50. Point of No Return

　　My husband ordered home delivery of our local newspaper. Because we live in rural area where no street numbers are used, I was concerned that the carrier would have trouble finding us. Sure enough, we missed delivery several days despite frequent calls to the circulation department. Finally I phoned to cancel the subscription¹. "You'll have to tell me your exact location," the woman on the line said. "We can't cancel the subscription unless we know where you live.

Notes:

　　(1) delivery n.递送

　　(2) rural area乡村

　　(3) concerned adj.焦虑的；担心的

　　(4) have trouble doing sth做某事有麻烦

　　(5) despite prep.不管；不顾

　　(6) frequent adj.时常发生的；惯常的

　　(7) circulation n.发行

　　(8) subscription n.订阅

Exercises:

根据短文选择正确答案：

　　① Where did the family live?

　　A. in the countryside

　　B. in the suburbs

　　C. in the urban area

　　D. near the circulation department of the local newspaper

　　② What was the wife worried about?

　　A. She was worried about the quality of the newspaper.

　　B. She was worried that the carrier would deliver their newspaper to someone else.

　　C. She was worried that the carrier would find difficulty in finding them.

　　D. She was worried that the newspaper might not be interesting enough.

　　③ What happened to them after their ordering?

　　A. They got the newspaper.

　　B. The newspaper was cancelled.

　　C. The circulation department refused to deliver the newspaper to them.

　　D. For several days they missed delivery.

　　④ What did they finally decide to do?

　　A. They decided² to cancel the subscription.

　　B. They decided to cancel the newspaper.

　　C. They decided to punish the carrier.

　　D. They decided to take it to court.

　　⑤ What was the result?

　　A. The circulation department promised that they would get their delivery in time.

　　B. The carrier was punished.

　　C. They could neither get their delivery nor cancel their subscription.

　　D. The newspaper was cancelled.

50.有去无回

　　我丈夫预订了当地报纸的户送。因为我们住在乡下，没有街道号码，所以我担心送报员不易找到我们。果真如此，一连几天都没有报纸送来，尽管我们频繁地往发行部打电话询问。最后我打电话取消订阅协议。“您得告诉我们您的准确位置，”电话中女子说，“除非我们知道您住在哪里，否则我们不能取消订阅协议。”

练习参考答案：

①A②C③D④A⑤C

1 subscription   

n.预订，预订费，亲笔签名，调配法，下标（处方）

参考例句：

• We paid a subscription of 5 pounds yearly.我们按年度缴纳5英镑的订阅费。
• Subscription selling bloomed splendidly.订阅销售量激增。

2 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。