Eleven（3）

IV
In the darkness Micky Argyle expelled his breath in a long hiss¹.
The war was over. They’d licked Hitler and Musso … Some of the chil-dren were going back. Soon, now … And then She had come back fromLondon and had said that he was going to stay at Sunny Point and be herown little boy….
He had said: “Where’s my Mom? Did a bomb get her?”
If she had been killed by a bomb—well, that would be not too bad. Ithappened to boys’ mothers.
But Mrs. Argyle said “No,” she hadn’t been killed. But she had somerather difficult work to do and couldn’t look after a child very well—thatsort of thing, anyway soft soap, meaning nothing … His Mom didn’t lovehim, didn’t want him back—he’d got to stay here, for ever….
He’d sneaked² round after that, trying to overhear conversations, and atlast he did hear something, just a fragment between Mrs. Argyle and herhusband. “Only too pleased to get rid of him—absolutely indifferent”—and something about a hundred pounds. So then he knew—his motherhad sold him for a hundred pounds….
The humiliation³ — the pain — he’d never got over it … And She hadbought him! He saw her, vaguely⁴, as embodied⁵ Power, someone againstwhom he, in his puny⁶ strength, was helpless. But he’d grow up, he’d bestrong one day, a man. And then he’d kill her….
He felt better once he’d made that resolution.
Later, when he went away to school, things were not so bad. But hehated the holidays—because of Her. Arranging everything, planning, giv-ing him all sorts of presents. Looking puzzled, because he was so unde-monstrative. He hated being kissed by her … And later still, he’d taken apleasure in thwarting⁷ her silly plans for him. Going into a bank! An oilcompany. Not he. He’d go and find work for himself.
It was when he was at the university that he’d tried to trace his mother.
She’d been dead for some years, he discovered—in a car crash with a manwho’d been driving roaring drunk….
So why not forget it all? Why not just have a good time and get on withlife? He didn’t know why not.
And now—what was going to happen now? She was dead, wasn’t she?
Thinking she’d bought him for a miserable⁸ hundred pounds. Thinking shecould buy anything—houses and cars—and children, since she hadn’t anyof her own. Thinking she was God Almighty⁹!
Well, she wasn’t. Just a crack on the head with a poker¹⁰ and she was acorpse like any other corpse¹¹! (like the golden-haired corpse in a car smashon the Great North Road….)
She was dead, wasn’t she? Why worry?
What was the matter with him? Was it—that he couldn’t hate her anymore because she was dead?
So that was Death….
He felt lost without his hatred—lost and afraid.

1 hiss   

v.发出嘶嘶声；发嘘声表示不满

参考例句：

• We can hear the hiss of air escaping from a tire.我们能听到一只轮胎的嘶嘶漏气声。
• Don't hiss at the speaker.不要嘘演讲人。

2 sneaked   

v.潜行( sneak的过去式和过去分词 )；偷偷溜走；（儿童向成人）打小报告；告状

参考例句：

• I sneaked up the stairs. 我蹑手蹑脚地上了楼。
• She sneaked a surreptitious glance at her watch. 她偷偷看了一眼手表。

3 humiliation   

n.羞辱

参考例句：

• He suffered the humiliation of being forced to ask for his cards.他蒙受了被迫要求辞职的羞辱。
• He will wish to revenge his humiliation in last Season's Final.他会为在上个季度的决赛中所受的耻辱而报复的。

4 vaguely   

adv.含糊地，暖昧地

参考例句：

• He had talked vaguely of going to work abroad.他含糊其词地说了到国外工作的事。
• He looked vaguely before him with unseeing eyes.他迷迷糊糊的望着前面，对一切都视而不见。

5 embodied   

v.表现( embody的过去式和过去分词 )；象征；包括；包含

参考例句：

• a politician who embodied the hopes of black youth 代表黑人青年希望的政治家
• The heroic deeds of him embodied the glorious tradition of the troops. 他的英雄事迹体现了军队的光荣传统。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 puny   

adj.微不足道的，弱小的

参考例句：

• The resources at the central banks' disposal are simply too puny.中央银行掌握的资金实在太少了。
• Antonio was a puny lad,and not strong enough to work.安东尼奥是个瘦小的小家伙，身体还不壮，还不能干活。

7 thwarting   

阻挠( thwart的现在分词 )； 使受挫折； 挫败； 横过

参考例句：

• The republicans are trying to embarrass the president by thwarting his economic program. 共和党人企图通过阻挠总统的经济计划使其难堪。
• There were too many men resisting his authority thwarting him. 下边对他这个长官心怀不服的，故意作对的，可多着哩。

8 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

9 almighty   

adj.全能的，万能的；很大的，很强的

参考例句：

• Those rebels did not really challenge Gods almighty power.这些叛徒没有对上帝的全能力量表示怀疑。
• It's almighty cold outside.外面冷得要命。

10 poker   

n.扑克；vt.烙制

参考例句：

• He was cleared out in the poker game.他打扑克牌，把钱都输光了。
• I'm old enough to play poker and do something with it.我打扑克是老手了，可以玩些花样。

11 corpse   

n.尸体，死尸

参考例句：

• What she saw was just an unfeeling corpse.她见到的只是一具全无感觉的尸体。
• The corpse was preserved from decay by embalming.尸体用香料涂抹以防腐烂。