365个英语简短小故事-187. Kill Those Flies (2)

The flies were less active late at night, but they often woke Hazel up when they walked on her face while she was sleeping. “Do something about these flies!” she yelled at Mel one day. “When you go to sleep tonight, have a new dream! Dream that God told you to close the front door and throw out all this rotting meat!”

Mel drove back to Wal-Mart and bought two dozen cans of insect spray. When he came home, he sprayed the whole house. The house stank¹. Many flies died, covering the floor and carpet. The kids got sick from the fumes². But the next day, more flies moved in. “I can’t take this anymore!” Hazel yelled at Mel. “You have a choice—me, or the flies.”

“We’ll move into the back yard,” he said.

“That’s your solution? We have a perfectly³ good house, but we’re going to live outside in the back yard?”

“Not outside—inside,” he told his wife. “I’ll just build another house in the back yard.”

“Are we going to feed the flies in that house, too?”

“Of course not—unless God tells me to. And if He does, then I’ll build a third house in the back yard. We’ve got a big back yard, honey.”

“Yes, it’s big, but it’s not big enough for all the flies in the world.”

 

1 stank   

n. (英)坝，堰，池塘 动词stink的过去式

参考例句：

• Her breath stank of garlic. 她嘴里有股大蒜味。
• The place stank of decayed fish. 那地方有烂鱼的臭味。

2 fumes   

n.(强烈而刺激的)气味，气体

参考例句：

• The health of our children is being endangered by exhaust fumes. 我们孩子们的健康正受到排放出的废气的损害。
• Exhaust fumes are bad for your health. 废气对健康有害。

3 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。