新概念美音版第三冊 Lesson 31 A lovable eccentric可愛的怪人

Lesson 31 A lovable eccentric可愛的怪人

Listen to the tape then answer the question below.

聽錄音，然後回答以下問題。

Why did the shop assistant refuse to serve Dickie?

    True eccentrics never deliberately set out to draw attention to themselves. They disregard social conventions without being conscious that they are doing anything extraordinary. This invariably wins them the love and respect of others, for they add colour to the dull routine of everyday life.

    Up to the time of his death, Richard Colson was one of the most notable figures in our town. He was a shrewd and wealthy businessman, but most people in the town hardly knew anything about this side of his life. He was known to us all as Dickie and his eccentricity had become legendary long before he died.

    Dickie disliked snobs intensely. Though he owned a large car, he hardly ever used it, preferring always to go on foot. Even when it was raining heavily, he refused to carry an umbrella. One day, he walked into an expensive shop after having been caught in a particularly heavy shower. He wanted to buy a $300 watch for his wife, but he was in such a bedraggled condition than an assistant refused to serve him. Dickie left the shop without a word and returned carrying a large cloth bag. As it was extremely heavy, he dumped it on the counter. The assistant asked him to leave, but Dickie paid no attention to him and requested to see the manager. Recognizing who the customer was, the manager was most apologetic and reprimanded the assistant severely. When Dickie was given the watch, the presented the assistant with the cloth bag. It contained $300 in pennies. He insisted on the assistant's counting the money before he left -- 30,000 pennies in all! On another occasion, he invited a number of important critics to see his private collection of modern paintings. This exhibition received a great deal of attention in the press, for though the pictures were supposed to be the work of famous artists, they had in fact been painted by Dickie. It took him four years to stage this elaborate joke simply to prove that critics do not always know what they are talking about.

New words and expressions 生詞和短語

     lovable
adj. 可愛的

     eccentric
n.   （行為）古怪人

     disregard
v.   不顧，漠視
 
     convention
n.   習俗，風俗

     conscious
adj. 感覺到的，意識到的

     invariably
adv. 總是，經常地

     routine
n.   常規；慣例

     shrewd
adj. 精明的

     eccentricity
n.   怪僻

     legendary
adj. 傳奇般的

     snob
n.   勢利小人，諂上欺下的人

     intensely
adv. 強烈地

     bedraggled
adj. 拖泥帶水的

     dump
v.   把……砰的一聲拋下

     apologetic
adj. 道歉的

     reprimand
v.   訓斥

     stage
v.   暗中策劃

     elaborate
adj. 精心構思的

參考譯文

    真正古怪的人從不有意引人注意。他們不顧社會習俗，意識不到自己所作所為有什麽特殊之處。他們總能贏得別人的喜愛與尊敬，因為他們給平淡單一的日常生活增添了色彩。
    理查德.科爾森生前是我們鎮上最有名望的人之一。他是個精明能幹、有錢的商人，但鎮上大部分人對他生活中的這一個方麵幾乎一無所知。大家都管他叫迪基。早在他去世前很久，他的古怪行為就成了傳奇故事了。

    迪基痛恨勢利小人。盡管他有一輛豪華小轎車，但卻很少使用，常常喜歡以步代車。即使大雨傾盆，他也總是拒絕帶傘。一天，他遇上一場瓢潑大雨，淋得透濕。他走進一家高級商店，要為妻子買一塊價值300英鎊的手表。但店員見他渾身泥水的樣子，竟不肯接待他。迪基二話沒說就走了。一會兒，他帶著一個大布口袋回到店裏。布袋很沉，他重重地把布袋扔在櫃台上。店員讓迪基走開，他置之不理，並要求見經理。經理認出了這位顧客，表示了深深的歉意，還嚴厲地訓斥了店員。店員為迪基拿出了那塊手表，迪基把布口袋遞給他，口袋裏麵裝著300鎊的便士。他堅持要店員點清那些硬幣後他才離去。這些硬幣加在一起共有30,000枚！ 還有一次，他邀請一些著名評論家來參觀他私人收藏的現代畫。這次展覽引起報界廣泛注意，因為這些畫名義上是名家的作品，事實上是迪基自己畫的。他花了4年時間策劃這出精心設計的鬧劇，隻是想證明評論家們有時並不解他們所談論的事情。