Thirty-five

Thirty-five
Round and round and upside down went the peach as it plummeted¹ towards the earth, and they were allclinging desperately² to the stem to save themselves from being flung into space.
Faster and faster it fell. Down and down and down, racing³ closer and closer to the houses and streetsbelow, where it would surely smash into a million pieces when it hit. And all the way along FifthAvenue and Madison Avenue, and along all the other streets in the City, people who had not yetreached the underground shelters looked up and saw it coming, and they stopped running and stoodthere staring in a sort of stupor⁴ at what they thought was the biggest bomb in all the world falling out ofthe sky on to their heads. A few women screamed. Others knelt down on the sidewalks and beganpraying aloud. Strong men turned to one another and said things like, ‘I guess this is it, Joe,’ and‘Good-bye, everybody, good-bye.’ And for the next thirty seconds the whole City held its breath,waiting for the end to come.


三十五
仙桃来回翻滚着，倒着个儿，垂直朝地面掉下去。人们都拼命抓住桃把，怕给甩到空中去。
仙桃往下落得越来越快。它落呀，落呀，落呀，急速地接近底下的房屋和街道。毫无疑问，无论它落到哪里，哪里就肯定会被砸成碎片。从第五大街一直到麦迪逊大街，以及市里别的大街上，还没有进入地下掩体的人们，都抬起头来，望着仙桃朝下降落。他们停住脚步，痴呆呆地站在那里，盯着自己认为是世界上最大的炸弹，从半空中朝他们脑袋上砸下来。几个女人尖声叫起来。别的人跪在人行道上，大声祷告着。坚强的男人彼此转脸相对，说着诸如“我可是到了末日啦，乔！”或者“再见！所有的人！再见吧！”之类的话。接下来的三十秒钟，全城都屏住呼吸，等待着末日的到来。

1 plummeted   

v.垂直落下，骤然跌落( plummet的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Share prices plummeted to an all-time low. 股票价格暴跌到历史最低点。
• A plane plummeted to earth. 一架飞机一头栽向地面。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 desperately   

adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地

参考例句：

• He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
• He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。

3 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

4 stupor   

v.昏迷；不省人事

参考例句：

• As the whisky took effect, he gradually fell into a drunken stupor.随着威士忌酒力发作，他逐渐醉得不省人事。
• The noise of someone banging at the door roused her from her stupor.梆梆的敲门声把她从昏迷中唤醒了。