August 2002：Night Meeting

August 2002：Night Meeting，是作家Ray Bradbury所作的科幻小说。

原文
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https://www.sno.wednet.edu/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=3104&dataid=15876&FileName=AP%20Literature%20Part%204.pdf

## Vocabulary

* prickle：( of skin, eyes, etc. 皮肤、眼睛等 ) to sting or feel strange and unpleasant because you are frightened, angry, excited, etc. 有刺痛感

例句：Her eyes prickled with tears. 泪水刺疼了她的眼睛。

* indistinct：that cannot be seen, heard or remembered clearly 模糊不清的；不清楚的

例句：The lettering is fuzzy and indistinct. 书写的文字模糊难认。

* wink：to shine with an unsteady light; to flash on and off 闪烁；明灭

例句：We could see the lights of the ship winking in the distance. 我们看见船在远方忽明忽暗地闪着灯光。

* sparse：only present in small amounts or numbers and often spread over a large area 稀少的；稀疏的；零落的

例句：Vegetation becomes sparse higher up the mountains. 山上越高的地方植物越稀少。

* dwindle：~ (away) (to sth) to become gradually less or smaller （逐渐）减少，变小，缩小

例句： Support for the party has dwindled away to nothing. 支持这个党派的人渐渐化为乌有。

* scowl：~ (at sb/sth)to look at sb/sth in an angry or annoyed way 怒视（某人或某物）

例句：He scowled, and slammed the door behind him. 他怒气冲冲，摔门而去。

* bewildered：If you are bewildered, you are very confused and cannot understand something or decide what you should do. 不知所措的

例句：Some shoppers looked bewildered by the sheer variety of goods for sale. 一些顾客看上去对种类十分繁多的销售货品感到不知所措了。

* recoil：~ (from sb/sth)~ (at sth)to move your body quickly away from sb/sth because you find them or it frightening or unpleasant 退缩；畏缩

例句：She recoiled from his touch. 她躲开他的触摸。

* scintilla：~ (of sth) a very small amount of sth 一星半点；毫厘

例句：There is not a scintilla of truth in what she says. 她的话没有半句可信。

* phosphorescent：producing a faint light in the dark （在黑暗中）发微光的，发荧光的

例句：This paper reviews progress in study of long-lasting phosphorescent glass.

* membrane：a thin layer of material used to prevent air, liquid, etc. from entering a particular part of sth （可起防水、防风等作用的）膜状物

例句：These are substances which specifically latch onto the protein on the cell membrane.

* gelatinous：thick and sticky, like a jelly 明胶的；胶状的

例句：Pour a cup of the gelatinous mixture into the blender. 往搅拌器里倒入一杯胶状混合物。

* flicker：( of a light or a flame 灯光或火焰 ) to keep going on and off as it shines or burns 闪烁；闪现；忽隐忽现；摇曳

例句：The lights flickered and went out. 灯光闪了闪就熄了。

* dagger：a short pointed knife that is used as a weapon 匕首；短剑

例句：He drew his dagger and turned to face his pursuers. 他拔出匕首并且转过身去面对追他的人。

* icicle：a pointed piece of ice that is formed when water freezes as it falls down from sth such as a roof（屋檐等处滴水形成的）冰锥，冰柱

例句："Madam came in," she said, "as chill as an icicle, and as unattainable as a princess."

* intact：complete and not damaged 完好无损；完整

例句：Most of the house **remains intact** even after two hundred years. 虽然过了两百年，这房子的大部分还保持完好。

* board foot：a unit of board measure: the cubic content of a piece of wood one foot square and one inch thick 板英尺

例句：Now a choice Brazilian Set for one guitar can command a hundred dollars or more: hardly a single board foot in volume.

* lumber：Lumber consists of trees and large pieces of wood that have been roughly cut up. 木材

例句：It was made of soft lumber, spruce by the look of it. 它是软木做的，看样子是云杉。

* barn dance：A **barn dance** is any kind of dance involving traditional or folk music with traditional dancing, occasionally held in a barn, but, these days, much more likely to be in any suitable building.
* disquiet：feelings of worry and unhappiness about sth 不安；忧虑；烦恼

例句：There is considerable public disquiet about the safety of the new trains. 公众对新型列车的安全深感忧虑。

* confiding：showing trust; showing that you want to tell sb a secret 信任的；推心置腹的

例句：She loved to sit there on the mountain-side with the confiding little goat by her.

* figment：If you say that something is a figment of someone's imagination, you mean that it does not really exist and that they are just imagining it. 凭空想象的事物

例句： The attack wasn't just a figment of my imagination. 这种攻击不仅仅是我的臆想。

* tumble：~ (down)to fall suddenly and in a dramatic way 倒塌；坍塌

例句：The scaffolding came tumbling down. 脚手架突然倒塌。

* Virginia reel：The **Virginia reel** is a folk dance that dates from the 17th century. Though the reel may have its origins in Scottish country dance and the Highland reel, and perhaps have an even earlier origin from an Irish dance called the Rinnce Fada, it is generally considered to be an English country dance. The dance was most popular in America from 1830–1890.