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single-handedly feeding a family of five for seven years,
will have his name in forty-two times.You can see why
someone like Madge, who has never been at risk of needing
a tessera, can set him off. The chance of her name being
Seam. Not impossible, but slim. And even though the rules
were set up by the Capitol, not the districts, certainly not
Madge’s family, it’s hard not to resent those who don’t
have to sign up for tesserae.
Gale knows his anger at Madge is misdirected. On other
the Seam and those who can generally count on supper and
Capitol’s advantage to have us divided among ourselves,” he
might say if there were no ears to hear but mine. If it wasn’t
reaping day. If a girl with a gold pin and no tesserae had not
made what I’m sure she thought was a harmless comment.
although I never say so. It’s not that I don’t agree with him. I
do. But what good is yelling about the Capitol in the middle of
the woods? It doesn’t change anything. It doesn’t make things
fair. It doesn’t fill our stomachs. In fact, it scares off the nearby
game. I let him yell though. Better he does it in the woods than
in the district.
Gale and I divide our spoils, leaving two fish, a couple of
loaves of good bread, greens, a quart of strawberries, salt, paraffin,
and a bit of money for each.
“See you in the square,” I say.
“Wear something pretty,” he says flatly.
At home, I find my mother and sister are ready to go. My
big on her, but my mother has made it stay with pins. Even so,
she’s having trouble keeping the blouse tucked in at the back.
A tub of warm water waits for me. I scrub off the dirt and
sweat from the woods and even wash my hair. To my surprise,
my mother has laid out one of her own lovely dresses for me.
A soft blue thing with matching shoes.
“Are you sure?” I ask. I’m trying to get past rejecting offers
of help from her. For a while, I was so angry, I wouldn’t allow
her to do anything for me. And this is something special. Her
clothes from her past are very precious to her.
“Of course. Let’s put your hair up, too,” she says. I let her
towel-dry it and braid it up on my head. I can hardly recognize
myself in the cracked mirror that leans against the wall.
“You look beautiful,” says Prim in a hushed voice.
“And nothing like myself,” I say. I hug her, because I know
these next few hours will be terrible for her. Her first reaping.
She’s about as safe as you can get, since she’s only entered
once. I wouldn’t let her take out any tesserae. But she’s worried
about me. That the unthinkable might happen.
I protect Prim in every way I can, but I’m powerless against
up in my chest and threatens to register on my face. I notice
her blouse has pulled out of her skirt in the back again and
force myself to stay calm. “Tuck your tail in, little duck,” I say,
smoothing the blouse back in place.
“Quack yourself,” I say with a light laugh. The kind only
Prim can draw out of me. “Come on, let’s eat,” I say and plant a
quick kiss on the top of her head.
will be for supper. We decide to save the strawberries and bakery
bread for this evening’s meal, to make it special we say.
Instead we drink milk from Prim’s goat, Lady, and eat the
rough bread made from the tessera grain, although no one has
much appetite anyway.
unless you are on death’s door. This evening, officials
will come around and check to see if this is the case. If not,
you’ll be imprisoned19.
It’s too bad, really, that they hold the reaping in the square
— one of the few places in District 12 that can be pleasant.
The square’s surrounded by shops, and on public market days,
especially if there’s good weather, it has a holiday feel to it.
But today, despite the bright banners hanging on the buildings,
there’s an air of grimness. The camera crews, perched
like buzzards on rooftops, only add to the effect.
People file in silently and sign in. The reaping is a good opportunity
for the Capitol to keep tabs on the population as
roped areas marked off by ages, the oldest in the front, the
young ones, like Prim, toward the back. Family members line
hands. But there are others, too, who have no one they love at
stake, or who no longer care, who slip among the crowd, taking
given on their ages, whether they’re Seam or merchant, if they
but carefully, carefully. These same people tend to be
informers, and who hasn’t broken the law? I could be shot on
a daily basis for hunting, but the appetites of those in charge
protect me. Not everyone can claim the same.
Anyway, Gale and I agree that if we have to choose between
dying of hunger and a bullet in the head, the bullet would be
much quicker.
点击收听单词发音
1 gale | |
n.大风,强风,一阵闹声(尤指笑声等) | |
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2 helping | |
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的,辅助的 | |
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3 drawn | |
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的 | |
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4 rant | |
v.咆哮;怒吼;n.大话;粗野的话 | |
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5 misery | |
n.痛苦,苦恼,苦难;悲惨的境遇,贫苦 | |
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6 hatred | |
n.憎恶,憎恨,仇恨 | |
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7 thereby | |
adv.因此,从而 | |
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8 smoldering | |
v.用文火焖烧,熏烧,慢燃( smolder的现在分词 ) | |
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9 underneath | |
adj.在...下面,在...底下;adv.在下面 | |
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10 stony | |
adj.石头的,多石头的,冷酷的,无情的 | |
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11 apothecary | |
n.药剂师 | |
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12 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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13 outfit | |
n.(为特殊用途的)全套装备,全套服装 | |
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14 ruffled | |
adj. 有褶饰边的, 起皱的 动词ruffle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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15 anguish | |
n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦,烦恼 | |
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16 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 ) | |
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17 stew | |
n.炖汤,焖,烦恼;v.炖汤,焖,忧虑 | |
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18 mandatory | |
adj.命令的;强制的;义务的;n.受托者 | |
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19 imprisoned | |
下狱,监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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20 herded | |
群集,纠结( herd的过去式和过去分词 ); 放牧; (使)向…移动 | |
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21 perimeter | |
n.周边,周长,周界 | |
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22 odds | |
n.让步,机率,可能性,比率;胜败优劣之别 | |
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23 dealing | |
n.经商方法,待人态度 | |
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