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发表于 2016-7-14 00:16:43
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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.津贴,补助费 ;
appear/'pi/ vi.出现 attached/'ttt/ 喜欢,依恋于 ;
backyard/'bkja:d/ n.后院 bargain/ba:gin/ n.便宜货,廉价货 ;
block/blk/n.街区 cane/kein/棍,棒 cheer/ti/ vt.& vi.使高兴 ;
concerned/kn's:nd/ (过去分词)担心,关心 doghouse/'dghaus/ 狗窝 ;
fake/feik/ vt.伪装,假装 fetch/fet/vt.拿,取 ;
garage/'gra:/ n.车库 guess/ges/vt.& vi. 猜测 ;
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,工装裤 ;
lawn/l:n/n.草地,草坪 lick/lik/舔 loud/laud/ adv.大声地,响亮地 ;
lie/lai/vi.躺 lay/lei/(过去式) lain/lein/(过去分词) ;
maybe/'meibi:/ adv.大概,或许 mom/mm/n.妈妈 ;
mower/mu/n.割草机 neat/ni:t/ adj.样式好看的 ;
neglect/ni'glekt/ vt.忽视,忽略 pen/pen/n.栏,圈,棚 ;
pet/pet/n.宠物, 供玩赏的动物 portable/'p:tbl/ adj.轻便的,手提式 ;
recognize /'rekgnaiz/ vt.认识,认出 ;
shirt/:t/n.衬衣 tee shirt T恤衫 smart/sma:t/ adj.伶俐,机灵 ;
sneak/sni:k/ vi.偷偷进来 stick/stik/ n.棍子,手杖 ;
subject /'sbdikt/ adj.易受....的 常遭....的 ;
trick/trik/ n.把戏,玩意儿 weekend/'wi:kend/ n.周末 (49:35.246) whistle/'wisl/ vi.吹口哨 Proper Nouns Drew/dru:/(人名) ;
Tommy/'tmi/ (Thomas的呢称) 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. ; |
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