THE TOYOTA TOUCH, a big blue banner says in the display windows of Springer Motors over on Route 111. 36 Months / 36,000 Miles ? Limited Warranty1 on All New Models, a lesser2 poster proclaims, and another All?New CRESSIDAS ? Powerful New 3.0?Liter Engine ? 190 Horsepower ? 4?Speed Electronically Controlled Overdrive Transmission ? New Safety Shift Lock. Nelson isn't in, to Harry3's considerable relief. The day is a desultory4 Tuesday and the two salesmen on the floor are both young men he doesn't know, and who don't know him. Changes have been made since last November. Nelson has had the office area repainted in brighter colors, pinks and greens like a Chinese tea?house, and has taken down the old blown?up photos of Harry in his glory days as a basketball star, with the headlines calling him "Rabbit."
"Mr. Angstrom left for lunch around one o'clock and said he might not be back this afternoon," a pudgy salesman tells him. Jake and Rudy used to have their desks out in the open along the wall, in the direction of the disco club that failed and when the Seventies went out became an appliance?rental5 center. One of Nelson's bright ideas was to take these desks away and line the opposite wall with cubicles6, like booths in a restaurant. Maybe it creates more salesman?customer intimacy7 at the ticklish8 moment of signing the forms but the arrangement seems remote from general business operations and exposed to the noise of the service garage. In this direction, and behind toward the river and Brewer9, lies the scruffy10 unpaved area of the lot Harry has always thought of for some reason as Paraguay, which in reality just got rid of its old dictator with the German name, Harry read in the papers recently.
"Yeah, well," he tells this fat stranger, "I'm a Mr. Angstrom too. Who is here, who knows anything?" He doesn't mean to sound rude but Thelma's revelation has upset him; he can feel his heart racing11 and his stomach struggling to digest the two bowls of nuts.
Another young salesman, a thinner one, comes toward them, out of a booth at the Paraguay end, and he sees it's not a man; her hair being pulled back tight from her ears and her wearing a tan trench12 coat to go out onto the lot to a customer fooled him. It's a female. A female car salesman. Like in that Toyota commercial, only white. He tries to control his face, so his chauvinism doesn't show.
"I'm Elvira Ollenbach, Mr. Angstrom," she says, and gives him a hard handshake that, after Thelma's pasty cold touch a half?hour ago, feels hot. "I'd know you were Nelson's dad even without the pictures he keeps on his wall. You look just like him, especially around the mouth."
Is this chick kidding him? She is a thin taut13 young woman, overexercised the way so many of them are now, with deep bony eyesockets and a deep no?curves voice and thin lips painted a pale luminous14 pink like reflecting tape and a neck so slender it makes her jaws15 look wide, coming to points under the lobes16 of her exposed white ears, which stick out. She wears gold earrings17 shaped like snail18 shells. He says to her, "I guess you've come onto the job since I was last here."
"Just since January," she says. "But before that I was three years with Datsun out on Route 819."
"How do you like it, selling cars?"
"I like it very much," Elvira Ollenbach says, and no more. She doesn't smile much, and her eyes are a little insistent19.
He puts himself on the line, telling her, "You don't think of it usually as a woman's game."
She shows a little life. "I know, isn't that strange, when it's really such a natural? The women who come in don't feel so intimid-ated, and the men aren't so afraid to show their ignorance as they would be with another man. I love it. My dad loved cars and I guess I take after him."
"It all makes sense," he admits. "I don't know why it's been so long in coming. Women sales reps, I mean. How's business been?"
"It's been a good spring, so far. People love the Camry, and of course the Corolla plugs right along, but we've had surprisingly good luck with the luxury models, compared to what we hear from other dealers20. Brewer's economy is looking up, after all these years. The dead industries have been shaken out, and the new ones, the little specialty21 and high?tech plants, have been coming in, and of course the factory outlets22 have had a fabulous23 reception. They're the key to the whole revival24."
"Super. How about the used end of it? That been slow?"
Her deeply set eyes ? shadowy, like Nelson's, but not sullen25 and hurt ? glance up in some puzzlement. "Why no, not at all. One of the reasons Nelson had for hiring a new rep was he wanted to devote more of his own attention to the used cars, and not whole-sale so many of them out. There was a man who used to do it, with a Greek name -"
"Stavros. Charlie Stavros."
"Exactly. And ever since he retired26 Nelson feels the used cars have been on automatic pilot. Nelson's philosophy is that unless you cater28 to the lower?income young or minority buyer with a buy they can manage you've lost a potential customer for a new upscale model five or ten years down the road."
"Sounds right." She seems awfully30 full of Nelson, this girl. Girl, she may be thirty or more for all he can tell, everybody under forty looks like a kid to him.
The pudgy salesman, the one who's a man ? a nice familiar Italian type, Brewer is still producing a few, with husky voices, hairy wrists, and with old?fashioned haircuts close above the ears ? feels obliged to put his two cents in. "Nelson's really been mak-ing the used cars jump. Ads in the Standard, prices on the wind-shield knocked lower every two or three days, discounts for cash. Some people swing by every day to see what's up for grabs." He has an anxious way of standing31 too close and hurrying his words; his cheeks could use a shave and his breath a Cert or two. Garlic, they use it on everything.
"Discounts for cash, huh?" Harry says. "Where is Nelson, anyway?"
"He told us he needed to unwind," Elvira says. "He wanted to get away from the calls."
"Calls?"
"Some man keeps calling him," Elvira says. Her voice drops. "He sounds kind of foreign." Harry is getting the impression she isn't as smart as she seemed at first impression. Her insistent eyes catch a hint of this thought, for she self?protectively adds, "I prob-ably shouldn't be saying a thing, but seeing as you're his father. . ."
"Sounds like a dissatisfied customer," Rabbit says, to help her out of it.
"Toyota doesn't get many of those," the other salesman crowds in. "Year after year, they put out the lowest?maintenance machines on the road, with a repair?free longevity32 that's absolutely un-believable."
"Don't sell me, I'm sold," Harry tells him.
"I get enthusiastic. My name's Benny Leone, by the way, Mr. Angstrom. Benny for Benedict. A pleasure to see you over here. The way Nelson tells us, you've washed your hands of the car business and glad of it."
"I'm semi?retired." Do they know, he wonders, that Janice legally owns it all? He supposes they pretty much have the picture. Most people do, in life. People know more than they let on.
Benny says, "You get all kinds of kooky calls in this business. Nelson shouldn't let it bug33 him."
"Nelson takes everything too seriously," Elvira adds. "I tell him, Don't let things get to you, but he can't help it. He's one of those guys so uptight34 he squeaks35."
"He was always a very caring boy," Harry tells them. "Who else is here, besides you two? Talk about automatic pilot -"
"There's Jeremy," Benny says, "who comes in generally Wednesdays through Saturdays."
"And Lyle's here," Elvira says, and glances sideways to where a couple in bleached36 jeans are wandering in the glinting sea of Toyotas.
"I thought Lyle was sick," Harry says.
"He says he's in remission," Benny says, his face getting a careful look, as maybe Harry's did when he was trying not to appear a chauvinist37 in Elvira's eyes. She for her part has suddenly moved, in her spring trench coat, toward the bright outdoors, where the pair of potential buyers browse38.
"Glad to hear it," Harry says, feeling less constrained39 and ceremonious talking to Benny alone. "I didn't think there was any remission from his disease."
"Not in the long run." The man's voice has gone huskier, a touch gangsterish, as if the woman's presence had constrained him too.
Harry jerks his head curtly41 toward the outdoors. "How's she doing really?"
Benny moves an inch even closer and confides42, "She gets 'em to a certain point, then gets rigid43 and lets the deal slip away. Like she's afraid the rest of us will say she's too soft."
Harry nods. "Like women are always the stingiest tippers. Money spooks 'em. Still," he says, loyal to the changing times and his son's innovations, "I think it's a good idea. Like lady ministers. They have a people touch."
"Yeah," the jowly small man cautiously allows. "Gives the place a little zing. A little something different."
"Where is Lyle, did you say?" He wonders how much these two are concealing44 from him, protecting Nelson. He was aware of eye signals between them as they talked. A maze45 of secrets, this agency he built up in his own image since 1975, when old man Springer suddenly popped, one summer day, like an overheated thermometer. A lot of hidden stress in the auto27 business. Chancy, yet you have a ton of steady overhead.
"He was in Nelson's office ten minutes ago."
"Doesn't he use Mildred's?" Harry explains, "Mildred Kroust was the bookkeeper for years here, when you were just a kid." In terms of Springer Motors he has become a historian. He can remember when that appliance?rental place up the road had a big sign saying D I S C O remade from a Mr. Peanut in spats46 and top hat brandishing47 his stick in neon.
But Benny seems to know all he wants to. He says, "That's a kind of conference room now. There's a couch in there if anybody needs all of a sudden to take a nap. Lyle used to, but now he works mostly at home, what with his illness."
"How long has he had it?"
Benny gets that careful look again, and says, "At least a year. That HIV virus can be inside you for five or ten before you know it." His voice goes huskier, he comes closer still. "A couple of the mechanics quit when Nelson brought him in as accountant in his condition, but you got to hand it to Nelson, he told them go ahead, quit, if they wanted to be superstitious48. He spelled out how you can't get it from casual contact and told them take it or leave it."
"How'd Manny go for that?"
"Manny? Oh yeah, Mr. Manning in Service. As I understand it, that was the reason he left finally. He'd been shopping, I hear, at other agencies, but at his age it's hard to make a jump."
"You said it," Harry says. "Hey, looks like another customer out there, you better help Elvira out."
"Let 'em look, is my motto. If they're serious, they'll come in. Elvira tries too hard."
Rabbit walks across the display floor, past the performance board and the Parts window and the crash?barred door that leads into the garage, to the green doorway49, set in old random50?grooved51 Masonite now painted a dusty rose, of what used to be his office. Elvira was right; the photographic blowups of his basketball headlines and halftone newspaper cuts haven't been tossed out but are up on Nelson's walls, where the kid has to look at them every day. Also on the walls are the Kiwanis and Rotary52 plaques53 and a citation54 from the Greater Brewer Chamber55 of Commerce and a President's Touch Award that Toyota gave the agency a few years ago and a Playboy calendar, the girl for this month dressed up as a bare?assed57 Easter bunny, which Harry isn't so sure strikes quite the right note but at least says the whole agency hasn't gone queer.
Lyle stands up at Nelson's desk before Harry is in the room. He is very thin. He wears a thick red sweater under his gray suit. He extends a skeletal bluish hand and an unexpectedly broad smile, his teeth enormous in his shrunken face. "Hello, Mr. Angstrom. I bet you don't remember me."
But he does look dimly familiar, like somebody you played basketball against forty years ago. His skull58 is very narrow, the crewcut hair so evenly blond it looks dyed; the accountant's half?glasses on his nose are of thin gold wire. He is so pale, light seems to be coming through his skin. Squinting59, Harry takes the offered hand in a brief shake and tries not to think of those little HIVs, intricate as tiny spaceships, slithering off onto his palm and up his wrist and arm into the sweat pores of his armpit and burrowing60 into his bloodstream there. He wipes his palm on the side of his jacket and hopes it looks like he's patting his pocket.
Lyle tells him, "I used to work in Fiscal61 Alternatives on Weiser Street when you and your wife would come and trade gold and silver."
Harry laughs, remembering. "We damn near broke our backs, lugging62 one load of silver dollars up the street to the fucking bank."
"You were smart," Lyle says. "You got out in time. I was impressed."
This last remark seems a touch impertinent, but Harry says amiably63, "Dumb luck. That place still functioning?"
"In a very restricted way," Lyle says, overemphasizing, for Harry's money, the "very." It seems if you're a fag you have to exaggerate everything, to bring it all up to normal pitch. "The whole metals boom was a fad64, really. They're very depressed65 now."
"It was a nifty little place. That beauty who used to do the actual buying and selling. I could never figure out how she could run the computer with those long fingernails."
"Oh, Marcia. She committed suicide."
Rabbit is stunned66. She had seemed so angelic in her way. "She did? Why?"
"Oh, the usual. Personal problems," Lyle says, flicking67 them away with the back of his transparent68 hand. In Rabbit's eyes globules of blurred69 light move around Lyle's margins70, like E.T. in the movie. "Nothing to do with the metals slump71. She was just the front, the money behind it came out of Philadelphia."
As Lyle talks airily, Harry can hear his intakes72 of breath, a slight panting that goes with the bluish shadows at the temples, the sense of him having come from space and about to go back to space. This guy's even worse off than 1 am, Rabbit thinks, and likes him for it. He sees no signs of the Kaposi's spots, though, just a general radiant aura of a body resisting life, refusing sustenance73, refusing to go along with its own system. There is a sweetish?rotten smell, like when you open the door of the unused refrigerator in a vacation place, or maybe Rabbit imagines it. Lyle suddenly, limply, sits down, as if standing has been too much effort.
Harry takes the chair across the desk, where the customers usually sit, begging for easier terms. "Lyle," Harry begins. "I'd like to inspect the books. Bank statements, receipts, payments, loans, inventory74, the works."
"Why on earth why?" Lyle's eyes, as the rest of his face wastes away, stand out, more in the round than healthy people's eyes. He sits erect75, one fleshless forearm for support laid in its gray sleeve parallel to the edge of Nelson's desk. Either to conserve76 his energy or protect the truth, he has set himself to give minimal77 answers.
"Oh, human curiosity. Frankly78, there's something fishy79 about the statements I've been getting in Florida." Harry hesitates, but can't see that being specific would do any harm at this point. He still has the hope that everything can be explained away, that he can go back to not thinking about the lot. "There aren't enough used?car sales, proportionally."
"There aren't?"
"You could argue it's a variable, and with the good economy under Reagan people can afford to buy new; but in my years here there's always been a certain proportion, things average out over the course of a couple months, and that hasn't been happening in the statements since November. In fact, it's been getting weirder80."
"Weirder."
"Funnier. Phonier. Whatever. When can I see the books? I'm no accountant; I want Mildred Kroust to go over them with me."
Lyle makes an effort and shifts his arm off the desk and rests both hands out of sight, on his lap. Harry is reminded by the way he moves of the ghostly slowness of the languid dead floppy81 bodies at Buchenwald being moved around in the post?war newsreels. Naked, loose?jointed82, their laps in plain view, talk about obscene, here was something so obscene they had to show it to us so we'd believe it. Lyle tells Harry, "I keep a lot of the data at home, in my computer."
"We have a computer system here. Top of the line, an IBM. I remember our installing it."
"Mine's compatible. A little Apple that does everything."
"I bet it does. You know, frankly, just because you're sick and have to stay home a lot's no reason the Springer Motors accounts should be scattered83 all over Diamond County. I want them here. I want them here tomorrow."
This is the first acknowledgment either has made that Lyle is sick, that Lyle is dying. The boy stiffens84, and his lips puff85 out a little. He smiles, that skeleton?generous grin. "I can only show the books to authorized86 persons," he says.
"I'm authorized. Who could be more authorized than me? I used to run the place. That's my picture all over the walls."
Lyle's eyelids87, with lashes88 darker than his hair, lower over those bulging89 eyes. He blinks several times, and tries to be delicate, to keep the courtesies between them. "My understanding from Nelson is that his mother owns the company."
"Yeah, but I'm her husband. Half of what's hers is mine."
"In some circumstances, perhaps, and perhaps in some states. But not, I think, in Pennsylvania. If you wish to consult a lawyer -" His breathing is becoming difficult; it is almost a mercy for Harry to interrupt.
"I don't need to consult any lawyer. All I need is to have my wife call you and tell you to show me the books. Me and Mildred. I want her in on this."
"Miss Kroust, I believe, resides now in a nursing home. The Dengler Home in Penn Park."
"Good. That's five minutes from my house. I'll pick her up and come back here tomorrow. Let's set a time."
Lyle's lids lower again, and he awkwardly replaces his arm on the desktop90. "When and if I receive your wife's authorization91, and Nelson's go?ahead -"
"You're not going to get that. Nelson's the problem here, not the solution."
"I say, even if, I would need some days to pull all the figures together."
"Why is that? The books should be up?to?date. What's going on here with you guys?"
Surprisingly, Lyle says nothing. Perhaps the struggle for breath is too much. It is all so wearying. His hollow temples look bluer. Harry's heart is racing and his chest twingeing but he resists the impulse to pop another Nitrostat, he doesn't want to become an addict92. He slumps93 down lower in the customer's chair, as if negotiations94 for now have gone as far as they can go. He tries another topic. "Tell me about it, Lyle. How does it feel?"
"What feel?"
"Being so close to, you know, the barn. The reason I ask, I had a touch of heart trouble down in Florida and still can't get used to it, how close I came. I mean, most of the time it seems unreal, I'm me, and all around me everything is piddling along as normal, and then suddenly at night, when I wake up needing to take a leak, or in the middle of a TV show that's sillier than hell, it hits me, and wow. The bottom falls right out. I want to crawl back into my parents but they're dead already."
Lyle's puffy lips tremble, or seem to, as he puzzles out this new turn the conversation has taken. "You come to terns with it," he says. "Everybody dies."
"But some sooner than others, huh?"
A spasm95 of indignation animates96 Lyle. "They're developing new drugs. All the time. The French. The Chinese. Trichosanthin. TIBO derivatives97. Eventually the FDA will have to let them in, even if they are a bunch of Reaganite fascist98 homophobes who wouldn't mind seeing us all dead. It's a question of hanging on. I have hope."
"Well, great. More power to you. But medicine can only do so much. That's what I'm learning, the hard way. You know, Lyle, it's not as though I'd never thought about death, or never had people near to me die, but I never, you could say, had the real taste of it in my mouth. I mean, it's not kidding. It wants it all." He wants that pill. He wonders if Nelson keeps a roll of Life Savers in the desk the way he himself used to. Just something to put in your mouth when you get nervous. Harry finds that every time he thinks of his death it makes him want to eat ? that's why he hasn't lost more weight.
This other man's attempt to open him up has made Lyle more erect behind the desk, more hostile. He stares at Harry with those eroded99?around eyes, beneath eyebrows100 the same metallic101 blond as his hair. "One good thing about it," he offers, "is you become harder to frighten. By minor29 things. By threats like yours, for example."
"I'm not making any threats, Lyle, I'm just trying to find out what the fuck is going on. I'm beginning to think this company is being ripped off. If I'm wrong and it's all on the up and up, you've nothing to be frightened of." Poor guy, he's biting the bullet, and less than half Harry's age. At his age, what was Harry doing? Setting type the old?fashioned way, and dreaming about ass56. Ass, one way or another, does us in: membrane's too thin, those little HIVs sneak102 right through. Black box of nothingness, is what it felt like with Thelma. Funny appetite, for a steady diet. Being queer isn't all roses.
Lyle moves his anns around again with that brittle103 caution. His body has become a collection of dead sticks. "Don't make allegations, Mr. Angstrom, you wouldn't want to defend in court."
"Well, is it an allegation or a fact that you refuse to let me and an impartial104 accountant examine your books?"
"Mildred's not impartial. She's furious at me for replacing her. She's furious because I and my computer can do in a few hours what took her all week."
"Mildred's an honest old soul."
"Mildred's senile."
"Mildred's not the point here. The point is you're defying me to protect my son."
"I'm not defying you, Mr. Angstrom
"You can call me Harry."
"I'm not defying you, sir. I'm just telling you I can't accept orders from you. I have to get them from Nelson or Mrs. Angstrom."
"You'll get 'em. Sir." A smiling provocative105 hovering106 in Lyle's expression goads107 Harry to ask, "Do you doubt it?"
"I'll be waiting to hear," Lyle says.
"Listen. You may know about a lot of things I don't but you don't know shit about marriage. My wife will do what I tell her to. Ask her to. In a business like this we're absolutely one."
"We'll see," Lyle says. "My parents were married, as a matter of fact. I was raised in a marriage. I know a lot about marriage."
"Didn't do you much good."
"It showed me something to avoid," Lyle says, and smiles as broadly, as guilelessly, as when Harry came in. All teeth. Now Harry does recall him from the old days at Fiscal Alternatives ? the stacks of gold and silver, and flawless cool Marcia with her long red nails. Poor beauty, did herself in. She and Monroe. Rabbit admits to himself the peculiar108 charm queers have, a boyish lightness, a rising above all that female muck, where life breeds.
"How's Slim?" Harry asks, rising from the chair. "Nelson used to talk a lot about Slim."
"Slim," Lyle says, too weak or rude to stand, "died. Before Christmas."
"Sorry to hear it," Harry lies. He holds out his hand over the desk to be shaken and the other man hesitates to take it, as if fearing contamination. Feverish109 loose?jointed bones: Rabbit gives them a squeeze and says, "Tell Nelson if you ever see him I like the new decor. Kind of a boutique look. Cute. Goes with the new sales rep. You hang loose, Lyle. Hope China comes through for you. We'll be in touch."
On the radio on the way home, he hears that Mike Schmidt, who exactly two years ago, on April 18, 1987, slugged his five hundredth home run, against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Three Rivers Stadium, is closing in on Richie Ashburn's total of 2,217 hits to become the hittingest Phillie ever. Rabbit remembers Ashburn. One of the Whiz Kids who beat the Dodgers110 for the pennant111 the fall Rabbit became a high?school senior. Curt40 Simmons, Del Ennis, Dick Sisler in center, Andy Semmick behind the plate. Beat the Dodgers the last game of the season, then lost to the Yankees four straight. In 1950 Rabbit was seventeen and had led the county B league with 817 points his junior season. Remembering these statistics helps settle his agitated112 mood, stirred up by seeing Thelma and Lyle, a mood of stirred?up unsatisfied desire at whose fringes licks the depressing idea that nothing matters very much, we'll all soon be dead.
收听单词发音 |
1
warranty
|
|
| n.担保书，证书，保单 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
lesser
|
|
| adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
harry
|
|
| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
desultory
|
|
| adj.散漫的，无方法的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
rental
|
|
| n.租赁，出租，出租业 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
cubicles
|
|
| n.小卧室，斗室( cubicle的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
intimacy
|
|
| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
ticklish
|
|
| adj.怕痒的；问题棘手的；adv.怕痒地；n.怕痒，小心处理 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
brewer
|
|
| n. 啤酒制造者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
scruffy
|
|
| adj.肮脏的，不洁的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
racing
|
|
| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
trench
|
|
| n./v.(挖)沟，(挖)战壕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
taut
|
|
| adj.拉紧的，绷紧的，紧张的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
luminous
|
|
| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
jaws
|
|
| n.口部；嘴 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
lobes
|
|
| n.耳垂( lobe的名词复数 )；（器官的）叶；肺叶；脑叶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
earrings
|
|
| n.耳环( earring的名词复数 )；耳坠子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
snail
|
|
| n.蜗牛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
insistent
|
|
| adj.迫切的，坚持的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
dealers
|
|
| n.商人( dealer的名词复数 )；贩毒者；毒品贩子；发牌者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
specialty
|
|
| n.(speciality)特性，特质；专业，专长 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
outlets
|
|
| n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
fabulous
|
|
| adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
revival
|
|
| n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
sullen
|
|
| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
retired
|
|
| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
auto
|
|
| n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
cater
|
|
| vi.(for/to)满足，迎合；(for)提供饮食及服务 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
minor
|
|
| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
awfully
|
|
| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
longevity
|
|
| n.长命；长寿 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
bug
|
|
| n.虫子；故障；窃听器；vt.纠缠；装窃听器 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
uptight
|
|
| adj.焦虑不安的，紧张的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
squeaks
|
|
| n.短促的尖叫声，吱吱声( squeak的名词复数 )v.短促地尖叫( squeak的第三人称单数 )；吱吱叫；告密；充当告密者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
bleached
|
|
| 漂白的，晒白的，颜色变浅的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
chauvinist
|
|
| n.沙文主义者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
browse
|
|
| vi.随意翻阅，浏览；(牛、羊等)吃草 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
constrained
|
|
| adj.束缚的,节制的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
curt
|
|
| adj.简短的，草率的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
curtly
|
|
| adv.简短地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
confides
|
|
| v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的第三人称单数 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
rigid
|
|
| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
concealing
|
|
| v.隐藏，隐瞒，遮住( conceal的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
maze
|
|
| n.迷宫，八阵图，混乱，迷惑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
spats
|
|
| n.口角( spat的名词复数 )；小争吵；鞋罩；鞋套v.spit的过去式和过去分词( spat的第三人称单数 )；口角；小争吵；鞋罩 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
brandishing
|
|
| v.挥舞( brandish的现在分词 )；炫耀 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
superstitious
|
|
| adj.迷信的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
doorway
|
|
| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
random
|
|
| adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
grooved
|
|
| v.沟( groove的过去式和过去分词 )；槽；老一套；（某种）音乐节奏 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
rotary
|
|
| adj.(运动等)旋转的；轮转的；转动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
plaques
|
|
| （纪念性的）匾牌( plaque的名词复数 )； 纪念匾； 牙斑； 空斑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
citation
|
|
| n.引用，引证，引用文；传票 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
chamber
|
|
| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
ass
|
|
| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
assed
|
|
| 称职的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
skull
|
|
| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
squinting
|
|
| 斜视( squint的现在分词 )； 眯着眼睛； 瞟； 从小孔或缝隙里看 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
burrowing
|
|
| v.挖掘（洞穴），挖洞( burrow的现在分词 )；翻寻 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
fiscal
|
|
| adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
lugging
|
|
| 超载运转能力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
amiably
|
|
| adv.和蔼可亲地，亲切地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
fad
|
|
| n.时尚；一时流行的狂热；一时的爱好 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
depressed
|
|
| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
stunned
|
|
| adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
flicking
|
|
| （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： |
|
|
|
|
68
transparent
|
|
| adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
blurred
|
|
| v.（使）变模糊( blur的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）难以区分；模模糊糊；迷离 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
margins
|
|
| 边( margin的名词复数 )； 利润； 页边空白； 差数 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
slump
|
|
| n.暴跌，意气消沉，（土地）下沉；vi.猛然掉落，坍塌，大幅度下跌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
intakes
|
|
| 吸入( intake的名词复数 )； （液体等）进入口； （一定时期内）进入或纳入的人数； （采煤）进风巷道 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
sustenance
|
|
| n.食物，粮食；生活资料；生计 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
inventory
|
|
| n.详细目录，存货清单 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
erect
|
|
| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
conserve
|
|
| vt.保存，保护，节约，节省，守恒，不灭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
minimal
|
|
| adj.尽可能少的，最小的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
frankly
|
|
| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
fishy
|
|
| adj. 值得怀疑的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
weirder
|
|
| 怪诞的( weird的比较级 )； 神秘而可怕的； 超然的； 古怪的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
floppy
|
|
| adj.松软的，衰弱的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
jointed
|
|
| 有接缝的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
83
scattered
|
|
| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
84
stiffens
|
|
| （使）变硬，（使）强硬( stiffen的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
85
puff
|
|
| n.一口(气)；一阵(风)；v.喷气，喘气 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
86
authorized
|
|
| a.委任的，许可的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
87
eyelids
|
|
| n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 )；眼睛也不眨一下；不露声色；面不改色 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
88
lashes
|
|
| n.鞭挞( lash的名词复数 )；鞭子；突然猛烈的一击；急速挥动v.鞭打( lash的第三人称单数 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
89
bulging
|
|
| 膨胀； 凸出（部）； 打气； 折皱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
90
desktop
|
|
| n.桌面管理系统程序；台式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
91
authorization
|
|
| n.授权，委任状 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
92
addict
|
|
| v.使沉溺；使上瘾；n.沉溺于不良嗜好的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
93
slumps
|
|
| 萧条期( slump的名词复数 )； （个人、球队等的）低潮状态； （销售量、价格、价值等的）骤降； 猛跌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
94
negotiations
|
|
| 协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
95
spasm
|
|
| n.痉挛，抽搐；一阵发作 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
96
animates
|
|
| v.使有生气( animate的第三人称单数 )；驱动；使栩栩如生地动作；赋予…以生命 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
97
derivatives
|
|
| n.衍生性金融商品；派生物，引出物( derivative的名词复数 )；导数 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
98
fascist
|
|
| adj.法西斯主义的；法西斯党的；n.法西斯主义者，法西斯分子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
99
eroded
|
|
| adj. 被侵蚀的，有蚀痕的 动词erode的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
100
eyebrows
|
|
| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
101
metallic
|
|
| adj.金属的；金属制的；含金属的；产金属的；像金属的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
102
sneak
|
|
| vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
103
brittle
|
|
| adj.易碎的；脆弱的；冷淡的；(声音)尖利的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
104
impartial
|
|
| adj.(in,to)公正的，无偏见的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
105
provocative
|
|
| adj.挑衅的，煽动的，刺激的，挑逗的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
106
hovering
|
|
| 鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
107
goads
|
|
| n.赶牲口的尖棒( goad的名词复数 )v.刺激( goad的第三人称单数 )；激励；（用尖棒）驱赶；驱使（或怂恿、刺激）某人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
108
peculiar
|
|
| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
109
feverish
|
|
| adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
110
dodgers
|
|
| n.躲闪者，欺瞒者( dodger的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
111
pennant
|
|
| n.三角旗；锦标旗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
112
agitated
|
|
| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |