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A Newspaper Story
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AT 8 A. M. it lay on Giuseppi's news-stand, still damp from the presses. Giuseppi, with the cunning of his ilk, philandered1 on the opposite comer, leaving his patrons to help themselves, no doubt on a theory related to the hypothesis of the watched pot.

This particular newspaper was, according to its custom and design, an educator, a guide, a monitor, a champion and a household counsellor and vade mecum.

From its many excellencies might be selected three editorials. One was in simple and chaste2 but illuminat- ing language directed to parents and teachers, depreca- ting corporal punishment for children.

Another was an accusive and significant warning addressed to a notorious labour leader who was on the point of instigating3 his clients to a troublesome strike.

The third was an eloquent4 demand that the police force be sustained and aided in everything that tended to increase its efficiency as public guardians5 and servants.

Besides these more important chidings and requisitions upon the store of good citizenship6 was a wise prescription7 or form of procedure laid out by the editor of the heart- to-heart column in the specific case of a young man who had complained of the obduracy8 of his lady love, teaching him how he might win her.

Again, there was, on the beauty page, a complete answer to a young lady inquirer who desired admonition toward the securing of bright eyes, rosy9 cheeks and a beautiful countenance10.

One other item requiring special cognizance was a brief "personal," running thus:

DEAR JACK11: -- Forgive me. You were right. Meet me comer Madison and -th at 8.30 this morning. We leave at noon.

PENITENT12.

At 8 o'clock a young man with a haggard look and the feverish13 gleam of unrest in his eye dropped a penny and picked up the top paper as he passed Giuseppi's stand. A sleepless14 night had left him a late riser. There was an office to be reached by nine, and a shave and a hasty cup of coffee to be crowded into the interval15.

He visited his barber shop and then hurried on his way. He pocketed his paper, meditating16 a belated perusal17 of it at the luncheon18 hour. At the next corner it fell from his pocket, carrying with it his pair of new gloves. Three blocks he walked, missed the gloves and turned back fuming19.

Just on the half-hour he reached the corner where lay the gloves and the paper. But he strangely ignored that which he had come to seek. He was holding two little hands as tightly as ever he could and looking into two penitent brown eyes, while joy rioted in his heart.

"Dear Jack," she said, "I knew you would be here on time."

"I wonder what she means by that," he was saying to himself; "but it's all right, it's all right."

A big wind puffed20 out of the west, picked up the paper from the sidewalk, opened it out and sent it flying and whirling down a side street. Up that street was driving a skittish21 bay to a spider-wheel buggy, the young man who had written to the heart-to-heart editor for a recipe that he might win her for whom he sighed.

The wind, with a prankish22 flurry, flapped the flying newspaper against the face of the skittish bay. There was a lengthened23 streak24 of bay mingled25 with the red of running gear that stretched itself out for four blocks. Then a water-hydrant played its part in the cosmogony, the buggy became matchwood as foreordained, and the driver rested very quietly where he had been flung on the asphalt in front of a certain brownstone mansion26.

They came out and had him inside very promptly27. And there was one who made herself a pillow for his head, and cared for no curious eyes, bending over and saying, "Oh, it was you; it was you all the time, Bobby! Couldn't you see it? And if you die, why, so must I, and -- "

But in all this wind we must hurry to keep in touch with our paper.

Policeman O'Brine arrested it as a character dangerous to traffic. Straightening its dishevelled leaves with his big, slow fingers, he stood a few feet from the family entrance of the Shandon Bells Café. One headline he spelled out ponderously28: "The Papers to the Front in a Move to Help the Police."

But, whisht! The voice of Danny, the head bartender, through the crack of the door: "Here's a nip for ye, Mike, ould man."

Behind the widespread, amicable29 columns of the press Policeman O'Brine receives swiftly his nip of the real stuff. He moves away, stalwart, refreshed, fortified30, to his duties. Might not the editor man view with pride the early, the spiritual, the literal fruit that had blessed his labours.

Policeman O'Brine folded the paper and poked31 it playfully under the arm of a small boy that was passing. That boy was named Johnny, and he took the paper home with him. His sister was named Gladys, and she had written to the beauty editor of the paper asking for the practicable touchstone of beauty. That was weeks ago, and she had ceased to look for an answer. Gladys was a pale girl, with dull eyes and a discontented expression. She was dressing32 to go up to the avenue to get some braid. Beneath her skirt she pinned two leaves of the paper Johnny had brought. When she walked the rustling33 sound was an exact imitation of the real thing.

On the street she met the Brown girl from the flat below and stopped to talk. The Brown girl turned green. Only silk at $5 a yard could make the sound that she heard when Gladys moved. The Brown girl, consumed by jealousy34, said something spiteful and went her way, with pinched lips.

Gladys proceeded toward the avenue. Her eyes now sparkled like jagerfonteins. A rosy bloom visited her cheeks; a triumphant35, subtle, vivifying, smile transfigured her face. She was beautiful. Could the beauty editor have seen her then! There was something in her answer in the paper, I believe, about cultivating kind feelings toward others in order to make plain features attractive.

The labour leader against whom the paper's solemn and weighty editorial injunction was laid was the father of Gladys and Johnny. He picked up the remains36 of the journal from which Gladys had ravished a cosmetic37 of silken sounds. The editorial did not come under his eye, but instead it was greeted by one of those ingenious and specious38 puzzle problems that enthrall39 alike the simpleton and the sage40.

The labour leader tore off half of the page, provided himself with table, pencil and paper and glued himself to his puzzle.

Three hours later, after waiting vainly for him at the appointed place, other more conservative leaders declared and ruled in favour of arbitration41, and the strike with its attendant dangers was averted42. Subsequent editions of the paper referred, in coloured inks, to the clarion43 tone of its successful denunciation of the labour leader's intended designs.

The remaining leaves of the active journal also went loyally to the proving of its potency44.

When Johnny returned from school he sought a secluded45 spot and removed the missing columns from the inside of his clothing, where they had been artfully distributed so as to successfully defend such areas as are generally attacked during scholastic46 castigations47. Johnny attended a private school and had had trouble with his teacher. As has been said, there was an excellent editorial against corporal punishment in that morning's issue, and no doubt it had its effect.

After this can any one doubt the power of the press?


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1 philandered e8835133f1ecba9a55f64ff082541f5d     
v.调戏,玩弄女性( philander的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • Belles and beaux philandered in the hotels. 美貌女子和花花公子在旅馆里调情。 来自互联网
2 chaste 8b6yt     
adj.贞洁的;有道德的;善良的;简朴的
参考例句:
  • Comparatively speaking,I like chaste poetry better.相比较而言,我更喜欢朴实无华的诗。
  • Tess was a chaste young girl.苔丝是一个善良的少女。
3 instigating 5b4b9f7431ece326d7b1568b7f708ce7     
v.使(某事物)开始或发生,鼓动( instigate的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • Distant but clear Longyin instigating the eardrums of every person. 遥远却清晰的龙吟鼓动着每一个人的耳膜。 来自互联网
  • The leader was charged with instigating the workers to put down tools. 那位领导人被指控煽动工人罢工。 来自互联网
4 eloquent ymLyN     
adj.雄辩的,口才流利的;明白显示出的
参考例句:
  • He was so eloquent that he cut down the finest orator.他能言善辩,胜过最好的演说家。
  • These ruins are an eloquent reminder of the horrors of war.这些废墟形象地提醒人们不要忘记战争的恐怖。
5 guardians 648b3519bd4469e1a48dff4dc4827315     
监护人( guardian的名词复数 ); 保护者,维护者
参考例句:
  • Farmers should be guardians of the countryside. 农民应是乡村的保卫者。
  • The police are guardians of law and order. 警察是法律和秩序的护卫者。
6 citizenship AV3yA     
n.市民权,公民权,国民的义务(身份)
参考例句:
  • He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生,但没有瑞典公民身分。
  • Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后,她选择了澳大利亚国籍。
7 prescription u1vzA     
n.处方,开药;指示,规定
参考例句:
  • The physician made a prescription against sea- sickness for him.医生给他开了个治晕船的药方。
  • The drug is available on prescription only.这种药只能凭处方购买。
8 obduracy afc6d8e9e28a615c948bed6039986dba     
n.冷酷无情,顽固,执拗
参考例句:
  • Nuclear warhead has stronger obduracy which induces more effect on society. 具有较强顽固性的印度核弹头技术,造成了较大的社会影响。 来自互联网
9 rosy kDAy9     
adj.美好的,乐观的,玫瑰色的
参考例句:
  • She got a new job and her life looks rosy.她找到一份新工作,生活看上去很美好。
  • She always takes a rosy view of life.她总是对生活持乐观态度。
10 countenance iztxc     
n.脸色,面容;面部表情;vt.支持,赞同
参考例句:
  • At the sight of this photograph he changed his countenance.他一看见这张照片脸色就变了。
  • I made a fierce countenance as if I would eat him alive.我脸色恶狠狠地,仿佛要把他活生生地吞下去。
11 jack 53Hxp     
n.插座,千斤顶,男人;v.抬起,提醒,扛举;n.(Jake)杰克
参考例句:
  • I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
  • He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。
12 penitent wu9ys     
adj.后悔的;n.后悔者;忏悔者
参考例句:
  • They all appeared very penitent,and begged hard for their lives.他们一个个表示悔罪,苦苦地哀求饶命。
  • She is deeply penitent.她深感愧疚。
13 feverish gzsye     
adj.发烧的,狂热的,兴奋的
参考例句:
  • He is too feverish to rest.他兴奋得安静不下来。
  • They worked with feverish haste to finish the job.为了完成此事他们以狂热的速度工作着。
14 sleepless oiBzGN     
adj.不睡眠的,睡不著的,不休息的
参考例句:
  • The situation gave her many sleepless nights.这种情况害她一连好多天睡不好觉。
  • One evening I heard a tale that rendered me sleepless for nights.一天晚上,我听说了一个传闻,把我搞得一连几夜都不能入睡。
15 interval 85kxY     
n.间隔,间距;幕间休息,中场休息
参考例句:
  • The interval between the two trees measures 40 feet.这两棵树的间隔是40英尺。
  • There was a long interval before he anwsered the telephone.隔了好久他才回了电话。
16 meditating hoKzDp     
a.沉思的,冥想的
参考例句:
  • They were meditating revenge. 他们在谋划进行报复。
  • The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics. 这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。
17 perusal mM5xT     
n.细读,熟读;目测
参考例句:
  • Peter Cooke undertook to send each of us a sample contract for perusal.彼得·库克答应给我们每人寄送一份合同样本供阅读。
  • A perusal of the letters which we have published has satisfied him of the reality of our claim.读了我们的公开信后,他终于相信我们的要求的确是真的。
18 luncheon V8az4     
n.午宴,午餐,便宴
参考例句:
  • We have luncheon at twelve o'clock.我们十二点钟用午餐。
  • I have a luncheon engagement.我午饭有约。
19 fuming 742478903447fcd48a40e62f9540a430     
愤怒( fume的现在分词 ); 大怒; 发怒; 冒烟
参考例句:
  • She sat in the car, silently fuming at the traffic jam. 她坐在汽车里,心中对交通堵塞感到十分恼火。
  • I was fuming at their inefficiency. 我正因为他们效率低而发火。
20 puffed 72b91de7f5a5b3f6bdcac0d30e24f8ca     
adj.疏松的v.使喷出( puff的过去式和过去分词 );喷着汽(或烟)移动;吹嘘;吹捧
参考例句:
  • He lit a cigarette and puffed at it furiously. 他点燃了一支香烟,狂吸了几口。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He felt grown-up, puffed up with self-importance. 他觉得长大了,便自以为了不起。 来自《简明英汉词典》
21 skittish 5hay2     
adj.易激动的,轻佻的
参考例句:
  • She gets very skittish when her boy-friend is around.她男朋友在场时,她就显得格外轻佻。
  • I won't have my son associating with skittish girls.我不准我的儿子与轻佻的女孩交往。
22 prankish 5a8f45a85eccc06b5cdc3618e7a084ce     
adj.爱开玩笑的,恶作剧的;开玩笑性质的
参考例句:
23 lengthened 4c0dbc9eb35481502947898d5e9f0a54     
(时间或空间)延长,伸长( lengthen的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • The afternoon shadows lengthened. 下午影子渐渐变长了。
  • He wanted to have his coat lengthened a bit. 他要把上衣放长一些。
24 streak UGgzL     
n.条理,斑纹,倾向,少许,痕迹;v.加条纹,变成条纹,奔驰,快速移动
参考例句:
  • The Indians used to streak their faces with paint.印第安人过去常用颜料在脸上涂条纹。
  • Why did you streak the tree?你为什么在树上刻条纹?
25 mingled fdf34efd22095ed7e00f43ccc823abdf     
混合,混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 ); 混进,与…交往[联系]
参考例句:
  • The sounds of laughter and singing mingled in the evening air. 笑声和歌声交织在夜空中。
  • The man and the woman mingled as everyone started to relax. 当大家开始放松的时候,这一男一女就开始交往了。
26 mansion 8BYxn     
n.大厦,大楼;宅第
参考例句:
  • The old mansion was built in 1850.这座古宅建于1850年。
  • The mansion has extensive grounds.这大厦四周的庭园广阔。
27 promptly LRMxm     
adv.及时地,敏捷地
参考例句:
  • He paid the money back promptly.他立即还了钱。
  • She promptly seized the opportunity his absence gave her.她立即抓住了因他不在场给她创造的机会。
28 ponderously 0e9d726ab401121626ae8f5e7a5a1b84     
参考例句:
  • He turns and marches away ponderously to the right. 他转过身,迈着沉重的步子向右边行进。 来自互联网
  • The play was staged with ponderously realistic sets. 演出的舞台以现实环境为背景,很没意思。 来自互联网
29 amicable Qexyu     
adj.和平的,友好的;友善的
参考例句:
  • The two nations reached an amicable agreement.两国达成了一项友好协议。
  • The two nations settled their quarrel in an amicable way.两国以和睦友好的方式解决了他们的争端。
30 fortified fortified     
adj. 加强的
参考例句:
  • He fortified himself against the cold with a hot drink. 他喝了一杯热饮御寒。
  • The enemy drew back into a few fortified points. 敌人收缩到几个据点里。
31 poked 87f534f05a838d18eb50660766da4122     
v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 );戳出;拨弄;与(某人)性交
参考例句:
  • She poked him in the ribs with her elbow. 她用胳膊肘顶他的肋部。
  • His elbow poked out through his torn shirt sleeve. 他的胳膊从衬衫的破袖子中露了出来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
32 dressing 1uOzJG     
n.(食物)调料;包扎伤口的用品,敷料
参考例句:
  • Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
  • The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。
33 rustling c6f5c8086fbaf68296f60e8adb292798     
n. 瑟瑟声,沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的
参考例句:
  • the sound of the trees rustling in the breeze 树木在微风中发出的沙沙声
  • the soft rustling of leaves 树叶柔和的沙沙声
34 jealousy WaRz6     
n.妒忌,嫉妒,猜忌
参考例句:
  • Some women have a disposition to jealousy.有些女人生性爱妒忌。
  • I can't support your jealousy any longer.我再也无法忍受你的嫉妒了。
35 triumphant JpQys     
adj.胜利的,成功的;狂欢的,喜悦的
参考例句:
  • The army made a triumphant entry into the enemy's capital.部队胜利地进入了敌方首都。
  • There was a positively triumphant note in her voice.她的声音里带有一种极为得意的语气。
36 remains 1kMzTy     
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹
参考例句:
  • He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
  • The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。
37 cosmetic qYgz2     
n.化妆品;adj.化妆用的;装门面的;装饰性的
参考例句:
  • These changes are purely cosmetic.这些改变纯粹是装饰门面。
  • Laughter is the best cosmetic,so grin and wear it!微笑是最好的化妆品,所以请尽情微笑吧!
38 specious qv3wk     
adj.似是而非的;adv.似是而非地
参考例句:
  • Such talk is actually specious and groundless.这些话实际上毫无根据,似是而非的。
  • It is unlikely that the Duke was convinced by such specious arguments.公爵不太可能相信这种似是而非的论点。
39 enthrall NjVzP     
vt.迷住,吸引住;使感到非常愉快
参考例句:
  • She kept her audience enthralled throughout her twenty-minute performance.她的20分钟演出使观众目不转睛。
  • They were enthralled with the play.他们被那个戏迷住了。
40 sage sCUz2     
n.圣人,哲人;adj.贤明的,明智的
参考例句:
  • I was grateful for the old man's sage advice.我很感激那位老人贤明的忠告。
  • The sage is the instructor of a hundred ages.这位哲人是百代之师。
41 arbitration hNgyh     
n.调停,仲裁
参考例句:
  • The wage disagreement is under arbitration.工资纠纷正在仲裁中。
  • Both sides have agreed that the arbitration will be binding.双方都赞同仲裁具有约束力。
42 averted 35a87fab0bbc43636fcac41969ed458a     
防止,避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 ); 转移
参考例句:
  • A disaster was narrowly averted. 及时防止了一场灾难。
  • Thanks to her skilful handling of the affair, the problem was averted. 多亏她对事情处理得巧妙,才避免了麻烦。
43 clarion 3VxyJ     
n.尖音小号声;尖音小号
参考例句:
  • Clarion calls to liberation had been mocked when we stood by.当我们袖手旁观的时候,自由解放的号角声遭到了嘲弄。
  • To all the people present,his speech is a clarion call.对所有在场的人而言,他的演讲都是动人的号召。
44 potency 9Smz8     
n. 效力,潜能
参考例句:
  • Alcohol increases the drug's potency.酒精能增加这种毒品的效力。
  • Sunscreen can lose its potency if left over winter in the bathroom cabinet.如果把防晒霜在盥洗室的壁橱里放一个冬天,就有可能失效。
45 secluded wj8zWX     
adj.与世隔绝的;隐退的;偏僻的v.使隔开,使隐退( seclude的过去式和过去分词)
参考例句:
  • Some people like to strip themselves naked while they have a swim in a secluded place. 一些人当他们在隐蔽的地方游泳时,喜欢把衣服脱光。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • This charming cottage dates back to the 15th century and is as pretty as a picture, with its thatched roof and secluded garden. 这所美丽的村舍是15世纪时的建筑,有茅草房顶和宁静的花园,漂亮极了,简直和画上一样。 来自《简明英汉词典》
46 scholastic 3DLzs     
adj.学校的,学院的,学术上的
参考例句:
  • There was a careful avoidance of the sensitive topic in the scholastic circles.学术界小心地避开那个敏感的话题。
  • This would do harm to students' scholastic performance in the long run.这将对学生未来的学习成绩有害。
47 castigations be4b754c06956bcf7aedf499ffa895f5     
n.严厉的责骂、批评或惩罚( castigation的名词复数 )
参考例句:


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