365个英语简短小故事-156. Man Leaves $50K to Waitress

A waitress who worked in a truck stop restaurant received $50,000 in a will. The popular Do-Drop-In Truck Stop is on interstate 10 just west of El Paso, Texas. It’s open 24/7, and it seats 80. Matthew had been a regular customer there for the last ten years. He was 70 when he started eating breakfast there. He drove¹ a 1980 Cadillac that was missing² three of its hubcaps. The car looked like it hadn’t been washed since 1981.

Matthew was a skinny, bald³ guy. He wore glasses that sat crooked⁴ on his nose, and he was missing one of his front teeth. Every so often he joked about his missing tooth. “Ask me what happened to it,” he would ask his waitress. She would ask. “I ran into a door,” he would reply, and then laugh like it was the funniest joke in the world. Most waitresses thought he was a little weird⁵. Each of them hoped he wouldn’t sit in her section⁶. He usually sat at a four-person booth⁷ all by himself. He often spilled food onto the table and seat. To make matters worse, he was a terrible tipper—one dollar was it, even though he usually had several free refills of black coffee.

“Oh, he’s just a harmless⁸, lonely old guy,” said Amber⁹. Matthew had taken a shine to Amber. After the first couple of months of eating at Do-Drop-In, he made it a point to sit in her section. He had other jokes which he shared with Amber, but they were as bad as his tooth joke. She laughed at them anyway.

 

1 drove   

vbl.驾驶，drive的过去式；n.畜群

参考例句：

• He drove at a speed of sixty miles per hour.他以每小时60英里的速度开车。
• They drove foreign goods out of the market.他们把外国货驱逐出市场。

2 missing   

adj.遗失的，缺少的，失踪的

参考例句：

• Check the tools and see if anything is missing.检点一下工具，看有无丢失。
• All the others are here;he's the only one missing.别人都来了，就短他一个。

3 bald   

adj.秃头的；无发的或少发的

参考例句：

• He shaved his head bald.他把头发剃光了。
• The mountain is bald.这座山光秃秃的。

4 crooked   

adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的

参考例句：

• He crooked a finger to tell us to go over to him.他弯了弯手指，示意我们到他那儿去。
• You have to drive slowly on these crooked country roads.在这些弯弯曲曲的乡间小路上你得慢慢开车。

5 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

6 section   

n.部分，章节，地段；断面，剖面；部门，科；阶层，界；vt.把…分成段

参考例句：

• There is one section of very long road to leave. 有一段很长的路要走。
• How many people work in your section?你部门有多少人？

7 booth   

n.小房间，公用电话亭，岗亭；货摊

参考例句：

• Where can I find a telephone booth?我在哪儿可以找到电话亭？
• Let's walk around to each booth.我们到每个摊子转一转吧！

8 harmless   

adj.无害的，无恶意的

参考例句：

• This experiment was harmless to the animals.这个试验不会对动物造成伤害。
• He was a harmless sort.他是一个不怀恶意的人。

9 amber   

n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的

参考例句：

• Would you like an amber necklace for your birthday?你过生日想要一条琥珀项链吗？
• This is a piece of little amber stones.这是一块小小的琥珀化石。