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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
“Forget it,” he snaps back.
The conversation feels all wrong. Leave? How could I leave
talking about it? And even if we did . . . even if we did . . .
where did this stuff about having kids come from? There’s
never been anything romantic between Gale and me. When we
met, I was a skinny twelve-year-old, and although he was only
two years older, he already looked like a man. It took a long
Besides, if he wants kids, Gale won’t have any trouble finding
a wife. He’s good-looking, he’s strong enough to handle the
work in the mines, and he can hunt. You can tell by the way
the girls whisper about him when he walks by in school that
they want him. It makes me jealous but not for the reason
people would think. Good hunting partners are hard to find.
“What do you want to do?” I ask. We can hunt, fish, or gather.
“Let’s fish at the lake. We can leave our poles and gather in
the woods. Get something nice for tonight,” he says.
Tonight. After the reaping, everyone is supposed to celebrate.
And a lot of people do, out of relief that their children
have been spared for another year. But at least two families
how they will survive the painful weeks to come.
fish, a bag of greens and, best of all, a gallon of strawberries. I
found the patch a few years ago, but Gale had the idea to
On the way home, we swing by the Hob, the black market
When they came up with a more efficient system that transported
the coal directly from the mines to the trains, the Hob
gradually took over the space. Most businesses are closed by
this time on reaping day, but the black market’s still fairly
busy. We easily trade six of the fish for good bread, the other
of hot soup from a large kettle, takes half the greens off our
might do a tad better elsewhere, but we make an effort to
keep on good terms with Greasy Sae. She’s the only one who
can consistently be counted on to buy wild dog. We don’t hunt
them on purpose, but if you’re attacked and you take out a dog
or two, well, meat is meat. “Once it’s in the soup, I’ll call it
turn up their nose at a good leg of wild dog, but the Peacekeepers
who come to the Hob can afford to be a little choosier.
When we finish our business at the market, we go to the
back door of the mayor’s house to sell half the strawberries,
knowing he has a particular fondness for them and can afford
our price. The mayor’s daughter, Madge, opens the door. She’s
in my year at school. Being the mayor’s daughter, you’d expect
Like me. Since neither of us really has a group of friends, we
seem to end up together a lot at school. Eating lunch, sitting
next to each other at assemblies, partnering for sports activities.
We rarely talk, which suits us both just fine.
white dress, and her blonde hair is done up with a
pink ribbon. Reaping clothes.
“Pretty dress,” says Gale.
Madge shoots him a look, trying to see if it’s a genuine
she would never be wearing it ordinarily. She presses her lips
together and then smiles. “Well, if I end up going to the Capitol,
I want to look nice, don’t I?”
Now it’s Gale’s turn to be confused. Does she mean it? Or is
she messing with him? I’m guessing the second.
“You won’t be going to the Capitol,” says Gale coolly. His
gold. Beautifully crafted. It could keep a family in bread for
months. “What can you have? Five entries? I had six when I
was just twelve years old.”
“That’s not her fault,” I say.
“No, it’s no one’s fault. Just the way it is,” says Gale. Madge’s
face has become closed off. She puts the money for the berries
in my hand. “Good luck, Katniss.” “You, too,” I say, and the
door closes.
We walk toward the Seam in silence. I don’t like that Gale
took a dig at Madge, but he’s right, of course. The reaping system
is unfair, with the poor getting the worst of it. You become
year, your name is entered once. At thirteen, twice. And so on
and so on until you reach the age of eighteen, the final year of
eligibility20, when your name goes into the pool seven times.
That’s true for every citizen in all twelve districts in the entire
country of Panem.
But here’s the catch. Say you are poor and starving as we
grain and oil for one person. You may do this for each of your
family members as well. So, at the age of twelve, I had my
name entered four times. Once, because I had to, and three
times for tesserae for grain and oil for myself, Prim, and my
mother. In fact, every year I have needed to do this. And the
entries are cumulative23. So now, at the age of sixteen, my name
will be in the reaping twenty times.
点击收听单词发音
1 prim | |
adj.拘泥形式的,一本正经的;n.循规蹈矩,整洁;adv.循规蹈矩地,整洁地 | |
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2 gale | |
n.大风,强风,一阵闹声(尤指笑声等) | |
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3 devoted | |
adj.忠诚的,忠实的,热心的,献身于...的 | |
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4 haggling | |
v.讨价还价( haggle的现在分词 ) | |
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5 helping | |
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的,辅助的 | |
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6 shutters | |
百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 ); (照相机的)快门 | |
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7 predators | |
n.食肉动物( predator的名词复数 );奴役他人者(尤指在财务或性关系方面) | |
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8 prey | |
n.被掠食者,牺牲者,掠食;v.捕食,掠夺,折磨 | |
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9 abounds | |
v.大量存在,充满,富于( abound的第三人称单数 ) | |
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10 mesh | |
n.网孔,网丝,陷阱;vt.以网捕捉,啮合,匹配;vi.适合; [计算机]网络 | |
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11 warehouse | |
n.仓库;vt.存入仓库 | |
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12 greasy | |
adj. 多脂的,油脂的 | |
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13 chunks | |
厚厚的一块( chunk的名词复数 ); (某物)相当大的数量或部分 | |
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14 wink | |
n.眨眼,使眼色,瞬间;v.眨眼,使眼色,闪烁 | |
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15 snob | |
n.势利小人,自以为高雅、有学问的人 | |
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16 outfit | |
n.(为特殊用途的)全套装备,全套服装 | |
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17 ironic | |
adj.讽刺的,有讽刺意味的,出乎意料的 | |
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18 adorns | |
装饰,佩带( adorn的第三人称单数 ) | |
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19 eligible | |
adj.有条件被选中的;(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的 | |
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20 eligibility | |
n.合格,资格 | |
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21 opt | |
vi.选择,决定做某事 | |
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22 meager | |
adj.缺乏的,不足的,瘦的 | |
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23 cumulative | |
adj.累积的,渐增的 | |
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