Two brothers, Herbert and James, lived with their mother and a cat named Edgar. James was particularly attached to the cat, and when he had to leave town for several days, he left Herbert meticulous instructions about the pet' s care. At the end of this first day away. James telephoned his brother. "How is Edgar?" "Edgar is dead." Herbert answered. There was a pause. Then James said, "Herbert, you're insensitive, you know how close I was to Edgar -you should have broken the news to me slowly. When I asked about Edgar tonight, you should have said, 'Edgar's on the roof , but I have called the fire department to get him down.' And tomorrow when I called, you could have said the firemen were having trouble getting Edgar down, but you were hopeful they would succeed. Then when I called the third time, you could have told me that the fire-men have done their best, but unfortunately Edgar had fallen off the roof and was at the veterinarian's. Then when I called the last time, you could have said that although everything possible had been done for Edgar, he had died. That's the way a sensitive man would have told me about Edgar. And, oh, before I forget," James added, "how is mother?" "Oh," Herbert said, pausing for a moment, "She' s on the roof." Notes: (1) particularly adv.特別地 (2) be attached to 爲愛或感情所束縛；愛慕；依戀 (3) meticulous adj.仔細的 (4) insensitive adj.感覺遲鈍的 (5) fire department 消防部 (6) have trouble doing做某事有困難 (7) unfortunately adj.不幸地 (8) veterinarian n.獸醫（常可寫爲vet） Exercises: 根據短文選擇正確答案： ① How many people were there in the family? A. two B. three C. four D. five ② Who was greatly attached to the cat? A. Herbert B. James C. the mother D. Edgar ③ What did James ask Herbert to do when he had to leave town for several days? A. to take good care of Edgar B. to take good care of his mother C. to take good care of himself. D. to take good care of the house ④ What happened to Edgar? A. He was on the roof. B. He fell off the roof. C. He was at the veterinarian's. D. He was dead. ⑤ From the passage we can see that_____ . A. James didn't care about his mother as much as he cared about the cat B. the mother was dead C. something was wrong with the roof of the house D. Herbert was very angry with James 131.報喪方式 郝伯特和詹姆斯兄弟二人一起生活，家中有一老母並養了一隻貓叫埃德格。詹姆斯特別喜歡這隻貓。有一次他要外出幾天，臨行前不厭其煩地囑咐郝伯特照顧好這隻寵物。出門後的頭一天晚上，他打來電話詢問：“埃德格好嗎？” “它死了，”郝伯格回答。一陣沉默之後，詹姆斯說：“郝伯特，你真沒心沒肺，你知道我多麼喜歡埃德格----你應該把這個消息慢慢地告訴我。當我問起埃德格今晚怎樣時，你應該說，‘埃德格爬上了屋頂，我已給消防隊打了電話，讓他們把它救下來。’我明天又給你打電話時，你應該說消防隊營救埃德格遇到了困難，但你相信他們會成功。在我第三天給你打電話時，你可以說消防隊員已盡了最大努力，但很不幸，埃德格從屋頂上掉了下來，被送到獸醫那裏。在我最後一次給你打電話詢問，你可以說盡管對埃德格做了一切所能做的努力，它還是死了。這是一個富有感情的人告訴我埃德格的消息時所用的方式。哦，趁我沒忘記還有件事順便問一下，”詹姆斯補充道，“母親好嗎？” “哦……”一陣沉默後郝伯特答道，“她上了屋頂。” 練習參考答案： ①B②B③A④D⑤A
