A lack of narrative drive leaves the reader with piecemeal vignettes.

述缺乏吸引力，读者读的只是一些支离破碎的片段。

Have you read any humour recently?

近来读过什么幽默的东西吗?

Well, fingers crossed and hearts crescented that the Grim Reaper or Azrael do not read the Guardian.

，指和中指交叉（译注：一种祈求运的手势），祈祷那个狞的持镰收割者（译注：指死神）或者死亡天使不要读。

When I read how many people had died, I stopped short and stared in disbelief at the newspaper.

读死了那么多人，我突然停了下来，难以置信地盯着那份纸。