原版英文小故事 16. Drinking Is Fun

Charles, a 29-year-old painter, tried to beat an 83-car freight train across the railroad tracks yesterday and lost. Fortunately for Charles and his two friends, the train hit the bed of his pickup¹ truck. The force of the impact separated the rear of the truck from the front. The rear end of the pickup flew about 200 feet west of the front end. The train was traveling at 50 miles an hour through an industrial district. It was fully² loaded with appliances and new vehicles from the east coast. There were no mechanical arms or flashing lights at the railroad crossing -- only a stop sign on either side of the two-lane road.

The accident occurred at 4:30 p.m. on a sunny afternoon. Charles and his two co-workers had stopped at a neighborhood liquor store at about 3:45. There they had bought a case of bottled beer that was on sale for $9.95. By the time they got to the railroad crossing, they were all feeling good. They saw the train coming and they heard the horn blowing.

"I was going to stop," said Charles. "But Tommy told me that the train wasn't even close. He said that if he was driving, he could drive over the tracks, make a U-turn, drive over the tracks again, and then drink a whole beer before the train arrived.”

When the police arrived, all three friends were sitting on the ground under a shade tree about 50 feet from the front end of the truck. None of them were even scratched. The train and crew suffered no damage or injuries. The engineer just shook his head.

“They think it's exciting, but it's just stupid,” the engineer said. “These guys might be in jail for a little while. But I guarantee you within a year they’ll be out drinking and driving and racing³ trains again.”

The police charged Charles with driving under the influence, running a stop sign, causing an accident, reckless endangerment, and littering—broken beer bottles were all over the place. They charged his two friends with drinking in a moving vehicle and littering.

A city official said there are no plans to install flashing lights and mechanical arms at this crossing, partly because not enough accidents occur there and partly because the city does not have sufficient funds to pay for such safety equipment.

 

1 pickup   

n.拾起，获得

参考例句：

• I would love to trade this car for a pickup truck.我愿意用这辆汽车换一辆小型轻便卡车。||The luck guy is a choice pickup for the girls.那位幸运的男孩是女孩子们想勾搭上的人。

2 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

3 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。