胡敏读故事记单词托福词汇151（在线收听）

151 a miser for a husband

The husband had always been a miser calling his wife to account for even the tiniest amounts of expenditure. He would mistrust his wife’s motives behind every little thing she did, which made her feel thoroughly miserable. It was amazing that she put up with her life with misery for as long as she did. Her constant lack of cash was a severe impediment to her social mobility. There was little she could do though, to mitigate the effects of her husband’s stinginess.

One day, the wife could take it no longer, and burst out, her eyes moist with emotion, “You miserable old retch, our lives had been filled with one embarrassing mishap after another. The means you had been providing me with have been less than moderate, if not to say modest in the extreme, certainly much less than the support a loyal wife and mother might expect. I’m no longer socially mobile.”

The husband stood openmouthed, eyeing his wife’s misgiving.

“Ha,” the wife exclaimed, “you think that taking me and the kids out for a row on the mote is our idea of fun? You’ve been misleading me for all these years. Before we got married, you pretend to be a man of the world, but all you do now is mock me when I beg you to buy me a new frock or two.”

“Ah, so I mock you when you want to buy a frock?” The husband began to sound like a mocking bird.

“Don’t you stand there and moist your eyes with crocodile tears. I wish to moderate your tone or somewhat and modify your attitude. I have been more than generous, you know.”