Chapter 34. A HAPPY CONCLUSION.

 

All the members of our party, to whose courage and independence of mind my story has borne witness, immediately and anxiously exerted themselves to relieve their hospitable¹ relative of the burden of their support, and it was not long before they succeeded.

 

Aleck and Tug² found profitable work to do. Katy was eager to resume her studies, and therefore gladly accepted an invitation to stay with her aunt and help her in her sewing before and after school-hours. Jim roomed with his brother, and went to school also, acting³ morning and evening as an office-boy for a lawyer to whom Mr. Porter had given him a letter of introduction.

 

To prepare themselves for these different stations used up their stock of money, but by close economy they came through without any debt—yes, even with some money left—just nineteen cents among them all! To this Tug's pocket contributed nothing, but he was happy. "There's one great comfort in being 'dead broke,'" he told them. "You know precisely⁴ where you are, and that matters can get no worse. You are ready to begin all new again."

 

This sense of beginning anew was a tonic⁵ that strengthened the hearts of all of them; for each one knew that, although he had no money, his feet were planted firmly on the first round of the ladder which, if steadily⁶ climbed, might lead to prosperity.

 

With this satisfactory state of things the story might end, but twenty years and more have passed since that hard winter which made their journey to the island and escape from it possible; twenty years, in which no such hard winter has been seen again. Aleck is manager and part owner of a manufactory of gas-fixtures and brass⁷ fittings in Pittsburgh, and Jim is his cashier. Tug lives in Cleveland, where he is busy, as an inventor, and expects some day to be made rich by his improvements in railway-brakes and in oil-pumping machinery⁸; but nobody addresses him as "Tug" except his wife (whom he calls Katy) and his little boy, who never tires of hearing how papa and mamma and Uncle Aleck went adrift on an ice-floe in Lake Erie.

1 hospitable   

adj.好客的；宽容的；有利的，适宜的

参考例句：

• The man is very hospitable.He keeps open house for his friends and fellow-workers.那人十分好客，无论是他的朋友还是同事，他都盛情接待。
• The locals are hospitable and welcoming.当地人热情好客。

2 tug   

v.用力拖(或拉)；苦干；n.拖；苦干；拖船

参考例句：

• We need to tug the car round to the front.我们需要把那辆车拉到前面。
• The tug is towing three barges.那只拖船正拖着三只驳船。

3 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

4 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

5 tonic   

n./adj.滋补品，补药，强身的，健体的

参考例句：

• It will be marketed as a tonic for the elderly.这将作为老年人滋补品在市场上销售。
• Sea air is Nature's best tonic for mind and body.海上的空气是大自然赋予的对人们身心的最佳补品。

6 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。

7 brass   

n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器

参考例句：

• Many of the workers play in the factory's brass band.许多工人都在工厂铜管乐队中演奏。
• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc.黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。

8 machinery   

n.(总称)机械，机器；机构

参考例句：

• Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗？
• Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。