英语美文：了不起的衬衫

　　Mrs. Blouse had been with the Johnson family for three generations. This was no mean feat¹ for an article of clothing. She had survived the test of time; and though her colors were faded and her material worn thin, she was still loved through and through.

　　Mrs. Blouse could never forget the day when Great Grandma Johnson had first discovered her on the clothing rack – it was love at first sight! GG had held her up to the light and laughed as she exclaimed, “this is the perfect blouse; I’ll never part with it.”

　　Well, good ol’ GG hadn’t quite lived up to her word. After years of garden parties and beach picnics GG had passed Mrs. Blouse on to her daughter, Grandma Johnson. This was the beginning of a difficult season. The special attention that GJ gave her made the other clothing jealous! Ms. Skirt and Mrs. Scarf were particularly mean towards her. Eventually, they even managed to turn Ms. Undergarment against her!

　　GJ often wore Mrs. Blouse on special occasions; this was an encouragement for Mrs. Blouse in light of all the ridicule² she endured. In fact, whenever Mrs. Blouse was feeling depressed³ she would turn to her memories: walking through the park with GJ on the first day of spring, feeding the new baby together, or just baking cookies in the kitchen.

　　Today Mrs. Blouse was again being passed on to another family member! Mrs. Blouse was both excited and nervous – how would Mrs. J and her current clothing treat her?

　　Much to her delight, the new clothes accepted her with open arms! She discovered that some articles of clothing had been with the family for five generations – Great, Great Grandpa’s winter coat! They hit it off together and were soon swapping⁴ stories of the good old days. The other garments listened eagerly. This new season would bring joy once more!

　　衬衫夫人的回忆衬衫夫人已经追随约翰逊家族三代之久了。这对一件衣服来说是非常了不起的。她经历了岁月的洗礼，虽然有些褪色，料子也洗薄了，但她还是一直受到这家人的宠爱。

　　衬衫夫人永远也不会忘记与约翰逊曾祖母第一次见面的那一天。当时她被挂在衣架上，曾祖母一见到她就爱得不得了。曾祖母把她拿到光亮处，边笑边兴奋地喊道：“这件衬衫真是太完美了，我要把她一直穿在身上!”

　　但善良的老曾祖母食言了。在穿着她参加了多年的花园聚会和海滩野餐后，曾祖母把她传给了她的女儿约翰逊奶奶。一段坚苦岁月由此开始!约翰逊奶奶对衬衫夫人的特殊宠爱使得其他衣服妒火中烧。裙子小姐和围巾夫人对她尤其刻薄，后来她们居然挑拨内衣小姐与衬衫夫人反目成仇!

　　约翰逊奶奶常在一些特殊场合穿衬衫夫人，衬衫夫人则把这当作是遭人嘲笑的回报。事实上，每当心情不好时，她都会回忆一下往事：在春天到来后的第一天跟约翰逊奶奶一起去公园里散步;一起喂养刚出生的小宝宝;还有一起在厨房里烤饼干的美妙时光!

　　今天，衬衫夫人将会被传给家族里的另一位成员!她既兴奋又紧张：约翰逊夫人，还有她的那些衣服会如何待她?

　　让她非常高兴的是，新衣服们都热情地欢迎她!她发现有些衣服已经跟随这一家整整五代了，比如高曾祖父的冬大衣!他们非常谈得来，很快就开始互相倾诉那些美好时光里的故事!其他衣服则在一旁热切地听着。新世代定会带来更多欢乐!

　　exclaim v. 呼喊;惊叫jealous adj. 妒忌的ridicule n. 嘲笑;奚落

1 feat   

n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的

参考例句：

• Man's first landing on the moon was a feat of great daring.人类首次登月是一个勇敢的壮举。
• He received a medal for his heroic feat.他因其英雄业绩而获得一枚勋章。

2 ridicule   

v.讥讽，挖苦；n.嘲弄

参考例句：

• You mustn't ridicule unfortunate people.你不该嘲笑不幸的人。
• Silly mistakes and queer clothes often arouse ridicule.荒谬的错误和古怪的服装常会引起人们的讪笑。

3 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

4 swapping   

交换，交换技术

参考例句：

• The slow swapping and buying of horses went on. 马匹的买卖和交换就是这样慢慢地进行着。
• He was quite keen on swapping books with friends. 他非常热衷于和朋友们交换书籍。