胡敏读故事记托福词汇141：被宠坏的女儿 A spoilt daughter
"I used to tend livestock-pigs and sheep mostly---after I first managed to get out of Yugoslavia. It was loathsome work, and the location wasn’t very nice, but what could I do! It provided me with a livelihood. After that, I used to load coal at a coal merchant’s, then drove a locomotive for a while. With the money I saved I was finally able to rent some decent living quarters in a decent locality for my family, and buy a litter of puppies, ” said Mirko Brankovic, reminiscing.
麦克·布兰克威回忆道：“我好不容易离开南斯拉夫以后，我曾经养过家畜，大部分是猪和羊。那是一件令人讨厌的工作，而且场所也不好，但是又有什么办法呢?至少这解决了我的生计。之后，我帮一个煤炭商人装载煤块，偶尔也开开火车头。最后我终于可以用自己的积蓄买一栋漂亮的住房了，位置也不错，并且买了一窝小狗。”
“My son is at Harvard now, but my daughter goes to school locally, 16 she is. You should see her with her lithe and lethen body. She is a lively kid if there was one. What she likes most of all is going to the disco, where she does a dance called the locomotion. The trouble is she is quite spoilt, like so many young kids nowadays, and the house is littered with her belongings, not only that, she litters the school yard with her chewing gum wrappers and we’ve been called in to see the principal more than once. When she is not at the disco, she is hanging around the lobby at some hotel or rather, trying to be picked up by someone and invited for dinner. Sometimes we have trouble locating her. Her mom’s worried out of her mind about her.” Mirko sighed.
“我儿子现在在哈佛大学就读，但是我的女儿在地方上的学校念书。她现在16岁了。看看她那柔软的身体吧!她是一个非常活泼的孩子。她最喜欢去迪厅跳一种叫‘运动’的舞。麻烦就出在她和现在大多数年轻人一样，是个被宠坏的孩子。家里到处是她乱丢的东西。不仅如此，她在校园里到处乱扔泡泡糖的包装纸垃圾，害得我们好几次被叫到学校去见校长。当她不在迪厅的时候，就去一些旅馆的大厅闲逛，企图遇见一个邀她共进晚餐的人。有些时候我们很难找出她在哪儿。她妈妈都快为她担心得发疯了，”麦克叹了口气。
“yeah her favorite food is lobster salad, while we may do with liver and onions at home. That young lady is a load of trouble and things can only get worse as far as I can see.”
“是的，她最喜欢吃龙虾沙拉，而我们在家就用肝脏和洋葱凑合。这位年轻女士是个麻炕的重担，而且在我看来，情况只会越来越糟糕。”
Words
lithe adj. (指人、身份等)柔软的，易弯曲的
litter vt. 乱丢 vi. 乱丢垃圾 n. 垃圾，窝(指家畜、幼崽)
livelihood n. 生计，谋生
lively adj. 活泼的，活跃的，栩栩如生的
liver n. 肝脏
livestock n. 家畜，牲畜
living quartes 住房，住处
load n. 重担 vt. 装载，使负担
loathsome adj. 令人讨厌的
lobby n. 大厅，休息厅
lobster n. 龙虾
locate vt. 找出，定位，设置
locality n. 位置，地方
locally adv. 在地方上，在当地
location n. 位置，场所
locomotion n. 运动，移动
locomotive n. 火车头
