新概念英语第三册-Lesson 36
Lesson 36 A chance in a million
We are less credulous than we used to be. In the nineteenth century, a novelist would bring his story to a conclusion by presenting his readers with a series of coincidences ---- most of them wildly improbable. Readers happily accepted the fact that an obscure maidservant was really the hero's mother. A long-lost brother, who was presumed dead, was really alive all the time and wickedly plotting to bring about the hero's downfall. And so on. Modern readers would find such naive solutions totally unacceptable. Yet, in real life, circumstances do sometimes conspire to bring about coincidences which anyone but a nineteenth century novelist would find incredible.
When I was a boy, my grandfather told me how a German taxi driver, Franz Bussman, found a brother who was thought to have been killed twenty years before. While on a walking tour with his wife, he stopped to talk to a workman. After they had gone on, Mrs. Bussman commented on the workman's close resemblance to her husband and even suggested that he might be his brother. Franz poured scorn on the idea, pointing out that his brother had been killed in action during the war. Though Mrs. Bussman was fully acquainted with this story, she thought that there was a chance in a million that she might be right. A few days later, she sent a boy to the workman to ask him if his name was Hans Bussman. Needless to say, the man's name was Hans Bussman and he really was Franz's long-lost brother. When the brothers were reunited, Hans explained how it was that he was still alive. After having been wounded towards the end of the war, he had been sent to hospital and was separated from his unit. The hospital had been bombed and Hans had made his way back into Western Germany on foot. Meanwhile, his unit was lost and all records of him had been destroyed. Hans returned to his family home, but the house had been bombed and no one in the neighbourhood knew what had become of the inhabitants. Assuming that his family had been killed during an air raid, Hans settled down in a village fifty miles away where he had remained ever since.
【New words and expressions】 生词和短语
●credulous adj. 轻信的
●improbable adj. 不大可能的
●obscure adj. 不起眼的
●maidservant n. 女仆，女佣
●presume v. 假定
●wickedly adv. 心眼坏地，居心叵测地
●plot v. 密谋
●downfall n. 倒台，垮台
●naive adj. 天真的
●unacceptable adj. 不能接受的
●conspire v. （事件）巧合促成
●incredible adj. 难以置信的
●resemblance n. 相似
●scorn n. 嘲弄，挖苦
●acquaint v. 使了解
●reunite v. 使团聚
●assume v. 假定，认为
参考译文
我们不再像以往那样轻易相信别人了。在19世纪，小说家常在小说结尾处给读者准备一系列的巧合--大部分是牵强附会，极不可能的。当时的读者却愉快地接受这样一些事实，一个低贱的女佣实际上是主人公的母亲；主人公一位长期失散的兄弟，大家都以为死了，实际上一直活着，并且正在策划暗算主人公；如此等等，现代读者会觉得这种天真的结局完全无法接受。不过，在现实生活中，有时确实会出现一些巧合，这些巧合除了19世纪小说家外谁也不会相信。
当我是个孩子的时候，我祖父给我讲了一位德国出租汽车司机弗朗兹。巴斯曼如何找到了据信已在20年前死去的兄弟的事。一次，他与妻子徒步旅行。途中，停下来与一个工人交谈，接着他们继续往前走去。巴斯曼夫人说那工人与她丈夫相貌很像，甚至猜测他可能就是她丈夫的兄弟。弗朗兹对此不屑一顾，指出他兄弟已经在战争中阵亡了。尽管巴斯曼夫人熟知这个情况，但她仍然认为自己的想法仍有百万分之一的可能性。几天后，她派了一个男孩去问那人是否叫汉斯.巴斯曼。不出巴斯曼夫人所料，那人的名字真是汉斯.巴斯曼，他确实是弗朗兹失散多年的兄弟。兄弟俩团聚之时，汉斯说明了他活下来的经过，战争即将结束时，他负伤被送进医院，并与部队失去联系。医院遭到轰炸，汉斯步行回到了西德。与此同时，他所在部队被击溃，他的所有档案材料全部毁于战火。汉斯重返故里，但他的家已被炸毁，左邻右舍谁也不知原住户的下落，汉斯以为全家人都在空袭中遇难，于是便在距此50英里外的一座村子里定居下来，直至当日。
重点词汇
■credulous adj. 轻信的 (ready to believe things, 修饰人) 反：incredulous
credible: 可信的，可靠的 （修饰事物）反：incredible
Eg: The story he told us is credible.
联想：believable：强调以事实为根据 反：unbelievable
Eg: He demanded for believable explanation.
■obscure adj. 不起眼的（not known to the people）
Eg: The bus stopped at an obscure little town.
令人费解的，模糊的 （not easily or clearly seen or understood; indistinct）
Eg: His real motive for the crime remains obscure.
联想：vague 多用于比喻意，指不明确说明而造成的模糊不清
He was a little vague when I asked what had happened.
■presume v. 假定 (suppose sth. To be true; take sth. for granted)
■assume v. 假定，认为 (accept sth. as true before there is proof)
presume that
比较：
presume: 假定 (根据过去的经验和感觉作出决断)
assume : 武断的，把尚未证实的作为依据，与事实不相符合
suppose : 最普通的用词，猜想、陈述自己的看法
Eg: Let us assume that your words are fact.
I suppose that it was my fault.
Mr. White, I presume?
■wickedly adv. 心眼坏地，居心叵测地，邪恶地 (in a wicked evil manner)
Eg: The knife gleamed wickedly in the moonlight.
联想：wreck 沉船 wretched 悲惨的
eg. The captain of the Elkor ordered his men to salvage as much as possible from the wreck. (NCE3 lesson 32)
The other side of the picture is quite the opposite. Life on a desert island is wretched. (NCE3 lesson 12)
■plot v. 密谋 (to plan together secretly)
The criminals were plotting to rob the bank.
比较：
conspire: 众多人合谋做重大的犯法勾当，犹指反叛，不用于修饰单个人
scheme: 某人暗中设计狡诈的手段来谋求自己的私利
The man is scheming for power.
They conspire to overthrow the government.
■conspire v. （事件）巧合促成(to act together; to combine)
The weather and car trouble conspire to spoil our vacation.
■resemblance n. 相似(likely or similarity)
常用结构：bear a strong resemblance to sb. or sth.
The girl bears a strong resemblance to her sister.
such a resemblance：太象了
比较：
likeness: 最普通的用语，比resemblance意味要强
resemble: 特别是指外观或外在性质的相似
similarity: 性质、特色、程度的相似 similar to sth. or sb.
The two events which happened at the same time have got similarity.
They have got close likeness.
■scorn n. 嘲弄，挖苦(strong contempt)
常用短语：pour scorn on，pour contempt on，pour ridicule on 对......嘲弄，挖苦，斥之以鼻
Eg: He poured scorn on his wife's suggestion.
表示藐视、瞧不起，还可用：look down upon / think scorn of
比较：
contempt: 蔑视，强烈谴责某人或某事低贱、卑鄙，语气较强
despise: 语气较弱，表示嘲弄
Eg: His suggestion was dismissed with scorn / contempt.
His face showed the scorn he felt.
We often speak of tramps with contempt and put them in the same class as beggars. (NCE3 lesson 27)
I despised the frigid weather in January.
■acquaint v. 使了解(to have knowledge of)
常用短语：
be acquainted with sth. 对......有所了解
acquaint sb. with sth. / acquaint sb. of sth. 告之某人某事
make a person acquainted with sb. 介绍某人同另一个人认识
Let me make ... acquainted with you (正式用法)
acquaintance n. 熟人
Vocabulary exercise:
Choose the one word or phrase that best completes the sentence.
1. I happily the fact that I am wrong on this occasion.
a. except b. agree c. assume d. accept
2. Whatever that strange old woman who lived in your village?
a. occurred b. became of c. lived d. happened
3. I was fully with all the facts of the murder case.
a. related b. presumed c. acquainted d. converted
4. The events in many science fiction films are improbable.
a. wildly b. fully c. closely d. sharply
5. The terms of the contract were unacceptable.
a. fully b. amply c. totally d. intensely
6. There's a very resemblance between you and Bill.
a. close b. naive c. straight d. obscure
7. The man's story was so that no one believed it.
a. credible b. incredible c. credulous d. incredulous
8. Many important changes in society have been by necessity.
a. brought to b. brought up c. brought round d. brought about
