65. A Small Surprise

　　When his wife was expecting their third child, a father decided¹ to tell his two sons, ages seven and nine, the facts of life. He checked out several books from the library on how parents should approach the subject. After stumbling² through an explanation, he took a deep breath³, and said, "Now, boys, do you have any questions?"

　　"Yes," the younger boy answered immediately.

　　"Go ahead," said the man, his heart in his throat.

　　"Can we," his son asked, "have new baseball gloves?"

Notes:

　　(1) the facts of life（口，委婉语）性知识（例如讲给孩子们听的）

　　(2) check out挑选出；筛选出

　　(3) stumble⁴ v.结结巴巴地说话

Exercises:

根据短文判断下列句子正（T）、（F）：

　　① The wife was expecting their fourth child.

　　② The father decided to tell his two sons the real meaning of life.

　　③ The father went to the bookstore to buy several books.

　　④ The father felt shamed to have told the sons about the subject.

　　⑤ The two sons didn't understand what the father had said actually.

65.小小的意外

　　当妻子要生第三胎时，父亲决定给分别已七岁和九岁的两个儿子讲关于性的知识。他从图书馆查出几本书，都是关于父母如何涉及这个话题的。在结结巴巴地解释一番后，他长出了一口气，然后说：“好了，孩子们，有什么问题吗？”

　　“有，”小儿子立即回答。

　　“问吧，”爸爸说，心提到了嗓子眼儿。

　　“我们，”儿子问道，“可以得到新棒球手套了吗？”

练习参考答案：

①F②F③F④T⑤T

1 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

2 stumbling   

adj.摇摇晃晃或跌跌撞撞的v.（不顺畅地）说( stumble的现在分词 )；跌跌撞撞地走；绊脚；（说话、演奏等）出错

参考例句：

• The question of disarmament proved a major stumbling block to agreement. 结果证明裁军问题是达成协议的主要障碍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His stumbling attempts at colloquial Russian amused her. 他结结巴巴地学说俄语，把她逗乐了。 来自辞典例句

3 breath   

n.呼吸，气息，微风，迹象，精神，一种说话的声音

参考例句：

• I'm just going out for a breath of fresh air.我正要出去呼吸新鲜空气。
• While climbing up the stairs the old man always loses his breath.那老人上楼时总是气喘吁吁的。

4 stumble   

n.绊倒，失策；vi.绊倒，失策，踌躇，无意中发现；vt.绊倒，困惑

参考例句：

• Be grateful to those who have made you stumble,for they have strengthened your ability.感激绊倒你的人，因为他强化了你的能力。
• You never knew when you might stumble across some new talent.谁也说不准什么时候会碰上一位新的天才。