新視野大學英語讀寫教程第一冊unit6-c My Moving Experience

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Section C

My Moving Experience

Moving is bad — in the sense of carrying furniture, equipment and hundreds of boxes out of one place and into another. This is why you hardly ever meet nomads （游牧人）anymore, even though "nomad" is a great job name. Suppose you're at a party, someone asks what you do, and you announce 'nomad'. Immediately you're talking about camels（駱駝）. And you can leave anytime. "Excuse me," you say, "but I must go now and seek water."
I prefer to stay put. Sometimes, like weekends, it takes huge control just to get out of a chair. 1. ______
Regardless, last Thursday we moved into a new house. Since I work at home, this also required moving my office; the buyers of our old house wouldn't like seeing me every day in one of their bedrooms.
My wife and I moved because as the kids kept getting bigger and bigger, the house kept getting smaller and smaller. It seemed the kids were eating the house. Moving seemed the wise thing to do even though, in the end, we decided to take the kids with us. 2. ______
In my 20s, moving was done by friends, but everyone secretly hated it. After six or seven hours of lifting chairs and chests, we'd take out our resentment on the furniture. Once we dropped a new refrigerator down a flight of stairs. 3. ______
Now I'm 47, so we hired movers. The idea of "movers" makes me nervous. A group of strong, muscular men come into your house, carry out all your possessions, and drive off in a truck. This can't be good.
I chose "Low Cost Movers", checking to make sure they had a permit and were insured（保險）. The customer service person, Julie, was helpful with this. "I'm not going to say we never have accidents or even that we rarely have accidents. What I am going to say is if you have a computer, now would be a good time to back up your files（檔案）."
The week before moving, Julie called twice to confirm（確定）our 8 a.m. appointment. I'm of two minds about confirming. The people doing the confirming always appear very professional, while seeming to say you're not. Obviously Julie knew she was dealing with someone with low mental power. I didn't mind. 4. ______
8 a.m. the day of the move, the moving company calls to say they'll be an hour late. What a relief (松口氣). I'm feeling totally lacking in organization（雜亂無序）, mainly because I am totally lacking in organization. It's my natural state. Having to have organization（有序）, for me, is much too confusing.
Moving has taught me I need a better filing system （系統(tǒng)）. I plan to have a better filing system in the new office. The old system was more of a piling system, meaning piling everything on my desk—a very good way of organization.
11 a.m. The moving company still hasn't arrived. I call Julie. She promises to have the president of the company, Max, personally call me in 10 minutes.
I'm impressed. "President" is a great job name, although, let's face it, not as great as "nomad."
I have no idea how big this moving company is. Maybe it's just a Mom and Pop operation. Maybe it's just Julie. Maybe Julie is the customer service department, the movers and now the president. It could be a long day.
11:10 a.m. The phone rings. "This is Max, president of Low Cost Moving." I check out the voice. It's not Julie. Max tells me he's upset with the delay. He's enraged at his own moving company. "I'm knocking $10 off the hourly rate," he says. 5. ______
I sympathize with the moving company: "Look," I say, "these things happen. Trucks break. Refrigerators fall down stairs. Workers develop several personalities."
3 p.m. Movers still haven't arrived. I call Max, who's more enraged than before. "This is unheard-of," he says. "I'm taking another $10 off the hourly charge."
If this keeps up, I'll be moving for free and going nowhere.
6 p.m. The movers finally arrive. I call Max. He's fit to be tied. I point out they're only 10 hours late. Max is not humored.
End of story: The move is finally over. Everything's in boxes. My office is completely without organization. I feel at home. 6. ______

Words: 700

我的搬家體驗

    搬家苦，苦就苦在要將一件件家具、設備和數(shù)百個箱子從一個地方搬出來，又搬進另一個地方去。這就是為什么現(xiàn)在很少再見到"游牧人"的原因，雖然"游牧"這個行業(yè)名稱聽起來挺不錯。假如你正出席一個宴會，有人問你是干哪一行的，你說是個"游牧者"，馬上你就會提到駱駝，而且你還可以隨時離席。 "對不起，"你說，"我得走了，得找水去。"
    可我這人喜歡待在一個地方不動。有時侯，比如說在周末，要我離開椅子可得費好大的勁。
    盡管如此，上周四我們還是搬進了新居。由于我是在家里工作，也就需要我搬辦公室：我們舊房的買主可不喜歡每天看到我還待在某個已屬于他們的臥室里。
    我和我妻子之所以要搬家，是因為我們的孩子越長越大，而房子越住越小了。好像孩子們在吞噬著房子似的。搬家似乎是明智之舉，雖然我們最終還是決定把孩子帶在身邊。
    在我20多歲時，朋友幫忙搬家，但每個人都私下里憎恨此事。在搬了六七個小時的椅子和柜子之后，我們把心中的怨恨全發(fā)泄到了家具上。有一次，我們竟然將一臺新買的冰箱順著樓梯扔了下去。
    現(xiàn)在我47歲啦，所以就雇了搬家工。想到"搬家工"，我就感到忐忑不安。一群壯漢，滿身的橫肉，走進你的房子，把你的所有東西統(tǒng)統(tǒng)搬出來，放到卡車上開走。這怎么好得了。
    我選了"廉價搬家公司"，還仔仔細細地查看了一番，為的是要弄清楚他們是確有執(zhí)照并保了險的。顧客服務員朱莉在這一點上幫了大忙。"我不敢說我們從沒有出過意外，或者很少有意外，可我要告訴你的是，如果你有臺電腦，現(xiàn)在就是做好歸擋的時候。"
    搬家的前一周，朱莉來了兩次電話，將時間確定在上午八點。我對這種確定不太相信。作出確定的人常?？瓷先ズ軐I(yè)，可實際上又似乎在說：這可沒有個準兒。顯然，朱莉以為她是在與一位低能兒打交道。我也不在乎。
    搬家那天上午八點，搬家公司來電話，說是要晚到一小時。我大大松了一口氣。我感到一切都雜亂無序，主要是因為我自己全然雜亂無序。我天生這樣子。對我來說，要做到有序?qū)嵲谔y了。
    搬家教育了我，使我知道我需要一個更好的文件歸檔系統(tǒng)。我計劃在新的辦公室里建立一個更好的歸檔系統(tǒng)。那個說到底只是個堆積系統(tǒng)，就是把什么都堆放在我的桌子上--只是安排得還算不錯。
    上午十一點。搬家公司還沒有來。我給朱莉打電話。她保證十分鐘后讓公司的總裁馬克斯親自給我打電話。
    這話叫我忘不了。"總裁"可是個了不起的職務，雖然--讓我們面對它吧-- 還不如"游牧者"那么好聽。
    我不知道這個搬家公司有多大。也許只是家夫妻店吧，也許是朱莉開的吧，或者朱莉既是顧客服務部的，又是搬家的，現(xiàn)在還兼了這公司總裁吧。我這搬家就可能要搬上一整天了。
    上午十一點十分。電話響了。"我是馬克斯，廉價搬家公司的總裁。"我仔細辯別那聲音。不是朱莉。馬克斯告訴我說，他對工作的延誤感到不安。他對自己的搬家公司感到很惱火。"我決定從每小時的工錢中減去十美元，"他說。
    我同情這家搬家公司。"聽我說，"我說，"這種事是常有的?？ㄜ噿佸^、冰箱從樓梯掉下去。搬運工的招兒可多著呢。"
    下午三點。搬運工還沒到。我又給馬克斯打電話。他比先前更生氣。"真是聞所未聞，"他說，"我從每小時的工錢中再減去十美元。"
    要是再繼續(xù)這樣下去，我就不用付搬家費了，可家還是搬不成呀。
    下午六點。搬運工終于來了。我再給馬克斯打電話。他氣得要命。我告訴他搬運工只遲到了十個小時。這下馬克斯幽默不起來了。
    故事結(jié)尾：家終于搬完了。東西都裝在箱子里。我的辦公室全然雜亂無序?？晌疫€是覺得松了一口氣。