大學(xué)英語精讀第二冊-Unit7-Not-on-My-Block

1、Unit 7 Not on My BlockPeople thought Ethel Armstead was crazy to stand up to the young men dealing drugs outside her house. But Ethel had had enough. Summoning up her courage, she went out to talk to the gang. This is the story of what happened.人們認(rèn)為埃塞爾·阿姆斯特德準(zhǔn)是瘋了，竟然敢去面對那些在她房子外面販賣毒品的年輕人。但埃塞爾已忍無可忍

2、。她鼓足勇氣，走出去跟那幫人談話。下面就是所發(fā)生的故事。Not on My Block離開我這個街區(qū)Lynn Rossellini琳恩·羅塞利尼Ethel Armstead liked the gray row house right off. It had an extra bedroom and a big backyard where her grandkids could play. The marble stoop would be perfect spot to sit on summer evenings.埃塞爾·阿姆斯

3、特德一下子就喜歡上了那棟灰色的聯(lián)房。房子里多出了一間臥室，還有一個很大的后院，可以讓她的小外孫和外孫女在那兒玩耍。那個大理石的門廊將是夏天夜晚坐著乘涼的理想場所。But when Armstead arrived home from work that first night after moving in, she found a bunch of tough-looking young men sitting on her front steps.但搬進來后的第一個晚上，當(dāng)阿姆斯特德下班回到家時，她卻發(fā)現(xiàn)有一幫樣子很兇的人坐在她家門前的臺階上。Excuse me, she said, st

4、artled. "I live here." The group of seven young men rose reluctantly, staring at her with cold, hard eyes. Once inside, Armstead locked the door and peered out the window. She was surprised to see that the men had already reseated themselves on her steps.她大吃一驚，說道：“請原諒，我住在這兒。”那一幫七個年輕人不情愿地站了

5、起來，用冷酷無情的目光盯著她看。一走進去，阿姆斯特德就鎖上門，從窗口往外看。她吃驚地發(fā)現(xiàn)那幾個年輕人已經(jīng)又坐在了她的臺階上。In coming weeks, Armstead learned that her house, long vacant, was used by drug dealers, who hid their drugs under the front steps. As a steady stream of cars and foot traffic passed by, the dealers conducted business on the stoop. Addict

6、s shot up in the path behind the house and urinated in the backyard.在以后的幾個星期里，阿姆斯特德了解到她那棟房子過去長期空關(guān)時，曾被一些毒品販子用來在前臺階下面藏過毒品。當(dāng)川流不息的車輛和行人經(jīng)過時，毒品販子就在門廊上做生意。吸毒成癮的人就在房子后面的小路上注射毒品，并在后院里隨地撒尿。Armstead had no illusions about the men who occupied her front steps. Almost every night for the ten years she had lived

7、in the tough Oliver neighborhood of East Baltimore, she lay in bed listening to the sound of gunshots as the drug wars raged. But this house, with dealers hanging out on her stoop, was the worst.阿姆斯特德對占用她門前的那些人不抱任何幻想。在東巴爾的摩那個充滿犯罪與暴力的奧利弗地區(qū)居住的十年間，幾乎每個晚上，她都倒在床上聽著毒品戰(zhàn)激烈進行時的槍擊聲。但是這棟房子有毒品販子經(jīng)常出沒于她的門廊卻是最糟糕的。

8、重點單詞發(fā)音全部解釋 vacant'veikntadj. 空的，空虛的，木然的 rowru,raun. 排，船游，吵鬧 vt. 劃船，成排 reluctantlyadv. 嫌惡地；不情愿地 marble'm:bln. 大理石 vt. 使有大理石的花紋 steady'stediadj. 穩(wěn)定的，穩(wěn)固的，堅定的 v. 使穩(wěn)固 dealing'di:lin. 經(jīng)營方法，行為態(tài)度 (復(fù)數(shù)）dealin streamstri:mn. (人，車，氣)流，水流，組v. 流動， occupiedad

9、j. 已占用的；使用中的；無空閑的 v. 占有 blockblkn. 街區(qū)，木塊，石塊Sometimes she called the police several times a day, begging them to disperse the dealers. But once the police car disappeared down the street, the dealers drifted back.有時候她一天要報警好幾次，懇請他們把這些毒品販子驅(qū)散。但警車一旦開走在街頭消失，那些毒品販子們又會陸陸續(xù)續(xù)地回來。As a 50-something mother o

10、f grown children, Armstead had not imagined fighting this battle. But it wasn't the first time she'd risen to an unexpected challenge. Back in the mid-1990s, when her own daughter was addicted to drugs and her young grandchildren faced foster care, Armstead got custody of the three boys and

11、one girl.作為一個50多歲、子女已經(jīng)長大成人的母親，阿姆斯特德從未想像過要進行這場戰(zhàn)斗。但這并不是她第一次奮起應(yīng)付突如其來的挑戰(zhàn)了。在20世紀(jì)90年代中期，當(dāng)她自己的女兒染上毒癮，她的小外孫和外孫女需要人領(lǐng)養(yǎng)時，阿姆斯特德就把那三個男孩和一個女孩領(lǐng)來照管了。One night in September 2000, about a month after she moved into her new house, Armsteadpraye

12、d to God. "I'm gonna talk to these guys tomorrow. Help me."2000年9月的一個夜晚，在她遷入新居后大約一個月的時候，阿姆斯特德向上帝祈禱：“明天我要跟那些家伙談一談。請幫助我?！盩he next day, she confronted the leader of the group, a young man in jeans and a white T-shirt. Armstead's inside

13、s were turning over, but she knew she couldn't show her fear.第二天，她直接找到那幫人的頭，一個身穿牛仔褲、白色T恤衫的年輕人。阿姆斯特德的五臟六腑在翻滾，但她知道她絕不能露出恐懼的樣子。This is my space；, she said calmly and quietly, keeping her face a mask. "I shouldn't have to say ' Excuse me' to get into my own house."“這里是我的地方，”她平靜

14、而溫和地說，臉上一直掛著裝出來的微笑?！拔冶静恍枰谶M自己家時還要說一聲請原諒?！盨he told the young man that she didn't want him and his friends dealing drugs in front of her grandkids anymore. They were to stay off her property, off the vacant property next door, off the comer.她對那個年輕人說，她不希望他和他的朋友們再當(dāng)著她小外孫和外孫女的面販賣毒品。他們必須離開她的住宅，離開隔壁空關(guān)的住

15、宅，離開那個街角。The man was silent. Armstead's heartbeat rose into her throat. Then he nodded. The group left. But a few days later, they were back. Armstead repeated her request. She repeated it the next day. And the next.那人一聲不響。阿姆斯特德的心已跳到喉嚨口。隨后那人點了點頭。那伙人離開了。但過了幾天，他們又回來了。阿姆斯特德把她的要求重說了一遍。第二天、第三天又重說了一遍。

16、Then a funny thing happened. They began to listen. They moved down to the next block. When winter came, they cleared snow from her walk and checked in on her when she was ill. Before long, they took to calling her "Mom."隨后，一件有趣的事情發(fā)生了。那伙人開始聽話了。他們轉(zhuǎn)移到了下一個街區(qū)。冬天來了，他們把她房前路上的積雪掃干凈，她生病的時候，他們還來看望她。

17、不久，他們就開始喊她“大媽”了。重點單詞發(fā)音全部解釋 dealing'di:lin. 經(jīng)營方法，行為態(tài)度 challenge'tælindn. 挑戰(zhàn) v. 向 . 挑戰(zhàn) blockblkn. 街區(qū)，木塊，石塊 n. 阻塞(物), 障 foster'fstvt. 養(yǎng)育，培養(yǎng)，促進，鼓勵，抱有（希望等） maskm:skn. 面具，面罩，偽裝v. 戴面具，掩飾，遮 property'prptin. 財產(chǎn)，所有物，性質(zhì)，地產(chǎn)，道具 requestri'kwestn. 要求，請求 v

18、t. 請求，要求 vacant'veikntadj. 空的，空虛的，木然的 dispersedis'p:svt. 分散，傳播，散開 vi. 分散 unexpected'nik'spektidadj. 想不到的，意外的Her grandkids could play ball in the street now. Sometimes the young men played with them. And if one of the kids were talking back, someone would say, "Don

19、't you talk like that. That's your grandma!"她的外孫、外孫女們現(xiàn)在可以在街上打球了。有時候，那些年輕人也和他們一起玩。如果哪個孩子跟外婆頂嘴，某個年輕人就會說：“你不可以這樣講話。她是你外婆!”Armstead kept "fussing'," warning of the dangers of fast money. "You're gonna get you

20、rselves killed!" She told them. "Do something positive!"阿姆斯特德不停地“嘀咕”，警告他們輕易得來的錢有危險?！澳銈儠粴㈩^的!”她對他們說?！斑€是干點正經(jīng)事吧!”People told her she was crazy to talk to those thugs that way. Especially after another mom who had taken a stand was killed just five blocks away. An

21、gela Dawson had waged her own battle against a different set of drug pushers and lost. In a tragedy that made the national news, the Dawson house was set on fire and Angela, her husband, Carnell, and five of their children died. A neighborhood man was charged. Armstead didn't know Angela Dawson,

22、 but she knew her children. After the deadly fire, she was more cautious but she didn't stop.人們對她說，她跟那幫惡棍這樣講話真是太蠢了。尤其是在僅僅五個街區(qū)外另一個表明自己立場的大媽被殺之后。這個大媽叫安吉拉·道森。她只身與另一伙毒品販子進行了一場戰(zhàn)斗結(jié)果失敗了。道森家的房子被人放火燒了，安吉拉、她的丈夫卡內(nèi)爾和他們的五個孩子都死了，這一悲劇成了震驚全國的新聞。鄰近地區(qū)內(nèi)的一名男子受到指控。阿姆斯特德不認(rèn)識安吉拉·道森，但她認(rèn)識她的孩子。在這場致死的大火后，她更加當(dāng)心了但她

23、并沒有停止。And she didn't just talk. She has been a driving force in the community organization BUILD（Baltimore United in Leadership Development）. Together they drove drug dealers off a vacant lot and built a playground. They established an extended-day program at school to keep kids off the streets.

24、 They prompted the city and local churches to step up efforts to redevelop abandoned houses.而且她不僅僅限于談話。她一直是社區(qū)組織巴爾的摩發(fā)展領(lǐng)導(dǎo)才能聯(lián)合會(BUILD)的推動力。他們一起把毒品販子從一塊空地上趕走，在那里建了一個兒童游樂場。他們在學(xué)校里開辦了一項放學(xué)后的校內(nèi)活動，讓孩子們不要到街上去。他們促使市里和當(dāng)?shù)氐慕烫眉涌炝酥亟壏康牟椒?。Not long ago, Armstead ran into one of the men who used to hang out on her steps. "Hey, Mom!" he exploded, giving her a hug. He got a job, he told