自考英语综合一下册课文 lesson 15

　　[00:00.00]TEXT  he Letter"A"(I)
[00:05.49]I was born in the Rotunda¹ Hospital,on June 5th,1932.
[00:11.76]Mine was a difficult birth,I am told.Both mother and son almost died.
[00:18.31]A whole army of relations queued up outside the hospital until
[00:23.56]until the small hours of the morning,
[00:27.82]waiting for news and praying anxiously that it would be good.
[00:32.89]It was Mother who first saw that there was something wrong with me.
[00:38.03]I was about four months old at the time.
[00:42.00]She noticed that my head fell backwards² whenever she tried to feed me.
[00:47.05]She attempted to correct this by placing her hand on the back of my neck to keep it steady
[00:53.21]But when she took it away,back it would drop again.
[00:57.89]That was the first warning sign.
[01:01.34]Then she became aware of other defects as I got older.
[01:06.17]She saw that my hands were clenched³ nearly all of the time;
[01:11.21]my jaws⁴ would either lock together tightly,
[01:15.36]or they would suddenly become limp and fall loose.
[01:19.91]At six months I could not sit up without having a mountain of pillows around me
[01:26.39]At twelve months it was the same.
[01:30.33]Very worried by this,Mother told my father her fears,
[01:35.79]and they decided⁵ to seek medical advice without any further delay.
[01:41.67]I was a little over a year old when they began to take me to hospitals and clinics
[01:48.04]convinced that there was something definitely wrong with me.
[01:53.08]Almost every doctor who saw and examined me
[01:57.84]said that I was a very interesting but also a hopeless case.
[02:03.19]Many told Mother very gently
[02:07.84]that I was mentally defective⁶ and would remain so.
[02:12.81]That was a hard blow to a young mother
[02:16.86]who had already reared five healthy children.
[02:21.43]The doctors were sure of themselves
[02:25.08]and assured her that nothing could be done for me.
[02:29.63]She refused to accept this truth,
[02:33.60]the inevitable⁷ truth as it then seemed that I was beyond cure,
[02:40.05]beyond saving,even beyond hope.
[02:44.41]She had nothing in the world to go by,
[02:48.54]not a scrap⁸ of evidence to support her conviction that,
[02:53.71]though my body was crippled,my mind was not.
[02:58.26]Finding that the doctors could not help in any way
[03:03.12]besides telling her to foget I was a human creature
[03:08.11]and to regard me as just something to be fed
[03:12.65]and washed and then put away again,
[03:17.33]Mother decided there and then to take matters into her own hands.
[03:23.99]I was her child,and therefore part of the family.
[03:28.95]No matter how dull and incapable⁹ I might grow up to be,
[03:34.41]she was determined¹⁰ to treat me the same as the others.
[03:39.38]That was a big decision as far as my future life was concerned.
[03:44.73]But it wasn't easy for
[03:48.08]her because now the relatives and friends told her that I should be taken kindly¹¹
[03:54.71]sympathetically,but not seriously.
[03:59.26]"For your own sake,"they told her,"
[04:03.02]don't look to this boy as you would to the others;
[04:07.46]it would only break your heart in the end."
[04:11.59]Luckily for me,Mother and Father held out against the lot of them.
[04:17.65]But Mother wasn't content just to say that I was not an idiot
[04:23.81]she set out to prove it,not because of any rigid¹² sense of duty,but out of love
[04:31.54]That is why she was so successful.
[04:35.51]Four years rolled by and I was now five,
[04:39.95]and still as helpless as a newly born baby.
[04:44.53]While my father was out at bricklaying,
[04:48.37]earning the bread and butter for us,Mother was slowly,
[04:53.93]patiently pulling down the wall,
[04:57.90]brick by brick,that seemed to stand between me and the other children,
[05:03.86]slowly,patiently penetrating¹³ beyond the thick curtain that hung over my mind
[05:10.80]separating it from theirs.
[05:14.17]It was hard,heartbreaking work,
[05:18.22]for often all she got from me in return was a vaguc smile
[05:23.79]and perhaps a faint gurgle.
[05:27.55]I could not speak or even mumble¹⁴,

　　[05:31.49]nor could I sit up on my own without support,let alone walk.
[05:37.27]But I wasn't inert¹⁵ or motionless.
[05:41.11]I seemed to be all movement,wild,stiff,
[05:46.15]snakelike movement that never left me,except in sleep.
[05:51.82]My fingers twisted and twitched¹⁶ continually,
[05:56.26]my arms moved backwards and would often shoot out suddenly this way and that
[06:02.14]and my head fell sideways.
[06:05.48]I was a queer crooked¹⁷ little fellow.
[06:09.24]Mother tells me how one day she had been sitting with me for hours,
[06:14.60]showing me pictures and telling me the names of
[06:19.35]the different animals and flowers that were in them,
[06:23.92]trying without success to get me to repeat them.
[06:28.57]This had gone on for hours while she talked and laughed with me.
[06:33.85]Then at the end of it she leaned over me and said gently into my ear:
[06:40.69]"Did you like it,Chris?
[06:43.64]Did you like the bears and the monkeys and all the lovely flowers?
[06:49.60]Nod your head for yes,like a good boy."
[06:53.68]But I could make no sign that I had understood her.
[06:58.12]Her face was bent¹⁸ over mine hopefully.
[07:02.06]Suddenly,my queer hand
[07:06.00]reached up and grasped one of the dark curls that fell about her neck.
[07:11.46]Gently she loosened the clenched fingers,
[07:15.54]though some dark hairs were still clutched between them.
[07:20.08]Then she turned away from my curious stare and left the room,crying.
[07:25.26]The door closed behind her.
[07:28.50]It all seemed hopeless.
[07:31.55]It looked as though my relatives were right that I was an idiot and beyond help
[07:37.30]They now spoke¹⁹ of putting me in a home for idiots.
[07:41.66]"Never!"said my mother almost fiercely,when this was suggested to her.
[07:47.23]"I know my boy isnot an idiot;it is his body that is crippled,not his mind.
[07:53.78]I'm sure of that."

1 rotunda   

n.圆形建筑物；圆厅

参考例句：

• The Capitol at Washington has a large rotunda.华盛顿的国会大厦有一圆形大厅。
• The rotunda was almost deserted today,dotted with just a few tourists.圆形大厅今天几乎没有多少人，只零星散布着几个游客。

2 backwards   

adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地

参考例句：

• He turned on the light and began to pace backwards and forwards.他打开电灯并开始走来走去。
• All the girls fell over backwards to get the party ready.姑娘们迫不及待地为聚会做准备。

3 clenched   

v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He clenched his fists in anger. 他愤怒地攥紧了拳头。
• She clenched her hands in her lap to hide their trembling. 她攥紧双手放在腿上，以掩饰其颤抖。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 jaws   

n.口部；嘴

参考例句：

• The antelope could not escape the crocodile's gaping jaws. 那只羚羊无法从鱷鱼张开的大口中逃脱。
• The scored jaws of a vise help it bite the work. 台钳上有刻痕的虎钳牙帮助它紧咬住工件。

5 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。

6 defective   

adj.有毛病的，有问题的，有瑕疵的

参考例句：

• The firm had received bad publicity over a defective product. 该公司因为一件次品而受到媒体攻击。
• If the goods prove defective, the customer has the right to compensation. 如果货品证明有缺陷， 顾客有权索赔。

7 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

8 scrap   

n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废

参考例句：

• A man comes round regularly collecting scrap.有个男人定时来收废品。
• Sell that car for scrap.把那辆汽车当残品卖了吧。

9 incapable   

adj.无能力的，不能做某事的

参考例句：

• He would be incapable of committing such a cruel deed.他不会做出这么残忍的事。
• Computers are incapable of creative thought.计算机不会创造性地思维。

10 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

11 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。

12 rigid   

adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的

参考例句：

• She became as rigid as adamant.她变得如顽石般的固执。
• The examination was so rigid that nearly all aspirants were ruled out.考试很严，几乎所有的考生都被淘汰了。

13 penetrating   

adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的

参考例句：

• He had an extraordinarily penetrating gaze. 他的目光有股异乎寻常的洞察力。
• He examined the man with a penetrating gaze. 他以锐利的目光仔细观察了那个人。

14 mumble   

n./v.喃喃而语，咕哝

参考例句：

• Her grandmother mumbled in her sleep.她祖母含混不清地说着梦话。
• He could hear the low mumble of Navarro's voice.他能听到纳瓦罗在小声咕哝。

15 inert   

adj.无活动能力的，惰性的；迟钝的

参考例句：

• Inert gas studies are providing valuable information about other planets,too.对惰性气体的研究，也提供了有关其它行星的有价值的资料。
• Elemental nitrogen is a very unreactive and inert material.元素氮是一个十分不活跃的惰性物质。

16 twitched   

vt.& vi.（使）抽动，（使）颤动（twitch的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Her lips twitched with amusement. 她忍俊不禁地颤动着嘴唇。
• The child's mouth twitched as if she were about to cry. 这小孩的嘴抽动着，像是要哭。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 crooked   

adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的

参考例句：

• He crooked a finger to tell us to go over to him.他弯了弯手指，示意我们到他那儿去。
• You have to drive slowly on these crooked country roads.在这些弯弯曲曲的乡间小路上你得慢慢开车。

18 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。

19 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。