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Lesson twenty-five ;
Words and Expressions ;
aid/eid/n.援助,幫助 arrest/'rest/ vt.逮捕,拘留 ;
bar/ba:/ n.(鐵,木等)條,桿,棒 bone/bun/n.骨 ;
cell/sel/n. 小房間,單人牢房 ;
champagne /'tm'pein/ n.香檳酒 ;
clothe/klu/ vt.為..提供衣服 commit/k'mit/ vt.犯(錯(cuò)誤,罪行) ;
content/kn'tent/ adj.滿足的,滿意的 crime/kraim/ n.罪行,罪 ;
criminal/'kriminl/ n.罪犯,犯人 decent/'di:snt/ adj.體面的,像樣的 ;
defend/di'fend/ vt.為...辯護(hù) diner/'dain/ 吃飯的(客)人,就餐者 ;
donate/du'neit/ vt.捐贈(zèng),贈(zèng)送 drift/drift/ vi.漂泊,游蕩 ;
entree/'ntrei/ n.[英]兩道正菜間 的小菜,[美]主菜 ;
feed/fi:d/ vt.喂(養(yǎng)) fed/fed/ (過(guò)去分詞,過(guò)去式) ;
fried/fraid/ adj.油煎的,油炸的 grand/grnd/ adj.豪華的,華麗的 ;
hunger/'hg/ n.饑餓的 illegal/i'li:gl/ adj.不合法的,非法的 ;
island/'ailnd/ n.島嶼,島 jail/deil/n.[美]監(jiān)獄 [英] ;
gaol/deil/ lawyer/'l:j/ n.律師 ;
legal/'li:gl/ adj.法律(上)的;合法的 ;
lunchtime/'lnttaim/ n.午餐時(shí)間 maddening/'mdni/ n.使人發(fā)瘋,使人惱火的 ;
midtown/'midtaun/ n.(使城市的)商業(yè)區(qū)與 住區(qū)之間的地區(qū) ;
napkin/'npkin/ n.餐巾 offender/'fend/ n.冒犯著,罪犯 ;
order/':d/ n.秩序 vt.訂購(gòu) petty/'peti/ adj.微小的,次要的 ;
plead/pli:d/ vt.辯護(hù),申明 plead guilty服罪 ;
pocket/'pkit/ n.衣袋 pork/'p:k/n.豬肉 ;
prison/'prizn/ n.監(jiān)獄 ;
prosecutor /'prsikju:t/ n.原告,起訴人 ;
punish/'pni/ 懲罰 ;
punishment /'pnimnt/ n.懲罰,刑罰 ;
quit/kwit/ vt.放棄 (思想,行動(dòng),職業(yè))等 ;
reduce/ri'dju:s/ vt.縮減 refuge/'refju:d/ n.避難 ;
repeat/ri'pi:t/ n.重復(fù) screen/skri:n/ n.隔板;(粗野)篩子 ;
seat/si:t/ vt.使就座, 幫助找到座位 ;
seldom/'seldm/ adv.很少,不常,難得 sentence/'sentns/ n.判決,判刑 ;
serial/'siril/ adj.連續(xù)的 slip/slip/vi.滑動(dòng) slip on匆忙地穿上 ;
society/s'saiti/ n.社會(huì) steal/sti:l/ vt.偷,竊取 ;
stole/stul/(過(guò)去式) stolen/'stuln/ (過(guò)去分詞) ;
tasty/'teisti/ adj.美味的,可口的 ;
taxpayer /'tkspei/n.納稅人 tooth/tu:/n.牙齒 teeth/ti:/n. ;
thief/i:f/ thieves/i:vz/ n.小偷 ;
unfold/n'fuld/vt.. 攤開(kāi),打開(kāi) urge/:d/ vt.催促,慫恿 ;
Proper Nouns Bragg/brg/(姓) Christina /krist'ti:n/(女人名) ;
Gangaram /'ggrm/(男人名) Mahes/'meihis/姓 ;
Manhattan /mn'htn/(地名) 曼哈頓 Rick/rik/(男人名) ;
Rikers Island /'raikz'ailnd/ 地名 Swarns/sw:nz/(姓) ;
TEXT ;
The Simple Life: A Fine Dinner, a Drink and Jail (after Rick Bragg) ;
Every now and then, ;
Gangaram Mahes slips on his best donated clothes and lives the high life. ;
He walks to a nice restaurant, has a glass of champagne, ;
eats a $ 50 meal and finishes with hot black coffee. ;
The waiters call him "sir", ;
but Mahes could not find a dollar from his pocket for even a bus ride. ;
He is a thief who never runs, ;
a criminal who picks his teeth as the police close in. ;
To be arrested,to go home to a cell at ;
Rikers Island-that's his plan when he unfolds his napkin. ;
Homeless off and on for several years, he steals dinner from the restaurants ;
because he wants the courts to return him to a place in New York ;
where he is guaranteed three meals a day and a clean bed. ;
In a prison system filled with repeat offenders, ;
the 36-year-old Mahes is a serial diner. ;
He has committed the same crime at least 31 times, ;
always pleads guilty and never urges his lawyer to ask for a reduced sentence. ;
"It's tough on the outside,"said Mahes, ;
who is serving 90 days for stealing a steak from a midtown Manhattan restaurant. ;
Prosecutors say it isn't their job to consider whether ;
locking up some criminals actually gives them what they ;
want refuge from poverty or hunger. ;
But Legal Aid lawyers say they've seen a small but growing number of people ;
who commit petty crimes with the intention of going to prison. ;
Life in prison is sometimes violent, ;
but to Mahes it is better than drifting ;
from shelter to shelter or living in cardboard boxes. ;
"There is order in a prison,and you always eat on time," he said. ;
"I like to live decent," he said. "I like to be clean." Christina Swarns, ;
a Legal Aid lawyer defending a man who does not want her help, ;
faces Mahes through the wire screen and does not know whether to laugh or cry. ;
"It's funny at first- 'The Serial Eater'," she said. "But it's a very sad thing. ;
How bad is it, his life, that he would prefer prison?" ;
On one hand is a man who goes to jail at will without having hurt anyone, ;
who steals only expensive New York restaurant food. ;
Instead of throwing a rock through a window, he orders a T-bone steak. ;
On the other hand is a man who seems to ;
have given up hope of ever having anything better, ;
who prefers society's punishment to his place in the society. ;
In the past two years he has seldom been ;
free more than a few days before enjoying an illegal entree. ;
He chooses restaurants that are not too cheap, not too expensive. ;
If a restaurant is too grand, it might not seat him. If it is too cheap, ;
he might not be arrested for stealing its food. ;
"If they really wanted to punish him," said Swarns," ;
they would stand outside Rikers and say, 'You go away.Instead, ;
Mahes does 90 days for stealing fish. It costs taxpayers $ 162 a day to feed, ;
clothe and house him at Rikers Island. ;
His 90 day sentence will cost them $14,580, ;
to punish him for refusing to pay the $51.31 check. ;
In five years he has cost them more than $250,000. ;
Swarns said it was maddening to defend him. ;
Every time she gives him her card and tells him to call, ;
so she can help when he gets out, he throws it away. ;
She cannot compete with prison. The food at Rikers is tasty, ;
said Mahes.For supper, he had pork chops. ;
He said he was thinking of quitting this life someday. ;
But when the bus came to take him back to Rikers,he was content. ;
It was almost lunchtime. "Fried chicken," he said. ;
He does not have a family to miss him. ;
He does not have an old neighborhood where people know his name. ;
The bars at Rikers Island are there to hold him in and to hold onto. ;
Lesson twenty-six ;
Words and Expressions ;
ahead/'hed/ adv.在前,向前 axe/ks/n.斧子 ;
hark/ba:k/vi.狗叫 below/bi'lu/ adv.在下面 ;
bite/bait/vt.咬 bit/bit/(過(guò)去式) bitten/'bitn/ (過(guò)去分詞) ;
chop/tp/n.砍 cleanly/k'li:nli/ adv.干凈的,整潔的 ;
courage/'krid/ n.勇敢,勇氣 ;
excitement /ik'saitmnt/ n.興奮,激動(dòng) ;
fireplace/'faipleis/ n.壁爐 fog/fg/n.霧 ;
glove/glv/n.手套 honest/'nist/ adj.誠(chéng)實(shí)的,正直的 ;
honesty/'nisti/ n.誠(chéng)實(shí),正直 interfere/,int'fi/ vi.防礙,打擾 ;
ma'am=madam夫人,太太 ;
mountain/'mauntin/ n.山,復(fù)數(shù)山脈 pant/pnt/ n.(通常用復(fù)數(shù)) ;
pile/pail/n.n.鞋 purple/'p:pl/ adj.紫色的 ;
repair/ri'pe/ vt.修理 settle/'setl/vt.& vi 使安靜,安靜 ;
shoulder/'uld/ n.肩膀 smoky/'smuki/ adj.多煙的,煙霧彌漫的 ;
steady/'stedi/ adj.平穩(wěn)的,有規(guī)律的 surround/s'raud/ vt.包圍,圍繞 ;
tear/te/vt.撕開(kāi) tore/t:/(過(guò)去式) torn/t:n/(過(guò)去分詞) ;
thin/in/adj.薄 thoughts/:t/ n.思想,想法 ;
troubled/'trbld/ adj.(過(guò)去分詞) 不安,煩惱 ;
warn/w:n/vt.提醒,警告 washing/'w:i/ n.洗滌 ;
Proper Nouns Carolina 卡羅來(lái)納州 ;
Jerry/'deri/(男人名) Kinnan/'kinn/(人名) Majorie/'meidri/ (女人名) ;
Pat/pt/n.狗名 Rawlings/'r:liz/ (姓) ;
Smoky Mountains /'smuki'mauntinz/ 斯莫基山脈(美) ;
Text ;
A Small Boy's Mother(1) ;
I was living in the Smoky Mountains in Carolina. ;
It was autumn. I needed quiet to be away from people. ;
My mind was troubled and the mountain air helped me write better. ;
I also wanted to see the red autumn leaves, ;
the pumpkins and to feel the excitement of living free and alone. ;
I found them all in a small house which belonged to the Children's Home. ;
The house is cut off from the village below and from the world by deep mountain snows. ;
The heavy fog that surrounds the Smoky ;
Mountains hides the house from the eyes of the people. ;
When I moved into the house,I asked the lady ;
at the Children's Home to send a boy to cut wood for the fireplace. ;
About a week later, 1 looked up from my writing, a little surprised. ;
There in front of me was a small boy. My dog, Pat, had not barked to warn me. ;
The boy wore old torn pants and a shirt worn thin from too many washings. ;
He wore no shoes on his feet. "I can cut some wood today," he said. ;
"But I have a boy coming from the Children's Home." I'm the boy. ;
"You? But you're so small." ;
"I can carry milk to the babies' house, ma'am. ;
Some days I carry it two times." "In this bitter wind?" ;
"Yes'm. Stiff fingers don't feel bad once you get used to them. ;
We get our faces bitten by the cold wind because ;
we can't put our hands over them. But I have gloves. ;
Some of the boys don't have any gloves." "But cutting wood is a man's job." ;
He smiled at me. "I know all kinds of wood ma'am. ;
I've been cutting wood at the Children's Home for a long time." ;
"Very well. There's the axe. Go ahead and try cutting and see what you can do." ;
1 began to work again. The first sounds of the axe cutting ;
through the wood interfered with my thoughts. ;
But soon the steady "chop, chop" stopped troubling me. ;
I settled down and wrote for the rest of the afternoon. ;
The sun was slowly dropping behind the cold purple mountains ;
when 1 heard the boy's footsteps coming toward my door. ;
"1 have to go eat now. I can come again tomorrow afternoon." ;
"I'll pay you for what you've done." ;
We went together to see his work. ;
Next to the house was a lot of cleanly-cut wood. ;
"But you've cut as much as a man. This is a wonderful pile of wood!" ;
I gave him some money. "You may come again tomorrow, ;
and thank you very much." ;
He looked at me and then at the money. He seemed as if he wanted to talk, ;
but he could not. He turned away but over his thin shoulder, ;
he shouted back to me. will cut some small pieces tomorrow. ;
You'II need some small thin pieces and some heavier ones." ;
He came again the next day and worked until it was time to leave. ;
His name was Jerry. He was 12 years old and had been at the ;
Children's Home since he was only four. ;
I thought of him as he must have looked when he was 4 years old. ;
The same strong grey eyes with a small ring of blue around them. ;
The same integrity and courage.Integrity is honesty, ;
but it is more than just being honest. For example, ;
the handle of the axe broke one day. Jerry said the ;
Children's Home would repair it. I handed him some money to pay for it. ;
He wouldn't take the money."I'll pay for it ma'am.I broke it. ;
I didn't hit the wood in the right place." ;
"But,Jerry, no one hits the wood in the right place all the time. ;
It was a weak handle. I'II speak to the man who sold it to me." ;
It was only then that he would take the money. ;
Lesson twenty seven ;
Words and Expressions ;
abandon/'bndn/ vt.遺棄 afraid/'freid/ adj.擔(dān)心,害怕 ;
aloud/'laud/ adv.出聲的,大聲的 anger/'g/ n.憤怒 ;
birthday/'b:dei/ n.生日 climb/klaim/ vt.&vi.爬,攀登 ;
completely /km'pli:tli/ adv.完全地 ;
dare/de/aux.敢 dig/dig/vt.挖 ;
especially /is'peli/ adv.特別,尤其 ;
happiness/'hpinis/ n.幸福,快樂(lè) helpful/'helpful/ adj.有用的.有益的 ;
lie/lai/vi.躺 lay/lei/(過(guò)去式) lain/lein/(過(guò)去分詞) ;
loose/lu:s/ adj.松動(dòng),松 necessary/'nesisri/ adj.必要的,必需的 ;
pair/pe/n.雙,對(duì) place/pleis/vt.放置 quality/'kwliti/ n.品質(zhì),品性 ;
soft/sft/ adj.溫柔地,和藹的 sort/s:t/n.種類 ;
sound// vi.聽(tīng)起來(lái) spirit/spirit/ n.精神,心靈 ;
stone/stun/ n.石頭,石塊 storm/st:m/ n.暴風(fēng)雨,風(fēng)暴 ;
strangely/'streindli/ adv.奇怪地 stupidity/stju':piditi/ n.愚蠢,愚笨 ;
sudden/'sdn/ adj.突然的 Proper Noun ;
Manville/mnvil/ n.(地名) ;
Text ;
A Small Boy's Mother(2) ;
after Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings ;
Another thing about Jerry that was ;
special he would do those little helpful things that are not necessary, ;
but make life so much easier,things only the heart can do, ;
things that cannot be trained or taught for they are done quickly and without thought. ;
He found a hole near the fireplace that I had not seen. ;
"I'll place some wood in the hole,ma'am. Then when a sudden storm comes up, ;
you can stay warm. " Or the day he found a loose stone in the walking place outside. ;
"Let me place a bigger ;
stone there. I'II dig the hole deeper so it won't come loose again. " ;
The days passed, and Jerry and my dog Pat became close friends. ;
Perhaps it was because a boy and a dog have ;
a common spirit-a wisdom that is closer than a grown person and a dog. ;
One cold day Jerry sat close by me near the fire.The dog lay close to him. ;
We watched the fire burn. ;
Jerry suddenly talked of something he had never talked of before. ;
"You look like my mother,especially next to the fire." ;
"But you were only four,Jerry,when you came to live at the Children's Home. ;
Do you still remember your mother?" ;
He nodded his head," Yes.My mother lives near Manville." ;
Learning he had a mother surprised me. I also felt anger against her. ;
How could she abandon such a nice boy? Children's Home was nice, ;
people there were kind and the boys were healthy, ;
but what sort of person was his mother? ;
Jerry must have looked as nice then as he did now-his fine qualities have always been there. ;
Any person could see them.My heart filled with questions I dared not ask. ;
I was afraid I would cause him pain,so I talked to him carefully. ;
"Have you seen your mother lately?" "I see her every summer. ;
She sends for me. " I wanted to cry aloud, "Why are you here? ;
Why aren't you with her?How can she let you go away again?" But I said nothing. ;
Jerry talked with happiness in his heart. ;
"She comes for me from Manville whenever she can. ;
She isn't working right now. ;
She wanted to give me a dog, ;
but they say a boy can't have a dog at the home. ;
She sent me a Sunday suit and last Christmas she sent me a bicycle. ;
I let the other boys play with the bicycle when they promise to be careful with it." ;
My mind was busy trying to understand his mother. ;
She had not completely forgotten him, ;
but why? What was the reason other than being poor then? ;
Jerry still sounding happy talked in a very soft voice. ;
"I'm going to take the dollar you gave me and buy her a pair of gloves. ;
White gloves. She likes white gloves." ;
I could say nothing except, "That will be nice,"for I hated her. ;
There was other food than bread, food for the soul and for the ;
heart that only a mother can give. He was going to buy gloves for his mother, ;
while she lived in Manville away from him. ;
I decided I would not leave the mountains ;
until I talked with her to learn why she had placed him in a children's home. ;
But the human mind finds many things to think about. Every wind seems to blow new ;
and different thoughts into it. ;
I finished my work,but it did not please me.My thoughts turned to travel. ;
I decided to go to Mexico and then perhaps on to other places. ;
I did not take the time to see Jerry's mother. ;
I was busy preparing to leave, and after that night by the fire, ;
we did not speak about her again. The fact that he had a mother, ;
and sort of a mother, made me feel better about him. ;
When I was ready to leave, I said to him, "Jerry, you've been my good friend. ;
I still think of you often and miss you very much. ;
Pat will miss you too after we leave tomor-row. ;
He did not answer. I watched him climb the hill in silence. ;
I expected him to come the next day, but he did not come. ;
I placed all my things in the car, closed the house, then ;
drove to the Children's Home to see him. ;
I told the lady there that I was leaving and asked her to call Jerry ;
so I could say good-bye. She was troubled. ;
"I do not know where he is. I'm afraid he might be sick. ;
He didn't eat his dinner and one of the ;
boys said he had gone for a walk in the woods." ;
My heart felt better. I hate good-byes, and I knew I would never see him again. ;
It was better for both of us this way. "Here's some money," I said. ;
"Will you use it to buy him things for his birthday and for Christmas? ;
I might buy him the same things his mother buys. ;
This way he'II get different things and well, ;
not two bicycles for example. " She looked at me strangely and said, ;
"There isn't much place to ride a bicycle in the mountains." ;
Her stupidity began to bother me. "What I mean is, ;
I don't want to buy him things his mother might buy him. ;
I might have bought him a bicycle if I hadn't learned she had bought him one." ;
She still looked at me. Then she finally said, "I don't understand. ;
He has no mother. He has no bicycle." ;
Lesson twenty-eight ;
Words and Expressions ;
brain/brein/ n.(通常用復(fù)數(shù)) 頭腦,腦子 ;
clearly/'klili/ adv.清楚地 color/'kl/n.顏色 ;
[英]colour county/'kaunti/ n.縣 ;
cover/'kv/ n.床罩 crowd/kraud/ vt.擁擠 ;
declare/di'kle/ vt.宣布,宣告 design/di'zain/ n.設(shè)計(jì);圖案 ;
dream/dri:m/ vt.做夢(mèng) ;
dreamt/dri:m/或 dreamed (過(guò)去式,過(guò)去分詞) ;
exact/ig'zkt/ adj.準(zhǔn)確的 extra/'ekstr/ adj.額外的 ;
fever/'fi:v/ n.發(fā)熱,發(fā)燒 finish/'fini/vt.完成 ;
fit/fit/vt.& vi.使適合 housework/'hausw:k/ n.家務(wù)勞動(dòng) ;
minute/'minit/ n.分鐘 nervous/'n:vs/ adj.緊張 ;
paint/peint/ n.繪畫(huà)作品 pretty/'priti/ adj.美麗,漂亮的 ;
pride/praid/ n.自豪,驕傲 queen/kwi:n/ n.女王,皇后 ;
quilt/kwilt/ n.被子 sew/su/vt.& vi.縫制 ;
sister-in-law (哥哥或弟弟的妻子) 弟妹,嫂子 ;
slow/slu/adj.慢,遲緩 spread/spred/vt.鋪開(kāi) spread (過(guò)去分詞,過(guò)去式) ;
surprise/s'praiz/ vt.使...驚奇 tear/ti/n.淚水 ;
usual/'ju:ul/ adj.通常的,平常的 warmth/w:m/ n.溫暖 ;
Proper Nouns Canfield/'knfi:ld/ (人名) ;
Dorothy/'dri/ (女人名) Fisher/'fi/(姓) ;
Mahatabel /,ma:h't/(人名) Sophia/s'fai/ (女人名) ;
Text ;
The Bed Quilt (1) after Dorothy Canfield Fisher ;
Aunt Mahatabel was an old woman.She had never married and ;
had never been important to anyone. But she worked hard in a farm house doing the ;
jobs nobody else wanted.She lived with her brother's busy family. ;
Her brother's wife, Sophia,a big healthy farm woman was queen of the house. ;
She was sorry for Mahatabel and often let the old woman do what she loved best, ;
sewing little pieces of cloth into quilts. These made pretty covers for the beds. ;
Mahatabel made them in a special way so that each quilt looked like a paint. ;
Sometimes other farm women would ask Mahatabel to help them plan their quilts. ;
One day Mahatabel suddenly got a new and wonderful idea for a quilt. ;
She did not understand how the idea came to her. ;
Sometimes she thought she dreamed it. ;
Sometimes she wondered if God had sent it to her. ;
She was too old and slow to think of it without any help. ;
It was too different, too beautiful to have come from her simple brain. ;
Even when she wrote the design on paper, she could not believe ;
that it was really hers.But the longer she worked with it, ;
the more she wanted to see it come to life in a quilt. ;
Mahatabel went to her sister-in-law for permission to start such a difficult job. ;
"Why,yes,Mahatabel," Sophia said."Why yes, start another quilt if you like. ;
I've some cloth you can use,too." ;
Mahatabel tried to tell Sophia that this was a special quilt. ;
She did not know how to say it.So she stood there, ;
looking at the floor, trying to think of the right words. At last ;
Sophia said,"Never mind.Do not try to tell me about it. ;
Use whatever design you like."Mahatabel ;
rushed happily up the steps to her room and started the work at once. ;
It would be the one important thing in her life. ;
She knew it would be the most beautiful quilt she would ever make. ;
Excited, nervous, she spread pieces of cloth across the bed.Then she carefully ;
chose the exact colors for her design.She cut the pieces so that ;
they would fit together perfectly. ;
Mahatabel decided to ;
sew just one part of the design first to see what it would look like. ;
She had little time or energy for this new job.Her housework got most of the day, ;
but she used every extra minute to sew her quilt. As the design grew, ;
Mahatabel was in a fever to finish it. Every day she did her housework faster ;
so that she could escape early to her little room and sewed. ;
Finally she could wait no longer to show it to the family. ;
That evening she brought her sewing down beside the fire where the others sat. ;
She hoped someone would ask to see her design. ;
But as usual they did not even know she was there. When she stood up to go to bed, ;
the cloth fell out of her old hands. Mahatabel moved to pick it up. ;
Sophia stopped her. "Is that part of the new quilt you are making?" ;
she asked. "Let me see it." ;
As Sophia held it near a light she clearly saw the beauty of the design. ;
"Where did you get the idea for it,"she cried, eyes wide with surprise. ;
"It is mine, "Mahatabel said, with quiet pride. ;
"No,"said Sophia. ;
She studied the way Mahatabel had joined the small pieces of cloth. ;
"Why,I never saw such a wonderful design and such good sewing in my life." ;
The family crowded around the two women. Mr.Smith himself came over to see ;
what they were making so much noise about. ;
"Well,I declare," he said,looking at Mahatabel with more warmth than she could ;
ever remember."That design will win a prize of any county fair." ;
Mahatabel's face got red and tears of happiness wet her eyes. ;
That night she was too proud and excited to sleep. ;
By the end of summer, ;
Sophia had fixed a special place in the living room for Mahatabel to sew. ;
The light was hotter here than in her small dark room. ;
Such kindness surprised Mahatabel ;
and she worked twice as hard in the house for her sister-in-law. ;
Lesson twenty-nine ;
Words and Expressions ;
arm/a:m/n.臂 breath/bre/n.呼吸 buggy/'bgi/n.輕便馬車 ;
cattle/'ktl/ n.牛(總稱) ceiling/'si:li/ n.天花板 ;
examine/ig'zmin/ vt.仔細(xì)看 glove/glv/n.手套 ;
gold/guld/ n.金的,金色的 golly/'gli/ int.天哪,啊(表驚奇) ;
honor/'hn/n.[美]榮譽(yù) [英]honour joke/duk/n.玩笑 ;
kilometer/ki'lmi:t/ /'kil,mi:t/ n.[美]公里,千米 [英]kilometre ;
loneliness/'launlinis/ n.寂寞,孤獨(dú) moon/mu:n/n.月亮 pale/peil/adj.蒼白的 ;
shoulder/'uld/ n.肩膀 struggle/'strgl/ vi.努力 ;
trip/trip/n.旅行 wave/weiv/vt.招手 yell/jel/vi.叫喊,叫嚷 ;
proper noun smith/smi/(姓) ;
TEXT ;
The Bed Quilt(2) ;
after Dorothy Canfield Fisher Her life had changed in many ways. ;
There was always the quilt to think about. Day and night the ;
picture of the design was bright in her thoughts. ;
And the family stopped asking her to do extra jobs in the house. ;
"Leave Aunt Mahatabel alone,"Sophia would say. ;
"Don't you see she is sewing on her quilt?" ;
News about Mahatabel's quilt quickly spread around the area. ;
People came from all parts of the country to see the design. ;
The Smiths bought new clothes for Mahatabel ;
and one of the girls made a little hat to cover her thin white hair. ;
They wanted their famous Aunt Mahatabel to look good for the visitors. ;
A year went by and a fourth of the quilt was finished. ;
A second year passed and a half was done. The third year, ;
Mahatabel became sick and was afraid she ;
might die before her work of art was completed. But she got better, ;
and her hands were busy again. In September of the fifth year, ;
with the family watching,Mahatabel sewed the last piece on her quilt. ;
Nobody spoke. The moment they had all waited for had finally arrived. ;
The girls held the quilt up and the Smiths looked at it in silence. Then Mr. ;
Smith hit his leg with one large hand and shouted, ;
"My Golly, that quilt is going to the county fair." ;
Mahatabel felt that her life was complete. ;
But when the quilt was carried out of the house, her heart went with it. ;
The quilt had been almost like a child to her. ;
She did not know how she could live without it. ;
For years it had filled her life and now there was nothing. ;
Sophia told her the quilt was hanging in a place of honor where everyone could see it. ;
This did not mean anything to Mahatabel ;
who knew nothing about the world outside the farm. ;
The family saw the old woman's loneliness, and Sophia said, ;
"You feel lost in the empty with-out the quilt,don't you?" ;
"They took it away so quickly", Mahatabel said, tears shining in her eyes. ;
"I did not have time to enjoy it." ;
Later in the day, Mr.Smith put an arm around her thin shoulders. ;
"1 must go to a farm on the other side of the fair tomorrow. ;
If you can get up early in the morning, I will take you with me. ;
You can stay at the fair all day and come back with me at night." ;
Mahatabel looked at him with her mouth open. ;
It was as if he had promised her a ride in a gold buggy to the moon. ;
"Why,why,you must be joking,"she cried, her face white with emotion. ;
Her brother laughed. "No, it is not a joke,"he said gently. ;
"Now you get your things ready. We start early tomorrow." ;
All that night an excited old woman lay and looked up at the bedroom ceiling. ;
She,who had never been away from home in her life, ;
was going more than forty kilometers to the county fair. ;
It was like a trip around the world. The next morning, ;
the family told her what to look at in the fair. ;
Sophia told her to see the prize food and dresses. ;
Her brother said she must examine the best cattle. ;
They all stood and waved good-bye as ;
Mr.Smith drove the horse and buggy down the road. ;
When Mahatabel returned home that night, ;
she was very pale and too tired to move. ;
Her brother carefully carried her into the house. ;
The others crowded around to hear news of the fair. ;
"Now Mahatabel," Sophia said." Tell us all about it." ;
Mahatabel took a deep breath. "It was just perfect," she said. ;
"Better than I thought it would be." "Did you see the prize cattle," ;
asked Mr.Smith. "And the dresses," added the girls. ;
"I did not see anything except the quilt," ;
said Mahatabel slowly." ;
I went straight to the room where it was and then I did not want to leave. ;
People began coming in and I got so interested in hearing ;
what they said I just stayed.I am glad I did. Oh,do you know ;
what happened?" She stopped and looked at the others with pride in her eyes." ;
A man came in and put a sign that said First Prize on my quilt." ;
The girls yelled and jumped around the room. This was more than ;
they had hoped for. When the room became quiet again, Sophia asked, ;
"Didn't you see anything else?" "Why,no,"Mahatabel said softly. ;
"I just saw my quilt. Why should I look at anything else?" ;
She struggled to tell them how wonderful it was, ;
but the words would not come. ;
There was no way she could explain how she felt inside. ;
So she just looked around at their faces with a strange smile. ;
The smile of an artist had made her dream come along. ;
Lesson thirty ;
Words and Expressions ;
accident/'ksidnt/ n.事故 allowance/'launs/ n.津貼,補(bǔ)助費(fèi) ;
appear/'pi/ vi.出現(xiàn) attached/'ttt/ 喜歡,依戀于 ;
backyard/'bkja:d/ n.后院 bargain/ba:gin/ n.便宜貨,廉價(jià)貨 ;
block/blk/n.街區(qū) cane/kein/棍,棒 cheer/ti/ vt.& vi.使高興 ;
concerned/kn's:nd/ (過(guò)去分詞)擔(dān)心,關(guān)心 doghouse/'dghaus/ 狗窩 ;
fake/feik/ vt.偽裝,假裝 fetch/fet/vt.拿,取 ;
garage/'gra:/ n.車庫(kù) guess/ges/vt.& vi. 猜測(cè) ;
illness/'ilnis/ n.生病 impress/im'pres/ vt.使留下印象 ;
inch/int/ n.英寸 jeans/di:nz/ n.牛仔服,工裝褲 ;
lawn/l:n/n.草地,草坪 lick/lik/舔 loud/laud/ adv.大聲地,響亮地 ;
lie/lai/vi.躺 lay/lei/(過(guò)去式) lain/lein/(過(guò)去分詞) ;
maybe/'meibi:/ adv.大概,或許 mom/mm/n.媽媽 ;
mower/mu/n.割草機(jī) neat/ni:t/ adj.樣式好看的 ;
neglect/ni'glekt/ vt.忽視,忽略 pen/pen/n.欄,圈,棚 ;
pet/pet/n.寵物, 供玩賞的動(dòng)物 portable/'p:tbl/ adj.輕便的,手提式 ;
recognize /'rekgnaiz/ vt.認(rèn)識(shí),認(rèn)出 ;
shirt/:t/n.襯衣 tee shirt T恤衫 smart/sma:t/ adj.伶俐,機(jī)靈 ;
sneak/sni:k/ vi.偷偷進(jìn)來(lái) stick/stik/ n.棍子,手杖 ;
subject /'sbdikt/ adj.易受....的 常遭....的 ;
trick/trik/ n.把戲,玩意兒 weekend/'wi:kend/ n.周末 (49:35.246) whistle/'wisl/ vi.吹口哨 Proper Nouns Drew/dru:/(人名) ;
Tommy/'tmi/ (Thomas的呢稱) Yorky/'j:ki/n.(狗名) ;
Text ;
Yorky ;
This happened on my eleventh birthday. It was a Saturday. ;
Mom and Dad had given me $15 to buy my own gift.But what,I wondered. ;
I had a good bike, an almost new baseball glove,a nice portable radio. ;
Well,I thought,maybe some new jeans and a shirt. ;
Smith's store had some ;
really neat tee shirts with SAVE GAS-WALK in big letters on the front. ;
But then I passed Mr.Drew's pet shop and ;
there was this really great-looking little dog. ;
When he saw me he barked twice and stood up on its hind legs. ;
Well,I don't know what it was,maybe because he seemed to recognize me or something. ;
I just had to get a closer look. And when I went inside, ;
he almost jumped out of his pen. ;
"There,there," Mr.Drew said."Calm down,Yorky,calm down." ;
When I reached down to pat him,he licked my hand like it was candy. ;
"Say now,Tommy," Mr.Drew said,"you've got a friend here." ;
Yorky was jumping up and down trying to get out of that pen. ;
You would've thought we'd been friends for years. ;
To make a long story short, ;
I had to have that dog. Mr.Drew said he was a bargain, ;
which made me want him even more. I could have him for only $25. ;
"I'll be back,"I said. My dad was working on the lawn mower out in the garage ;
when I came running in out of breath. "Dad,"I said,"Dad, ;
I just got to have this dog.He's the neatest thing you ever saw, ;
and he acts like he knows me and he's a real bargain and. .. " ;
Dad told me to calm down,and then he listened as ;
I repeated everything. He wasn't too impressed. ;
That's when I told him I'd never wanted anything so much in my life. ;
And that's when he told me that was because I always got ;
what I wanted before I wanted it. "It's my birthday," I said. ;
"Tommy,"he said, "you've got to learn the value of a dollar. ;
Money doesn't just appear.It has to be earned,and. ;
"The extra ten can come out of my allowance,"I said. ;
One difference between me and my dad is this ;
he thinks to himself I think out loud. He was quiet for a long time. ;
But I got the dog. It's still funny, you know,the way Yorky ;
and I took to each other.Mom said later it was because I never ;
had a brother or sister.Anyway, we were together every minute ;
that I was out of school. But then it got so that every time I turned around, ;
Mom was saying, "No. " "No, Yorky can not sleep in your bed. ;
Dogs don't sleep in beds." ;
"No,Yorky can not walk to school with you,even if he does know the way back." ;
"No,Yorky can not go to the movies with you." ;
"No,Yorky can not watch television with us. Dogs don't watch television." ;
"But Yorky does," I said. "I think he fakes it," Dad said. ;
"How can you tell when a dog's faking?" I asked him. ;
"I can tell,"Dad said. I didn't argue. Parents are like that. ;
I built Yorky a doghouse,which he didn't like. ;
So at night I'd sneak him in the back and he'd sleep under my bed. ;
Most weekends I spent teaching him tricks-the usual ones, you know. ;
In two months'time he knew how to shake hands and roll over and fetch a stick. ;
I even taught him how to jump over a cane, eighteen inches off the floor. ;
"Smart dog,"Dad said. "I hear they take after their owners," I said. ;
The two of us were playing in the backyard after school one day ;
when Mom called me into the house. "Tommy,I'm a little concerned." ;
"About what?" "You and Yorky. You spend so much time with him. ;
You're even neglecting your homework." ;
"I'll do better. I promise." "Not only that. ;
It's... well,nothing is forever,Tommy. Pets are subject to illness. ;
There are accidents." "I don't understand." "It's just that you're so attached to him." ;
"Mom, dogs sometimes live ten or twelve years.I'II be grown by then." ;
We left it at that. There was no reason for me to worry. I took care of Yorky. ;
He was mine. I had every reason to believe he was mine forever. ;
It happened in late February.There was snow on the ground. ;
It was a dark day and cold.I was on the way home from school as usual, ;
and I stopped three blocks away to whistle for Yorky.I waited. ;
He didn't come. I whistled again. Then I began to run. I stopped before ;
I got to the street in front of our house. ;
I could see him lying very still in the middle of the street on his side. ;
He wasn't moving. I saw the tire marks. I wanted to run away. ;
I didn't want to see him.But I couldn't leave him there. ;
Dad came into my room over the weekend. I hadn't eaten much for two days. ;
He brought a piece of my favorite pie and a glass of milk. ;
"You can't just stop everything,son. We'II get you another dog." ;
"I don't want another dog." He stayed for a while, trying to cheer me up. ;
When he got up to leave,I said: "Dad, why do things have to die? Why?" ;
"I wish I could give you a good answer," he said. "The best I can say is this: ;
things have to die to make room for something new. ;
And there will be something new in your life, Tommy." ;
"How do you know that?" "Because there has to be" ;
I didn't believe him then.I guess it takes a while to learn anything. ;
I mean really learn. ;