洗衣房巨虾-环宇时空-休闲英语-轻松英语-洪恩在线

The following are firsthand[1] experiences with the stranger side of life. None of the following extraordinary experiences have been investigated -- they are reproduced here as raw data, to be analyzed by some and enjoyed by others.

Giant Shrimp in the Laundry Room

(Transcription of tape-recorded phone message)

Hi. My name is Virginia Staples and in 1948 I lived in Bremerton, Washington. The apartment where I lived had a gigantically huge basement. There were huge holes in the walls and the apartment house manager used to tell me that it was rumored[2] there was a passage to the water. The huge apartment houses were so close together and they all had basements and they were old buildings.

And on this particular day I had gotten my clothes all hung up but I kept feeling someone was staring at me or looking at me. And it was such a creepy[3] feeling I finally turned around and looked towards the back of the basement and froze. I was so scared I can still feel it. I couldn't move. In one of the huge holes in the basement there stood this thing. [She breaks down here.] Oh, it was horrible! I stand five foot tall and this creature was as tall as I was. It had a bright orange colored body and little spidery thin legs and antennae on its head that kept moving back and forth, and in and out. [Crying now.] That thing started towards me. I backed out of the basement and got up to my apartment and I packed all my things and moved. I was so scared. I moved over to Seattle to my cousin's.

I went to an aquarium to see if I could see anything that looked like what it was, and the only thing that I could find that looked anything like it was this little tiny shrimp. But it just doesn't make sense. I had horrible nightmares for years. I finally got up enough nerve[4] a couple of years ago to go back to revisit Bremerton. But the Navy had grown so much and the apartment house on Denny Street had been torn down. Really nobody would really believe this, but as God is my witness it really happened.

注释：

1． firsthand：
第一手的，直接的。比如：“第一手资料”可以译为firsthand information；“直接知识”可译为firsthand knowledge；“直接体验”可译为firsthand tast。

2． rumour：
这里用作动词。最常用的形式是：It is rumoured that...，比如：It is rumoured that he has escaped. 谣传说他逃走了。

3． creepy：
令人毛骨悚然的。比如：a creepy ghost story 一个令人毛骨悚然的故事。

4． nerve：
胆量。这个词能组成许多有用的词组，比如：他有科学头脑而且很有魄力。可以说成He has a mind for science and a stubborn nerve. 再比如：恢复勇气，恢复镇静。可以说成regain nerves。

下面是有关生命奇异现象的第一手资料。还没有人对它们不寻常的经历进行过研究调查——我们让这些原始资料得以重现的目的，其一是便于有兴趣的朋友进行分析研究；其二是满足其他朋友的探奇心理。

洗衣房巨虾

录音原文:

你好，我叫Virginia Staples。1984年我生活在华盛顿的Bremerton。我住的公寓有一个巨大的地下室。地下室墙上千疮百孔，房东总是告诉我：谣传这儿有通往水域的通道。这些大公寓挨得很紧，而且都有地下室——都是一些年代悠久的建筑。

这是一个特殊的日子：我已经晾完所有衣服，可是似乎一直觉得有谁在盯着我或看着我。这是一种让人毛骨悚然的感觉，最终我还是转过身去，在我的目光扫向地下室里面的那一刹那，我呆住了。至今我仍心有余悸。我根本就不能动。在地下室的一个大洞里，一个怪物就站在那儿。（这时候她突然中断了。）哦，太可怕了！我身高5英尺，这个怪物居然与我一样高。它的身体呈亮黄色，腿细长如蜘蛛，长着触角的脑袋探出来又缩进去。（这时，她哭了起来）它向我扑来。我逃出地下室，冲到楼上自己房间，收拾好所有东西匆匆离开。我害怕极了，于是搬到西雅图表兄家。

我去过水族馆，想看看在那儿是否能找到与那只怪物相似的生物，却发现馆中只有那只弱小的小虾与之相似。但这已经毫无意义。多少年来我总是做噩梦。几年前，当我鼓起勇气重返故地时，却发现由于海军的扩建，Denny街上那所公寓已经拆了。肯定不会有人相信，但是上帝可以为我作证：这件事确实发生过。