Ashes

1

Night had come to Madison County. It was 1987, her sixty-seventh birthday. Francesca had been lying on her bed for two hours.

2

She could see and touch and smell and hear all of it from twenty-two years ago.

3

She had remembered, then remembered again. The image of those red taillights moving west along Iowa 92 in the rain and fog had?

stalked

?her for more than two decades.

stalk /st??k/ v.?偷偷接近

4

She touched her breasts and could feel his?

chest

?muscles sweeping over them.

chest /t?est/ n.?胸部

5

God, she loved him so. Loved him then, more than she thought possible, loved him now even more. She would have done anything for him except destroy her family and maybe him as well.

6

She went down the stairs and sat at the old kitchen table with the yellow?

Formica

?top.

formica /f?:'maik?/ n.?膠木

7

Richard had bought a new one; he’d insisted on it. But she’d also?

asked

?that the old one be?

stored

?in a shed, and she had wrapped it carefully in?

plastic

?before it was put away.

ask /?sk/ vt.?要求

store /st??r/ vt. & vi.?存放

plastic /?pl?st?k/ n.?塑料制品

8

“I don’t see why you’re so?

attached

?to this old table, anyway,” he had complained while helping her move it.

attached /?'t?t?t/ adj.?非常喜歡.....的

9

After Richard died, Michael had brought it back into the house for her and never asked why she wanted it?

in place of

the newer one.?

in place of?代替

10

He’d just looked at her in a?

questioning

?way. She’d said nothing.

questioning /'kw?st??n??/ adj.?探詢的

11

Now she sat at the table. Then, going to the cupboard, she took down two white candles with small brass holders.

12

She lit the candles and turned on the radio, slowly adjusting the dial until she found some quiet music.

13

She stood by the sink for a long time, her head tilted slightly?

upward

, looking at his face, and whispered,

upward /??pw?rd/ adv.?向上

14

“I remember you, Robert Kincaid. Maybe the High-Desert Master was right. Maybe you were the last one. Maybe the cowboys are all close to dying by now.”

15

Before Richard died, she had never tried to call Kincaid or to write, either, though she had?

balanced

?on the?

knife edge

?of it every day for years.

balance /?b?l?ns/ v.?權(quán)衡

knife edge?刀口

16

If she talked to him one more time, she would go to him.?

17

If she wrote him, she knew he would come for her. That’s how close it was.

18

Through the years he never called or wrote again, after sending her the one package with the photographs and the?

manuscript

.

manuscript /?m?njuskr?pt/ n.?原稿

19

She knew he understood how she felt and the?

complications

?he could cause in her life.

complication /?kɑ?mpl??ke??n/ n. (新出現(xiàn)的)困難

20

She?

subscribed

?to National Geographic in September of 1965.

subscribe /s?b?skra?b/ v.?訂閱

21

The article on the covered bridges appeared the following year, and there was Roseman Bridge in warm first light, the morning he had found her note.

22

The cover was his photo of a team pulling a?

wagon

?toward Hogback Bridge. He had written the text for the article as well.

wagon /?w?ɡ?n/ n.?四輪的運(yùn)貨馬車

23

On the back page of the magazine, the writers and photographers were?

featured

, and occasionally there were photographs of them. He was there sometimes.

feature /?fi?t??r/ vt.?特寫

24

The same long silver hair, the bracelet, jeans or khakis, cameras hanging off his shoulders, the veins standing out on his arms.

25

In the Kalahari, at the walls of Jaipur in India, in a?

canoe

?in Guatemala, in northern Canada. The road and the cowboy.

canoe /k??nu?/ n.?獨(dú)木舟

26

She clipped these and kept them in the?

manila

?envelope with the covered-bridge issue of the magazine, the?

manuscript

, the two photographs, and his letter.

manila /m?'n?l?/ n.?馬尼拉紙（等于manilla）

manuscript /?m?njuskr?pt/ n.?原稿

27

She put the envelope beneath her?

underwear

?in the?

bureau

, a place Richard would never look. And like some distant?

observer

?tracking him through the years, she watched Robert Kincaid grow older.

underwear /??nd?rwer/ n.?內(nèi)衣

bureau /?bj?ro?/ n.?衣柜

observer /?b?z??rv?r/ n.?觀察者

28

The grin was still there, even the long,?

lean

?body with the good muscles. But she could tell by the?

lines

?around his eyes, the slight?

droop

?of the strong shoulders, the slowly?

sagging

?face.

lean /li?n/ adj.?瘦的

line /la?n/ n.?皺紋

droop /dru?p/ vi.?凋萎

sag /s?ɡ/ vi.?向下凹或中間下陷

29

She could tell. She had studied that body more closely than anything else in her life, more closely than her own body.

30

And his?

aging

?made her long even more for him, if that was possible. She suspected — no, she knew — he was?

by himself

. And he was.

aging /?e?d???/ n.?【美】變老

by oneself?獨(dú)自地

31

In the candlelight, at the table, she studied the clippings. He looked out at her from places far away.

32

She?

came

?to the special picture from a 1967 issue. He was by a river in East Africa, facing the camera and up close to it,?

squatting

?down, getting ready to take a photograph of something.

come /k?m/ v.?（思想、回憶等）進(jìn)入腦海

squat /skwɑ?t/ vi.?蹲坐

33

When she had first looked at this clipping, years ago, she could see the silver chain around his neck now had a small?

medallion

?attached to it.

medallion /m?'d?l??n/ n. (狀似大獎?wù)碌?項(xiàng)鏈垂飾

34

Michael was away at college, and when Richard and Carolyn had gone to bed,

35

she got out a powerful?

magnifying glass

?Michael had used for his stamp collection when he was young and brought it close to the photo.

magnifying glass /?m?ɡn??fa???/ n.?放大鏡

36

“My God,” she breathed. The medallion said “Francesca” on it.

37

That was his one small?

indiscretion

, and she?

forgave

?him for it, smiling. In all of the photos after that, the medallion was always there on the silver chain.

indiscretion /'?nd?'skr???n/ n.?不慎重的舉止

forgave /f?'ɡev/ v.?原諒（forgive的過去式）

38

After 1975 she never saw him again in the magazine. His?

byline

?was absent as well.?

byline /?ba?la?n/ n.?標(biāo)題下署名之行

39

She searched every issue but found nothing. He would have been sixty-two that year.

40

When Richard died in 1979, when the?

funeral

?was over and the children had gone back to their own homes, she thought about calling Robert Kincaid.

funeral /?fju?n?r?l/ n.?葬禮

41

He would be sixty-six; she was fifty-nine. There was?

still

?time, even with the loss of fourteen years. She thought hard about it for a week and finally took the number off his?

letterhead

?and?

dialed

?it.

still /st?l/ adv.?仍然

letterhead /'l?t?h?d/ n.?信箋上方的印刷文字

dial /?da??l/ vt. & vi.?撥電話號碼

42

Her heart nearly stopped when the phone began to ring. She heard the receiver being picked up and almost put the phone back on the?

hook

. A woman’s voice said, “McGregor?

Insurance

.”

hook /h?k/ n.?掛鉤

insurance /?n???r?ns/ n.?保險

43

Francesca sank but recovered enough to ask the secretary if she had dialed the correct number. She had. Francesca thanked her and?

hung up

.

hung up?掛斷

44

Next she tried the Information?

operator

?in Bellingham, Washington. Nothing?

listed

. She tried Seattle. Nothing.

operator /?ɑ?p?re?t?r/ n.?話務(wù)員

list /l?st/ v.?把......列入名單

45

Then the?

Chamber of Commerce

?offices in Bellingham and Seattle. She asked if they would check the city?

directories

. They did, and he was not listed. He could be anywhere, she thought.

Chamber of Commerce n.?商會

directory /d??rekt?ri/ n.(電話)號碼簿

46

She remembered the magazine; he had said to call there. The?

receptionist

?was polite but new, and had to get someone to help her with the request.

receptionist /r??sep??n?st/ n. (旅館、事務(wù)所等雇用的)接待員

47

Francesca’s call was?

transferred

?three times before she talked with an?

associate

?editor who had been at the magazine for twenty years. She asked about Robert Kincaid.

transfer /tr?ns?f??r/ vi.?轉(zhuǎn)接（電話）

associate /??so?sie?t/ adj.?副的

48

Of course the editor remembered him.

49

“Trying to locate him, huh? He was a hell of a photographer, if you’ll excuse the language. He was?

cantankerous

, not in a nasty way, but?

persistent

.

cantankerous /k?n?t??k?r?s/ adj.?脾氣不好的

persistent /p?r?s?st?nt/ adj.?執(zhí)著的

50

He was after art for art’s?

sake

, and that doesn’t work very well with our?

readership

.

sake /se?k/ n.?緣故

readership /'rid???p/ n. (報紙雜志擁有者的)讀者(數(shù))

51

Our readership wants nice pictures,?

skillful

?pictures, but nothing too wild.

skillful /?sk?lfl/ adj.?靈巧的

52

“We always said Kincaid was a little strange; none of us knew him well outside of the work he did for us.

53

But he was a?

pro

. We could send him anywhere, and he’d?

deliver

, even though he disagreed with our editorial?

decisions

?most of the time.

pro /pro/ n. <非正式>專業(yè)人士

deliver /d??l?v?r/ vt.?遞送

decision /d?'s??n/ n.?決定

54

As for his?

whereabouts

, I’ve been checking our files while we talked. He left the magazine in 1975. The address and phone number I have are…”

whereabouts /?wer?ba?ts/ n.?下落

55

He read off the same information Francesca already had. She stopped trying after that, mostly because she was afraid of what she might discover.

56

She?

drifted along

, allowing herself to think more and more about Robert Kincaid.

drift along?任其自然

57

She was still able to drive well enough, and several times a year she would go to Des Moines and have lunch in the restaurant where he had taken her.

58

On one of those trips, she bought a leather-bound book of blank pages. And on those pages she began recording in neat handwriting the details of her love affair with him and her thoughts about him.

59

It required nearly three volumes of the notebooks before she was?

satisfied

?she had completed her task.

satisfy /'s?t?sfa?/ vt. & vi.?使?jié)M意

60

Winterset was improving.

61

There was an active art guild, mostly female, and talk of?

refurbishing

?the old bridges had been going on for some years. Interesting young folks were building houses in the hills.

refurbish /?ri??f??rb??/ vt.?整修

62

Things

?had?

loosened up

, long hair was no longer cause for?

stares

, though sandals on men were still pretty?

scarce

and poets were few.

things /θi?z/ n.?形勢

loosen up?放松

stare /ster/ n.?注視

scarce /skers/ adj.?罕見的

63

Yet except for a few women friends, she?

withdrew

?completely from the?

community

.

withdraw /w?e?dr??/ v.?不參加

community /k??mju?n?ti/ n.?團(tuán)體

64

People remarked about it and how they often would see her standing by Roseman Bridge and sometimes by Cedar Bridge.

65

Old folks?

frequently

?become strange, they said, and?

contented

?themselves with that explanation.

frequently /?fri?kw?ntli/ adv.?經(jīng)常地

content /?kɑ?ntent/ vt.?使?jié)M足

66

On the second of February 1982, a?

United Parcel Service

?truck?

trundled

?up her driveway. She hadn’t ordered anything she could?

recall

.

United Parcel Service?聯(lián)合包裹服務(wù)（財富500強(qiáng)公司之一）

trundle /'tr?ndl/ vt.?運(yùn)送

recall /r??k??l/ vt. & vi.?回想

67

Puzzled, she signed for the package and looked at the address: “Francesca Johnson, RR 2, Winterset, Iowa 50273.” The return address was a law?

firm

?in Seattle.

firm /f??rm/ n.?公司

68

The package was neatly wrapped and carried extra?

insurance

. She placed it on the kitchen table and opened it carefully. Inside were three boxes, packed?

securely

?in?

Styrofoam

?

peanuts

.

insurance /?n???r?ns/ n.?保險

securely /s?'kj?rli/ adv.?安全地

styrofoam /?sta?r??fom/ n.?泡沫聚苯乙烯

peanuts /?pi?n?ts/?小片聚苯乙烯泡沫塑料

69

Taped

?to the top of one was a small?

padded

?envelope. To another was taped a business envelope addressed to her and?

carrying

?the law firm’s return address.

tape /te?p/ vt.?用帶子捆起來

pad /p?d/ v.?墊襯

carry /'k?ri/ v.?標(biāo)有

70

She removed the tape from the business envelope and opened it, shaking.

71

January 25, 1982

72

Ms. Francesca Johnson RR 2 Winterset, IA 50273

73

Dear Ms. Johnson:

74

We?

represent

?the?

estate

?of one Robert L. Kincaid, who recently?

passed away

….

represent /?repr??zent/ vt.?代表

estate /??ste?t/ n.?財產(chǎn)

pass away?去世

75

Francesca laid the letter on the table. Outside, snow blew across the fields of winter. She watched it?

skim

?the?

stubble

, taking corn?

husks

?with it, piling them up in the corner of?

the wire

.

skim /sk?m/ vt.?從…表面飛掠而過

stubble /'st?bl/ n.?殘株

husk /h?sk/ n.?外殼

the wire?鐵絲網(wǎng)

76

She read the words once more.

77

We represent the estate of one Robert L. Kincaid, who recently passed away….

78

“Oh, Robert… Robert… no.” She said it softly and?

bowed

?her head.

bow /ba?/ v.?低下(頭)

79

An hour later she was able to continue reading. The?

straightforward

?language of the law, the?

precision

?of the words,?

angered

?her.

straightforward /?stre?t?f??rw?rd/ adj.?直接了當(dāng)?shù)?/p>

precision /pr??s??n/ n.?準(zhǔn)確(性)

anger /???ɡ?r/ vt.?使發(fā)怒

80

“We represent…”

81

An?

attorney

?

carrying out

?his duties to a?

client

.

attorney /??t??rni/ n.?律師

carry out [法]履行

client /?kla??nt/ n.?委托人

82

But the power, the?

leopard

?who came riding in on the tail of a?

comet

, the shaman who was looking for Roseman Bridge on a hot August day,

leopard /'l?p?d/ n.?豹

comet /?kɑ?m?t/ n.?彗星

83

and the man who stood on the running board of a truck named Harry and looked back at her?

dying

?in the dust of an Iowa farm lane — where was he in those words?

die /da?/ v.?消失

84

The letter should have been a thousand pages long.

85

It should have talked about the end of?

evolutionary

?chains and the loss of free range, about cowboys struggling with the corners of the wire, like the corn husks of winter.

evolutionary /?i?v??lu???neri/ adj.?進(jìn)化的

86

The only will he left was dated July 8, 1967. His?

instructions

?about having the?

enclosed

?

items

?delivered to you were?

explicit

.?

instruction /?n?str?k?n/ n.?吩咐

enclosed /?n'klozd/ adj.?被附上的

item /?a?t?m/ n.?一件商品（或物品）

explicit /?k?spl?s?t/ adj.?明確的

87

If you could not be found, the?

materials

?were to be?

incinerated

.

material /m??t?ri?l/ n. (某一活動所需的)材料

incinerate /?n?s?n?re?t/ vt.?把(廢物)燒成灰燼

88

Also enclosed inside the box marked with the word “Letter” is a message for you he left with us in 1978.

89

He?

sealed

?the envelope, and it has been?

left

?unopened.

seal /si?l/ vt.?密封

leave /liv/ vt.?讓……處于（某種狀態(tài)、某地等）

90

Mr. Kincaid’s?

remains

?were?

cremated

. At his request, no marker was placed anywhere.

remains /r??me?nz/ n.?遺體

cremate /'krimet/ vt.?火葬

91

His ashes were scattered, also at his request, near your home by an?

associate

?of ours. I believe the location was called Roseman Bridge.

associate /??so?sie?t/ n.?同事

92

If we may be of further service, please do not?

hesitate

?to contact us.

hesitate /?hez?te?t/ vi.?猶豫

93

Sincerely yours, Allen B. Quippen, Attorney at Law

94

She?

caught her breath

, dried her eyes again, and began to examine the?

remaining

?

contents

?of the box.

catch breath?喘口氣

remaining /r?'men??/ adj.?剩下的

content /?kɑ?ntent/ n.?所含物

95

She knew what was in the small?

padded

?envelope. She knew it as surely as she knew spring would come again this year. She opened it carefully and reached in. Out came the silver chain.

padded /'p?did/ adj.有裝填墊料的

96

The?

medallion

?

attached

?to it was?

scratched

?and read “Francesca.” On the back,?

etched

?in the tiniest of letters, was: “If found, please send to Francesca Johnson, RR 2, Winterset, Iowa, USA.”

medallion /m?'d?l??n/ n. (狀似大獎?wù)碌?項(xiàng)鏈垂飾

attach /??t?t?/ v.?使附著

scratch /skr?t?/ n.?刮出(痕跡)

etched /'et?id/ adj.?被蝕刻的

97

His silver bracelet was wrapped in?

tissue

?paper at the bottom of the envelope.?

A slip of

?paper was included with the bracelet. It was her handwriting:

tissue /?t??u?/ n.?面巾紙

a slip of?一張

98

If you’d like supper again when “white moths are?

on the wing

,” come by tonight after you’re finished.

on the wing?在飛行中

99

Her note from the Roseman Bridge. He’d kept even that for his memories.

100

Then she remembered that was the only thing he had of hers, his only evidence she existed,?

aside from

?

elusive

images on slowly?

decaying

?film?

emulsions

.

aside from?除...以外(尚有)

elusive /i?lu?s?v/ adj.?難以找到的

decay /d??ke?/ vi.?腐爛

emulsion /?'m?l??n/ n. (照相)乳膠

101

The little note from Roseman Bridge. It was?

stained

?and?

curved

, as if it had been carried in a?

billfold

?for a long time.

stain /ste?n/ v.?留下污漬

curve /k??rv/ v. (使)彎曲

billfold /'b?lfold/ n.?皮夾子

102

She wondered how many times he had read it over the years, far from the hills along Middle River.

103

She could imagine him holding the note before him in the thin light of a reading lamp on a?

nonstop

?

jet

?to somewhere, sitting on the floor of a?

bamboo

?

hut

?in tiger country and reading it by flashlight,

nonstop /nɑn'stɑp/ adj.?直達(dá)的

jet /d?et/ n.?噴氣式飛機(jī)

bamboo /?b?m'bu/ n.?竹

hut /h?t/ n.?（簡陋的）小屋

104

folding and putting it away on a rainy night in Bellingham, then looking at photographs of a woman leaning against a fence post on a summer morning or coming out of a covered bridge at sundown.

105

The three boxes each contained a camera with a lens attached. They were?

battered

,?

scarred

.

battered /'b?t?d/ adj.?磨損的

scarred /'ska:d/ adj.?傷痕累累

106

Turning one around, she could read “Nikon” on the?

viewfinder

?and, just to the upper left of the Nikon?

label

, the letter F.

viewfinder /'vjufa?nd?/ n. (照相機(jī))取景器

label /?le?bl/ n.?商標(biāo)

107

It was the camera she had handed him at Cedar Bridge.

108

Finally she opened the letter from him. It was written in?

longhand

?on his?

stationery

?and?

dated

?August 16, 1978.

longhand /'l??h?nd/ n.?普通書寫（速記或打字）

stationery /?ste???neri/ n.?信紙

date /det/ v.?注明日期

109

Dear Francesca,

110

I hope this finds you well. I don’t know when you’ll receive it. Sometime after I’m gone. I’m sixty-five now, and it’s been thirteen years ago today that we met when I came up your lane looking for directions.

111

I’m?

gambling

?that this package won’t upset your life in any way. I just couldn’t bear to think of the cameras sitting in a secondhand?

case

?in a camera store or in some stranger’s hands.

gamble /?ɡ?mbl/ vt. & vi.?冒風(fēng)險

case /ke?s/ n.?箱子

?

112

They’ll be in pretty?

rough

?shape by the time you get them.?

rough /r?f/ adj.?粗糙的

113

But, I have no one else to leave them to, and I apologize for putting you at risk by sending them to you.

114

I was on the road almost constantly from 1965 to 1975.

115

Just to remove some of the?

temptation

?to call you or come for you, a temptation I have?

virtually

?every waking moment of my life, I took all of the?

overseas

?assignments I could find.

temptation /temp?te??n/ n.?誘惑

virtually /?v??rt?u?li/ adv.?實(shí)際上

overseas /?o?v?r?si?z/ adv.?在海外

116

There have been times, many of them, when I’ve said, “The hell with it. I’m going to Winterset, Iowa, and, whatever the cost, take Francesca away with me.”

117

But I remember your words, and I?

respect

?your feelings. Maybe you were right; I just don’t know.

respect /r??spekt/ vt.?尊重

118

I do know that driving out of your lane that hot Friday morning was the hardest thing I’ve ever done or will ever do. In fact, I doubt if few men have ever done anything more difficult than that.

119

I left National Geographic in 1975 and have been?

devoting

?the?

remainder

?of my shooting years mostly to things of my own choosing,

devote /d??vo?t/ v.?致力

remainder /r??me?nd?r/ n.?剩余部分

120

picking up a little work where I can get it, local or?

regional

?stuff that keeps me away only a few days at a time.

regional /?ri?d??nl/ adj.?地區(qū)的

121

It’s been?

tough

?

financially

, but I?

get along

. I always do.

tough /t?f/ adj.?艱難的

financially /fa??n? n??l?/ adv.?經(jīng)濟(jì)上

get along?（勉強(qiáng)）生活

122

Much of my work is around Puget Sound. I like it that way. It seems as men get older they turn toward the water.

123

Oh, yes, I have a dog now, a golden?

retriever

. I call him “Highway,” and he travels with me most of the time, head hanging out the window, looking for good shots.

retriever /r?'triv?/ n.?尋獵物犬

124

In 1972, I fell down a?

cliff

?in Maine, in Acadia National Park, and broke my ankle.?

cliff /kl?f/ n.?峭壁

125

The chain and medallion got?

torn off

?in the fall. Fortunately they landed?

close by

. I found them again, and a?

jewelermended

?the chain.

torn off?撕掉

close by adv.?在附近

jeweler /?d ?u?l?/ n.?珠寶商

mend /mend/ vt.?修理

126

I live with dust on my heart. That’s about as well as I can?

put

?it.?

put /p?t/ vt.?表達(dá)

127

There were women before you, a few, but none after. I made no conscious?

pledge

?to?

celibacy

; I’m just not interested.

pledge /pled?/ n.?保證

celibacy /'s?l?b?si/ n.?獨(dú)身生活

128

I once watched a?

Canada goose

?whose mate had been shot by hunters. They?

mate for life

, you know. The gander circled the?

pond

?for days, and more days after that.

Canada goose [動]黑額黑雁

mate for life?終生為伴

pond /pɑ?nd/ n.?池塘；(the pond)?

129

When I last saw him, he was swimming alone through the?

wild rice

, still looking.

wild rice?野生稻米

130

I suppose that analogy is a little too obvious for?

literary

?tastes, but it’s?

pretty much

?the way I feel.

literary /?l?t?reri/ adj.?文學(xué)的

pretty much?幾乎

131

In my?

imagination

, on foggy mornings or afternoons with the sun bouncing off northwest water, I try to think of where you might be in your life and what you might be doing as I’m thinking of you.

imagination /??m?d???ne??n/ n.?想像

132

Nothing complicated — going out to your garden, sitting on your front porch swing, standing at the sink in your kitchen. Things like that.

133

I remember everything. How you smelled, how you tasted like the summer. The feel of your skin against mine, and the sound of your whispers as I loved you.

134

Robert Penn Warren once used the phrase “a world that seems to be God-abandoned.”?

135

Not bad, pretty close to how I feel some of the time. But I cannot live that way always.

136

When those feelings become too strong, I load Harry and go down the road with Highway for a few days.

137

I don’t like?

feeling sorry for myself

. That’s not who I am. And most of the time I don’t feel that way. Instead, I am?

grateful

?for having at least found you.

feel sorry for oneself?垂頭喪氣

grateful /?ɡre?tfl/ adj.?感謝的

138

We could have?

flashed

?by one another like two pieces of?

cosmic

?dust.

flash /fl??/ v.?掠過

cosmic /?kɑ?zm?k/ adj.?宇宙的

139

God or the universe or whatever one chooses to label the great systems of balance and?

order

?does not?

recognize

Earth-time.

order /???rd?r/ n.?秩序

recognize /?rek?ɡna?z/ vt.?承認(rèn)

140

To the universe, four days is no different than four billion?

light years

. I try to keep that in mind.

light year [天]光年

141

But, I am, after all, a man.

142

And all the?

philosophic

?

rationalizations

?I can?

conjure

?up do not keep me from wanting you, every day, every moment, the?

merciless

?wail of time, of time I can never spend with you, deep within my head.

philosophic /?f?l??sɑ?f?k/ adj.?哲學(xué)的

rationalization /?r???n?l??ze??n/ n.?合理化

conjure /?k?nd??r/ v.?設(shè)想出

merciless /?m?..s?l?s/ adj.?無情的

143

I love you,?

profoundly

?and completely. And I always will.

profoundly /pr?'fa?ndli/ adv.?深深地

144

The last cowboy, Robert

145

P. S., I put another new engine in Harry last summer, and he’s doing fine.

146

The package arrived five years ago. And looking at the contents had become part of her annual birthday?

ritual

.

ritual /?r?t?u?l/ n.?儀式

147

She kept his cameras, bracelet, and the chain with the medallion in a special?

chest

?in the?

closet

.

chest /t?est/ n.?盒子

closet /?klɑ?z?t/ n.?壁櫥

148

A local carpenter had made the box to her design, out of?

walnut

, with?

dust seals

?and?

padded

?interior?

sections

.?

walnut /'w?ln?t/ n.?胡桃木

dust seal?防塵環(huán)

padded /'p?did/ adj.有裝填墊料的

section /?sek?n/ n.?截面

149

“Pretty?

fancy

?box,” he had said. Francesca had only smiled.

fancy /?f?nsi/ adj.?精致的

150

The last part of the ritual was the?

manuscript

. She always read it by candlelight, at the end of the day.

manuscript /?m?njuskr?pt/ n.?手稿

151

She brought it from the living room and laid it carefully on the yellow?

Formica

, near a candle, lit her one cigarette of the year, a Camel, took a sip of brandy, and began to read.

formica /f?:'maik?/ n.?膠木

152

Falling from Dimension Z

153

ROBERT KINCAID

154

There are old winds I still do not understand, though I have been riding, forever it seems, along the?

curl

?of their?

spines

.

curl /k??rl/ v. (使)盤繞

spine /spa?n/ n.?脊柱

155

I move in?

Dimension

?Z; the world goes by somewhere else in another?

slice

?of things,?

parallel

?to me.

dimension /d??men?n/ n.?（空間的）維度

slice /sla?s/ n.?部分

parallel /?p?r?lel/ vt.?使…與…平行

156

As if, hands in my pockets and bending a little forward, I see it through a?

department store

?window, looking inward.

department store?百貨商店

157

In Dimension Z, there are strange moments. Coming around a long, rainy, New Mexico?

curve

?west of Magdalena, the highway turns to a?

footpath

?and the path to an animal?

trail

.

curve /k??rv/ v.?（使）彎曲

footpath /?f?t?p?θ/ n.?人行道

trail /tre?l/ n.?小徑

158

A pass of my?

wiper blades

, and the trail becomes a forest place where nothing has ever gone. Again the wiper blades and, again, something further back.?

Great ice

, this time.

wiper blade?雨刮器

Great ice?大冰期

159

I am moving through short grass, in furs, with?

matted

?hair and?

spear

, thin and hard as the ice itself, all muscle and?

implacable

?

cunning

.

matted /'m?t?d/ adj.?糾纏的

spear /sp?r/ n.?矛

implacable /?m'pl?k?bl/ adj.?難和解的

cunning /?k?n??/ n.?狡猾

160

Past the ice, still further back along the?

measure

?of things, deep salt water in which I swim,?

gilled?

and?

scaled

. I cannot see more than that, except beyond?

plankton

?is the digit zero.

measure /?me??r/ n.?程度

gilled /gild/ adj.?腮狀的

scaled /'skeild/ adj.?有鱗的

plankton /'pl??kt?n/ n.?浮游生物

161

Euclid

?was not always right. He?

assumed

?parallelness, in?

constancy

, right to the end of things; but a non-Euclidean way of being is also possible, where the lines come together, far out there.

Euclid /?jukl?d/ n.?歐幾里得

assume /??su?m/ vt.?假定

constancy /'kɑnst?nsi/ n.?恒久不變的狀態(tài)或性質(zhì)

162

A?

vanishing point

. The?

illusion

?of?

convergence

.

vanishing point [數(shù)]?沒影點(diǎn)

illusion /??lu??n/ n.?幻想

convergence /k?n'v?d??ns/ n.?集合

163

Yet I know it’s more than illusion. Sometimes a coming together is possible, a?

spilling

?of one reality into another.

spill /sp?l/ vi.?益處

164

A kind of soft?

enlacing

.?

enlace /?n?les/ vt.?纏繞

165

Not?

prim

?

intersections

?

loomed

?in a world of precision, no sound of the?

shuttle

. Just… well… breathing. Yes, that’s the sound of it, maybe the feel of it, too. Breathing.

prim /pr?m/ adj.?整潔的

intersection /??nt?r?sek?n/ n.?交叉

loom /lu?m/ v.?逼近

shuttle /???tl/ n.?穿梭

166

And I move slowly over this other reality, and beside it and underneath and around it, always with strength, always with power, yet always with a giving of myself to it.

167

And the other senses this, coming forward with its own power, giving itself to me,?

in turn

.

in turn?依次

168

Somewhere, inside of the breathing, music sounds, and the curious spiral dance begins then, with a?

meter

?all its own that?

tempers

?the ice-man with spear and matted hair.

meter /?mi?t?r/ n.?韻律

temper /?temp?r/ v.?鍛造

169

And slowly — rolling and turning in?

adagio

, in adagio always — ice-man falls… from Dimension Z… and into her.

adagio /?'dɑd??o/ n. <音>柔板

170

At the end of her sixty-seventh birthday, when the rain had stopped, Francesca put the?

manila

?envelope in the bottom drawer of the?

rolltop desk

.

manila /m?'n?l?/ n.?馬尼拉紙（等于manilla）

rolltop desk?卷頂寫字臺

171

She had decided to keep it in her?

safe deposit box

?at the bank after Richard died but brought it home for a few days each year at this time.

safe deposit box?銀行的保管箱

172

The?

lid

?on the walnut?

chest

?was shut on the cameras, and the chest was?

placed

?on the closet shelf in her bedroom.

lid /l?d/ n.?蓋子

chest /t?est/ n.?盒子

place /ples/ vt.?放置

173

Earlier in the afternoon, she had visited Roseman Bridge.?

174

Now she walked out on the porch, dried off the swing with a towel, and sat down. It was cold, but she would stay for a few minutes, as she always did.

175

Then she walked to the yard?

gate

?and stood. Then to the head of the lane.

gate /ɡe?t/ n.?大門

176

Twenty-two years later, she could see him stepping from his truck in the late afternoon, trying to find his way;

177

she could see Harry bouncing toward the county road, then stopping, and Robert Kincaid standing on the?

running board

, looking back up the lane.

running board?踏腳板

178