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现代大学英语精读第一册 Unit11

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devil
n. evil spirit 魔鬼;raise the ~ (= raise hell): to behave in an angry and threatening way 好好闹一闹;好好抗议一下

disillusioned
adj. feeling disappointed and unhappy because sb. or sth. is not as good as you thought 幻想破灭的

doorknob
n. 门把;拉手

espionage
n. the activity of secretly finding out a country's secrets 间谍活动

evilly
adv. 邪恶地

explanatory
adj. meant to explain

extend
v. to continue for a particular distance 延伸

frustrated
adj. feeling upset and impatient because you can not control a situation or achieve sth. 有挫折感的

gesture
n. 手势

gloomy
adj. dark, especially in a way that seems sad 阴暗的

grimly
adv. seriously; sternly 阴沉着脸地

hesitate
v. to be slow in deciding 犹豫不决

missile
n. 导弹

moodily
adv. feeling unhappy or angry 愤愤地;不快地

musty
adj. with an unpleasant smell

mysterious
adj. 神秘的

passable
adj. good enough to be accepted; not bad

passkey
n. 万能钥匙

pistol
n. 手枪

risk
v. 冒险

romantic
adj. 浪漫的

shrilly
adv. shouting in a sharp or high-pitched voice

sill
n. 窗台

slip
v. to give sb. sth. quietly and secretly 悄悄地递过去

sloppy
adj. careless about clothes 衣着随便的

spy
n. a secret agent 间谍

stammer
v. to speak with difficulty, repeating words or sounds because one is nervous or afraid 结结巴巴地说

stare
v. to look with wide-open eyes because of fear

stiffly
adv. without being able to move one's body 僵硬地

swiftly
adv. fast; rapidly

thrill
n. a sudden strong feeling of great excitement and pleasure

tray
n. 盘子

twist
v. 扭曲,弯曲

uncork
v. to open a bottle by removing the cork 开瓶塞

wheeze
v. to breathe noisily 喘息

wheezily
adv. (说话)呼哧呼哧响地

TEXT B

The Night the President Met
the Burglar Richard C. Garvey

The author uses narration to recount a news story that was suppressed for over fifty years. The story is now noteworthy more from a human interest perspective than from a news standpoint. The author uses both direct and reported speech in the article. Although character development is not extensive, Garvey includes sufficient details to explain the actions of the President, Mrs. Coolidge, and the burglar so that we understand the reasons for their behavior.

A cat burglar invaded the bedroom of the President of the United States, who confronted him, struck a deal with him and helped him escape.
The President and First Lady—she slept through the encounter—never notified the Secret Service and he enjoined a journalist friend not to print the story.
The journalist kept his word, and this is the first time the incident has been reported.
The event occurred in the early morning hours in one of the first days of the presidency of Calvin Coolidge, late in August, 1923. He and his family were living in the same third-floor suite at the Willard Hotel in Washington that they had occupied during his vice presidency. President Warren G. Harding's widow still was living in the White House.
Coolidge awoke to see an intruder go through his clothes, remove a wallet and unhook a watch chain.
Coolidge spoke: "I wish you wouldn't take that."
The intruder, gaining his voice, said: "Why?"
"I don't mean the watch and chain, only the charm. Take it near the window and read what is engraved on the back of it," the President said.
The burglar read: "Presented to Calvin Coolidge, Speaker of the House, by the Massachusetts General Court."
"Are you President Coolidge?" he asked.
The President answered, "Yes, and the Legislature gave me that watch charm . . . I'm fond of it. It would do you no good. You want money. Let's talk this over."
Holding up the wallet, the intruder bargained: "I'll take this and leave everything else."
Coolidge, knowing there was $ 80 in the billfold, persuaded the intruder to sit down and talk. The young man said he and his college roommate had overspent during their vacation and did not have enough money to pay their hotel bill.
Coolidge added up the room rate and two rail tickets back to the campus. Then he counted out $ 32 and said it was a loan.
He then told the intruder that there probably would be a Secret Service agent patrolling the hotel corridor and asked if an escape could be made by going back along the hotel ledge. The man left through the same window he had entered.
The President told his wife, Grace, about the event. Later, he confided in two friends, Judge Walter L. Stevens, the family lawyer, and Frank MacCarthy, a freelance writer and photographer. I
The President held MacCarthy to silence and never told him the intruder's name. As the 25th anniversary of the event approached, 15 years after Coolidge's death, MacCarthy, by then working for the Springfield Union, asked Mrs. Coolidge to let him use the story.
She declined, saying, "There is already too much publicity given to acts of vandalism and violence." MacCarthy honored her request, asking only that she review the story for accuracy and allow him to use it after her death.
Mrs. Coolidge died July 8, 1957, and MacCarthy died less than four months later without publishing his article.
MacCarthy had shared the story with me when we worked together. Because all reasons for secrecy have vanished, this report has been reconstructed from MacCarthy's own article.
I have called the young man a burglar because MacCarthy' s article so identifies him, but his notes show that Coolidge said the young man repaid the $ 32 loan in full.



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