129. An Ad

　　After a beautiful purebred puppy wandered onto our back porch and made himself at home, my husband composed an ad for the "Lost and found" column of the local newspaper. It read: "A puppy, male, approximately nine months old, no collar, very friendly, found on Rockbridge Road. "

　　I feared all the detail might encourage an unscrupulous person to claim the dog. As I methodically explained why each clue revealed too much, my husband dutifully crossed out the words. Finally, in frustration¹, he rewrote the ad, reducing it to a single sentence that I couldn't refute.

　　It read: "Guess what I found?"

Notes:

　　(1) purebred adj.纯种的 (8) methodically adj.有条不紊地

　　(2) puppy adj.小狗；幼犬 (9) clue n.线索

　　(3) porch n.门廊 (10) reveal v.透露

　　(4) compose v.构思；作 (11) dutifully adv.尽职地

　　(5) approximately adv.将近 (12) cross out画横线以删除

　　(6) cellar n.项圈 (13) frustration n.挫折

　　(7) unscrupulous adj.无耻的； (14) refute v.反驳

Exercises:

根据短文填空：

　　① A beautiful puppy wandered _____ our back porch.

　　② He _____ himself at home.

　　③ My husband _____ an ad for the "Lost and found" column of the local newspaper.

　　④ I feared all the detail might encourage an unscrupulous person to_____ the dog.

　　⑤ My husband dutifully crossed _____the words.

129.广告

　　一只漂亮的纯种狗来到我们的后门廊并已此为家了。我丈夫为当地的“失物招领”栏目构思了一则广告。它是这样写的：“小狗，雄性，近九个月年龄，无项圈，很友善，发现于石桥路。”

　　我害怕这样的细节会给那些昧着良心要狗的人以可乘之机。我有条不紊地解释为什么每个线索都透露得太多，我丈夫就尽职地划去一些词。终于，出于为难，他重新写了广告，把它缩为一个我无法反驳的句子。

　　它是这样写的：“猜猜我发现了什么？”

练习参考答案：

① onto ② made ③ composed ④ claim ⑤out

1 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。