Introduction：Sam is a teenager who works in A&P，a chain supermarket。One day，three girls in nothing but bathing suits walked in。The setting of the story is a small town。It is not common for people to walk into a shop in bathing suits。
1.In walks these three girls in nothing but bathing suits。I’m in the third check-out slot，with my back to the door，so I don’t see them until they’re over by the bread。The one that caught my eye first was the one in the plaid green two-piece。She was a chunky kid，with a good tan and a sweet broad soft-looking can with those two crescents of white just under it，where the sunnever seems to hit，at the top of the backs of her legs。I stood there with my hand on a box ofHiHo crackers trying to remember if I rang it up or not。I ringit up again andthe customer starts giving me hell。She’s one of these cash-register-watchers，a witch about fifty with rouge on her cheekbonesand no eyebrows，and I know it made her day to trip me up。She’d been watching cash registers forty years and probably never seen a mistake before。
評注：小說從山姆的視角進行敘述，為了符合他不諳世事的青少年身份，作者故意使用了口語化的詞彙和不規則的語法。這樣的處理既切合人物的身份和教育水平，從另一側麵又體現出青少年的叛逆和對成人世界規則的藐視。例如第一句話使用了倒裝的語序，與正常的three girls walk in 相比，倒裝且語法不規則的語序符合山姆的身份。同時，從另一方麵講，倒裝語序更貼近山姆的觀察視角。將three girls移到句末，更能體現出三個女孩從無到有出現在山姆視線裏的過程。1-5段作者通過山姆的視角對三位少女進行了詳細地描寫，和小鎮上的其他人產生鮮明的對比。
plaid：n。格子花紋
chunky：adj。結實的
tan：n。被太陽曬得棕褐色膚色
crescent：n。新月形
ring……up：把錢計入現金收納機
give somebody hell：（非正式）狠狠地責罵某人
rouge：n。胭脂，腮紅
cheekbone：n。顴骨
trip somebody up：讓某人犯錯，找某人的碴
2.By the time I got her feathers smoothed and her goodies into a bag—shegives me a little snort in passing，if she’d been born at the right time they would have burned her over in Salem—by the time I get her on herway the girlshad circled around the bread and were coming back，without a pushcart，back my way along the counters，in the aisle between the check-outs and the special bins。They didn’t even have shoes on。There was this chunky one，withthe two-piece—it was bright green and the seams on the bra were still sharp and her belly wasstill pretty pale so I guessed she just got it（the suit）—there was this one，with one of those chubby berry-faces，the lips all bunched together under her nose，this one，and a tallone，with black hair that hadn’t quite frizzed right，and one of these sunburns right across under the eyes，and a chin that was too long—you know，the kind of girl other girls think is very“striking”and“attractive”but never quite makes it，as they very well know，which is why they like her so much—and then the third one，that wasn’t quite so tall。She was the queen。She kind of led them，the other two peeking around and making their shoulders round。She didn’t look around，not this queen，she just walked straight onslowly，on these long white prima donna legs。
She came down a little hard on herheels，as if she didn’t walk in her bare feet that much，putting down her heelsand then letting the weight move along to her toes as if she was testing the floor with every step，putting a little deliberate extra action into it。You neverknow for sure how girls’minds work（do you really think it’s a mind in thereor just a little buzz like a bee in a glass jar？）but you got theidea she had talked the other two into coming in here with her，and now she was showing them how to do it，walk slow and hold yourself straight。
get her feathers smoothed：英文裏有一個習慣說法叫ruffle one’s feather，意思是惹惱某人，這裏get one’s feather smoothed意思就是把某人哄好
goody：n。（非正式）好吃的東西
snort：n。哼聲
Salem：薩勒姆是馬薩諸塞州的一個小村莊，深受清教影響。1692年村莊裏一群年輕女孩有怪異舉動，村民由此認為她們是被巫術控製，隨即開展大規模的所謂“驅巫”行動。多名無辜婦女被指認為女巫，從而被殘忍的燒死。這就是著名的“薩勒姆驅巫案”。文中山姆因為中年婦女對他發難不滿，故而在心中咒罵她是薩勒姆的女巫。
seam：n。縫
chubby：adj。圓圓胖胖的
bunch：v。使打褶
frizz：v。使頭發卷曲
prima donna：歌劇團的首席女歌手
buzz：n。嗡嗡聲
3.She had on a kind of dirty-pink—beige maybe，I don’t know—bathing suit with a little nubble all over it and，what got me，the straps were down。Theywere off her shoulders looped loose around the cool tops of herarms，and I guess as a result the suit had slipped a little on her，so all around the top of the cloth there was this shining rim。If it hadn’t been there you wouldn’t have known there could have been anything whiter than those shoulders。With the straps pushed off，there was nothing between the top of the suit and the top of her head except just her，this clean bare plane of the top of her chest down from the shoulder bones like a dented sheet of metal tilted in the light。I mean，it was more than pretty。
4.She had sort of oaky hair that the sun and salt had bleached，done up in abun that was unravelling，and a kind of prim face。Walking into the A&P withyour straps down，I suppose it’s the only kind of face you can have。She held her head so high her neck，coming up out of those white shoulders，looked kind ofstretched，but I didn’t mind。The longer her neck was，the more of her there was。
5.She must have felt in the corner of her eye me and over my shoulder Stokesie in the second slot watching，but she didn’t tip。Not this queen。She kept hereyes moving across the racks，and stopped，and turned so slow itmade my stomachrub the inside of my apron，and buzzed to the other two，who kind of huddled against her for relief，and they all three of them went up the cat-and-dog-food，breakfast，cereal，macaroni，rice，raisins，seasonings，spreads，spaghetti，softdrinks，rackers，and，cookies aisle。From the third slot I look straight up thisaisle to the meat counter，and I watched them all the way。The fat one with the tan sort of fumbled with the cookies，but on second thought she put the packages back。The sheep pushing their carts down the aisle—the girls were walking against theusual traffic（not that we have one-way signs or anything）—were pretty hilarious。You could see them，when Queenie’s white shoulders dawned on them，kind ofjerk，or hop，or hiccup，but their eyes snappedback to their own baskets and on they pushed。I bet you could set off dynamite in an A&P and the people would by and large keep reaching and checking oatmeal off their lists and muttering“Let me see，there was a third thing，began with A，asparagus，no，ah，yes，applesauce！”or whatever it is they do mutter。Butthere was no doubt，this jiggledthem。A few house-slaves in pin curlers even looked around after pushing their carts past to make sure what they had seen was correct。