胡敏读故事记单词托福词汇155（在线收听）

155 the other side of a bank clerk’s character

John Brigs was known for always being nice, neat and tidy, at least to his colleagues. Little did they know about the negative side of John’s character, which manifest itself on a Friday or a Saturday night. Those were the times when John did his best to neglect, negate and neutralize his orderly daytime image as a bank clerk. John’s outing is among the neon lights where noisy affairs, filled up with alcohol and nicotine, John would unsteadily navigate the streets of Granidg village until the amount of money in his pocket was only a negligible quantity. On such nights, John would find himself seeking shelter in some niche, unable even to afford the cab fare home. The streets would already be completely empty, almost as if a neutron bomb had been dropped. John would amuse, and he would still be sitting there, trying to figure out a way to get home.

One night, he had not even a nickel left to give to some needy people begging at the street corners. “How negligent of me to get myself into this state?” John sighed. At last he saw a police patrol car and try to enter into an unsteady negotiation with the officers to give him a ride home, but to no avail. They just left him sitting there.

When he finally did manage to get home, his wife gave him a stern lecture, “John, this is getting to be too much, I can no longer remain neutral to your nocturnal forays. John, look at yourself, do you realize that you are turning me into a nervous wrack. My neurons are shore, that’s what my doctor told me.”