读英文 | The Naked Face 05

The Naked Face is the first novel (1970) written by Sidney Sheldon. It was nominated by the Mystery Writers of America for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel by an American Author.
——Wikipedia

▍Chapter Eleven - Twenty Three

Ⅰ. 词汇、表达：

When it comes to Hollywood, you’re talking to a walking encyclopedia, love. Teri was living with the head of Continental Studios but she was keeping an assistant director on the side. She caught him cheating on her one night and she stabbed him to death. The head of the studio pulled a lot of strings and paid off a lot of people and it was hushed up and called an accident. Part of the arrangement was that she get out of Hollywood and never come back. And she never has.

• on the side secretly
• pulled strings 拉关系；走后门 If you pull strings, you use your influence with other people in order to get something done, often unfairly.
• hush up 隐瞒；遮掩；不让……张扬

Judd kept his voice controlled. “Very well,” he said. “I’ll be right over.” He tried one parting shot. “Are you sure you really know who’s behind this, Moody?”

• parting shot [cn] a remark which you do not make until you are leaving, so that it has a stronger effect 临走时说的尖刻话；最后的狠话

He turned to Angeli. “I think we’ve covered everything.”
“And then some,” Angeli agreed.

• and then some [idiom] (mainly US informal) and even more
  e.g. It looked like 20 000 people and then some at the demonstration.

McGreavy walked into the hospital room and took one look at the unoccupied bed and the empty closet. “Fan out,” he said to the others. “You might still catch him.” He scooped up the phone. The operator connected him with the police switchboard. “This is McGreavy,” he said rapidly. “I want an all-points bulletin put out. Urgent… Dr. Stevens, Judd, Male. Caucasian. Age…”

• Fan out to spread apart or to cause (something) to spread apart
  e.g. The police fanned out across the park in search of the suspect.
  He fanned out his fingers.
• all-points bulletin [n] (abbr. APB) (US) a radio message sent to every officer of a police force, giving details of people who are suspected of a crime, of stolen vehicles, etc. 全面通缉通告（警方无线电联络信息，通告嫌犯特征、失窃详情等）

He had phoned Angeli and invited him to come and get him! Angeli, the Judas goat who had led him here to the slaughter.

• Judas goat a goat used to lead sheep to slaughter.

“I’ve been reading up on analysis, Doctor. The patient talks about everything that’s on his mind.”

• read up on 熟知；专攻；对……了如指掌 If you read up on a subject, you read a lot about it so that you become informed about it.
  e.g. I've read up on the dangers of all these drugs. 我对所有这些药物的危险性了如指掌。

It had begun a few months ago, when she had gone to a play in Manhattan and had come home unexpectedly early because the star was drunk and the curtain had been rung down in the middle of the second act.

• ring down the curtain To end a performance, an event, or an action. 结束，结束一场演出，一个事件或一次行动

Ⅱ. 段落摘录：

▏He studied her, filling himself with her beauty, trying to find some imperfection, some reason for him to tell himself that she would be wrong for him, that he would one day find someone else better suited to him. The fox and the grapes. Freud was not the father of psychiatry. Aesop was.

▏He jerked away in panic, feeling the short hairs on his neck rise. He became aware of the strong smell of blood and death surrounding him. There was an evil in the darkness around him, waiting to close in on him. His scalp tingled with fear and his heart was beating so rapidly that it was difficult to breathe. With trembling fingers he fumbled for a book of matches in his overcoat, found one, and scraped a match against the cover.

▏ “We all wear masks, Angeli. From the time we’re past infancy, we’re taught to conceal our real feelings, to cover up our hatreds and fears.” There was authority in his voice. “But under stress, Don Vinton is going to drop his mask and show his naked face.”

▏The two men moved soundlessly toward Judd’s apartment and took positions on either side of the door. The larger of the men, Rocky, softly tried the door. It was locked. He took out a celluloid card and carefully inserted it over the lock. He nodded to his brother, and both men took out revolvers with silencers on them. Rocky slid the celluloid card against the lock and pushed the unresisting door open, slowly. They walked into the living room, guns held out in front of them. They were confronted by three closed doors. There was no sign of Judd. The smaller brother, Nick, tried the first door. It was locked. He smiled at his brother, put the muzzle of his gun against the lock, and pulled the trigger. The door noiselessly swung open into a bedroom. The two men moved inside, guns sweeping the room.

— END —