Lesson twenty-five ;

Words and Expressions ;

aid/eid/n.援助,幫助 arrest/’rest/ vt.逮捕,拘留 ;

bar/ba:/ n.(鐵,木等)條,桿,棒 bone/bun/n.骨 ;

cell/sel/n. 小房間,單人牢房 ;

champagne /’tm’pein/ n.香檳酒 ;

clothe/klu/ vt.為..提供衣服 commit/k’mit/ vt.犯(錯誤,罪行) ;

content/kn’tent/ adj.滿足的,滿意的 crime/kraim/ n.罪行,罪 ;

criminal/’kriminl/ n.罪犯,犯人 decent/’di:snt/ adj.體面的,像樣的 ;

defend/di’fend/ vt.為...辯護 diner/’dain/ 吃飯的(客)人,就餐者 ;

donate/du’neit/ vt.捐贈,贈送 drift/drift/ vi.漂泊,游蕩 ;

entree/’ntrei/ n.[英]兩道正菜間 的小菜,[美]主菜 ;

feed/fi:d/ vt.喂(養) fed/fed/ (過去分詞,過去式) ;

fried/fraid/ adj.油煎的,油炸的 grand/grnd/ adj.豪華的,華麗的 ;

hunger/’hg/ n.饑餓的 illegal/i’li:gl/ adj.不合法的,非法的 ;

island/’ailnd/ n.島嶼,島 jail/deil/n.[美]監獄 [英] ;

gaol/deil/ lawyer/’l:j/ n.律師 ;

legal/’li:gl/ adj.法律(上)的;合法的 ;

lunchtime/’lnttaim/ n.午餐時間 maddening/’mdni/ n.使人發瘋,使人惱火的 ;

midtown/’midtaun/ n.(使城市的)商業區與 住區之間的地區 ;

napkin/’npkin/ n.餐巾 offender/’fend/ n.冒犯著,罪犯 ;

order/’:d/ n.秩序 vt.訂購 petty/’peti/ adj.微小的,次要的 ;

plead/pli:d/ vt.辯護,申明 plead guilty服罪 ;

pocket/’pkit/ n.衣袋 pork/’p:k/n.豬肉 ;

prison/’prizn/ n.監獄 ;

prosecutor /’prsikju:t/ n.原告,起訴人 ;

punish/’pni/ 懲罰 ;

punishment /’pnimnt/ n.懲罰,刑罰 ;

quit/kwit/ vt.放棄 (思想,行動,職業)等 ;

reduce/ri’dju:s/ vt.縮減 refuge/’refju:d/ n.避難 ;

repeat/ri’pi:t/ n.重復 screen/skri:n/ n.隔板;(粗野)篩子 ;

seat/si:t/ vt.使就座, 幫助找到座位 ;

seldom/’seldm/ adv.很少,不常,難得 sentence/’sentns/ n.判決,判刑 ;

serial/’siril/ adj.連續的 slip/slip/vi.滑動 slip on匆忙地穿上 ;

society/s’saiti/ n.社會 steal/sti:l/ vt.偷,竊取 ;

stole/stul/(過去式) stolen/’stuln/ (過去分詞) ;

tasty/’teisti/ adj.美味的,可口的 ;

taxpayer /’tkspei/n.納稅人 tooth/tu:/n.牙齒 teeth/ti:/n. ;

thief/i:f/ thieves/i:vz/ n.小偷 ;

unfold/n’fuld/vt.. 攤開,打開 urge/:d/ vt.催促,慫恿 ;

Proper Nouns Bragg/brg/(姓) Christina /krist’ti:n/(女人名) ;

Gangaram /’ggrm/(男人名) Mahes/’meihis/姓 ;

Manhattan /mn’htn/(地名) 曼哈頓 Rick/rik/(男人名) ;

Rikers Island /’raikz’ailnd/ 地名 Swarns/sw:nz/(姓) ;

TEXT ;

The Simple Life: A Fine Dinner, a Drink and Jail (after Rick Bragg) ;

Every now and then, ;

Gangaram Mahes slips on his best donated clothes and lives the high life. ;

He walks to a nice restaurant, has a glass of champagne, ;

eats a $ 50 meal and finishes with hot black coffee. ;

The waiters call him "sir", ;

but Mahes could not find a dollar from his pocket for even a bus ride. ;

He is a thief who never runs, ;

a criminal who picks his teeth as the police close in. ;

To be arrested,to go home to a cell at ;

Rikers Island-that’s his plan when he unfolds his napkin. ;

Homeless off and on for several years, he steals dinner from the restaurants ;

because he wants the courts to return him to a place in New York ;

where he is guaranteed three meals a day and a clean bed. ;

In a prison system filled with repeat offenders, ;

the 36-year-old Mahes is a serial diner. ;

He has committed the same crime at least 31 times, ;

always pleads guilty and never urges his lawyer to ask for a reduced sentence. ;

"It’s tough on the outside,"said Mahes, ;

who is serving 90 days for stealing a steak from a midtown Manhattan restaurant. ;

Prosecutors say it isn’t their job to consider whether ;

locking up some criminals actually gives them what they ;

want refuge from poverty or hunger. ;

But Legal Aid lawyers say they’ve seen a small but growing number of people ;

who commit petty crimes with the intention of going to prison. ;

Life in prison is sometimes violent, ;

but to Mahes it is better than drifting ;

from shelter to shelter or living in cardboard boxes. ;

"There is order in a prison,and you always eat on time," he said. ;

"I like to live decent," he said. "I like to be clean." Christina Swarns, ;

a Legal Aid lawyer defending a man who does not want her help, ;

faces Mahes through the wire screen and does not know whether to laugh or cry. ;

"It’s funny at first- ’The Serial Eater’," she said. "But it’s a very sad thing. ;

How bad is it, his life, that he would prefer prison?" ;

On one hand is a man who goes to jail at will without having hurt anyone, ;

who steals only expensive New York restaurant food. ;

Instead of throwing a rock through a window, he orders a T-bone steak. ;

On the other hand is a man who seems to ;

have given up hope of ever having anything better, ;

who prefers society’s punishment to his place in the society. ;

In the past two years he has seldom been ;

free more than a few days before enjoying an illegal entree. ;

He chooses restaurants that are not too cheap, not too expensive. ;

If a restaurant is too grand, it might not seat him. If it is too cheap, ;

he might not be arrested for stealing its food. ;

"If they really wanted to punish him," said Swarns," ;

they would stand outside Rikers and say, ’You go away.Instead, ;

Mahes does 90 days for stealing fish. It costs taxpayers $ 162 a day to feed, ;

clothe and house him at Rikers Island. ;

His 90 day sentence will cost them $14,580, ;

to punish him for refusing to pay the $51.31 check. ;

In five years he has cost them more than $250,000. ;

Swarns said it was maddening to defend him. ;

Every time she gives him her card and tells him to call, ;

so she can help when he gets out, he throws it away. ;

She cannot compete with prison. The food at Rikers is tasty, ;

said Mahes.For supper, he had pork chops. ;

He said he was thinking of quitting this life someday. ;

But when the bus came to take him back to Rikers,he was content. ;

It was almost lunchtime. "Fried chicken," he said. ;

He does not have a family to miss him. ;

He does not have an old neighborhood where people know his name. ;

The bars at Rikers Island are there to hold him in and to hold onto. ;

Lesson twenty-six ;

Words and Expressions ;

ahead/’hed/ adv.在前,向前 axe/ks/n.斧子 ;

hark/ba:k/vi.狗叫 below/bi’lu/ adv.在下面 ;

bite/bait/vt.咬 bit/bit/(過去式) bitten/’bitn/ (過去分詞) ;

chop/tp/n.砍 cleanly/k’li:nli/ adv.干凈的,整潔的 ;

courage/’krid/ n.勇敢,勇氣 ;

excitement /ik’saitmnt/ n.興奮,激動 ;

fireplace/’faipleis/ n.壁爐 fog/fg/n.霧 ;

glove/glv/n.手套 honest/’nist/ adj.誠實的,正直的 ;

honesty/’nisti/ n.誠實,正直 interfere/,int’fi/ vi.防礙,打擾 ;

ma’am=madam夫人,太太 ;

mountain/’mauntin/ n.山,復數山脈 pant/pnt/ n.(通常用復數) ;

pile/pail/n.n.鞋 purple/’p:pl/ adj.紫色的 ;

repair/ri’pe/ vt.修理 settle/’setl/vt.& vi 使安靜,安靜 ;

shoulder/’uld/ n.肩膀 smoky/’smuki/ adj.多煙的,煙霧彌漫的 ;

steady/’stedi/ adj.平穩的,有規律的 surround/s’raud/ vt.包圍,圍繞 ;

tear/te/vt.撕開 tore/t:/(過去式) torn/t:n/(過去分詞) ;

thin/in/adj.薄 thoughts/:t/ n.思想,想法 ;

troubled/’trbld/ adj.(過去分詞) 不安,煩惱 ;

warn/w:n/vt.提醒,警告 washing/’w:i/ n.洗滌 ;

Proper Nouns Carolina 卡羅來納州 ;

Jerry/’deri/(男人名) Kinnan/’kinn/(人名) Majorie/’meidri/ (女人名) ;

Pat/pt/n.狗名 Rawlings/’r:liz/ (姓) ;

Smoky Mountains /’smuki’mauntinz/ 斯莫基山脈(美) ;

Text ;

A Small Boy’s Mother(1) ;

I was living in the Smoky Mountains in Carolina. ;

It was autumn. I needed quiet to be away from people. ;

My mind was troubled and the mountain air helped me write better. ;

I also wanted to see the red autumn leaves, ;

the pumpkins and to feel the excitement of living free and alone. ;

I found them all in a small house which belonged to the Children’s Home. ;

The house is cut off from the village below and from the world by deep mountain snows. ;

The heavy fog that surrounds the Smoky ;

Mountains hides the house from the eyes of the people. ;

When I moved into the house,I asked the lady ;

at the Children’s Home to send a boy to cut wood for the fireplace. ;

About a week later, 1 looked up from my writing, a little surprised. ;

There in front of me was a small boy. My dog, Pat, had not barked to warn me. ;

The boy wore old torn pants and a shirt worn thin from too many washings. ;

He wore no shoes on his feet. "I can cut some wood today," he said. ;

"But I have a boy coming from the Children’s Home." I’m the boy. ;

"You? But you’re so small." ;

"I can carry milk to the babies’ house, ma’am. ;

Some days I carry it two times." "In this bitter wind?" ;

"Yes’m. Stiff fingers don’t feel bad once you get used to them. ;

We get our faces bitten by the cold wind because ;

we can’t put our hands over them. But I have gloves. ;

Some of the boys don’t have any gloves." "But cutting wood is a man’s job." ;

He smiled at me. "I know all kinds of wood ma’am. ;

I’ve been cutting wood at the Children’s Home for a long time." ;

"Very well. There’s the axe. Go ahead and try cutting and see what you can do." ;

1 began to work again. The first sounds of the axe cutting ;

through the wood interfered with my thoughts. ;

But soon the steady "chop, chop" stopped troubling me. ;

I settled down and wrote for the rest of the afternoon. ;

The sun was slowly dropping behind the cold purple mountains ;

when 1 heard the boy’s footsteps coming toward my door. ;

"1 have to go eat now. I can come again tomorrow afternoon." ;

"I’ll pay you for what you’ve done." ;

We went together to see his work. ;

Next to the house was a lot of cleanly-cut wood. ;

"But you’ve cut as much as a man. This is a wonderful pile of wood!" ;

I gave him some money. "You may come again tomorrow, ;

and thank you very much." ;

He looked at me and then at the money. He seemed as if he wanted to talk, ;

but he could not. He turned away but over his thin shoulder, ;

he shouted back to me. will cut some small pieces tomorrow. ;

You’II need some small thin pieces and some heavier ones." ;

He came again the next day and worked until it was time to leave. ;

His name was Jerry. He was 12 years old and had been at the ;

Children’s Home since he was only four. ;

I thought of him as he must have looked when he was 4 years old. ;

The same strong grey eyes with a small ring of blue around them. ;

The same integrity and courage.Integrity is honesty, ;