大學(xué)英語綜合教程第四冊 11

[00:00.00] Some people seem easy to understand:their character appears obvious on first meeting. [00:08.91]Appearances,homwever,can be deceptive. [00:14.29]A FRIEND IN NEED by Somerset Mauqham' [00:19.91]For thirty years now I have been studying my fellownmen.I do not know very much about them. [00:28.73]I shrug my shoulders when people tell me that their first impressions of a person are always right [00:36.62]I think they must have small insight or great vanity. [00:42.34]For my own part I find that the longer I know people the more they puzzle me. [00:49.03]These reflections have occurred to me because I read in this morning's paper that Edward Hyde Burton had died at Kobe [00:58.75]He was a merchant and he had been in business in Japan for many years.I knew him very little [01:06.82]but he interested me because once he gave me a great surprise.Unless I had heard the story from his own lips [01:16.77]I should never have velieved that he was capable of such an action.It was more starling [01:24.77]because both in appearance and manner he suggested a very definite type.Here if ever was a man all of a piece [01:34.54]He was a tiny little fellow,not much more than five feet four in height ,and very slender [01:42.32]with white hair,a red face much wrinkled ,and blue eyes.I suppose he was about sixty when I knew him [01:51.75]He was always neatly and quietly dressed in accordance with his age and station. [01:58.86]Though his offices were in Kobe,Burton often came down to Yokohama. [02:05.05]I happened on one occasion to be spending a few days there, waiting for a ship, [02:11.55]and I was introduced to him at the British Club,We played bridge together.He played a good game and a generous one [02:20.70]He did not talk very much,either then or later when we were having drinks,but what he said was sensible [02:29.52]He had a quiet.dry humor.He seemed to be popular at the club and afterwards,when he had gone [02:38.41]they described him as one of the best.It happened that we were both staying at the Grand Hotel [02:46.77]and next day he asked me to dine with him.I met his wife,fat,elderly,and smiling,and his two daughters [02:57.35]It was evidently a united and affectionate family.I think the chief thing that struck me about Burton was his kindliness [03:08.45]There was something very pleasing in his mild blue eyes.His voice was gentle;you could not imagine [03:17.41]he could possibly raise it in anger;his smile was benign.Here was a man who attracted you [03:26.81]because you felt in him a real love for his fellows.At the same time he liked his game of cards and his cocktail [03:37.68]he could tell with point a good and spicy story ,and in his youth he had been something of an athlete. [03:46.35]He was a rich man and he had made every penny himself.I suppose one thing [03:54.58]that made you like him was that he was so small and frail;he aroused your instincts of protection [04:02.52]You felt that he could not bear to hurt a fly. [04:06.99]One afternoon I was sitting in the lounge of the GrandHotel whenBurton came in and seated himself in the chair next to mine [04:16.00]'What do you say to a little drink?' [04:19.74]He clapped his hands for a boy and ordered two gin fizzes.As the boy brought them a man [04:28.56]passed along the street outside and seeing me waved his hand. [04:34.39]'Do you know Turner?'said Burton as I nodded a greeting. [04:39.01]'I've met him at the club.I'm told he's a remittance man.' [04:44.60]'Yes,I believe he is.We have a good many here.' [04:49.70]'He plays bridge well.' [04:53.02]'They generally do.There was a fellow here last year, [04:58.00]oddly enough a namesake of mine,who was the best bridge player I ever met [05:04.51]I suppose you never came across him in London.Lenny Burton he called himself.I believe he'd belonged to very good clubs [05:14.38]'No,I don't believe I remember the name.' [05:18.96]'He was quite a remarkable player.He seemed to have an instinct about the cards.It was uncanny. [05:27.05]I used to play with him a lot.He was in Kobe for some time.' [05:32.90]Burton sipped his gin fizz. [05:36.54]'It's rather a funny story,'he said.He was't bad chap.I liked him.He eas always well-dressed and smart-looking [05:47.14]He was handsome in away with curly hair and pink-and-white cheeks.Women thought a lot of him. [05:55.81]There was no harm in him, you know,he was only wild.Of course he drank too much.Those sort of fellows [06:04.96]always do.A bit of money used to come on for him once a quarter and he made a bit more by card-playing. [06:14.73]He won a good deal of mine,I know that.' [06:18.98]Borton gave a kindly chuckle.I knew from my own experiece that he could lose money at bridge with a gook grace [06:28.15]He stroked his shaven chin with his thin hand;the veins stood out on it and it was almost transparent. [06:36.90]'I suppose that is why he came to me when he went broke,that and the fact that he was a namesake of mine. [06:44.74]He came to see me in my office one day and asked me for a job.I was rather surprised.' [06:52.55]He told me that there was no more money coming from home and he wanted to work.I asked him how old he was [07:01.38]"Thirty-five,"he said. [07:04.52]"And what have you been doing hitherto?"I asked him. [07:08.64]"Well,nothing very much,"he said. [07:13.27]I couldn't help laughing. [07:16.53]I'm afraid I can't do anything for you just yet,"I said. "Come back and see me in another thirty-five years [07:24.53]and I'll see what I can do." [07:28.03]'He didn't move.He went rater pale.He hesitated for a moment and then [07:35.42]he told me that he had had bad luck at cards for some time.He hadn't been willing to stick to bridge, [07:43.88]he'd been playing poker.and he'd got trimmed.He hadn"d a penny.He'd pawned everything he had. [07:52.92]He couldn't pay his hotel bill and they wouldn't give him any more credit.He was domwn and out [08:01.07]If he couldn't get somethin to do he'd have to commit suicide. [08:06.32]'I looked at him for a bit.I could see now that he was all to pieces.He'd been drinking more than ususl [08:15.46]and he looked fifty.The girls wouldn't have thought so much of him if they'd seen him then. [08:23.14]"Well isn't there anything you can do except play cards?"I asked him. [08:29.02]"I can swim,"he said. [08:32.42]"Swim!" [08:34.64]'I could hardly believe my ears;it seemed such an insane answer to give. [08:40.54]"I swam for my university." [08:44.46]'I got some glimmering of what he was driving at. [08:49.03]I've known too many men who were little tin gods at their university to be impressed by it [08:55.85]"I was a pretty good swimmer myself when I was a young man,"I said. [09:01.15]'Suddenly I had an idea.' [09:04.76]Pausing in his story,Burton turned to me. [09:09.02]'Do you know Kobe?'he asked. [09:12.62]No,'I said, 'I passed through it once,but I only spent a night there.' [09:19.20]Then you don't know the Shioya Club.When I was a young man I swam from there round the beacon [09:27.56]and landed at the creek of TarumiIt's over three miles and it's rather difficult on account of the currents round the beacon [09:36.99]Well,I told my young namesade about it and I said to him that if he'd fo it I'd give him a job. [09:45.82]'I could see he was rather taken aback. [09:49.92]"you say you're a swimmer,"I said. [09:53.58]"I'm not in very good condition,"he answered. [09:58.18]'I didn't say anything.I shrugged my shoulders.He looked at me for a monment and then he nodded. [10:06.88]"All right,"he said."When do you want me to do it?" [10:12.18]'I looked at my watch.It was just after ten. [10:17.01]The swim shouldn't take you much over an hour and a quarter.I'll dreve round to the creek at half past twelve and meet you [10:26.02]I'll take you back to the club to dress and then we'll have lunch together [10:31.98]"Done,"he said. [10:35.12]We shook hands.I wished him good luck and he left me.I had a lot of work to do that morning [10:43.45]and I only just managed to the creek at Tarumi at half past twelve.But I needn't have hurried;he never turned up [10:54.00]'Did he funk it at the last moment?'I asked. [10:58.42]'No,he didn't funk it.He started all right.But of course he'd ruined his constitution by drink and dissipation. [11:07.35]The currents round the beacon were more than he could manage.We didn't get the body for about three days [11:15.81]I didn't say anything for a moment or two.I was a trifle shocked.Then I asked Burton a question. [11:24.12]'When you made him that offer of a job,did you know he'd be drowned?' [11:30.44]He gave a little mild chuckle and he looked at me with those kind and candid blue eyes of his. [11:36.66]He rubbed his chin with his hand. [11:40.34]"Well,I hadn't got a vacancy in my office at the moment.' [11:45.88]cruelty deceptive fellowman for sb's(own)part/the part of [11:52.73]殘忍 靠不住的 同胞 至于… [11:59.57]merchant definite (all) of a piece wrinkle [12:04.04]商人 明確的 渾然一體的 使起皺紋 [12:08.50]accordance elderly evidently affectionate [12:13.14]一致 較老的 明顯地 充滿愛的 [12:17.78]mild cocktail spicy something of [12:23.26]溫和的 雞尾酒 有刺激的 有點兒 [12:28.75]instinct lounge clap fizz [12:33.32]本能 休息室 拍手 起泡發(fā)嘶聲的飲料 [12:37.89]remittance oddly namesake uncanny [12:42.40]匯款 奇特地 同姓 不可思議的 [12:46.90]sip chap in a way curly [12:51.30]抿 家伙 在某種程度上 卷曲的 [12:55.71]with(a)bad/good grace stroke shave vein [13:01.43]勉強地 撫摩 刨 靜脈 [13:07.15]transparent broke hitherto stick to [13:11.72]透明的 破了產(chǎn)的 迄今 堅持 [13:16.29]trim pawn down and out commit [13:20.54]修剪 典當(dāng) 窮困潦倒 犯 [13:24.78]be/go(all)to pieces insane glimmering drive at [13:30.71]身體垮下來 荒唐的 模糊的感覺 要說 [13:36.64]beacon creek current aback [13:40.91]燈塔 小灣 潮流 猝不及防地 [13:45.18]in bad/good condition turn up funk constitution [13:51.24]身體狀況不好 來到 避開 體格 [13:57.30]dissipation trifle candid rub [14:01.72]放蕩 小事 真誠坦率的 摩擦 [14:06.94]空缺

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