大学英语精读第三册 Unit Four:Lady Hermits Who Are Down But n
时间：2018-12-04 作者：英语课 分类：大学英语精读第三册
Text Lady Hermits Who Are Down But Not Out shift vagrant appetite attract attraction n. peculiar populace lone isolate mistrustful shopping-bag huddle warmth companionship companion n. bum keen conventional convention sociologist neighborhood inexplicably leftovers garbage garbage can resident slip overtly collection collection box doorway morally category claim constraint rent payment relief quasi anchor layer stuff protection protective a. cope volunteer voluntary a. soup communicative communication conversation intrusion rotten considerate dental wherever fantasy psychiatrist loss escalator priest lodging entitle disability pension crate nun shepherd better PHRASES & EXPRESSIONS on end pass by turn away keep up in general cope with not matter how/what, etc. at a loss be entitled to
In big cities like New York, you can find homeless women with shopping bags wandering on the streets. They choose to live in an isolated 1, mistrustful world of their own. They are called lady hermits 2 or just shopping-bag ladies.
Every large city has its shifting population of vagrants 3. But in most cases these are men, usually with an unhealthy appetite for alcohol. Only New York, it seems, attracts this peculiar 4 populace of lone 5 and homeless women who live in an isolated, mistrustful world of their own.
Shopping-bag ladies do not drink. They do not huddle 6 together for warmth and companionship like bums 7. They do not seem to like one another very much. Neither are they too keen on conventional people. Urban hermits, one sociologist 8 has called them. They will send their days and nights in the same neighborhood for months on end, then disappear as inexplicably 9 as they came. They know the hours when restaurants put their leftovers 10 in the garbage cans where they search for food. And local residents, seeing the same bag lady on the same corner every day, will slip her some change as they pass.
Shopping-bag ladies do not overtly 11 beg, but they do not refuse what is offered. Once a shopping-bag lady becomes a figure of your neighborhood, it is as hard to pass her by without giving her some money as it is to ignore the collection box in church. And although you may not like it, if she chooses your doorway 12 as her place to sleep in the night, it is as morally hard to turn her away as it is a lost dog.
There are various categories of bag ladies: those who live on the streets, claiming they enjoy the freedom from constraints 13 of society; those who became homeless because a relative died or because they couldn't keep up rent payments, and they didn't know where to go or how to apply for relief; and quasi bag ladies who have an anchor point —— a sister or brother whom they can visit once in a while to take a bath.
Most shopping-bag ladies seem to be between the ages of 40 and 65. They wear layers of clothes even in summer time, with newspapers stuffed between the layers as further protection against bad weather In general, the more bags the ladies carry the better organist bad weather. In general, the more bags the ladies carry the better organised they are to cope with life on the streets.
"You may think I have a lot of garbage in these bags," one shopping-bag lady volunteered over lunch in a church soup kitchen, "but it's everything I need. Extra clothes, newspapers for the cold." Shopping-bag ladies are not very communicative and take general conversation as an intrusion. But after a while, warmed by chicken soup, she began to speak.
"The place is nice," she volunteered, "people are friendly. Most New Yorkers are very cold. I have sisters in the city, but when you grow up, each goes his own way. Right?"
"I go out a lot because of my teeth. You know how it is: you pick up something in a restaurant and your teeth turn rotten, no matter how careful you are. People aren't considerate. The restaurants don't wash the glasses properly, and before you know where you are you have caught it. That's what happened to me. I don't like meeting people until I have this dental work done. So I go out to forget my troubles. I sit a little while somewhere, have something to eat at one of these places, then go wherever I have to go. I take all my things with me because you can't trust people."
The story of the dental work was a typical shopping-bag lady fantasy. Psychiatrists 14 say that even after long interviews shopping-bag ladies are still at a loss to separate truth from imagination.
One quasi bag lady spends about eight hours every day at the foot of the main escalator in a railroad station, although she rents a room in a cheap hotel in the neighborhood. One of the priests from the nearby church found this lodging 15 for her after he discovered that she was entitled to a small disability pension which she had never claimed. But every day from about nine to five, she still takes a milk crate 16 and sits by the station escalator, not doing anything or talking to anyone. It's like a job to her.
No one knows how many shopping-bag ladies there are in New York. The figure is going up. Some priests, nuns 17 and researchers spend a great deal of time shepherding or observing shopping-bag ladies and are doing what they can to better the life of the lady hermits who are down.
NEW WRODS
hermit
n. person who avoids other people and lives alone 隐士
vi. move from one place, position, etc. to another 转移，移动
n. person who lives a wandering life with no steady home or work 流浪者
n. desire or wish, esp. for food 食欲，胃口
vt. draw towards oneself 吸引
attractive a.
a. unusual; strange 奇特的；奇怪的
n. population; the common people
a. without other people or things 孤独的
vt. separate from others 使隔离，使孤立
a. lacking confidence or trust
n. 购物袋
vi. crowd together 挤作一团
n. the state or quality of being warm
n. 伴侣关系，友谊；一群伙伴
n. wandering beggar 游民，叫化子
a. eager, anxious to do things 热心的，渴望的
a. following accepted practices, customs, and standards 习俗的，寻常的
v. 习俗，惯例
n. a person who studies societies and human behavior in groups 社会学家
n. a group of people and their homes forming a small area within a larger place 街坊，四邻
ad. in a way not capable of explanation
n. (used with a pl, v.) food remaining uneaten after a meal
n. waste material; rubbish; scraps 18 of food to be thrown away
dustbin 垃圾桶
n. person living in a place permanently 19, not just a visitor 居民
vt. give or pay secretly 悄悄给
ad. publicly 公开地
n. the gathering 20 of money at a religious service; money collected 募捐；募金
a box for the collection of money, esp. one passed from hand to hand in church 奉献箱
n. 门口；门道
ad. with regard to right behavior 道德上
n. class 种类
vt. declare to be true; ask for as a right; take as a rightful owner 声称；要求；认领
n. sth. that limits one's freedom of action 拘束
n. money paid regularly for the use of a room, building, or piece of land 租金
vt. pay at regular times for the use of (property)租用
n. the amount of money (to be) paid
n. help given to people in trouble 救济
a. half; seeming 半，准
n. 锚；依靠
n. 层
vt. fill tightly with 把……塞满
n. the act of protecting or the state of being protected
vi. deal successfully with a difficult situation 对付，应付
vt. tell or say without being asked; make a willing offer 主动讲；自愿提供
n. 汤
a. ready and willing to talk or give information 愿意交谈的
n. 交流；通讯
n. (an) informal talk 谈话
n. coming unasked and unwanted (often suggesting rudeness and invasion of privacy)侵犯；打扰
a. having gone bad 腐烂的；腐朽的
a. thoughtful of the rights or feelings of others 体谅的
a. of or for the teeth
conj. in, at, or to whatever place
n. any strange mental image or illusion; wild imagination 怪念头；幻想
n. doctor who treats mental and emotional disorders 21 精神病医生
n. the act or example of losing sth.
n. 自动楼梯
n. 牧师；教士；神父
n. a (temporary) place to live （临时）住所（使）暂住，（使）寄宿
vt. give the right to 给……以权利
n. the condition of being unable to perform a task or function because of a physical or mental impairment 伤残
n. regular payment made (by a government or a company) to sb. old, retired 22, or disabled 养老金；退休金；抚恤金
n. a plastic or wooden tray divided into sections for carrying bottles of milk, beer, etc. 篮，篓，箱
n. 修女；尼姑
vt. take care of guide or direct (people) like sheep 看护；带领
vt. improve
keen on
interested in, fond of
continuously 连续地
go past; pay no attention to 从……旁走过；忽视
refuse to allow (sb.) to enter 将……拒之门外
maintain; continue
once in a whole
sometimes; but not often 间或，偶尔
in most cases; usually 通常
deal effectively with 善于处理
however, whatever, etc.
uncertain what to do or say; confused 不知所措；因惑
- His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
- Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。
- In the ancient China,hermits usually lived in hamlets. 在古代中国，隐士们通常都住在小村子里。
- Some Buddhist monks live in solitude as hermits. 有些和尚在僻静处隐居。
- Police kept a close watch on the vagrants. 警察严密监视那些流浪者。
- O Troupe of little vagrants of the world, leave your footprints in my words. 世界上的一队小小的漂泊者呀，请留下你们的足印在我的文字里。
- He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
- He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。
- A lone sea gull flew across the sky.一只孤独的海鸥在空中飞过。
- She could see a lone figure on the deserted beach.她在空旷的海滩上能看到一个孤独的身影。
- They like living in a huddle.他们喜欢杂居在一起。
- The cold wind made the boy huddle inside his coat.寒风使这个男孩卷缩在他的外衣里。
- His mother was a sociologist,researching socialism.他的母亲是个社会学家，研究社会主义。
- Max Weber is a great and outstanding sociologist.马克斯·韦伯是一位伟大的、杰出的社会学家。
- Inexplicably, Mary said she loved John. 真是不可思议，玛丽说她爱约翰。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- Inexplicably, she never turned up. 令人不解的是，她从未露面。 来自辞典例句
- He can do miracles with a few kitchen leftovers.他能用厨房里几样剩饭做出一顿美餐。
- She made supper from leftovers she had thrown together.她用吃剩的食物拼凑成一顿晚饭。
- There were some overtly erotic scenes in the film. 影片中有一些公开色情场面。
- Nietzsche rejected God's law and wrote some overtly blasphemous things. 尼采拒绝上帝的律法，并且写了一些渎神的作品。
- They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
- Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。
- Data and constraints can easily be changed to test theories. 信息库中的数据和限制条件可以轻易地改变以检验假设。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史
- What are the constraints that each of these imply for any design? 这每种产品的要求和约束对于设计意味着什么？ 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
- They are psychiatrists in good standing. 他们是合格的精神病医生。 来自辞典例句
- Some psychiatrists have patients who grow almost alarmed at how congenial they suddenly feel. 有些精神分析学家发现，他们的某些病人在突然感到惬意的时候几乎会兴奋起来。 来自名作英译部分
- The bill is inclusive of the food and lodging. 账单包括吃、住费用。
- Where can you find lodging for the night? 你今晚在哪里借宿?
- We broke open the crate with a blow from the chopper.我们用斧头一敲就打开了板条箱。
- The workers tightly packed the goods in the crate.工人们把货物严紧地包装在箱子里。
- Ah Q had always had the greatest contempt for such people as little nuns. 小尼姑之流是阿Q本来视如草芥的。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
- Nuns are under vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. 修女须立誓保持清贫、贞洁、顺从。 来自辞典例句
- Don't litter up the floor with scraps of paper. 不要在地板上乱扔纸屑。
- A patchwork quilt is a good way of using up scraps of material. 做杂拼花布棉被是利用零碎布料的好办法。
- The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
- The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。
- He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
- He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。