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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
A lady in a faded gingham dress and her husband, dressed in a homespun threadbare suit, stepped off the train in Boston, and walked timidly without an appointment into the president of Harvard’s outer office .The secretary could tell in a moment that such backwoods country folk had not business at Harvard, and probably didn’t even deserve to be in Cambridge .She frowned. ”We want to see the president,” the man said softly.” He’ll be busy all day,” the secretary snapped.” We’ll wait,” the lady replied.
For hours, the secretary ignored them, hoping that the couple would finally become discouraged and go away. They didn’t. And the secretary grew frustrated1 and finally decided2 to disturb the president. ”Maybe if they just see you for a few minutes, they’ll leave,” she told him. He signed in exasperation3 and nodded. Someone of his importance obviously didn’t have the time to spend with nobodies, but he detested4 gingham and homespun suits cluttering5 his office.
The president, stern-faced with dignity, strutted6 toward the couple .The lady told him, ”We had a son that attended Harvard for one year .He loved Harvard, and was very happy here. But he was accidentally killed. And my husband and I would like to erect7 a memorial to him somewhere on campus. ”The president wasn’t touched, and she was shocked, ”Madam,” he said gruffly, ”we can’t put up a statue for every person who attended Harvard and died, this place would look like a cemetery8.
“Oh, no“ the lady explained quickly, “we don’t want to erect a statue .We thought we would give a building to Harvard.” The president rolled his eyes. He glanced at the gingham dress and homespun suit, and then exclaimed, ”A building! Do you have and earthly idea how much a building costs? We have over seven and a half million dollars in the physical plant at Harvard.
For a moment the lady was silent. The president was pleased .He could get rid of them now. The lady turned to her husband and said quietly.” Is that all it costs to start a university?” Her husband nodded .The president’s face wilted9 in confusion and bewilderment. Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford walked away, traveling to Palo Alto, California where they established the university that bears their name -------a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer cared about.
You can easily judge the character of others by how they treat those who can do nothing for them or to them.
1 frustrated | |
adj.挫败的,失意的,泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 );挫败;使受挫折;令人沮丧 | |
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2 decided | |
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
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3 exasperation | |
n.愤慨 | |
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4 detested | |
v.憎恶,嫌恶,痛恨( detest的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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5 cluttering | |
v.杂物,零乱的东西零乱vt.( clutter的现在分词 );乱糟糟地堆满,把…弄得很乱;(以…) 塞满… | |
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6 strutted | |
趾高气扬地走,高视阔步( strut的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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7 erect | |
n./v.树立,建立,使竖立;adj.直立的,垂直的 | |
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8 cemetery | |
n.坟墓,墓地,坟场 | |
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9 wilted | |
(使)凋谢,枯萎( wilt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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