英文短篇故事（纽约）221 A Genie in a Bottle

 　　He was walking along the beach. He saw something dark near the water. He walked over to it. It was a bottle. It looked very old. He picked it up. It felt like it was empty. But a cork¹ was in the bottle. He removed the cork. White smoke quickly rose out of the bottle. The smoke changed shape and color. It became the face of a pretty woman. The woman said, "Thank you for releasing² me. I will grant³ you one of three wishes. You may be wealthy. You may be happy. You may be healthy. Which one do you choose?" He said, "That's a tough choice. Can't I have all three?" She said, "Sure, if you find two more bottles. But right now you may choose only one." He thought about it. Money can buy happiness. Money can buy the best health care. "Make me wealthy," he said.

1 cork   

n.软木，软木塞

参考例句：

• We heard the pop of a cork.我们听见瓶塞砰的一声打开。
• Cork is a very buoyant material.软木是极易浮起的材料。

2 releasing   

v.释放( release的现在分词 )；放开；发布；发行

参考例句：

• Releasing his arm, she laid her hand upon his shoulder. 她放掉他的胳膊，却把手放到了他的肩上。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记
• The drag operation is still terminated by releasing the mouse button. 释放鼠标按键时，拖动操作将立即终止。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

3 grant   

vt.同意给予，授予，承认；n.拨款；补助款

参考例句：

• If you grant my request, you will earn my thanks.如果你答应我的要求，就会得到我的感谢。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。