新视野大学英语读写教程听力 第一册 unit06b_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！The Trashman
[00:-1.00]Saturday, April 7
[00:-2.00]Steve and I hauled trash for four solid hours continuously,
[00:-3.00]except for about five minutes when we stopped to talk.
[00:-4.00]My shoulder hurt wickedly each time I put another full barrel on it,
[00:-5.00]and my legs occasionally trembled as I was heading to the street.
[00:-6.00]But the rest of me said,"Go,trashman,go."
[00:-7.00]I could not have imaged there would be joy in this.
[00:-8.00]Dump.Lift.Walk.Lift.Walk.The hours flew by.
[00:-9.00]Saturday meant most adults were at home on the route.
[00:10.00]So were school-age children.
[00:11.00]I thought this might mean more exchanges as I made the rounds today.
[00:12.00]Many people were out-doors working in their gardens or greenhouses.
[00:13.00]Most looked approachable enough.
[00:14.00]There wasn't time for lengthy talks
[00:15.00]but enough to exchange greetings that go with civilized ways.
[00:16.00]That is where I got my shock.
[00:17.00]I said hello in quite a few yards before the message registered
[00:18.00]that this wasn't normally done.
[00:19.00]Occasionally,I got a direct reply from someone who looked me in the eye,
[00:20.00]smiled,and asked "How are you?"
[00:21.00]or "Isn't this a nice day?" I felt human then.
[00:22.00]But most often the response was either nothing at all,
[00:23.00]or a surprised stare because I had spoken.
[00:24.00]One woman in a housecoat was startled as I came around the corner of her house.
[00:25.00]At the sound of my greeting,
[00:26.00]she gathered her housecoat tightly about her and retreated quickly indoors.
[00:27.00]I heard the lock click.
[00:28.00]Another woman had a huge,peculiar animal in her yard.
[00:29.00]I asked what it was. She stared at me.
[00:30.00]I thought she was deaf and spoke louder.
[00:31.00]She seemed frightened as she turned coldly away.
[00:32.00]Steve raged spontaneously about these things on the long ride to the dump.
[00:33.00]"The way most people look at you,you'd think a trashman was a monster.
[00:34.00]Say hello and they stare at you in surprise.
[00:35.00]They don't realize we're human."
[00:36.00]"One lady put ashes in her trashcan.
[00:37.00]I said we couldn't take them.
[00:38.00]She said,'Who are you to say what goes?
[00:39.00]You're nothing but a trashman.'
[00:40.00]I told her,'Listen,lady,I've got an I.Q.of 137,
[00:41.00]and I graduated near the top of my high school class.
[00:42.00]I do this for the money, not because it's the only work I can do."
[00:43.00]"I want to tell them,'Look,I am as clean as you are,'but it wouldn't help.
[00:44.00]I don't tell anyone I'm a garbageman.I say I'm a truck driver.
[00:45.00]My family knows, but my wife's folks don't.
[00:46.00]If someone comes right out and asks,
[00:47.00]'Do you drive for a garbage company?'I say yes.
[00:48.00]I believe we're doing a service people need,
[00:49.00]like being a police officer or a fire fighter.
[00:50.00]I'm not ashamed of it,but I don't go around boasting about it either."
[00:51.00]"A friend of my wife yelled at her kids one day
[00:52.00]when they ran out to meet a trash truck.
[00:53.00]'Stay away from those trashmen. They're dirty.'I was angry with her. '
[00:54.00]They're as good as we are,' I told her. '
[00:55.00]You seem to have a lot of sympathy for them,'she said.
[00:56.00]'Yes,I do.'But I never told her why."
[00:57.00]I had originally planned to stay at this employment for only two days
[00:58.00]but now I'm going to continue.
[00:59.00]The exercise is great;
[-1:00.00]the lifting gets easier with every load,
[-1:-1.00]even if my shoulder muscle is sore.
[-1:-2.00]I become faster and neater each day.
[-1:-3.00]I'm outdoors in clean air.
[-1:-4.00]And,contrary to what people think,I don't get dirty on the job.
[-1:-5.00]I have decided,too,to keep saying hello in people's yards.
[-1:-6.00]It doesn't do any harm, and it still feels right.
[-1:-7.00]Frankly, I'm proud.
[-1:-8.00]I'm doing an essential task.
[-1:-9.00]I left this country a little cleaner than I found it this morning.