2006年NPR美国国家公共电台一月-Hoping and Pining, and Driving: A First C

Steve Inskeep: Here is another installment¹ of StoryCorps, the project that is traveling the country recording² interviews between loved ones and friends. These interviews are archived at the Library of Congress and some of them are heard here on Morning Edition. People don't talk to a journalist, they talk to each other; you get questioned by someone who really knows your story and wants to know more. One of those people is George Botti who is 81 years old. Recently he spoke³ with his daughter Liz Manocha about growing up on Long Island in the 1940s, and here Botti tells the story of his first car.

George Botti: It was a 1930 Model A Ford⁴ Roadster and it was sitting outside. It had a 'For Sale' sign on it. And each day that I came by, I had to stop and looked at this car. It was beautiful. It had a rumble⁵ seat. It was green with black fenders and red spoke wheels. It looked like it was brand-new. One day as I was stopping and I looking at it, a man came out and he said hello. I said hello. He said, 'I notice you are looking at this car every day. Do you like it?' I said, 'Yeah, I like it very much.' He says, 'Well, would you buy it?' I said, 'Well, how much is it?' He said, 'A hundred dollars.' 'Oh, I don't have a hundred dollars. In fact, I probably could only get about 50.' He said, "I tell you what, you get me 75 and you can have the car. But you gotta bring it back today?" I ran home to my mother. There she was ironing at the board, and I told her what the story was. I said, 'I only want to borrow 25 from you, Ma.' She says, 'Georgie, I will give you the 25, because you are a good boy.' I says yes... So I brought it back and I gave it to the man. That next morning, I drove the car to school. I'll never forget that day as long as I live. And here, I drove the car up and there was a little group under a tree. Those students turned around, you know, they would hardly say hello to me just the day before. They were, 'Holy mackerel! George, where did you get this car?' 'Oh, I...I got it all right.' 'It's beautiful.' Finally I saw my friend and I called him over. 'Spider, get in the rumble seat, I will give you a ride.' And I took him for a ride.

Steve Inskeep: George Botti remembering his first car, which was a 1930 Ford Model A Roadster. He spoke to his daughter in a StoryCorps booth in New York. There are two mobile StoryCorps booths, and to find where they will be stopping in 2006, just visit npr.org.

StoryCorp is made possible by a grant from Saturn⁶.

1 installment   

n.(instalment)分期付款；(连载的)一期

参考例句：

• I shall soon pay the last installment of my debt.不久我将偿付我的最后一期债款。
• He likes to buy things on the installment plan.他喜欢用分期付款法购买货物。

2 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

3 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。

4 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

5 rumble   

n.隆隆声；吵嚷；v.隆隆响；低沉地说

参考例句：

• I hear the rumble of thunder in the distance.我听到远处雷声隆隆。
• We could tell from the rumble of the thunder that rain was coming.我们根据雷的轰隆声可断定，天要下雨了。

6 Saturn   

n.农神，土星

参考例句：

• Astronomers used to ask why only Saturn has rings.天文学家们过去一直感到奇怪，为什么只有土星有光环。
• These comparisons suggested that Saturn is made of lighter materials.这些比较告诉我们，土星由较轻的物质构成。