暮色（節選）

去年“哈利·波特”系列的最后一本書面市時哈迷當然瘋狂了一把，可是那之后的空虛似乎無法填補。幸好號稱“繼《哈利·波特》后最受歐美青少年歡迎的暢銷小說”—“暮光之城”系列出現了！美國女作家斯蒂芬妮·梅爾筆下扣人心弦的“暮光之城”系列（The Twilight Saga）講述了中學生貝拉與青春帥氣的吸血鬼愛德華之間的浪漫愛情故事。本期“美文共享”特別為大家帶來該系列的第一本—《暮色》的節選。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著走完了那條冰磚似的私人車道。當我費了九牛二虎之力，好不容易到了車跟前時，我差點兒失去重心，幸好我設法緊緊抓住了倒車鏡才沒有摔倒。顯然，今天將是夢魘般的一天。

開車去學校的路上，為了分散注意力，以免自己老是擔心摔倒以及對愛德

華·卡倫的那些不必要的猜測，我竭力去想邁克和埃里克，以及這里的花季男生對我那明顯不同的反應。我敢肯定我現在的樣子跟在鳳凰城時完全一樣。也許只是因為我家那邊的男生看著我度過了那整個令人難堪的漫長青春期，并仍然在用老眼光看我罷了。也許是因為我初來乍到，而且這里新奇事不多，十年一遇（所以大家覺得比較新奇）。也說不定是大家覺得我笨手笨腳，挺可愛而不是挺可憐，把我看成一個需要保護的小姑娘。無論是出于什么原因，邁克那小狗般的討好舉止和埃里克對他的明顯敵意使我很不安。我不知道自己是否更情愿被人忽略。

我的卡車似乎毫不畏懼路面那層黑冰。……