365个英语简短小故事- 52. First Driving Accident

Colleen was in a hurry, which made her driving even more careless than usual. Her boyfriend Simon had already criticized her many times for failing to stop completely at stop signs. That’s what they call a “California, or rolling, stop,” he told her.

“If the cops catch you sliding through a stop sign like that,” he said, wagging¹ a finger at her, “they’ll give you a ticket for running a stop sign. That’s a moving violation². That means at least a $100 ticket, plus eight hours of driving school for another $30.”

“I know, I know,” she replied. “But I never do it when they’re around, so how can they catch me?” Simon was about to tell her that cops have a habit of suddenly appearing out of nowhere, but Colleen told him to stop thinking so negatively. “You are bad luck,” she said. “When you talk like that, you make bad things happen.” He told her that life doesn’t work that way.

Colleen was in a hurry because she needed to drop off a package at the post office. It had to get to New York by Wednesday. She exited the freeway and pulled up at the stop sign. One car was in front of her. Colleen looked to the right and to the left. No cars were coming. It was safe to pull out. She hit the gas pedal³. Bang! The car in front of her was still sitting there. The driver was a young woman, who got out of her car, walked back to look at the damage to her new car, and started yelling⁴ at Colleen.

“What were you waiting for?” Colleen demanded.

 

1 wagging   

adj.（左右）摆动，摇摆，摇动v.（使）摇动，摇摆( wag的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The dog ran up, wagging its tail. 那条狗摇着尾巴跑上前去。
• A dog reacts to kindness by wagging its tail. 狗摇尾巴以报答人们的爱护。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

3 pedal   

n.踏板；adj.脚的，踏脚的；v.用脚踏动，踩踏板

参考例句：

• He pressed down the accelerator pedal of his car.他踩下汽车的加速器踏板。
• I saw him pedal to school every morning.我看到他每天早晨骑自行车上学。

4 yelling   

v.叫喊，号叫，叫着说( yell的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The coach stood on the sidelines yelling instructions to the players. 教练站在场外，大声指挥运动员。
• He let off steam by yelling at a clerk. 他对一个职员大喊大叫，借以发泄怒气。 来自《简明英汉词典》