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VOA慢速英语2018--'Transients in Arcadia' by O. Henry

时间:2018-08-25 10:55来源:互联网 提供网友:nan   字体: [ ]
    (单词翻译:双击或拖选)

 

There is a certain hotel on Broadway that is very pleasant in the summer. Not many people have heard about it. It is wide and cool. Its rooms have walls of dark wood. There are green trees around it, and soft winds. It has all the pleasures of mountain living, and none of the pains. You will eat better fish there than you could catch for yourself in streams in the hills. You will have better meat than a hunter brings home from the forest.

A few have discovered this cool spot in the hot summer of New York. You will see these few guests, eating dinner in the hotel restaurant. They are happy to be there, and happy to know that they are very few. They feel especially wise because they have found this delightful1 place.

More waiters than necessary are always near. They bring what is wanted before anyone asks for it.

The pleasing distant noise of Broadway sounds like running water in a forest. At every strange footstep2, the guests turn quickly and look. They are afraid that the restless3 pleasure-seekers will find their hotel and destroy its pleasant quiet.

And so these few live during the hot season. They enjoy the delights4 of mountain and seashore. All is brought to them in their Broadway hotel.

This summer a lady came to the hotel giving this name: “Madame5 Héloise D’Arcy Beaumont.”

The name was like a name in the story of a great romance6. And Madame Beaumont was the kind of lady the Hotel Lotus7 loved. She was beautiful and her manner was very fine. Everyone wished to serve her. The other guests believed that as a guest she was perfection8.

This perfect guest did not often leave the hotel. In this, she was like the other guests of the Hotel Lotus. To enjoy that hotel, one needed to forget the city. New York might have been miles away. At night sometimes one might go out. But during the hot day one remained in the cool shade of the Lotus.

Madame was alone in the Hotel Lotus. She was alone as a queen is alone, because of her high position. She rose from bed late in the morning. She was then a sweet, soft person who seemed to shine quietly.

But at dinner she was different. She would wear a beautiful dress. I cannot find words fine enough to tell about it. Always there were red flowers at her shoulder. When the head waiter saw a dress like this, he met it at the door. You thought of Paris when you saw it, and of the theater and of old romances9.

A story about Madame Beaumont was told among the guests in the Hotel Lotus. It was said that she was a woman who had traveled all over the world. It was said that she knew the most important people everywhere. It was said that in her white hands she held the future of certain nations.

It was no surprise, they said, that such a lady should choose the Hotel Lotus. It was the most desirable10 and the most restful place in America during the heat of summer.

On the third day of Madame Beaumont’s stay in the hotel, a young man entered as a guest. His clothes were quiet but good. His face was pleasant. His expression was that of a man who had traveled and could understand the world. He said that he would remain three or four days. He asked about the sailing11 of certain ships. He seemed to like this hotel the best of all he had known12.

The young man put his name on the list of hotel guests: Harold Farrington. It was a name with a fine sound. And the young man belonged perfectly13 in the quiet life of the Lotus. In one day he became like all the other guests. Like them he had his table and his waiter. He also had the same fear that the wrong people might suddenly discover this hotel and destroy its peace.

After dinner on the next day, Madame Beaumont dropped something as she passed Harold Farrington’s table. He picked it up and, following her, returned it. He spoke15 only a few quiet words as he did this, and she was pleased by his good manners16. She knew that he was a gentleman.

Guests of the Lotus seemed to understand each other very easily. Perhaps it was the result of having discovered this Broadway hotel. Guests felt sure that only especially fine people would enjoy the cool delights of the Lotus. Now, very quickly, a sudden14 friendship grew between Farrington and Madame Beaumont. They stood and talked for a few moments.

“I have seen too much of the usual summer hotels,” said Madame Beaumont, with a small but sweet smile. “Why go to the mountains or the seashore? We cannot escape noise and dust there. The people who make noise and dust follow us there.”

“Even on the ocean,” said Farrington, sadly, “those same people are all around us. What shall we do when they discover the Lotus?”

“I hope they don’t discover the Lotus this week,” said Madame. “I only know one other place I like as well. It is the beautiful home of a prince in the mountains in Europe.”

“The best people,” said Farrington, “are seeking for the quiet places, like this one, where they can escape the crowds.”

“I promise myself three more days of this delightful rest,” said Madame Beaumont. “The next day my ship sails.”

Harold Farrington’s eyes showed that he was sorry. “I too must leave then,” he said. “But I am not sailing for Europe.”

“We cannot stay here forever, though it is so delightful,” said Madame Beaumont. “I like it better than my usual life, which is too full of people. I shall never forget my week in the Hotel Lotus.”

“Nor shall I,” said Farrington in a low voice. “And I shall never like the ship that carries you away.”

On their last evening the two sat together at a little table. A waiter brought them something cool to eat.

Madame Beaumont was wearing the same beautiful dress. She seemed thoughtful17. When she had finished eating, she took out a dollar.

“Mr. Farrington,” she said, with the smile that everyone in the Lotus loved, “I want to tell you something. I’m going to leave early tomorrow morning because I must go back to work. I work selling women’s clothes at Casey’s shop. That dollar is all the money I have. I won’t have any more until I get paid at the end of the week. You’re a real gentleman and you’ve been good to me. I wanted to tell you before I went.

“For a year I’ve been planning to come here. Each week I put aside a little of my pay, so that I would have enough money. I wanted to live one week like a rich lady. I wanted to get up in the morning when I wished. I wanted to be served by waiters. I wanted to have the best of everything. Now I’ve done it, and I’ve been happier than I ever was before. And now I’m going back to work.

“I—I wanted to tell you about it, Mr. Farrington, because I—I thought you liked me, and I—I liked you. This week I’ve told you many things that weren’t true. I told you things I’ve read about. They never happened to me. I’ve been living in a story. It wasn’t real. I wanted you to think I was a great lady.

“This dress I’m wearing—it’s the only pretty dress I own. I haven’t paid for it yet. I’m paying for it a little at a time.

“The price was seventy-five dollars. It was made for me at O’Dowd and Levinsky’s shop. I paid ten dollars first, and now I have to pay a dollar a week until it’s all paid.

“And that’s all I have to say, Mr. Farrington, except that my name is Mamie Siviter, and not Madame Beaumont. Thank you for listening to me. This dollar is the dollar I’m going to pay for my dress tomorrow. And now I’ll go up to my room.”

As Harold Farrington listened, his face had not changed. When she had finished, he took out a small book and began to write in it. Then he pulled out the small page with his writing on it, and gave it to her. And he took the dollar from her hand.

“I go to work too, tomorrow morning,” he said. “And I decided18 to begin now. That paper says you’ve paid your dollar for this week. I’ve been working for O’Dowd and Levinsky for three years. Strange, isn’t it? We both had the same idea. I always wanted to stay at a good hotel. I get twenty dollars a week. Like you, I put aside a little money at a time, until I had enough. Listen, Mamie. Will you go to the pleasure park on Coney Island with me on pay day?”

The girl who had been Madame Héloise D’Arcy Beaumont smiled.

“I’d love to go, Mr. Farrington. Coney will be all right, although we did live here with rich people for a week.” They could hear the night noises of the hot city. Inside the Hotel Lotus it was cool. The waiter stood near, ready to get anything they asked for.

Madame Beaumont started up to her room for the last time.

And he said, “Forget that ‘Harold Farrington,’ will you? McManus is the name—James McManus. Some call me Jimmy.”

“Good night, Jimmy,” said Madame.

Words in This Story

guest(s) – n. a person who pays to stay at a hotel or eat at a restaurant

waiter(s) – n. a man who serves food or drinks to people in a restaurant or hotel

footstep – n. the sound of a foot making a step

seashore – n. the land along the edge19 of the sea that is usually covered with sand or rocks

romance – n. a love story

manner – n. the way that a person normally20 behaves especially while with other people

dress – n. a piece of clothing for a woman or a girl that has a top part that covers the upper body and a skirt that hangs down to cover the legs

shop – n. a building or room where goods and services are sold


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 delightful 6xzxT     
adj.令人高兴的,使人快乐的
参考例句:
  • We had a delightful time by the seashore last Sunday.上星期天我们在海滨玩得真痛快。
  • Peter played a delightful melody on his flute.彼得用笛子吹奏了一支欢快的曲子。
2 footstep BjRxW     
n.脚步;脚步声;足迹
参考例句:
  • I listened for a footstep.我留心听着脚步声。
  • I knew he had retumn,when I heard his footstep.听脚步声就知道他回来了。
3 restless nWWx3     
adj.焦躁不安的;静不下来的,运动不止的
参考例句:
  • He looks like a restless man.他看上去坐立不安。
  • He has been very restless all day and he awoke nearly all last night.他一整天都心神不定,昨夜几乎一整夜没有合眼。
4 delights a64c2088f0b328247222a76da55348c1     
n.快乐,高兴( delight的名词复数 );使人高兴的东西或人v.使高兴,使欣喜( delight的第三人称单数 );感到高兴[快乐]
参考例句:
  • Savour the culinary delights of Mexico. 品尝墨西哥的美味。
  • It's one of the few delights that never pall. 它是几种永不使人乏味的乐事之一。 来自《简明英汉词典》
5 madame VAFx4     
n.女士;夫人;小姐
参考例句:
  • Madame Curie was the only famous woman scientist in the world.居里夫人是世界上唯一有名的女科学家。
  • Radium is discovered by Madame Curie.镭是由居里夫人发现的。
6 romance KXGx1     
n.恋爱关系,浪漫气氛,爱情小说,传奇
参考例句:
  • She wrote a romance about an artist's life in Tokyo.她写了一个关于一位艺术家在东京生活的浪漫故事。
  • They tried to rekindle the flames of romance.他们试图重燃爱火。
7 lotus foJzw0     
n.荷花(莲花,莲饰)
参考例句:
  • Lotus grows in Africa and Asia.荷花产于非洲和亚洲。
  • I like enjoying the moonlight beside a lotus pond.我喜欢独自欣赏荷塘的月色。
8 perfection GMKxd     
n.尽善尽美,无比精确
参考例句:
  • Their works reach to a great height of perfection.他们的作品到了极完美的境地。
  • The picture wants something of perfection.这幅画还有些不够完美。
9 romances 77fde962e29a8f3190981e749a316f8f     
n.浪漫史( romance的名词复数 );爱情小说;恋爱;传奇色彩
参考例句:
  • The Arabian Nights and Treasure lsland are romances. 《一千零一夜》和《金银岛》都是传奇故事。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • Most teenage romances are transitory. 绝大多数青少年的恋情都转瞬即逝。 来自辞典例句
10 desirable hw6xX     
adj.值得拥有的;可取的,有利的
参考例句:
  • Some reasonable adjustments seem desirable.某些合理的调整似乎是可取的。
  • Prolonged negotiation was not desirable.拖长了的谈判并不是大家所想要的。
11 sailing Qj2z4g     
n.航行,航海术,启航
参考例句:
  • Experienced seamen will advise you about sailing in this weather.有经验的海员会告诉你在这种天气下的航行情况。
  • The operation was plain sailing.手术进行得顺利。
12 known hpKzdc     
adj.大家知道的;知名的,已知的
参考例句:
  • He is a known artist.他是一个知名的艺术家。
  • He is known both as a painter and as a statesman.他是知名的画家及政治家。
13 perfectly 8Mzxb     
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地
参考例句:
  • The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
  • Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。
14 sudden YsSw9     
n.突然,忽然;adj.突然的,意外的,快速的
参考例句:
  • All of a sudden he turned about and saw me.他突然转过身来看见了我。
  • The horse was badly frightened by the sudden noise.那匹马被突然而来的嘈杂声吓坏了。
15 spoke XryyC     
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说
参考例句:
  • They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
  • The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
16 manners foJzbe     
n.礼貌;规矩
参考例句:
  • You should mend your manners.你的态度应当纠正。
  • His manners are rough,but he is a kind man at heart.他虽然举止粗鲁,但心地善良。
17 thoughtful Wo4wg     
adj.思考的,沉思的,体贴的,关心的
参考例句:
  • She is thoughtful for her friends.她很体贴她的朋友们。
  • This is a thoughtful essay.这是一篇具有思想性的随笔。
18 decided lvqzZd     
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。
19 edge xqoxx     
n.边(缘);刃;优势;v.侧着移动,徐徐移动
参考例句:
  • Sight along the edge to see if it's straight.顺着边目测,看看直不直。
  • She lived on the extreme edge of the forest.她住在森林的最边缘。
20 normally ln8zVb     
adv.正常地,通常地
参考例句:
  • I normally do all my shopping on Saturdays.我通常在星期六买东西。
  • My pulse beats normally.我脉搏正常。
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TAG标签:   VOA英语  慢速英语
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