大学英语精读听力第一册 unit7

[00:00.00]Unit Seven  Text
[00:25.23]The author finds out that good intentions alone
[00:29.02]are not enough when his attempt to be kind to an old man
[00:32.81]leaves them both feeling worse than before.
[00:35.92]THE SAMPLER
[00:38.40]In a certain store where they sell puddings,
[00:41.87]a number of these delicious things are laid out in a row
[00:45.64]during the Christmas season.
[00:47.39]Here you may select the one which is most to your taste,
[00:51.23]and you are even allowed to sample them before coming to a decision.
[00:55.72]I have often wondered whether some people,
[00:59.06]who had no intention of making a purchase,
[01:02.12]would take advantage of this privilege.
[01:04.68]One day I asked this question of shop girl,
[01:08.49]and I learned it was indeed the case.
[01:11.84]"Now there's one old gentleman,for instance," she told me,
[01:15.26]"he comes here almost every week and samples each one of the puddings,
[01:20.43]though he never buys anything,
[01:22.62]and I suspect he never will.
[01:25.34]I remember him from last year and the year before that,too.
[01:29.89]Well,let him come if he wants it,and welcome to it.
[01:33.75]And what's more,
[01:35.14]I hope there are a lot more stores where he can go and get his share.
[01:39.47]He looks as if he needed it all right,
[01:42.22]and I suppose they can afford it.
[01:43.58]She was still speaking when an elderly gentleman limped up to the counter
[01:48.42]and began looking closely at the row of puddings with great interest.
[01:52.83]"Why,that's the very gentleman I've been telling you about," whispered the shop girl
[01:57.82]Just watch him now." And then turning to him:
[02:02.39]"Would you like to sample them,sir?
[02:04.30]Here's a spoon for you to use."
[02:06.54]The elderly gentleman,
[02:08.61]who was poorly but neatly dressed,
[02:10.44]accepted the spoon
[02:12.08]and began eagerly to sample one after another of the puddings,
[02:16.45]only breaking off occasionally to wipe his red eyes with a large torn handkerchief
[02:22.24]"This is quite good."
[02:24.67]"This is not bad either,but a little too heavey."
[02:28.20]All the time it was quite evident
[02:31.31]that he sincerely believed that he might eventually buy one of these puddings,
[02:36.22]and I am positive that he did not for a moment feel
[02:39.85]that he was in any way cheating the store.
[02:42.62]Poor old chap!
[02:44.58]Probably he had come down in the world
[02:43.58]and this sampling was all that was left him
[02:46.11]from the time when he could afford to come and select his favorite pudding.
[02:50.45]Amidst the crowd of happy,prosperous looking Christmas shoppers,
[02:54.92]the little black figure of the old man seemed pitiful
[02:58.76]and out of place,
[03:00.11]and in a burst of benevolence,I went up to him and said:
[03:03.35]"Pardon me,sir,will you do me a favor?
[03:06.91]Let me purchase you one of these puddings.
[03:09.47]It would give me such pleasure."
[03:09.54]He jumped back as if he had been stung,
[03:12.49]and the blood rushed into his wrinkled face.
[03:15.36]"Excuse me,"he said,
[03:16.77]with more dignity than I would have thought possible considering his appearance,"
[03:21.42]I do not believe I have the pleasure of knowing you.
[03:24.94]Undoubtedly you have mistaken me for someone else."
[03:28.78]And with a quick decision he turned to the shop girl and said in a loud voice,
[03:33.82]"Kindly pack me up this one here.I will take it with me."
[03:38.40]He pointed at one of the largest and most expensive of the puddings.
[03:43.20]The girl took down the pudding from its stand and started to make a parcel of it,
[03:47.90]while he pulled out a worn little black pocketbook
[03:51.04]and began counting out shillings and pennies on to the counter.
[03:55.71]To save his "honour"
[03:57.36]he had been forced into a purchase which he could not possibly afford.
[04:01.98]How I longed for the power to unsay my tactless words!
[04:06.53]It was too late though,
[04:07.89]and I felt that the kindest thing I could do now would be walk away.
[04:09.51]"You pay at the desk," the shop girl was telling him,
[04:13.03]but he did not seem to understand
[04:15.18]and kept trying to put the coins into her hand,
[04:18.31]And that was the last I saw or heard of the old man.
[04:22.39]Now he can never go there to sample puddings any more.