人教全日制普通高中英语（必修）高三UNIT10-1

One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one or two at a time by bargaining at the grocery, at the bakery and the butcher's until one's cheeks burnt. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas. Della wept.
 
       They lived in a furnished flat at $8 per week. The place was shabby. In the hall below was a mailbox into which no letter Would go. There was an electric bell that did not work, with a card next to it beating the name "Mr James Dillingham Young".
 
       Della finished crying and attended to her cheeks with the powder rag. She stood by the window and looked out at a grey cat walking along a grey fence in a grey backyard. Tomorrow would be Christmas Day, and she had only $1.87 with which to buy Jim a present. She had been saving¹ every penny she could for months, with this result. Twenty dollars a week does not go far. Expenses had been greater than she had calculated². They always are. Only $1.87 to buy a present for Jim. Her Jim. Many happy hours had she spent, planning for something nice for him. Something fine and rare --something worthy³ of the honor⁴ of being owned by Jim.
 
      There were two possessions of the James Dillingham Youngs in which they both took great pride. One was Jim's gold watch that had been his father's and his grandfather' s. The other was Delia's hair.
 
      Suddenly Della walked to the mirror. Her eyes were shining, but her face had lost its color within twenty seconds. She pulled down her hair and let it fall to its full length. So now Della's long, beautiful hair fell about her shoulders like a cascade⁵ of brown waters. It reached below her knee and made itself almost a garment for her. And then she quickly did it up again. She hesitated for a minute and stood still while a tear or two fell on the worn red carpet.
 
       She put on her old brown jacket and her old brown hat, and ran out of the door and down the stairs to the street. She looked at several barbershops, and finally stopped at a sign that read: "Madame Sofronie. Hair Goods of All Kinds." Della ran up one flight of stairs.
 
      "Will you buy my hair?;' asked Della. "I buy hair," said Madame. "Take off your hat and let's have a look at it." Down flowed the brown cascade. "Twenty dollars," said Madame, lifting the mass with a practised hand. "Give it to me quick," said Della. The next two hours she was searching the stores for Jim's present.
 
      She found it at last. It was really something that had been made for Jim and no. one else. There was no other like it in any of the stores, and she had turned all of them inside out. It was a gold watch chain. It was worthy of the Watch. As soon as she saw it, she knew that it must be Jim's. It was just right for him. Twenty-one dollars they took from her for it, and she hurried home with the 87 cents. With that chain on his watch Jim might be properly anxious about the time in any company.
 
      When Della reached home she quickly sat down to do her hair. Within forty minutes her head was covered with tiny curls⁶ that made her look like a little schoolgirl. She looked at herself in the mirror for a long time. "If Jim doesn't kill me," she said to herself, "before he takes a second look at me, he'll say I look like a Coney Island choir⁷ girl. But what could I do -- Oh! What could I do with a dollar and eighty- seven cents?"

1 saving   

n.节省，节约；[pl.]储蓄金，存款

参考例句：

• Energy saving is term strategic policy of our country.节约能源是我国长期的战略国策。
• Old-fashioned housewives were usually very saving.旧时的家庭主妇通常都很节俭。

2 calculated   

adj.蓄意的

参考例句：

• Cash income is calculated by subtracting total trading income from total receipts. 现金收入是从总收入中减去总贸易收入来计算的。
• I calculated that the trip would take two days. 我估计这段路程要走两天时间。

3 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。

4 honor   

n.光荣；敬意；荣幸；vt.给…以荣誉；尊敬

参考例句：

• I take your visit as a great honor.您的来访是我莫大的光荣。
• It is a great honor to receive that prize.能拿到那个奖是无上的光荣。

5 cascade   

n.小瀑布，喷流；层叠；vi.成瀑布落下

参考例句：

• She watched the magnificent waterfall cascade down the mountainside.她看着壮观的瀑布从山坡上倾泻而下。
• Her hair fell over her shoulders in a cascade of curls.她的卷发像瀑布一样垂在肩上。

6 curls   

n.一绺鬈发( curl的名词复数 )；卷曲物；螺旋状物；（指头发）拳曲v.（使）弯曲( curl的第三人称单数 )；（使）卷曲；盘旋；缠绕

参考例句：

• His hair curls naturally. 他的头发天生鬈曲。
• Her hair fell over her shoulders in a cascade of curls. 她的卷发像瀑布一样垂在肩上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 choir   

n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱

参考例句：

• The choir sang the words out with great vigor.合唱团以极大的热情唱出了歌词。
• The church choir is singing tonight.今晚教堂歌唱队要唱诗。