PASSION AND MY Granddad made wild love for three days and nights, until her already thick lipswere puffy and swollen1. Trickles2 of blood seeped3 into the cracks between her teeth, and whenGranddad kissed her, the taste of blood nearly drove him crazy. The rain didn’t let up duringthose three days, and when the blue-and-gold light vanished from the room, the rustling4 of grey-green sorghum5, the watery6 croaks7 of frogs, and the nibbling8 sounds of wild rabbits came on theair from the fields. The chilled, fetid air was saturated9 with a thousand smells.
When Granddad awoke on the morning of the fourth day, he looked at Passion lying besidehim and discovered how gaunt and bony she had become; her closed eyes were rimmed10 withdark-purple circles, her thick lips were cracked and peeling. Hearing the loud crash of a housecollapsing somewhere in the village, he quickly dressed and stumbled down off the kang, only tofall flat on his face; he was stunned11. As he lay on the floor, his stomach rumbled12 from hunger.
Managing to get to his feet, he called out weakly for the woman Liu. No answer. He went intothe room that Passion shared with her, but the only thing lying on the kang mat was a green frog;no sign of Liu.
Returning to the room where he and Passion had spent the last three days and nights, he pickedup several squashed slices of salted eggs and gobbled them down, shell and all. But they onlywhetted his appetite, so he went into the kitchen and dug through the cabinet, where he foundfour mildewed13 buns, nine salted eggs, two pieces of preserved bean curd15, and three witheredscallions; he gobbled everything down and finished it off with a ladleful of peanut oil.
The sun’s rays spread across the sorghum field like blood. Passion was still asleep, andGranddad looked at her body, sleek16 as the hide of the black mule17. He poked18 her in the belly19 withhis pistol, and she awoke with a smile, blue flames leaping out of her eyes; but he staggered outinto the yard and looked up at the huge, round sun, which was like a damp, newborn infant, stillcovered with its mother’s blood. All around him, rain puddles20 shone bright red.
The wall separating the eastern and western compounds had come down. Uncle Arhat, thewoman Liu, and the distillery hands ran outside to look at the sun.
‘Were you in there gambling21 all this time?’ Granddad asked.
‘Yes,’ Uncle Arhat answered, ‘for three days and three nights.’
Once the rain had stopped and the sky was clear, the water receded22 quickly, exposing a layerof soil as wet and shiny as grease. Grandma rode up on her mud-spattered black mule out of thegooey muck of the field, holding Father in her arms. As they picked up each other’s scent23, thetwo mules24, separated for so long, began to paw the ground, bob their heads, and bray25 loudly.
When they were led up to the feeding trough, they nudged and nibbled26 each other intimately.
Embarrassed, Granddad took Father from Grandma, whose eyes were red and puffy; shesmelled slightly of mildew14. ‘Did you take care of everything?’ Granddad asked her.
‘We buried her this morning. Two more days of rain and the maggots would have got to her.’
‘That was quite a rain, all right. The bottom must have fallen out of the Milky27 Way.’ He turnedto my father. ‘Douguan, say hello to your foster-dad.’
‘Foster-dad? That’s a “bloodless” relationship. Yours is “blooded”,’ Grandma chided him.
‘Hold him while I go inside and change.’
Passion walked outside with a brass28 basin to get some water. Granddad smiled knowingly, towhich she responded with a look of annoyance29.
‘What’s wrong?’ he asked softly.
‘It’s all the fault of that damned rain!’ she snapped back.
‘What did you say to him?’ he heard Grandma ask Passion after she carried the water inside.
‘Nothing.’
‘Didn’t you say it was all the fault of that damned rain?’
‘No, no, I said that damned rain probably came because the bottom fell out of the Milky Way.’
Grandma uttered an ‘Oh!’ Granddad heard the water splashing in the brass basin.
Three days later, Grandma said she was going home to burn incense30 for Great-Grandma. Whenshe and Father were seated on the black mule, she said to Passion, ‘I won’t be back tonight.’
That night the woman Liu went over to the eastern compound to gamble with the hired hands.
Golden flames lit up Grandma’s room again.
After riding the mule back under the stars, she stood beneath the window and listened to whatwas going on inside. During the angry tirade31 that followed, Grandma gouged32 a dozen bloodylines in Passion’s face with her nails and slapped Granddad’s left cheek – hard. He just laughed.
She raised her hand again, but before it reached his cheek it went limp, and she merely brushedhis shoulder. He sent her reeling with a vicious slap.
Grandma burst out crying.
Granddad left, taking Passion with him.
点击收听单词发音
1 swollen | |
adj.肿大的,水涨的;v.使变大,肿胀 | |
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2 trickles | |
n.细流( trickle的名词复数 );稀稀疏疏缓慢来往的东西v.滴( trickle的第三人称单数 );淌;使)慢慢走;缓慢移动 | |
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3 seeped | |
v.(液体)渗( seep的过去式和过去分词 );渗透;渗出;漏出 | |
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4 rustling | |
n. 瑟瑟声,沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的 | |
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5 sorghum | |
n.高粱属的植物,高粱糖浆,甜得发腻的东西 | |
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6 watery | |
adj.有水的,水汪汪的;湿的,湿润的 | |
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7 croaks | |
v.呱呱地叫( croak的第三人称单数 );用粗的声音说 | |
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8 nibbling | |
v.啃,一点一点地咬(吃)( nibble的现在分词 );啃出(洞),一点一点咬出(洞);慢慢减少;小口咬 | |
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9 saturated | |
a.饱和的,充满的 | |
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10 rimmed | |
adj.有边缘的,有框的v.沿…边缘滚动;给…镶边 | |
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11 stunned | |
adj. 震惊的,惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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12 rumbled | |
发出隆隆声,发出辘辘声( rumble的过去式和过去分词 ); 轰鸣着缓慢行进; 发现…的真相; 看穿(阴谋) | |
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13 mildewed | |
adj.发了霉的,陈腐的,长了霉花的v.(使)发霉,(使)长霉( mildew的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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14 mildew | |
n.发霉;v.(使)发霉 | |
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15 curd | |
n.凝乳;凝乳状物 | |
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16 sleek | |
adj.光滑的,井然有序的;v.使光滑,梳拢 | |
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17 mule | |
n.骡子,杂种,执拗的人 | |
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18 poked | |
v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 );戳出;拨弄;与(某人)性交 | |
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19 belly | |
n.肚子,腹部;(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分,膛 | |
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20 puddles | |
n.水坑, (尤指道路上的)雨水坑( puddle的名词复数 ) | |
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21 gambling | |
n.赌博;投机 | |
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22 receded | |
v.逐渐远离( recede的过去式和过去分词 );向后倾斜;自原处后退或避开别人的注视;尤指问题 | |
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23 scent | |
n.气味,香味,香水,线索,嗅觉;v.嗅,发觉 | |
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24 mules | |
骡( mule的名词复数 ); 拖鞋; 顽固的人; 越境运毒者 | |
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25 bray | |
n.驴叫声, 喇叭声;v.驴叫 | |
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26 nibbled | |
v.啃,一点一点地咬(吃)( nibble的过去式和过去分词 );啃出(洞),一点一点咬出(洞);慢慢减少;小口咬 | |
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27 milky | |
adj.牛奶的,多奶的;乳白色的 | |
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28 brass | |
n.黄铜;黄铜器,铜管乐器 | |
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29 annoyance | |
n.恼怒,生气,烦恼 | |
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30 incense | |
v.激怒;n.香,焚香时的烟,香气 | |
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31 tirade | |
n.冗长的攻击性演说 | |
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32 gouged | |
v.凿( gouge的过去式和过去分词 );乱要价;(在…中)抠出…;挖出… | |
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