教你怎么听3 Lesson23（在线收听）

UNIT TWENTY-THREE
[00:04.70]Story 3
[00:07.03]1.Look at the question briefly and listen to the story.
[00:13.45]Then circle th correct answer.
[00:16.90]The Umbrella Man
[00:20.45]Yesterday afternoon,
[00:23.90]my mother took me up to London to see the dentist.
[00:28.24]He found one hole.
[00:31.16]It was in a back tooth and he filled it without hurting me too much.
[00:35.68]After that, we went to a cafe.
[00:39.31]I had a banana split and my mother had a cup of coffee.
[00:43.83]By the time we got up to leave, it was about six o'clock.
[00:48.80]When we came out of the cafe it had started to rain.
[00:53.24]"We must get a taxi", my mother said.
[00:56.97]We were wearing ordinary hats and coats, and it was raining quite hard.
[01:01.94]Just then, a man came up to us.
[01:06.06]He was a small man and he was pretty old,
[01:10.11]probably seventy or more.
[01:12.75]He raised his hat politely and said to my mother.
[01:16.88]"Excuse me. I do hope you will excuse me ..."
[01:21.32]He had a fine white moustache and bushy white eyebrows and a wrinkly pink face.
[01:27.64]He was sheltering under an umbrella which he held high over his head.
[01:33.18]"Yes'?" my mother said, very cool and distant.
[01:38.61]"I wonder if I could ask a small favour of you", he said.
[01:43.34]"It is only a very small favour.
[01:46.79]I saw my mother looking at him suspiciously.
[01:50.73]With strange men, she has a golden rule which says,
[01:55.36]"the nicer the man seems to be, the more suspicious you must become."
[02:00.71]This little old man was particularly nice.
[02:05.15]He was polite.
[02:07.58]He was well- spoken. He was well-dressed.\
[02:11.53]He was a real gentleman.
[02:14.35]The reason I knew he was a gentleman was because of his shoes.
[02:18.97]"You can always spot a gentleman by the shoes he wears",
[02:23.49]was another of my mother's favourite sayings.
[02:27.04]This man had beautiful brown shoes.
[02:30.99]"The truth of the matter is," the little man was saying,
[02:35.51]"I've got myself into a bit of a scyape.
[02:39.06]I need some help. Not much, I assure you.
[02:43.11]It's almost nothing, in fact, but I do need it.
[02:46.84]You see, madam, old people like me often become terribly forgetful ...'
[02:52.38]My mother's chin was up and she was stating down at him along the full length of her nose.
[02:58.52]The little man shifted his umbrella from one hand to the other.
[03:03.67]"I've never forgotten it before', he said.
[03:07.22]"You've never forgotten what? ' my mother asked sternly.
[03:11.74]"My wallet," he said. "I must have left it in my other jacket.
[03:16.60]Isn't that the silliest thing to do.'?"
[03:19.65]"Are you asking me to give you money?" my mother said.
[03:24.09]"Oh, good gracious me, no!" he cried.
[03:27.73]"Heaven forbid I should ever do that!"
[03:30.89]"Then what are you asking?" my mother said.
[03:34.94]"Do hurry up. We're getting soaked to the skin standing here,"
[03:39.06]"I know you are," he said.
[03:42.12]"And that is why I'm offering you this umbrella of mine to protect you,
[03:46.85]and 'to keep forever, if...if only..."
[03:50.40]"If only what?" my mother said.
[03:54.53]"If only you would give me in return a pound for my taxi-fare just to get me home."
[04:00.46]My mother was stillsuspicious.
[04:04.58]"If you had no money in the first place," she said,
[04:08.53]"then how did you get here?"
[04:11.35]"I walked", he answered.
[04:14.51]"Every day I go for a lovely long walk and then I summon a taxi to take me home.
[04:20.94]I do it every day of the year."
[04:24.49]"Why don't you walk home now?" my mother asked.
[04:28.54]"Oh, I wish I could," he said. "I do wish I could.
[04:32.88]But I don't think I could manage it on these silly old legs of mine.
[04:37.00]I've gone too far already."
[04:39.93]My mother stood there chewing her lower lip.
[04:44.26]she was beginning to melt a bit, I could see that.
[04:48.39]And the idea of getting an umbrella to shelter under must have tempted her a good deal.
[04:53.83]"It's a lovely umbrella," the little man said.
[04:57.77]"So I've noticed", my mother said.
[05:01.11]"It's silk," he said.
[05:03.83]"I can see that."
[05:06.16]"Then why don't you take it, madam," he said.
[05:09.60]"It cost me over twenty pounds, I promise you.
[05:13.23]But that's of no importance so long as I can get home and rest these old legs of mine."
[05:19.56]I saw my mother's hand feeling for the clasp on her purse.
[05:25.09]Then she said to the little man,
[05:27.92]"I don't think it's quite right thatI should take a silk umbrella from you worth twenty pounds.
[05:34.05]I think I'd just better give you the taxi-fare and be done with it."
[05:38.68]"No,no.no!"
[05:41.32] he cried. "It's out of the question! I wouldn't dream of it!
[05:45.76]Not in a million years'!
[05:48.68]I would never accept money from you like that!
[05:52.13]Take the umbrella, dear lady', and keep the rain off your shoulders!"
[05:57.09]She fished into her purse and took out a pound note.
[06:01.95]She held it out to the little man.
[06:05.19]He took it and handed her the umbrella.
[06:09.03]He pocketed the pound, raised his hat,
[06:13.16]gave a quick bow from the waist,and said,
[06:16.71]"Thank you, madam, thank you."
[06:19.95]Then he was gone.
[06:22.59]We watched the little man as he dodged nimbly in and out of the traffic.
[06:28.91]When he reached the other side on the street, he turned left, walking very fast.
[06:35.15]"He doesn't look very tired to me, does he to you, mummy?"
[06:39.78]My mother didn't answer.
[06:42.70]"He doesn't look as though he's trying to get a taxi, either," I said.
[06:48.45]"He's up to something," my mother said, stony-faced.
[06:53.41]"But what ?"
[06:55.84]"I don't know," my mother snapped.
[06:59.08]"But I'm going to find out. Come with me."
[07:02.53]She took my ann and we crossed the street together.
[07:06.58]Then we turned left.
[07:09.11]We came to the comer and turned right.
[07:12.95]The little man was about twenty yards ahead of us.
[07:16.90]He was scuttling along like a rabbit and we had to walk fast to keep up with him.
[07:22.54]The rain was pelting down harder than ever now
[07:26.59]and I could see it dripping from the brim of his hat onto his shoulders.
[07:31.11]At the next crossing, the little man turned right again.
[07:36.07]Then he turned left.
[07:39.13]Then right.
[07:41.56]"He went in that door!" my mother said. "I saw him!
[07:46.18]Into that house! Great heavens, it's a pub!"
[07:50.52]We stood huddled together outside the pub windows.
[07:54.64]The mom we were looking into was full of people and cigarette smoke,
[07:59.66]and our little man was in the middle of it all.
[08:03.29]He was now without his hat or coat,
[08:07.03]and he was edging his way through the crowd towards the bar.
[08:11.26]When he reached it, he placed beth hands on the bar itself and spoke to the barman.
[08:18.02]I saw his lips moving as he gave his order.
[08:22.07]The barman turned away from him for a few seconds and came back
[08:28.40]with a smallish rambler filled to the brim with light brown liquid.
[08:33.83]The little man placed a pound note on the counter.
[08:37.96]"That's my pound!" my mother hissed, "By golly, he's got a nerve!"
[08:44.59]"What's in the glass?" I asked.
[08:48.04]"Whisky," my mother said.
[08:50.86]The little man picked up the glass and put it to his lips.
[08:55.72]He tilted it gently.
[08:58.44]Then he tilted it higher...and higher...and higher...
[09:03.79]and very soon all the whisky had disappeared down his throat in one long pour.
[09:10.71]Slowly, he turned away from the bar and edged back through the crowd to
[09:16.75]where his hat and coat were hanging.
[09:19.91]Heput on his hat. He put on his coat.
[09:24.14]Then, in a mariner so superbly cool and casual
[09:29.16]that you hardly noticed anything at all, he lifted from the coat-rack
[09:34.41]one of the many wet umbrellas hanging there, and off he went.
[09:39.66]"So that's his little game!" my mother said.
[09:43.89]We followed him back to the main street where we had first met him,
[09:49.14]and we watched him as he proceeded,
[09:52.30]with no trouble at all, to exchange his new umbrella for another pound note.
[09:57.84]This time it was with a tall thin fellow who didn't even have a coat or hat.
[10:03.59]And as soon as the transaction was completed,
[10:07.22]our little man trotted off down the street and was lost in the crowd.
[10:12.08]But this time he went in the opposite direction.
[10:16.20]"You see how clever he is!" my mother said.
[10:20.25]"He never goes to the same pub twice!"
[10:23.80]"He could go on doing this all night," I said.
[10:27.75]"Yes," my mother said, "Of course.
[10:31.48]But I'll bet he prays like mad for rainy days."
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