365个英语简短小故事-317. Laundry Day (2)

When the timer made its loud beeping sound, Kerry went downstairs. As he turned the corner and neared the laundry¹ room, he heard the washer going. That didn’t make sense, he thought. The washer should be finished. Entering the laundry room, he saw his just-washed clothes piled on top of the dryer². His laundry basket, half full of unwashed clothes, was now sitting on the floor. Someone had set aside his laundry basket and put their own clothes into the washer. Their second load sat atop the washer. Irritated³, Kerry put his damp clothes into the dryer and turned it on. Then he walked over to his downstairs neighbor’s apartment. He knew who had “cut in line”—it was the maid⁴.

“Excuse me,” he told her, “you saw that I had a second load of clothes to wash. I was there ahead of you. Why didn’t you just wait till my second load was washed? That’s the polite thing to do.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” she said. “You see, I have to pick up my kids at four o’clock, so I needed to do the clothes quickly. I’m so sorry.” Kerry looked at her and shook his head. Don’t do anything wrong in the first place and you won’t have to apologize for it later, he thought. Had she waited her turn, she still would have finished doing her two loads by three o’clock. Me, me, me, Kerry thought—they should just rename this country “America.”

 

1 laundry   

n.洗衣店，洗衣房；已洗好的衣物，待洗衣物

参考例句：

• Please send clothes to the laundry.请把这些衣物送往洗衣店。
• There's a lot of laundry in the basket.筐子里有许多要洗的衣物。

2 dryer   

n.干衣机，干燥剂

参考例句：

• He bought a dryer yesterday.他昨天买了一台干燥机。
• There is a washer and a dryer in the basement.地下室里有洗衣机和烘干机。

3 irritated   

a.恼怒的

参考例句：

• His little affectations irritated her. 他的装腔作势令她不快。
• Her genteel accent irritated me. 她那矫揉造作的腔调使我感到难受。

4 maid   

n.少女，未婚女子，女仆

参考例句：

• I have sent my maid away.我已把我的女仆解雇了。
• A maid in white is walking along the boardwalk.一位白衣少女漫步于海边的木板路上。