閱讀理解(Reading Comprehension)
When I was twenty-seven years old, I was a clerk in San Francisco, and an expert at stock(股票).I was content with the prospect(前景).
One day I ventured in a small boat too far, and was carried out to sea.Just at nightfall, when hope was about gone, I was picked up by a small brig(雙桅船)which was bound for London.When I stepped ashore in London my clothes were ragged and shabby, and I had only a dollar in my pocket.
About ten o'clock on the following morning, thirsty and hungry, I was dragging myself along Portland Place, when a child that was passing, towed(牽著)by a nurse-maid, threw a luscious(甘甜的)big pear-minus one bite-into the gutter(排水溝).I stopped, of course, and fastened my desiring eye on that muddy treasure.My mouth watered for it, my stomach craved(懇求)it, my whole being begged for it.But every time I made a move to get it some passing eye detected my purpose, and of course I straightened up then, and looked indifferent(無(wú)關(guān)緊要的), and pretended that I hadn't been thinking about the pear at all.This same thing kept happening and happening, and I couldn't get the pear.I was just getting desperate(不顧一切的)enough to brave all the shame, and to seize it, when a window behind me was raised, and a gentleman spoke out of it, saying.
“Step in here, please.”
I was admitted by a well-dressed flunkey(仆役),and shown into a sumptuous(華麗的)room where a couple of elderly gentlemen were sitting.They sent away the servant, and made me sit down.They had just finished their breakfast, and the sight of the remains of it almost overpowered me.I could hardly keep my wits together in the presence of that food, but as I was not asked to sample it, I had to bear my trouble as best I could.
|