Chapter 36

The cities are large and memorably¹ crowded in India,but when you leave them you travel through vast stretchesof country where hardly a soul is to be seen. I rememberwondering where 950 million Indians could be hiding.
I could say the same of his house.
I'm a little early. I've just set foot on the cement steps ofthe front porch when a teenager bursts out the front door.
He's wearing a baseball uniform and carrying baseballequipment, and he's in a hurry. When he sees me he stopsdead in his tracks, startled. He turns around and hollersinto the house, "Dad! The writer's here." To me he says,"Hi," and rushes off.
His father comes to the front door. "Hello," he says.
"That was your son?" I ask, incredulous.
"Yes." To acknowledge the fact brings a smile to his lips.
"I'm sorry you didn't meet properly. He's late for practice.
His name is Nikhil. He goes by Nick."I'm in the entrance hall. "I didn't know you had a son,"I say. There's a barking. A small mongrel mutt, black andbrown, races up to me, panting and sniffing². He jumps upagainst my legs. "Or a dog," I add.
"He's friendly. Tata, down!"Tata ignores him. I hear "Hello." Only this greeting isnot short and forceful like Nick's. It's a long, nasal andsoftly whining³ Hellooooooooo, with the ooooooooo reachingfor me like a tap on the shoulder or a gentle tug⁴ at mypants.
I turn. Leaning against the sofa in the living room,looking up at me bashfully, is a little brown girl, pretty inpink, very much at home. She's holding an orange cat inher arms. Two front legs sticking straight up and a deeplysunk head are all that is visible of it above her crossedarms. The rest of the cat is hanging all the way down tothe floor. The animal seems quite relaxed about beinystretched on the rack in this manner.
"And this is your daughter," I say.
"Yes. Usha. Usha darling, are you sure Moccasin iscomfortable like that?"Usha drops Moccasin. He flops⁵ to the floor unperturbed.
"Hello, Usha," I say.
She comes up to her father and peeks⁶ at me from behindhis leg.
"What are you doing, little one?" he says. "Why are youhiding?"She doesn't reply, only looks at me with a smile andhides her face.
"How old are you, Usha?" I ask.
She doesn't reply.
Then Piscine Molitor Patel, known to all as Pi Patel,bends down and picks up his daughter.
"You know the answer to that question. Hmmm? You'refour years old. One, two, three, four."At each number he softly presses the tip of her nose withhis index finger. She finds this terribly funny. She gigglesand buries her face in the crook⁷ of his neck.
This story has a happy ending.

1 memorably   

难忘的

参考例句：

• The book includes some memorably seedy characters and scabrous description. 这本书包含了一些难忘下流的角色及有伤风化的描述。 来自互联网
• Horowitz could play Chopin memorably. 霍洛维茨可以把肖邦的作品演奏得出神入化。 来自互联网

2 sniffing   

n.探查法v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的现在分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说

参考例句：

• We all had colds and couldn't stop sniffing and sneezing. 我们都感冒了，一个劲地抽鼻子，打喷嚏。
• They all had colds and were sniffing and sneezing. 他们都伤风了，呼呼喘气而且打喷嚏。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

3 whining   

n. 抱怨，牢骚 v. 哭诉，发牢骚

参考例句：

• That's the way with you whining, puny, pitiful players. 你们这种又爱哭、又软弱、又可怜的赌棍就是这样。
• The dog sat outside the door whining (to be let in). 那条狗坐在门外狺狺叫着（要进来）。

4 tug   

v.用力拖(或拉)；苦干；n.拖；苦干；拖船

参考例句：

• We need to tug the car round to the front.我们需要把那辆车拉到前面。
• The tug is towing three barges.那只拖船正拖着三只驳船。

5 flops   

n.失败( flop的名词复数 )v.（指书、戏剧等）彻底失败( flop的第三人称单数 )；（因疲惫而）猛然坐下；（笨拙地、不由自主地或松弛地）移动或落下；砸锅

参考例句：

• a pair of flip-flops 一双人字拖鞋
• HPC environments are often measured in terms of FLoating point Operations Per Second (FLOPS) . HPC环境通常以每秒浮点运算次数(FLOPS)加以度量。 来自互联网

6 peeks   

n.偷看，窥视( peek的名词复数 )v.很快地看( peek的第三人称单数 )；偷看；窥视；微露出

参考例句：

• A freckle-face blenny peeks from its reef burrow in the Solomon Islands. 奇特的海生物图片画廊。一只斑点面容粘鱼窥视从它的暗礁穴在所罗门群岛。 来自互联网
• She peeks at her neighbor from the curtain. 她从窗帘后面窥视她的邻居。 来自互联网

7 crook   

v.使弯曲；n.小偷，骗子，贼；弯曲(处)

参考例句：

• He demanded an apology from me for calling him a crook.我骂他骗子，他要我向他认错。
• She was cradling a small parcel in the crook of her elbow.她用手臂挎着一个小包裹。