When Marjorie and Bernice reached home at half after midnight they said good night at the top of the stairs. Though cousins, they were not intimates. As a matter of fact Marjorie had no female intimates — she considered girls stupid. Bernice on the contrary all through this parent-arranged visit had rather longed to exchange those confidences flavored with giggles¹ and tears that she considered an indispensable factor in all feminine intercourse². But in this respect she found Marjorie rather cold; felt somehow the same difficulty in talking to her that she had in talking to men. Marjorie never giggled³, was never frightened, seldom embarrassed, and in fact had very few of the qualities which Bernice considered appropriately and blessedly feminine.

As Bernice busied herself with tooth-brush and paste this night she wondered for the hundredth time why she never had any attention when she was away from home. That her family were the wealthiest in Eau Claire; that her mother entertained tremendously, gave little diners for her daughter before all dances and bought her a car of her own to drive round in, never occurred to her as factors in her home-town social success. Like most girls she had been brought up on the warm milk prepared by Annie Fellows Johnston and on novels in which the female was beloved because of certain mysterious womanly qualities always mentioned but never displayed.

Bernice felt a vague pain that she was not at present engaged in being popular. She did not know that had it not been for Marjorie’s campaigning she would have danced the entire evening with one man; but she knew that even in Eau Claire other girls with less position and less pulchritude⁴ were given a much bigger rush. She attributed this to something subtly unscrupulous in those girls. It had never worried her, and if it had her mother would have assured her that the other girls cheapened themselves and that men really respected girls like Bernice.

She turned out the light in her bathroom, and on an impulse decided⁵ to go in and chat for a moment with her aunt Josephine, whose light was still on. Her soft slippers⁶

点击收听单词发音  

1 giggles
n.咯咯的笑( giggle的名词复数 )；傻笑；玩笑；the giggles 止不住的格格笑v.咯咯地笑( giggle的第三人称单数 )
参考例句：
Her nervous giggles annoyed me. 她神经质的傻笑把我惹火了。 来自《简明英汉词典》 I had to rush to the loo to avoid an attack of hysterical giggles. 我不得不冲向卫生间，以免遭到别人的疯狂嘲笑。 来自辞典例句

2 intercourse
n.性交；交流，交往，交际
参考例句：
The magazine becomes a cultural medium of intercourse between the two peoples.该杂志成为两民族间文化交流的媒介。 There was close intercourse between them.他们过往很密。

3 giggled
v.咯咯地笑( giggle的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句：
The girls giggled at the joke. 女孩子们让这笑话逗得咯咯笑。 The children giggled hysterically. 孩子们歇斯底里地傻笑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 pulchritude
n.美丽
参考例句：
Her dress shows her pulchritude to advantage.她的裙子衬托出了她的美丽。 She was a pulchritude in her day.她年轻时是个美人。

5 decided
adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的
参考例句：
This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。 There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 slippers
n. 拖鞋
参考例句：
a pair of slippers 一双拖鞋 He kicked his slippers off and dropped on to the bed. 他踢掉了拖鞋，倒在床上。

7 eavesdropping
n. 偷听
参考例句：
We caught him eavesdropping outside the window. 我们撞见他正在窗外偷听。 Suddenly the kids,who had been eavesdropping,flew into the room. 突然间，一直在偷听的孩子们飞进屋来。

8 drawn
v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的
参考例句：
All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。 Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

9 bum
n.臀部；流浪汉，乞丐；vt.乞求，乞讨
参考例句：
A man pinched her bum on the train so she hit him.在火车上有人捏她屁股，她打了那人。 The penniless man had to bum a ride home.那个身无分文的人只好乞求搭车回家。

10 permanently
adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地
参考例句：
The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。 The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

11 bolster
n.枕垫；v.支持，鼓励
参考例句：
The high interest rates helped to bolster up the economy.高利率使经济更稳健。 He tried to bolster up their morale.他尽力鼓舞他们的士气。

12 virtuous
adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的
参考例句：
She was such a virtuous woman that everybody respected her.她是个有道德的女性，人人都尊敬她。 My uncle is always proud of having a virtuous wife.叔叔一直为娶到一位贤德的妻子而骄傲。

13 fickle
adj.(爱情或友谊上)易变的，不坚定的
参考例句：
Fluctuating prices usually base on a fickle public's demand.物价的波动往往是由于群众需求的不稳定而引起的。 The weather is so fickle in summer.夏日的天气如此多变。

14 gardenia
n.栀子花
参考例句：
On muggy summer night,Gardenia brought about memories in the South.闷热的夏夜，栀子花带来关于南方的回忆。 A gardenia stands for pure,noble.栀子花是纯洁高尚的象征。

15 vivacious
adj.活泼的，快活的
参考例句：
She is an artless,vivacious girl.她是一个天真活泼的女孩。 The picture has a vivacious artistic conception.这幅画气韵生动。

16 groaned
v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦
参考例句：
He groaned in anguish. 他痛苦地呻吟。 The cart groaned under the weight of the piano. 大车在钢琴的重压下嘎吱作响。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 awfully
adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地
参考例句：
Agriculture was awfully neglected in the past.过去农业遭到严重忽视。 I've been feeling awfully bad about it.对这我一直感到很难受。

19 witty
adj.机智的，风趣的
参考例句：
Her witty remarks added a little salt to the conversation.她的妙语使谈话增添了一些风趣。 He scored a bull's-eye in their argument with that witty retort.在他们的辩论中他那一句机智的反驳击中了要害。

20 perfectly
adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地
参考例句：
The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。 Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。