英语美文：窗口

 2个重病的男人在医院的病房里，其中一位可以起床到窗口看看，另外一个不能起床的就问他看到什么？于是这个男人向他绘声绘色地描述他看到的风景，直到他死去.....

Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room.  One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain away fluid from his lungs.  His bed was next 

to the room's only window while the other man spent all his time flat on his back. 

    The men passed the time by talking for hours on end.  They spoke¹ of their wives and families.  Their homes, their jobs, their involvement in military service, and where they had traveled on vacation.  In the afternoon, when the man by the window could sit up, he would describe all the things he could see outside.

    The man who was kept flat on his back began to live for the one-hour periods when his world would be broadened and enlightened by all the activity and color described to him about the world outside.  The bed-ridden man was told how the window overlooked a park with a lovely lake.  Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats.  Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every color of the rainbow.  Grand old trees graced the landscape, and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance.

    As the man by the window described all this in exquisite² detail, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque³ scene.  One warm afternoon the man by the window described a parade passing by.  Although the other man couldn't hear the band - he could see it in his mind's eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed⁴ it with perfectly⁵ detailed⁶ and descriptive words. 

    Within time, a sinister⁷ thought entered the bed-ridden man’s mind. “Why should the other man alone experience all the pleasures of seeing everything while he was never allowed to see anything?” he thought.  It did not seem fair to him that he could not also be by the window and take in the beauty of the outside world.

    At first the man felt ashamed. But as the days passed and he missed seeing more sights, his envy eroded⁸ into resentment⁹ and soon turned him sour.  He began to brood and he found himself unable to sleep. "I should be by that window," he thought day after day.  That single thought, and that thought alone, now controlled his life.  Late one night as he lay staring at the ceiling, the man by the window began to cough.  He was choking on the fluid in his lungs.  The other man watched in the dimly lit room as the suffocating¹⁰ man by the window groped for the button to call for help. Listening from across the room, the prone¹¹ man never moved.  He never pushed his own button, which would have brought the nurse.  In less than five minutes the coughing and choking stopped along with the sounds of breathing. There was now only silence.

    The following morning the day nurse arrived and found the lifeless body of the man by the window.  She was saddened by his death and called the hospital attendants to take him away.  As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window.  The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone.  Slowly, and painfully, he propped¹² himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the glorious world outside that had been so painstakingly¹³ described to him.  He would finally have the joy of seeing the outside world for himself.  He strained against his weak and stiffened¹⁴ body and slowly turned to look out the window beside the bed.  Finally peering over the windowsill, his face washed with pain as his gaze met a blank wall.  He lay back down and thought about the man that had died, trying to understand how he could have made up such stories and remember the things he had spoke of.

    The next day, the man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate to lie and described such wonderful things outside this window when it only looked upon a blank wall.  The nurse informed him that the man was blind and could not even see the wall.

    She then added, "Perhaps he just wanted to share with you the wonderful things that he had remembered seeing during his life."

另外的那一个男人找到一个合适的机会，叫住护士，问能否帮他搬到靠近窗口的床位，他想看看外面的世界，他看到是一堵墙.....

1 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。

2 exquisite   

adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的

参考例句：

• I was admiring the exquisite workmanship in the mosaic.我当时正在欣赏镶嵌画的精致做工。
• I still remember the exquisite pleasure I experienced in Bali.我依然记得在巴厘岛所经历的那种剧烈的快感。

3 picturesque   

adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的

参考例句：

• You can see the picturesque shores beside the river.在河边你可以看到景色如画的两岸。
• That was a picturesque phrase.那是一个形象化的说法。

4 portrayed   

v.画像( portray的过去式和过去分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• Throughout the trial, he portrayed himself as the victim. 在审讯过程中，他始终把自己说成是受害者。
• The author portrayed his father as a vicious drunkard. 作者把他父亲描绘成一个可恶的酒鬼。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

6 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

7 sinister   

adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的

参考例句：

• There is something sinister at the back of that series of crimes.在这一系列罪行背后有险恶的阴谋。
• Their proposals are all worthless and designed out of sinister motives.他们的建议不仅一钱不值，而且包藏祸心。

8 eroded   

adj. 被侵蚀的，有蚀痕的 动词erode的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• The cliff face has been steadily eroded by the sea. 峭壁表面逐渐被海水侵蚀。
• The stream eroded a channel in the solid rock. 小溪在硬石中侵蚀成一条水道。

9 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。

10 suffocating   

a.使人窒息的

参考例句：

• After a few weeks with her parents, she felt she was suffocating.和父母呆了几个星期后，她感到自己毫无自由。
• That's better. I was suffocating in that cell of a room.这样好些了，我刚才在那个小房间里快闷死了。

11 prone   

adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的

参考例句：

• Some people are prone to jump to hasty conclusions.有些人往往作出轻率的结论。
• He is prone to lose his temper when people disagree with him.人家一不同意他的意见,他就发脾气。

12 propped   

支撑，支持，维持( prop的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He sat propped up in the bed by pillows. 他靠着枕头坐在床上。
• This fence should be propped up. 这栅栏该用东西支一支。

13 painstakingly   

adv. 费力地 苦心地

参考例句：

• Every aspect of the original has been closely studied and painstakingly reconstructed. 原作的每一细节都经过了仔细研究，费尽苦心才得以重现。
• The cause they contrived so painstakingly also ended in failure. 他们惨淡经营的事业也以失败而告终。

14 stiffened   

加强的

参考例句：

• He leaned towards her and she stiffened at this invasion of her personal space. 他向她俯过身去，这种侵犯她个人空间的举动让她绷紧了身子。
• She stiffened with fear. 她吓呆了。