美国故事 SENEWS-2005-0917-Feature

Now the weekly Special English program American Stories. Our story today is called the Line of Least Resistance¹(最省力的方法). It was written by Edith Wharton. Here is Larry West with the story.

Mr. Mindon returned home for lunch. His wife Millicent was not at home. The servants did not know where she was. Mr. Mindon sat alone at a table in the garden. He ate a small piece of meat and drank some mineral water. Mr. Mindon always ate simple meals because he had problems with his stomach. Why then did he keep a cook among his servants? Because his wife, Millicent, liked to invite her friends to big dinners and serve them rare and expensive food and wine.

Mr. Mindon did not enjoy his wife's parties. Millicent complained that he did not know how to enjoy life. She did a lot of things that he did not like. Millicent wasted Mr. Mindon's money and was unpleasant to him. But he never got angry with his wife.

After eating, Mr. Mindon took a walk through his house. He did not stay long in the living room. It reminded him of all the hours he had spent there at his wife's parties. The sight of the formal dining room made him feel even more uncomfortable. He remembered the long dinners where he had to talk to his wife's friends for hours. They never seemed very interested in what he was saying.

Mr. Mindon walked quickly past the ballroom² where his wife danced with her friends. He would go to bed after dinner, but he could hear the orchestra³ playing until three in the morning.

Mr. Mindon walked into the library. No one in the house ever read any of the books. But Mr. Mindon was proud to be rich enough to have a perfectly⁴ useless room in his house.

He went into the sunny little room where his wife planned her busy days and evenings. Her writing table was covered with notes and cards from all her friends. Her wastepaper basket was full of empty envelopes that had carried invitations to lunches, dinners, and theater parties.

Mr. Mindon saw a letter crushed⁵ into a small ball on the floor. He bent⁶ to pick it up. Just as he was about to throw it into the wastepaper basket, he noticed that the letter was signed by his business partner, Thomas Antrim. But Antrim's letter to Mr. Mindon's wife was not about business. As Mr. Mindon read it, he felt as if his mind was spinning out of control. He sat down heavily in the chair near his wife's little writing table.

Now the room looked cold and unfamiliar⁷. "Who are you?" the walls seemed to say. "Who am I?" Mr. Mindon said in a loud voice. "I'll tell you who I am! I am the man who paid for every piece of furniture in this room. If it were not for me and my money, this room would be empty!" Suddenly, Mr. Mindon felt taller. He marched across his wife's room. It belonged to him, didn't it? The house belonged to him, too. He felt powerful. He sat at the table and wrote a letter to Millicent.

One of the servants came into the room. "Did you call, sir?" he asked.

"No," Mr. Mindon replied, "but since you are here, please telephone for a taxi cab⁸ at once." The taxi took him to a hotel near his bank. A clerk showed him to his room. It smelled of cheap soap. The window in the room was open and hot noises came up from the street.

Mr. Mindon looked at his watch. Four o'clock. He wondered if Millicent had come home yet and read his letter. His head began to ache and Mr. Mindon lay down on a bed. When he woke up, it was dark. He looked at his watch. Eight o'clock. Millicent must be dressing⁹ for dinner. They were supposed to go to Mrs. Targe's house for dinner tonight. Well, Mr. Mindon thought, Millicent would have to go alone. Maybe she would ask Thomas Antrim to take her to the party.

Mr. Mindon realized he was hungry. He left his room and walked down the stairs to the hotel dining room. The air, smelling of coffee and fried¹⁰ food, wrapped itself around his head.


Mr. Mindon could not eat much of the food that the hotel waiter brought him. He went back to his room, feeling sick. He also felt hot and dirty in the clothing he had worn all day. He had never realized how much he loved his home.

Someone knocked at his door. Mr. Mindon jumped to his feet. "Mindon," a voice asked. "Are you there?" Mr. Mindon recognized that voice. It belonged to Laurence Meysy. Thirty years ago Meysy had been very popular with women-especially with other men's wives. As a young man he had interfered¹¹ in many marriages. Now, in his old age, Laurence Meysy had become a kind of "marriage doctor." He helped husbands and wives save their marriages.

Mr. Mindon began to feel better as soon as Laurence Meysy walked into his hotel room. Two men followed him. One was Mr. Mindon's rich uncle Ezra Brownrigg. The other was the Reverend Doctor Bonifant, the minister of Saint¹² Luke's church where Mr. Mindon and his family prayed every Sunday.

Mr. Mindon looked at the three men and felt very proud that they had come to help him. For the first time in his married life, Mr. Mindon felt as important as his wife Millicent.

Laurence Meysy sat on the edge of the bed and lit a cigarette. "Mrs. Mindon sent for me," he said. Mr. Mindon could not help feeling proud of Millicent. She had done the right thing. Meysy continued. "She showed me your letter. She asks you for mercy." Meysy paused, and then said, "The poor woman is very unhappy. And we have come here to ask you what you plan to do."

Now Mr. Mindon began to feel uncomfortable. "To do?" he asked. "To do? Well, I plan to, to leave her."

Meysy stopped smoking his cigarette. "Do you want to divorce¹³ her?" he asked.

"Why, yes, yes!" Mr. Mindon replied.

Meysy knocked the ashes from his cigarette. "Are you absolutely sure that you want to do this?" he asked.

Mr. Mindon nodded his head. "I plan to divorce her," he said loudly.

Mr. Mindon began to feel very excited. It was the first time he had ever had so many people sitting and listening to him. He told his audience everything, beginning with his discovery of his wife's love affair with his business partner and ending with his complaints about her expensive dinner parties.

His uncle looked at his watch. Doctor Bonifant began to stare out of the hotel window. Meysy stood up. "Do you plan to dishonor yourself then?" he asked. "No one knows what has happened. You are the only one who can reveal¹⁴ the secret. You will make yourself look foolish."

Mr. Mindon tried to rise, but he fell back weakly. The three men picked up their hats. In another moment they would be gone. When they left, Mr. Mindon would lose his audience, and his belief in himself and his decision. "I won't leave for New York until tomorrow," he whispered. Laurence Meysy smiled.

"Tomorrow will be too late," he said. "Tomorrow everyone will know you are here." Meysy opened the hotel room door. Mr. Brownrigg and Doctor Bonifant walked out of the room.

Meysy turned to follow them when he felt Mr. Mindon's hand grab¹⁵ his arm. "I, I will come with you," Mr. Mindon sighed. "It's, it's for the children." Laurence Meysy nodded as Mr. Mindon walked out of the room. He closed the door gently.

You have just heard the story the Line of Least Resistance. It was written by Edith Wharton and adapted for Special English by Donald Discenctus. Your storyteller was Larry West. For VOA Special English, this is Shep O'Neal.



美国女作家Edith Wharton(1862～1937)出生纽约上层家庭。其作品《纯真年代》(The Age of Innocence)和《欢乐之家》(The House of Mirth)列入20世纪百大英文小说。1921年，《纯真年代》(The Age of Innocence)获普立兹文学奖（pulitzer）。

1 resistance   

n.抵抗力，反抗，反抗行动；阻力，电阻；反对；adj.抵抗的

参考例句：

• Very little resistance was put up by the enemy.敌人没怎么进行抵抗。
• An aircraft has to overcome the resistance of the air.飞机须克服空气的阻力。

2 ballroom   

n.舞厅

参考例句：

• The boss of the ballroom excused them the fee.舞厅老板给他们免费。
• I go ballroom dancing twice a week.我一个星期跳两次交际舞。

3 orchestra   

n.管弦乐队；vt.命令，定购

参考例句：

• He plays the violin in an orchestra.他在管弦乐队中演奏小提琴。
• I was tempted to stay and hear this superb orchestra rehearse.我真想留下来听这支高超的管弦乐队排练。

4 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。

5 crushed   

a.压碎的，倒碎的

参考例句：

• The car was completely crushed under the truck. 小轿车被卡车压得完全变形了。
• The box was crushed when the car ran over it. 汽车辗过箱子时把它给压碎了。

6 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

7 unfamiliar   

adj.陌生的，不熟悉的

参考例句：

• I am unfamiliar with the place and the people here.我在这儿人地生疏。
• The man seemed unfamiliar to me.这人很面生。

8 cab   

n.计程车，出租车，出租单马车；vi.乘出租马车

参考例句：

• The cab drove over his legs.马车从他腿上碾过。
• Shall we walk or take a cab?我们步行还是坐出租车？

9 dressing   

n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料

参考例句：

• Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
• The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。

10 fried   

adj.油煎的；油炒的

参考例句：

• I ate everything fried.所有油炸的我都吃。
• I prefer fried peanuts.我选择炸花生。

11 interfered   

v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉

参考例句：

• Complete absorption in sports interfered with his studies. 专注于运动妨碍了他的学业。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I am not going to be interfered with. 我不想别人干扰我的事情。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 saint   

n.圣徒；基督教徒；vt.成为圣徒，把...视为圣徒

参考例句：

• He was made a saint.他被封为圣人。
• The saint had a lowly heart.圣人有谦诚之心。

13 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。

14 reveal   

vt.揭露，泄露；展现，显示

参考例句：

• The journalist did not want to reveal the identity of his informant.那个新闻工作者不想透露消息提供人的身份。
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes.它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。

15 grab   

vt./n.攫取，抓取；vi.攫取，抓住(at)

参考例句：

• It is rude to grab a seat.抢占座位是不礼貌的。
• The thief made a grab at my bag but I pushed him away.贼想抢我的手提包，但被我推开了。