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日常英語(yǔ)短文聽(tīng)力
英語(yǔ)聽(tīng)力要提高，就一定要經(jīng)常進(jìn)行聽(tīng)力訓(xùn)練。下面小編為大家提供一篇優(yōu)質(zhì)的英語(yǔ)聽(tīng)力材料。
Our house was directly across the street from the clinic entrance of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. We lived downstairs and rented the upstairs rooms to out-patients at the clinic.
One summer evening as I was fixing supper, there was a knock at the door. I opened it to see a truly awful-looking man. "Why, he's hardly taller than my eight-year-old," I thought as I stared at thestooped, shriveled body. But the appalling thing was his face... lopsided from swelling, red and raw. Yet his voice was pleasant as he said, "Good evening. I've come to see if you've a room for just one night. I came for a treatment this morning from the eastern shore, and there's no bus until morning."
He told me he'd been hunting for a room since noon but with no success. No one seemed to have a room. "I guess it's my face... I know it looks terrible, but my doctor says with a few more treatments.."
For a moment I hesitated, but his next words convinced me. "I could sleep in this rocking chair on the porch. My bus leaves early in the morning."
I told him we would find him a bed, but to rest on the porch. I went inside and finished getting supper. When we were ready, I asked the old man if he would join us. "No, thank you. I have plenty." And he held up a brown paper bag.
When I had finished the dishes, I went out on the porch to talk with him for a few minutes. It didn't take long time to see that this old man had an oversized heart crowded into that tiny body. He told me he fished for a living to support his daughter, her five children, and her husband, who was hopelessly crippled from a back injury.
He didn't tell it by way of complaint. In fact, every other sentence was preface with a thanks to God for a blessing. He was grateful that no pain accompanied his disease, which was apparently a form of skin cancer. He thanked God for giving him the strength to keep going.
At bedtime, we put a camp cot in the children's room for him. When I got up in the morning, the bed linens were neatly folded and the little man was out on the porch. He refused breakfast. But just before he left for his bus, haltingly, as if asking a great favor, he said, "Could I please come back and stay the next time I have a treatment? I won't put you out a bit. I can sleep fine in a chair."
He paused a moment and then added, "Your children made me feel at home. Grownups are bothered by my face, but children don't seem to mind."
I told him he was welcome to come again.
On his next trip he arrived a little after seven in the morning. As a gift, he brought a big fish and a quart of the largest oysters I had ever seen. He said he had shucked them that morning before he left so that they'd be nice and fresh. I knew his bus left at 4:00 a.m. and I wondered what time he had to get up in order to do this for us.
During the years he came to stay overnight with us, there was never a time that he did not bring us fish or oysters or vegetables from his garden. Other times we received packages in the mail, always by special delivery ... fish and oysters packed in a box with fresh young spinach or kale... every leaf carefully washed. Knowing that he must walk three miles to mail these, and knowing how little money he had made the gifts doubly precious.
When I received these little remembrances, I often thought of a comment our next-door neighbor made after he left that first morning. "Did you keep that awful-looking man last night? I turned him away! You can lose roomers by putting up such people! "
Maybe we did lose roomers once or twice. But oh! If only they could have known him, perhaps their illness would have been easier to bear. I know our family will always be grateful to have known him. From him, we learned what it was to accept the bad without complaint and the good with gratitudeto God.
Recently I was visiting a friend who has a greenhouse. As she showed me her flowers, we came to the most beautiful one of all... a golden chrysanthemum, bursting with blooms. But to my great surprise,it was growing in an old dented,rusty bucket.
I thought to myself, "If this were my plant, I'd put it in the loveliest container I had!" My friend changed my mind.
I ran short of pots, she explained, "and knowing how beautiful this one would be, I thought it wouldn't mind starting out in this old pail. It's just for a little while, until I can put it out in the garden."
She must have wondered why I laughed so delightedly, but I was imagining such a scene in heaven. "Here's an especially beautiful one," God might have said when he came to the soul of the sweet old fisherman. "He won't mind starting in this small body."
All this happened long ago... and now, in God's garden, how tall this lovely soul must stand.
我家住在巴爾的摩市，與約翰斯•霍普金森醫(yī)院門診部的正門只隔了條馬路。我們住樓下，樓上的屋子租給了來(lái)診所求診的病人。
一個(gè)夏日的傍晚，我正在準(zhǔn)備晚餐時(shí)，忽然聽(tīng)見(jiàn)有人敲門。打開(kāi)門后，我見(jiàn)到一個(gè)相貌可怕的男士。看著他那蜷曲、枯瘦的身體我心想：“天啊，他簡(jiǎn)直還沒(méi)有我八歲時(shí)高呢。”更駭人的是他的臉——因浮腫而顯得不平衡，紅紅的而且很粗趁。不過(guò)他說(shuō)話時(shí)的聲音倒很和善：“晚上好，我想問(wèn)一下，你這兒有沒(méi)有屋子借住一晚。我早上從東海岸趕來(lái)治病，明天早上才有回家的大巴。”
他告訴我他從中午起就在找房子，但沒(méi)找到。好像沒(méi)人有空房。“我猜想是我的臉…我曉得我的臉看上去很可怕，但醫(yī)生說(shuō)再多治幾次…”
我遲疑了片刻，但他接下來(lái)的話語(yǔ)說(shuō)服了我。“我可以睡在走廊的搖椅上，明天一大早就去趕大巴。”
我告訴他我們會(huì)給他找一張床，但只能擱在走廊里�；匚莶贾煤猛聿蜏�(zhǔn)備開(kāi)飯時(shí)，我問(wèn)老人要不要過(guò)來(lái)一起來(lái)吃。他舉起一只灰色紙包說(shuō)：不了，謝謝你，我?guī)Я俗銐虻某缘摹?rdquo;
飯后，我到走廊上同他聊了幾分鐘。不多久，便發(fā)現(xiàn)這位老人瘦小的身軀卻有著偉岸的心靈。他告訴我，以釣魚(yú)為生是為了扶持他女兒，女兒的五個(gè)孩子，還有女婿——因脊椎受傷徹底致殘的人。
他不是以抱怨的口吻講述這些事的，實(shí)際上，每句話的開(kāi)始都對(duì)上帝的保佑充滿謝意。他感激他所患的病——顯然是某種皮膚癌——沒(méi)有疼痛，他感謝上帝賜予他繼續(xù)活下去的力量。
就寢時(shí)，我在孩子們的房間給他放了張野營(yíng)用的小床。第二天早晨我起來(lái)時(shí)，小床上的被褥已齊整地疊好，老人站在外面的走廊上。他謝絕了早餐。就在即將離開(kāi)去乘巴士時(shí)，他猶豫再三，像是要請(qǐng)求一個(gè)天大的恩惠，問(wèn)道：“下次來(lái)看病時(shí)，我還能回到這兒住嗎?我不會(huì)給你們添亂的，我只要在椅子上就能睡好。”
他頓了一會(huì)，補(bǔ)充道：“你們的小孩讓我感覺(jué)像是在家里一樣自在。大人們因我的臉而煩惱，可孩子們好像不那么介意。”
我告訴他歡迎下次再來(lái)。
第二次，老人早上七點(diǎn)多就到了。他帶了一條大魚(yú)和一夸脫牡蠣作為禮物，那是我所見(jiàn)過(guò)的最大的牡蠣。他說(shuō)早上出發(fā)前剝了殼，這樣能保證新鮮又美味。我知道他乘的巴士凌晨4點(diǎn)發(fā)車，我在想，為給我們準(zhǔn)備這些東西，他得多早就起來(lái)啊。
那些年他在我們家借宿，每次都帶魚(yú)、牡蠣，或是他家園子里的蔬菜。還有幾次我們收到他特意寄來(lái)的東西——新鮮嫩菠菜或甘藍(lán)葉包裹的魚(yú)和牡蠣…每片葉子都仔細(xì)清洗過(guò)。得知他得步行三英里郵寄，得知他自己的收入那么低，這些禮物在我們心里變得倍加珍貴。
每當(dāng)我收到這些小小的禮物時(shí)，常想起老人首次借宿的次日清晨，我們隔壁的鄰居對(duì)我說(shuō)：“昨晚你收留那丑八怪老頭了嗎?我把他支出去了!你要留他過(guò)夜非嚇跑房客不可!”
可能我家的確失去了一兩次房客，但是啊，如果他們能認(rèn)識(shí)這位老人，或許他們的病痛將不再那么難以承受。我知道，我的家人總是為認(rèn)識(shí)這位老人而心存感激。從他那里，我們學(xué)到了什么是坦然面對(duì)不幸而毫無(wú)怨言，并懷著感恩的心接受上帝賜予的美好。
最近，我拜訪了一位朋友，她有一個(gè)花房。她帶我觀看她的花時(shí)，我們來(lái)到花房中最美麗的一處——一株綻放的金菊。但令我特別驚奇的是，它竟然生長(zhǎng)在一個(gè)凹陷的、生了銹的鐵桶里。
我心里想，“如果這是我的花，我會(huì)把它放到我最可愛(ài)的花盆里去!”朋友改變了我的想法。
“當(dāng)時(shí)我缺花盆”，她解釋道，“既然知道它會(huì)那么好看，我想它也不介意在這舊桶里開(kāi)花。用不了多久，我就會(huì)把它移栽到花園里去。”
她一定很奇怪我為何笑得如此開(kāi)心，我那時(shí)正想象著天堂中這樣一幅情景。當(dāng)上帝來(lái)到老漁夫可愛(ài)的靈魂前時(shí)可能會(huì)說(shuō)：“這樣一個(gè)特別可愛(ài)的靈魂，并不介意棲息于瘦小的身軀。”
這些都發(fā)生在很久以前…而現(xiàn)在，那美好的靈魂該是多么高大地佇立于上帝的花園啊!
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