口語(yǔ)大師脫口成章成就篇A Brother Like That-哥哥的心愿
- 聽力原文
- 參考譯文
A friend of mine named Paul received an automobile from his brother as a Christmas present. On Christmas Eve when Paul came out of his office, a street urchin was walking around the shiny new car, admiring it.
“Is this your car, Mister?” he said.
Paul nodded. “My brother gave it to me for Christmas.” The boy was [1]astounded. “You mean your brother gave it to you and it didn’t cost you anything? Boy, I wish . . .” He hesitated.
Of course Paul knew what he was going to wish for. He was going to wish he had a brother like that. But what the lad said jarred Paul all the way down to his heels.
“I wish,” the boy went on, “That I could be a brother like that.”
Paul looked at the boy [2]in astonishment, then impulsively he added,“Would you like to take a ride in my car?”
“Oh yes, I’d love that.”
After a short ride, the boy turned with his eyes aglow, said, “Mister, would you mind driving in front of my house?”
Paul smiled a little. He thought he knew what the lad wanted. He wanted to show his neighbors that he could ride home in a big automobile. But Paul was wrong again. “Will you stop where those two steps are?” the boy asked.
He ran up the steps. Then in a little while Paul heard him coming back, but he was not coming fast. He was carrying his little [3] crippled brother. He sat him down on the bottom step, then sort of [4] squeezed up against him and pointed to the car.
“There she is, [5]buddy, just like I told you upstairs. His brother gave it to him for Christmas and it didn’t cost him a cent. And some day I’m gonna give you one just like it . . . then you can see for yourself all the pretty things in the Christmas windows that I’ve been trying to tell you about.”
Paul got out and lifted the lad to the front seat of his car. The shining-eyed older brother climbed in beside him and the three of them began a memorable holiday ride.
That Christmas Eve, Paul learned what Jesus meant when he said: [6]“It is more blessed to give . . .”
automobile // n. (美) 汽車
urchin // n. 頑童 小孩
jar // (n.) 震動(dòng)v. 震動(dòng)，刺激
impulsively // adv. 沖動(dòng)地
aglow // adj. (臉) 通紅的 adv. 發(fā)紅地
memorable // (adj.) 值得紀(jì)念的
我的朋友保羅的哥哥送他一輛新車作為圣誕禮物。圣誕節(jié)之夜，保羅離開辦公室時(shí)，一個(gè)男孩繞著那輛閃閃發(fā)亮的新車，贊嘆著。
“先生，這是你的車？”
保羅點(diǎn)點(diǎn)頭：“這是我哥哥送給我的圣誕節(jié)禮物。”男孩滿臉驚訝，支支吾吾地說(shuō)：“你是說(shuō)這是你哥送的禮物，沒花你一分錢？天哪，我真希望……”
保羅當(dāng)然知道男孩希望什么。他希望能有一個(gè)那樣的哥哥。但是小男孩接下來(lái)說(shuō)的話卻完全出乎保羅的意料。
“我希望自己就是那樣的哥哥，”男孩繼續(xù)說(shuō)。
保羅驚愕地看著那男孩，沖口而出：“你要不要坐我的車去兜風(fēng)？”
“哦，當(dāng)然好了，我太想坐了！”
車開了一小段路后，那孩子轉(zhuǎn)過(guò)頭來(lái)，眼睛閃閃發(fā)亮，對(duì)我說(shuō)：“先生，你能不能把車子開到我家門前？”
保羅微笑，他知道孩子想干什么。那男孩必定是要向鄰居炫耀，讓大家知道他坐了一輛大轎車回家。但是這次保羅又猜錯(cuò)了。“你能不能把車子停在那兩個(gè)臺(tái)階前？”男孩要求道。
男孩跑上臺(tái)階，過(guò)了一會(huì)兒保羅聽到他回來(lái)了，但動(dòng)作似乎有些緩慢。原來(lái)他把他跛腳的弟弟背出來(lái)了，將他安置在第一個(gè)臺(tái)階上，緊緊地抱著他，指著那輛新車。
“你看，這就是我剛才在樓上對(duì)你說(shuō)的那輛新車。這是他哥哥送給他的圣誕禮物哦！他一分錢也沒花。將來(lái)我也會(huì)送你一輛像這樣的車，到那時(shí)候你就能自己去看那些在圣誕節(jié)時(shí)掛在窗口上的漂亮飾品，就象我告訴過(guò)你的那樣。”
保羅走下車子，把跛腳男孩抱到車子的前座。興奮得滿眼放光的哥哥也爬上車子，坐在弟弟的身旁。就這樣他們?nèi)碎_始了一次難忘的假日兜風(fēng)。
那個(gè)圣誕夜，保羅才真正體會(huì)耶穌所說(shuō)的“施比受更有福”的道理。
增值英語(yǔ)
1.astounded：astound，使（人）大吃一驚，但它一般多用于被動(dòng)語(yǔ)態(tài)。“He was astounded at the news”那消息讓他大吃一驚。
2.in astonishment：和in surprise意思差不多，表示很驚訝。但吃驚的程度要深一些。
3.crippled：cripple即可作名詞，也可作動(dòng)詞，意為跛子，或使跛足。在這里用crippled，是用分詞做形容詞，跛足的。
4.squeezed up against him：squeeze是擠壓的意思，在這里，很形象地說(shuō)明小男孩緊緊抱著跛腳的弟弟，怕他摔倒了。
5.buddy：老兄，老弟。這是美國(guó)俚語(yǔ)中常見的說(shuō)法，一般只用于打招呼。
6.It is more blessed to give：施比受更有福。給予是一種幸福，因?yàn)槟闶歉挥械模@種富有通常跟財(cái)富無(wú)關(guān)，更主要的是精神上的富有。
