新视野大学英语读写教程听力 第二册 unit03b_new

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[00:00.00]，就把hxen.com复制到QQ个人资料中！Rich Meeting His Future Mother-in-law
[00:05.51]After much thought,
[00:09.86]I came up with a brilliant plan for Rich to meet my mother and win her over.
[00:17.32]In fact,I arranged it so my mother would want to cook a meal especially for him.
[00:26.46]One day, my mother called me,
[00:31.61]to invite me to a birthday dinner for my father.
[00:36.86]My brother Vincent was bringing his girlfriend,Lisa Lum.
[00:44.71]I could bring a friend, too.
[00:49.36]I knew she would do this,
[00:54.11]because cooking was how my mother expressed her love,
[01:00.26]her pride,her power,her proof that she knew more than any one else.
[01:09.12]"Just be sure to tell her later
[01:14.48]that her cooking was the best you ever tasted,"I told Rich."Believe me."
[01:23.02]The eve of the dinner,I sat in the kitchen watching her cook,
[01:30.68]waiting for the right moment to tell her about our marriage plans,
[01:38.06]that we had decided to get married next July,about seven months away.
[01:46.70]She was cubing garlic and slicing cabbage into small pieces
[01:55.56]and chatting at the same time about Auntie Suyuan:
[02:02.29]"She can only cook looking at directions.
[02:08.95]My instructions are in my fingers.
[02:14.32]I know what secret ingredients to put in just by using my nose!"
[02:22.96]And she was slicing so quickly,
[02:28.50]seemingly not paying attention to her sharp chopping knife,
[02:35.84]that I was afraid the tips of her fingers
[02:40.60]would become one of the ingredients of the purple vegetable and pork dish.
[02:48.77]I was hoping she would say something first concerning Rich.
[02:56.22]I had seen her expression when she opened the door,
[03:02.77]her forced smile as she surveyed him from head to toe,
[03:09.43]checking her judgment of him against that already given to her by Auntie Suyuan.
[03:18.07]I tried to anticipate what criticisms she would have.
[03:25.52]Rich was not only not Chinese,he was also my junior,
[03:34.20]a few years younger than I was.
[03:38.84]And unfortunately,he looked much younger with his curly red hair,
[03:47.59]smooth pale skin, and the splash of orange freckles across his nose.
[03:56.45]He was a bit on the short side, compactly built.
[04:03.79]In his dark business suits,he looked nice but easily forgettable,
[04:12.43]like somebody\'s nephew at a funeral.
[04:17.80]This was why I didn\'t notice him the first year we worked together at the firm.
[04:26.44]But,my mother noticed everything.
[04:31.69]"So what do you think of Rich?"I finally asked,holding my breath.
[04:40.73]She tossed the garlic in the hot oil which bubbled in a loud,angry sound.
[04:49.37]"So many spots on his face," she said.
[04:55.81]I could feel the goose bumps rise on my back.
[05:02.26]"They\'re freckles. Freckles are good luck, you know,"
[05:09.71]I felt compelled to defend on his behalf,
[05:15.47]a bit too heatedly as I raised my voice above the noise of the kitchen.
[05:23.24]"Oh?" she said innocently.
[05:29.29]"Yes,the more spots the better. Everybody knows that."
[05:37.57]She considered this a moment
[05:42.65]and then smiled and spoke in a Chinese dialect:
[05:49.31]"Maybe this is true.
[05:53.77]When you were young, you got the chicken pox.
[05:59.64]So many spots, you had to stay home for ten days.
[06:06.59]So lucky, you thought."
[06:11.74]I couldn\'t save Rich in the kitchen.
[06:17.32]And I couldn\'t save him later at the dinner table either.
[06:22.86]He had brought a bottle of French wine,
[06:28.51]something he did not know my parents could not appreciate.
[06:35.24]My parents did not even own appropriate glasses for wine.
[06:43.52]And then he also made the mistake of drinking not one
[06:51.08]but two frosted glasses full,
[06:56.27]while everybody else had a half-inch "just for taste."
[07:03.50]But the worst happened when Rich criticized my mother\'s cooking,
[07:11.28]and he didn\'t even have a clue about what he had done.
[07:18.44]As is the Chinese cook\'s custom,
[07:24.60]my mother always made negative remarks about her own cooking.

[07:31.55]That night she chose to direct it toward
[07:37.60]her famous steamed pork and preserved vegetable dish,
[07:44.54]which she always served with special pride.
[07:50.41]"Ai!This dish not salty enough, no flavor,"she complained,
[07:58.66]after tasting a small bite.
[08:02.90]"It is too bad to eat."
[08:07.15]This was our family\'s cue to eat some and proclaim it the best she had ever made.
[08:16.30]But before we could be so diplomatic, Rich said,
[08:23.96]"You know, all it needs is a little soy sauce."
[08:30.12]And he proceeded to pour a riverful of the salty black stuff on the china plate,
[08:39.66]right before my mother\'s shocked eyes.
[08:45.49]And even though I was hopeful throughout the dinner
[08:51.54]that my mother would somehow see Rich\'s kindness,
[08:57.62]his sense of humor and charm, I knew he had failed miserably in her eyes.
[09:06.66]Rich obviously had had a different opinion on how the evening had gone.
[09:15.48]When we got home that night, after we put Shoshana to bed,
[09:23.47]he said modestly, "Well, I think we hit it off A-OK."
 

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