文本内容:
Lesson30The deathof aghost幽灵之死Listen to the tapethen answerthe questionbelow.听录音,然后回答以下问题Why didthe twobrothers keep the secretFor years,villagers believedthat EndleyFarm washunted.The farmwas ownedby twobrothers,Joe and Bob Cox.They employed a fewfarmhands,but noone waswilling towork therelong.Every timea workergave uphis job,he toldthe samestory.Farm labourerssaid thatthey alwayswoke up to findthat workhad beendone overnight.Hay had been cutand cowshedshad beencleaned.A farmworker,who stayedup allnight claimedto haveseen afigure cuttingcorn inthe moonlight.In time,it becamean acceptedfact theCox brothersemployedaconscientious ghostthat didmost of their workfor them.多年来,村民们一直认为恩得利农场在闹鬼恩得利农场属于乔・考科斯和鲍勃•考科斯兄弟俩所有他们雇了几个农工,但谁也不愿意在那儿长期工作下去每次雇工辞职后都叙述着同样的故事雇工们说,常常一早起来发现有人在夜里把活干了,干草已切好,牛棚也打扫干净了有一个彻夜未眠的雇工还声称他看见一个人影在月光下收割庄稼随着时间的流逝,考科斯兄弟雇了一个尽心尽责的鬼,他们家的活大部分都让鬼给干了,这件事成了公认的事实
1.haunt v.出没;萦绕;长期困扰n.常到之地
2.employ v.雇佣;运用be employedin doing忙于某事
3.wake upto find=wake tofind醒来发现......wake upto sth:to becomeaware ofsth e.g.He hasntyet wokenupto the seriousnessof thesituation wakesth:to makesb remembersth orfeel sthagain e.g.The incidentwoke memoriesof hispast sufferingsjog onesmemory唤醒某人的记忆
4.hay n.干草idioms:1hit thehay togo tobed去睡觉2make haywhile thesun shines趁热打铁
5.claim v./n.要求;主张;声称;索取;申领;夺走claim sth:to getor takesbs attentione.g.claim one为attention获得或者需要某人的注意
6.conscientious adj.认真的近义词earnest consciencen.道德,良心No onesuspected thatthere mightbe someoneelse onthe farmwho hadnever beenseen.This wasindeed thecase.A shorttime ago,villagers wereastonished tolearn thatthe ghost of Endleyhad died.Everyone wenttothefuneral,for theghost wasnone other than EricCox,a thirdbrother whowas supposedto havedied asa youngman.After thefuneral,Joe andBob revealeda secretwhich theyhad keptfor overfifty years.谁也没想到农场竟会有一个从未露面的人但事实上确有此人不久之前,村民们惊悉恩得利农场的鬼死了大家都去参加了葬礼,因为那“鬼’不是别人,正是农场主的兄弟埃里克.考科斯人们以为埃里克年轻时就死了葬礼之后,乔和鲍勃透露了他们保守了长达50多年的秘密
7.none otherthan恰好,正是otherthan除了rather than而不是or rather更精确的说,倒不如说let alone更别说no less依旧,仍然nothing less than完全是,与.....一模一样e.g.The victorywas nothinglessthana miracle.no lessthan不亚于,不少于e.g.The smallcar isno lessthan thatexpensive car.much less更不用说Eric hadbeen theeldest sonof thefamily,very mucholder thanhis twobrothers.He hadbeen obligedto jointhe armyduring theSecond WorldWar.As hehated armylife,he decidedto deserthis regiment.When helearnt thathe wouldbe sentabroad,he returnedtothefarm andhis fatherhid himuntil theend ofthe war.Fearing theauthorities,Eric remainedin hidingafter thewar aswell.His fathertold everybodythat Eric hadbeenkilled inaction.The onlyother peoplewho knewthe secretwere JoeandBob.They didnot eventell theirwives.When theirfather died,they thoughtit theirduty tokeep Ericin hiding.All theseyears,Erichadlived asa recluse.He usedto sleepduring theday andwork atnight,quite unawareofthefact thathe hadbecome theghostofEndley.When hedied,however,his brothersfound itimpossible tokeepthesecret anylonger.埃里克是这家长子年龄比他两个弟弟大很多,第二次世界大战期间被迫参军他讨厌军旅生活,决定逃离所在部队当他了解自己将被派遣出国时,他逃回农场,父亲把他藏了起来,直到战争结束由于害怕当局,埃里克战后继续深藏不露他的父亲告诉大家,埃里克在战争中被打死了除此之外,只有乔与鲍知道这个秘密但他俩连自己的妻子都没告诉父亲死后,他们兄弟俩认为有责任继续把埃里克藏起来这些年来,埃里克过着隐士生活,白天睡觉,夜里出来干活,一点不知道自己已成了恩得利家场的活鬼他死后,他的弟弟们才觉得无法再保守这个秘密了