小说原文

"That's right," I answered immediately, hiding my surprise at his casual use of the word.

“没错。”我立刻答道，掩饰着自己对他漫不经心地用着这个词的惊讶。

He shook his head. "You're incredible."

他摇了摇头：“你简直难以置信。”

I realized, as he drove my truck out of the main part of town, that I had no idea where he lived. We passed over the bridge at the Calawah River, the road winding northward, the houses flashing past us growing farther apart, getting bigger. And then we were past the other houses altogether, driving through misty forest. I was trying to decide whether to ask or be patient, when he turned abruptly onto an unpaved road. It was unmarked, barely visible among the ferns. The forest encroached on both sides, leaving the road ahead only discernible for a few meters as it twisted, serpentlike, around the ancient trees.

当他把我的卡车开出镇里的主街区时，我才意识到，我还不知道他住在哪里。我们开过架在Calawah河上的桥，开向通往北部的道路。房屋飞快地从我们车旁掠过，渐渐变得不那么密集，房屋主体也变得越来越巨大。然后，我们把所有的住家都抛在了身后，开进了云雾缭绕的森林。我还在试图决定是要开口问还是耐心等待的时候，他忽然掉转车头开进了一条没有铺着柏油的路。这条路没有任何标记，在一片蕨类植物中隐约可见。它蜿蜒蛇行着穿过一颗颗古老的树木，森林在路两旁侵蚀着我们的视野，让我们只能看见路前方几米远的地方。

And then, after a few miles, there was some thinning of the woods, and we were suddenly in a small meadow, or was it actually a lawn? The gloom of the forest didn't relent, though, for there were six primordial cedars that shaded an entire acre with their vast sweep of branches. The trees held their protecting shadow right up to the walls of the house that rose among them, making obsolete the deep porch that wrapped around the first story.

然后，又开过数英里以后，树木变得稀少些了，忽然间我们就在一片小小的草地上了，或许这事实上是一片私人草坪？但是，森林里的幽暗感并未消散，因为有六棵未经修剪的雪松用它们广阔的绵延的枝叶荫蔽着整块草地。这些树撑起了它们保护性的树阴，一直绵延到房屋的外墙上，那外墙凌于树荫之上，使得环绕着房屋一层的深邃的门廊显得有些陈旧。

I don't know what I had expected, but it definitely wasn't this. The house was timeless, graceful, and probably a hundred years old. It was painted a soft, faded white, three stories tall, rectangular and well proportioned. The windows and doors were either part of the original structure or a perfect restoration. My truck was the only car in sight. I could hear the river close by, hidden in the obscurity of the forest.

我不知道自己在期待着什么，但绝对不是这样的。这所房子经久优美，也许有一百年以上的历史了。它被粉刷成一种柔和的，有些褪色的白色，有三层楼高，四四方方，很是对称。门窗都是最初的结构，或是修旧如旧。我的卡车是我所能看见的唯一一辆车子。我能听到河流的声音，就在附近的某个地方，隐藏在幽暗的森林中。

《暮光之城》

与图书题目相得益彰的是，“暮光之城”系列别具匠心的封面设计则很好地传达出了每本书内在的深远寓意。斯蒂芬妮·梅尔指出《暮色》封面上的苹果代表“创世纪” 内善恶树上的禁果。象征贝拉和爱德华之间人类与吸血鬼禁忌的爱恋。在书的开头引用了“创世纪”217页的内容：“只是分别善恶树上的果子，你不可吃，因为你吃的日子必定死。”这同时也代表了贝拉如何分辨善恶——选择是否吃下那颗禁忌的果实，这比喻了选择跟爱德华在一起或远离他。

语言讲解

1. pass over

越过；忽略；宽恕；回避

eg. Brown finally agreed to let the train pass over the bridge and continue on to Baltimore. The train left at sunrise.

布朗最终同意让火车通过大桥继续开往巴尔的摩，这列火车在天亮时离开了哈珀斯镇。

eg. However, among all the other populated continents, the all-changing wind of time seems to pass over Africa, leaving its face mainly unchanged for centuries or even millenniums.

不过，与其他人口稠密的大陆不同，总在变化的时间之风似乎越过了非洲，致使其外表在数个世纪乃至数千年间都没多少改变。

2. wrap around

卷绕，环绕

eg. The cool air seemed to wrap around my body.

冰冷的空气一下包裹住了我的身体。

eg. You could see its whole jaw wrap around the thing which turned out to be a person.

你能看到它的整个颚部紧裹着那个东西——后来被证明是一个人。

3. in sight

看得见；被看到

eg. Which made me a virgin with no end in sight — a daunting predicament.

这样我还是一个处女，但视野没有尽头——一个退缩的困境。

eg. For Strauss, living on credit, desperate to work, but with no job in sight, that dream looks a thing of the past, not the future.

对于像斯特劳斯这样依靠信用卡生活的人来说他们急需工作却根本找不到，美国梦是过去式而不是将来式。