Lesson 36
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# E: r3 s, z+ y* @0 |- s We are less credulous than we used to be In the nineteenth century, # z# _! p+ \0 A6 W, ~% C# K
a novelist would bring his story to a conclusion by presenting his readers
6 N+ J5 t1 e3 zwith a series of coincidences --most of them wildly improbable. Readers % ~: g' S0 y+ D) e* Y8 ~9 G
happily accepted the fact that an obscure maid-servant was really the hero's 5 l3 ?. C; P/ f2 n- \% ^
mother. A long-lost brother, who was presumed dead, was really alive all % Z- K7 j- O3 L/ ]1 K7 Y. ]
the time and wickedly plotting to bring about the hero's down- fall. And : {8 Y) e3 N' p2 H0 j
so on. Modern readers would find such naive solutions totally unacceptable.
! X* M6 u; d; [Yet, in real life, circumstances do sometimes conspire to bring about coincidences ; _& y9 r$ g% W& Z# W
which anyone but a nineteenth century novelist would find incredible.* O1 S- w( J; n# o- |
When I was a boy, my grandfather told me how a German taxi-driver, Franz
& w$ w+ V! B8 W! YBussman, found a brother who was thought/(assumed) to have been killed twenty years 4 }5 C* o9 d3 ], r8 B& k
before. While on a walking tour with his wife, he stopped to talk to a workman.
- e/ S' h" q- K( b After they had gone on, Mrs. Bussman commented on(remark on ) the workman's close resemblance
( D5 s; b+ }8 Y" z5 C( } x0 T Z4 }to her husband and even suggested that he might be his brother. Franz poured
3 w- A, Y0 q! v. H* D0 Sscorn on the idea, pointing out that his brother had been killed in action 8 t$ @- _# I/ w' Q1 _: f
during the war. Though Mrs. Bussman was fully acquainted with this story, 7 K: C& l, ]" n" d- Q, C; f2 [
she thought that there was a chance in a million that she might be right.
1 N6 D. Z3 a) E. h$ d# q6 eA few days later, she sent a boy to the workman to ask him if his name was
' C. y# j/ t0 t6 v6 cHans Bussman, Needless to say, the man's name was Hans Bussman and he really . A4 v6 _2 S6 B
was Franz's long-lost brother. When the brothers were re-united, Hans explained
3 d, D; u$ n! d/ |( G1 o3 P7 dhow it was that he was still alive. After having been wounded towards the # b1 D+ u& _1 b* g
end of the war, he had been sent to hospital and was separated from his unit.
" T& `5 B9 Q' i8 f' N+ _' D9 @The hospital had been bombed and Hans had made his way历尽艰辛 back into Western $ l+ e- |$ N0 V4 S8 y3 j6 s" n
Germany on foot. Meanwhile, his unit was lost and all records of him had 3 F6 u3 ^5 o* [% M- |
been destroyed. Hans returned to his family home, but the house had been + N+ @, K) }, a' j* F8 A/ [' p* m
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?), |/ T9 D8 \2 P7 r4 d
Assuming that his family had been killed during an air-raid, Hans settled
" o: u: V. `3 E- {1 t4 Cdown in a Village fifty miles away where he had remained ever since.+ d$ O; x z& q" g
7 M5 ~ P, m4 G! k; i! l& ACredible 可信的, 可靠的, +物
* P0 O" i6 u$ z, r2 oCredulous 轻信的人
' q% s: ?/ V: W" C/ X3 OBelievable 可相信的(有事实根据)$ h0 d$ z2 W$ R) T7 T4 M( j( x
Obscure 令人费解,模糊不清,不起眼
# V* j3 G9 M( Y8 \% [: VVague 比喻意,指不明确说明而造成的
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. {5 m/ U8 {, W* B- @; v$ BPresume ----根据过去经验和感觉作推断; Q3 G' A" u3 h3 u3 s' Q' @
From the way they talked, I presume that they were couple.
/ M$ ]; t* f) z- ?Assume----武断的, 没有根据的,主观假设,与事实不符合