英语听力 暮光之城•暮色 第7期:入学前夜(2)

 Instead,I was ivory-skinned,without even the excuse of blue eyes or red hair,despite the constantsunshine.I had always been slender,but soft somehow,obviously not an athlete.I didn't have the necessary hand-eye coordination¹ to play sports without humiliating myself -and harming both myself and anyone else who stood too close.

恰恰相反，我看上去皮肤苍白,甚至不是因为蓝眼睛或红头发之类的反衬，尽管天天在晒太阳。我虽然一直很苗条，但不知怎么搞的，老是松松垮垮的，一看就不是运动员;我手眼的协调性很差，做运动时很难不出洋相，不伤到自己和站得离自己太近的人。

 

When I finished putting my clothes in the old pine dresser,I took my bag of bathroom necessities and went to the communal² bathroom to clean myself up after the day of travel.I looked at my face in the mirror as I brushed through my tangled,damp hair.Maybe it was the light,but already I looked sallower,unhealthy.My skin could be pretty-it was very clear,almosttranslucent-looking-but it all depended on color.I had no color here.

 

把衣服放进了我那口破旧的松木穿衣柜后，我拿起我的那袋浴室用品，去了那间公共浴室，洗去了这一天旅行下来的风尘。梳理那头缠结在一起的湿漉漉的头发时，我照了照镜子。也许是因为光线的缘故，我看上去已经越发发灰发黄、有点不健康了。我的皮肤本来可以很漂亮的——非常亮，几乎透明——只可惜它的颜色发暗了。我到了这里变得黯然无色了。

 

 

　　Facing my pallid³ reflection in the mirror,I was forced to admit that I was lying to myself.It wasn't just physically⁴ that I'd never fit in.And if I couldn't find a niche⁵ in a school with three thousand people,what were my chances here?

面对镜子里苍白的自己，我不得不承认是在欺骗自己。我到哪儿都不适应的，不单单是身体方面。如果我在3000人的学校里都找不到一个容身之所，那么在这里又能有什么机会呢?

 

I didn't relate well to people my age.Maybe the truth was that I didn't relate well to people,period.Even my mother,who I was closer to than anyone else on the planet,was never inharmony with me,never on exactly the same page.Sometimes I wondered if I was seeing the same things through my eyes that the rest of the world was seeing through theirs.Maybe there was a glitch⁶ in my brain.

 

我跟自己的同龄人相处不好。或许，事实是我跟谁都相处不好，就这么回事。就连我妈妈，这个世界上比谁都亲的人，都没有跟我融洽过一回，从来都没有意见完全一致过。有时候，我在想我眼里所看到的和世上所有其他人眼里看到的是不是同样的东西。也许，我脑袋里哪里短路。

 

But the cause didn't matter.All that mattered was the effect.And tomorrow would be just the beginning.

 

不过原因并不重要，重要的是结果。明天不过是刚刚开始。

1 coordination   

n.协调，协作

参考例句：

• Gymnastics is a sport that requires a considerable level of coordination.体操是一项需要高协调性的运动。
• The perfect coordination of the dancers and singers added a rhythmic charm to the performance.舞蹈演员和歌手们配合得很好，使演出更具魅力。

2 communal   

adj.公有的，公共的，公社的，公社制的

参考例句：

• There was a communal toilet on the landing for the four flats.在楼梯平台上有一处公共卫生间供4套公寓使用。
• The toilets and other communal facilities were in a shocking state.厕所及其他公共设施的状况极其糟糕。

3 pallid   

adj.苍白的，呆板的

参考例句：

• The moon drifted from behind the clouds and exposed the pallid face.月亮从云朵后面钻出来，照着尸体那张苍白的脸。
• His dry pallid face often looked gaunt.他那张干瘪苍白的脸常常显得憔悴。

4 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

5 niche   

n.壁龛；合适的职务(环境、位置等)

参考例句：

• Madeleine placed it carefully in the rocky niche. 玛德琳小心翼翼地把它放在岩石壁龛里。
• The really talented among women would always make their own niche.妇女中真正有才能的人总是各得其所。

6 glitch   

n.干扰；误操作，小故障

参考例句：

• There is a glitch in the computer program somewhere.这个计算机程序中的某个部分有点小问题。
• It could just be a random glitch that can be solved by restarting the machine.可能只是一个小故障，重新启动主机就能解决了。