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Unit 6
Section A
Pre-reading Activities
First Listening
Having ideas about a story before you read it is an important reading skill. Please listen to a very short piece of recording.
Second Listening
Now listen to the recording for the second time and try to the best of your ability to answer the following questions.
1. Why is the woman in this story in pain?
2. Where did the wife think the strange wedding guest had come from? Why did her husband not agree with her?
3. What gift did the strange wedding guest give to the new husband and wife?
The Widow
Alone now, the widow reads considerably. She used to underline favorite passages to share with her husband. Now, in a notebook, she stores quotations like this one from Elizabeth Jolley's Cabin Fever: "I experience again the deep-felt wish to be part of a married couple, to sit by the fire in winter with the man who is my husband. So intense is this wish that if I write the word husband on a piece of paper, my eyes fill with tears."
Why are these lines so painful?
We begin with a worn wedding album. In the first picture, the bride and groom are facing, with uncertain smiles, a church filled with relatives and friends. The bride did not wear glasses that day, so everything was a blur of candlelight and faces.
They walked to the back of the church and stood at the door as their guests filed past. From colleagues and old schoolmates came cheerful good wishes clothed in friendly jokes. Some relatives, however, were not pleased. One sat in a car, crying; another stood surrounded by sympathizers offering pity. Both these women—mothers of the bride and groom-would have insisted they wanted only the best for their children but they defined "the best" as staying home to help support the family.
The last person to approach the couple was a short, elderly woman who smiled as she congratulated them — not by name but as "wife" and "husband".
"I'm Aunt Esther Gubbins," she said. "I'm here to tell you you are going to live a good life and be happy. You will work hard and love each other."
Then quickly, for such a short, portly, elderly person, she disappeared.
Soon they departed, in a borrowed car. With money loaned by the groom's brother, they could afford a honeymoon at a state-park lodge. Sitting before a great oak fire, they recalled the events of the day, especially the strange message conveyed by Aunt Esther Gubbins.
"Is she your mother's sister or your father's?" asked the wife.
"Isn't she your aunt?" the husband responded. "I never saw her before."
They wondered. Had she come to the wrong church or at the wrong time, mistaking them for another couple? Or was she just an old woman who liked weddings and scanned for announcements in church bulletins?
With the passage of time and the birth of grandchildren, their mothers accepted their marriage. One made piles of clothes for the children; the other knitted hats, sweaters and gloves.
The couple's life together was very ordinary. Peculiarly, neither ever asked "Whose job is this?" or asserted "That is not my responsibility!" Both acted to fill their needs as time and opportunity allowed.
Arriving from work, he might announce, "Wife, I am home!" And she, restraining the desire to complain about her housework, would respond, "Husband, I am glad!"
Occasionally, usually around their anniversary, they would bring up the old curiosity regarding Aunt Esther Gubbins. He would insist the elderly woman did attend their wedding accidentally. But she knew "Aunt Esther" was on some heavenly mission.
Widowed now, the wife wonders what she would save from their old home if it were to catch fire: Her mother's ring? Pictures of her husband? The $47 hidden in the sugar bowl?
No, it would be the worn, fading envelope she kept for so long. She knows exactly where it can be found: under a pile of napkins.
One evening her husband had fallen asleep while reading a spy novel. She wrote a note on the envelope and left it on his book: "Husband, I have gone next door to help Mrs. Norton with her sick children."
The next morning she saw he had written below her message: "Wife, I missed you. You thought I was asleep, but I was just resting my eyes and thinking about that peculiar woman who talked to us in church a long time ago. It has always seemed to me that she was the wrong shape for a heavenly messenger. Anyway, it's time to stop wondering whether she came from heaven or a nearby town. What matters is this: whoever she was, Aunt Esther Gubbins was right."
Words: 700
NEW WORDS
widow
n. a woman whose husband has died and who has not married again 寡妇
considerable
a. fairly large 相当的
considerably
ad. much 相当地，很多
underline
vt. 1. draw a line under 划横线
2. give added attention to, so as to show importance 强调；使突出
quotation
n. 1. a sentence drawn from literature or a piece taken from a work of art 引文；摘抄
2. the price of sth. 报价
cabin
n. a small roughly built house 小屋
▲album
n. a book for storing photos 相册
bride
n. a woman about to be married or just married 新娘
◆groom
n. a man about to be married or just married 新郎
▲blur
n. sth. whose shape is not clearly seen 模糊的影子
vt. make difficult to see clearly 使模糊
file
vi. 1. walk one behind the other 一个接一个地走
2. make a written request for a position 提出
vt. 1. put away (papers, etc.) in order 归档
2. place an exhibit among the records of a court, public office or government 提出（申请等）
n. 1. a store of papers on one subject 保存的文件
2. the furniture or box for storing papers 文件夹，文件箱
3. a line of people one behind the other 纵列
colleague
n. a fellow worker 同事
mate
n. a friend or person one works or lives with 伙伴
schoolmate
n. a friend or person one studies with 同学
cheerful
a. happy 幸福的，高兴的
surround
vt. be or go around on every side 包围
sympathize (英sympathise)
vi. (with) show feeling for another 同情
sympathizer(英sympathiser)
n. a person who offers sympathy 同情者
congratulate
vt. express good luck or pleasure at someone's success 祝贺
■portly
a. over-weight; fat 胖的
disappear
vi. go out of sight 消失
depart
vi. leave; go away 离开
loan
vt. lend 借给，贷给
n. quantity of money lent 贷款
■honeymoon
n. the holiday taken by a man and woman who have just got married 蜜月
lodge
n. a small house 小屋
vi. stay somewhere and pay rent 住宿；投宿
▲oak
n. a large broad tree with hard wood and curled leaves 橡树
recall
vt. remember 回忆，回想
convey
vt. make known; communicate; express 传达
respond
vi. (to)answer 回答；反应
scan
vt. look at closely, examine with care 仔细察看；扫描
▲bulletin
n. a short official report 公告
grand
a. 1. highest or very high in status 高级的，大的
2. splendid; good 好的，妙的
grandchild
n. a boy or girl who is the child of the stated person's son or daughter（外）孙子（孙女）
▲knit
v. make (clothes, etc.) by forming a network of threads with long needles 编织
glove
n. a covering with fingers for the hand 手套
peculiar
a. 1. strange; not usual 奇怪的
2. special 特别的
peculiarly
ad. 1. strangely 奇怪地
2. especially 特别地
▲assert
vt. declare forcefully 断言；主张
responsibility
n. duty; condition or quality of being mature and willing to do one's duty 责任；责任心
restrain
vt. prevent from doing sth.; hold back 抑制
anniversary
n. a day that is an exact number of years after sth. happened 周年（纪念日）
curiosity
n. an eager desire to know 好奇
regarding
prep.concerning; about 有关
accidental
a. happening by chance 意外的
accidentally
ad. by accident 意外地
mission
n. the action of sending or fact of being sent on some special work or service 使命，任务
fade
v. 1. (cause to) lose color or freshness （使）褪色
2. disappear bit by bit 逐渐消失
▲napkin
n. a piece of cloth or paper used at meals for protecting clothes and cleaning the lips and fingers 餐巾（纸）
▲spy
n. a person employed to find out secret information 密探，侦探；间谍
v. watch or search secretly 侦察
novel
n. a long written story 长篇小说
▲messenger
n. a person who brings a message 信使
nearby
a.& ad. near 附近
whoever
pron.1. no matter who 无论谁，不管谁
2. any person that; who 任何人
PHRASES AND EXPRESSIONS
share with
give a part of sth. to sb. else 分享
part of
one of the pieces, sections or segments that sth. is made up of 一部分，一份
fill with
(cause to) become full of 充满
define...as
state the meaning of sth. such as a word as being sth. 界定，定义为
mistake for
think wrongly that sb./sth. is sb./sth. else 误当作
fill one's need
satisfy one's need 满足需要
bring up
mention or introduce (a subject) 提起
save from
keep sth./sb. from (danger, being destroyed, etc.); make safe from danger or being destroyed 保留；抢救；免于
PROPER NAMES
Elizabeth Jolley
伊丽莎白·乔利（人名）
Esther Gubbins
埃丝特·格宾斯（人名）
Norton
诺顿（人名）
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