【饥饿游戏】31
时间：2017-03-15 07:25:20
搜索关注在线英语听力室公众号：tingroom，领取免费英语资料大礼包。
（单词翻译）
It’s impossible not to think of a bird.
I pick up another spear while Peeta throws. “I think her
name’s
Rue1,” he says softly.
I bite my lip. Rue is a small yellow flower that grows in the
Meadow. Rue.
Primrose3. Neither of them could tip the scale at
seventy pounds soaking wet.
“What can we do about it?” I ask him, more harshly than I
intended.
“Nothing to do,” he says back. “Just making conversation.”
Now that I know she’s there, it’s hard to ignore the child.
She slips up and joins us at different stations. Like me, she’s
clever with plants, climbs swiftly, and has good aim. She can
hit the target every time with a slingshot. But what is a slingshot
against a 220-pound male with a sword?
Back on the District 12 floor, Haymitch and Effie
grill5 us
throughout breakfast and dinner about every moment of the
day. What we did, who watched us, how the other tributes size
up. Cinna and Portia aren’t around, so there’s no one to add
any
sanity6 to the meals. Not that Haymitch and Effie are fighting
anymore. Instead they seem to be of one mind,
determined7to whip us into shape. Full of endless directions about what
we should do and not do in training. Peeta is more patient, but
I become fed up and surly.
When we finally escape to bed on the second night, Peeta
mumbles8, “Someone ought to get Haymitch a drink.”
I make a sound that is somewhere between a snort and a
laugh. Then catch myself. It’s messing with my mind too much,
trying to keep straight when we’re supposedly friends and
when we’re not. At least when we get into the
arena9, I’ll know
where we stand. “Don’t. Don’t let’s pretend when there’s no
one around.”
“All right, Katniss,” he says tiredly. After that, we only talk
in front of people.
On the third day of training, they start to call us out of lunch
for our private sessions with the Gamemakers. District by district,
first the boy, then the girl tribute. As usual, District 12 is
slated10 to go last. We linger in the dining room, unsure where
else to go. No one comes back once they have left. As the room
empties, the pressure to appear friendly lightens. By the time
they call Rue, we are left alone. We sit in silence until they
summon Peeta. He rises.
“Remember what Haymitch said about being sure to throw
the weights.” The words come out of my mouth without permission.
“Thanks. I will,” he says. “You . . . shoot straight.”
I nod. I don’t know why I said anything at all. Although if
I’m going to lose, I’d rather Peeta win than the others. Better
for our district, for my mother and
Prim2.
After about fifteen minutes, they call my name. I smooth my
hair, set my shoulders back, and walk into the gymnasium. Instantly,
I know I’m in trouble. They’ve been here too long, the
Had too much to wine, most of them. Want more than anything
to go home.
There’s nothing I can do but continue with the plan. I walk
to the archery station. Oh, the weapons! I’ve been
itching12 to
get my hands on them for days! Bows made of wood and plastic
and metal and materials I can’t even name. Arrows with
feathers cut in flawless uniform lines. I choose a bow, string it,
and
sling4 the matching quiver of arrows over my shoulder.
There’s a shooting range, but it’s much too limited. Standard
gymnasium and pick my first target. The
dummy14 used for
knife practice. Even as I pull back on the bow I know something
is wrong. The string’s tighter than the one I use at home.
The arrow’s more
rigid15. I miss the dummy by a couple of inches
and lose what little attention I had been commanding. For a
moment, I’m
humiliated16, then I head back to the bull’s-eye. I
shoot again and again until I get the feel of these new weapons.
Back in the center of the gymnasium, I take my initial position
and
skewer17 the dummy right through the heart. Then I
sever18 the rope that holds the sandbag for boxing, and the bag
splits open as it slams to the ground. Without pausing, I
shoulder-roll forward,（向前肩滚翻） come up on one knee, and
send an arrow into one of the hanging lights high above the
gymnasium floor. A shower of sparks bursts from the
fixture19.
It’s excellent shooting. I turn to the Gamemakers. A few are
nodding approval, but the majority of them are fixated on a
roast pig that has just arrived at their banquet table.
Suddenly I am furious, that with my life on the line, they
don’t even have the
decency20 to pay attention to me. That I’m
being upstaged by a dead pig. My heart starts to pound, I can
feel my face burning. Without thinking, I pull an arrow from
my quiver and send it straight at the Gamemakers’ table. I
hear shouts of alarm as people stumble back. The arrow
skewers21 the apple in the pig’s mouth and pins it to the wall
behind it. Everyone stares at me in disbelief.
“Thank you for your consideration,” I say. Then I give a
slight bow and walk straight toward the exit without being
dismissed.
分享到：
收听单词发音 
