新视野大学英语读写教程听力 第一册 unit3a_new

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[00:00.00]喜欢hxen.net，就把hxen.net复制到QQ个人资料中！Section A A Good Heart to Lean On
[00:-1.00]More than I realized, Dad has helped me keep my balance.
[00:-2.00]When I was growing up, I was embarrassed to be seen with my father.
[00:-3.00]He was severely crippled and very short,
[00:-4.00]and when we walked together, his hand on my arm for balance,
[00:-5.00]people would stare.
[00:-6.00]I would inwardly struggle at the unwanted attention.
[00:-7.00]If he ever noticed or was bothered, he never let on.
[00:-8.00]It was difficult to coordinate our steps
[00:-9.00]— his halting, mine impatient — and because of that,
[00:10.00]we didn't say much as we went along.
[00:11.00]But as we started out, he always said,
[00:12.00]"You set the pace. I will try to adjust to you."
[00:13.00]Our usual walk was to or from the subway on which he traveled to work
[00:14.00]He went to work sick, and despite nasty weather.
[00:15.00]He almost never missed a day,
[00:16.00]and would make it to the office even if others could not.
[00:17.00]A matter of pride.
[00:18.00]When snow or ice was on the ground,
[00:19.00]it was impossible for him to walk, even with help.
[00:20.00]At such times my sisters or I
[00:21.00]would pull him through the streets of Brooklyn, N.Y.,
[00:22.00]on a child's wagon with steel runners to the subway entrance.
[00:23.00]Once there, he would cling to the hand-rail
[00:24.00]until he reached the lower steps
[00:25.00]that the warmer tunnel air kept free of ice.
[00:26.00]In Manhattan the subway station was the basement of his office building,
[00:27.00]and he would not have to go outside again
[00:28.00]until we met him in Brooklyn on his way home.
[00:29.00]When I think of it now, I am amazed at how much courage
[00:30.00]it must have taken for a grown man to subject himself
[00:31.00]to such shame and stress.
[00:32.00]And at how he did it — without bitterness or complaint.
[00:33.00]He never talked about himself as an object of pity,
[00:34.00]nor did he show any envy of the more fortunate or able.
[00:35.00]What he looked for in others was a "good heart",
[00:36.00]and if he found one, the owner was good enough for him.
[00:37.00]Now that I am older,
[00:38.00]I believe that is a proper standard by which to judge people,
[00:39.00]even though I still don't know precisely what a "good heart" is.
[00:40.00]But I know the times I don't have one myself.
[00:41.00]Unable to engage in many activities,
[00:42.00]my father still tried to participate in some way.
[00:43.00]When a local baseball team found itself without a manager,
[00:44.00]he kept it going.
[00:45.00]He was a knowledgeable baseball fan
[00:46.00]and often took me to Ebbets Field to see the Brooklyn Dodgers play.
[00:47.00]He liked to go to dances and parties,
[00:48.00]where he could have a good time just sitting and watching.
[00:49.00]On one occasion a fight broke out at a beach party,
[00:50.00]with everyone punching and shoving.
[00:51.00]He wasn't content to sit and watch,
[00:52.00]but he couldn't stand unaided on the soft sand.
[00:53.00]In frustration he began to shout,
[00:54.00]"I'll fight anyone who will sit down with me! I
[00:55.00]I'll fight anyone who will sit down with me!"
[00:56.00]Nobody did. But the next day people kidded him
[00:57.00]by saying it was the first time any fighter was
[00:58.00]urged to take a dive before the fight began.
[00:59.00]I now know he participated in some things through me, his only son
[-1:00.00]When I played ball (poorly), he "played" too.
[-1:-1.00]When I joined the Navy, he "joined" too.
[-1:-2.00]And when I came home on leave,
[-1:-3.00]he saw to it that I visited his office.
[-1:-4.00]Introducing me, he was really saying,
[-1:-5.00]"This is my son, but it is also me,
[-1:-6.00]and I could have done this, too, if things had been different."
[-1:-7.00]Those words were never said aloud.
[-1:-8.00]He has been gone many years now, but I think of him often.
[-1:-9.00]I wonder if he sensed my reluctance to be seen with him during our walks
[-1:10.00]If he did, I am sorry I never told him how sorry I was,