胡敏讀故事記托福詞匯064：有關(guān)鹽的故事 A Salty Story
“I hereby depute you to handle my affairs during my absence,” announced my boss, as he handed me the keys. “I know that with you at the helm, I won’t need to worry about returning to a derelict business. Whatever you do, don’t let the stress derange your mind.”
“我特派你代理我出門期間的一切事物。”我的老板一邊遞給我鑰匙，一邊宣布。“我確信由你在這里掌舵，我就不用擔(dān)心在此期間業(yè)務(wù)被荒廢。但無亂如何，不能讓壓力使得你精神錯亂。”
“I’m already deranged, are you sure you want to designate me as your deputy?” I asked, deriding myself.
“我已經(jīng)精神錯亂了。你真的想任命我為你的代理人嗎?”我?guī)е猿暗目跉鈫枴?/p>
“Your attempt at derision will not deter me,” he replied with a laugh. “You deserve the promotion.” He gave me a par on the back and descended he stairs.
“盡管你企圖自嘲自謙，但這也阻擋不了我做出以上決定。”他回答時大笑起來，“你應(yīng)該得到提升。”說完拍拍我的背，下樓梯去了。
“Wow, ”I said to myself. “I can’t believe he left me in control of this desalination plant.”
“哇!”我自言自語，“真難以相信他讓我掌管這個脫鹽廠。”
We use a special process in this plant to derive fresh water from salt water. The derivative is good enough to drink, although I have heard some derogatory comments about the taste.
我們廠利用特殊工藝從鹽水中提取淡水。盡管我聽到有人對提純水的味道頗有微詞，但它喝起來還相當(dāng)不錯。
I have been told that I am a descendant of the person who came up with the idea for this process. He was of British descent. The story is that he ran out of water just after crossing a desert. At the edge of the desert, he came across a deserted church. There was no fresh water to be found, only a small well of salty desert water. Desperate for drinking water, he used holy objects to make a simple desalination device. The device was able to desiccate the salty water and to condense the moisture into drinkable water.
有人告訴我，我就是那個發(fā)明這個提取工藝的人的后裔，他有英國血統(tǒng)，故事是這樣的：一次他在快要穿過沙漠的時候發(fā)現(xiàn)自己沒水了。在沙漠的邊緣地帶，他碰巧發(fā)現(xiàn)了一個被遺棄的教堂。那里沒有淡水，只有一口小井，還是含鹽的沙漠之水。他拼命地想喝到水，情急之下，就用供神用的東西做了一個簡易的脫鹽裝置。這個裝置能先把鹽水蒸干，再讓水蒸氣冷凝成可飲用的水。
People say that God must have forgiven him for desecrating the holy objects. I think so too.
他褻瀆了圣物，但人們說上帝想必一定已經(jīng)原諒他了。我也這樣認(rèn)為。
Words:
depute v. 派……為代表或代理
deputy n. 代理人，代表;副手
derange vt. 擾亂，使精神錯亂
deranged adj. 精神錯亂的
derelict adj. 荒廢的，被棄置的
deride v. 譏諷，嘲笑
derision n. 嘲笑
derivative n. 派生的事物，派生詞
derive vt. 得到，獲取;源于
derogatory adj. 不敬的，誹謗的
desalination n. 脫鹽，去鹽作用
descend v. 傳下，遺傳;下降
descendant n. 子孫，后裔
descent n. 下降;血統(tǒng)，世襲
desecrate v. 污染，褻瀆
desert n. 沙漠; vt. 遺棄
deserted adj. 荒蕪的，荒廢的
deserve vt. 應(yīng)得
desiccate v. (使)干涸，脫水
designate vt. 指定，任命
