II
Mrs. Oliver prowled round her sitting room. She was very restless. An hour ago she had parcelledup a typescript that she had just finished correcting. She was about to send it off to her publisherwho was anxiously awaiting it and constantly prodding¹ her about it every three or four days.
“There you are,” said Mrs. Oliver, addressing the empty air and conjuring² up an imaginarypublisher. “There you are, and I hope you like it! I don’t. I think it’s lousy! I don’t believe youknow whether anything I write is good or bad. Anyway, I warned you. I told you it was frightful³.
You said ‘Oh! no, no, I don’t believe that for a moment.’
“You just wait and see,” said Mrs. Oliver vengefully. “You just wait and see.”
She opened the door, called to Edith, her maid, gave her the parcel and directed that it should betaken to the post at once.
“And now,” said Mrs. Oliver, “what am I going to do with myself?”
She began strolling about again. “Yes,” thought Mrs. Oliver, “I wish I had those tropical birdsand things back on the wall instead of these idiotic⁴ cherries. I used to feel like something in atropical wood. A lion or a tiger or a leopard⁵ or a cheetah⁶! What could I possibly feel like in acherry orchard⁷ except a bird scarer?”
She looked round again. “Cheeping like a bird, that’s what I ought to be doing,” she saidgloomily. “Eating cherries… I wish it was the right time of year for cherries. I’d like somecherries. I wonder now—” She went to the telephone. “I will ascertain⁸, Madam,” said the voice ofGeorge in answer to her inquiry

首页  上一页 [1] [2]  [3]  下一页  尾页

点击收听单词发音  

1 prodding
v.刺，戳( prod的现在分词 )；刺激；促使；（用手指或尖物）戳
参考例句：
He needed no prodding. 他不用督促。 The boy is prodding the animal with a needle. 那男孩正用一根针刺那动物。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

2 conjuring
n.魔术
参考例句：
Paul's very good at conjuring. 保罗很会变戏法。 The entertainer didn't fool us with his conjuring. 那个艺人变的戏法没有骗到我们。

3 frightful
adj.可怕的；讨厌的
参考例句：
How frightful to have a husband who snores!有一个发鼾声的丈夫多讨厌啊！ We're having frightful weather these days.这几天天气坏极了。

4 idiotic
adj.白痴的
参考例句：
It is idiotic to go shopping with no money.去买东西而不带钱是很蠢的。 The child's idiotic deeds caused his family much trouble.那小孩愚蠢的行为给家庭带来许多麻烦。

5 leopard
n.豹
参考例句：
I saw a man in a leopard skin yesterday.我昨天看见一个穿着豹皮的男人。 The leopard's skin is marked with black spots.豹皮上有黑色斑点。

6 cheetah
n.(动物)猎豹
参考例句：
The cheetah is generally credited as the world's fastest animal.猎豹被公认是世界上跑得最快的动物。 The distribution of the cheetah ranges from Africa to Central Asia.印度豹的足迹遍及从非洲到中亚的广大地区。

7 orchard
n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场
参考例句：
My orchard is bearing well this year.今年我的果园果实累累。 Each bamboo house was surrounded by a thriving orchard.每座竹楼周围都是茂密的果园。

8 ascertain
vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清
参考例句：
It's difficult to ascertain the coal deposits.煤储量很难探明。 We must ascertain the responsibility in light of different situtations.我们必须根据不同情况判定责任。

9 inquiry
n.打听，询问，调查，查问
参考例句：
Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。 The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。

10 spoke
n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说
参考例句：
They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。 The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

11 concealed
a.隐藏的，隐蔽的
参考例句：
The paintings were concealed beneath a thick layer of plaster. 那些画被隐藏在厚厚的灰泥层下面。 I think he had a gun concealed about his person. 我认为他当时身上藏有一支枪。

12 disapprovingly
adv.不以为然地，不赞成地，非难地
参考例句：
When I suggested a drink, she coughed disapprovingly. 我提议喝一杯时，她咳了一下表示反对。 来自《简明英汉词典》 He shook his head disapprovingly. 他摇了摇头，表示不赞成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 implored
恳求或乞求（某人）( implore的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句：
She implored him to stay. 她恳求他留下。 She implored him with tears in her eyes to forgive her. 她含泪哀求他原谅她。