英语智慧背囊 06-不被爱的人

[00:02.61]Unlovely不被爱的人
[00:04.56]A story is told about a soldier
[00:08.28] who was finally coming home after having fought in Vietnam.
[00:12.10] He called his parents from San Francisco.
[00:15.16] "Mom and Dad, I’m coming home,
[00:17.64] but I’ve a favor to ask.
[00:19.61] I have a friend I’d like to bring home with me."
[00:22.35]"Sure," they replied, "we’d love to meet him."
[00:25.63]"There’s something you should know,"
[00:28.04]the son continued,
[00:29.35]"he was hurt pretty badly in the fighting.
[00:31.86] He stepped on a land mine and lost an arm and a leg.
[00:35.58] He has nowhere else to go,
[00:37.88]and I want him to come live with us."
[00:40.07]"We’re sorry to hear that, son.
[00:42.69] But, maybe we can help him find somewhere to live."
[00:46.08]"No, Mom and Dad,
[00:48.16]I want him to live with us."
[00:50.46]"Son," said the father,
[00:52.32]"you don’t know what you’re asking.
[00:54.61] Someone with such a handicap would be a terrible burden to us.
[00:58.77] We have our own lives to live,
[01:01.50]and we can’t let something like this interfere with our lives.
[01:04.89]I think you should just come home and forget about this guy.
[01:08.50]He’ll find a way to live on his own."
[01:11.35]At that point,
[01:12.73] the son hung up the phone.
[01:14.82] The parents heard nothing more from him.
[01:17.33] A few days later, however,
[01:19.84]they received a call from the San Francisco police.
[01:22.91] Their son had died after falling from a building, they were told.
[01:27.34] The police believed it was suicide.
[01:29.75]The grief-stricken parents flew to San Francisco
[01:33.83]and were taken to the city morgue to identify the body of their son.
[01:38.10] They recognized him,
[01:40.07]but to their horror they also discovered something they didn’t know,
[01:43.67] their son had only one arm and one leg.
[01:47.39]The parents in this story are like many of us.
[01:50.89] We find it easy to love those who are good-looking or fun to have around,
[01:55.82]but we do not like people who inconvenience us or make us feel uncomfortable.
[02:00.62] We would rather stay away from people who aren’t as healthy,
[02:04.34] beautiful, or smart as we are.