智慧背囊 品味人生-06-不被爱的人

[00:02.61]Unlovely不被爱的人
[00:04.56]A story is told about a soldier
[00:08.28] who was finally coming home after having fought in Vietnam¹.
[00:12.10] He called his parents from San Francisco.
[00:15.16] "Mom and Dad, I’m coming home,
[00:17.64] but I’ve a favor² to ask.
[00:19.61] I have a friend I’d like to bring home with me."
[00:22.35]"Sure," they replied, "we’d love to meet him."
[00:25.63]"There’s something you should know,"
[00:28.04]the son continued,
[00:29.35]"he was hurt pretty badly in the fighting.
[00:31.86] He stepped on a land mine and lost an arm and a leg.
[00:35.58] He has nowhere else to go,
[00:37.88]and I want him to come live with us."
[00:40.07]"We’re sorry to hear that, son.
[00:42.69] But, maybe we can help him find somewhere to live."
[00:46.08]"No, Mom and Dad,
[00:48.16]I want him to live with us."
[00:50.46]"Son," said the father,
[00:52.32]"you don’t know what you’re asking.
[00:54.61] Someone with such a handicap³ would be a terrible burden⁴ to us.
[00:58.77] We have our own lives to live,
[01:01.50]and we can’t let something like this interfere⁵ with our lives.
[01:04.89]I think you should just come home and forget about this guy.
[01:08.50]He’ll find a way to live on his own."
[01:11.35]At that point,
[01:12.73] the son hung up the phone.
[01:14.82] The parents heard nothing more from him.
[01:17.33] A few days later, however,
[01:19.84]they received a call from the San Francisco police.
[01:22.91] Their son had died after falling from a building, they were told.
[01:27.34] The police believed it was suicide⁶.
[01:29.75]The grief-stricken parents flew to San Francisco
[01:33.83]and were taken to the city morgue to identify the body of their son.
[01:38.10] They recognized him,
[01:40.07]but to their horror⁷ they also discovered something they didn’t know,
[01:43.67] their son had only one arm and one leg.
[01:47.39]The parents in this story are like many of us.
[01:50.89] We find it easy to love those who are good-looking or fun to have around,
[01:55.82]but we do not like people who inconvenience us or make us feel uncomfortable.
[02:00.62] We would rather stay away from people who aren’t as healthy,
[02:04.34] beautiful, or smart as we are.

1 Vietnam   

n.越南

参考例句：

• Vietnam is suffering from food shortage.越南正遭受食物短缺之苦。
• Laos is on the west of Vietnam.老挝在越南西面。

2 favor   

n.好感；赞同；好事；vt.赞同，喜爱；有利于

参考例句：

• She is out of favor with her employer.她失去了雇主的欢心。
• The new teacher finds favor in the eyes of the parents.那位新老师很受家长的欢迎。

3 handicap   

n.障碍（身体或智力方面的），缺陷；vt.妨碍

参考例句：

• Losing our best player was a handicap to the team.失去最棒的运动员对我队不利。
• His physical handicap prevented him from standing.因为他身体残废，无法站立。

4 burden   

n.负担，重载，担子，责任；vt.装货于，麻烦，使负担

参考例句：

• The burden fell on the eldest son.担子落在了长子身上。
• Too much praise is a burden.太多的赞扬是一种负担。

5 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

6 suicide   

n.自杀，自毁，自杀性行为

参考例句：

• The number of suicide has increased.自杀案件的数量增加了。
• The death was adjudged a suicide by sleeping pills.该死亡事件被判定为服用安眠药自杀。

7 horror   

n.惊骇，恐怖，惨事，极端厌恶

参考例句：

• The public has been awakened to the full horror of the situation.公众完全意识到了这一状况的可怕程度。
• The thought of working nights fills me with abject horror.一想到要夜间工作我就觉得惨兮兮的。