胡敏讀故事記托福詞匯148：向往舒適的生活 dreaming of a better life
"A torn membrane can be a massive thing to mean, quite a menace actually,” Graig Aclan said to himself, shaking his head as he tackled the customers’ loudspeaker system. And besides, a task like this is the most minion type of work imaginable. There is very little merit in it.
“一張被撕破的薄膜太雜亂，很難修補，其實，它是相當危險的東西。”格雷戈里·艾格拉斯自言自語道，他邊擺弄顧客拿來的擴音設(shè)備，邊搖頭。“再說了，這是能夠想象得到的最卑賤的工作了，一點價值也沒有。”
The sun had reached its meridian, and Graig was ready for his lunch break. He stepped outside and had a look at the greenage observatory. The sight of the zero meridian, the sight of the splendid building mesmerized him and he began to philosophies.
太陽已經(jīng)升到子午線，格雷戈里也準備吃午飯了。他走出門去，看了一眼格林威治天文臺，這里是零度子午線經(jīng)過的地方。他被那棟輝煌的大廈迷住了，不覺陷入了沉思。
“If only I listened to my Dad and become a merchant,” he mused with regret, “fate would surely be much more merciful to me than it is now, a life as a mercantile agent, that would be good one.”
“如果我聽從爸爸的勸告成為一名商人該多好!”他不無遺憾地思忖著“毫無疑問，命運對我會比現(xiàn)在仁慈得多。做個商業(yè)經(jīng)紀人，那應(yīng)該不錯。”
Sending memorandums, shipping merchandise around the world, arranging companies to merge, those were the kinds of activities Graig is daydreaming about.
發(fā)送備忘錄，把商品運往世界各地，組織公司合并，這些是格雷戈里夢寐以求的事情。
“What’s on the menu today?” he enquired as he stepped into the Goose & Dog, his favorite pub in the area.
“今天菜單上都有些什么?”他踏進了附近他最喜歡去的酒店“鵝與鴨”。
“Food’s off for the next 2 weeks, the kitchen is being renovated.” Said Bridget, the bar maid. “Didn’t you read the memo we sent you?”
女招待員布里奇特回答說：“最近兩個星期之內(nèi)都不會有飯菜供應(yīng)了，廚房正在重新裝修。你難道沒有看見我們發(fā)給你的備忘錄嗎?”
“I can’t memorize every single memo I get in my email, especially if it’s nothing memorable.” Graig grumbled with discontent, and stepped back out of the pub.
“我沒法記住我的電子郵件中的每一份備忘錄，尤其是如果它沒有什么值得記憶的東西。”格雷戈里嘟噥道，離開了酒店。
With a jolt, he realized that today was a memorable day, his father had passed away exactly one year ago and at 3 o’clock there would be a memorial service. He quickly grabbed a sandwich at the shop next to the pub and rushed home, so as not to be late. He forgot all about the loudspeaker system with the torn membrane.
突然間，他意識到今天是個難忘的日子。他父親在一年前的今天去世了，下午三點鐘將會有一個蘭己念活動。他去酒店隔壁的小店里抓了一個三明治，隨后/家趕，生怕遲到了。他己經(jīng)把那個撕破了薄膜的擴音設(shè)備忘得一干二凈。
Words
membrane n. 膜，薄膜
memo n. 備忘錄
memorable adj. 難忘的
memorandum n. 備忘錄，便箋
memorial n. 紀念物 adj. 紀念的
memorize vt. 紀念，記憶，記住
menace n. 危險物 vt. 威嚇，脅迫
mend vt. 修補，改進
menial adj. 仆人的，卑賤的
menu n. 菜單，選擇單
mercantile adj. 商業(yè)的，貿(mào)易的
merchandise n. 商品
merchant n. 商人
merciful adj. 仁慈的，寬大的
merge v. (使)合作，(使)融合
meridian n. 子午線
merit n. 優(yōu)點，價值
mesmerize vt. 施催眠術(shù)，使人迷，迷住
messy adj. 骯臟的，凌亂的，雜亂的
