[暮色（节选）]暮色的意思

　　去年“哈利・波特”系列的最后一本书面市时哈迷当然疯狂了一把，可是那之后的空虚似乎无法填补。幸好号称“继《哈利・波特》后最受欧美青少年欢迎的畅销小说”―“暮光之城”系列出现了！美国女作家斯蒂芬妮・梅尔笔下扣人心弦的“暮光之城”系列（The Twilight Saga）讲述了中学生贝拉与青春帅气的吸血鬼爱德华之间的浪漫爱情故事。本期“美文共享”特别为大家带来该系列的第一本―《暮色》的节选。Enjoy it！
　　
　　It took every ounce of my concentration to make it down the icy brick driveway alive. I almost lost my
　　balance when I finally got to the truck, but I managed to cling to the side mirror and save myself. Clearly, today was going to be nightmarish.
　　Driving to school, I distracted myself from my fear of falling and my unwanted 1)speculations about Edward Cullen by thinking about Mike and Eric, and the obvious difference in how teenage boys responded to me here. I was sure I looked exactly the same as I had in Phoenix. Maybe it was just that the boys back home had watched me pass slowly through all the 2)awkward phases of adolescence and still thought of me that way. Perhaps it was because I was a 3)novelty here, where novelties
　　were few and far between. Possibly my 4)crippling clumsiness was seen as 5)endearing rather than
　　6)pathetic, casting me as 7)damsel in distress. Whatever
　　the reason, Mike’s puppy dog behavior and Eric’s
　　apparent 8)rivalry with him were 9)disconcerting. I wasn’t sure if I didn’t prefer being ignored.
　　My truck seemed to have no problem with the black ice that covered the roads. I drove very slowly, though, not wanting to carve a path of destruction through Main Street.
　　When I got out of my truck at school, I saw why I’d
　　had so little trouble. Something silver caught my eye, and I walked to the back of the truck � carefully holding the side for support � to examine my tires. There were thin chains 10)crisscrossed in diamond shapes around them. Charlie had gotten up who knows how early to put snow chains on my truck. My throat suddenly felt tight. I wasn’t used to being taken care of, and Charlie’s unspoken concern caught me by surprise.
　　I was standing by the back corner of the truck,
　　struggling to fight back the sudden wave of emotion the snow chains had brought on, when I heard an odd sound.
　　It was a high-pitched 11)screech, and it was fast
　　becoming painfully loud. I looked up, startled.
　　I saw several things 12)simultaneously. Nothing
　　was moving in slow motion, the way it does in the
　　movies. Instead the 13)adrenaline rush seemed to make my brain work much faster, and I was able to absorb in clear detail several things at once.
　　Edward Cullen was standing four cars down from me, staring at me in horror. His face stood out from a sea of faces, all frozen in the same mask of shock. But of more
　　immediate importance was the dark blue van that was skidding, tires locked and 14)squealing against the brakes, spinning wildly across the ice of the
　　parking lot. It was going to hit the back corner of my truck, and I was standing between them. I didn’t even have time to close my eyes.
　　Just before I heard the 15)shattering 16)crunch of the van folding around the truck bed, something hit me, hard, but not from the direction I was expecting.
　　My head cracked against the icy 17)blacktop, and I felt something solid and cold pinning me to the ground. I was lying on the pavement behind the tan car I’d parked next to. But I didn’t have a chance to notice anything else, because the van was still
　　coming. It had curled 18)gratingly around the end of the truck and, still spinning and sliding, was about to 19)collide with me again.
　　A low 20)oath made me aware that someone was with me, and the voice was impossible not to
　　recognize. Two long, white hands shot out protectively
　　in front of me, and the van shuddered to a stop a foot from my face, the large hands fitting 21)providentially into a deep 22)dent in the side of the van’s body.
　　Then his hands moved so fast they blurred. One was suddenly gripping under the body of the van, and something was dragging me, swinging my legs around like a rag doll’s, till they hit the tire of the tan car. A 23)groaning metallic 24)thud hurt my ears, and the van settled, glass popping, onto the 25)asphalt � exactly where, a second ago, my legs had been.
　　It was absolutely silent for one long second before
　　the screaming began. In the abrupt 26)bedlam, I could hear more than one person shouting my name. But more clearly than all the yelling, I could hear Edward Cullen’s low, 27)frantic voice in my ear.
　　“Bella? Are you all right?”
　　“I’m fine.” My voice sounded strange. I tried to sit up, and realized he was holding me against the side of his body in an iron grasp.
　　“Be careful,” he warned as I struggled. “I think you hit your head pretty hard.”
　　I became aware of a 28)throbbing ache centered above my left ear.
　　“Ow,” I said, surprised.
　　“That’s what I thought.” His voice, amazingly, sounded like he was 29)suppressing laughter.
　　“How in the…” I 30)trailed off, trying to clear my head, get my bearings. “How did you get over here so fast?”
　　“I was standing right next to you, Bella,” he said, his tone serious again.
　　I turned to sit up, and this time he let me, releasing
　　his hold around my waist and sliding as far from me as he could in the limited space. I looked at his
　　concerned, innocent expression and was
　　31)disoriented again by the force of his gold-colored eyes. What was I asking him?
　　And then they found us, a crowd of people with tears streaming down their faces, shouting at each other, shouting at us.
　　“Don’t move,” someone instructed.
　　“Get Tyler out of the van!” someone else shouted. There was a 32)flurry of activity around us. I tried to get up, but Edward’s cold hand pushed my
　　shoulder down.
　　“Just stay put for now.”
　　“But it’s cold,” I complained. It surprised me when he 33)chuckled under his breath. There was an edge to the sound.
　　“You were over there,” I suddenly remembered, and his chuckle stopped short. “You were by your car.”
　　His expression turned hard. “No, I wasn’t.”
　　“I saw you.” All around us was chaos. I could hear the 34)gruffer voices of adults arriving on the scene. But I 35)obstinately held on to our argument; I was right, and he was going to admit it.
　　“Bella, I was standing with you, and I pulled you out of the way.” He unleashed the full, devastating power of his eyes on me, as if trying to communicate
　　something crucial.
　　“No.” I set my jaw.
　　The gold in his eyes blazed. “Please, Bella.”
　　“Why?” I demanded.
　　“Trust me,” he pleaded, his soft voice
　　overwhelming.
　　I could hear the 36)sirens now. “Will you
　　promise to explain everything to me later?”
　　“Fine,” he 37)snapped, abruptly 38)exasperated.
　　“Fine,” I repeated angrily.
　　
　　我集中十二分注意力才活着走完了那条冰砖似的私人车道。当我费了九牛二虎之力，好不容易到了车跟前时，我差点儿失去重心，幸好我设法紧紧抓住了倒车镜才没有摔倒。显然，今天将是梦魇般的一天。
　　开车去学校的路上，为了分散注意力，以免自己老是担心摔倒以及对爱德
　　华・卡伦的那些不必要的猜测，我竭力去想迈克和埃里克，以及这里的花季男生对我那明显不同的反应。我敢肯定我现在的样子跟在凤凰城时完全一样。也许只是因为我家那边的男生看着我度过了那整个令人难堪的漫长青春期，并仍然在用老眼光看我罢了。也许是因为我初来乍到，而且这里新奇事不多，十年一遇（所以大家觉得比较新奇）。也说不定是大家觉得我笨手笨脚，挺可爱而不是挺可怜，把我看成一个需要保护的小姑娘。无论是出于什么原因，迈克那小狗般的讨好举止和埃里克对他的明显敌意使我很不安。我不知道自己是否更情愿被人忽略。
　　我的卡车似乎毫不畏惧路面那层黑冰。不过，我还是开得很慢，不想开出一条贯通主干道的毁灭之路。
　　到了学校从卡车上下来以后，我搞懂了为什么自己几乎没遇到什么麻烦。一件银色的东西映入我的眼帘，我小心地抓着车身走到后面去检查轮胎，只见上面绑着十字交叉呈菱形的细链条。不知道查理该起多早来给我的卡车上防滑链。我的喉咙一下子紧了。我不习惯被人照顾，查理默默的关心着实让我受宠若惊。
　　我靠着卡车的后角站着，竭力抑制住防滑链引起的那一阵突然的激动，这时，我听见一个奇怪的声音。
　　那是一阵尖锐的急刹车声，很快地，声音就大得让人难受。我抬头一看，惊呆了。
　　我眼前同时发生了好几件事情，没有一件像电影那样慢动作回放。相反，这种（快节奏带来的）肾上腺素激增似乎加速了我的大脑运转，我能够同时清晰地注意到好几件事情的细节。
　　爱德华・卡伦站在距我四辆车远的位置，一脸惊恐地盯着我。在由无数张惊恐的脸组成的汪洋中，他的脸格外醒目。但是更迫在眉睫的是那辆正在滑行的深蓝色客货两用车，它的轮胎锁死了，刹车吱吱地尖叫，在停车场的冰面上疯狂旋转。眼看就要撞上我的卡车的后角，而我正好站在它们之间。我根本来不及闭上眼睛。
　　就在我听到那辆客货两用车噶吱一声撞上我卡车的底盘之前，有什么东西撞了我一下，很猛烈，但不是来自我预想的那个方向。我的头砰的一声磕在冰冷的沥青路面上，感觉有某样冷硬的东西把我压在地上。我躺在一辆棕黄色轿车后面的人行道上，我记得当时把卡车停在它的旁边。但是我没有机会去注意别的东西了，因为那辆客货两用车还在往前冲。它绕过了卡车的车尾，发出刺耳的摩擦声，还在旋转，还在滑动，眼看又要撞上我了。
　　一句低声的咒骂让我意识到有人跟我在一起，那根本不可能辨认不出来。两只长长的白手箭一般地伸到我前面来保护我，客货两用车在距我的脸一英尺的地方颤抖着停住了，说来凑巧，那双大手与客货两用车侧面的一道凹痕正好吻合。
　　他的双手移动得很快，快得都看不清了。一只手突然紧攥在客货两用车的车身下面，有东西像拽布娃娃那样拽我的双脚，直到我的脚抵着那辆棕黄色轿车的车胎为止。一个刺耳的金属声音把我的耳朵都震疼了，然后那辆客货两用车停了下来，玻璃砰砰几声全碎了，落在了沥青路上面―一秒钟前我的双腿所在的位置。
　　死一般地寂静了一会儿之后，突然响起了尖叫声。在这突如其来的喧闹中，我听见不止一人在叫我的名字。但有一个声音比所有叫声都要清晰―我听见爱德华・卡伦用急到几乎疯狂的嗓子哑着问道：
　　“贝拉？你没事吧？”
　　“我没事。”我的声音听起来怪怪的。我试图坐起来，这才意识到他死死地将我搂在他身边。
　　“小心，”我挣扎着坐起来时，他提醒我。“我想你的头撞得很重。”
　　我觉得左耳上方有个地方疼得就像抽筋似的。
　　“哎呦，”我惊讶地叫道。
　　“我没猜错吧。”很惊奇地，他的声音听上去好像正在强忍着笑意。
　　“你怎么能在……”我说到一半，试图理一理思路，清醒一下头脑。“你怎么能这么快跑过来？”
　　“我就站在你旁边呀，贝拉，”他说，语气又严肃起来了。
　　我转身准备坐起来，这一次他顺从我的意思，松开了我的腰，而且挪到了这有限的空间所能允许的最远的地方。我瞅了一眼他那关切而无辜的表情，又被他那双金色眼睛的力量弄得六神无主。我刚才在问他什么来着？
　　接着，他们找到了我们，一群人泪流满面地互相叫喊着，朝着我们喊话。
　　“别动！”有人命令道。
　　“把泰勒从车上弄出来！”另一个人喊道。我们的周围一片慌乱。我试图站起来，可爱德华冰冷的手把我的肩膀按下去了。
　　“暂时待着别动。”
　　“可是很冷，”我抱怨说。他压着嗓子暗笑，这令我十分吃惊。他的声音尖得像刀子似的。
　　“你刚才在那边，”我突然记起来了，他的笑声戛然而止，“在你的小车旁边。”
　　他的表情一下子沉了下来：“不，不是那样的。”
　　“我看见你在。”我们的周围一片嘈杂。我听见现场出现了大人们粗哑的声音。但我还是固执地抓着我们的争论不放；我是对的，他就要承认了。
　　“贝拉，我刚才跟你站在一起，而且把你拉开了。”他将那双眼睛的全部魔力都释放到我身上，好像试图跟我说某件至关重要的事情。
　　“不。”我的下巴往下点了点。
　　他金色的眼睛闪闪发亮：“求你了，贝拉。”
　　“为什么？”我问。
　　“相信我，”他央求着，声音温柔得无以名状。
　　这时我听见救护车的警报声。“那你能保证以后把这一切给我解释清楚吗？”
　　“行，”他厉声说道，突然显得怒不可遏。
　　“行，”我愤怒地重复道。