[00:00.00]Lesson 7   A high school student speaks (After Randal Williams)
[00:30.79]I went through four years of high school in Alabama,
[00:36.77]and became active in clubs and sports.
[00:41.26]I made a lot of friends and became a regular boy.
[00:46.66]But one thing was irregular about me:
[00:51.77]I managed those four years without ever having a friend visit my house.
[00:58.66]I was ashamed of where I lived.
[01:03.53]We had a big family.
[01:07.80] Several of the members of the family were sleeping in one room,
[01:13.68]but that's not so bad if you get along and we always did.
[01:20.06]As you get older,though,things get worse.
[01:25.27]We lived in a lot of old houses.
[01:30.17]Some of them were in bad shape ten years before we moved in.
[01:36.86]They were hot in summer and freezing in winter.
[01:42.36]I woke up every morning for a year and a half with dust on my face.
[01:49.54]It had fallen out of the ceiling during the night.
[01:54.62]When we boys got old enough to learn trades in school,
[02:00.31]we wanted to fix up the old house.
[02:04.70]We did try once.
[02:08.30]But when we tried to whitewash the old walls,
[02:13.49]the dust fell off the wall as the brush went across it.
[02:19.18]We ended up with the old walls looking even worse than before.
[02:25.68]The same goes for keeping a house like that clean.
[02:31.46]If you have a house full of children and rubbish,
[02:36.36]you will never keep it clean.
[02:40.25]Daddy used to shout at Mama about that,but she couldn't do anything.
[02:46.85]I think Daddy knew it himself,
[02:51.22]but he had to let out his anger somewhere.
[02:55.99]And shouting at least isn't as bad as hitting.
[03:01.08]This was not during the Depression;
[03:05.78]this was in the late 60's and early 70's.
[03:10.97]I am thankful none of us children ever blamed our parents for this.
[03:17.57]It was not their fault.
[03:21.05]They were always looking for a house
[03:25.22]just a little better than the place we were living in.
[03:30.22]You have to understand that my parents worked a lot harder than most people.
[03:37.20]My mother was always at home,
[03:41.59]but for her that was a full-time job--and no fun,either.
[03:48.10]But my father worked his head off from the time I can remember,
[03:54.38]in factories or shops.It was hard labor.
[04:00.17]But no matter how much money Daddy earned,
[04:05.47]we never made much progress up the social ladder.
[04:10.78]That was how it was it those days in the United States.
[04:16.56]Words to watch
[04:36.43]active               club                 sport                irregular
[04:41.17]a.活跃的,积极的      n.俱乐部             n.运动               a.不正常的
[04:45.91]manage               visit                family               member
[04:50.45]v.管理,经营,处理;设法v.,n.访问,参观,作客  n.家,家庭,家属       n.成员,会员
[04:54.98]shape                hot                  summer               freeze
[04:59.53]n.,v.形状,外形;形成  a.热的               n.夏天,夏季          v.结冰,凝固
[05:04.08]winter               wake                 dust                 face
[05:08.63]v.冬季               v.醒来,唤醒          v.灰尘,尘土          n.,v.脸,面;面临
[05:13.18]fall                 ceiling              enough               trade
[05:17.88]n.,v.落下,跌落,降落  n.天花板             a.,n.,ad.足够,充足   n.手艺,贸易,商业
[05:22.58]fix                  white                wall                 brush
[05:27.02]v.固定,安装;修理     n.,v.白色(的)        n.墙壁,围墙          n.,v.刷,毛刷;擦
[05:31.46]clean                rubbish              used                 anger
[05:35.95]a.,v.清洁,干净;弄清洁n.废物,垃圾;废话     v.过去惯学,过去经常  n.怒,气愤
[05:40.44]hit                  depression           early                blame
[05:45.18]v.,n.打击,击中,碰撞  n.不景气,萧条(期)    a.,ad.早,早日的      v.,n.责备,惯;责任,过失
[05:49.92]parent               fault                understand           job
[05:54.47]n.父,母              n.缺点,缺陷;过失     v.懂,理解            n.工作,职业;活儿
[05:59.02]labo(u)r             progress             social
[06:02.96]n.,v.工作,劳动;若干  n.,v.前进,进步,进展  a.社会的
[06:06.91]ladder               unite                state
[06:10.61]n.梯子               v.统一,联合,结合     n.国家,州;情况,状态