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[00:00.00]Lesson Nine
[00:03.50]Text Forty Years On Norah Lofts1
[00:12.36]John Bullyer and I met for the first time in 1956
[00:19.62]when we were both in our early sixties,
[00:24.16]but it is true to say
[00:27.72]that he did more to shape my life than any other person.
[00:34.48]John Bullyer came into my life through my Aunt Carrie.
[00:41.25]She was also aunt to John Bullyer,
[00:45.98]whom she referred to as "Little-John-my-other-nephew" all in one word,
[00:55.72]and she referred to him too often.
[01:00.45]From Aunt Carrie's point of view it was fortunate,from mine,disastrous,
[01:09.02]that John Bullyer and I were the same age.
[01:14.76]Probably hundreds of comparisons were made before I became aware of them.
[01:24.01]The first that I remember was made soon after I began school
[01:31.45]where I had lain on the floor and wailed2 that I wanted to go home.
[01:39.60]Shortly after that my mother reported
[01:44.88]that Little-John-Aunt- Carrie's-other-nephew
[01:50.03]had started school on the same day and taken to it like a duck to water.
[01:58.78]And so it went on.
[02:03.04]Incredible boy,he knew his nine-times table,
[02:09.59]while I was still hopelessly bogged3 in the fours;
[02:16.36]I began to dread4 Aunt Carrie's formerly5 most welcome visits.
[02:23.73]She was certain to produce chocolate or sixpence from her purse;
[02:31.09]but as soon as she had gone.
[02:36.53]Mother was sure to say the dread words:
[02:42.38]"Aunt Carrie was telling me that John Bullyer. . .
[02:48.25]"The comparisons were,without exception,to my disadvantage.
[02:55.20]The wretched boy never set foot upon a football field
[03:01.26]without scoring a goal;
[03:04.92]I became conscious of my inferiority,for I was hopeless at games.
[03:13.59]To me it seemed sinister7
[03:17.43]that Mother always passed on any small achievement of mine.
[03:23.91]Once,at my prep,school I had a story in the magazine
[03:31.28]and Mother was beside herself.
[03:35.64]"I must have another copy of that,"she said,
[03:41.41]"so that Aunt Carrie can send it to John Bullyer's mother.
[03:47.27]"What a boomerang that proved!
[03:51.94]By return of post came the news that John had won a scholarship.
[03:59.70]It will seem strange that we boys never met,
[04:04.98]but in those days Gloucestershire was as far removed,
[04:12.11]in travelling time,from Suffolk, as New York is today.
[04:18.87]Aunt Carrie kept saying,
[04:22.53]"Really,you boys should know one another,I'm sure you'd be such friends,"
[04:29.79]and once or twice she tried to arrange
[04:35.54]that John should stay with her in the holidays.
[04:40.29]Mercifully for me something always prevented him from doing so.
[04:46.54]I did have, however,one horribly narrow escape.
[04:55.81]An elderly couple,distant relatives of my father's,
[05:02.05]were celebrating their golden wedding.
[05:06.21]They lived in London,and they issued such a sentimentally-worded invitation
[05:14.75]that Father was bound to accept.
[05:19.32]As soon as he had done so Aunt Carrie came over in a state of excitement.
[05:28.39]Wasn't the world a small place,
[05:32.75]the Bullyer family and Father's relatives had once been near neighbours,
[05:40.30]and all three Bullyers had been invited to the feast.
[05:48.47]When Aunt Carrie had gone Mother said to me:
[05:53.72]"You sit there huddled8 over a book until your back is bent9 like a bow.
[06:01.87]Go out and get some air.
[06:05.43]You look so much better with a little tan.
[06:10.70]"I realised that she and I visualised John Bullyer in the same way,
[06:19.25]tall and straight,big for his age,with a handsome brown face.
[06:27.50]I stood up, obediently.
[06:31.86]Walking made no noticeable difference to my back
[06:36.59]and the sun remained hidden, so Mother tried another tack10:
[06:43.44]"You'll need a new suit at Easter anyway,
[06:47.98]you might as well have it now.
[06:52.45]"On the evening before we were to make our early morning start for London,
[06:59.40]Mother came into my room and made me try on the new suit.
[07:06.66]I could see,by the expression on her face,that it worked no miracle.
[07:14.73]But Mother did not take defeat easily;
[07:19.59]looks weren't everything,my manners, at least,should pass muster11!
[07:26.96]So she gave me a few final instructions.
[07:32.60]I kept saying,"Yes,Mother"and "No,Mother",and "I'll remember,Mother".
[07:42.45]Finally she said:"Well,hurry into bed and get a good night's sleep.
[07:50.00]"I did not sleep well; I had the worst night I had ever known.
[07:57.07]My jaws12 ached.
[08:00.13]The pain spread up into my head,
[08:05.09]back into my ears,down into my throat.
[08:12.04]In addition to my physical woes13 I had mental agonies;
[08:19.51]I prayed that something might occur to prevent this meeting.
[08:27.38]I saw the dawn that morning and heard the first bird chorus-
[08:35.24]After several centuries had dragged by
[08:39.89]I heard the alarm go off in my parents' room
[08:44.93]and thankfully rose from my bed.
[08:49.89]I washed more thoroughly14 than usual;then I dressed,
[08:56.06]and in honour of the occasion went to the looking glass to arrange my tie.
[09:04.84]For a moment,I thought that nervousness had affected15 my eyesight;
[09:12.28]the face that looked back at me was only just recognizable.
[09:20.46]My ears were hidden by the bulge16 of my jaws
[09:27.30]and I seemed to have no neck.
[09:32.45]Horrified I reeled into my parents' room.
[09:38.30]"Do you think I look funny this morning?"
[09:43.26]They both turned. Mother screamed.
[09:48.62]Father said, "I wouldn't say funny.
[09:54.57]You look damned peculiar17.
[09:58.41]"It was mumps18. It left me open-minded about prayer.
[10:05.88]Time went on; so did the comparisons.
[10:11.21]By word of mouth during the holidays,
[10:16.36]by phrases in letters during term time,
[10:21.11]I was kept up to date with John's cleverness and progress.
[10:28.87]Thus goaded19 I began at last to look round for something that I could do,
[10:37.70]something at which I could excel.
[10:42.95]When I found it I worked savagely,minding nothing else;
[10:50.81]let this be mine,John Bullyer could have all the rest.
[10:58.76]I was still a Grub Street hack20,
[11:03.12]counting it a good week in which I made five pounds,
[11:09.65]when John attained21 some glittering appointment in India.
[11:15.84]That ability to master the nine-times table
[11:21.77]had proved no momentary22 success.
[11:26.81]He had developed into some kind of financial wizard.
[11:34.07]There was a paragraph in the daily papers about this appointment.
[11:40.42]Aunt Carrie took the cutting to show to my mother.
[11:46.48]That was her last report.
[11:50.14]She was dead before her other nephew reached his destination.
[11:56.62]Three or four times during the next forty years.
[12:02.08]I saw mention of John Bullyer in the press.
[12:06.94]Those paragraphs recorded a steady success
[12:13.00]which eventually led to a knighthood when he retired23 in 1956.
[12:20.86]On that occasion there was half a newspaper column about him.
[12:27.83]When asked,in an interview,
[12:31.78] what he intended to do with his leisure,Sir John replied,
[12:38.54]"I hope to take up golf;I have never had time to take it seriously."
[12:45.91]I pictured him again,lean and tanned,with a head of well-kept grey hair.
[12:54.56]I was sorry that there was no photograph;
[12:59.10]I could have looked at it almost without fear,I thought.
[13:05.37]I was,by that time,not unsuccessful in my own line.
[13:12.50]Late that year,in November,
[13:18.07]I was in my club,sipping a glass of sherry before dinner.
[13:24.02]A cough at my elbow made me look round.
[13:29.59]I saw a short stout24 man,glitteringly bald,with a little snub nose
[13:39.85]that looked too small to support the framework of his heavy glasses.
[13:47.01]Diffidently,he spoke25 my name and I admitted my identity.
[13:54.74]Since I attained a little fame
[13:58.87]I have on occasion been addressed by strangers
[14:04.33]and no matter how flatteringly they speak
[14:09.19]I am always horribly embarrassed.
[14:21.20]"We once shared an aunt.
[14:26.87]"I leaped up and shook hands,
[14:31.00]expressing my pleasure at meeting him at last,
[14:37.04]and then we settled down to drink sherry together.
[14:43.28]His stammer,like my shyness,soon wore off.
[14:50.64]"I used to hear so much about you, " he said with a grin.
[14:57.59]"Then I learned that you were a member here
[15:02.92]and I could not resist asking someone to point you out to me.
[15:10.58]Though,if you'd looked the least bit as I always imagined
[15:17.52]I don't think I'd have d-dared to approach you.
[15:22.78]You see. . . I grew up with the idea
[15:27.95]that you were at least eight feet tall,tremendously handsome
[15:35.39]and more talented than da Vinci.
[15:39.76]"His grin broadened —and I knew why!
[15:45.03]"Really," he said,"the letters Aunt Carrie used to write about you
[15:52.48]and the way my mother used to read them out.
[15:57.54]You were the b-bugbear of my life. "
[16:03.00]"They were nothing," I said,
[16:06.77]to the letters your mother used to write about you.
[16:12.83]I was told every time you got a sum right.
[16:18.99]I always thought of you as nine feet high,
[16:25.05]better looking than Robert Taylor and more versatile26 than Churchill.
[16:33.41]So they played the game both ways, did they?"
[16:39.76]We laughed.We looked at one another.
[16:44.80]Then it probably dawned on us both
[16:50.16]that the place in which we sa
[16:54.00]is not the haunt of men who have been failures in life,
[17:00.34] and that,boys being what they are,
[17:05.59]an occasional prod6 in the rear is no such bad thing.
[17:12.36]Together we lifted our glasses,and though neither of us spoke,
[17:20.12]I know that we drank to the memory of Aunt Carrie.
收听单词发音 |
1
lofts
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| 阁楼( loft的名词复数 )； （由工厂等改建的）套房； 上层楼面； 房间的越层 | |
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2
wailed
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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3
bogged
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| adj.陷于泥沼的v.（使）陷入泥沼， （使）陷入困境( bog的过去式和过去分词 )；妨碍，阻碍 | |
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dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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prod
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| vt.戳，刺；刺激，激励 | |
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sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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huddled
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| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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tack
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| n.大头钉；假缝，粗缝 | |
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muster
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| v.集合，收集，鼓起，激起；n.集合，检阅，集合人员，点名册 | |
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jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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13
woes
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| 困境( woe的名词复数 )； 悲伤； 我好苦哇； 某人就要倒霉 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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bulge
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| n.突出，膨胀，激增；vt.突出，膨胀 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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mumps
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| n.腮腺炎 | |
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goaded
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| v.刺激( goad的过去式和过去分词 )；激励；（用尖棒）驱赶；驱使（或怂恿、刺激）某人 | |
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hack
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| n.劈，砍，出租马车；v.劈，砍，干咳 | |
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attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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stout
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| adj.强壮的，粗大的，结实的，勇猛的，矮胖的 | |
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spoke
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| 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 | |
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versatile
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| adj.通用的，万用的；多才多艺的，多方面的 | |
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