Unit 8

Text A

Pre-reading Activities

First Listening
Before listening to the tape, have a quick look at the following words.

outspoken
直言的，坦率的

optimist
乐观的人

navy
海军

cooling off period
冷却期

intimidating
令人胆怯的

cremate
火化

Second Listening
Listen to the tape again. Then, choose the best answer to each of the following questions.

1. What was the speaker's relationship with his father like when he was young?
A) They were a typically loving father and son.
B) They were a typical father and son who fought sometimes.
C) They fought even more than in usual for a father and son.
D) The speaker never knew his father, who was a stranger to him.
2. What were the personalities of the father and the son like?
A) The father was outgoing and the son was shy.
B) The father was shy and the son was outgoing.
C) They were too similar, which led them into conflict.
D) None of the above.
3. When did the relationship between the father and the son begin to improve?
A) When the son became an outstanding student.
B) When the son left home for college.
C) When the father began to get older.
D) When the father retired from the navy.
4. What is the relationship between the two men like at the end of the listening passage?
A) They are fighting just as much as ever.
B) They have less conflict, but still have difficulty communicating.
C) They have resolved all of their troubles, and now get along well
D) They have agreed not to talk to each other any more.

My Father's Son

Bill Heavy

When my father rings, I hurry down to the front door of my condo. There he is, in corduroy pants, the tread worn off the knees, and a shirt I outgrew in tenth grade. He's come to help me put in a new garbage disposal. Actually, I'm helping him. His mechanical gene passed over his only son, on its way to some future generation. At 39, I've made my peace with this.
My father hasn't been to my place since he helped me paint four years ago. The truth is, I'm often not sure how to talk to him. But this time it will be easy. We have a job to do.
In minutes he has taken over the whole enterprise, lying under the sink and squinting up into the machinery. And suddenly I am 12 years old again, watching him fix things and feeling useless.
As a child, I identified so strongly with my mother that I thought my father was just a long-term house guest with spanking privileges. She and I are bookish, introverted worriers. My father is an optimist who has never had a sleepless night in his life.
Like most fathers and sons, we fought. But there was no cooling-off period between rounds. It was a cold war lasting from the onset of my adolescence until I went off to college in 1973.I hated him. He was a former navy fighter pilot, with an Irish temper and a belief that all the problems of the world—including an overprotected son who never saw anything through to completion—could be cured by the application of more discipline.
At a time when an eighth-grader's social status was measured in the fraction of an inch of hair kissing his collar, my father would march me down to the barbershop on Saturdays and triumphantly tell the man with the scissors. "Just leave him enough to comb." I would close my eyes, determined not to give him the satisfaction of seeing me cry. Without even thinking about it, I froze him out of my life, speaking only when spoken to. I learned to use silence like a knife. My one communique for an entire dinner was usually a sarcastic "May I be excused now? I have homework."
I lay awake at night imagining him being transferred by the gas company he worked for to an oil rig in the North Sea. But it didn't happen, and soon all that remained was the contest of wills.
I went off to college, but he was still in my head. I could hear his voice every time I fell short in anything. Only when I began seeing my freelance articles in print did I begin to feel that I was slipping beyond his reach and into my own life.
Eventually I discovered that there is no anti-inflammatory agent like time. Now I wondered, could this aging 74-year-old be the giant who once thundered up the stairs to spank me, of whom I was so afraid that I wet my pants? In his place was someone I worried about, whom I dressed in my down hunting jacket for his annual pilgrimage to the Army-Navy game. My profession, which he had once ridiculed, saying, "Gee, do you think there's any money in it?" now became a source of pride when fellow Rotarians mistook him for Bill Heavy "the writer." It was as if now that I no longer needed so desperately to please him, I had succeeded. We had become two old veterans from opposing armies, shaking hands years after the fighting, the combat so distant as to be a dream.
Before we can install the disposal, we have to snake out the pipes. Soon we get stuck trying to figure out how a gasket fits.
"Ah," he says finally, "we're going to have to call a plumber."
This is not how I remember him. He used to be so stubborn, the kind of guy who could make IRS examiners throw up their hands in frustration and let him off. Now that I have his mind-set and don't want to give up, it's as if he's acquired mine.
He says, "Besides, I gotta get home. Your mother and I have to be at a dinner party at 7:30."
"Don't you pay for the plumber," he says. "Putting this thing in is part of my Christmas present to you."
Though we've failed to install the disposal, it's been oddly satisfying. At last we're on even ground. Maybe he wasn't the best father. Maybe I wasn't the best son, but I realize I will never be ready to cope with his leaving. I know that I'm luckier than some of my friends, whose fathers died while they were still locked in the battle that neither really wanted.
The plumber comes two days later. He secures the disposal in its place as easily as I buckle my belt.
Not long ago, I started badgering my parents to get their estate in order. They didn't want to deal with it. I finally wrote them a letter saying if I were a parent, I would want to make damn sure the IRS got as little of my money as possible. I knew this would push my father's buttons. It worked. They met with a lawyer.xc
Later, my father and I lunch at a restaurant near my office so he can fill me in on the details. "One thing I don't want you to worry about is what'll happen to me," he says, with the satisfied air of a man who has taken care of business. "The Navy will cremate me for free."
"And what about the ashes?" I ask, concerned only with practical things. It is as if we are talking about how to get rid of the old disposal.
"They scatter them at sea." He turns away, looking around for our waiter. Something breaks inside me. When he turns back, I am crying, hot tears springing up in my eyes so suddenly I'm almost choking.
"I don't want you to die," I manage to say. "I don't want them to scatter your ashes. I'll scatter your ashes."
"Oh, Bill," he says, taken aback, totally at a loss about what to say. "I just didn't want to burden you with it."
I have no way to tell him that I want to be burdened with it, that it is my birth right to be burdened with it. "I know," I say.
I don't even look around to see if anybody is watching. I don't care. I reach across the table for his hand and hold it, trying to stop the tears.
(1 192 words)

New Words

condo
n. an apartment in a block of apartments of which each is owned by the people who live in it 公寓套间

corduroy
n. & a. 灯芯绒（的）

tread
n. grooved part on the surface 棱纹

outgrow
vt. grow too large or too tall for (esp. one's clothes); grow faster or taller than 长大（或长高）而穿不下（原有的衣服等）；长得比…快（或高）

garbage
n. rubbish, refuse 垃圾

garbage disposal
（装于厨房洗涤槽排水管内的）污物碾碎器

mechanical
a. 1. of, connected with, produced by machines 机械的；与机械有关的；由机械制成的
2. 手工操作的；技工的

squint
vi. look sideways or with half-shut eyes or through a narrow opening 瞟；眯着眼看；由小孔窥视

spank
vt. punish (a child) by slapping on the buttocks with the open hand or a slipper, etc. （用巴掌或拖鞋等）打（小孩的）屁股

introverted
a. （性格）内向的；不爱交际的

worrier
n. person who worries a lot 担心的人，发愁的人

optimist
n. a person who is always hopeful and looks upon the bright side of things 乐观的人；乐观主义者

cooling-off period
a period of time when two people or groups who are arguing about sth. can go away and think about how to improve the situation （争执双方冷静下来考虑如何改善关系的）冷却期

onset
n. the beginning (esp. of sth. unpleasant) （尤指不快之事的）开始

navy
n. 海军

fraction
n. 1. a small part, bit, amount, or proportion (of sth.) （某物的）小部分，一点儿，少许；片断
2. 分数；小数

collar
n. part of a garment that fits around the neck 衣领

barbershop
n. place where a man gets his face shaved and hair cut 理发店

triumphantly
ad. joyfully, satisfactorily (at a success or victory) 得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地

communique
n. official announcement 公报

sarcastic
a. 讽刺的，嘲笑的，挖苦的

rig
n. a large structure in the sea used for drilling oil wells 钻井架；钻塔

freelance
a. 自由作家的；自由职业者做的

anti-inflammatory
a. 抗炎的，消炎的；息怒的

agent
n. substance, natural phenomenon, etc. producing an effect 剂；自然力；动因

down
n. fine, soft feathers of young birds 羽绒

pilgrimage
n. 1. a journey to a sacred place or shrine 朝圣；朝觐
2. a journey to a place associated with sb. /sth. one respects 到敬仰的某处之行

ridicule
vt. make fun of; mock 嘲弄；嘲笑

gee
int. (used to express surprise, admiration, etc.) （用以表示惊奇、赞赏等）哎呀，嘿

oppose
vt. fight or complete against in a battle, competition, or election 反对；反抗；与…较量

snake
vt. 用长铁丝通条疏通（管道）

stuck
a. not able to move or continue doing sth. 不能动的；不能继续做某事的；被卡住的

gasket
n. 垫圈；衬垫；密封垫

plumber
n. workman who fits and repairs water-pipes, bathroom articles, etc. 管子工

mind-set
n. mentality, way of thinking 心态；思想倾向

buckle
n. （皮带等的）搭扣，搭钩
vt. 用搭扣把…扣住（或扣紧、扣上）

badger
vt. pester；nag persistently 纠缠；烦扰

estate
n. all the money and property that a person owns, esp. that which is left at death 财产；（尤指）遗产

cremate
vt. burn (a corpse) to ashes 火化（尸体）

aback
ad. backwards 向后地；退后地

birth right
与生俱来的权利

Phrases and Expressions

put in
install 安装

pass over
move past without touching; overlook; fail to notice 掠过；忽视；不注意

make one's peace with
settle a quarrel with；accept 与…讲和；接受

identify with
regard oneself as sharing the characteristics or fortunes with 与…认同

see through
not give up (a task, undertaking, etc.) until it is finished 把（任务等）进行到底

freeze out
exclude (sb.) by a cold manner, competition, etc. （以冷淡态度、竞争等）排斥（某人）

in print
(of a person's work) printed in a book, newspaper, etc. （指作品）已印出；已出版

throw up one's hands
show that one is annoyed or has given up hope with sb. or sth. that causes trouble （因厌烦等而）突然举起双手；认定无望而放弃尝试

let off
excuse; not punish; not punish severely 原谅；不惩罚；对…从轻处理

push sb.'s buttons
start sb. in action 使某人行动起来

fill sb. in (on sth.)
give sb. full details (about sth.) 对某人提供（有关某事的）详情

for free
without charge or payment 不要钱；免费

get rid of
become free of 扔掉，处理掉；摆脱

be taken aback
be startled 吃惊

at a loss
perplexed, uncertain 困惑；不知所措

Proper Names

Bill Heavey
比尔·希维（男子名）

the North Sea
北海（在大不列颠岛和欧洲大陆之间）

Rotarian
“扶轮国际(Rotary International)”成员