胡敏讀故事記托福詞匯079：一根奇怪的木頭 A Strange Piece of Wood
It was a warm and dreary afternoon at the beach. The only exciting occurrence was the unexpected drizzle. It had drenched my clothes. Since we were experiencing a drought on the island, the rain was a welcome relief.
故事發(fā)生在海邊一個溫暖但沉悶的下午。唯一讓人高興的事情就是一場細雨不期而降，它淋濕了我的衣服。島上正值干旱，所以這場及時雨使旱情得到了緩解。
I had just eaten my lunch. I was feeling somewhat drowsy. Suddenly, something in the distance caught my attention. I had spotted a strange piece of driftwood. It was drifting in and out of the waves about fifty meters offshore. I immediately put on my durable swim fins and dived into the ocean. Upon reaching it, I noticed something else unusual. The shape of the wood was dumbbell-like and it had s message written on it. My curiosity caused me to drag it to the shore for further examination.
我剛剛吃過午飯，感到有點昏昏欲睡。走到沙灘上，突然，我注意到遠處一個什么東西。我辨認出那是一根奇怪的浮木。它漂浮在離岸邊大約50米的海浪上，時隱時現(xiàn)。我迅速穿上耐用的潛水腳蹼，潛入海中。到跟前抓住它時，我注意到它有些異常：它的形狀像個啞鈴，上面還寫著留言。好奇心促使我把它拖到岸上再進一步查看。
“I’m confined in a dungeon,” the message said. “I suffer through drudgery every day. I’m forced to pound and shape ductile metals into armor. I cannot speak because I have been dumb since birth. My drill is a bit dull, but it can still be used to write messages. I hope this piece of wood will be dumped into the ocean so that someone will find it. If you find it, please help me. I am due to be executed by the end of the year. I have not been able to duplicate this message, so you are my only hope.”
留言是這樣寫的：我正被囚禁在地牢里，每天我都在服苦役。他們強迫我把易延展的金屬打至成盔甲。我不會說話，天生就是啞巴。我的鉆頭很鈍，但仍可用來寫留言。我真希望這根木頭會被投進大海，這樣就會有人發(fā)現(xiàn)它。如果你發(fā)現(xiàn)了，請你救救我。我預(yù)期在今年年底被處死刑。我無法復(fù)制留言，所以你是我唯一的希望。
I thought for a moment. This must be a trick. How can a prisoner have a dual purpose drill in his possession? What a strange case of duplicity!
我想了片刻，認為這一定是個騙局。一個囚犯如何會有一個有雙重功能的鉆頭呢?多么力氣的欺詐案呀!
Words:
dreary adj. 沉悶的
drench v. 使?jié)裢?/p>
drift vi. 漂流，漂泊
driftwood n. 浮水
drill vt. 鉆孔，打眼 n./vi. 訓(xùn)練，操練;反復(fù)練習(xí);n. 鉆頭，鉆機
drizzle v. 下毛毛雨n. 細雨
drought n. 干旱
drowsy adj. 昏昏欲睡的
drudgery n. 苦工，苦差事
dual adj. 二重的，兩層的
ductile adj. 易延展的;柔軟的
due adj. 預(yù)定的，到期的
dull adj. 鈍的;感覺或理解遲鈍的
dumb adj. 啞的
dumbbell-like adj. 啞鈴形狀的
dump vt. 傾瀉，傾倒
dungeon n. 地牢
duplicate vt. 復(fù)寫，復(fù)制; adj. 完全相同的，復(fù)制的
duplicity n. 欺騙，口是心非
durable adj. 持久的，耐用的
