A Secret For T wo
1 Montreal is a very large city, but, like all large cities, it has some very small streets. Streets, for instance, like Prince Edward Street, which is only for blocks long, ending in a cul de sac. No one knew Prince Edward Street as well as did Pierre Dupin, for Pierre had delivered milk to the families on the street for thirty years.
2 During the past fifteen years the hor which drew the milk wagon ud by Pierre was a large white hor named Joph. In Montreal, especially in that part of Montreal which is very French, the animals, like the children, are often given the names of saint s. When the big white hor first came to the Provincale Milk Company he didn’t have a name. They told Pierre that he could u the white hor henceforth. Pierre stroke d the softness of the hor’s neck; he stroked the sheen of its splendid belly and he looked into the eyes of the hor.
3 “This is a kind hor, a gentle and a faithful hor,” Pierre said, “and I can e a beautiful spirit shining out of the eyes of the hor. I will name him after the good St. Joph, who was also kind and gentle and faithful and who had a beautiful spirit.”
4 Within a year Joph knew the milk route as well as Pierre. Pierre ud to boast that he didn’t need r
eins –he never touched them. Each morning Pierre arrived at the stable s of the Provincale Milk Company at five o’clock. The wagon would be loaded and Joph hitch ed to it. Pierre would call “bon jour, vieille ami,” as he claimed into his at and Joph would turn his head and the other drivers would smile and say that the hor would smile at Pierre. Then Jacques, the foreman, would say, “All right, Pierre: go on,” and Pierre would call softly to Joph, “Avance, mon ami,” and this splendid combination would stalk proudly down the street.
5 The wagon, without any direction from Pierre, would roll three blocks down St. Catherine Street, then turn right two blocks along Roslyn Avenue; then turn left, for that was Prince Edward Street. The hor would stop at the first hou, allow Pierre perhaps thirty conds to get down from his at and put a bottle of milk at the front door and would then go on, skipping two hous and stopping at the third. So down the length of the street. Then Joph, still without any direction from Pierre, would turn around and come back along the other side. Yes, Joph was a smart hor.
6 Pierre would boast at the stable of Joph’s skill. “I never touch the reins. He knows just where to stop. Why, a blind man could handle my route with Joph pulling the wagon.”
7 So it went on for years –always the same. Pierre and Joph both grew old together, but gradually,
not suddenly. Pierre’s huge walrus mustache was pure white now and Joph didn’t lift his knees so high or rai his head as much. Jacques, the foreman of the stables, never noticed that they were both getting old until Pierre appeared one morning carrying a heavy walking stick.
8“Hey, Pierre,” Jacques laughed. “Maybe you got the gout, hey?”
9“Mais oui, Jacques,” Pierre said a bit uncertainly. “One grows old. One’s legs get tired.”
10“Y ou should teach that hor to carry the milk to the front door for you.”Jacques told him. “He does everything el.”
11He knew every one of the forty families he rved on Prince Edward Street. The cooks knew that Pierre could neither read nor write, so instead of following the usual custom of leaving a note in an empty bottle if an additional quart of milk was needed they would sing out when they heard the rumble of his wagon wheels over the cobbled street, “Bring an extra quart this morning, Pierre.”
palette12“So you have company for dinner tonight,” he would call back gaily.
13Pierre had a remarkable memory. When he arrived at the stable he’d always remember to tell Jacques, “The Paquins took an extra quart this morning; the Lemoines bought a pint of cream.”
14Jacques would note the things in a little book he always carried. Most of the drivers had to make out the weekly bills and collect the money, but Jacques, liking Pierre, had always excud him from this task. All Pierre had to do was to arrive at five in the morning, walk to his wagon, which was always in the same spot at the curb, and deliver his milk. He returned some two hours later, got down stiffly from his at, called a cheery “Au’voir” to Jacques, and then limped slowly down the street.
15One morning the president of the Provincale Milk Company came to inspect the early morning deliveries. Jacques pointed Pierre out to him and said: “Watch how he talks to that hor. See how the hor listens and how he turns his head toward Pierre. See the look in that hor’s eyes? Y ou know, I think tho two share a cret. I have often noticed it. It is as though they both sometimes chuckle at us as they go off on their route. Pierre is a good man, Monsieur President, but he is getting old. Would it be too bold of me to suggest that he be retired and be given perhaps a small pension?” He added anxiously.
16“But of cour,” the president laughed. “I know his record. He has been on this route now for thirty years and never once has there been a complaint. Tell him it is time he rested. His salary will go on just the same.”
17But Pierre refud to retire. He was panic-stricken at the thought of not driving Joph every day. “We are two old men,” he said to Jacques. “Let us wear out together. When Joph is ready to retire –then, I, too, will quit.”
18Jacques, who was a kind man, understood. There was something about Pierre and Joph which made a man smile tenderly. It was as though each drew some hidden strength from the other. When Pierre was sitting in his at, and when they finished their work, then Pierre would limp down the street slowly, eming very old indeed, and the hor’s head would drop and he would walk very wearily to his stall. 19Then on morning Jacques had dreadful news for Pierre when he arrived. It was a cold morning and still pitch-dark. The air was like iced wine that morning and the snow which had fallen during the night glistened like a million diamonds piled together.
uikit tools是什么20Jacques said, “Pierre, your hor, Joph, did not wake up this morning. He was very old, Pierre, he was twenty-five and that is like being venty-five for a man. 21“Y es,” Pierre said slowly. “Y es. I am venty-five. And I cannot e Joph again,”protected
22“Of cour you can,” Jacques soothed. “He is over in his stall, looking very peaceful. Go over and e him.”
雅思口语准备
23Pierre took one step forward then turned. “No … no … you don’t understand, Jacques.”
24Jacques clapped him on the shoulder. “We’ll find another hor just as good as Joph. Why, in a month you’ll teach him to know your route as well as Joph did. We’ll …”德语字母
25The look in Pierre’s eyes stopped him. For years Pierre had worn a heavy cap, the peak of which came low over his eyes, keeping the bitter morning wind out of them. Now Jacques looked into Pierre’s eyes and he saw something which startled him. He saw a dead, lifeless look in them. The eyes were mirroring the grief that was in Pierre’s heart and his soul. It was as though his heart and soul had died.
26“Take today off, Pierre,”Jacques said, but already Pierre was hobbling off down the street, and had one been near one would have en tears streaming down his cheeks and have heard half smothered sobs. Pierre walked to the corner and stepped into the street. There was a warning yell from the driver of a huge truck that was coming fast and there was the scream of brakes. But Pierre apparently heard neither. 27Five minutes later an ambulance driver said, “He’s dead. Was killed instantly.”
28Jacques and veral of the milk-wagon drivers had arrived and they looked down at the still figure.
29“I couldn’t help it,” the driver of the truck protested, “he walked right into it as though he were blind.”
30The ambulance doctor bent down. “Blind? Of cour the man was blind. See tho cataracts? This man has been blind for five years.”He turned to Jacques, “Y ou say he worked for you? Didn’t you know he was blind?”
31“No …no …”Jacques said, softly. “none of us knew. Only one knew a cret, I think, just between tho two.”
Questions:
1. Fill in the blanks:
1) The text is about the __________________ between a milk man and a _________.
2) Pierre was a milkman and Joph was __________________________.
3) Choo veral adjectives to describe Pierre: ______________________________.
4) What happened to Pierre and Joph at the end of the story? How did this come about?
2. V ocabulary威胁英语
造价员报考条件Find a word or phra that best fits the meaning given below by referring to the paragraph indicated by the number in parenthes.
block deliver wagon saint henceforth sheen splendid belly faithful route boast rein stable load hitch claim foreman stalk combination skip walrus mustache gout additional quart rumble cobbled gaily re
markable pint curb stiffly cheery limp inspect chuckle bold pension anxiously complaint panic-stricken wear out quit tenderly stall dreadful pitch-dark glisten pile soothe clap peak startle grief hobble smother sob brake apparently ambulance instantly figure protest (64/1511)启德留学官网
llg>初三英语课本
