Anita Thursby had been dreading(一直害怕（过去完成进行时）) the gas engineer coming to service her boiler. They would have needed to enter her kitchen, where the window looked into the jungle of swirling, 2-metre-high brambles that made up her back garden, and her shame had spiralled.(他们需要进入她的厨房，那里的窗户正对着由两米高缠绕荆棘组成的后花园，她的羞耻感因此加剧。) “I would have been horrified,” she says. For the same reason, the 54-year-old had stopped inviting friends over to her house and had been living in fear of a complaint from her housing association.
安妮塔·瑟斯比一直害怕煤气工程师来维修她的锅炉。他们需要进入她的厨房，而厨房的窗户正对着那片由两米高、缠绕盘旋的荆棘组成的后花园“丛林”，她的羞耻感因此不断加剧。“我会吓坏的，”她说。出于同样的原因，这位54岁的女士不再邀请朋友来家里，并且一直担心住房协会会提出投诉。
Maintaining the garden had slipped from her grasp(超出掌控，无法应对), becoming a source of constant worry, yet pride(自尊心，骄傲) had stopped her asking for help – and tight finances(财务状况，资金) from paying for it. Family barbecues had become a distant memory, even though she longed to(渴望做某事) have her 83-year-old mother round to sit in the sun; weeks ago, she bought a grill in Tesco(英国大型连锁超市) with little hope of ever using it.
打理花园已经超出了她的能力范围，成为持续担忧的来源，但自尊心阻止她寻求帮助——而拮据的经济状况又让她无力支付。家庭烧烤已成为遥远的记忆，尽管她渴望让83岁的母亲来家里坐在阳光下；几周前，她在乐购买了一个烤架，却几乎不指望能用上它。
Stephen Jalland nods as she explains all this. Sweat, from the exertion(费力，努力) of hacking(猛砍，乱砍) through the weeds clawing(抓挠，缠绕) at Thursby’s bungalow, is running down his face. His arms are crisscrossed(纵横交错的) with old scratches and the ruby-red blood of new ones, smearing(涂抹，弄脏) into sticky blackberry-juice stains.
斯蒂芬·贾兰德一边听她解释这一切，一边点头。汗水从他脸上流下，那是他奋力砍伐缠绕在瑟斯比平房周围的杂草时付出的辛劳。他的手臂上纵横交错着旧伤疤和新划痕渗出的鲜红血液，与黏稠的黑莓汁污渍混在一起。