Catching Fire - Chapter 1 (3)

Fiszkoteka
By this time Gale will have clocked in at the mines, taken the stomach-churning
elevator ride into the depths of the earth, and be pounding away at a coal seam.
I know what it's like down there. Every year in school, as part of our training, my
class had to tour the mines. When I was little, it was just unpleasant. The
claustrophobic tunnels, foul air, suffocating darkness on all sides. But after my
father and several other miners were killed in an explosion, I could barely force
myself onto the elevator. The annual trip became an enormous source of
anxiety. Twice I made myself so sick in anticipation of it that my mother kept me
home because she thought I had contracted the flu.
I think of Gale, who is only really alive in the woods, with its fresh air and
sunlight and clean, flowing water. I don't know how he stands it. Well ... yes, I
do. He stands it because it's the way to feed his mother and two younger
brothers and sister. And here I am with buckets of money, far more than enough
to feed both our families now, and he won't take a single coin. It's even hard for
him to let me bring in meat, although he'd surely have kept my mother and Prim
supplied if I'd been killed in the Games. I tell him he's doing me a favor, that it
drives me nuts to sit around all day. Even so, I never drop off the game while
he's at home. Which is easy since he works twelve hours a day.


The only time I really get to see Gale now is on Sundays, when we meet up in
the woods to hunt together. It's still the best day of the week, but it's not like it
used to be before, when we could tell each other anything. The Games have
spoiled even that. I keep hoping that as time passes we'll regain the ease
between us, but part of me knows it's futile. There's no going back.


do tej pory - by this time
rejestrować czas przyjścia do pracy - clock in
kopalnia - mine
powodujący mdłości - stomach-churning
wybrać się na wycieczke, zwiedzać jedno miejsce - tour
nieprzyjemny - unpleasant
klaustrofobiczny - claustrophobic
zanieczyszczone powietrze - foul air
duszący - suffocating
ledwie, z trudem - barely
olbrzymi - enormous
niepokój - anxiety
w oczekiwaniu na - in anticipation of
Zaraziłam się grypą. - I have contracted the flu.
przepływająca woda - flowing water
kupa kasy - buckets of money
dużo bardziej - far more
moneta - coin
Jest to dla niego nawet trudniejsze - It's even hard for him.
przynieść - bring in
na pewno - surely
dostarczony - supplied
doprowadza do wariactwa - It drives me nuts
siedzieć beczynnie - sit around
nawet pomimo tego - even so
podrzucić(np. samochodem) - drop off
spotkać się z kimś - meet up with sb
zepsuć - spoil
nawet to - even that
z biegiem czasu - as time passes
odzyskać - regain
swoboda, łatwość - ease
daremny - futile
Nie ma powrotu do przeszłości. - There's no going back.

Catching Fire - Chapter 1 (2)

If it were up to me, I would try to forget the Hunger Games entirely. Never speak
of them. Pretend they were nothing but a bad dream. But the Victory Tour
makes that impossible. Strategically placed almost midway between the annual
Games, it is the Capitol's way of keeping the horror fresh and immediate. Not
only are we in the districts forced to remember the iron grip of the Capitol's
power each year, we are forced to celebrate it. And this year, I am one of the
stars of the show. I will have to travel from district to district, to stand before the
cheering crowds who secretly loathe me, to look down into the faces of the
families whose children I have killed...

The sun persists in rising, so I make myself stand. All my joints complain and
my left leg has been asleep for so long that it takes several minutes of pacing to
bring the feeling back into it. I've been in the woods three hours, but as I've
made no real attempt at hunting, I have nothing to show for it. It doesn't matter
for my mother and little sister, Prim, anymore. They can afford to buy butcher
meat in town, although none of us likes it any better than fresh game. But my
best friend, Gale Hawthorne, and his family will be depending on today's haul
and I can't let them down. I start the hour-and-a-half trek it will take to cover our
snare line. Back when we were in school, we had time in the afternoons to
check the line and hunt and gather and still get back to trade in town. But now
that Gale has gone to work in the coal mines — and I have nothing to do all
day—I've taken over the job.

zupełnie - entirely
udawać - pretend
niemożliwy - impossible
strategicznie - strategically
prawie - almost
w połowie drogi - midway
pomiędzy - between
coroczne - annual
utrzymywać horror - keeping the horror
bezpośredni, natychmiastowy - immediate
Jestem zmuszana do. - I am forced to
rządy żelaznej ręki - iron grip
wiwatujący tłum - cheering crowds
w tajemnicy - secretly
nienawidzić - loathe
spoglądać z góry na - look down into
Słońce wschodzi. - The sun persist in rising.
stawy - joints
ścierpnięty - asleep
wrócić do czegoś - get back into
próbować - attempt
Nic z tego nie mam. - I have nothing to show for it.
Nikt z nas - None of us.
dziczyzna - game
łup - haul
Nie mogę ich zawieść. - I can't let them down.
półgodzinny - hour_and_a_half
obchód - trek
zbieractwo - gather
powrót - get back
handel - trade
wydobycie węgla - coal mines
Przejęłam obowiązki - I have taken over the job.

Catching Fire - Chapter 1 (1)

I clasp the flask between my hands even though the warmth from the tea has
long since leached into the frozen air. My muscles are clenched tight against
the cold. If a pack of wild dogs were to appear at this moment, the odds of
scaling a tree before they attacked are not in my favor. I should get up, move
around, and work the stiffness from my limbs. But instead I sit, as motionless as
the rock beneath me, while the dawn begins to lighten the woods. I can't fight
the sun. I can only watch helplessly as it drags me into a day that I've been
dreading for months.
By noon they will all be at my new house in the Victor's Village. The reporters,
the camera crews, even Effie Trinket, my old escort, will have made their way to
District 12 from the Capitol. I wonder if Effie will still be wearing that silly pink
wig, or if she'll be sporting some other unnatural color especially for the Victory
Tour. There will be others waiting, too. A staff to cater to my every need on the
long train trip. A prep team to beautify me for public appearances. My stylist and
friend, Cinna, who designed the gorgeous outfits that first made the audience
take notice of me in the Hunger Games.

ściskać - clasp
termos - flask
pomimo że - even though
ciepło - warmth
od dawna - long since
uchodzić(np. do powietrza) - leach into
ciasno zaciśnięte - clenched tight
przeciwko - against
pojawić się - appear
szanse, prawdopodobieństwo - the odds
wspinać się na drzewo - scaling a tree
wstać - get up
przenieść się - move around
sztywność - stiffness
kończyny - limbs
zamiast - instead
nieruchomo - motionless
kamień - rock
pode mną - beneath me
świt - dawn
rozjaśniać - lighten
świt zaczął rozjaśniać - The dawn begins to lighten
bezsilnie - helplessly
wciągać kogoś w coś - drag sb into
Dzień, którego wyczekiwałam od miesięcy - Day that I have been dreading for months.
około południa - by noon
ekipa telewizyjna - camera crews
osoba towarzysząca - escort
Zastanawiam się czy - I wonder if
głupi - silly
peruka - wig
obnosić się, wstawiać na pokaz - sporting
nienaturalny - unnnatural
sztuczny - unnatural
szczególnie - especially
personel - staff
zaspokajać każdą potrzebe - cater to every need
zespół przygotowujący - prep team
upiększać - beautify
publiczne wystąpienie - public appearances
widownia - audience
zauważyć coś - take notice of