Chapter 12

I went to German lessons twice a week, in the late afternoon, darkness crowding in earlier with each succeeding visit.

　　It was Howard Dunlop's working rule that we sit facing each other during the full length of the lesson. He wanted meto study his tongue positions as he demonstrated the pronunciation of consonants¹, diphthongs, long and short vowels².

　　He in turn would look closely into my mouth as I attempted to reproduce the unhappy sounds.

　　His was a mild and quiet face, an oval surface with no hint of distinctiveness³ until he started his vocal⁴ routines. Thenthe warping⁵ began. It was an eerie⁶ thing to see, shamefully⁷ fascinating, as a seizure⁸ might be if witnessed in acontrolled environment. He tucked his head into his trunk, narrowed his eyes, made grimacing⁹ humanoid faces.

　　When it was time for me to repeat the noises I did likewise, if only to please the teacher, twisting my mouth, shuttingmy eyes completely, conscious of an overarticulation so tortured it must have sounded like a sudden bending of thenatural law, a stone or tree struggling to speak. When I opened my eyes he was only inches from my mouth, leaningin to peer. I used to wonder what he saw in there.

　　There were strained silences before and after each lesson. I tried to make small talk, get him to discuss his years as achiropractor, his life before German. He would look off into the middle distance, not angry or bored or evasive—justdetached, free of the connectedness of events, it seemed. When he did speak, about the other boarders or the landlord,there was something querulous in his voice, a drawn-out note of complaint. It was important for him to believe thathe'd spent his life among people who kept missing the point.

　　"How many students do you have?""For German?""Yes.""You're the only one I have for German. I used to have others. German has fallen off. These things go in cycles, likeeverything else.""What else do you teach?""Greek, Latin, ocean sailing.""People come here to learn ocean sailing?""Not so much anymore.""It's amazing how many people teach these days," I said. "There is a teacher for every person. Everyone I know iseither a teacher or a student. What do you think it means?"He looked off toward a closet door.

　　"Do you teach anything else?" I said.

　　"Meteorology.""Meteorology. How did that come about?""My mother's death had a terrible impact on me. I collapsed¹⁰ totally, lost my faith in God. I was inconsolable,withdrew completely into myself. Then one day by chance I saw a weather report on TV. A dynamic young man witha glowing pointer stood before a multicolored satellite photo, predicting the weather for the next five days. I sat theremesmerized by his self-assurance and skill. It was as though a message was being transmitted from the weathersatellite through that young man and then to me in my canvas chair. I turned to meteorology for comfort. I readweather maps, collected books on weather, attended launchings of weather balloons. I realized weather wassomething I'd been looking for all my life. It brought me a sense of peace and security I'd never experienced. Dew,frost and fog. Snow flurries. The jet stream. I believe there is a grandeur¹² in the jet stream. I began to come out of myshell, talk to people in the street. 'Nice day.' 'Looks like rain.' 'Hot enough for you?' Everyone notices the weather.

　　First thing on rising, you go to the window, look at the weather. You do it, I do it. I made a list of goals I hoped toachieve in meteorology. I took a correspondence course, got a degree to teach the subject in buildings with a legaloccupancy of less than one hundred.

　　I've taught meteorology in church basements, in trailer parks, in people's dens¹³ and living rooms. They came to hearme in Millers¹⁴ Creek¹⁵, Lumberville, Watertown. Factory workers, housewives, merchants, members of the police andthe fire. I saw something in their eyes. A hunger, a compelling need."There were little holes in the cuffs¹⁶ of his thermal¹⁷ undershirt. We were standing¹⁸ in the middle of the room. I waited forhim to go on. It was the time of year, the time of day, for a small insistent¹⁹ sadness to pass into the texture²⁰ of things.

　　Dusk, silence, iron chill. Something lonely in the bone.

　　When I got home, Bob Pardee was in the kitchen practicing his golf swing. Bob is Denise's father. He said he wasdriving through town on his way to Glassboro to make a presentation and thought he'd take us all to dinner.

　　He swung his locked hands in slow motion over his left shoulder, following through smoothly²¹. Denise eyed himfrom a stool by the window. He wore a half shaggy cardigan with sleeves that draped over the cuffs.

　　"What kind of presentation?" she said.

　　"Oh, you know. Charts, arrows. Slap some colors on a wall. It's a basic outreach tool, sweetheart.""Did you change jobs again?""I'm raising funds. Busy as hell, too, better believe.""What kind of funds?""Just whatever's out there, you know? People want to give me food stamps, etchings. Hey, great, I don't mind."He was bent²² over a putt. Babette leaned on the refrigerator door with her arms folded, watching him. Upstairs aBritish voice said: "There are forms of vertigo²³ that do not include spinning.""Funds for what?" Denise said.

　　"There's a little thing you might have had occasion to hear of, called the Nuclear Accident Readiness Foundation.

　　Basically a legal defense²⁴ fund for the industry. Just in case kind of thing.""Just in case what?""Just in case I faint from hunger. Let's sneak²⁵ up on some ribs²⁶, why don't we? You got your leg men, you got yourbreast men.

　　Babette, what do you say? I'm about semiprepared to slaughter²⁷ my own animal.""How many jobs is this anyway?""Don't pester²⁸ me, Denise.""Never mind, I don't care, do what you want."Bob took the three older kids to the Wagon²⁹ Wheel. I drove Babette to the river-edge house where she would read toMr. Treadwell, the blind old man who lived there with his sister. Wilder sat between us, playing with thesupermarket tabloids³⁰ that Treadwell favored as reading matter. As a volunteer reader to the blind, Babette had somereservations about the old gent's appetite for the unspeakable and seamy, believing that the handicapped weremorally bound to higher types of entertainment. If we couldn't look to them for victories of the human .spirit, whocould we look to? They had an example to set just as she did as a reader and morale-booster. But she wasprofessional in her duty, reading to him with high earnestness, as to a child, about dead men who leave messages onanswering machines.

　　Wilder and I waited in the car. The plan was that after the reading the three of us would meet the Wagon Wheel groupat the Dinky Donut, where they would have dessert and we would have dinner. I'd brought along a copy of MeinKampf for that segment of the evening.

　　The Treadwell house was an old frame structure with rotting trellises along the porch. Less than five minutes aftershe'd entered, Babette came out, walked uncertainly to the far end of the porch and peered across the dim yard. Thenshe walked slowly toward the car.

　　"Door was open. I went in, nobody. I looked around, nothing, nobody. I went upstairs, no sign of life. There doesn'tseem to be anything missing.""What do you know about his sister?""She's older than he is and probably in worse shape if you disregard the fact that he's blind and she isn't."The two nearest houses were dark, both up for sale, and no one at four other houses in the area knew anything aboutthe Treadwells'

　　movements over the past few days. We drove to the state trooper barracks and talked to a female clerk who satbehind a computer console. She told us there was a disappearance³¹ every eleven seconds and taped everything wesaid.

　　At the Dinky Donut, outside town, Bob Pardee sat quietly as the family ate and talked. The soft pink golfer's face hadbegun to droop³² from his skull³³. His flesh seemed generally to sag¹¹, giving him the hangdog look of someone understrict orders to lose weight. His hair was expensively cut and layered, a certain amount of color combed in, a certainamount of technology brought to bear, but it seemed to need a more dynamic head. I realized Babette was looking athim carefully, trying to grasp the meaning of the four careening years they'd spent as man and wife. The panoramiccarnage. He drank, gambled, drove his car down embankments, got fired, quit, retired³⁴, traveled in disguise toCoaltown where he paid a woman to speak Swedish to him as they screwed. It was the Swedish that enraged³⁵ Babette,either that or his need to confess it, and she hit out at him—hit out with the backs of her hands, with her elbows andwrists. Old loves, old fears. Now she watched him with a tender sympathy, a reflectiveness that seemed deep andfond and generous enough to contain all the magical coun-terspells to his current run of woe³⁶, although I knew, ofcourse, as I went back to my book, that it was only a passing affection, one of those kindnesses no one understands.

　　By noon the next day they were dragging the river.

1 consonants   

n.辅音，子音( consonant的名词复数 )；辅音字母

参考例句：

• Consonants are frequently assimilated to neighboring consonants. 辅音往往被其邻近的辅音同化。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Vowels possess greater sonority than consonants. 元音比辅音响亮。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

2 vowels   

n.元音，元音字母( vowel的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Vowels possess greater sonority than consonants. 元音比辅音响亮。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Note the various sounds of vowels followed by r. 注意r跟随的各种元音的发音。 来自超越目标英语 第3册

3 distinctiveness   

特殊[独特]性

参考例句：

• Q10. How are the newness and distinctiveness of a design assessed? 如何评估一项外观设计的新颖性和独特性？
• We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. 你们的文化将会适应为我们服务。

4 vocal   

adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目

参考例句：

• The tongue is a vocal organ.舌头是一个发音器官。
• Public opinion at last became vocal.终于舆论哗然。

5 warping   

n.翘面，扭曲，变形v.弄弯，变歪( warp的现在分词 )；使（行为等）不合情理，使乖戾，

参考例句：

• Tilting, warping, and changes in elevation can seriously affect canals and shoreline facilities of various kinks. 倾斜、翘曲和高程变化可以严重地影响水渠和各种岸边设备。 来自辞典例句
• A warping, bending, or cracking, as that by excessive force. 翘曲，弯曲，裂开：翘曲、弯曲或裂开，如过强的外力引起。 来自互联网

6 eerie   

adj.怪诞的；奇异的；可怕的；胆怯的

参考例句：

• It's eerie to walk through a dark wood at night.夜晚在漆黑的森林中行走很是恐怖。
• I walked down the eerie dark path.我走在那条漆黑恐怖的小路上。

7 shamefully   

可耻地； 丢脸地； 不体面地； 羞耻地

参考例句：

• He misused his dog shamefully. 他可耻地虐待自己的狗。
• They have served me shamefully for a long time. 长期以来，他们待我很坏。

8 seizure   

n.没收；占有；抵押

参考例句：

• The seizure of contraband is made by customs.那些走私品是被海关没收的。
• The courts ordered the seizure of all her property.法院下令查封她所有的财产。

9 grimacing   

v.扮鬼相，做鬼脸( grimace的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• But then Boozer drove past Gasol for a rattling, grimacing slam dunk. 可布泽尔单吃家嫂，以一记强有力的扣篮将比分超出。 来自互联网
• The martyrdom of Archbishop Cranmer, said the don at last, grimacing with embarrassment. 最后那位老师尴尬地做个鬼脸，说，这是大主教克莱默的殉道士。 来自互联网

10 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

11 sag   

v.下垂，下跌，消沉；n.下垂，下跌，凹陷，[航海]随风漂流

参考例句：

• The shelf was beginning to sag beneath the weight of the books upon it.书架在书的重压下渐渐下弯。
• We need to do something about the sag.我们须把下沉的地方修整一下。

12 grandeur   

n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华

参考例句：

• The grandeur of the Great Wall is unmatched.长城的壮观是独一无二的。
• These ruins sufficiently attest the former grandeur of the place.这些遗迹充分证明此处昔日的宏伟。

13 dens   

n.牙齿，齿状部分；兽窝( den的名词复数 )；窝点；休息室；书斋

参考例句：

• Female bears tend to line their dens with leaves or grass. 母熊往往会在洞穴里垫些树叶或草。 来自辞典例句
• In winter bears usually hibernate in their dens. 冬天熊通常在穴里冬眠。 来自辞典例句

14 millers   

n.（尤指面粉厂的）厂主( miller的名词复数 )；磨房主；碾磨工；铣工

参考例句：

• Millers and bakers sought low grain prices. 磨粉厂主和面包师寻求低廉的谷物价格。 来自辞典例句
• He told me he already been acquainted with the Millers. 他跟我说他同米勒一家已经很熟。 来自互联网

15 creek   

n.小溪，小河，小湾

参考例句：

• He sprang through the creek.他跳过小河。
• People sunbathe in the nude on the rocks above the creek.人们在露出小溪的岩石上裸体晒日光浴。

16 cuffs   

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。

17 thermal   

adj.热的，由热造成的；保暖的

参考例句：

• They will build another thermal power station.他们要另外建一座热能发电站。
• Volcanic activity has created thermal springs and boiling mud pools.火山活动产生了温泉和沸腾的泥浆池。

18 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

19 insistent   

adj.迫切的，坚持的

参考例句：

• There was an insistent knock on my door.我听到一阵急促的敲门声。
• He is most insistent on this point.他在这点上很坚持。

20 texture   

n.(织物)质地；(材料)构造；结构；肌理

参考例句：

• We could feel the smooth texture of silk.我们能感觉出丝绸的光滑质地。
• Her skin has a fine texture.她的皮肤细腻。

21 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。

22 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

23 vertigo   

n.眩晕

参考例句：

• He had a dreadful attack of vertigo.他忽然头晕得厉害。
• If you have vertigo it seems as if the whole room is spinning round you.如果你头晕，就会觉得整个房间都旋转起来

24 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

25 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：

• He raised his spear and sneak forward.他提起长矛悄悄地前进。
• I saw him sneak away from us.我看见他悄悄地从我们身边走开。

26 ribs   

n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹

参考例句：

• He suffered cracked ribs and bruising. 他断了肋骨还有挫伤。
• Make a small incision below the ribs. 在肋骨下方切开一个小口。

27 slaughter   

n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀

参考例句：

• I couldn't stand to watch them slaughter the cattle.我不忍看他们宰牛。
• Wholesale slaughter was carried out in the name of progress.大规模的屠杀在维护进步的名义下进行。

28 pester   

v.纠缠，强求

参考例句：

• He told her not to pester him with trifles.他对她说不要为小事而烦扰他。
• Don't pester me.I've got something urgent to attend to.你别跟我蘑菇了，我还有急事呢。

29 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。

30 tabloids   

n.小报，通俗小报（版面通常比大报小一半，文章短，图片多，经常报道名人佚事）( tabloid的名词复数 )；药片

参考例句：

• The story was on the front pages of all the tabloids. 所有小报都在头版报道了这件事。
• The story made the front page in all the tabloids. 这件事成了所有小报的头版新闻。

31 disappearance   

n.消失，消散，失踪

参考例句：

• He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。
• Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。

32 droop   

v.低垂，下垂；凋萎，萎靡

参考例句：

• The heavy snow made the branches droop.大雪使树枝垂下来。
• Don't let your spirits droop.不要萎靡不振。

33 skull   

n.头骨；颅骨

参考例句：

• The skull bones fuse between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five.头骨在15至25岁之间长合。
• He fell out of the window and cracked his skull.他从窗子摔了出去，跌裂了颅骨。

34 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

35 enraged   

使暴怒( enrage的过去式和过去分词 )； 歜； 激愤

参考例句：

• I was enraged to find they had disobeyed my orders. 发现他们违抗了我的命令，我极为恼火。
• The judge was enraged and stroke the table for several times. 大法官被气得连连拍案。

36 woe   

n.悲哀，苦痛，不幸，困难；int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌

参考例句：

• Our two peoples are brothers sharing weal and woe.我们两国人民是患难与共的兄弟。
• A man is well or woe as he thinks himself so.自认祸是祸，自认福是福。