胡敏讀故事記單詞 令人沮喪的門廳上
foundation-frustrating A frustrating foyer
令人沮喪的門廳
It was so frustrating building a home by yourself,
自己蓋房實在是太令人沮喪
even if the fragrant smell of fresh wood made him feel good,
盡管新木材的芬芳味道好聞
Joe thought as he went to the fridge to get a beer.
喬走向冰箱拿啤酒時想.
"I don't know if I'll ever see this thing through to fruition."
真不知道自己能不能看到大功告成的那一天，
Maybe I should just hire a freelance carpenter and be done with this.
"也許我真的需要請個干自由職業(yè)的木匠來把它干完算了。"
But he was a little bit afraid of fraud.
不過他有點兒擔(dān)心被騙，
He had heard that some freelancers were not so honest.
因為他聽說有些自由職業(yè)者不太誠實。
Joe walked back to the foyer where he was putting on an addition to his home
喬走回門廳，他正在那里給房屋搞擴建。
He had finished the foundation several weeks earlier
幾個星期前他已經(jīng)打好了地基，
and was now working on the frame.
現(xiàn)在正在做框架。
He stepped over the fragments of the framework and swore to himself.
他不小心踩到了框架的碎片，不禁罵了起來。
His work was fraught with problem
他的工作老有問題，
and he had to make frequent trips to the hardware store.
他得常跑五金店。
The frequency of his visits was so great
由于跑得太頻繁了，
that the staff at the store now greeted him by name.
店里的人現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)對他直呼其名。
He was sitting only a fraction of a moment
他才坐了一小會兒
when the whole frame fell apart.
整個框架就散了。
It had been too fragile,just as he feared.
正如他擔(dān)心的那樣，這個框架太不結(jié)實了。
He didn't even get angry;he just got up and went to the phone.
他甚至都沒有生氣，直接站起來去打電話。
"Hello,Carpenter School?"
喂，木工學(xué)校嗎?
Can you send over one of your freshers to help with some home repair?"
你們能派個新生來幫我家做點兒修理嗎?"
The helper arrived the next day and immediately began to improve Joe's work.
第二天幫忙的人來了，他立即開始改進(jìn)喬的工作.
He was a frail guy,but he knew what he was doing.
他是個瘦弱的小伙子，但干活很在行。
Joe,not wanting to cause any friction about how things should be done,
喬不想在活兒該怎樣干的問題上引起摩擦，
even began to stand on the fringes just to let the young man work.
為了讓這位年輕人干活，他甚至開始站到邊上。
And sure enough the foyer was done by the end of the week.
果然，門廳在周末前做好了。
Thank god for schools of education.
真要感謝這些培訓(xùn)學(xué)校!
fuel-gearThe galactic garbage collector
銀河垃圾清理員
Gus,the best garbage collector in the Galaxy,
古斯是銀河系中最優(yōu)秀的垃圾清理員，
put on his space gear and set out to clean up another galactic mess.
他穿上宇航服，開始清掃另外一堆銀河垃圾。
He hated all of these star wars,but it paid his bills.
他痛恨一切星球大戰(zhàn)，但他是靠它過日子的。
Arriving at the part of space where the most recent battle had occurred,
古斯來到最近一次戰(zhàn)斗的戰(zhàn)場，
Gus put on his helmet to protect himself from fumes,
他戴上頭盔，以防受到煙霧的侵害，
fussed over the controls of his equipment,
并且他手忙腳亂地檢查了一下設(shè)備的控制系統(tǒng)，
and then decided to fly around to gauge the extent of the mess.
然后決定飛到周圍，估計有多少垃圾。
It was always a gamble cleaning up the wreckage of spaceships.
清除宇宙飛船的殘骸永遠(yuǎn)是一種冒險--
You never knew what was going to blow up next,
你永遠(yuǎn)都不知道下一次會有什么東西要爆炸，
but Gus made sure he was funded adequately
但古斯總是確保自己得到足夠的資助
in case of some debilitating accident.
以防出事受傷。
That type of protection was fundamental to this type of work.
這種保護(hù)措施對這個工種來說是很重要的，
It would be futile to work otherwise.
不然一切都是徒勞。
When he had gazed long enough he knew that it would be a profitable day.
凝視良久之后，他知道今天將會很有收獲。
Several pieces could be gathered to sell
有幾個殘片可以收集起來賣錢，
and a few placed in his galactic gallery.
還有幾片可以放在他的銀河美術(shù)館里，
Some might even function as replacement ships for his friends.
有些甚至還可以給朋友們當(dāng)替換飛船使用。
The furniture inside each was definite trash;
里面的設(shè)備無疑都是垃圾，
the aliens had a totally different body shape.
因為外星人的體形完全不一樣，
But Gus could furnish each ship with leftovers from other ships.
但古斯可以用別的飛船上的遺留物裝備每條飛船。
He'd fulfill his quota today and more.
他將完成今天的配額，甚至超額完成任務(wù)。
Gus was furious,however,
但是，發(fā)現(xiàn)搜集不到燃料時,古斯變得狂怒起來。
to discover that there was no fuel for him to gather.But his fury subsided
他的怒氣消了一點兒
when he discovered a functional space blaster
不過后來他發(fā)現(xiàn)了一把還能用的太空噴氣槍，
that he knew he could sell for a large sum of space dollars.
他知道這件武器可以賣一大筆太空元，
Yep,the garbage business was good.
是的，做垃圾生意還真不錯。
gene-glimmer A giant of a man
巨人
"If my friends from the ghetto could only see me now!"
"要是我貧民區(qū)的朋友們現(xiàn)在能看到我就好了!"
Said Tom to his partner
湯姆對他的伙伴說。
as he put his hand up to block the glimmer from the gigantic glacier
他舉起手擋住他正在考察的巨大冰川發(fā)出的微光
he was surveying.He was on a survey of unique geological glacial features in Antarctica
他正在考察南極獨一無二的地質(zhì)冰川特點
using the newest geometric equipment.
用最新的幾何設(shè)備.
It was a place that he had never thought he would visit when he was a child.
這是個他小時候從未想過會去的地方。
But then his teachers had discovered he was a genius
但青少年時代他就被老師們發(fā)現(xiàn)是個天才，
when he was a teenager and placed him in a school for gifted students.
因此他就上了天才學(xué)生上的學(xué)校。
He flourished under their care.
他在他們的照料下茁壯成長。
They even took samples of his genes
他們甚至取了他的基因樣品，
so that they would be able to decipher his genome
以便能夠破譯他的基因組，
to better understand how he had such a gift.
更好地理解他為什么會有這么高的天賦。
It was a glamorous life,playing with the newest gizmos,
他的生活很令人向往：玩最新的小發(fā)明，
receiving generous funding for research and the like.
得到慷慨的研究資助等等。
And Tom had even escaped the curse of geniuses;
湯姆甚至沒有遇到天才們常有的煩惱：
he had remained genuine and even gentle. Everyone liked him.
他一直待人真誠，甚至性格也很溫和，人人都喜歡他。
Tom repaid their support by making numerous discoveries
湯姆回報了他們的支持，因為他有許多新發(fā)現(xiàn)，
that generated even more patents.
這些發(fā)現(xiàn)獲得了更多的專利。
He made a robot to attack germs,
他研制出了一種能消滅細(xì)菌的機器人，
he programmed a camera to understand hand gestures,
給攝影機裝上了理解各種手勢的程序，
and now he was mapping the planet.
現(xiàn)在他正在給地球繪制地圖。
Previous maps generalized to the nearest 10 meters.
以前的地圖畫得比較籠統(tǒng)，最精確只能到10米，
His map would go to one tenth of a meter.
而他繪制的地圖將精確到十分之一米。
It would have a tremendous impact.
他的地圖將產(chǎn)生巨大的影響。
He was a giant in his field and quite famous.
他是行業(yè)內(nèi)的巨人，而且相當(dāng)出名。
But he still remembered his childhoodin the poor regions of New York.
但他還記得在紐約貧民區(qū)度過的童年。
And that was where the bulk of his income went;
他把大部分收入都捐給了那里，
back to improving the lives of other children.
用于改善其他孩子的生活。
Tom wanted to give others the same chance that he had been given.
湯姆想給別人提供他曾經(jīng)得到過的機會，
That was the gist of his nature,
這是他天性中的本質(zhì)，
and that was the good that came from the generosity of others.
也是別人的善舉結(jié)出的碩果。
glimpse-gratify The gorgeous blonde
光彩照人的金發(fā)女郎
The gorgeous blonde made her grand entrance to the delight of all.
看到光彩照人的金發(fā)女郎隆重入場，大家都非常高興。
When she took her first steps from the top of the staircase
她從樓梯的最高處走下來，
and then handed her hand to her gracious host,
然后把手遞給親切的主持人，
the glitter on her cheeks reflected the flashes of cameras.
照相機的閃光燈使她的臉頰放著光芒。
Her glorious dress produced oohs and ahhs from the women.
她的華麗衣裳引起女人們一片驚嘆聲。
And the latest gossip about
最近大家都在議論
whom she was seeing was on the lips of everyone.
她的約會對象是誰。
But her heart was made of granite and she didn't care for any one of them.
但是她的心是花崗巖做的，所以她對誰都不是那么在乎。
She only wanted to gratify her own desire for attention,
她只想滿足自己引入注目的欲望，
grant a few interviews where she would be praised
只同意接受少數(shù)幾次吹捧她的采訪，
and then return to her room to gorge herself on chocolate.
然后回房大吃巧克力。
Her only goal was to give the public
她惟一的目的是讓公眾
enough of a glimpse of her to leave her alone for months.
好好地看她一眼，然后讓她享幾個月的清閑。
No one grasped this but her sister,the brunette.
無人理解這一點，除了她妹妹--一位黑發(fā)、淺黑皮膚的姑娘。
She governed every aspect of the blonde's life,
這位妹妹管理她生活的各個方面--
including her global public relations campaign,
包括她的全球公關(guān)活動、
the graphic portrayal of her life
對她生活的生動描繪，
and even the glossary that her sister used when she spoke.
甚至她說話時使用的詞匯。
It seemed to be a gloomy life for the brunette,
妹妹的這種生活似乎很郁悶，
but she was the glue that held her sister together.
但她的形影不離恰好成了姐姐的精神支柱。
And the brunette felt no need to grab any attention for herself.
而且妹妹也覺得沒必要吸引別人注意自己。
She was grateful for her sister's fame
她很感激姐姐的名聲，
because she could be a part of it without it becoming hers.
因為她也可以跟著小有名氣，而又不必為名聲所累。
They were both doing exactly what they wanted to do
姐妹二人正好如愿以償，
and both were happy with who they had become.
倆人都很滿意自己所扮演的角色。
It was a match made in heaven.
這對姐妹真是天生的一對!
