首页
登录
职称英语
On his bench in Madison Square Soapy moved uneasily. When wild geese honk hi
On his bench in Madison Square Soapy moved uneasily. When wild geese honk hi
游客
2023-12-12
15
管理
问题
On his bench in Madison Square Soapy moved uneasily. When wild geese honk high of nights, and when women without sealskin coats grow kind to their husbands, and when Soapy moves uneasily on his bench in the park, you may know that winter is near at hand.
A dead leaf fell in Soapy’s lap. That was Jack Frost’s card. Jack is kind to the regular denizens of Madison Square, and gives fair warning of his annual pall. At the corners of the four streets he hands his pasteboard to the North Wind, footman of the mansion of All Outdoors, so that the inhabitants thereof may make ready.
Soapy’s mind became aware of the fact that the time had come for him to resolve himself into a singular Committee of Ways and Means to provide against the coming rigour. And therefore he moved uneasily on his bench.
The hibernatorial ambitions of Soapy were not of the highest. In them there were no considerations of Mediterranean cruises, of Southern skies drifting in the Vesuvian Bay. Three months on the Island was what his soul craved. Three months of assured board and bed and congenial company, safe from Boreas and bluecoats, seemed to Soapy the essence of things desirable.
For years the hospitable Blackwell’s had been his winter quarters. Just as his more fortunate fellow New Yorkers had bought their tickets to Palm Beach and the Riviera each winter, so Soapy had made his humble arrangements for his annual hegira to the Island. And now the time was to come. On the previous night three Sabbath newspapers, distributed beneath his coat, about his ankles and over his lap, had failed to repulse the cold as he slept on his bench near the spurting fountain in the ancient square. So the Island loomed big and timely in Soapy’s mind. He scorned the provisions made in the name of charity for the city’s dependents. In Soapy’s opinion the Law was more benign than Philanthropy. There was an endless round of institutions, municipal and eleemosynary, on which he might set out and receive lodging and food accordant with the simple life. But to one of Soapy’s proud spirit the gifts of charity are encumbered. If not in coin you must pay in humiliation of spirit for every benefit received at the hands of philanthropy. As Caesar had his Brutus, every bed of charity must have its toll of a bath, every loaf of bread its compensation of a private and personal inquisition. Wherefore it is better to be a guest of the law, which though conducted by rules, does not meddle unduly with a gentleman’s private affairs.
Soapy, having decided to go to the Island, at once set about accomplishing his desire. There were many easy ways of doing this. The pleasantest was to dine luxuriously at some expensive restaurant; and then, after declaring insolvency, be handed over quietly and without uproar to a policeman. An accommodating magistrate would do the rest.
Soapy left his bench and strolled out of the square and across the level sea of asphalt, where Broadway and Fifth Avenue flow together. Up Broadway he turned, and halted at a glittering cafe, where are gathered together nightly the choicest products of the grape, the silkworm and the protoplasm.
Soapy had confidence in himself from the lowest button of his vest upward. He was shaven, and his coat was decent and his neat black, ready-tied four-in-hand had been presented to him by a lady missionary on Thanksgiving Day. If he could reach a table in the restaurant unsuspected success would be his. The portion of him that would show above the table would raise no doubt in the waiter’s mind. A roasted mallard duck, thought Soapy, would be about the thing—with a bottle of Chablis, and then Camembert, a demi-tasse and a cigar. One dollar for the cigar would be enough. The total would not be so high as to call forth any supreme manifestation of revenge from the cafe management; and yet the meat would leave him filled and happy for the journey to his winter refuge.
But as Soapy set foot inside the restaurant door the head waiter’s eye fell upon his frayed trousers and decadent shoes. Strong and ready hands turned him about and conveyed him in silence and haste to the sidewalk and averted the ignoble fate of the menaced mallard.
Soapy turned off Broadway. It seemed that his route to the coveted island was not to be an epicurean one. Some other way of entering limbo must be thought of. (From The Cop and the Anthem; 761 words) [br] From Paragraph Five, we learn that______.
选项
A、there are many charity organizations in the U.S.
B、life is more comfortable in Blackwell’s jail than in charities
C、charities insult people who receive food and shelter from them
D、people who receive food and shelter from charities need to pay back
答案
A
解析
推理题。文章第五段中间“There was an endless round of institutions,municipal and eleemosynary, on which he might set out and receive lodging and food accordant with the simple life.”可知Soapy有很多地方可以去,包括市政的和慈善的组织,和选项A相符。文章并没有对比Blackwell监狱和慈善机构,B排除;慈善机构询问人员的情况,这并不是侮辱,排除C;接受者不用付钱,排除D。
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3268164.html
相关试题推荐
Canadaistheworld’s______withthelandareaofabout10millionsquarekilome
OneofthemostexcitingplacesintheUSonNewYear’sEveisTimesSquarewhic
OnhisbenchinMadisonSquareSoapymoveduneasily.Whenwildgeesehonkhi
OnhisbenchinMadisonSquareSoapymoveduneasily.Whenwildgeesehonkhi
Englandhasanareaofmorethan130000squarekilometerswhichtakesupnearly
TenamendmentsintroducedbyJamesMadisonin1789wereaddedtotheConstitutio
AGatedCommunityfarOrganDonorsAmericansloveasquare
AGatedCommunityfarOrganDonorsAmericansloveasquare
AGatedCommunityfarOrganDonorsAmericansloveasquare
TheaveragepopulationdensityinBritainis______peoplepersquarekilometer.A、
随机试题
Yesterdaymyauntboughtsomenew________forherflatattheseaside.A、furniture
"Howdarkyourbrother’shairis!""It’s_____minewhenIwasathisage."A、noda
Sociology社会学Sociologyisasocialsciencethatstu
PizzaHutPizzaHutwasstartedin1958,bytw
抗战爆发前,在中国各地进行的乡村改造尝试中,不包括()。A.晏阳初在河北进行的
建设单位工程招标应具备的条件有()。Ⅰ.有与招标工程相适应的经济技术管理人员
下列各项中,属于股杈投资基金托管人的职责是()A.对投资者进行反洗钱调查 B.
公司的临时性负债不仅解决临时性流动资产的资本需要,还解决部分永久性资产的资本需要
高钾血症时,静脉注射10%葡萄糖酸钙的作用是()。A.降低血钾 B.纠正酸中
我国企业债券上市的最终批准权属于()。 A.发展和改革委员会B.中国人民银
最新回复
(
0
)