自考英语综合一上册 lesson 10

　　[00:00.00]Text

[00:02.69]The Joker(I)

[00:07.24]It was a very happy funeral,a great success.

[00:12.20]Even the sun shone that day for the late Henry Ground.

[00:17.03]Lying in his coffin,he was probably enjoying himself,too.

[00:22.60]Once more,and for the last time on this earth,he was the centre of attention

[00:29.15]Yes,it was a very jolly affair.

[00:33.41]People laughed and told each other jokes.

[00:37.46]Relatives who had not spoken for years smiled at each other

[00:43.02]and promised to stay in touch.

[00:46.47]And,of course,everyone had a favourite story to tell about Henry.

[00:52.14]"Do you remember the time he dressed up as a pypsy

[00:56.58]and went from door to door telling people's fortunes?

[01:01.02]He actually made 6 pounds in an afternoon!

[01:05.28]"I was once having dinner with him in an expensive restaurant.

[01:10.35]When the wine-waiter brought the wine,

[01:14.00]he poured a drop into Henry's glass

[01:17.95]and waited with a proud expression on his face,

[01:22.10]as if to say'Taste it,you peasant.

[01:26.36]It's clear that you know nothing about wine.

[01:30.44]So Henry,instead of tasting it,the way any normal person would do,

[01:36.68]dipped his thumb and forefinger 1 into the wine.

[01:40.83]Then he put his hand to his ear and rolled his forefinger and thumb together

[01:46.61]as if he were listening to the quality of the wine!

[01:50.65]Then he nodded to the wine-waiter seriously,as if to say'Yes,that's fine.

[01:56.92]You may serve it.'

[01:59.67]You should have seen the wine-waiter's face!

[02:03.51]and how Henry managed to keep a straight face,I'll never know!"

[02:08.55]"Did you hear about the practical joke he played when he was a student,

[02:13.69]the one with the road menders?

[02:17.04]Some workmen were digging a hole in the road.

[02:20.98]First,Henry phoned the police

[02:25.03]and told them that some students were digging a hole in the road,

[02:29.71]and that he didn't think it was a very funny thing to do.

[02:34.07]Then he went to the workmen

[02:37.31]and told them that some students had dressed up as policemen

[02:42.04]and were coming to tell them to stop digging the hole!

[02:46.11]Well,you can imagine what happened!

[02:50.19]Yes,old Henry loved to pull people's legs.

[02:54.94]Once,when he was invited to an exhibition

[02:59.59]of some abstract modern painter's latest work,

[03:04.06]he managed somehow to get in the day before

[03:08.71]and turn all the painting upside down.

[03:13.28]The exhibition ran for four days before anyone noticed!

[03:18.53]His father,poor man,could never understand why Henry did such crazy things

[03:25.06]It's hard to believe that Henry was a Ground

[03:29.19]when you think how different he was from his brothers.

[03:33.66]Yes,it was difficult to believe that he was a Ground.

[03:38.38]He was born into an unimportant 2 but well-to-do family.

[03:43.53]He was the youngest of five sons.

[03:47.19]The Grounds were a handsome lot;blue-eyed,fair-haired,clever and ambitious 3.

[03:53.74]The four older boys all made a success of their lives.

[03:58.89]They married beautiful girls of good family,

[04:03.02]and produced children as fair and handsome and clever as themselves.

[04:09.18]The eldest 4 became a clergyman;

[04:12.71]the second ended up as the headmaster of a famous public school;

[04:18.27]the third went into business and became rich;

[04:22.92]the fourth followed in his father's footsteps and became a lawyer.

[04:28.20]That is why everybody was amazed when the youngest Ground,Henry

[04:33.66]turned out to be a lazy good-for-nothing.

[04:37.63]Unlike his brothers,he had brown eyes and dark hair,

[04:42.96]but he was every bit as handsome and charming,which made him quite a lady-killer

[04:49.12]And,although he never married,

[04:52.47]there is no doubt at all that Henry Ground loved women.

[04:57.43]He also loved eating,drinking,laughing,talking

[05:02.42]and a thousand other activities which don't make money or improve the human life

[05:08.77]One of his favourite pastimes 5 was doing nothing.

[05:13.34]His idea of an energetic afternoon

　　[05:16.42]when the sun was shining was to sit under a tree,

[05:21.15]with a pretty girl by his side,

[05:24.62]and all the time in the world to talk of this and that,

[05:29.30]to count the blades of grass.

[05:32.64]What a worthless fellow!

[05:35.91]Some people whispered that his real father was not the present Mr.Ground at all

[05:41.76]but a wild gypsy who had come one day to the house

[05:46.51]and had swept Mrs.Ground off her feet

[05:50.77] with his dancing black eyes and his wicked immoral 6 ways.

[05:55.94]It was a good story,interesting and romantic,but surely untrue.

[06:02.11]One thing was sure;

[06:05.06]you couldn't help liking 7 Henry Ground and his talent for making you laugh.

[06:10.70]Henry Ground was,above all else,a joker.