Chapter 17

The General had had a bad night and so, out of apprehension¹, had the colonel. They faced each other now-each at a loss.
    The General said, "Tell me again what this woman did."
    Linn seemed to have a heavy weight on his shoulders. "She's The Tiger Woman. That's what they call her. She doesn't seem to be quite human, somehow. She's some sort of impossibly trained athlete, full of self-confidence, and, General, she's quite frightening."
    "Did she frighten you? A single woman?"
    "Let me tell you exactly what she did and let me tell you a few other things about her. I don't know how true all the stories about her are, but what happened yesterday evening is true enough."
    He told the story again and the General listened, puffing² out his cheeks.
    "Bad," he said. "What do we do?"
    "I think our course is plain before us. We want psychohistory-'
    "Yes, we do," said the General. "Seldon told me something about taxation³ that- But never mind. That is beside the point at the moment. Go on."
    Linn, who, in his troubled state of mind, had allowed a small fragment of impatience⁴ to show on his face, continued, "As I say, we want psychohistory without Seldon. He is, in any case, a used-up man. The more I study him, the more I see an elderly scholar who is living on his past deeds. He has had nearly thirty years to make a success of psychohistory and he has failed. Without him, with new men at the helm, psychohistory may advance more rapidly."
    "Yes, I agree. Now what about the woman?"
    "Well, there you are. We haven't taken her into consideration because she has been careful to remain in the background. But I strongly suspect now that it will be difficult, perhaps impossible, to remove Seldon quietly and without implicating⁵ the government, as long as the woman remains⁶ alive."
    "Do you really believe that she will mangle⁷ you and me-if she thinks we have harmed her man?" said the General, his mouth twisting in contempt.
    "I really think she will and that she will start a rebellion as well. It will he exactly as she promised."
    "You are turning into a coward."
    "General, please. I am trying to be sensible. I'm not backing off. We must take care of this Tiger Woman." He paused thoughtfully. "As a matter of fact, my sources have told me this and I admit to having paid far too little attention to the matter."
    "And how do you think we can get rid of her?"
    Linn said, "I don't know." Then, more slowly, "But someone else might."
   

1 apprehension   

n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑

参考例句：

• There were still areas of doubt and her apprehension grew.有些地方仍然存疑，于是她越来越担心。
• She is a girl of weak apprehension.她是一个理解力很差的女孩。

2 puffing   

v.使喷出( puff的现在分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧

参考例句：

• He was puffing hard when he jumped on to the bus. 他跳上公共汽车时喘息不已。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• My father sat puffing contentedly on his pipe. 父亲坐着心满意足地抽着烟斗。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 taxation   

n.征税，税收，税金

参考例句：

• He made a number of simplifications in the taxation system.他在税制上作了一些简化。
• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。

4 impatience   

n.不耐烦，急躁

参考例句：

• He expressed impatience at the slow rate of progress.进展缓慢，他显得不耐烦。
• He gave a stamp of impatience.他不耐烦地跺脚。

5 implicating   

vt.牵涉，涉及（implicate的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• He was in the public dock, confessing everything, implicating everybody. 他站在被告席上，什么都招认，什么人都咬。 来自英汉文学
• No one would have had me get out of the scrape by implicating an old friend. 无论什么人都不能叫我为了自己摆脱困难便把一个老朋友牵累到这案子里去。 来自辞典例句

6 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

7 mangle   

vt.乱砍，撕裂，破坏，毁损，损坏，轧布

参考例句：

• New shoes don't cut,blister,or mangle his feet.新鞋子不会硌脚、起泡或让脚受伤。
• Mangle doesn't increase the damage of Maul and Shred anymore.裂伤不再增加重殴和撕碎的伤害。