365个英语简短小故事-75. A Woman Has Needs

Wally asked Anita how her daughter Heather was doing. Heather had always been a dutiful, loving daughter. She got married about 10 years ago, at the age of 23. It was the first marriage for her and her husband Ben. They had two kids. Everything seemed fine, even though Heather was the only one working. Ben had gotten laid off two years ago. He was still looking for work.

They were fortunate because Heather’s grandma loved her to death. She had bought a house for Heather as a wedding gift, so Ben and Heather had no mortgage¹ to pay. Not one penny. Grandma asked only that Heather call her twice a month. Recently, grandma had asked Anita what was wrong with Heather. Anita said she didn’t understand—nothing was wrong. “Then why hasn’t she called?” grandma asked. Anita said she would talk to Heather.

She left several messages, but Heather didn’t call back. Anita drove over to the house. Ben was home, taking care of the kids.

“Where’s Heather?” Anita asked.

“She went to the beach,” Ben told her.

“Without you and the kids?” Ben was reluctant² to talk, but he did. Heather had started smoking again. Even worse, she had found a boyfriend. She had met this guy at work, and things got out of hand. Ben didn’t know what to do. If he filed for divorce³, he might be out on the street with two kids to support. If he didn’t get a divorce, he had to live with the humiliation⁴ of being supported by a wife who was cheating on him.

Anita was astounded⁵ at her daughter’s selfish actions. She drove home and called her mom. Grandma said that hopefully it was just a phase⁶ that Heather was going through. She told Anita to make sure to remind Heather to call.

 

1 mortgage   

n.抵押，抵押贷款；vt.抵押

参考例句：

• He's having a lot of trouble paying his mortgage every month.他付每月的抵押借款利息有很大的困难。
• The bank refused to accept any mortgage on land.银行拒绝接受任何土地抵押。

2 reluctant   

adj.不愿意的；迟迟不合作的；不同意的

参考例句：

• The workers are reluctant to be ordered around by the employers.工人们不愿被雇主们差来遣去地随便使唤。
• I am reluctant about asking him to do this.我极不愿意让他去干此事。

3 divorce   

n.离婚；分离；vi.离婚；vt.离婚；脱离

参考例句：

• Did he divorce his wife or did she divorce him?是他要和妻子离婚，还是妻子要和他离婚？
• None of us like the divorce of word and deed.我们都不喜欢言行不一。

4 humiliation   

n.羞辱

参考例句：

• He suffered the humiliation of being forced to ask for his cards.他蒙受了被迫要求辞职的羞辱。
• He will wish to revenge his humiliation in last Season's Final.他会为在上个季度的决赛中所受的耻辱而报复的。

5 astounded   

v.使震惊(astound的过去式和过去分词)；愕然；愕；惊讶

参考例句：

• His arrogance astounded her. 他的傲慢使她震惊。
• How can you say that? I'm absolutely astounded. 你怎么能说出那种话？我感到大为震惊。

6 phase   

n.相位，时期，局面，阶段；vt.逐步执行，实行，按计划进行

参考例句：

• The first phase of the project has been completed.第一期工程已经告一段落。
• It was a very important phase of history.它是一个非常重要的历史阶段。