胡敏讀故事記托福詞匯138：新洗衣店 The New Laundry
Bruno Pirelli proudly took a lease on premises for his new laundry last week. It had required a big leap of faith to get this project completed. A rival had leaked Bruno’s plans to the press. This had led to noisy demonstrations by opponents on the lawn in front of his residence. It had required a great deal of maneuvering to get those demonstrators leashed in and to lay those protests to rest. Then came the lawsuit to try to stop him. Bruno was forced to spend a great deal of time in court, defending the proposed layout of the laundry. Next there was the compromise that had to be reached with the leading opponent of his plans. Then it turned out that the hot water pipes were leaking. Bruno had to negotiate hard with the landlord—a leading Hollywood actor---to get those leaky pipes replaced. Only when that matter had been settled, had Bruno finally decided to lease those premises.
上個星期，布魯諾皮列里驕傲地拿到了他的新洗衣店的房屋租約。完成這項工程需要在信仰上有一個大躍進。一個競爭對手已經(jīng)把布魯諾的計劃泄露給了新聞界。這引起反對者在他家房子前的草坪上舉行了喧鬧的集會。約束住集會者，并且使那些反對者平息需要很巧妙的引導(dǎo)。接著是企圖阻止他行到的訴訟。布魯諾被迫在法庭上花了很多時間，為洗衣店的設(shè)計方案進行辯護。下一步，必須和他的計劃的主要反對者達成和解。然后，發(fā)現(xiàn)熱水管居然漏了。為了更換那些漏的管道，布魯諾和身為好萊塢主要的男演員的房東進行了艱苦的磋商。當(dāng)那件事情解決完之后，布魯諾才最終決定租賃那些房屋。
The premises were magnificent. The walls consisted of alternative layers of granite and lava from Mount Etna (to remind him of his native Sicily). This layering produced a striking effect and had been commented on favorably in the press.
房子很華麗。墻壁是由來自艾特那山的花崗巖和熔巖層交替組成的(使他想起他的家鄉(xiāng)西西里)。這種分層堆砌的方式造成了驚人的效果，報刊對此給予了好評。
Now it was time for the inaugural party, a lavish affair. Just to make sure nothing would go wrong, several of Bruno’s assistants stood at a discreet distance, each with a pit bull terrier on leash. Bruno was proud to have become a leading member of San Francisco’s Italian community, having recently been elected to a position of a leadership in the Italian Chamber of Commerce. This clearly put him in the big league. Still, Bruno was fully aware that he would not be able to rest on his laurels
現(xiàn)在是舉行開業(yè)宴會的時候了，這是一個鋪張的活動。為了保證不發(fā)生意外，布魯諾的幾個助手站在不顯眼的遠處，每個人手里都牽著一個拴著狗皮帶的好斗的雜種狗。布魯諾最近被選入意大利商會的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)層，他非常驕傲能成為舊金山的意大利人團體的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)成員。這顯然使他進入了大型聯(lián)盟。不過，布魯諾清楚地知道，他不能停留在自己的桂冠上而不思進取。
Words:
laundry n. 洗衣店，洗熨
laurel n. 月桂樹，桂冠
lava n. 熔巖，巖漿
lavish adj. 過分豐富的，浪費的
lawn n. 草地，草坪，草場
lawsuit n. 訴訟
lay vt. 產(chǎn)卵，下蛋，使…處于某狀態(tài)或情況
layer n. 層，層次，階層
layering n. 分層堆積
layout n. 規(guī)劃，設(shè)計
leadership n. 領(lǐng)導(dǎo)能力，領(lǐng)導(dǎo)階層
leading adj. 最主要的，主演的
league n. 同盟，聯(lián)盟，聯(lián)合會
leak vt. 漏，滲，泄露
leaky adj. 漏的
leap n./vi. 漏的
lease n. 租約 vt. 出租，租借
leash n. 牽狗皮帶 v. 束縛，約束
