365个英语简短小故事- 65. An Open House

Edith wasn’t getting any help from anyone. She had just taken the state realty exam, which was a lengthy¹ multiple-choice exam in downtown Los Angeles. The testing room in the government building was freezing. As she hunched² up shivering³, she looked around and saw others feeling equally cold. Why couldn’t these people let us know beforehand⁴ to bring jackets, she wondered.

After getting the news that she had passed the test, she signed up with a realty company. They told her how much money she would owe them each month, and wished her good luck. Other than that, they weren’t much help or encouragement. They told her how to have open houses on weekends. She had to carry big signs in her car and place them in the neighborhood around the open house. The signs were not always easy to push into the ground, nor did they always stay upright⁵. To make matters worse, one Saturday evening she discovered that all of her signs had been stolen! Her realty company told her not to worry—they would just add the cost of replacing the signs to her monthly⁶ bill.

After she had asked him many times, her husband finally accompanied her to an open house. They ended up spending eight hours together with each other that Sunday. Only a dozen house-hunters showed up all day. She tried to engage Edgar in conversation, but all he wanted to do was read the newspaper. After he helped her pick up all the signs, he told her that was the last time he was going to help her on an open house. She asked why. He said he didn’t want to talk about it. Edith wondered how long her realty “career” was going to last.

 

1 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

2 hunched   

（常指因寒冷、生病或愁苦）耸肩弓身的，伏首前倾的

参考例句：

• He sat with his shoulders hunched up. 他耸起双肩坐着。
• Stephen hunched down to light a cigarette. 斯蒂芬弓着身子点燃一支烟。

3 shivering   

adj.颤抖的v.（因寒冷，害怕等）颤抖，哆嗦( shiver的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He was shivering with cold. 冻得他哆嗦开了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He was so cold that he kept shivering. 他冻得直哆嗦。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 beforehand   

adj.事先，预先，提前地，超前地

参考例句：

• If I'd known this beforehand,I would not have gone back.早知如此，我就不回去了。
• They proposed to make arrangement beforehand.他们提议事先做好安排。

5 upright   

adj.直立的；正直的；adv.挺直着，竖立着

参考例句：

• He stood himself upright.他笔直地站着。
• An upright man is respectable.正直的人是值得尊敬的。

6 monthly   

adj.每月的，持续一个月的，每月发生的；adv.每月，按月； n.月刊；(复数）monthlies:月经

参考例句：

• The rent on his apartment was his biggest monthly expense.他的房租是每个月最大的开支。
• The monthly rent is $15,inclusive of light and water.每月租金15美元，包括水电费在内。