Prologue（6）

VI
Miss Rowan and Miss Blake, the two junior mistresses, were strolling towards the Sports Pavilion.
Miss Rowan was thin and dark and intense, Miss Blake was plump and fair. They were discussingwith animation¹ their recent adventures in Florence: the pictures they had seen, the sculpture, thefruit blossom, and the attentions (hoped to be dishonourable) of two young Italian gentlemen.
“Of course one knows,” said Miss Blake, “how Italians go on.”
“Uninhibited,” said Miss Rowan, who had studied Psychology² as well as Economics.
“Thoroughly healthy, one feels. No repressions³.”
“But Guiseppe was quite impressed when he found I taught at Meadowbank,” said Miss Blake.
“He became much more respectful at once. He has a cousin who wants to come here, but MissBulstrode was not sure she had a vacancy⁴.”
“Meadowbank is a school that really counts,” said Miss Rowan, happily. “Really, the newSports Pavilion looks most impressive. I never thought it would be ready in time.”
“Miss Bulstrode said it had to be,” said Miss Blake in the tone of one who has said the lastword.
“Oh,” she added in a startled kind of way.
The door of the Sports Pavilion had opened abruptly⁵, and a bony young woman with ginger-coloured hair emerged. She gave them a sharp unfriendly stare and moved rapidly away.
“That must be the new Games Mistress,” said Miss Blake. “How uncouth⁶!”
“Not a very pleasant addition to the staff,” said Miss Rowan. “Miss Jones was always sofriendly and sociable⁷.”
“She absolutely glared at us,” said Miss Blake resentfully.
They both felt quite ruffled⁸.

1 animation   

n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作

参考例句：

• They are full of animation as they talked about their childhood.当他们谈及童年的往事时都非常兴奋。
• The animation of China made a great progress.中国的卡通片制作取得很大发展。

2 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

3 repressions   

n.压抑( repression的名词复数 )；约束；抑制；镇压

参考例句：

4 vacancy   

n.（旅馆的）空位，空房，（职务的）空缺

参考例句：

• Her going on maternity leave will create a temporary vacancy.她休产假时将会有一个临时空缺。
• The vacancy of her expression made me doubt if she was listening.她茫然的神情让我怀疑她是否在听。

5 abruptly   

adv.突然地，出其不意地

参考例句：

• He gestured abruptly for Virginia to get in the car.他粗鲁地示意弗吉尼亚上车。
• I was abruptly notified that a half-hour speech was expected of me.我突然被通知要讲半个小时的话。

6 uncouth   

adj.无教养的，粗鲁的

参考例句：

• She may embarrass you with her uncouth behavior.她的粗野行为可能会让你尴尬。
• His nephew is an uncouth young man.他的侄子是一个粗野的年轻人。

7 sociable   

adj.好交际的，友好的，合群的

参考例句：

• Roger is a very sociable person.罗杰是个非常好交际的人。
• Some children have more sociable personalities than others.有些孩子比其他孩子更善于交际。

8 ruffled   

adj. 有褶饰边的, 起皱的 动词ruffle的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• She ruffled his hair affectionately. 她情意绵绵地拨弄着他的头发。
• All this talk of a strike has clearly ruffled the management's feathers. 所有这些关于罢工的闲言碎语显然让管理层很不高兴。