Chapter 39

The steadily¹ falling rain made him feel listless and stupid. He made a little fire in the woodstove, drew a chair over, and tried to read the current issue of Harper's, but he kept nodding off and then jerking² awake again as his chin dropped, squeezing³ his windpipe and producing a snore. I should have bought some cigarettes today, he thought. A few smokes would have kept me awake. But he hadn't bought any smokes, and he wasn't really sure they would have kept him awake, anyway. He wasn't just tired; he was suffering from shock.

At last he walked over to the couch⁴, adjusted the pillows, and lay back. Next to his cheek, cold rain spickle-spackled against the dark glass.

Only once, he thought. I only did it once. And then he fell deeply asleep.

1 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。

2 jerking   

n. 颠簸, 震摇 adj. 无节奏的 动词jerk的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• There was much jerking of heads, and looking down the line. 常常有人伸出头来，望望后面的队伍。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• "Now, don't be jerking your chin at me," warned Gerald. "好，别跟我作对了，"杰拉尔德警告说。

3 squeezing   

挤压； 轧水

参考例句：

• We were drying our clothes by squeezing. 我们把衣服拧干。
• He had a hard time squeezing through the crowd to get up to the platform. 他好不容易才挤到台前。

4 couch   

n.睡椅，长沙发椅；vt.表达，隐含

参考例句：

• Lie down on the couch if you're feeling ill.如果你感觉不舒服就躺到沙发上去。
• The rabbIt'sprang from its grassy couch.兔子从草丛中跳出。