Chapter 2

Babette is tall and fairly ample; there is a girth and heft to her. Her hair is a fanatical blond mop, a particular tawnyhue that used to be called dirty blond. If she were a petite woman, the hair would be too cute, too mischievous¹ andcontrived. Size gives her tousled aspect a certain seriousness. Ample women do not plan such things. They lack theguile for conspiracies² of the body.

　　"You should have been there," I said to her.

　　"Where?""It's the day of the station wagons⁴.""Did I miss it again? You're supposed to remind me.""They stretched all the way down past the music library and onto the interstate. Blue, green, burgundy, brown. Theygleamed in the sun like a desert caravan⁵.""You know I need reminding, Jack⁶."Babette, disheveled, has the careless dignity of someone too preoccupied⁷ with serious matters to know or care whatshe looks like. Not that she is a gift-bearer of great things as the world generally reckons them. She gathers and tendsthe children, teaches a course in an adult education program, belongs to a group of volunteers who read to the blind.

　　Once a week she reads to an elderly man named Treadwell who lives on the edge of town. He is known as Old ManTreadwell, as if he were a landmark⁸, a rock formation or brooding swamp. She reads to him from the NationalEnquirer, the National Examiner, the National Express, the Globe, the World, the Star. The old fellow demands hisweekly dose of cult⁹ mysteries. Why deny him? The point is that Babette, whatever she is doing, makes me feelsweetly rewarded, bound up with a full-souled woman, a lover of daylight and dense¹⁰ life, the miscellaneousswarming air of families. I watch her all the time doing things in measured sequence, skillfully, with seeming ease,unlike my former wives, who had a tendency to feel estranged¹¹ from the objective world—a self-absorbed andhigh-strung bunch, with ties to the intelligence community.

　　"It's not the station wagons I wanted to see. What are the people like? Do the women wear plaid skirts, cable-knitsweaters? Are the men in hacking¹² jackets? What's a hacking jacket?""They've grown comfortable with their money," I said. "They genuinely believe they're entitled to it. This convictiongives them a kind of rude health. They glow a little.""I have trouble imagining death at that income level," she said.

　　"Maybe there is no death as we know it. Just documents changing hands.""Not that we don't have a station wagon³ ourselves.""It's small, it's metallic¹³ gray, it has one whole rusted¹⁴ door.""Where is Wilder?" she said, routinely panic-stricken, calling out to the child, one of hers, sitting motionless on histricycle in the backyard.

　　Babette and I do our talking in the kitchen. The kitchen and the bedroom are the major chambers¹⁵ around here, thepower haunts, the sources. She and I are alike in this, that we regard the rest of the house as storage space forfurniture, toys, all the unused objects of earlier marriages and different sets of children, the gifts of lost in-laws, thehand-me-downs and rummages¹⁶. Things, boxes. Why do these possessions carry such sorrowful weight? There is adarkness attached to them, a foreboding. They make me wary¹⁷ not of personal failure and defeat but of somethingmore general, something large in scope and content.

　　She came in with Wilder and seated him on the kitchen counter. Denise and Steffie came downstairs and we talkedabout the school supplies they would need. Soon it was time for lunch. We entered a period of chaos¹⁸ and noise. Wemilled about, bickered¹⁹ a little, dropped utensils²⁰. Finally we were all satisfied with what we'd been able to snatch fromthe cupboards and refrigerator or swipe from each other and we began quietly plastering mustard or mayonnaise onour brightly colored food. The mood was one of deadly serious anticipation²¹, a reward hard-won. The table wascrowded and Babette and Denise elbowed each other twice, although neither spoke²². Wilder was still seated on thecounter surrounded by open cartons, crumpled²³ tinfoil²⁴, shiny bags of potato chips, bowls of pasty substances coveredwith plastic wrap, flip-top rings and twist ties, individually wrapped slices of orange cheese. Heinrich came in,studied the scene carefully, my only son, then walked out the back door and disappeared.

　　"This isn't the lunch I'd planned for myself," Babette said. "I was seriously thinking yogurt and wheat germ.""Where have we heard that before?" Denise said.

　　"Probably right here," Steffie said.

　　"She keeps buying that stuff.""But she never eats it," Steffie said.

　　"Because she thinks if she keeps buying it, she'll have to eat it just to get rid of it. It's like she's trying to trick herself.""It takes up half the kitchen.""But she throws it away before she eats it because it goes bad," Denise said. "So then she starts the whole thing allover again.""Wherever you look," Steffie said, "there it is.""She feels guilty if she doesn't buy it, she feels guilty if she buys it and doesn't eat it, she feels guilty when she sees itin the fridge, she feels guilty when she throws it away.""It's like she smokes but she doesn't," Steffie said.

　　Denise was eleven, a hard-nosed kid. She led a more or less daily protest against those of her mother's habits thatstruck her as wasteful²⁶ or dangerous. I defended Babette. I told her I was the one who needed to show discipline inmatters of diet. I reminded her how much I liked the way she looked. I suggested there was an honesty inherent inbulkiness if it is just the right amount. People trust a certain amount of bulk in others.

　　But she was not happy with her hips²⁵ and thighs²⁷, walked at a rapid clip, ran up the stadium steps at the neoclassicalhigh school.

　　She said I made virtues²⁸ of her flaws because it was my nature to shelter loved ones from the truth. Something lurkedinside the truth, she said.

　　The smoke alarm went off in the hallway upstairs, either to 'et us know the battery had just died or because the housewas on fire. We finished our lunch in silence.

1 mischievous   

adj.调皮的，恶作剧的，有害的，伤人的

参考例句：

• He is a mischievous but lovable boy.他是一个淘气但可爱的小孩。
• A mischievous cur must be tied short.恶狗必须拴得短。

2 conspiracies   

n.阴谋，密谋( conspiracy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was still alive and hatching his conspiracies. 他还活着，策划着阴谋诡计。 来自辞典例句
• It appeared that they had engaged in fresh conspiracies from the very moment of their release. 看上去他们刚给释放，立刻开始新一轮的阴谋活动。 来自英汉文学

3 wagon   

n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车

参考例句：

• We have to fork the hay into the wagon.我们得把干草用叉子挑进马车里去。
• The muddy road bemired the wagon.马车陷入了泥泞的道路。

4 wagons   

n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 )；铁路货车；小手推车

参考例句：

• The wagons were hauled by horses. 那些货车是马拉的。
• They drew their wagons into a laager and set up camp. 他们把马车围成一圈扎起营地。

5 caravan   

n.大蓬车；活动房屋

参考例句：

• The community adviser gave us a caravan to live in.社区顾问给了我们一间活动住房栖身。
• Geoff connected the caravan to the car.杰弗把旅行用的住屋拖车挂在汽车上。

6 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

7 preoccupied   

adj.全神贯注的，入神的；被抢先占有的；心事重重的v.占据（某人）思想，使对…全神贯注，使专心于( preoccupy的过去式)

参考例句：

• He was too preoccupied with his own thoughts to notice anything wrong. 他只顾想着心事，没注意到有什么不对。
• The question of going to the Mount Tai preoccupied his mind. 去游泰山的问题盘踞在他心头。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 landmark   

n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标

参考例句：

• The Russian Revolution represents a landmark in world history.俄国革命是世界历史上的一个里程碑。
• The tower was once a landmark for ships.这座塔曾是船只的陆标。

9 cult   

n.异教，邪教；时尚，狂热的崇拜

参考例句：

• Her books aren't bestsellers,but they have a certain cult following.她的书算不上畅销书，但有一定的崇拜者。
• The cult of sun worship is probably the most primitive one.太阳崇拜仪式或许是最为原始的一种。

10 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

11 estranged   

adj.疏远的，分离的

参考例句：

• He became estranged from his family after the argument.那场争吵后他便与家人疏远了。
• The argument estranged him from his brother.争吵使他同他的兄弟之间的关系疏远了。

12 hacking   

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。

13 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：

• A sharp metallic note coming from the outside frightened me.外面传来尖锐铿锵的声音吓了我一跳。
• He picked up a metallic ring last night.昨夜他捡了一个金属戒指。

14 rusted   

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》

15 chambers   

n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅

参考例句：

• The body will be removed into one of the cold storage chambers. 尸体将被移到一个冷冻间里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mr Chambers's readable book concentrates on the middle passage: the time Ransome spent in Russia. Chambers先生的这本值得一看的书重点在中间：Ransome在俄国的那几年。 来自互联网

16 rummages   

翻找，搜寻( rummage的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Susan rummages around for a cod and cuts off a fillet. 苏珊翻滚着一条鳕鱼并且切下了一块鱼排。
• In New Orleans, an unseen killer rummages through Ellis' belongings looking for clues. 在新奥尔良，一个看不清面目的杀手翻找着埃利斯的随身物品，寻找线索。

17 wary   

adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的

参考例句：

• He is wary of telling secrets to others.他谨防向他人泄露秘密。
• Paula frowned,suddenly wary.宝拉皱了皱眉头，突然警惕起来。

18 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

19 bickered   

v.争吵( bicker的过去式和过去分词 )；口角；（水等）作潺潺声；闪烁

参考例句：

• The afternoon sun bickered through the leaves. 午后的阳光闪烁于树叶之间。 来自辞典例句
• They bickered over [about] some unimportant thing. 他们为芝麻小事争吵。 来自辞典例句

20 utensils   

器具，用具，器皿( utensil的名词复数 )； 器物

参考例句：

• Formerly most of our household utensils were made of brass. 以前我们家庭用的器皿多数是用黄铜做的。
• Some utensils were in a state of decay when they were unearthed. 有些器皿在出土时已经残破。

21 anticipation   

n.预期，预料，期望

参考例句：

• We waited at the station in anticipation of her arrival.我们在车站等着，期待她的到来。
• The animals grew restless as if in anticipation of an earthquake.各种动物都变得焦躁不安，像是感到了地震即将发生。

22 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

23 crumpled   

adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• She crumpled the letter up into a ball and threw it on the fire. 她把那封信揉成一团扔进了火里。
• She flattened out the crumpled letter on the desk. 她在写字台上把皱巴巴的信展平。

24 tinfoil   

n.锡纸，锡箔

参考例句：

• You can wrap it up in tinfoil.你可以用锡箔纸裹住它。
• Drop by rounded tablespoon onto tinfoil.Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown.用大餐勺把刚刚搅拌好的糊糊盛到锡纸上，烘烤9至11分钟，直到变成金黄色。

25 hips   

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》

26 wasteful   

adj.（造成）浪费的，挥霍的

参考例句：

• It is a shame to be so wasteful.这样浪费太可惜了。
• Duties have been reassigned to avoid wasteful duplication of work.为避免重复劳动浪费资源，任务已经重新分派。

27 thighs   

n.股，大腿( thigh的名词复数 )；食用的鸡（等的）腿

参考例句：

• He's gone to London for skin grafts on his thighs. 他去伦敦做大腿植皮手术了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The water came up to the fisherman's thighs. 水没到了渔夫的大腿。 来自《简明英汉词典》

28 virtues   

美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处

参考例句：

• Doctors often extol the virtues of eating less fat. 医生常常宣扬少吃脂肪的好处。
• She delivered a homily on the virtues of family life. 她进行了一场家庭生活美德方面的说教。