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It was Richard Burton’s jewels she treasured most, the wild spontaneity with which he gave them mirroring their explosive, unmanageable, on-again-off-again love. The Krupp came for beating her at ping-pong, the Taylor-Burton because, one night, he had insulted her hands. (He insulted her whole self, too, calling her a “fat little tart”, saying her legs were too short she’d slap him, wrestle him on the ground, then make up, and so on and so on.) As the new rocks arrived during their two-decade Sturm und Drang she would parade them eagerly to friends, and sit at table silently adoring them while, with her free hand, she wolfed down steak-and-kidney pie.

Her amethyst eyes
Jewels were something to hide behind as, chronically shy, she always wished to hide. The glitter at wrist and neck and the cleavage-plunging pearls made “Elizabeth Taylor” less boring to her. The dutiful girl who had given up her childhood to her mother’s pushing in Hollywood, whose baby cheek had been daubed with eye-pencil to accentuate her beauty spot, who had eagerly promised to grow breasts at 12 to please the producer of “National Velvet”, could disappear behind the dazzle. She hid behind other things, too: scorching flights of four-letter words, the brash character of the “broad” or the “dame”, a demanding, regal arrogance, clouds of her own perfume (“Passion” or “White Diamonds”), pills, booze, food. Ordinary Elizabeth would then try to take that character in hand, forcing her to diet and behave.

A. 어휘
spontaneity 자발성, 자연성. mirroring 반사하는, 나타내는.
explosive 폭발적인. on-again-off-again 斷續的(단속적)인, 발작적인.
beat 패배시키다. the Taylor-Burton=the Taylor-Burton 69.42 carat.
insult 모욕하다. tart 매춘부, 방종한 여자, 파이.
make up 화해하다. rocks 다이아몬드.
Sturm und Drang 疾風怒濤(질풍노도) 시대〈18세기말 독일의 낭만주의문학운동〉.
parade 과시하다, 뽐내다. adore 숭배하다.
wolfed down 게걸스럽게 먹다, 집어삼키다. amethyst 紫水晶(자수정).
chronically 만성적으로. glitter 반짝임, 화려함. wrist 팔목.
cleavage 갈라진 틈, 여성 유방사이의 골짜기. plunge 찌르다, 뛰어 들다, 빠뜨리다.
cleavage-plunging pearls 유방사이로 드리워져 있는 진주.
boring 지겨운. daub 칠하다. dazzle 눈부심, 눈부신 빛, 현혹.
scorching 타는 듯한, 아주 심한, 몹시 더운.
flights 날아가는 한 떼, 비행, 솟구침. brash 경솔한, 건방진.
broad (경멸적) 여자, 아가씨, 매춘부. dame 부인, 귀부인.
regal 帝王(제왕)의, 당당한, 위엄 있는. pill 알약. booze 술잔치.
take that character in hand 그 인격을 관리하다.
behave 처신을 바로하다, 얌전히 굴다.