万花筒 2009-02-28 积蓄被骗，九旬老人打零工

Ian Thiermann ran a tree preservation¹ and pest-control business before retiring 25 years ago. The 90-year-old still enjoys doing yard work with his wife Terry.

 

"One soggy mud pie. " "Yeah."

 

but he'd never thought he would be forced to go back to work to make ends meet.

 

They've put this job out for me, and so I am gonna do it the best I can.

Thiermann took a job at a local grocery store after losing his entire life savings², more than 700,000 dollars to disgraced Wall Street financier Bernie Madoff. He says he will never forget the day he got the call from his investment advisor³.

When he called me in December, he was in a state of total shock. I've never heard of him. I mean, this is an attorney. He said, "My father, my mother, right with my aunts, uncles, we have lost everything, I have lost everything, and you have lost everything."

He still has home payments to make and his wife's medical bills to pay. The grocery store owner created the greeter position for the long time customer after hearing about his ordeal⁴ and calls Thiermann an inspiration to others going through tough financial times.

His will to succeed after losing everything. People are saying to me, " You know what, I can, I am gonna step up to the plate(1), I am not gonna, I am just not gonna sit here and take, I am gonna step up and make something happen." And, yeah, he's just such a type of person.

If you haven⁵'t tried the soups, they're outstanding.

Thiermann says he has little time to dwell on(2) the man responsible for his crisis, but his wife does have feelings about Madoff.

 

"I feel sorry for him, because he has to live with the consequences of what he did."

 

Thiermann says he will continue to work, 30 hours a week for ten bucks⁶ an hour, but he says he will spend no time feeling sorry for himself.

 

"Got a job to do."

 

Haven Daley, the Associated Press, Ben Lomond, California.

 

1 preservation   

n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持

参考例句：

• The police are responsible for the preservation of law and order.警察负责维持法律与秩序。
• The picture is in an excellent state of preservation.这幅画保存得极为完好。

2 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

3 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

4 ordeal   

n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验

参考例句：

• She managed to keep her sanity throughout the ordeal.在那场磨难中她始终保持神志正常。
• Being lost in the wilderness for a week was an ordeal for me.在荒野里迷路一星期对我来说真是一场磨难。

5 haven   

n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所

参考例句：

• It's a real haven at the end of a busy working day.忙碌了一整天后，这真是一个安乐窝。
• The school library is a little haven of peace and quiet.学校的图书馆是一个和平且安静的小避风港。

6 bucks   

n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃

参考例句：

• They cost ten bucks. 这些值十元钱。
• They are hunting for bucks. 他们正在猎雄兔。 来自《简明英汉词典》