贫民窟的百万富翁

今日关键语导读 Today’s Key Points

《贫民窟的百万富翁》是维卡斯·斯瓦卢的长篇处女小说，该小说讲述了十八岁的酒吧服务员罗摩，生活在孟买的贫民窟里。从未上过学甚至不读报的他凭借在生活中接触到的人和事，在一个名为“谁将赢得十个亿”的电视知识问答竞赛中，奇迹般地连续答对了十二道问题，一举赢得最高累积奖金——十亿卢比的故事，同时也揭示了印度各个层面的人物与生活。

障碍词先听为快 Words and Expressions

retrospect [ˈretrəuspekt]　n. 回顾，追溯

innocence [ˈinəsns]　n. 清白，无罪；天真无邪

galvanize [ˈɡælvənaiz]　vt. 镀锌；通电；刺激

bleary [ˈbliəri]　adj. 朦胧的；眼睛模糊的

trite [trait]　adj. 陈腐的；平庸的；老一套的

doddery [ˈdɔdəri]　adj. 蹒跚的；衰老的（等于doddered；doddering）

bartender [ˈbɑːtendə(r)]　n. 酒保，酒吧间销售酒精饮料的人；酒吧侍者

grouchy [ˈɡrautʃi]　adj. 不高兴的，不满的；不平的

bastard [ˈbæstəd]　n. 私生子

rabid [ˈræbid]　adj. 激烈的；狂暴的；偏激的；患狂犬病的

好英文娓娓动听 Beautiful stories

In retrospect, perhaps I should have kicked and screamed.Protested my innocence, raised a stink, galvanized the neighbours.Not that it would have helped. Even if I had succeeded in waking some of the residents, they would not have raised a finger to defend me. With bleary eyes they would have watched the spectacle, made some trite remark like ‘There goes another one,’yawned, and promptly gone back to sleep. My departure from Asia’s biggest slum would make no difference to their lives. There would be the same queue for water in the morning, the same daily struggle to make it to the seven-thirty local in time.

They wouldn’t even bother to find out the reason for my arrest. Come to think of it, when the two constables barged into my hut, even I didn’t. When your whole existence is ‘illegal’, when you live on the brink of penury (poverty) in an urban wasteland where you jostle for every inch of space and have to queue even for a shit,arrest has a certain inevitability about it. You are conditioned to believe that one day there will be a warrant with your name on it,that eventually a jeep with a flashing red light will come for you.

There are those who will say that I brought this upon myself.By dabbling in that quiz show, they will wag a finger at me and remind me of what the elders in Dharavi say about never crossing the dividing line that separates the rich from the poor. After all,what business did a penniless waiter have to be participating in a brain quiz? The brain is not an organ we are authorized to use. We are supposed to use only our hands and legs.

If only they could see me answer those questions. After my performance they would have looked upon me with new respect.It’s a pity the show has yet to be telecast. But word seeped out that I had won something. Like a lottery. When the other waiters heard the news, they decided to have a big party for me in the restaurant.We sang and danced and drank late into the night. For the first time we did not eat Ramzi’s stale food for dinner. We ordered chicken biryani and seekh kebabs from the five-star hotel in Marine Drive. The doddery (mentally or physically infirm due to old age)bartender offered me his daughter in marriage. Even the grouchy manager smiled indulgently at me and finally gave me my back wages. He didn’t call me a worthless bastard that night. Or a rabid dog.

Now Godbole calls me that, and worse. I sit cross-legged in a ten-by-six-foot cell with a rusty metal door and a small square window with a grille, through which a shaft of dusty sunlight streams into the room. The lock-up is hot and humid. Flies buzz around the mushy remains of an over-ripe mango lying squished on the stone floor. A sad-looking cockroach lumbers up to my leg. I am beginning to feel hungry. My stomach growls.

长难句解析

With bleary eyes they would have watched the spectacle,made some trite remark like ‘There goes another one,’yawned, and promptly gone back to sleep.

他们只会用朦胧的双眼静观其变，作出诸如“又是一个”的评论，然后打着哈欠继续回去睡觉。

with 引导的让步状语从句。

When your whole existence is ‘illegal’, when you live on the brink of penury (poverty) in an urban wasteland where you jostle for every inch of space and have to queue even for a shit, arrest has a certain inevitability about it.

当你的存在完全是“不合法”的，当你生活在西边城市贫穷的边缘，为了一英寸的地方而推挤甚至为了连大便都得排队时，被逮捕就成了一件必然的事。

when引导时间状语从句；where引导地点状语从句；inevitability 表示不可避免性。

You are conditioned to believe that one day there will be a warrant with your name on it, that eventually a jeep with a flashing red light will come for you.

你都已经习惯性地去相信，总有一天会出现一张写有你名字的逮捕令，一辆闪烁着红灯的吉普会朝你开来。

with your name on it 作warrant的补语。

By dabbling in that quiz show, they will wag a finger at me and remind me of what the elders in Dharavi say about never crossing the dividing line that separates the rich fromthe poor.

涉足竞赛节目，他们会对我指指点点让我想起在达拉维贫民窟里的长老说过，永远不要跨过贫富之间的界限。

what 引导的从句做宾语，that引导的定语从句部分修饰line。

I sit cross-legged in a ten-by-six-foot cell with a rusty metal door and a small square window with a grille, through which a shaft of dusty sunlight streams into the room.

我双腿盘着坐在一个有着破旧铁门大概10×6英尺大小的小隔间里，阳光穿过一个有着栏杆的方形小窗户照进来。

with 引导的成分做cell的补语，which 引导的从句修饰window。