大学英语综合教程 第四册 Unit 5A

[05:04.51]I suppose you never came across him in London.Lenny Burton he called himself.I believe he'd belonged to very good clubs
[05:14.38]'No,I don't believe I remember the name.'
[05:18.96]'He was quite a remarkable player.He seemed to have an instinct about the cards.It was uncanny.
[05:27.05]I used to play with him a lot.He was in Kobe for some time.'
[05:32.90]Burton sipped his gin fizz.
[05:36.54]'It's rather a funny story,'he said.He was't bad chap.I liked him.He eas always well-dressed and smart-looking
[05:47.14]He was handsome in away with curly hair and pink-and-white cheeks.Women thought a lot of him.
[05:55.81]There was no harm in him, you know,he was only wild.Of course he drank too much.Those sort of fellows
[06:04.96]always do.A bit of money used to come on for him once a quarter and he made a bit more by card-playing.
[06:14.73]He won a good deal of mine,I know that.'
[06:18.98]Borton gave a kindly chuckle.I knew from my own experiece that he could lose money at bridge with a gook grace
[06:28.15]He stroked his shaven chin with his thin hand;the veins stood out on it and it was almost transparent.
[06:36.90]'I suppose that is why he came to me when he went broke,that and the fact that he was a namesake of mine.
[06:44.74]He came to see me in my office one day and asked me for a job.I was rather surprised.'
[06:52.55]He told me that there was no more money coming from home and he wanted to work.I asked him how old he was
[07:01.38]"Thirty-five,"he said.
[07:04.52]"And what have you been doing hitherto?"I asked him.
[07:08.64]"Well,nothing very much,"he said.
[07:13.27]I couldn't help laughing.
[07:16.53]I'm afraid I can't do anything for you just yet,"I said. "Come back and see me in another thirty-five years
[07:24.53]and I'll see what I can do."
[07:28.03]'He didn't move.He went rater pale.He hesitated for a moment and then
[07:35.42]he told me that he had had bad luck at cards for some time.He hadn't been willing to stick to bridge,
[07:43.88]he'd been playing poker.and he'd got trimmed.He hadn"d a penny.He'd pawned everything he had.
[07:52.92]He couldn't pay his hotel bill and they wouldn't give him any more credit.He was domwn and out
[08:01.07]If he couldn't get somethin to do he'd have to commit suicide.
[08:06.32]'I looked at him for a bit.I could see now that he was all to pieces.He'd been drinking more than ususl
[08:15.46]and he looked fifty.The girls wouldn't have thought so much of him if they'd seen him then.
[08:23.14]"Well isn't there anything you can do except play cards?"I asked him.
[08:29.02]"I can swim,"he said.
[08:32.42]"Swim!"
[08:34.64]'I could hardly believe my ears;it seemed such an insane answer to give.
[08:40.54]"I swam for my university."
[08:44.46]'I got some glimmering of what he was driving at.
[08:49.03]I've known too many men who were little tin gods at their university to be impressed by it
[08:55.85]"I was a pretty good swimmer myself when I was a young man,"I said.
[09:01.15]'Suddenly I had an idea.'
[09:04.76]Pausing in his story,Burton turned to me.
[09:09.02]'Do you know Kobe?'he asked.
[09:12.62]No,'I said, 'I passed through it once,but I only spent a night there.'
[09:19.20]Then you don't know the Shioya Club.When I was a young man I swam from there round the beacon
[09:27.56]and landed at the creek of TarumiIt's over three miles and it's rather difficult on account of the currents round the beacon
[09:36.99]Well,I told my young namesade about it and I said to him that if he'd fo it I'd give him a job.
[09:45.82]'I could see he was rather taken aback.
[09:49.92]"you say you're a swimmer,"I said.
[09:53.58]"I'm not in very good condition,"he answered.
[09:58.18]'I didn't say anything.I shrugged my shoulders.He looked at me for a monment and then he nodded.
[10:06.88]"All right,"he said."When do you want me to do it?"
[10:12.18]'I looked at my watch.It was just after ten.
[10:17.01]The swim shouldn't take you much over an hour and a quarter.I'll dreve round to the creek at half past twelve and meet you
[10:26.02]I'll take you back to the club to dress and then we'll have lunch together
[10:31.98]"Done,"he said.
[10:35.12]We shook hands.I wished him good luck and he left me.I had a lot of work to do that morning
[10:43.45]and I only just managed to the creek at Tarumi at half past twelve.But I needn't have hurried;he never turned up
[10:54.00]'Did he funk it at the last moment?'I asked.
[10:58.42]'No,he didn't funk it.He started all right.But of course he'd ruined his constitution by drink and dissipation.
[11:07.35]The currents round the beacon were more than he could manage.We didn't get the body for about three days
[11:15.81]I didn't say anything for a moment or two.I was a trifle shocked.Then I asked Burton a question.
[11:24.12]'When you made him that offer of a job,did you know he'd be drowned?'
[11:30.44]He gave a little mild chuckle and he looked at me with those kind and candid blue eyes of his.
[11:36.66]He rubbed his chin with his hand.
[11:40.34]"Well,I hadn't got a vacancy in my office at the moment.'