听美国故事练听力 11

　　Our story today is called “Charles”, it was written by ShirleyJackson. Here is K Glant with the story.
The day my son Lorry¹ started going to school, he began wearing bluejeans with the belt. I watched him leave with the older girl who livenext door. I clearly saw that this was the end of a period in my life.
My sweet-voiced baby had suddenly changed. He was now a little man whowas too full of himself to say goodbye to his mother. My son came homethe same way. He shut the front door hard, threw his hat on the floorand shouted,"Isn't anybody here?”
At lunch, he spoke² roughly⁴ to his father.
“How was school today ?” I asked.
“Oh, all right.” He said.
His father asked if he had learned⁵ anything. Lorry looked at hisfather coldly. He said he had learned nothing.
“The teacher punished a boy though,” Lorry said with his mouth fullof bread and butter.
“What did he do?” I asked, " who was it?”
Lorry thought for a minute, “it was Charles!” he said, “Charles wasbad. "The teacher hit him and made him stand in a corner. He was verybad.”
“What did he do?” I asked again, but Lorry slid off his chair, tooka cookie and left while his father was still saying “See here, youngman.”
The next day Lorry said at lunch, "Well, Charles was bad again today.
Today Charles hit the teacher.”
“Good, Heavens!" I said, “I suppose he got punished again.”
“He sure did.” Lorry said.
“Why did Charles hit the teacher?” I asked.
“Because she tried to make him use red pens, Charles wanted to usegreen pens, so he hit her. Then she hit him on the bottom and saidnobody should play with him, but everybody did.”
The third day, Wednesday, Charles hit a little girl on the head with apiece of wood. The teacher made him remain inside all during playtime.
Thursday, Charles had to stay in the corner during story time becausehe kept beating his feet on the floor.
Friday, Charles was punished again because he threw a piece of chalkfrom the blackboard. I said to my husband that perhaps school was notso good for Lorry after all. He could be a rough³ boy. And this Charlessounded like such a bad influence.
“It will be all right.” my husband said, “There are sure to bepeople like Charles in the world. Lorry might as well meet them now aslater."The second week, Lorry came home full of news. “Charles,” he shoutedas he came up the hill. I was waiting on the front steps.
“Charles,” Lorry shouted all the way up the hill, “Charles was badagain."“Come right in.” I said as soon as he came close enough, "lunch isawaiting.""Hello, Papa, you and Mom" he said to his father as he came throughthe door ' You know what Charles did. Charles shouted so loudly inschool that they sent a boy from another class to tell the teacher tomake Charles keep quiet. And so Charles had to stay after school. Allthe children stayed to watch him.
" What did he do then?” I asked.
“He just sat there.” Lorry said, climbing into his chair at thetable.
“What does Charles look like?” My husband asked Lorry, “What is hisother name?”
“He is bigger than me.” Lorry said, “and he does not have anyrubber shoes to wear when it rains and he does not wear a jacket.”
Monday night was the first parent-teacher's meeting. I wanted to go. Iwanted very much to meet Charles' mother, but I had to stay homebecause the baby was sick.
On Tuesday, Lorry said suddenly ,“Our teacher had a friend come tosee her in school today."“Charles' mother?” my husband and I asked at the same time.
“No,” he said. “ It was a man who made us do exercises. We had totouch our toes like this.” Lorry showed us how.
“Charles did not do the exercises.""Didn’t Charles want to do the exercises?” I said.
“ No. “Lorry said, “Charles was so bad to the teacher’s friendthat he would not let Charles do the exercises.”
“Bad again.” I said.
“He kicked the teacher’s friend,” Lorry said, “the teacher’sfriend told Charles to touch his toes like I just did and Charleskicked him.”
“What are they going to do about Charles, do you suppose?” Lorry'sfather asked him.
Lorry could not say. “Do we mud⁶ at school, I guess.” he answered.
Nothing special happened on Wednesday and Thursday. Charles shoutedduring story hour and he hit a boy in the stomach and made him cry. OnFriday, Charles stayed after school again, so did all the otherchildren.
With the third week of school, the word Charles had become part of ourfamily. The baby was being a Charles when he filled his wagon⁷ full ofmud and pulled it through the house. Even my husband, when heaccidentally pushed an ashtray⁸ off the table said "er, looks likeCharles."During the third and fourth weeks, it looked as if Charles hadreformed. Lorry reported unhappily that Charles was so good today thatthe teacher gave him an apple.
“What?" I said and my husband added⁹ carefully, “you mean Charles?”
“Charles” Lorry said. He passed out the pens to the other children,then he collected the books. The teacher said he was her helper¹⁰."“What happened?” I said, “I could not believe it.”
“He was her helper. That’s all.” Lorry said.
“Can this be true about Charles?” I asked my husband that night.
“Can something like this happen?”
“Wait and see,” my husband said, "When you have a Charles to dealwith this may mean he is only plotting¹¹.”
He seemed to be wrong. For all a week, Charles was the teacher’shelper. Each day, he passed things out and he picked things up. No onehad to stay after school.
“The parent-teacher's meeting is being held again next week.” I toldmy husband one evening. “I am going to find Charles' mother there.
Ask her what happened to Charles. I would like to know. I would liketo know myself."On Friday of that week. Things were back to normal.
“You know what Charles did today? " Lorry said in a voice full ofexcitement and wonder. "He told a little girl to say a bad word andshe said it. And the teacher washed out her mouth with soap." Charleslaughed.
“What word?” his father asked unwisely.
Lorry said "I'll have to whisper¹² it to you. It’s very bad.”
He got down off his chair and went around to his father. His fatherbent his head down and Lorry whispered¹³ joyfully¹⁴.
His father's eyes widened¹⁵, "Did Charles tell the little girl to saythat?”
“She said it 2 times.” Lorry said. “Charles told her to say it, 2times.”
Monday morning, Charles said the bad word 3 or 4 times. He got hismouth washed out with soap each time. That evening, my husband came tothe door with me as I started out for the parent-teacher's meeting.
“Invite Charles' mother over for a cup of tea after the meeting.” hesaid. “I want to get a look at her.”
“If only she is there.” I said with a prayer¹⁶.
“She'll be there.” my husband said. “I do not see how they get holdof a parent-teacher's meeting without her."At the meeting, I sat looking at all the women's faces. I tried todiscover which one hid the secret of Charles. None of them seemedtired enough to be Charles' mother. No one stood up made excuses forthe way her son had been acting¹⁷. No one talked about Charles. Afterthe meeting, I found Lorry's teacher.
“I have wanted to meet you. “I said. “I am Lorry's mother.”
“ Oh! we are, we are so interested in Lorry.” she said, “We had alittle trouble with him the first week or so, but now he is a finelittle helper. Most of the time anyway."“Lorry usually learns to obey and to cooperate¹⁸ very quickly. “I said“I supposed this time it was Charles' influence.”
“Charles?,” the teacher asked.
“Yes,” I said laughing. “You must have your hands full in thatclass with Charles.”
“Charles," she said, “We do not have any Charles in the class."

1 lorry   

n.（英）卡车；（=<美>truck）

参考例句：

• The old man was run down by a big lorry.那个老人被一辆大卡车撞倒了。
• A lorry ran down the hill out of control.卡车失去了控制，直往山下冲去。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 rough   

adj.粗糙的；粗略的，大致的；粗野的，粗暴的

参考例句：

• It's just a very rough translation.这只是一篇非常粗糙的译稿。
• His reply was a bit rough.他的答复过于粗鲁了一点。

4 roughly   

adv.概略地，粗糙地，粗鲁地

参考例句：

• If you treat your coat so roughly,it will be worn out soon.你如果这么糟蹋你的外套，它很快就不能穿了。
• The island is roughly circular in shape.这个岛屿大致是圆形的。

5 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

6 mud   

n.泥，泥浆

参考例句：

• The swimming pool is filled up with mud.游泳池里全是泥。
• A car ran past,spotting my coat with mud.一辆汽车驶过，给我的外衣溅上了泥点。

7 wagon   

n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车

参考例句：

• We have to fork the hay into the wagon.我们得把干草用叉子挑进马车里去。
• The muddy road bemired the wagon.马车陷入了泥泞的道路。

8 ashtray   

n.烟灰缸

参考例句：

• He knocked out his pipe in the big glass ashtray.他在大玻璃烟灰缸里磕净烟斗。
• She threw the cigarette butt into the ashtray.她把烟头扔进烟灰缸。

9 added   

adj.更多的，附加的，额外的

参考例句：

• They have added a new scene at the beginning.在开头他们又增加了一场戏。
• The pop music added to our enjoyment of the film.片中的流行音乐使我们对这部电影更加喜爱。

10 helper   

n.帮助者，帮手，助手

参考例句：

• The cook is in charge of the kitchen helper.这位厨师负责管理厨工。
• She was a voluntary helper.她是自愿帮忙的。

11 plotting   

n.测绘，标图v.密谋( plot的现在分词 )；绘制；把…分成小块；为（文学作品）设计情节

参考例句：

• He was executed in 1887for plotting to assassinate the tsar. 他因密谋暗杀沙皇在1887年被判处极刑。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They were plotting how they would assassinate the president. 他们正秘密策划将如何暗杀总统。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 whisper   

n.耳语，密谈，谣传，飒飒的声音；vi.耳语，密谈，飒飒地响；vt.低声说

参考例句：

• Their voices fell to a whisper.他们的话音低到成了耳语。
• I've heard a whisper that he's going to resign.我听到了一个传闻说他准备辞职。

13 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》

14 joyfully   

adv. 喜悦地, 高兴地

参考例句：

• She tripped along joyfully as if treading on air. 她高兴地走着，脚底下轻飘飘的。
• During these first weeks she slaved joyfully. 在最初的几周里，她干得很高兴。

15 widened   

放宽，加宽， （使）变宽( widen的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Her eyes widened in surprise. 她惊讶地睁大了眼睛。
• The geographical scope of product markets has widened since the war. 战后产品市场的地理范围扩大了。

16 prayer   

n.祈祷，祈求，请求，恳求；祷文，祷告者，恳求者

参考例句：

• We heard the calling of the bells to prayer.我们听见了召唤祈祷的钟声。
• Everyone in church knelt in prayer.教堂里每个人都跪着祈祷。

17 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

18 cooperate   

vi.合作，协作，相配合

参考例句：

• We hope we can cooperate even more closely in the future.希望我们今后能更加密切地合作。
• I hope you can cooperate on this matter.我希望你在这件事上能给予合作。