自考英语综合二下册课文 lesson 9

　　[00:00.00]Lesson Nine

[00:03.50]Text     Forty Years On     Norah Lofts 1

[00:12.36]John Bullyer and I met for the first time in 1956

[00:19.62]when we were both in our early sixties,

[00:24.16]but it is true to say

[00:27.72]that he did more to shape my life than any other person.

[00:34.48]John Bullyer came into my life through my Aunt Carrie.

[00:41.25]She was also aunt to John Bullyer,

[00:45.98]whom she referred to as "Little-John-my-other-nephew" all in one word,

[00:55.72]and she referred to him too often.

[01:00.45]From Aunt Carrie's point of view it was fortunate,from mine,disastrous,

[01:09.02]that John Bullyer and I were the same age.

[01:14.76]Probably hundreds of comparisons were made before I became aware of them.

[01:24.01]The first that I remember was made soon after I began school

[01:31.45]where I had lain on the floor and wailed 2 that I wanted to go home.

[01:39.60]Shortly after that my mother reported

[01:44.88]that Little-John-Aunt- Carrie's-other-nephew

[01:50.03]had started school on the same day and taken to it like a duck to water.

[01:58.78]And so it went on.

[02:03.04]Incredible boy,he knew his nine-times table,

[02:09.59]while I was still hopelessly bogged 3 in the fours;

[02:16.36]I began to dread 4 Aunt Carrie's formerly 5 most welcome visits.

[02:23.73]She was certain to produce chocolate or sixpence from her purse;

[02:31.09]but as soon as she had gone.

[02:36.53]Mother was sure to say the dread words:

[02:42.38]"Aunt Carrie was telling me that John Bullyer. . .

[02:48.25]"The comparisons were,without exception,to my disadvantage.

[02:55.20]The wretched boy never set foot upon a football field

[03:01.26]without scoring a goal;

[03:04.92]I became conscious of my inferiority,for I was hopeless at games.

[03:13.59]To me it seemed sinister 7

[03:17.43]that Mother always passed on any small achievement of mine.

[03:23.91]Once,at my prep,school I had a story in the magazine

[03:31.28]and Mother was beside herself.

[03:35.64]"I must have another copy of that,"she said,

[03:41.41]"so that Aunt Carrie can send it to John Bullyer's mother.

[03:47.27]"What a boomerang that proved!

[03:51.94]By return of post came the news that John had won a scholarship.

[03:59.70]It will seem strange that we boys never met,

[04:04.98]but in those days Gloucestershire was as far removed,

[04:12.11]in travelling time,from Suffolk, as New York is today.

[04:18.87]Aunt Carrie kept saying,

[04:22.53]"Really,you boys should know one another,I'm sure you'd be such friends,"

[04:29.79]and once or twice she tried to arrange

[04:35.54]that John should stay with her in the holidays.

[04:40.29]Mercifully for me something always prevented him from doing so.

[04:46.54]I did have, however,one horribly narrow escape.

[04:55.81]An elderly couple,distant relatives of my father's,

[05:02.05]were celebrating their golden wedding.

[05:06.21]They lived in London,and they issued such a sentimentally-worded invitation

[05:14.75]that Father was bound to accept.

[05:19.32]As soon as he had done so Aunt Carrie came over in a  state of excitement.

[05:28.39]Wasn't the world a small place,

[05:32.75]the Bullyer family and Father's relatives had once been near neighbours,

[05:40.30]and all three Bullyers had been invited to the feast.

[05:48.47]When Aunt Carrie had gone Mother said to me:

[05:53.72]"You sit there huddled 8 over a book until your back is bent 9 like a bow.

[06:01.87]Go out and get some air.

[06:05.43]You look so much better with a little tan.

[06:10.70]"I realised that she and I visualised John Bullyer in the same way,

[06:19.25]tall and straight,big for his age,with a handsome brown face.

[06:27.50]I stood up, obediently.

[06:31.86]Walking made no noticeable difference to my back

[06:36.59]and the sun remained hidden, so Mother tried another tack 10:

[06:43.44]"You'll need a new suit at Easter anyway,

[06:47.98]you might as well have it now.

[06:52.45]"On the evening before we were to make our early morning start for London,

[06:59.40]Mother came into my room and made me try on the new suit.

　　[07:06.66]I could see,by the expression on her face,that it worked no miracle.

[07:14.73]But Mother did not take defeat easily;

[07:19.59]looks weren't everything,my manners, at least,should pass muster 11!

[07:26.96]So she gave me a few final instructions.

[07:32.60]I kept saying,"Yes,Mother"and "No,Mother",and "I'll remember,Mother".

[07:42.45]Finally she said:"Well,hurry into bed and get a good night's sleep.

[07:50.00]"I did not sleep well; I had the worst night I had ever known.

[07:57.07]My jaws 12 ached.

[08:00.13]The pain spread up into my head,

[08:05.09]back into my ears,down into my throat.

[08:12.04]In addition to my physical woes 13 I had mental agonies;

[08:19.51]I prayed that something might occur to prevent this meeting.

[08:27.38]I saw the dawn that morning and heard the first bird chorus-

[08:35.24]After several centuries had dragged by

[08:39.89]I heard the alarm go off in my parents' room

[08:44.93]and thankfully rose from my bed.

[08:49.89]I washed more thoroughly 14 than usual;then I dressed,

[08:56.06]and in honour of the occasion went to the looking glass to arrange my tie.

[09:04.84]For a moment,I thought that nervousness had affected 15 my eyesight;

[09:12.28]the face that looked back at me was only just recognizable.

[09:20.46]My ears were hidden by the bulge 16 of my jaws

[09:27.30]and I seemed to have no neck.

[09:32.45]Horrified I reeled into my parents' room.

[09:38.30]"Do you think I look funny this morning?"

[09:43.26]They both turned. Mother screamed.

[09:48.62]Father said, "I wouldn't say funny.

[09:54.57]You look damned peculiar 17.

[09:58.41]"It was mumps 18. It left me open-minded about prayer.

[10:05.88]Time went on;  so did the comparisons.

[10:11.21]By word of mouth during the holidays,

[10:16.36]by phrases in letters during term time,

[10:21.11]I was kept up to date with John's cleverness and progress.

[10:28.87]Thus goaded 19 I began at last to look round for something that I could do,

[10:37.70]something at which I could excel.

[10:42.95]When I found it I worked savagely,minding nothing else;

[10:50.81]let this be mine,John Bullyer could have all the rest.

[10:58.76]I was still a Grub Street hack 20,

[11:03.12]counting it a good week in which I made five pounds,

[11:09.65]when John attained 21 some glittering appointment in India.

[11:15.84]That ability to master the nine-times table

[11:21.77]had proved no momentary 22 success.

[11:26.81]He had developed into some kind of financial wizard.

[11:34.07]There was a paragraph in the daily papers about this appointment.

[11:40.42]Aunt Carrie took the cutting to show to my mother.

[11:46.48]That was her last report.

[11:50.14]She was dead before her other nephew reached his destination.

[11:56.62]Three or four times during the next forty years.

[12:02.08]I saw mention of John Bullyer in the press.

[12:06.94]Those paragraphs recorded a steady success

[12:13.00]which eventually led to a knighthood when he retired 23 in 1956.

[12:20.86]On that occasion there was half a newspaper column about him.

[12:27.83]When asked,in an interview,

[12:31.78] what he intended to do with his leisure,Sir John replied,

[12:38.54]"I hope to take up golf;I have never had time to take it seriously."

[12:45.91]I pictured him again,lean and tanned,with a head of well-kept grey hair.

[12:54.56]I was sorry that there was no photograph;

[12:59.10]I could have looked at it almost without fear,I thought.

[13:05.37]I was,by that time,not unsuccessful in my own line.

[13:12.50]Late that year,in November,

[13:18.07]I was in my club,sipping a glass of sherry before dinner.

[13:24.02]A cough at my elbow made me look round.

[13:29.59]I saw a short stout 24 man,glitteringly bald,with a little snub nose

[13:39.85]that looked too small to support the framework of his heavy glasses.

[13:47.01]Diffidently,he spoke 25 my name and I admitted my identity.

[13:54.74]Since I attained a little fame

[13:58.87]I have on occasion been addressed by strangers

[14:04.33]and no matter how flatteringly they speak

[14:09.19]I am always horribly embarrassed.

　　[14:21.20]"We once shared an aunt.

[14:26.87]"I leaped up and shook hands,

[14:31.00]expressing my pleasure at meeting him at last,

[14:37.04]and then we settled down to drink sherry together.

[14:43.28]His stammer,like my shyness,soon wore off.

[14:50.64]"I used to hear so much about you, " he said with a grin.

[14:57.59]"Then I learned that you were a member here

[15:02.92]and I could not resist asking someone to point you out to me.

[15:10.58]Though,if you'd looked the least bit as I always imagined

[15:17.52]I don't think I'd have d-dared to approach you.

[15:22.78]You see. . . I grew up with the idea

[15:27.95]that you were at least eight feet tall,tremendously handsome

[15:35.39]and more talented than da Vinci.

[15:39.76]"His grin broadened —and I knew why!

[15:45.03]"Really," he said,"the letters Aunt Carrie used to write about you

[15:52.48]and the way my mother used to read them out.

[15:57.54]You were the b-bugbear of my life. "

[16:03.00]"They were nothing," I said,

[16:06.77]to the letters your mother used to write about you.

[16:12.83]I was told every time you got a sum right.

[16:18.99]I always thought of you as nine feet high,

[16:25.05]better looking than Robert Taylor and more versatile 26 than Churchill.

[16:33.41]So they played the game both ways, did they?"

[16:39.76]We laughed.We looked at one another.

[16:44.80]Then it probably dawned on us both

[16:50.16]that the place in which we sa

[16:54.00]is not the haunt of men who have been failures in life,

[17:00.34] and that,boys being what they are,

[17:05.59]an occasional prod 6 in the rear is no such bad thing.

[17:12.36]Together we lifted our glasses,and though neither of us spoke,

[17:20.12]I know that we drank to the memory of Aunt Carrie.