Why Are They So Unlucky?

Lesson 21

                              Why Are They So Unlucky?
                                            Text A

    I wonder why so many shop-assistants are so foultempered? Inspite of so many "campaigns" to improve the services in the past years, we see no appreciable¹ change so far. If Dad and Mum are to be believed, the services used to be quite good in the fifties. But then, they always say everything used to be good in the fifties. I find the older people grow, the more nostalgic they become.

Now Granny never lets a day go by without remi-niscing on the good old things in the good old days . Once when she saw Xiao Hong and me eating some mooncakes with relish², she said pityingly, "You poor children, you don't know what real mooncakes taste like. The worst in the old tasted much better than the best that rnoney can buy nowadays!" We burst out laughing, not taking her words seriously.

    Now to come back to the bad service in shops and department stores. People often say that when you buy something, you are spending money to buy rudeness and anger. Today I saw a loing exactly that. I was at a department store and I happened to witness a typical quarrel. I was next to a counter selling tea and I saw an elderly man come up and ask a young woman was busy weighing and wrapping tea into standard-sized "packs "Do you have very good green tea?"

    The woman glanced up to size him up. He was ordinarily dressed and spoke³ with a provincial⁴ accent. obviously a man of no consequence. She went on with her work and the man had to repeat his question. After another pause the woman snorted out: "Yes: Twenty-six yuan a liang. " Not believing his ears, the man tried to correct her. "You mean twenty-six yuaw a jin?" Upon this the woman flared⁵ up and shouted: "I said twenty-six yuan a LIANG ! Can't you hear straight? If you want a jin, then it's two hundred and sixty yuan. Is that CLEAR?"

    The man seemed to be stunried by her sudden outburst but he kept his temper and asked again. "Do you have some thing under two yuan' a Liang?" Obviously she was makinj things difficult for the old man for she answered as rudely as be fore;"What do you mean under two yuan? Anything from on cent to one yuan ninety-nine cents is under two yuan. " I don't remember what exaetly the man said , but somehow he manage to find out there was a kind costing one yuan ninety-six a liang "Can you show it to me?"

    "Do you want to buy it or not?"
    "Well, I want to look at the leaves and smell the flavoc first. " "You can look , smell , eat , drink or do whatever you like with it at home. Here I only sell tea. If you want to buy it, buy it. If you can't afford it, don't come here to waste people's time Obviously you don't know what is proper in Beijing ! "

    "Look here young lady, it's you who don't know what proper! I have been living in Beijing long before you were born, and I've never seen anyone as rude as you are. Your job is to serve the customers , not to insult them. Now for the last time are you going to show me the tea or not?"
    "And for the last time I am telling it to you. Either buy it or get out of here! I know the likes of you-you want something good, and yet grudge⁶ the money you have to spend on it!"

    "This is insufferable 1 Who is in charge here? I want to see your head ! " "My head? It's on my shoulders. Take a good look if you want to. "
    The old man went away fuming⁷. "I've got down your number ber. I'll write to the Evening News. " The threat didn't seem to frighten the girl. At most she'll have to make a self-criticism, which costs her nothing. Even if she should lose a month's bonus, it is only a few yuan. But if she could be sacked, I bet she wouldn't dare to be so rude and aggressive.

                                            Text B

    All the housewives who went to the new supermarket had one great ambition: to be the lucky customer who did not have to pay for her shopping. For this was what the notice just inside the entrance promised. It said; "Remember, once a week, one of our customers gets free goods. This may be your lucky day ! "

    For several weeks Mrs Edwards hoped , like many of her friends, to be the lucky customer. Unlike her friends, she never gave up hope. The cupboards in her kitchen were full of things which she did not need. In vain her husband tried to dissuade⁸ suade her. She dreamed of the day when the manager of the supermarket
would approach her and say:"Madam, this is your lucky day. Everything in your basket is free. "

    One Friday morning, after she had finished her shopping and had taken it to her car, she found that she had forgotten to buy any tea. She dashed back to the supermarket, got the tea
and went towards the cashdesk. As she did so, she saw the manager of the supermarket approaeh her. "Madam" , he said, holding out his handzs, "I want to congratutate you! You are our lucky customer and everything you have in your hasket is free!"

 

                                Additional Information

    Three times a man in his early 30s approached Shen Limin's clothes counter in the Baihua Garment Store on busy Xidan Street in central Beijing.
    The first time Shen showed him the various garments. He left but returned a while later and stood there staring at a skirt. Then he went away again, but came back after a few minutes.

    Curious, Shen asked, "Why don't you buy that skir since you love it so much?"
    The man said that he really wanted to, but the 198-yuan price was too much for him. She suggested that he choose something cheaper, but he replied that the skirt was what his wife would like most.

    They started talking and he told her he bought his wife a gift every year in celebration of their wedding anniversary. Shen was so moved that she offered the skirt to him for 130 yuan, the wholesale⁹ price.
    When the man hesitated in surprise, she told h'sm, "I do that simply because
you are a good husband. "

    As a divorcee, Shen, 35, spoke from the depths of her heart.
    She could not imagine any husband being so considerate or tender.
    Her failure in marriage and her divorce three years ago scared her away men and prompted her to resign from her job as a log keeper in a film studio and become a self-employed garment seller.
    What makes Shen unusual is that she make money to help deserted¹⁰ ids.
    Her love of children and her sympathy for the wretched stemmed fiom the day her six-year-old younger brother was crushed to death in a mishap¹¹ in a warehouse¹² near her home.

    Her sympathetic nature kept her marriage together for seven years.
    Her husband had been a clarinet player in an army band. A go-between had introduced them. One cold snowy night they deeided to get married. He had been walking her home and kept darting¹³ into shops. She grew impatient thinking he was merely wanting to buy cigarettes and she stomped¹⁴ off. But he ran after her and presented her with a gauze mask he had bought. for her to help keep out the cold.

    His thoughtfulness moved her to tears. He said that perhaps they should break up since she cotild not understand him. "I will marry you if that can atone¹⁵ for my mistake," Shen said she responded. And so the matter was sealed.
The death of a bosom¹⁶ fiiend seven years later marked the beginning of the end for Shen and her husband.

    As the friend lay dying of heart disease. 20 days after giving birth to a son-a pregnancy¹⁷ she had risked because her husband was the only son of hi, family-she asked Shen to care for the child.
    Shen promised she would, even though she had a son of her own. Her husband was strongly opposed, however. Still. Shen would often go to see the child, who was living in his grandmother's home.

    "I felt guilty when I saw the child wearing dirty clothes," Shen said." I thought the child would not have been like that had his mother been alive. "
    When the grandparents decided¹⁸ to send the boy to friends in Tianjin, Shen wanted to adopt him. Her husband then moved out and said he wanted a divorce.
    Shen went to Tianjin to look for the child and found him. But the family refused to give the boy up. Shen would not leave until she was convinced the child was being kindly¹⁹ treated and properly cared for.

    Her years of marriage had given Shen a comfortable life-style but that was all, she said. The divorce made her realize'she had feelings and ambitions again.
    Shen had once dreamed of becoming a film actress, and tried out for roles but only ended up with bit parts. She fared better on the stage with amateur troupes²⁰. But her dreams were shattered when she was refused admission to a professional art school because of her age. She was too old to learn how to act , she was told.

    New dreams filled the void of her disappiontment. She turned to helping²¹ children. She wrote to the SOS Village in Tianjin, a home for orphaned²² children, applying for a job as a nurse. But she was turned down because she had a son.
    She still wanted to help children but did not know how. Finding a way to make money became a practical and urgent problem. Eerly last year she started her own business as a clothing dealer²³, setting up a stall in west Beiing.

    Her mother did not like the idea and felt it would be bad fos.her grandson to be brought up in such an environment. She threatened to smash the stall, but gradually Shen won her over.
    "I don't want my son to follow my example," she said. " expect a lot of him. "
    She still maintains contact with her friend's son in Tianjin.

    She moved to Xidan this summer when the new Baihua Garment store pened. She now has two assistants , one of them a university graduate.
    Shen said that her business life has made her a different woman, one vho is independent and full of confidence. Friends try to get her to date but she is not interested.
    At first, she said, her distaste of marriage or love affairs was so strong that she cut her hair short and wore men's clothes.

    "I am afraid of falling in love." Shen said with a bitter smile.
    She daubts whether she eauld be a good wife , saying she woutd better as a friend or companion.
    Many of her customers have become friends. To one frequent calkr, she is Sister Shen.
    "I really love my customers," Shen said. "I do my business for the sake
of love. "

 

1 appreciable   

adj.明显的，可见的，可估量的，可觉察的

参考例句：

• There is no appreciable distinction between the twins.在这对孪生子之间看不出有什么明显的差别。
• We bought an appreciable piece of property.我们买下的资产有增值的潜力。

2 relish   

n.滋味，享受，爱好，调味品；vt.加调味料，享受，品味；vi.有滋味

参考例句：

• I have no relish for pop music.我对流行音乐不感兴趣。
• I relish the challenge of doing jobs that others turn down.我喜欢挑战别人拒绝做的工作。

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 provincial   

adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes.城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。
• Two leading cadres came down from the provincial capital yesterday.昨天从省里下来了两位领导干部。

5 Flared   

adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The match flared and went out. 火柴闪亮了一下就熄了。
• The fire flared up when we thought it was out. 我们以为火已经熄灭，但它突然又燃烧起来。

6 grudge   

n.不满，怨恨，妒嫉；vt.勉强给，不情愿做

参考例句：

• I grudge paying so much for such inferior goods.我不愿花这么多钱买次品。
• I do not grudge him his success.我不嫉妒他的成功。

7 fuming   

愤怒( fume的现在分词 )； 大怒； 发怒； 冒烟

参考例句：

• She sat in the car, silently fuming at the traffic jam. 她坐在汽车里，心中对交通堵塞感到十分恼火。
• I was fuming at their inefficiency. 我正因为他们效率低而发火。

8 dissuade   

v.劝阻，阻止

参考例句：

• You'd better dissuade him from doing that.你最好劝阻他别那样干。
• I tried to dissuade her from investing her money in stocks and shares.我曾设法劝她不要投资于股票交易。

9 wholesale   

n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售

参考例句：

• The retail dealer buys at wholesale and sells at retail.零售商批发购进货物，以零售价卖出。
• Such shoes usually wholesale for much less.这种鞋批发出售通常要便宜得多。

10 deserted   

adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的

参考例句：

• The deserted village was filled with a deathly silence.这个荒废的村庄死一般的寂静。
• The enemy chieftain was opposed and deserted by his followers.敌人头目众叛亲离。

11 mishap   

n.不幸的事，不幸；灾祸

参考例句：

• I'm afraid your son had a slight mishap in the playground.不好了，你儿子在操场上出了点小意外。
• We reached home without mishap.我们平安地回到了家。

12 warehouse   

n.仓库；vt.存入仓库

参考例句：

• We freighted the goods to the warehouse by truck.我们用卡车把货物运到仓库。
• The manager wants to clear off the old stocks in the warehouse.经理想把仓库里积压的存货处理掉。

13 darting   

v.投掷，投射( dart的现在分词 )；向前冲，飞奔

参考例句：

• Swallows were darting through the clouds. 燕子穿云急飞。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Swallows were darting through the air. 燕子在空中掠过。 来自辞典例句

14 stomped   

v.跺脚，践踏，重踏( stomp的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She stomped angrily out of the office. 她怒气冲冲，重步走出办公室。
• She slammed the door and stomped (off) out of the house. 她砰的一声关上了门，暮暮地走出了屋了。 来自辞典例句

15 atone   

v.赎罪，补偿

参考例句：

• He promised to atone for his crime.他承诺要赎自己的罪。
• Blood must atone for blood.血债要用血来还。

16 bosom   

n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的

参考例句：

• She drew a little book from her bosom.她从怀里取出一本小册子。
• A dark jealousy stirred in his bosom.他内心生出一阵恶毒的嫉妒。

17 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

18 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

19 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。

20 troupes   

n. （演出的）一团, 一班 vi. 巡回演出

参考例句：

• There are six Kunqu opera troupes left in the country. 整个国家现在只剩下六个昆剧剧团。
• Note: Art performance troupes include within and outside of the system. 注：艺术表演团体统计口径调整为含系统内、系统外两部分。

21 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

22 orphaned   

[计][修]孤立

参考例句：

• Orphaned children were consigned to institutions. 孤儿都打发到了福利院。
• He was orphaned at an early age. 他幼年时便成了孤儿。

23 dealer   

n.商人，贩子

参考例句：

• The dealer spent hours bargaining for the painting.那个商人为购买那幅画花了几个小时讨价还价。
• The dealer reduced the price for cash down.这家商店对付现金的人减价优惠。