AFriendinNeed参考模板.docx

1、AFriendinNeed参考模板A Friend in Need Somerset Maugham Some people seem easy to understand: their character appears obvious on first meeting. Appearances, however, can bedeceptive.(虚伪的) For thirty years now I have been studying my fellowmen. I do not know very much about them. Ishrugmy shoulders when pe

2、ople tell me that their first impressions of a person are always right. I think they must have small insight or great vanity. For my own part I find that the longer I know people the more they puzzle me. These reflections have occurred to me because I read in this mornings paper that Edward Hyde Bur

3、ton had died at Kobe. He was a merchant and he had been in business in Japan for many years. I knew him very little, but he interested me because once he gave me a great surprise. Unless I had heard the story from his own lips, I should never have believed that he was capable of such an action. It w

4、as more startling because both in appearance and manner he suggested a verydefinitetype. Here if ever was a man all of a piece. He was a tiny little fellow, not much more than five feet four in height, and very slender（柔弱的）, with white hair, a red face much wrinkled（有皱纹的）, and blue eyes. I suppose h

5、e was about sixty when I knew him. He was always neatly and quietly dressed inaccordancewith his age and station（身份）. Though his offices were in Kobe, Burton often came down to Yokohama. I happened on one occasion to be spending a few days there, waiting for a ship, and I was introduced to him at th

6、e British Club. We played bridge together. He played a good game and a generous one. He did not talk very much, either then or later when we were having drinks, but what he said was sensible. He had a quiet, dry humor. He seemed to be popular at the club and afterwards, when he had gone, they descri

7、bed him as one of the best. It happened that we were both staying at the Grand Hotel and next day he asked me to dine with him. I met his wife, fat, elderly, and smiling, and his two daughters. It was evidently a united andaffectionate（深情的）family. I think the chief thing that struck me about Burton

8、was his kindliness. There was something very pleasing in his mild blue eyes. His voice was gentle; you could not imagine that he could possibly raise it in anger; his smile was benign.（温和的） Here was a man who attracted you because you felt in him a real love for his fellows. At the same time he like

9、d his game of cards and his cocktail, he could tell with point a good and spicy story, and in his youth he had been something of an athlete. He was a rich man and he had made every penny himself. I suppose one thing that made you like him was that he was so small and frail; he aroused your instincts

10、（天性） of protection. You felt that he could not bear to hurt a fly. One afternoon I was sitting in the lounge （休息厅）of the Grand Hotel when Burton came in and seated himself in the chair next to mine. What do you say to a little drink? He clapped his hands for a boy and ordered two ginfizzes. As the b

11、oy brought them a man passed along the street outside and seeing me waved his hand. Do you know Turner? said Burton as I nodded a greeting. Ive met him at the club. Im told hes a remittance（汇款） man. Yes, I believe he is. We have a good many here. He plays bridge well.They generally do. There was a f

12、ellow here last year, oddly enough a namesake of mine, who was the best bridge player I ever met. I suppose you never came across him in London. Lenny Burton he called himself. I believe hed belonged to some very good clubs. No, I dont believe I remember the name. He was quite a remarkable player. H

13、e seemed to have an instinct about the cards. It was uncanny（神秘的）. I used to play with him a lot. He was in Kobe for some time. Burton sipped （喝）his gin（酒）fizz.Its rather a funny story, he said. He wasnt a bad chap.（小伙子） I liked him. He was always well-dressed and smart-looking. He was handsome in a

14、 way with curly hair and pink-and-white cheeks. Women thought a lot of him. There was no harm in him, you know, he was only wild. Of course he drank too much. Those sort of fellows always do. A bit of money used to come on for him once a quarter and he made a bit more by card-playing. He won a good

15、deal of mine, I know that. Burton gave a kindly chuckle. I knew from my own experience that he could lose money at bridge with a good grace. He stroked his shaven（削发的） chin（下巴） with his thin hand; the veins（脉） stood out on it and it was almost transparent.I suppose that is why he came to me when he

16、went broke, that and the fact that he was a namesake of mine. He came to see me in my office one day and asked me for a job. I was rather surprised. He told me that there was no more money coming from home and he wanted to work. I asked him how old he was.Thirty-five, he said. And what have you been

17、 doing hitherto（迄今为止）? I asked him. Well, nothing very much, he said. I couldnt help laughing. Im afraid I cant do anything for you just yet, I said. Come back and see me in another thirty-five years, and Ill see what I can do. He didnt move. He went rather pale. He hesitated for a moment and then h

18、e told me that he had had bad luck at cards for some time. He hadnt been willing to stick to bridge, hed been playing poker, and hed got trimmed（平衡的）. He hadnt a penny. Hedpawnedeverything he had. He couldnt pay his hotel bill and they wouldnt give him any more credit. He was down and out. If he cou

19、ldnt get something to do hed have to commit suicide.I looked at him for a bit. I could see now that he was all to pieces. Hed been drinking more than usual and he looked fifty. The girls wouldnt have thought so much of him if theyd seen him then.Well isnt there anything you can do except play cards?

20、 I asked him. I can swim, he said. Swim! I could hardly believe my ears; it seemed such an insane（愚蠢的） answer to give. I swam for my university. I got some glimmering （隐光）of what he was driving at. Ive known too many men who were little tin gods at their university to be impressed by it. I was a pre

21、tty good swimmer myself when I was a young man, I said. Suddenly I had an idea. Pausing in his story, Burton turned to me. Do you know Kobe? he asked. No, I said, I passed through it once, but I only spent a night there. Then you dont know the Shioya Club. When I was a young man I swam from there ro

22、und the beacon（灯塔） and landed at the creek of Tarumi. Its over three miles and its rather difficult on account of the currents round the beacon. Well, I told my young namesake（同姓的人） about it and I said to him that if hed do it Id give him a job.I could see he was rather taken aback. You say youre a

23、swimmer, I said. Im not in very good condition, he answered. I didnt say anything. Ishruggedmy shoulders. He looked at me for a moment and then he nodded. All right, he said. When do you want me to do it? I looked at my watch. It was just after ten. The swim shouldnt take you much over an hour and a

24、 quarter. Ill drive round to the creek at half past twelve and meet you. Ill take you back to the club to dress and then well have lunch together. Done, he said. We shook hands. I wished him good luck and he left me. I had a lot of work to do that morning and I only just managed to get to the creek

25、at Tarumi at half past twelve. But I neednt have hurried; he never turned up. Did he funk （惊恐）it at the last moment? I asked. No, he didnt funk it. He started all right. But of course hed ruined his constitution（组成） by drink and dissipation. The currents round the beacon were more than he could mana

26、ge. We didnt get the body for about three days.I didnt say anything for a moment or two. I was a trifle（琐碎） shocked. Then I asked Burton a question. When you made him that offer of a job, did you know hed be drowned?（溺死） He gave a little mild chuckle and he looked at me with those kind and candid blue eyes of his. He rubbed his chin with his hand. Well, I hadnt got a vacancy（空缺） in my office at the moment. （本资料素材和资料部分来自网络，仅供参考。请预览后才下载，期待您的好评与关注！）