365个英语简短小故事-179. The Driving Lesson (2)

“Whoa! Whoa! Stop! What are you doing?! Holy cow!” Webster, an inexperienced teenaged driver, had just turned left in front of two oncoming cars. Noah couldn’t believe it. The cars were heading west through the intersection², and Webster pulled out as if they weren’t even there. Fortunately, the two cars slowed down and let Webster complete his turn. How could he not have seen the cars, Noah wondered.

“Didn’t you see those two cars?” he asked Webster. "Yes," Webster answered. But because he was in the middle of the intersection waiting to make the left turn, he was worried that he was a sitting duck for other traffic. So he was just trying to get out of the intersection. Noah felt like he had just aged¹ 10 years. This was the second near-death collision³ in the last five minutes with his student driver. In his 40 years of driving, Noah couldn't remember a day like this.

He told Webster to pull over. They exchanged seats. Noah got back onto the 210 freeway, and headed west to Allen Ave. As he drove, he explained to Webster all the mistakes Webster had made earlier while driving on the 210. “I thought you passed driving school,” Noah said. Webster had, but he said that was two years ago, when he was 16. Since then, his mom hadn’t let him drive at all, because her car insurance didn’t cover Webster.

“Oh, so you’re really rusty⁴,” Noah said, understandingly. Not only was he rusty, Webster agreed, but 15 minutes ago was the first time he had ever driven on the freeway—he was scared to death, he told Noah. “Oh, jeez,” Noah said, sympathetically⁵. “Yeah, the first time you’re on the freeway, it’s really scary. But believe me, the surface streets are more dangerous. Every intersection is a crash waiting to happen.”

 

1 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

2 intersection   

n.交集，十字路口，交叉点；[计算机] 交集

参考例句：

• There is a stop sign at an intersection.在交叉路口处有停车标志。
• Bridges are used to avoid the intersection of a railway and a highway.桥用来避免铁路和公路直接交叉。

3 collision   

n.碰撞；(利益，意见等的)冲突，抵触

参考例句：

• The car was wrecked by its collision with a big lorry.这辆小轿车是由于和大卡车相撞而碰毁的。
• This collision had a very unusual cause.这次冲突有着非同寻常的原因。

4 rusty   

adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的

参考例句：

• The lock on the door is rusty and won't open.门上的锁锈住了。
• I haven't practiced my French for months and it's getting rusty.几个月不用，我的法语又荒疏了。

5 sympathetically   

adv.悲怜地，富有同情心地

参考例句：

• The teacher clucked sympathetically at the child's story. 对那小孩讲述的遭遇，老师啧啧地表示同情。
• They were all sympathetically disposed towards her bitter experience. 他们都对她的悲惨遭遇寄予同情。 来自《简明英汉词典》