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1、【国外文学】暮光之城：午夜阳光 Midnight SunChapter 1 First Sight This was the time of day when I wished I were able to sleep.High school.Or was purgatory the right word? If there was any way to atone for my sins, thisought to count toward the tally in some measure. The tedium was not something I grewused to; every
2、 day seemed more impossibly monotonous than the last.I suppose this was my form of sleepif sleep was defined as the inert statebetween active periods.I stared at the cracks running through the plaster in the far corner of the cafeteria,imagining patterns into them that were not there. It was one way
3、 to tune out the voicesthat babbled like the gush of a river inside my head.Several hundred of these voices I ignored out of boredom.When it came to the human mind, Id heard it all before and then some. Today,all thoughts were consumed with the trivial drama of a new addition to the small studentbod
4、y here. It took so little to work them all up. Id seen the new face repeated in thoughtafter thought from every angle. Just an ordinary human girl. The excitement over herarrival was tiresomely predictablelike flashing a shiny object at a child. Half thesheep-like males were already imagining themse
5、lves in love with her, just because shewas something new to look at. I tried harder to tune them out.Only four voices did I block out of courtesy rather than distaste: my family, mytwo brothers and two sisters, who were so used to the lack of privacy in my presence thatthey rarely gave it a thought.
6、 I gave them what privacy I could. I tried not to listen if Icould help it.Try as I may, stillI knew.Rosalie was thinking, as usual, about herself. Shed caught sight of her profile inthe reflection off someones glasses, and she was mulling over her own perfection.Rosalies mind was a shallow pool wit
7、h few surprises. Emmett was fuming over a wrestling match hed lost to Jasper during the night. Itwould take all his limited patience to make it to the end of the school day to orchestrate arematch. I never really felt intrusive hearing Emmetts thoughts, because he neverthought one thing that he woul
8、d not say aloud or put into action. Perhaps I only feltguilty reading the others minds because I knew there were things there that theywouldnt want me to know. If Rosalies mind was a shallow pool, then Emmetts was alake with no shadows, glass clear.And Jasper wassuffering. I suppressed a sigh.Edward
9、. Alice called my name in her head, and had my attention at once.It was just the same as having my name called aloud. I was glad my given namehad fallen out of style latelyit had been annoying; anytime anyone thought of anyEdward, my head would turn automaticallyMy head didnt turn now. Alice and I w
10、ere good at these private conversations.It was rare that anyone caught us. I kept my eyes on the lines in the plaster.How is he holding up? she asked me.I frowned, just a small change in the set of my mouth. Nothing that would tip theothers off. I could easily be frowning out of boredom.Alices menta
11、l tone was alarmed now, and I saw in her mind that she waswatching Jasper in her peripheral vision. Is there any danger? She searched ahead, intothe immediate future, skimming through visions of monotony for the source behind myfrown.I turned my head slowly to the left, as if looking at the bricks o
12、f the wall, sighed,and then to the right, back to the cracks in the ceiling. Only Alice knew I was shakingmy head.She relaxed. Let me know if it gets too bad.I moved only my eyes, up to the ceiling above, and back down.Thanks for doing this.I was glad I couldnt answer her aloud. What would I say? My
13、 pleasure? Itwas hardly that. I didnt enjoy listening to Jaspers struggles. Was it really necessary toexperiment like this? Wouldnt the safer path be to just admit that he might never be able to handle the thirst the way the rest of us could, and not push his limits? Why flirt withdisaster?It had be
14、en two weeks since our last hunting trip. That was not an immenselydifficult time span for the rest of us. A little uncomfortable occasionallyif a humanwalked too close, if the wind blew the wrong way. But humans rarely walked too close.Their instincts told them what their conscious minds would neve
15、r understand: we weredangerous.Jasper was very dangerous right now.At that moment, a small girl paused at the end of the closest table to ours,stopping to talk to a friend. She tossed her short, sandy hair, running her fingers throughit. The heaters blew her scent in our direction. I was used to the
16、 way that scent made mefeelthe dry ache in my throat, the hollow yearn in my stomach, the automatictightening of my muscles, the excess flow of venom in my mouthThis was all quite normal, usually easy to ignore. It was harder just now, with thefeelings stronger, doubled, as I monitored Jaspers react
17、ion. Twin thirsts, rather than justmine.Jasper was letting his imagination get away from him. He was picturing itpicturing himself getting up from his seat next to Alice and going to stand beside the littlegirl. Thinking of leaning down and in, as if he were going to whisper in her ear, andletting h
18、is lips touch the arch of her throat. Imagining how the hot flow of her pulsebeneath the fine skin would feel under his mouthI kicked his chair.He met my gaze for a minute, and then looked down. I could hear shame andrebellion war in his head.“Sorry,” Jasper muttered.I shrugged.“You werent going to
19、do anything,” Alice murmured to him, soothing hischagrin. “I could see that.”I fought back the grimace that would give her lie away. We had to stick together,Alice and I. It wasnt easy, hearing voices or seeing visions of the future. Both freaksamong those who were already freaks. We protected each
20、others secrets. “It helps a little if you think of them as people,” Alice suggested, her high,musical voice too fast for human ears to understand, if any had been close enough tohear. “Her name is Whitney. She has a baby sister she adores. Her mother invited Esmeto that garden party, do you remember
21、?”“I know who she is,” Jasper said curtly. He turned away to stare out one of thesmall windows that were spaced just under the eaves around the long room. His toneended the conversation.He would have to hunt tonight. It was ridiculous to take risks like this, trying totest his strength, to build his
22、 endurance. Jasper should just accept his limitations andwork within them. His former habits were not conducive to our chosen lifestyle; heshouldnt push himself in this way.Alice sighed silently and stood, taking her tray of foodher prop, as it werewith her and leaving him alone. She knew when hed h
23、ad enough of her encouragement.Though Rosalie and Emmett were more flagrant about their relationship, it was Alice andJasper who knew each others every mood as well as their own. As if they could readminds, tooonly just each others.Edward Cullen.Reflex reaction. I turned to the sound of my name bein
24、g called, though it wasntbeing called, just thought.My eyes locked for a small portion of a second with a pair of wide, chocolate-brown human eyes set in a pale, heart-shaped face. I knew the face, though Id neverseen it myself before this moment. It had been foremost in every human head today. Then
25、ew student, Isabella Swan. Daughter of the towns chief of police, brought to live hereby some new custody situation. Bella. Shed corrected everyone whod used her fullnameI looked away, bored. It took me a second to realize that she had not been the oneto think my name.Of course shes already crushing
26、 on the Cullens, I heard the first thoughtcontinue.Now I recognized the voice. Jessica Stanleyit had been a while since shedbothered me with her internal chatter. What a relief it had been when shed gotten over her misplaced infatuation. It used to be nearly impossible to escape her constant,ridicul
27、ous daydreams. Id wished, at the time, that I could explain to her exactly whatwould have happened if my lips, and the teeth behind them, had gotten anywhere nearher. That would have silenced those annoying fantasies. The thought of her reactionalmost made me smile.Fat lot of good it will do her, Je
28、ssica went on. Shes really not even pretty. Idont know why Eric is staring so muchor Mike.She winced mentally on the last name. Her new infatuation, the genericallypopular Mike Newton, was completely oblivious to her. Apparently, he was not asoblivious to the new girl. Like the child with the shiny
29、object again. This put a meanedge to Jessicas thoughts, though she was outwardly cordial to the newcomer as sheexplained to her the commonly held knowledge about my family. The new student musthave asked about us.Everyones looking at me today, too, Jessica thought smugly in an aside. Isnt itlucky Be
30、lla had two classes with meIll bet Mike will want to ask me what shesI tried to block the inane chatter out of my head before the petty and the trivialcould drive me mad.“Jessica Stanley is giving the new Swan girl all the dirty laundry on the Cullenclan,” I murmured to Emmett as a distraction.He ch
31、uckled under his breath. I hope shes making it good, he thought.“Rather unimaginative, actually. Just the barest hint of scandal. Not an ounce ofhorror. Im a little disappointed.”And the new girl? Is she disappointed in the gossip as well?I listened to hear what this new girl, Bella, thought of Jess
32、icas story. What didshe see when she looked at the strange, chalky-skinned family that was universallyavoided?It was sort of my responsibility to know her reaction. I acted as a lookout, forlack of a better word, for my family. To protect us. If anyone ever grew suspicious, Icould give us early warn
33、ing and an easy retreat. It happened occasionallysome humanwith an active imagination would see in us the characters of a book or a movie. Usuallythey got it wrong, but it was better to move on somewhere new than to risk scrutiny. Very, very rarely, someone would guess right. We didnt give them a ch
34、ance to test theirhypothesis. We simply disappeared, to become no more than a frightening memoryI heard nothing, though I listened close beside where Jessicas frivolous internalmonologue continued to gush. It was as if there was no one sitting beside her. Howpeculiar, had the girl moved? That didnt
35、seem likely, as Jessica was still babbling to her.I looked up to check, feeling off-balance. Checking on what my extra hearing could tellmeit wasnt something I ever had to do.Again, my gaze locked on those same wide brown eyes. She was sitting rightwhere she had been before, and looking at us, a nat
36、ural thing to be doing, I supposed, asJessica was still regaling her with the local gossip about the Cullens.Thinking about us, too, would be natural.But I couldnt hear a whisper.Inviting warm red stained her cheeks as she looked down, away from theembarrassing gaffe of getting caught staring at a s
37、tranger. It was good that Jasper wasstill gazing out the window. I didnt like to imagine what that easy pooling of bloodwould do to his control.The emotions had been as clear on her face as if they were spelled out in wordsacross her forehead: surprise, as she unknowingly absorbed the signs of the s
38、ubtledifferences between her kind and mine, curiosity, as she listened to Jessicas tale, andsomething morefascination? It wouldnt be the first time. We were beautiful to them,our intended prey. Then, finally, embarrassment as I caught her staring at me.And yet, though her thoughts had been so clear
39、in her odd eyesodd, because ofthe depth to them; brown eyes often seemed flat in their darknessI could hear nothingbut silence from the place she was sitting. Nothing at all.I felt a moment of unease.This was nothing Id ever encountered before. Was there something wrong withme? I felt exactly the sa
40、me as I always did. Worried, I listened harder.All the voices Id been blocking were suddenly shouting in my head.wonder what music she likesmaybe I could mention that new CD MikeNewton was thinking, two tables awayfixated on Bella Swan. Look at him staring at her. Isnt it enough that he has half the
41、 girls in schoolwaiting for him to Eric Yorkie was thinking sulfurous thoughts, also revolving aroundthe girl.so disgusting. Youd think she was famous or something Even EdwardCullen, staring Lauren Mallory was so jealous that her face, by all rights, should bedark jade in color. And Jessica, flaunti
42、ng her new best friend. What a joke Vitriolcontinued to spew from the girls thoughts.I bet everyone has asked her that. But Id like to talk to her. Ill think of amore original question Ashley Dowling mused.maybe shell be in my Spanish June Richardson hoped.tons left to do tonight! Trig, and the Engl
43、ish test. I hope my mom AngelaWeber, a quiet girl, whose thoughts were unusually kind, was the only one at the tablewho wasnt obsessed with this Bella.I could hear them all, hear every insignificant thing they were thinking as itpassed through their minds. But nothing at all from the new student wit
44、h the deceptivelycommunicative eyes.And, of course, I could hear what the girl said when she spoke to Jessica. I didnthave to read minds to be able to hear her low, clear voice on the far side of the long room.“Which one is the boy with the reddish brown hair?” I heard her ask, sneaking alook at me
45、from the corner of her eye, only to look quickly away when she saw that I wasstill staring.If Id had time to hope that hearing the sound of her voice would help me pinpointthe tone of her thoughts, lost somewhere where I couldnt access them, I was instantlydisappointed. Usually, peoples thoughts cam
46、e to them in a similar pitch as their physicalvoices. But this quiet, shy voice was unfamiliar, not one of the hundreds of thoughtsbouncing around the room, I was sure of that. Entirely new.Oh, good luck, idiot! Jessica thought before answering the girls question.“Thats Edward. Hes gorgeous, of cour
47、se, but dont waste your time. He doesnt date.Apparently none of the girls here are good-looking enough for him.” She sniffed.I turned my head away to hide my smile. Jessica and her classmates had no ideahow lucky they were that none of them particularly appealed to me. Beneath the transient humor, I
48、 felt a strange impulse, one I did not clearlyunderstand. It had something to do with the vicious edge to Jessicas thoughts that thenew girl was unaware of I felt the strangest urge to step in between them, to shield thisBella Swan from the darker workings of Jessicas mind. What an odd thing to feel.Trying to ferret out the motivations behind the impulse, I examined the new girl one moretime.Perhaps it was just some long buried protective