somewhat ridiculous and excessively dramatic in a stupid way to scream "help, help".
2. Questions for Discussion
(1) Why does screaming for help sound absurdly melodramatic at 8 o'clock on a Tuesday evening in December?
---Because December is the Christmas season, Tuesday is a weekday, and 8 o'clock is early in the evening. All this makes people think so.
(2) What doe "the houses were cold" imply?
---It implies that people behind the doors or inside the houses didn't care about others and that they were cold-hearted and refused to lend a hand at a critical moment. But this is what the author thinks. Maybe the people inside the house were making a call to the police or to the neighbors discussing what to do before they opened the doors.
(3) What do you think helped her escape?
---Nothing but good luck. The gunmen were scared away by her screaming.
(4) What do you think that the neighbors came out with baseball bats?
---They seemed ready to fight back the robbers in a group.
(5) Why did one neighbors say the noodles were getting cold?
---They wanted to leave the scene with a decent excuse to avoid being involved in the case.
(四) Lines27--42
1. Language Points
What would guns have been to Jeremy and me? = Even if Jeremy and I had guns with us, they would not have done any good to us.
a) what good is…? / What's the good of…? : What is the use of…?
E.g. What good is money to a person when he is dying?
the police turned out in force = the police arrived o the scene in large numbers.
…we were hopeless when it came to identification. = …we were unable to provide any useful information when asked about how old the criminals might be, whet they looked like, etc.
2. Questions for Discussion
(1) Why was she happy to see them go?
---She knew the neighbors were helpless, and she was disgusted at their empty talk.
(2) How did the policemen react to the event and why?
---They were ill-tempered, because no one was hurt and nothing was taken. Also the two victims could not identify the criminals.
(3) What does identification refer to?
---It refers to such things as how old the attackers were, what they looked like, how they were dressed, how tall they were and the like.
(4) Do you think it normal that they couldn't describe the attackers? Why or why not?
---Yes. Because they were too frightened to pay attention to the attackers and it was dark.
