英语口语教程（Oral Workshop）--初级 Lesson 38

 

 Lesson 38 

                                             Text A 

                                   Can't She Type?

    The well-known banker, T. J. Ellington, was at one time in his younger days the manager of a New York office. His secretary had been with him for many years, and knew his ways and habits. She always kept a glass of water on his desk, and knew that he disliked flowers in the office. He had a habit of interrupting¹ a letter (when she was writing it down) with a few words on other subjects which had no connection with the letter; but she knew how to deal with that. She was never late , and was always willing² to work beyond office hours when necessary. Therefore, when she left the office to get married, Ellington felt rather sorry for himself. 

    In those days good secretaries were hard to find. Ellington rang up the office in the city which had supplied him before; but the woman there said that she had no one suitable³. He tried several other places, but the answer was always the same. There did not seem to be any secretaries unemployed⁴. But it was absolutely necessary for him to find someone , and at last he rang up the first office again and urged⁵ the woman to find a girl who could at least type. 

    "Well," she said slowly, "there's Miss Steele. "

    "Good!" cried Ellington. "Send her along at once. I really must have someone here immediately. "

    "I'm not sure about her," said the woman doubtfully⁷. 

    "Why? Can't she type? Is she too old?"

    "Oh, she's quite young. In fact she's only just left the Secretarial College. She types very well indeed. "

    "Well, then, what's the matter? Send her here at once. "

    "All right, if you say so. But she's a bit simple. " 

    Miss Steele arrived soon afterwards, and he explained her duties to her. At first she refused to accept the post; she said that she had had no experience and was not used to such work. But after a further conversation he managed to persuade her to come, at least for a week or two. She agreed, but her face had a doubtful⁶ expression on it as she went out. 

    On the following morning Miss Steele arrived at the office ready for work. Ellington had one letter to which he wished to reply immediately, and he rang the bell. Miss Steele came in quietly and sat down, pencil in hand and notebook on knee. Ellington told her to take a letter, and was glad to see that she could write as fast as he spoke⁸. It was soon done and she went out to type it.

    "Well , " thought Ellington, "there doesn't seem to be much wrong with that girl." 

    A short time later she entered the office again and placed a letter, beautifuily typed on his desk. He looked at it with pleasure, but read it with surprise. It was as follows:

"24th July, 1976.

    "Mr James Vandenberg,

    "His address is on this letter. Here! Take it with yau."

Dear Sir, 

    "I thank you for your letter of yesterday's date. I think the question of the electric motors⁹ needs further consideration¹⁰, and as time is important, it will probably be best if we meet to discuss it. There's that cat outside the window again. Please tell Miss Harper to remove it and keep it away. I've told her before about it. I should take it as a favour if you would lunch with me on Friday next. What's happened to my glass of water this morning? We may then be able to settle¹¹ the matter finally. I don't like flowers in the office. Please remove them. I usually lunch at one o'clock. Please let me know if that time will suit you. This letter is important and I want you to type it carefully.

                                                                     "Yours faithfully," 

                                             Text B 

                                 A Quiz¹² on General Knowledge 

    Charles Kent and Tony Smith are playing a game. They are asking each other questions about general knowledge CHARLES:   When was America discovered, Tony? 

TONY:   I'm not certain. Do you know? 

CHARLES:   America was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492. 

TONY:   In a way that's right. But the Vikings travelled there long before Columbus. And what about the Red Indians? 

CHARLES:   All right. Ask me a question now. 

TONY:   Who invented the electric light bulb? 

CHARLES:   That's easy. It was invented by Edison. 

TONY:   Correct. Now for a harder question. Who will be the first tnen on Mars¹³? 

CHARLES:   I can't answer that. But I think Mars will be visited by men before the end of this century. 

TONY:   Ask me a question now. 

CHARI.ES:   All right. What is the nearest planet¹⁴ to the sun? 

TONY:   That's easy. It's .. er... Venus¹⁵. No, Pluto¹⁶. No. Wait a minute. It's on the tip of my tongue. Oh dear, what is the nearest planet to the sun? 

                                   Question on Text B 

7. Read the following passage once. Underline¹⁷ the key words while reading and retell the story to your partner. 

    Billy is fourteen years old and in the ninth grade. He had a part-time job which gets him up every morning at five o'clock. He is a newspaper boy. 

    Each morning, Billy leaves the house at 5:15 to go to the corner where the newspapers are. The newspapers were delivered to the corner by truck at midnight. He always takes a wagon¹⁸ to carry them.

    In the winter it is still dark when he gets up, but during the rest of the year it is light. Billy must deliver the newspapers to the houses of people on his route¹⁹ in all kinds of weather. He tries to put each paper on the porch²⁰ where it will be protected from wind and rain or snow. His customers think he does a good job. Sometimes they give him tips. 

    Billy earns about $ 70 per month, and he is saving²¹ some of the money to go to college. He spends the rest on records and clothes. Once a month, he has to collect money from his customers. Since many of them work during the day, Billy has to collect the money at night. Sometimes, when Billy is sick, his older brother has to deliver the newspapers. Once, Billy's father had to help. 

    Billy has seventy customers now, but he hopes to get more soon. Someday, if he gets many more customers, Billy might win a prize for being an outstanding newspaper boy. He wants to win a trip to Europe, but he will be happy if he wins a new bicycle.

1 interrupting   

v.打断( interrupt的现在分词 )；暂停；中断；阻断

参考例句：

• You must break your bad habit of interrupting a speaker. 你必须改掉打断别人讲话的坏习惯。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Pardon me for interrupting. 对不起打断一下。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 willing   

adj.愿意的，自愿的，乐意的，心甘情愿的

参考例句：

• We never lack food and clothing if we're willing to work.如果我们愿意工作,就不会缺吃少穿。
• He's quite willing to pay the price I ask.他很愿意照我的要价付钱。

3 suitable   

adj.合适的，适当的，适宜的

参考例句：

• Tomorrow will be quite suitable.明天挺合适。
• Is she suitable for the job?她适于做这工作吗？

4 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

5 urged   

v.力劝( urge的过去式和过去分词 )；强烈要求；推进；驱策

参考例句：

• She urged him to stay. 她力劝他留下。
• Urged on by the PM the police tried to end the strike. 在首相的敦促下，警方力图终止罢工。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 doubtful   

adj.难以预测的，未定的；怀疑的，可疑的

参考例句：

• Let's try to clear up our difficult and doubtful points.让我们设法把难处和疑点解决一下。
• Everyone was doubtful at first,but his statement in detail held up.起初大家都怀疑，但他的详细叙述证明情况属实。

7 doubtfully   

adv.怀疑地；含糊地

参考例句：

• His eyes rested on her doubtfully. 他可疑地注视她。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She doubtfully led him the way to the hallroom-nursery. 她迟疑不决地把他领到楼上婴儿室去。 来自辞典例句

8 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。

9 motors   

n.马达，发动机( motor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The United Auto Workers hit the bricks against General Motors. 联合汽车工人工会举行罢工，反对通用汽车公司。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The whine of the motors jangled her nerves. 马达的闹声使她的神经受不了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

10 consideration   

n.考虑，思考；要考虑的事；体谅，关心

参考例句：

• John never showed any consideration for his mother's feeling.约翰从来都不体谅他母亲的感情。
• We did an overall consideration of the matter at last.最后我们又对这个问题作了全盘考虑。

11 settle   

vi.安家；定居；停留；vt.使定居；安排；解决

参考例句：

• I have to settle my affairs before leaving here.离开这儿以前，我得把一些私人的事情安排妥当。
• She has decided how she should settle the matter.她已做出决定如何来了解这件事。

12 quiz   

n.智力竞赛；测验，小型考试

参考例句：

• They are having a quiz now.他们正进行小测验。
• He took part in a television quiz and won a prize.他参加了一个电视知识竞赛并得了奖。

13 Mars   

n.火星，战争

参考例句：

• As of now we don't know much about Mars.目前我们对火星还知之甚少。
• He contended that there must be life on Mars.他坚信火星上面一定有生物。

14 planet   

n.行星

参考例句：

• Neptune is the furthest planet from the sun. 海王星是离太阳最远的行星。
• Rubbish, however, is only part of the problem of polluting our planet. 然而, 垃圾只是我们这个星球的污染问题的一个方面。

15 Venus   

n.金星；维纳斯(罗马神话中爱与美的女神)

参考例句：

• Venus is of the same size as Earth.金星跟地球差不多一样大。
• Venus was a goddess worshiped by the Romans.维纳斯是罗马人所崇拜的女神。

16 Pluto   

n.冥王星

参考例句：

• Pluto is the furthest planet from the sun.冥王星是离太阳最远的行星。
• Pluto has an elliptic orbit.冥王星的轨道是椭圆形的。

17 underline   

n.下划线；加下划线；vt.在…下面划线；强调

参考例句：

• Underline all the sentences you do not know.在你不懂的所有句子下面划一条线。
• Please underline the noun clauses in the passage.请用线画出短文中的名词性从句。

18 wagon   

n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车

参考例句：

• We have to fork the hay into the wagon.我们得把干草用叉子挑进马车里去。
• The muddy road bemired the wagon.马车陷入了泥泞的道路。

19 route   

n.路径，途径，路线；vt.确定路线，按规定路线发送

参考例句：

• On the way home, we took an indirect route.回家的路上，我们绕了一个大圈。
• The plane did not fly the usual commercial route.飞机没有沿通常的商业航线飞。

20 porch   

n.门廊，入口处，走廊，游廊

参考例句：

• There are thousands of pages of advertising on our porch.有成千上万页广告堆在我们的门廊上。
• The porch is supported by six immense pillars.门廊由六根大柱子支撑着。

21 saving   

n.节省，节约；[pl.]储蓄金，存款

参考例句：

• Energy saving is term strategic policy of our country.节约能源是我国长期的战略国策。
• Old-fashioned housewives were usually very saving.旧时的家庭主妇通常都很节俭。