unit2 A课文ALL THE CABBIE HAD WAS A LETTER.doc

ALL THE CABBIE HAD WAS A LETTER Foster FurcoloHe must have been completely lost in something he was reading because I had to tap on the windshield to get his attention. “Is your cab available?” I asked when he finally looked up at me. He nodded, then said apologetically as I settled into the back seat, “I m sorry, but I was reading a letter. He sounded as if he had a cold or something. Im in no hurry,” I told him. “Go ahead and finish your letter.” He shook his head. “I ve read it several times already. I guess I almost know it by heart.” “Letters from home always mean a lot,” I said. “ At least they do with me because I m on the road so much. ” Then, estimating that he was 60 or 70 years old, I guessed: “From a child or maybe a grandchild?” “ This isnt family,” he replied. “Although,” he went on, “come to think of it, it might just as well have been family. Old Ed was my oldest friend. In fact, we used to call each other Old Friendwhen we d meet, that is. I m not much of a hand at writing.” “I dont think any of us keep up our correspondence too well,” I said. “I know I dont. But I take it hes someone you ve known quite a while?” All my life, practically. We were kids together, so we go way back.” “ Went to school together?” “All the way through high school. We were in the same class, in fact, through both grade and high school.” There are not too many people who ve had such a long friend ship,” I said. “Actually,” the driver went on, “I hadnt seen him more than once or twice a year over the past 25 or 30 years because I moved away from the old neighborhood and you kind of lose touch even though you never forget. He was a great guy.” “You said was. Does that mean? He nodded. “Died a couple of weeks ago.” “I m sorry,” I said. “Its no fun to lose any friendand losing a real old one is even tougher. ” He didnt reply to that, and we rode on in silence for a few minutes. But I realized that Old Ed was still on his mind when he spoke again, almost more to himself than to me: I should have kept in touch. Yes,” he repeated, “I should have kept in touch. ” “Well,” I agreed, “we should all keep in touch with old friends more than we do. But things come up and we just dont seem to find the time. ” He shrugged. “We used to find the time,” he said. “Thats even mentioned in the letter. ” He handed it over to me. Take a look.” “Thanks,” I said, “but I dont want to read your mail. Thats pretty personal.” The driver shrugged. “Old Ed s dead. Theres nothing personal now. Go ahead,” he urged me. The letter was written in pencil. It began with the greeting Old Friend,” and the first sentence reminded me of myself. I ve been meaning to write for some time, but I ve always postponed it. It then went on to say that he often thought about the good times they had had together when they both lived in the same neighborhood. It had references to things that probably meant something to the driver, such as the time Tim Shea broke the window, the Halloween that we tied Old Mr. Parker s gate, and when Mrs. Culver used to keep us after school. “You must have spent a lot of time together,” I said to him. “Like it says there,” he answered, “about all we had to spend in those days was time.” He shook his head: Time.” I thought the next paragraph of the letter was a little sad: I began the letter with Old Friend because thats what we ve become over the yearsold friends. And there arent many of us left. “You know,” I said to him, “when it says here that there arent many of us left, thats absolutely right. Every time I go to a class reunion, for example, there are fewer and fewer still around. ” Time goes by,” the driver said. “Did you two work at the same place?” I asked him. “No, but we hung out on the same corner when we were single. And then, when we were married, we used to go to each other s house every now and then. But for the last 20 or 30 years it s been mostly just Christmas cards. Of course there d be always a note we d each add to the cardsusually some news about our families, you know, what the kids were doing, who moved where, a new grandchild, things like thatbut never a real letter or anything like that. ” “This is a good part here,” I said. “Where it says Your friendship over the years has meant an awful lot to me, more than I can say be cause I m not good at saying things like that. ” I found myself nodding in agreement. “That must have made you feel good, didnt it?” The driver said something that I couldnt understand because he seemed to be all choked up, so I continued: I know I d like to receive a letter like that from my oldest friend.” We were getting close to our destination so I skipped to the last paragraph. So I thought you d like to know that I was thinking of you. And it was signed, Your Old Friend, Tom. I handed back the letter as we stopped at my hotel. “Enjoyed talking with you,” I said as I took my suitcase out of the cab. Tom? The letter was signed Tom? “I thought your friend s name was Ed,” I said. “Why did he sign it Tom? “The letter was not from Ed to me,” he explained. “I m Tom. Its a letter I wrote to him before I knew he d died. So I never mailed it.” He looked sort of sorrowful, or as if he were trying to see something in the distance. “I guess I should have written it sooner.” When I got to my hotel room I didnt unpack right away. First I had to write a letterand mail it.language studybe lost in/ lose oneself in:be absorbed in, be fully occupied with 专心致志于 He was lost in playing computer games so he was unaware of my entering the room. She was lost in her novel. I had lost myself in thought. available: able to be used, had, or reached 可用的 ; 可得到的 Since 1990, the amount of money available to buy books has fallen by 17%. If you dont want to buy a kite, you can make your own using directions available in the book. We have already used up all the available space. or something: used when you are not very sure about what you have just said 诸如此类的事The air fare was a hundred and ninety-nine pounds or something. Heres some money. Get yourself a sandwich or something. Similar phrase: or something like that go ahead:continue, begin (sometimes followed by with +n.) The board of directors will vote today on whether to go ahead with the plan. Henry will be late but we will go ahead with the meeting anyway. know/ learn by heart: memorize, remember exactly 记住 , 能背出 You have to know all the music by heart if you want to be a concert pianist.The pupils are required to learn a classic poem by heart every day. estimate:form a judgement about (a quantity or value) 估计 I estimate that the total cost for the treatment of the disease will go from $5,000 to $8,000. Bills personal riches were estimated at $368 million. might/ may (just) as well: 不妨 ,( 也 ) 无妨 If you say that you might/ may (just) as well do something, you mean that you will do it although you do not have a strong desire to do it and may even feel slightly reluctant about it.Anyway, youre here; you might as well stay. The post office is really busy well have to queue for ages to get served. We might as well go home.not much of a : not a good 不太好的 Some people may think that doing housework for others is not much of a career.He is not much of a father, but he is an outstanding professor. keep up: continue without stopping 保持 They risk losing their homes because they can no longer keep up the repayments. I was so hungry all the time that I could not keep the diet up for longer than a month. correspondence: 1) the act of writing, receiving or sending letters ( 不可加 s, 但可加 a , often followed by with + n.) 通信 ( 联系 ) His interest in writing came from a long correspondence with a close college friend. 2) the letters that sb. receives or sends (used as an uncountable noun) 信件 Mary really never mentions her step-mother in her correspondence. Any further correspondence should be sent to my new address. practically:almost, but not completely or exactlyHed known the old man for practically ten years. I know people who find it practically impossible to give up smoking. neighborhood: one of the parts of a town where people live 街坊 ; 四邻 It seemed like an ideal neighborhood to raise my children in. Houses in a good neighborhood are likely to be sold at a high price. kind of/ sort of: (infml; kind of is esp. AmE, sort of esp. BrE) a little bit, in some way or degree (used before v. or after a link verb) 有几分 , 有点儿 She wasnt beautiful. But she was kind of cute. The boys description kind of gives us an idea of whats happening. lose touch (with sb.): meet and contact sb. less and less often, gradually stop writing, tele- phoning, or visiting them 失去联系 I lost touch with my former classmates after graduation. In my job one tends to lose touch with friends. a couple of: (infml) a few, more than one but not many 几个 ; 一对 , 一双 Do you have a moment? There are a couple of things Id like to talk to you about. They promised the students that they would find a substitute teacher in a couple of days. on ones mind:in ones thoughts; of concern to one (If something is on your mind, you are worried or concerned about it and think about it a lot.) 挂记在心头 Dealings on the stock market have been on his mind all the time. This travel plan has been on my mind all week. keep in touch (with sb.)( 与 ) 保持联系 , 保持接触 If you keep in touch with someone, you write, phone, or visit each other regularly. The old man kept in touch with his children while living in a nursing home. While doing the research work in the Antarctic, the professor kept in touch with his students via email. come up: 1) happen, occur, esp. unexpectedly( 尤指意想不到地 ) 发生 , 出现 Sorry, I am late something came up at home. Other projects came up and the emphasis of my work changed. 2) be mentioned or discussed The issue of safety came up twice during the meeting. The term Project Hope has come up a lot recently in the newspapers. urge: try very hard to persuade (often used in the pattern urge sb. to do sth. or followed by a thai-clause. In the that-clause, should or the base form of a verb is used.) 力劝 , 催促 They urged the local government to approve plans for their reform programme. I urged my cousin to take a year off to study drawing. Sir Fred urged that Britain (should) join the European Monetary System. postpone: delay (usu. followed by n. /gerund) 推迟 , 使延期 The Russian experts postponed dumping Mir ( 和平号 Russias space station) in the Pacific Ocean until March 23, 2001. The couple had postponed having children to establish their careers.reference:1) the act of talking about sb. / sth., or mentioning them (usu. followed by to) 提及 , 谈到It was strange that he made no reference to any work experience in his resume. His recent book makes references to the political events of those days. 2) sth. that shows you where else to look for information, for example the page number of another place in a book 参考 Make a note of the reference number shown on the form. 3) the act of looking at sth. for information 查阅 Use the dictionary for easy reference. Keep their price list for further reference. absolutely:totally and completely 完全地 , 极其 Funding is absolutely necessary if research is to continue. There is absolutely no difference between the two oil-paintings. reunion: a party attended by members of the same family, school, or other group who have not seen each other for a long time( 家人 、 朋友 、同事等久别后的 ) 重逢 The soccer club holds an annual/yearly reunion. Before she went abroad for further study, the whole family had a big family reunion. go by: (of time) pass( 时间 ) 逝去 Her daughter was becoming more and more beautiful as the years went by. As each month goes by, the economic situation gets better. hang out:1) (in/ml; used mainly in AmE) stay in or near a place, for no particular reason, not doing very much 闲逛 ; 徘徊 I often hung out in coffee bars while I was unemployed. We can just hang out and have a good time. Thats the corner where all the kids hang out. 2) hang clothes on a piece of string outside in order to dry them . 挂晾晒 I was worried that I had no time to hang out my washing. What a pain! Its raining and Ive just hung the washing out. every now and then: sometimes, at times 有时 , 不时Every now and then I have a desire to quit my tedious job. I still see Jane for lunch every now and then, but not as often as I used to.mostly: almost all; generally 几乎全部 ; 多半 , 大体 They have invested their money mostly in expensive real estate. The guests at the wedding party are mostly friends of the bride.awful: (infinl; used to add force) very great; very bad or unpleasant 非常的 , 极大的 ; 可怕的 I have got an awful lot of work to do. I cant bear the awful smell of cigarette smoke. choke up:become too upset to speak( 使 ) 窒息 ; 堵塞 When he learned the news of his friends sudden death, he was so choked up he couldnt say a thing. Losing my job left me completely choked up; I was so upset that I didnt know what to say. destination:the place to which sb. is going or being sent 目的地Singapore is still our most popular holiday destination. Only half of the emergency supplies have reached their destination because of the bad weather. skip: pass from (one point, etc.) to another, disregarding or failing to act on what comes between 略过 , 跳过 ; 跳跃The teacher skipped chapter five and said it wouldnt be on the test. As time is limited, we will have to skip some of the exercises in Unit 10, said the teacher. right away: (in/ml) at once 立刻 Tom has got a high fever; he should go and see a doctor right away.I wrote him a letter and posted it right away. language point 1 He sounded as if he had a cold or something. : This sentence implies the sad state of mind the taxi driver was in. language point 2 At least they do with me because Im on the road so much. : At least letters from home mean a lot to me because I travel a lot in a car for long distances. language point 3 This isnt family. : This isnt a letter from my family.language point 4 Im not much of a hand at writing. : Im not good at writing. language point 5But I take it hes someone . : But I expect that he is someone . The sentence pattern I take it (that) is used to say that you expect someone will do something, know something etc.Example: I take it (that) youve heard that all the students in my class have done a very good job in GET Band 4. language point 6 Went to school together? : The complete sentence is like this: You went to school together? (In colloquial English a declarative sentence with a rising tone may serve as a question.) language point 7 But I realized that Old Ed was still on his mind when he spoke again, almost more to himself than to me.: But I realized that the taxi driver was still thinking of Old Ed when he spoke again. It seemed that he spoke more to himself than to me. language point 8 It had references to things that . : The letter made mention of things that .language point 9 Like it says there,. about all we had to spend in those days was time.: As the letter says there,. though we didnt have much money we had a lot of free time. language point 10 . there are fewer and fewer still around.: . fewer and fewer of us are left alive. language point 11But for the last 20 or 30 years its been mostly just Christinas cards. : But generally speaking we have sent only Christmas cards to keep in touch with each other for the last 20 or 30 years.language point 12Your friendship over the years has meant an awful lot to me, more than I can say because Im not good at saying things like that. : Your friendship over the years has been very important to me, more important than I can say because Im not good at expressing my feelings.友谊 老朋友天各一方，你心有何感 ? 你是否努力保持联系 ? 有时候写信的事很容易会一拖再拖，总以为明天有的是时间。然而，正如这则故事所表明的，有时我们拖得太晚了。也许读一读这个故事会让你提起笔来。 出租车司机拥有的就剩一封信 福期特纬克洛 他准是完全沉浸在所读的东西里了，因为我不得不敲挡风玻璃来引起他的注意。 他总算抬头看我了。“你出车吗