美国故事 SENEWS-2007-0331-Feature

Now the Special English program American Stories. Our story today is called "Miriam". It was written by Truman Capote. Here is Kay Gallant¹ with the story.

Mrs. Henry Miller² had lived alone for several years. Her husband was dead. But he had left her a comfortable amount of money. He also had left her a nice apartment in New York City near the East River. There were three other apartments in the large brown building where Mrs. Miller lived with her bird, a yellow canary named Tommy.

Mrs. Miller was 61 years old. She had no friends and no special interests. One evening in January, Mrs. Miller saw an advertisement for a movie. It looked so interesting that Mrs. Miller decided³ to go to see it. There was a long line of people waiting to buy tickets for the movie. Mrs. Miller stood at the end of the line. Looking around her, Mrs. Miller noticed a little girl standing⁴ near the line. The child's hair was absolutely white, silver white in fact. The child was thin and delicate⁵. She wore a blue silk dress under her red velvet⁶ coat. Mrs. Miller felt strangely excited and when the little girl looked at her, Mrs. Miller gave her a warm smile. The little girl walked over to her and said, "Would you do me a favor⁷? Would you buy a ticket for me? They won't let me go into the movies alone." She handed Mrs. Miller the money and they stood together in the line.

Mrs. Miller felt there was something strange about the little girl. Her eyes were grey and very large. But they did not seem like the eyes of a child.

"What's your name, dear?" Mrs. Miller asked.

"Miriam." The child replied.

Mrs. Miller smiled. "Why? Isn't that funny? That's my name, too. I'm Miriam Miller."

The little girl was silent⁸. By this time they had reached the ticket office. Mrs. Miller bought two tickets. She gave one to Miriam and said, "It was nice to have met you but I must go now." Miriam just nodded her head.

The next week, one evening after dinner, Mrs. Miller's doorbell rang. She opened the door, the little girl in the red coat was standing there.

"Hello," said Miriam. Mrs. Miller did not know what to say. Miriam stepped into the apartment. She took off her red velvet coat and dropped it on the chair. The dress made a soft swishing sound as Miriam in walked around the room.

"What do you want?" Mrs. Miller asked, "And how did you know where I live?"

Miriam laughed. "Let's talk about something else." She said. She walked over to the birdcage which was covered by a piece of cloth.

Mrs. Miller raised her voice, "Leave my bird alone."

"All right," Miriam said, "but I'm hungry."

"Look," Mrs. Miller said, "if I prepare something for you to eat, will you be a good girl and go home?"

"I promise." the little girl said.

Mrs. Miller's hands were shaking as she made the sandwich and poured a glass of milk for Miriam. She kept asking herself who this little girl was and why she had come to her house. Mrs. Miller carried the food into the living room. The room was empty. Mrs. Miller began to feel a little frightened. She went into her bedroom. Her jewelry⁹ box was open and Miriam was looking at Mrs. Miller's jewels. The child turned to the old woman looking deeply¹⁰ into her eyes.

"I want this pearl¹¹ necklace." She told her.

"Put that back!" Mrs. Miller ordered, "You can't have it. That necklace was a gift from my husband."

"But I want it!" Miriam insisted, "It's beautiful. Give it to me!"

Mrs. Miller suddenly felt very weak. She felt as if she were going to faint¹². Miriam put on the pearl necklace and went into the living room. She ate the sandwich and drank the milk quickly.

"That was very nice," she said when she had finished the food, "but I wish I had some cookies or chocolates."

Mrs. Miller sat on a sofa. Her face was very white and her eyes were staring in the space. "You promised to leave if I made the sandwich," she said.

Miriam picked up her coat and put it on, then she walked to Mrs. Miller. "Kiss me good night," she ordered.

Mrs. Miller trembled¹³. "Please!" The old woman whispered¹⁴, "I … I don't want to."

"All right." Miriam said, lifting in the eyebrow¹⁵. She walked slowly to the door, turned and looked at Mrs. Miller then she was gone.

Mrs. Miller spent the next day in bed. The day after that Mrs. Miller woke up feeling much better. The sun was shining and when she opened her bedroom window she discovered the weather felt almost like spring. The day was so beautiful she decided to walk along the wide avenues¹⁶ of New York's Eastside. When she came to a bakery shop something strange happened.

Mrs. Miller could not stop her feet from carrying her inside the store. She spent ten dollars for a bag of chocolates and some cookies. The weather had changed again by the time Mrs. Miller came out of the bakery shop. Winter clouds threw grey shadows over the sun. A cold wind blew in the streets. Soon snow began to fall. Mrs. Miller hurried home. As soon as she entered her apartment, she put the chocolates on a plate with the cookies. At exactly five o'clock the doorbell rang.

"It that you?" Mrs. Miller called.

"Of course," answered Miriam, "open the door!"

"Go away!" said Mrs. Miller. She sat down on a sofa. Mrs. Miller did not move for ten minutes. Then she walked quietly to the door and opened it a little bit. Miriam was sitting on a large box outside the door. She was holding a beautiful French doll.

"Really," Miriam said, "I thought you'll never open this door. Help me get this box into your apartment. It's very heavy."

Mrs. Miller felt as if she were in a dream as she carried the heavy box into her living room. Miriam sat on the sofa, watching Mrs. Miller. She picked up a chocolate and put it into her mouth.

"I've come to live with you." she said.

Mrs. Miller's face turned into a mess of ugly red lines. She began to cry and ran out of her apartment. She ran down the steps and began knocking loudly at the first door she came to. A short man with red hair opened the door, a young woman stood behind him.

"Please!" cried Mrs. Miller, "I'm your neighbor. I live upstairs." She covered her face with her hands, "I know I sound crazy, but I'm afraid of a little girl in my apartment. She won't leave. She's already stolen my pearl necklace and I just know she wants to do something terrible to me."

"Calm down," the young woman said, "Harry¹⁷ will go upstairs and take care of her."

Mrs. Miller sat down, "You're very kind," she told the young woman, "and I'm sorry to cause you any trouble."

After a few minutes, they heard Henry coming down the stairs. Harry came into his apartment shaking his head, "nobody is there." He said. Mrs. Miller stood up. "Did you see a large box or a doll?"

"No mam," Henry said slowly.

Mrs. Miller went back to her apartment. The chocolates and cookies were still there but the room was empty. "Where was Miriam? Where was she?"

Mrs. Miller sat down. The room was dark and getting darker. Mrs. Miller closed her eyes and began thinking. Maybe there was no girl named Miriam. Maybe she had imagined everything like in a dream. Mrs. Miller began to feel better. She was Mrs. Henry Miller. She lived in this apartment. She cooked her own meals, she owned the canary. Mrs. Miller knew who she was. She felt safe and relaxed. Then she heard the sounds coming from her bedroom. Someone was opening and closing the drawers of her bureau¹⁸. Mrs. Miller sat with her eyes closed tightly¹⁹. She heard the soft swishing sound of a silk dress. The sound grew louder and louder until the walls of the apartment began to shake. Mrs. Miller opened her eyes.

"Hello." said Miriam.

You have just heard the story called "Miriam". It was written by Truman Capote and adapted for Special English by Donald D. It was published by the K. Company in 1967. Your storyteller was Kay Gallant. This is Shep O'Neal.

1 gallant   

adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的

参考例句：

• Huang Jiguang's gallant deed is known by all men. 黄继光的英勇事迹尽人皆知。
• These gallant soldiers will protect our country.这些勇敢的士兵会保卫我们的国家的。

2 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

5 delicate   

adj.巧妙的，敏感的；易损的，娇嫩的

参考例句：

• Be careful with those wine cups — they are very delicate.当心那些酒杯—它们很容易碎。
• The delicate handicraft works will not bear rough handling.精致的手工艺品经不起粗鲁的摆弄。

6 velvet   

n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的

参考例句：

• This material feels like velvet.这料子摸起来像丝绒。
• The new settlers wore the finest silk and velvet clothing.新来的移民穿着最华丽的丝绸和天鹅绒衣服。

7 favor   

n.好感；赞同；好事；vt.赞同，喜爱；有利于

参考例句：

• She is out of favor with her employer.她失去了雇主的欢心。
• The new teacher finds favor in the eyes of the parents.那位新老师很受家长的欢迎。

8 silent   

adj.安静的，不吵闹的，沉默的，无言的；n.(复数)默剧

参考例句：

• Immediately on his beginning to speak,everyone was silent.他一讲话，大家顿时安静下来。
• The boys looked at the conjuror in silent wonder. 孩子们目瞪口呆地看着那魔术师。

9 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

10 deeply   

adv.深刻地，在深处，深沉地

参考例句：

• I do feel deeply the strength of the collective.我确实深深地感到了集体的力量。
• We're deeply honoured that you should agree to join us.您能同意加入我们，我们感到很荣幸。

11 pearl   

n.珍珠，珍珠母

参考例句：

• He bought his girlfriend a pearl necklace.他给他女朋友买了一条珍珠项链。
• The crane and the mother-of-pearl fight to death.鹬蚌相争。

12 faint   

n.昏厥，昏倒；adj.微弱的，无力的，模糊的；vi.昏倒，变得微弱

参考例句：

• He felt faint at the sight of blood.他一见到血就发晕了。
• She threw me a faint smile.她对我微微一笑。

13 trembled   

v.发抖( tremble的过去式和过去分词 )；焦虑；颤动；轻轻摇晃

参考例句：

• They all trembled at the prospect of an enemy invasion. 他们想到敌人可能入侵都不寒而栗。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The whole house trembled as the train went by. 火车开过时，整座房子都颤动了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 whispered   

adj.耳语的，低语的v.低声说( whisper的过去式和过去分词 )；私语；小声说；私下说

参考例句：

• She sidled up to me and whispered something in my ear. 她悄悄走上前来，对我耳语了几句。
• His ill luck has been whispered about the neighborhood. 他的不幸遭遇已在邻居中传开。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 eyebrow   

n.眉毛，眉

参考例句：

• Her eyebrow is well penciled.她的眉毛画得很好。
• With an eyebrow raised,he seemed divided between surprise and amusement.他一只眉毛扬了扬，似乎既感到吃惊，又觉有趣。

16 avenues   

n.林阴道( avenue的名词复数 )；大街；途径；手段

参考例句：

• The avenues of the city were crowded with people. 城里大街上挤满了人群。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Avenues radiate from the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. 在巴黎，街道以凯旋门为中心向四方伸展。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

18 bureau   

n.提供或收集消息的机构；局，司，处；署

参考例句：

• The weather bureau makes daily reports on weather conditions.气象局每天报告天气状况。
• The Tourist Bureau arranged everything for our journey to Rome.旅游局已为我们去罗马旅行准备了一切。

19 tightly   

adv.紧紧地，坚固地，牢固地

参考例句：

• My child holds onto my hand tightly while we cross the street.横穿马路时，孩子紧拉着我的手不放。
• The crowd pressed together so tightly that we could hardly breathe.人群挤在一起，我们几乎喘不过气来。