下蒙蒙细雨,下毛毛雨( drizzle的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • The rain has almost stopped, it's just drizzling now. 雨几乎停了,现在只是在下毛毛雨。
  • It was drizzling, and miserably cold and damp. 外面下着毛毛细雨,天气又冷又湿,令人难受。
68 uneven akwwb     
adj.不平坦的,不规则的,不均匀的
参考例句:
  • The sidewalk is very uneven—be careful where you walk.这人行道凹凸不平—走路时请小心。
  • The country was noted for its uneven distribution of land resources.这个国家以土地资源分布不均匀出名。
69 wry hMQzK     
adj.讽刺的;扭曲的
参考例句:
  • He made a wry face and attempted to wash the taste away with coffee.他做了个鬼脸,打算用咖啡把那怪味地冲下去。
  • Bethune released Tung's horse and made a wry mouth.白求恩放开了董的马,噘了噘嘴。
70 mimed 5166e355c3eabceea9e258c2192f768e     
v.指手画脚地表演,用哑剧的形式表演( mime的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • The man mimed the slaying of an enemy. 此人比手划脚地表演砍死一个敌人的情况。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • The acting students mimed eating an apple. 这些学生正在用哑剧形式表演吃苹果。 来自互联网
71 pointed Il8zB4     
adj.尖的,直截了当的
参考例句:
  • He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
  • She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。
72 crunched adc2876f632a087c0c8d7d68ab7543dc     
v.嘎吱嘎吱地咬嚼( crunch的过去式和过去分词 );嘎吱作响;(快速大量地)处理信息;数字捣弄
参考例句:
  • Our feet crunched on the frozen snow. 我们的脚嘎吱嘎吱地踩在冻雪上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He closed his jaws on the bones and crunched. 他咬紧骨头,使劲地嚼。 来自英汉文学 - 热爱生命


欢迎访问英文小说网

©英文小说网 2005-2010

有任何问题,请给我们留言,管理员邮箱:[email protected]  站长QQ :点击发送消息和我们联系56065533