新视野大学英语视听说教程 4 Unit 10-14

Task 3: We don’t know what to do with them.
Script
A Russian, a Cuban, an American businessman, and an American lawyer were passengers on a fast train speeding across the French countryside. As time wore on, the men gradually became friendly with one another, introducing themselves and shaking hands. Eventually, the Russian took out a large bottle of vodka and poured each of his traveling companions a drink. Just as the American businessman was sipping¹ the vodka and praising its fine quality, the Russian hurled² the half-full bottle out of the open window.
“What did you do that for?” asked the startled American businessman.
“Vodka is plentiful³ in my country,” said the Russian, “In fact, we have thousands and thousands of liters of it---far more than we need.”
The American businessman shook his head and leaned back in his seat, obviously baffled by the Russian’s reasoning.
A little later, the young Cuban passed around a box of fine Havana cigars. The men enjoyed this treat and made admiring remarks about the pleasures of smoking good Havana cigars. At that very moment the Cuban took a couple of puffs⁴ of his cigar and then tossed it out of the open window.
“I thought the Cuban economy was not good this year,” the American businessman said. “Yet you threw that perfectly⁵ good cigar away. I find your actions quite puzzling.”
“Cigars,” the Cuban replied, “are a dime⁶ a dozen in Cuba. We have more of them than we know what to do with.”
The American businessman sat in silence for a moment. Then he got up, grbbed the lawyer, and threw him out of the window.
 

1 sipping   

v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• She sat in the sun, idly sipping a cool drink. 她坐在阳光下懒洋洋地抿着冷饮。
• She sat there, sipping at her tea. 她坐在那儿抿着茶。

2 hurled   

v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂

参考例句：

• He hurled a brick through the window. 他往窗户里扔了块砖。
• The strong wind hurled down bits of the roof. 大风把屋顶的瓦片刮了下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 plentiful   

adj.富裕的，丰富的

参考例句：

• Their family has a plentiful harvest this year.他们家今年又丰收了。
• Rainfall is plentiful in the area.这个地区雨量充足。

4 puffs   

n.吸( puff的名词复数 )；（烟斗或香烟的）一吸；一缕（烟、蒸汽等）；（呼吸或风的）呼v.使喷出( puff的第三人称单数 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧

参考例句：

• We sat exchanging puffs from that wild pipe of his. 我们坐在那里，轮番抽着他那支野里野气的烟斗。 来自辞典例句
• Puffs of steam and smoke came from the engine. 一股股蒸汽和烟雾从那火车头里冒出来。 来自辞典例句

5 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

6 dime   

n.（指美国、加拿大的钱币）一角

参考例句：

• A dime is a tenth of a dollar.一角银币是十分之一美元。
• The liberty torch is on the back of the dime.自由火炬在一角硬币的反面。