Lesson 36# t% r" E9 q5 m
4 B8 }$ Q _ Y8 y6 M0 X2 m We are less credulous than we used to be In the nineteenth century, 3 U# T5 ^( y/ X8 g. Q8 s* Y2 o
a novelist would bring his story to a conclusion by presenting his readers 6 e: e3 ]6 D5 S3 K1 L& X
with a series of coincidences --most of them wildly improbable. Readers 6 d4 b3 L% E9 y' U0 L- A
happily accepted the fact that an obscure maid-servant was really the hero's
, w) @( D0 f* Zmother. A long-lost brother, who was presumed dead, was really alive all / z Q# k9 a t+ f5 b
the time and wickedly plotting to bring about the hero's down- fall. And 6 p8 d) n3 \' @( M4 k; ?9 T
so on. Modern readers would find such naive solutions totally unacceptable. u/ i: U7 Z9 K$ n5 d6 v
Yet, in real life, circumstances do sometimes conspire to bring about coincidences
' K: I0 u8 k6 E. C" pwhich anyone but a nineteenth century novelist would find incredible.0 v. `4 N$ B4 p! ~# r T' r+ B9 R
When I was a boy, my grandfather told me how a German taxi-driver, Franz
1 e/ ]) U# W' J m& [( FBussman, found a brother who was thought/(assumed) to have been killed twenty years
* _, ?; L3 u4 ]; ~7 D% U/ _3 fbefore. While on a walking tour with his wife, he stopped to talk to a workman.
3 H; P( t. t, _& b' i- Y( \ After they had gone on, Mrs. Bussman commented on(remark on ) the workman's close resemblance
/ U% v) Y& P/ g: r0 Z4 qto her husband and even suggested that he might be his brother. Franz poured
( L2 b' X$ H: V; t \scorn on the idea, pointing out that his brother had been killed in action & p9 g3 ~( [- d3 ?
during the war. Though Mrs. Bussman was fully acquainted with this story, , q2 a& L5 m3 u0 d
she thought that there was a chance in a million that she might be right.
4 |! H, g6 J1 [) KA few days later, she sent a boy to the workman to ask him if his name was
$ T+ G$ l V6 X5 a& i0 s% MHans Bussman, Needless to say, the man's name was Hans Bussman and he really
( a6 k+ l- C+ F$ |6 G* A S8 |' |was Franz's long-lost brother. When the brothers were re-united, Hans explained ; ?( }2 @# o: G, A
how it was that he was still alive. After having been wounded towards the
6 ]& J2 n+ W4 p( Kend of the war, he had been sent to hospital and was separated from his unit.
8 ?: @8 n4 q& H. A- UThe hospital had been bombed and Hans had made his way历尽艰辛 back into Western
8 F8 o/ R9 `* EGermany on foot. Meanwhile, his unit was lost and all records of him had 1 d; K6 A2 ]# {$ q/ Q4 H) Q. `
been destroyed. Hans returned to his family home, but the house had been 6 ?. h; d1 [; O4 _) k8 b
bombed and no one in the neighborhood knew what had become of 发生遭遇,不幸的事件)the inhabitants.(Whatever became of that girl?)( L1 k2 L5 O& X3 y* q# D
Assuming that his family had been killed during an air-raid, Hans settled ; } |2 j% a' S
down in a Village fifty miles away where he had remained ever since.. P' V9 t' d c5 c+ \
8 Y8 }! D# \1 o. H8 WCredible 可信的, 可靠的, +物/ \- h5 X; k1 v; X
Credulous 轻信的人
2 ]$ Y) e! }! V4 }$ k9 MBelievable 可相信的(有事实根据)" w m3 s- H- ~
Obscure 令人费解,模糊不清,不起眼
# J7 A4 A; i$ L. y' g1 ZVague 比喻意,指不明确说明而造成的
( w& [ u- r" G. K7 q. y# b2 w
2 p+ }% M4 P1 u0 I' R5 RPresume ----根据过去经验和感觉作推断
$ [) L7 q* Q' i, R6 x) oFrom the way they talked, I presume that they were couple.
5 E1 @* _0 _4 n) S$ r7 ?/ SAssume----武断的, 没有根据的,主观假设,与事实不符合