少年派的奇幻漂流 Chapter 36

Chapter 36,The cities are large and memorably ¹ crowded in India, but when you leave them you travel through vast stretches of country where hardly a soul is to be seen. I remember wondering where 950 million Indians could be hiding.,I could say the same of his house.,I'm a little early. I've just set foot on the cement steps of the front porch when a teenager bursts out the front door. He's wearing a baseball uniform and carrying baseball equipment, and he's in a hurry. When he sees me he stops dead in his tracks, startled. He turns around and hollers into the house, "Dad! The writer's here." To me he says, "Hi," and rushes off.,His father comes to the front door. "Hello," he says.,"That was your son?" I ask, incredulous.,I'm in the entrance hall. "I didn't know you had a son," I say. There's a barking. A small mongrel mutt, black and brown, races up to me, panting and sniffing ². He jumps up against my legs. "Or a dog," I add.,"He's friendly. Tata, down!",Tata ignores him. I hear "Hello." Only this greeting is not short and forceful like Nick's. It's a long, nasal and softly whining ³ Hellooooooooo, with the ooooooooo reaching for me like a tap on the shoulder or a gentle tug ⁴ at my pants.,I turn. Leaning against the sofa in the living room, looking up at me bashfully, is a little brown girl, pretty in pink, very much at home. She's holding an orange cat in her arms. Two front legs sticking straight up and a deeply sunk head are all that is visible of it above her crossed arms. The rest of the cat is hanging all the way down to the floor. The animal seems quite relaxed about being stretched on the rack in this manner.,"And this is your daughter," I say.,Horowitz could play Chopin memorably. 霍洛维茨可以把肖邦的作品演奏得出神入化 。 来自互联网,We all had colds and couldn't stop sniffing and sneezing. 我们都感冒了 ，一个劲地抽鼻子，打喷嚏。