新视野大学英语 读写教程第一册 unit6-c

Section C

My Moving Experience

Moving is bad — in the sense of carrying furniture, equipment and hundreds of boxes out of one place and into another. This is why you hardly ever meet nomads² （游牧人）anymore, even though "nomad¹" is a great job name. Suppose you're at a party, someone asks what you do, and you announce 'nomad'. Immediately you're talking about camels（骆驼）. And you can leave anytime. "Excuse me," you say, "but I must go now and seek water."
I prefer to stay put. Sometimes, like weekends, it takes huge control just to get out of a chair. 1. ______
Regardless, last Thursday we moved into a new house. Since I work at home, this also required moving my office; the buyers of our old house wouldn't like seeing me every day in one of their bedrooms.
My wife and I moved because as the kids kept getting bigger and bigger, the house kept getting smaller and smaller. It seemed the kids were eating the house. Moving seemed the wise thing to do even though, in the end, we decided³ to take the kids with us. 2. ______
In my 20s, moving was done by friends, but everyone secretly hated it. After six or seven hours of lifting chairs and chests, we'd take out our resentment⁴ on the furniture. Once we dropped a new refrigerator down a flight of stairs. 3. ______
Now I'm 47, so we hired movers. The idea of "movers" makes me nervous. A group of strong, muscular⁵ men come into your house, carry out all your possessions, and drive off in a truck. This can't be good.
I chose "Low Cost Movers", checking to make sure they had a permit and were insured（保险）. The customer service person, Julie, was helpful with this. "I'm not going to say we never have accidents or even that we rarely have accidents. What I am going to say is if you have a computer, now would be a good time to back up your files（档案）."
The week before moving, Julie called twice to confirm（确定）our 8 a.m. appointment. I'm of two minds about confirming. The people doing the confirming always appear very professional, while seeming to say you're not. Obviously⁶ Julie knew she was dealing⁷ with someone with low mental power. I didn't mind. 4. ______
8 a.m. the day of the move, the moving company calls to say they'll be an hour late. What a relief (松口气). I'm feeling totally lacking in organization（杂乱无序）, mainly because I am totally lacking in organization. It's my natural state. Having to have organization（有序）, for me, is much too confusing.
Moving has taught me I need a better filing system （系统）. I plan to have a better filing system in the new office. The old system was more of a piling system, meaning piling everything on my desk—a very good way of organization.
11 a.m. The moving company still hasn't arrived. I call Julie. She promises to have the president of the company, Max, personally call me in 10 minutes.
I'm impressed. "President" is a great job name, although, let's face it, not as great as "nomad."
I have no idea how big this moving company is. Maybe it's just a Mom and Pop operation. Maybe it's just Julie. Maybe Julie is the customer service department, the movers and now the president. It could be a long day.
11:10 a.m. The phone rings. "This is Max, president of Low Cost Moving." I check out the voice. It's not Julie. Max tells me he's upset with the delay. He's enraged⁸ at his own moving company. "I'm knocking $10 off the hourly rate," he says. 5. ______
I sympathize⁹ with the moving company: "Look," I say, "these things happen. Trucks break. Refrigerators fall down stairs. Workers develop several personalities¹⁰."
3 p.m. Movers still haven't arrived. I call Max, who's more enraged than before. "This is unheard-of," he says. "I'm taking another $10 off the hourly charge."
If this keeps up, I'll be moving for free and going nowhere.
6 p.m. The movers finally arrive. I call Max. He's fit to be tied. I point out they're only 10 hours late. Max is not humored¹¹.
End of story: The move is finally over. Everything's in boxes. My office is completely without organization. I feel at home. 6. ______

Words: 700

1 nomad   

n.游牧部落的人，流浪者，游牧民

参考例句：

• He was indeed a nomad of no nationality.他的确是个无国籍的游民。
• The nomad life is rough and hazardous.游牧生活艰苦又危险。

2 nomads   

n.游牧部落的一员( nomad的名词复数 )；流浪者；游牧生活；流浪生活

参考例句：

• For ten years she dwelled among the nomads of North America. 她在北美游牧民中生活了十年。
• Nomads have inhabited this region for thousands of years. 游牧民族在这地区居住已有数千年了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

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 resentment   

n.怨愤，忿恨

参考例句：

• All her feelings of resentment just came pouring out.她一股脑儿倾吐出所有的怨恨。
• She cherished a deep resentment under the rose towards her employer.她暗中对她的雇主怀恨在心。

5 muscular   

adj.肌肉发达的，强壮的，（有关）肌（肉）的

参考例句：

• He is a muscular young man.他是个健壮的年轻人。
• The player is tall and muscular.那名运动员身高力大。

6 obviously   

adv.显然；明白地

参考例句：

• Obviously they were putting him to a severe test.显然他们是在给他以严峻的考验。
• Obviously he was lying.显然他是在撒谎。

7 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

8 enraged   

使暴怒( enrage的过去式和过去分词 )； 歜； 激愤

参考例句：

• I was enraged to find they had disobeyed my orders. 发现他们违抗了我的命令，我极为恼火。
• The judge was enraged and stroke the table for several times. 大法官被气得连连拍案。

9 sympathize   

v.(sympathise)(with)同情，怜悯；共鸣，同感

参考例句：

• Don't always rely on others to understand and sympathize.不要老是指望别人的理解和同情。
• I heartily sympathize with you.我很同情你。

10 personalities   

n. 诽谤，（对某人容貌、性格等所进行的）人身攻击； 人身攻击；人格, 个性, 名人( personality的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There seemed to be a degree of personalities in her remarks.她话里有些人身攻击的成分。
• Personalities are not in good taste in general conversation.在一般的谈话中诽谤他人是不高尚的。

11 humored   

v.迎合，牵就，顺应( humor的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The family was obviously an extremely energetic, intelligent and good-humored one. 这个家庭显然是非常奋发，明智，愉快的。 来自辞典例句
• Sitting in my uncle's lap, being humored all the way, I was feeling very good. 那时舅舅抱着我，哄着我，我觉得很温暖。 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译