胡敏讀故事記托福詞匯103：煙熏壁畫 The Fumigated Fresco
Michael frowned as he looked at the unusual piece of artwork. A freighter had brought it in yesterday along with other works of art. There had been a mad frenzy over the other art pieces but nobody seemed to like this unusual piece. Michael wondered how they were able to cut the painting from the wall and keep the picture in one piece. He turned to Teddy and asked, “What do you think of this old fresco?”
邁克爾看著那副不同尋常的美術(shù)作品，皺起了眉。昨天，一架運(yùn)輸機(jī)把它和其他一些藝術(shù)品一起帶來了。對其他藝術(shù)品，大家表現(xiàn)極為激動，但似乎沒有人喜歡這幅與眾不同的畫。邁克爾想知道他們?nèi)绾文馨旬嫃膲ι锨邢聛恚⑶冶３之嬅嫱暾麩o缺。他轉(zhuǎn)向泰迪，問道：“你覺得這幅古老的壁畫怎么樣?”
“The people portrayed in the painting look interesting,” Teddy replied. “The woman looks frigid and the man looks like he has been frustrated one too many times. I think you can identify with the man’s frustration. I also think it will match your frowzy room. What’s all this frost on the sides?”
“畫上的人看起來很有意思，”泰迪回答，“女人看上去很冷淡，男人看來因頻頻受挫而沮喪不已。如果我把它掛在我的房間里，我覺得我活潑的小貓會受到驚嚇而死。然而，我認(rèn)為你能認(rèn)同男人受到的挫折。我還覺得它和你亂七八糟的房間正好相配。那畫面周邊上的霜都是什么?”
“Don’t fret over it,” said Michael. “It just looks like frost. It’s white powder. The fringe of the painting was accidentally damaged by friction. They powdered it to prevent further harm. Because of the damage, they won’t charge me anything for the freight. If I buy it today, will you accuse me of frivolity.”
“別擔(dān)心，”邁克爾說。“它只是看起來像霜，是白色的粉。畫的邊緣由于摩擦意外地?fù)p壞了。他們給它抹上粉，防止進(jìn)一步破壞。因?yàn)閾p壞了畫，他們不會讓我付運(yùn)費(fèi)。如果我今天買它，你會不會譴責(zé)我輕浮?”
“Not at all,” said Teddy. “You’ve always been frugal. I think frugality runs in your family. You should buy it before another frenetic art lover snatcher it up.”
“一點(diǎn)也不會，”泰迪說。“你想來是節(jié)儉的。我覺得節(jié)儉是你家的傳統(tǒng)。你應(yīng)該在別的狂熱的藝術(shù)愛好者搶到手之前把它買下。”
Suddenly, there was a loud explosion. A compressed bottle of gas fulminated in front of the painting. The fumes covered it and filled the air. Michael asked. “Should I still buy it?”
突然，有一聲巨大的爆炸聲。一瓶壓縮的氣體在畫面前爆炸了。濃煙罩住了畫，彌漫在空氣中。邁克爾問：“我還應(yīng)該買它嗎?”
“Absolutely,” said Teddy. “It was already cheap, and now it’s fumigated.”
“當(dāng)然，”泰迪答道。“本來它就便宜，何況他又被煙熏過了。”
Words:
freight n. 船貸，貨運(yùn);vt. 裝貨，運(yùn)送
freighter n. 貸船;運(yùn)輸飛機(jī)
frenetic adj. 狂亂的，發(fā)狂的
frenzy n. 狂暴，狂怒極為激動的狀態(tài)
fret v. (使)磨損;煩惱，焦慮
fresco n. 壁畫; vt 做壁畫于
friction n. 摩擦;沖突，不和
fright n. 驚駭，吃驚
frigid adj. 嚴(yán)寒的，冷淡的
fringe n. 邊緣，邊界;adj. 邊緣的
frisky adj. 活潑的，精力充沛的
frivolity n. 輕浮
frost n. 霜，霜凍;vi. 結(jié)晶
frown vi. 皺眉;不贊成，反對
frowzy adj. 不整潔的，污穢的
frugal adj. 節(jié)約的，節(jié)儉的
frugality n. 節(jié)儉，儉省
frustrate vt. 挫敗，破壞;使沮喪
frustration n. 挫敗，挫折
fulminate v. 猛烈抨擊，嚴(yán)厲譴責(zé);爆炸
fume n. (濃烈或難聞的)煙，氣體
fumigate vt. 煙熏，用香薰
