Twelve（2）

II
Mary Durrant woke with a start.
She had been dreaming—dreaming that she was a child, back again inNew York.
How odd. She hadn’t thought of those days for years.
It was really surprising that she could remember anything at all. Howold had she been? Five? Six?
She had dreamed that she was being taken home to the tenement¹ fromthe hotel. The Argyles were sailing for England and not taking her withthem after all. Anger and rage filled her heart for a moment or two untilthe realization² came that it had only been a dream.
How wonderful it had been. Taken into the car, going up in the elevatorof the hotel to the eighteenth floor. The big suite³, that wonderful bath-room; the revelation of what things there were in the world—if you wererich! If she could stay here, if she could keep all this—for ever….
Actually, there had been no difficulty at all. All that was needed was ashow of affection; never easy for her, for she was not affectionate by dis-position, but she had managed it. And there she was, established for life! Arich father and mother, clothes, cars, ships, aeroplanes, servants to waiton her, expensive dolls and toys. A fairy tale come true….
A pity that all those other children had had to be there, too. That was thewar, of course. Or would it have happened anyway? That insatiablemother love! Really something unnatural⁴ in it. So animal.
She had always felt a faint contempt for her adopted mother. Stupid inany case to choose the children she had chosen. The under- privileged!
Criminal tendencies like Jacko’s. Unbalanced like Hester. A savage⁵ likeMicky. And Tina, a half-caste! No wonder they had all turned out badly.
Though she couldn’t really blame them for rebelling. She, herself, had re-belled. She remembered her meeting with Philip, a dashing young pilot.
Her mother’s disapproval⁶. “These hurried marriages. Wait until the war isover.” But she hadn’t wanted to wait. She had as strong a will as hermother’s, and her father had backed her up. They had married, and thewar had ended soon afterwards.
She had wanted to have Philip all to herself—to get away out of hermother’s shadow. It was Fate that had defeated her, not her mother. Firstthe failure of Philip’s financial schemes and then that horrifying⁷ blow—polio of the paralytic⁸ type. As soon as Philip was able to leave hospitalthey had come to Sunny Point. It had seemed inevitable⁹ that they wouldhave to make their home there. Philip himself had seemed to think it inev-itable. He had gone through all his money and her allowance from theTrust was not so very big. She had asked for a larger one, but the answerhad been that perhaps for a while it would be wise to live at Sunny Point.
But she wanted Philip to herself, all to herself, she didn’t want him to bethe last of Rachel Argyle’s “children.” She had not wanted a child of herown—she only wanted Philip.
But Philip himself had seemed quite agreeable to the idea of coming toSunny Point.
“Easier for you,” he said. “And people always coming and going theremakes a distraction¹⁰. Besides, I always find your father very good com-pany.”
Why didn’t he want only to be with her as she wanted only to be withhim? Why did he crave¹¹ for other company—her father’s, Hester’s?
And Mary had felt a wave of futile¹² rage sweep over her. Her mother, asusual, would get her own way.
But she hadn’t got her own way … she had died.
And now it was going to be all raked up again. Why, oh, why?
And why was Philip being so trying about it all? Questioning, trying tofind out, mixing himself up in what was none of his business?
Laying traps….
What kind of traps?

1 tenement   

n.公寓；房屋

参考例句：

• They live in a tenement.他们住在廉价公寓里。
• She felt very smug in a tenement yard like this.就是在个这样的杂院里，她觉得很得意。

2 realization   

n.实现；认识到，深刻了解

参考例句：

• We shall gladly lend every effort in our power toward its realization.我们将乐意为它的实现而竭尽全力。
• He came to the realization that he would never make a good teacher.他逐渐认识到自己永远不会成为好老师。

3 suite   

n.一套(家具)；套房；随从人员

参考例句：

• She has a suite of rooms in the hotel.她在那家旅馆有一套房间。
• That is a nice suite of furniture.那套家具很不错。

4 unnatural   

adj.不自然的；反常的

参考例句：

• Did her behaviour seem unnatural in any way?她有任何反常表现吗？
• She has an unnatural smile on her face.她脸上挂着做作的微笑。

5 savage   

adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人

参考例句：

• The poor man received a savage beating from the thugs.那可怜的人遭到暴徒的痛打。
• He has a savage temper.他脾气粗暴。

6 disapproval   

n.反对，不赞成

参考例句：

• The teacher made an outward show of disapproval.老师表面上表示不同意。
• They shouted their disapproval.他们喊叫表示反对。

7 horrifying   

a.令人震惊的，使人毛骨悚然的

参考例句：

• He went to great pains to show how horrifying the war was. 他极力指出战争是多么的恐怖。
• The possibility of war is too horrifying to contemplate. 战争的可能性太可怕了，真不堪细想。

8 paralytic   

adj. 瘫痪的 n. 瘫痪病人

参考例句：

• She was completely paralytic last night.她昨天晚上喝得酩酊大醉。
• She rose and hobbled to me on her paralytic legs and kissed me.她站起来，拖着她那麻痹的双腿一瘸一拐地走到我身边，吻了吻我。

9 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

10 distraction   

n.精神涣散，精神不集中，消遣，娱乐

参考例句：

• Total concentration is required with no distractions.要全神贯注，不能有丝毫分神。
• Their national distraction is going to the disco.他们的全民消遣就是去蹦迪。

11 crave   

vt.渴望得到，迫切需要，恳求，请求

参考例句：

• Many young children crave attention.许多小孩子渴望得到关心。
• You may be craving for some fresh air.你可能很想呼吸呼吸新鲜空气。

12 futile   

adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的

参考例句：

• They were killed,to the last man,in a futile attack.因为进攻失败，他们全部被杀，无一幸免。
• Their efforts to revive him were futile.他们对他抢救无效。