原版英文小故事 01 Parades and Horses

Renee had been married for a long, long time. Her favorite part of being married was the weekend, when she was with her two horses. On the weekend, Renee was at the stables from morning until dark. She fed, groomed¹, and rode her horses. She was an excellent rider. She would ride the horses bareback on Saturday, and then she would saddle them up on Sunday.

Renee loved parades. She used to say, “A parade isn’t a parade without a horse.” Renee loved parades almost as much as she loved her horses. She belonged to an email list of volunteers for parades. She regularly checked out the state website list of parades to see if there were any new parades that she didn’t know about. All the state parades were organized in her computer. In the Parades file, she listed the date, drive time and distance, parade time, contact people, and other details she felt were important.

She knew the parade director of every town within a four-hour drive. She never stayed overnight. She always left the parade in time to get her horses back to the stables before “bedtime.” She had to feed them before they turned in. Her horses seemed to like parades, too. They knew a few tricks that always impressed the children.

Renee was very generous with her time and her horses. But owning horses wasn’t cheap. You had to rent the stables, and there were always veterinarian and feed bills. Renee knew how to cope with expenses, though. Her vet² always gave her a 10-percent discount for paying cash. She always bought the no-name, generic³ feed for the horses. Her vet had told her it was just as healthful and tasty as the brand name stuff. She always bought economy gasoline. And on parade days, Renee always packed her own lunch and ate with her horses.

 

1 groomed   

v.照料或梳洗（马等）( groom的过去式和过去分词 )；使做好准备；训练；（给动物）擦洗

参考例句：

• She is always perfectly groomed. 她总是打扮得干净利落。
• Duff is being groomed for the job of manager. 达夫正接受训练，准备当经理。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 vet   

n.兽医，退役军人；vt.检查

参考例句：

• I took my dog to the vet.我把狗带到兽医诊所看病。
• Someone should vet this report before it goes out.这篇报道发表之前应该有人对它进行详查。

3 generic   

adj.一般的，普通的，共有的

参考例句：

• I usually buy generic clothes instead of name brands.我通常买普通的衣服，不买名牌。
• The generic woman appears to have an extraordinary faculty for swallowing the individual.一般妇女在婚后似乎有特别突出的抑制个性的能力。