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词汇拓展：
at the very least：最起码
looking straight ahead ：正视，直视
《暮光之城-暮色》双语阅读 03
"Well, Billy's done a lot of work on the engine — it's only a few years old, really." I hoped he didn't think so little of me as to believe I would give up that easily. "When did he buy it?"
"哦，比利已经在发动机上下了大力气了——才几年的车，真的。"我希望他别太小瞧我了，以为我这么轻易就可以打发："他什么时候买的？"
"He bought it in 1984, I think."
"1984 年买的，我想是。"
"Did he buy it new?"
"他是买的新车吗？"
"Well, no. I think it was new in the early sixties — or late fifties at the earliest," he admitted sheepishly.
"哦，不是新车。我想是65 年以前的新车——最早也是55 年以后的，"他不好意思地承认道
"Ch — Dad, I don't really know anything about cars. I wouldn't be able to fix it if anything went wrong, and I couldn't afford a mechanic…"
"查——爸爸，车我可真是一窍不通哟。要是出了什么毛病，我自己可不会修，请人修吧，我又请不起……"
"Really, Bella, the thing runs great. They don't build them like that anymore."
"真的，贝拉，那家伙棒着呢。现在再也没人能生产这样的车了。"
The thing, I thought to myself… it had possibilities — as a nickname, at the very least.
那家伙，我思忖道……可能有好几种意思——最起码，也是个绰号。
"How cheap is cheap?" After all, that was the part I couldn't compromise on.
"多便宜算便宜啊？"说到底，这才是我不能妥协的地方。
"Well, honey, I kind of already bought it for you. As a homecoming gift." Charlie peeked sideways at me with a hopeful expression.
"噢，宝贝，可以说我已经给你买下了。作为欢迎你回家的礼物。"查理满怀希望地从眼角偷偷瞥了我一眼。
Wow. Free.
哈,免费。
"You didn't need to do that, Dad. I was going to buy myself a car."
"您不必这样破费的，爸爸。我本打算自己买一辆的。"
"I don't mind. I want you to be happy here." He was looking ahead at the road when he said this. Charlie wasn't comfortable with expressing his emotions out loud. I inheritedthat from him. So I was looking straight ahead as I responded.
"我不介意。我想让你在这儿过得高兴。"说这话的时候，他两眼盯着前面的路。查理不习惯大声表达自己的感情。在这点上，我完全继承了他。所以我回话的时候，也是两眼盯着正前方。
"That's really nice, Dad. Thanks. I really appreciate it." No need to add that my being happy in Forks is an impossibility. He didn't need to suffer along with me. And I never looked a free truck in the mouth —or engine.
"那样真的太好了，爸爸。谢谢啦。我真的很感激。"没有必要再来一句：我在福克斯会感到高兴那是不可能的事情。他不必跟我一起遭罪。再说，馈赠之马莫看牙——我这白捡的卡车又哪能嫌它的发动机差呢？
"Well, now, you're welcome," he mumbled, embarrassed by my thanks.
"好啦，不必客气了，"他喃喃道，他让我谢得不好意思了。
We exchanged a few more comments on the weather, which was wet, and that was pretty much it for Conversation. We stared out the windows in silence.
我们聊了聊潮湿的天气，这可不是什么可以让人聊个没完的话题。接着，我们默默地看着窗外。
It was beautiful, of course; I couldn't deny that. Everything was green: the trees, their trunks covered with moss, their branches hanging with a canopy of it, the ground covered with ferns. Even the air filtered down greenly through the leaves.
风景当然很漂亮，这一点我不能否认。放眼望去，满眼皆绿：树是绿色的，树干上的苔藓是绿色的，树枝上浓密的树叶是绿色的，地上的蕨类植物也是绿色的。就连从树叶之间滤下的空气，也都染上了一层绿意。
It was too green — an alien planet.
太绿了——简直是另外一个星球。
Eventually we made it to Charlie's. He still lived in the small, two-bedroom house that he'd bought with my mother in the early days of their marriage. Those were the only kind of days their marriage had — the early ones. There, parked on the street in front of the house that never changed, was my new — well, new to me — truck. It was a faded red color, with big, rounded fenders and a bulbous cab. To my intense surprise, I loved it. I didn't know if it would run, but I could see myself in it. Plus, it was one of those solid iron affairs that never gets damaged — the kind you see at the scene of an accident, paint unscratched, surrounded by the pieces of the foreign car it had destroyed.
终于，我们到了查理的家。他还住在那套两居的小房子里，是他跟我妈妈在结婚之初买下来的。他们的婚姻也就仅有那么一段日子——新婚燕尔的那几天。在他那一切如昨的房子前面，停着我的新卡车，对了，应该说是对我而言的新卡车。褪了色的红色，圆圆大大的挡泥板，还有一个灯泡形状的驾驶室。大出我意料的是，我竟然很喜欢它。我不知道它开不开得走，但我能从它的身上看到我自己的影子。而且，它是那种结结实实，永远也坏不了的铁疙瘩，就是你在车祸现场看到的那种结实玩意儿：自己身上漆都没蹭掉一点儿，而周围却一片狼藉，全是毁在它手下的外国汽车的碎块儿
"Wow, Dad, I love it! Thanks!" Now my horrific day tomorrow would be just that much less dreadful. I wouldn't be faced with the choice of either walking two miles in the rain to school or accepting a ride in the Chief's cruiser.
"哇，谢谢爸爸，我非常喜欢它！"现在看来，我明天面临的恐怖会大大地减轻了，用不着在冒雨徒步走两英里去上学和同意搭警长的巡逻车这两者中做选择了。
"I'm glad you like it," Charlie said gruffly, embarrassed again.
"我很高兴你那么喜欢它。"查理生硬地说道，又不好意思了。
2013-08-23 |
铭铭
