书城外语看古希腊神话故事学英语
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第41章 以希腊神话为题材的作品(2)

She turned to the other kids."Romans,I present to you the son of Neptune.For months he has been slumbering,but now he is awake.His fate is in your hands.The Feast of Fortune comes quickly,and Death must be unleashed if you are to stand any hope in the battle.Do not fail me!"

Juno shimmered and disappeared.Percy looked at Hazel and Frank for some kind of explanation,but they seemed just as confused as he was.Frank was holding something Percy hadn't noticed before-two small clay flasks with cork stoppers,like potions,one in each hand.Percy had no idea where they'd come from,but he saw Frank slip them into his pockets.Frank gave him a look like:Well talk about it later.

波西站在河岸边,衣服和皮肤上都蒸腾着热气,仿佛台伯河水给他洗了一场酸浴一样。他感觉自己如同赤身裸体,毫无遮蔽……脆弱易伤。

弗兰克摇摇晃晃,站在台伯河中间,看上去目瞪口呆,但毫发无伤。黑兹尔涉水过去扶他上岸。直到这时波西才意识到周围其他孩子变得多么安静。

每个人都死盯着他看,只有朱恩那个老妇人看上去不慌不忙。

“好吧,这是段很美妙的旅行。”她说,“波西·杰克逊,谢谢你带我来到朱庇特营地。”

其中一个女孩的声音貌似激动得有些哽住:“波西……杰克逊?”

听上去她仿佛认识他的名字。波西看向她,希望能见到一张熟悉的面庞。

她明显是个领导者。她在盔甲外面披着一条帝王紫色的披风,胸前装饰着许多奖章。她的年龄应该和波西一样大,黑色的长发,深色的眼睛,目光敏锐。波西并不认识她,但她盯着他看的方式就好像她正在做噩梦。

朱恩开心地笑了起来:“噢,是的,你们碰到一起肯定会乐趣多多的!”

之后,就好像这一天还不够诡异似的,这个老妇人开始长高,转变着形态。她变成了一个闪烁着光芒的七英尺来高的女神,身着蓝色长裙,肩上披着羊皮斗篷。她的面容庄重而严肃。手里拿着一柄手杖,杖头上是一朵莲花。

如果这能让这些营员更加惊慌到不知所措的话,那么的确如此了。身着紫色披风的女孩屈膝下跪。其他人在她的带领下也照做了。其中一个孩子蹲下得太匆忙,差点被自己的剑扎到。

黑兹尔第一个开口说话:“朱诺(罗马神话众神之王朱庇特的妻子,在希腊神话中被称为天后赫拉——编者注)。”

她和弗兰克也跪在地上,只剩下波西自己站在那里。他知道自己也应该跪下,但在背着老妇人走了这么远的路以后,他不愿意再对她表示更多尊敬了。

“朱诺,哈?”他说,“如果我通过了你的测试,我能取回我的记忆和生活了吗?”

女神微笑起来:“终究会的,波西·杰克逊,只要你能在这营地获得成功。你今天做得很好,这是个良好的开始。或许对你来说,希望仍然存在。”

她转身对其他孩子们说:“罗马人,我为你们带来了海神尼普顿之子(尼普顿是古罗马神话中的海神,在希腊神话中被称为波塞冬——编者注)。他已沉睡数月,但现在他已经醒来。他的命运掌握在你们的手中。福尔图娜之宴即将到来。如果你们在战斗中心存希望,死神一定会被解放出来。不要令我失望!”

朱诺放射出一阵强光,然后消失了。波西望向黑兹尔和弗兰克,想求得一些解释,但他们看上去和他同样困惑。弗兰克手里握着什么东西,波西之前并没注意——那是两个带着软木塞的小粘土瓶,弗兰克两手里各一瓶,像是什么药水。波西不清楚这东西是哪里来的,他看到弗兰克把它们塞进口袋里,还给了他一个有含义的眼神:我们一会儿再说这个。

单词短语透视

1.exposed[iksp?uzd]adj.暴露的

例句 The crops will not grow on exposed hillsides.

在裸露的山坡上庄稼没法生长。

2.vulnerable[v?ln?r?bl]adj.易受伤害的,易受攻击的,脆弱的

例句 He volunteered to protect her as she looked so vulnerable.

她看上去很脆弱,他就主动去保护她。

3.stumble[st?mbl]v.绊倒,失足

例句 I stumbled over a tree root.树根绊了我的脚。

4.stunned[st?nd]adj.惊呆的

例句 When they told me she had gone missing,I was totally stunned.他们告诉我她不见了时,我当时完全惊呆了。

5.wade[we?d]v.跋涉,涉水,费力行走

例句 I cant wade in these boots.我穿着这双靴子没法蹚水。

6.ashore[????]adv.在岸上,上岸

例句 We went ashore when the boat reached the port.

船一靠港我们就上岸了。

7.stare at 凝视

例句 And he continued to stare at her.他仍旧瞠眼望着她。

8.unfazed[?nfe?zd]adj.未受惊扰的

例句 In the second half,the students were criticized.Extroverts were unfazed.在后半部分,学生受到了批评,外向性格的学生不为所动。

9.recognize[rek?gna?z]v.认出,识别

例句 I recognized her by her red hat.

我根据她的红色帽子认出了她。

10.focus on 集中于,致力于

例句 The noise made it hard for me to focus on work.

噪音让我无法集中注意力工作。

11.familiar[f?m?l??(r)]adj.熟悉的

例句 I am not very familiar with botanical names.

我不太熟悉植物学方面的名称。

12.obviously[ɑbv??sl?]adv.明显地,显然地

例句 Obviously,we dont want to spend too much money.

更很明显,我们不想花太多的钱。

13.regal[ri?gl]adj.帝王的,华丽的

例句 The developers made a regal offer for the land.

地产商出高价购买该地。

14.cloak[kl??k]n.斗蓬,掩护

例句 T hey left under(the)cloak of darkness.

他们在黑暗的遮掩下离开了。

15.decorate[dek?re?t]v.装饰,修饰

例句 Bright posters decorate the streets.

鲜艳的广告招贴画点缀着街道。

16.nightmares[na?tmers]n.梦魇,可怕的事物,恶梦

例句 Before it awakened,it produced nightmares.

在它苏醒之前,它产生了梦魇。

17.delight[d?la?t]n.高兴,愉快

例句 To our great delight,the day turned out fine.

我们感到高兴的是天气转晴了。

18.glow[gl??]n.赤热,热情,光辉

例句 The countryside glowed with autumn colours.

郊野焕发出斑斓的秋色。

19.stern[st??n]adj.严厉的,严格的

例句 Police are planning sterner measures to combat crime.

警方正在制订更严厉的措施来打击犯罪活动。

20.hastily[he?st?l?]adv.匆忙地,仓促地

例句 She had married hastily,and as hastily,grown weary of her choice.她急忙地结了婚并且同样草率地厌倦了自己的选择。

21.impale[?mpe?l]v.刺穿,钉住

例句 The fishes were impaled on pointed stakes.

鱼被钉在尖桩上。

22.slumber[sl?mb?]v.熟睡

例句 The baby was slumbering peacefully.孩子睡得正香。

23.unleash[?nli??]v.解开……的皮带,解除……的束缚

例句 Then he unleashed his own,unstoppable,attack.

接着他开始了自己不可阻挡的攻击。

24.shimmer[??m?(r)]v.发微光,闪光,闪烁

例句 The surface of the road shimmered in the heat of the sun.

路面在烈日的热气中发出闪烁的微光。

25.disappear[,d?s?p??(r)]v.消失,不见

例句 The plane disappeared behind a cloud.

飞机飞入云中不见了。

26.explanation[,ekspl?ne??n]n.解释,说明,解说

例句 He left the room without explanation.

他离开了房间而未加解释。

27.flask[昀ɑ?sk]n.细颈瓶,小水瓶,烧瓶

例句 He took a swig of whisky from his hip flask.

他猛灌了一口扁酒瓶中的威士忌。

28.potion[p???n]n.一服,一剂

例句 The magician displayed his charms and potions.

魔术师展示了咒符和有魔力的饮品。

《波西·杰克逊:神火之盗》

场景一

Mr.Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.

Finally,Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele,and I turned around and said,"Will you shut up?"

It came out louder than I meant it to.

The whole group laughed.Mr.Brunner stopped his story.

"Mr.Jackson,"he said,"did you have a comment?"

My face was totally red.I said,"No,sir."

Mr.Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele."Perhaps youll tell us what this picture represents?"

I looked at the carving,and felt a flush of relief,because I actually recognized it."Thats Kronos eating his kids,right?"

"Yes,"Mr.Brunner said,obviously not satisfied."And he did this because……"

"Well……”I racked my brain to remember."Kronos was the king god,and……"

"God?"Mr.Brunner asked.

"Titan,"I corrected myself."And……he didnt trust his kids,who were the gods.So,um,Kronos ate them,right?But his wife hid baby Zeus and gave Kronos a rock to eat,instead.And later,when Zeus grew up,he tricked his dad,Kronos,into barfing up his brothers and sisters……”

"Eeew!"said one of the girls behind me.

"…and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans,"I continued,"and the gods won."

Some snickers from the group.