情感 英语_关于英语情感故事：Scarecrow
英语情感故事Scarecrow
Scarecrow
“Hey, ‘Bones,’ ” my brother, Parker, asked me, "what are you going to be for Halloween?" The elementary school party started at 7:00 PM. The winner of the prize for the most original costume got two free tickets for the Sunday matinee. Parker was dressed and ready to go. I watched him parade in front of the mirror in his pirate costume. He's so handsome, I thought. All the girls in the fifth and sixth grades were madly in love with him. I'd spent the afternoon defending myself from his rubber dagger.
" I'm not going!" I replied.
" Why not?"
" No costume."
"That's dumb," he said. "You hardly need a costume. You're already a perfect scarecrow!" I was used to these observations. Furthermore, he spoke the truth. At twelve, I was already six feet tall and weighed eighty-nine pounds. Tack on red hair and freckles and it added up to one thing: I was a scarecrow.
School days were charged with searing taunts. "Down in front." "How's the weather up there?" "Are those skis or shoes?" It was hard to smile back, and even harder to make friends.
I tried plastering my hair down flat on the top of my head and prying the heels off my shoes. I took scalding hot baths, hoping I'd shrink. In bed at night, I put my feet against the footboard, hands against the headboard and pushed, hoping to press myself back together. Nothing worked. So I saved nickels and dimes in a cider jug to pay the future surgeon who would find fame in Ripley's Believe It or Not by cutting six inches of bone from the legs of the tallest girl in the world and making her the same height as everybody else.
"When I grow up," I told Parker, as he brandished his cutlass in front of the mirror, "I'm going to live on an island where there's no one to stare." My brother raised his eye patch and looked at me hard.
"Sounds awful," he said, and left for the party.
Alone, I listened to the cheerless night and pictured the costumes my classmates had bought. I had tried on a few, too, but nothing fit. I could picture my classmates in their costumes, having a wonderful time. As I wandered about the house, I remembered happier days-before Mommy and Daddy were separated. When Daddy lived with us, he always made me feel loved and wanted. Seeing him now for short visits wasn't the same. The more I brooded, the more my self-pity grew.
Then I spotted a broomstick standing in the kitchen corner. Maybe I could make a costume, I thought. Outside, a sheet and pillowcase billowed on the clothesline. I could be a witch or a ghost. Then my gaze fell on the back of the cellar door. My father's old plaid work sh
irt, faded overalls, jacket and cap were hanging right where he had left them.
"I could be a hobo," I murmured as I buried my face in the dusty clothes. But Parker's taunt kept coming back at me. "You're a scarecrow." As much as I hated to admit it, he was right. Well then, a scarecrow was what I'd be. The closer I got to the school, the louder the cheers and clapping became, and the more my fears grew. What if they laughed at me? Worse still, what if they didn't do anything? Hiding behind the tool shed next to the gym, I pulled everything out of the pillowcase and started to dress. Because I was so tall, I could peek through the high window and see everybody taking turns on the stage in quest of the coveted prize. Ghosts, princesses, monsters, cowboys, soldiers and brides-they were all there, clad in store-bought costumes, fragile dreams for one night. My teeth were chattering. Would they clap for me? Would they whistle and cheer? My stomach ached from anticipation.
I'll run home! I decided. No one would know I had been there. But Parker came on stage and glanced at the window. It was too late. He had seen me. If I left now, he'd call me chicken. I watched him bow to the audience and listened to the squeals from the girls as he leaped on chairs and tables and parried with his sword. Next, a small gorilla climbed on top of a ladder and ate a banana. Lincoln gave a brief address. Cleopatra danced with a rubber snake in her hands, and a soldier marched and twirled his gun. Only Tarzan remained.
Maneuvering carefully through the entrance, I went in, held my breath and prayed, Please, God, don't let me make a fool of myself. The applause was so loud for the King of the jungle when he gave his call and swung on a curtain rope that no one seemed to notice me walk slowly to the center of the stage. A pillowcase covered my head. With arms outstretched and hands clutching the broomstick ed through the sleeves of an old plaid shirt, I wore a felt hat and faded overalls stuffed with straw. The room was suddenly still.
Nobody clapped. Nobody cheered. The only sound I heard was the hammering of my own heart. I'm going to die, I thought, right here in front of everybody. The world was tilting, and my ears were ringing when the hood slid down my nose, just enough so I could peer through the eyeholes. And that's when I saw my classmates for the first time, as they really were. Petite blonde fairies with golden wands-and steel braces on their teeth. A baseball hero with a bat and mitt-and bottle-thick eyeglasses. A boxer with fighting gloves-sitting in a wheelchair. Someone asked, "Hey, who is that?" "Parker's sister!" They looked at one another, surprise brightening their faces. Clapping and cheering filled the room.
The principal came up on stage. "The first prize for the most original costume goes to..." I
never heard my name, only Parker, fear in his voice, saying, "I'll hold those tickets for her. She can't let go of that broomstick or her shirt will fall off." Later, classmates came over to talk with me. "How'd you ever get such a good idea?" "Parker," I said. "Where did you get the costume?" "My daddy." And in that single moment, I recaptured a memory that had almost slipped away. I was sitting on Daddy's lap and I heard him say, "I love you, sweetheart, just the way God made you." I felt his fingers riffling my hair, and I smiled inside, glad that God had made me a scarecrow.
I left the party early, but not before Nancy had said, "You'll come over to my house sometime, won't you?" and Elaine had confided, "I get goosebumps every time Mr. Allen is our substitute teacher. Don't you?" I didn't want to stay and dance-the boys' heads came only to the middle of my chest. But on my way home, I decided that Parker was right. A deserted island would be pretty awful. I waited up for Parker that night. I wanted to hear about the fun I'd missed. "Did you dance a lot?" I asked. "Sort of," he said. "If you think it's any fun for a fifthgrade guy to dance with a bunch of puny third- and fourth-graders!" He kicked at the fringe on the rug and started up the stairs.
"Oh, I almost forgot," he said. "Here's your two tickets." "Thanks." "It's going to be a double feature. One's The Wizard o f Oz. Ray Bolger plays a scarecrow." He had reached the fourth step. We stood eye to eye.
"And the other's The Sea Hawk," I said. "Can you believe it? Errol Flynn plays a pirate!"
"Are you taking anyone special?" Parker asked. "Yes," I said. "Wanna go?"
真的小猛士：美国9岁男孩徒手斗鳄鱼
A brave 9-year-old is recovering in hospital after he wrestled a 9-foot, 400lb alligator off him with his bare hands - and he now plans to make a necklace from a tooth doctors found embedded in a wound on his back.
美国佛罗里达州一名9岁的小男孩，在湖中游泳时，遭到一条长9英尺(约2.7米长)、重400磅(约180多公斤)的短吻鳄袭击，赤手与其搏斗之后，小男孩身上多处受伤，目前正在医院治疗中。医生从他背部的伤口里取出一颗短吻鳄的牙齿，小男孩表示想把它做成项链。
James Barney Jr, spoke calmly and eloquently about his ordeal from hospital, where he was tucked up in bed with a teddy bear by his side. He was covered in some 30 teeth marks, doctors said.
小男孩名叫小詹姆斯·巴尼，他在医院里平静、生动地讲述了自己与短吻鳄搏斗的经历，在他床边还放有一只泰迪熊。医生说，小詹姆斯全身有30多处牙印。
The little boy described how it was a hot day so he had parked his bike and jumped into Lake Tohopekaliga - a lake that people are forbidden to swim in - when he felt something brush against his leg.
小詹姆斯说那天特别热，于是他就把自行车停在一旁自己跳进了托霍普卡莱加湖，这个湖是禁止人们在里面游泳的，刚一进去他就感觉有东西擦到他的腿了。
'It really amazed me what happened. At first, I thought someone was just playing with me, and I didn't know what happened,' he told ABC.
“后来发生的事情真的让我大吃一惊。但开始的时候，我以为是有人在跟我闹着玩，我并不知道发生了什么事情。”他告诉美国广播公司(ABC)的记者。
'I reached down to grab it, and I felt its jaw, I felt its teeth, and I didn't know what to do, so I immediately reacted and hit it a couple times. And I had enough strength to pry its jaw open.' The child pulled the powerful jaws open long enough to slide out and swim to shore.
“我潜入水中抓住了它，摸到了它的下巴，摸到了它的牙齿，可不知道该怎么做，不过我立刻就反应过来了赶紧猛打了它几下，并使劲撑开了它的嘴巴。”小詹姆斯把它的嘴巴撑得足够大后赶紧退后并向岸边游去。
Witnesses say the boy surfaced, screaming that he'd been bitten by an alligator. They immediately called 911.
目击者称小男孩浮出水面后尖叫着说自己被一只短吻鳄咬到了。于是他们立刻拨打911报警。
可能导致马航飞机坠毁的原因是什么？
Traditionally regarded as one of the safest planes in the skies, the Boeing 777’s reputation will have been damaged by the second fatal crash in less than a year.
There are around 1,000 Boeing 777s in service, and the plane is a long haul workhorse, plying some of the longest routes.
It entered service in 1995 and the National Transportation Safety Board, which is responsible for monitoring US-made aircraft, has logged fewer than 60 incidents.
But the recent record has been more patchy with two major incidents - a crash at San Francisco airport last July, which claimed three lives, and the crash-landing of a British Airways 777 at Heathrow in January 2008.
But the Malaysian disaster is very different from both the BA incident and the crash involving a Asiana Airlines flight at San Francisco International Airport in July.
Both the BA and Asiana accidents occurred shortly before landing, while the Malaysia airlines plane disappeared off the radar during the early stages of the trip.
The accident at San Francisco in July was attributed to pilot error which led to the engines being set to idle because he believed the computer would maintain sufficient speed to keep the plane up in the air.
But initial reports suggest that Zaharie Ahmad Shah, the 53-year-old Malaysian airlines pilot, was hugely experienced - having joined the carrier in 1981 and with 18,365 hours in the cockpit under his belt.
The BA crash landing, which did not result in any fatalities, was finally found to have been caused by a blockage in the fuel line feeding the engine.
Simply put the aircraft had the aviation equivalent of a cardiac arrest because some of the fuel failed to melt and blocked the supply line at the end of a long flight from Beijing to London, during which the plane travelled through unusually cold airspace over Siberia.
This crash has echoes of the disaster in which 288 people on board an Air France Airbus 330. That plane, another long-haul workhorse, crashed into the Atlantic en-route from Rio de Janeiro in June 2009 killing 228 people.
A variety of explanations have been given for the Air France crash, with investigators finding that the plane’s speed sensors were giving an incorrect reading.
But with this crash involving a different aircraft, it will take several months before investigators can ascertain the cause.
据英国《每日电讯报》报道，波音777飞机一直被认为是最安全机型之一，但不到一年时间里发生第二起致命坠毁必然会使其名声受损。
波音777飞机在1995年投入使用，现在运行中的波音777飞机大约有1000架，而且它们通常承担最远距离的飞行，是长途运输的主力。负责监控美国制造飞机的美国国家运输安全委员会记录的意外事件不到60件。
但是，最近的记录却因为两次重大事件显得很突出——一件为去年7月旧金山机场的坠机事件，导致三人死亡，另一件为2008年1月在希思罗机场一架英国航空公司的波音777迫降事件。
然而，本次马航事件与英国航空公司事件以及在旧金山国际机场发生的韩亚飞机坠毁事件不同。上两次事件发生在降落前的很短时间内，而马航飞机在航程开始不久就从雷达信号中消失了。
7月的旧金山机场事件归因于飞行员的错误操作，飞行员认为电脑能保持足够的速度使飞机保持空中高度，因此使发动机处于闲置状态。但是，初步报告表明53岁的马航飞行员沙阿飞行经验丰富——1981年进入马航，飞行时间已达1.8365万个小时。
英国航空公司的飞机迫降事件，没有造成人员死亡，失事原因最终确定为连接引擎的燃油管线堵塞。
假设把这次飞机失事的原因比作心脏骤停，原因是在北京到伦敦飞行的最后，经过了西伯利亚不同寻常的寒冷上空，一部分燃料没有融化堵住了供应管道。
本次马航事件让人联想到当年载有288名乘客的法航空客330坠毁事件。这架长途飞行的客机在2009年6月从里约热内卢起飞后在途中坠入大西洋，造成228人死亡。
对于法航飞机坠毁事件的原因，有多个解释，但调查发现飞机的速度传感器给出了错误的读数。但是本次马航事件的飞机与前面所述飞机不同，可能需要几个月的调查才能确定其原因。
云南鲁甸6.5级地震 2500余名官兵赶赴救援
China has deployed 2,500 soldiers to the south-western province of Yunnan to help search for survivors after an earthquake killed at least 398 people.
中国西南省份云南日前发生地震，目前已造成至少398人死亡，政府已出动2500名官兵赶往灾区协助搜救工作。
More than 1,800 people were injured when the magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck on Sunday.
云南周日发生6.1级地震，导致1800余人受伤。
Attempts to reach the epicentre have been hampered by heavy rain, with some rescuers forced to travel on foot.
救援队因暴雨受阻，只能徒步前往震中。
State broadcaster CCTV said the earthquake was the strongest to hit the mountainous province in 14 years.
中国国家电视台CCTV称，云南多山，此次地震是14年来云南省内最强的一次地震。
President Xi Jinping called for "all-out efforts" to find survivors as he dispatched soldiers to the area.
国家主席习近平在向灾区派兵的同时还作出指示，要将救人放在第一位。
They joined more than 300 police and firefighters from Zhaotong and about 400 emergency workers and sniffer dogs from across Yunnan province in the rescue operation.
参与救援行动的还有300余名昭通的武警公安和消防官兵，以及云南省派出的400名救灾人员和搜救犬。
But rescuers trying to deliver the much-needed supplies are struggling to reach the area, reports the BBC's Celia Hatton in Beijing.
但据BBC驻北京记者西莉亚·哈顿报道，搜救人员无法很快将应急物资送往震中。
Unrelenting rain and continuing landslides have left many roads in the region too damaged to use, she adds.
她补充说道，持续的暴雨和山体滑坡导致前往灾区的多个路段受阻。
Premier Li Keqiang has travelled to the area to oversee the rescue operation. And he had to walk for "over three miles" (5km) to reach the worst-hit village in Yunnan on Monday.
周一，中国国务院总理李克强赴云南视察灾情时需徒步“3英里多”(5千米)才能走到受灾最严重的村镇。
A spokesman for UN chief Ban Ki-moon said the secretary-general was "saddened by the loss of life".
联合国秘书长潘基文的发言人称，秘书长对云南地震造成人员伤亡表示悲痛。
South-west China lies in an area that is prone to earthquakes.
中国西南地区处于地震多发带。
An earthquake in Sichuan in 2008 killed tens of thousands of people while a magnitude 7.7 quake in Yunnan in 1970 killed at least 15,000.
2008年四川地震导致几万人遇难，1970年云南7.7级地震遇难人数超过1.5万人。
在我们死后，我们的挚爱可以获得我们的网络账户密码吗？
Should Your Family Get Access To Your Online Accounts When You Die?
It's a question that will eventually—hopefully not soon!—confront you, me, and every other person reading this: Should our loved ones gain access to our digital lives, from email to Instagram to financial accounts, after we die? A cadre of state-appointed lawyers are creating a bill that would allow for just that.
This is one of the more important legal dilemmas of recent years, and only a few states have clear laws on whether, say, a parent should gain access to their child's Facebook if the child dies, or whether a wife should get access to financial information locked in her deceased husband's email account. This week at its annual meeting, the Uniform Law Commission—a Chicago-based group of lawyers who are appointed to write clear and stable language for new legislation—will finalize its recommended language for a law that would give loved ones access to all of your digital accounts after you die. Unless you specify otherwise.
As the AP reports today, the bill would create a legal process for gaining access, which can be incredibly difficult today:
Most people assume they can decide what happens by sharing certain passwords with a trusted family member, or even making those passwords part of their will. But in addition to potentially exposing passwords when a will becomes public record, anti-hacking laws and most company's "terms of service" agreements prohibit anyone from accessing an account that isn't theirs. That means loved ones technically become criminals if they log on to a dead person's account.
And that's assuming they even have the password. Going up against giants like Google makes the process even more difficult. And for a grieving family, it can be all but impossible.
The bill would give access—but not control—to loved ones unless they specifically wrote in their will that they wouldn't allow it.
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情感 英语_关于英语情感故事：Scarecrow
