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There was nothing Singer could do.
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Then came the day when Antonapoulos must leave. Singer brought out his own suitcase and very carefully packed the best of their joint possessions. Antonapoulos made himself a lunch to eat during the journey. In the late afternoon they walked arm in arm down the street for the last time together. It was a chilly afternoon in late November, and little huffs of breath showed in the air before them.
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● suitcase：轻便衣箱。joint possessions：（两人）共有的物品。
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● huff=puff：一口一口的气。空气寒冷，吐气成雾。
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Charles Parker was to travel with his cousin, but he stood apart from them at the station. Antonapoulos crowded into the bus and settled himself with elaborate preparations on one of the front seats. Singer watched him from the window and his hands began desperately to talk for the last time with his friend. But Antonapoulos was so busy checking over the various items in his lunch box that for a while he paid no attention. Just before the bus pulled away from the curb he turned to Singer and his smile was very bland and remote—as though they were many miles apart.
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● Singer送他们表兄弟二人到长途汽车站。Charles Parker冷酷如旧，Antonapoulos还是只顾他个人的舒服，只有Singer真感到痛苦。
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● crowded into：挤进去（不一定表示车子里人多，可能只表示门小人肥，走进去很费力）。settled himself：坐下。with elaborate preparations：做些细心的准备工作（如掸掸灰尘、提提裤子、检点一下手里的包裹等）。
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● lunch box：午餐盒，日本人所谓“便当”。items：项目（面包、肉、蔬菜等）。那希腊人坐下来，先检点盒子里的食物，哪管得Singer在窗外对他“说话”？
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● pulled away：开走。curb：人行道的边，汽车常停在它的旁边。
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● remote：遥远的。
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The weeks that followed did not seem real at all. All day Singer worked over his bench in the back of the jewelry store, and then at night he returned to the house alone. More than anything he wanted to sleep. As soon as he came home from work he would lie on his cot and try to doze awhile. Dreams came to him when he lay there half asleep. And in all of them Antonapoulos was there. His hands would jerk nervously, for in his dreams he was talking to his friend and Antonapoulos was watching him.
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● did not seem real：不像是真的，不知道怎么过去的。
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● bench：这里不作“长凳”解，而是“工作台”。Singer是个银器刻花匠，已见前文。
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● More than anything：比什么都要紧。照一般语法书规定，anything后应跟else。
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● jerk：抽动。nervously：神经失常地。在梦中“说话”，手不知不觉动起来了。
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Singer tried to think of the time before he had ever known his friend. He tried to recount to himself certain things that had happened when he was young. But none of these things he tried to remember seemed real.
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Singer recalled that, although he had been deaf since he was an infant, he had not always been a real mute. At the school he was thought very intelligent. He learned the lessons before the rest of the pupils. But he could never become used to speaking with his lips. When he was twenty-two he had come South to this town from Chicago and he met Antonapoulos immediately. Since that time he had never spoken with his mouth again, because with his friend there was no need for this.
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● recount：详细地说一遍。这里有“回忆”的意思。
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● intelligent：聪明，尤其指“读书、学习”方面的聪明。
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● before：指学得比别人快。used在这里是过去分词，不是finite verb。to后接动名词speaking。他不惯用嘴唇说话，还是做手势方便。有了这位哑巴朋友之后，他就用不着再开口了。
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Nothing seemed real except the ten years with Antonapoulos. In his half-dreams he saw his friend very vividly, and when he awakened a great aching loneliness would be in him. Occasionally he would pack up a box for Antonapoulos, but he never received any reply. And so the months passed in this empty, dreaming way.
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● vividly：生动地，活生生地。
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● aching 是动词ache的现在分词，作“疼痛”解。loneliness（寂寞）本来只是一种空泛的感觉，今以aching来形容，则心头烦恼，化为身上疼痛，虽仍未着形象，然而隐者显，虚者实，触之宛然如在矣。
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● pack up a box：包好一盒（礼物送去）。
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● empty：空虚的。dreaming：梦幻似的。此两字应本段开首Nothing seemed real一句。未认识Antonapoulos之前，所经所历，似无一实在之事；今Antonapoulos已走，触目空虚，如梦似幻，生命又复虚度而已。
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