大学英语精读预备1册 lesson 5

Lesson 5

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The Little Man

I once knew a little man. He grew every day twenty-four hours older without becoming any taller or larger. This made him unhappy. For he wished very much to be tall and large like other men. He could not bear people say, “good morning, my LITTLE man!”

One day a bright idea came into his mind. He would go to the shoemaker’s and have a pair of heels¹ put on his shoes. That would make him taller, at least, he thought. And people stop calling him “little man”

The shoemaker was very kindly² set to work. When he had finished and been paid, he said, “I hope that I pleased you and you will call another day. Good-bye, my little man.”

The little gentleman walked away, greatly³ hurt. The shoemaker did not show much respect⁴ for his feelings. “It will be different with the doctor. Doctors knew everything,” he thought, “He will open his eyes and greet⁵ me by another name.”

So he went at once to the doctor’s.  he kept himself all the time as straight as a young soldier on guard⁶.

“Good morning, my little man,” said the doctor, “what can I do for you?”

Just think how sad the little man must have felt.

 

 

 

1 heels   

n.高跟鞋；紧随某人；跟捬；飞奔逃跑；（袜子等的）后跟( heel的名词复数 )；足跟；有…后跟的；女高跟鞋

参考例句：

• Her heels clacked on the marble floor. 她的鞋后跟在大理石地面上发出咔嗒咔嗒的响声。
• The dogs yapped at his heels. 几只狗跟在他后面汪汪乱叫。

2 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。

3 greatly   

adv.大大地，非常地；伟大地，崇高地

参考例句：

• Many old clothes were sold off at greatly reduced prices.许多旧衣服大幅度地降价出售。
• I was greatly touched by what you told me.你对我讲的话使我大受感动。

4 respect   

vt.尊敬，尊重；考虑，重视；n.（不可数）尊敬，尊重；敬意，问候；考虑，重视

参考例句：

• The new teacher soon won the respect of his students.这位新来的老师很快就赢得了学生们的尊重。
• He did it quite without respect to the result.他做这事一点也不考虑后果。

5 greet   

vt.问候，向…致意；迎接，欢迎；使受到，给予；被觉察，呈现在面前

参考例句：

• The child is shy and doesn't like to greet people.这孩子腼腆，不爱叫人。
• She rose to greet her guests.她起身迎接客人。

6 guard   

n.守卫者，警戒；v.保卫，看守，当心

参考例句：

• A guard was placed at the door.门口设了一个警卫。
• The guard stopped him from going through the gate.警卫不让他通过大门。