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1、unit 1 The PermitI think the building must have been used as a farmers winter store; I found piles of forgotten dried chestnuts and grain in rotting barrels. I tried the chestnuts but they tasted sour and sharp, and some of them had small teeth-marks in their dark, peeling skins. Paulo said he would
2、 bring me food, but that was three days ago. Yesterday, I heard a car engine getting closer, and climbed up to hide in the rafters of the patched roof, but the Guardia Civil men just looked in quickly through the smashed windows and broken doors before they left. I clung to the dusty wooden rafter,
3、feeling it creak and bend under my weight, and tried to make no noise. My arms and legs grew numb, then began to tremble, and I longed to move, but I waited until I heard the policemen drive off. I know that Paulo would not have told them about me. And I know that they will return. When we began the
4、 final part of our journey, we were warned that the police patrol the land around here regularly. They are always searching for us, or others like us; the coast of Morocco and the Presidio of Ceuta are only ten miles away across the Straits. That is how I got here: squeezed in with fifteen other men
5、 in a shallow boat meant for eight, with the cold waves reaching over the sides and the night deep and black as a tomb. I have never been more scared. I prayed all the way across, and thought about my family. I told myself, over and over, that I was doing it for them. That trip took almost all of my
6、 money. All of the money I had saved back home in Ecuador, all of the money I had worked for on the way. The boatmen left us on a beach in the middle of the night. We lost sight of them but we could still hear their small engine across the waves. Six of us started walking inland but the others waite
7、d for the contact, the friends of the boatmen, as they had been told, and met the Guardia Civil instead. We were lucky: we met Paulo. We found the town and waited until the first bar opened; I went in alone while the others hid in the orchard nearby. When I asked for coffee, the young barman looked
8、at me and nodded. He made the coffee, then disappeared into the back room. Cold and without strength, I wrapped my hands around the warm cup, not caring whether the barman had called the police, not caring about the next moment, just about the present. But the man had called Paulo, who came and help
9、ed us. Paulo is always smiling, always happy. He is from Seville, a busy city of many people, and he knows many people. Paulo found work for us. I made good money on the farms. I picked cabbages, and cauliflowers, and artichokes and broccoli. I picked great round yellow squashes that smelled of rich
10、 perfume when you broke them. The farmers hired us by the day, and were content. The local people will not work for the wages we are paid. But there were many farms, and many crops to be picked. We were welcomed. I shared a small clean house in the town with seven other workers. We had journeyed fro
11、m Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, even Argentina. Paulo found the house for us - he knew the landlord and arranged a good price. We lived well, with enough food and sometimes wine. I earned more in a week than I could in three months back home, if there had been work to do there. I sent most of the mo
12、ney that was left to my wife and parents, and wrote many letters to them. Then the government changed the rules, so that we needed work permits. I queued with hundreds of other workers outside the Ayuntamiento, waiting for the application forms. We sat on the stone benches beneath the trees in the P
13、la?a and read the forms. Some of the other workers are from small villages and towns, and cannot read as well as I can, so I explained to them that the government wanted our birth certificates, driving licences, passports and many other documents. Many of the workers had perhaps one or two of these
14、documents, but most had none. I helped the others complete the forms and we gave them to the clerk in the Ayuntamiento. He looked at our documents, stamped the forms many times and told us that they would be sent to Madrid, and our permits would be returned in two or three months. If the forms were
15、approved. We had to wait. Even Paulo and his friends could not help us. The first month was not too bad, as most of the farmers continued to use us; their crops were rich and heavy, waiting to be picked. Then some men from Madrid visited all of the farms, and maybe half of the farmers stopped using
16、us. The farmers told us that they were sorry, and we believed them. So the second month was worse: few of the farmers would use us, and those that did paid very poor wages. We shared what we had, and ate once a day: rice, pasta, bread, cheap food that would fill our stomachs. We began to stare at ea
17、ch other, and wonder which of us would find work. There were fights in the morning, between different groups of workers, when the farms foremen came to the Pla?a to choose who would work that day. But still we had some hope. We lost the house in the third month, as we had no money for rent. We were
18、able to get some food from the charity kitchens around the town, and the church, but we found always a long queue and very little food. We took our bags and blankets and slept in the fields. Then the weather became cold and we slept where we could, huddled together, in old forgotten buildings and al
19、leys. Sometimes I dreamed of my family and my home, and when I awoke I wished the dream could continue. The people of the town stared at us from the sides of their eyes as they passed us. They clenched their hands and muttered, and some of them spat on the pavement. A few of us were attacked and bea
20、ten in the dark, and driven from the parks and streets. All of the time, the Police told us to move on, move on. It is the end of the third month when it happens. The farmers hire coaches and send them into the Pla?a Colom. From four oclock in the morning we wait in shuffling silence, hands pushed d
21、eep into pockets, our hats pulled down tight against the cold and the watching policemen. By the time the coaches arrive there are hundreds of workers waiting in the darkness. We press forward as the doors open. The foremen stand on the bottom steps of the coaches and ask, Who has the permit? The me
22、n with permits hold them up and are allowed onto the coaches.Some of the workers are from the countries in Europe and do no need permits, so they are allowed on when they show their passports. I go from coach to coach until I see a group of Chileans, who I know have no permits, climb aboard a waitin
23、g coach. The leader of their group speaks first with the foreman and shakes his hand, then they are taken on. I stand before the foreman. You have the permit? he asks me. He is broad and stout, and fills the doorway of the coach. His fat neck spills from the upturned collar of his leather jacket. Hi
24、s hair is shaven close to his head. I explain to him that my application was rejected but I have tried again. Come back when you have a permit, he tells me. He frowns as he pulls on his cigarette and looks down the avenue to where the policemen are watching the coaches. I explain to him that that I
25、am a hard worker, that I have eaten only once in three days, that I am desperate to work and send money to my family. He looks at the policemen, who have started walking along the pavement beside the coaches, and he scowls at me and says, Go to Madrid and tell them. The Chileans are laughing and poi
26、nting at me through the coach windows. The foreman flicks his half-finished cigarette into the gutter by my foot and I punch him in the stomach. He folds over with a small cry. The policemen look at us and I begin to run, away from the Pla?a, away from the coaches, into the dark side streets and ave
27、nues. I hear loud running steps close behind me, and the roar of car engines. The shuttered buildings reflect the blue lights. I slide my body into the shadows of a shops back door, behind two tall metal bins that stink of rotting meat and urine. I gasp, and each breath burns. My heart hammers again
28、st my chest.I wait for a long time until the sounds of the cars and people fade. I walk slowly to the end of the alley and look out, but the streets are empty. I have run almost to the river; I can hear it rushing in the darkness beneath me. My right hand feels cold. I look down, in the yellow light
29、 of a street lamp, and see my hand still clenched into a fist. It looks like the hand of another person, not part of me. A short blade, no longer than my thumb, sticks out from the fist. The blade, my fist, and my sleeve are all stained dark red. Paulo gave me the knife when I picked artichokes on t
30、he farms. The short thick blade is very sharp, made for slicing through the plants thick stalks. I scrambled down to the banks of the river and threw the knife into the night. I heard it splash far away. The river touched my feet. I reached down and washed my sleeve and hand, although the water was
31、so cold, like ice, that my hand became numb. Then I walked back up to the street. I found some of the other workers hiding in the deserted warehouse we had found. One of them went to find Paulo, who came and told me about the old farm buildings near to the coast road. Paulo was not smiling. I waited
32、 until darkness before I followed the road out of the town, throwing myself into the ditch if I heard a car approaching. The weather has been clear and I have seen the coast of Morocco every day. Across the blue sea flecked with sun, the land is a strip of dark brown and grey, and looks close enough
33、 for me to touch. Maybe I could find an old tractor tyre tube around the farm and float across the Straits? Or maybe I could walk along the shore and steal a boat? I do not want to become a thief. I am an honest man who wants only to work and support his family. But what can I do? I will wait here f
34、or Paulo and listen to him. He will tell me what to do for the best. I know that he will help me. unit2 Timeless photographsI love to look at old photographs in the album(影集).My father had a big box of pictures in the cabinet and some of the pictures go way back to the 1890s. The women dressed with
35、such dignity and had style back then. My Dad would linger around his precious box of photographs and teel me stories about each photo and very one.It was one of those moments that you could not really appreciate when you were yound. It is only after he was long gone that I can look back and say than
36、ks for taking the time to show me a tiny window into the world of people who really did know how to live.I found a few of my aunts in their fashionable outfits by an old Cadillac pretending to drink whisky. Many of the photographs were taken in COney Island and CapeCod. I especially love the photogr
37、aphs of the bathing beauties and their swimsuits. THe suits are quite modest by todays standards but the young women didnt seem to care. They were staying at such places as Newport Beach and Cape Cod having the time of their lives running in and out of the tide. One photograph had a vendor(小贩）sellin
38、g dogs(热狗)by a coaster(轮船）at COney Island-a younger picture of my mother with here brown hair and blue eyes eager to go on board with my Dad. He looked a bit frightened in the picture as I could see he was lolding on tightly to the bar to the coaster,his black hair flying in the breeze. I smile when
39、 I look at that picture because it is hard to imagine anyones Dad ever being a kid. He looked like he was having a great time probably because he was with my mother. SHe is smiling in the picture and wearing a white blouse(女衬衫）,blue shorts and tennis shoes. She is quite a looker(美女）,I can see why my
40、 Dad liked her so much.I dig down to the bottom of the box and see two large photographs. One is dated 1900 and the other one is dated 1997-a recent picture that looks similar to the older one. The older picture looks familiar because it is taken in the same place-the summer home.I will describe the
41、 older photograph as very interesting in the style of dress and exactly where the people are sitting. They are posed outside the cottage by a small tree that is still there today. A woman is sitting in a rocking chair, with here black hair pulled up in a bun(脑后的女髻）.She is not smiling but looking awa
42、y from the camera and wearing a long black dress. Another woman is wearing a white blouse with a necktie(领结）and a long black skirt. Her hair is also long and blonder(金黄色的）but pulled back in a bun. There are two men on either side of a wooden table. BOth men appear older and are dressed in hats and s
43、uits and ties,trousers and SUnday shoes. Neither is smiling. (I have the distinct feeling that the women are their wives and it is Sunday.) they probably are hungry for their roast beef and potatoes,but that is just my guess. There is a young boy,probably about 13 in the photograph, He is wearing a
44、white blouse,black shorts,long black socks and tan sports shoes. He is petting a black dog that is sitting on top of the round wooden table. The boy is bending down and he isnt smiling either. It must have been hot outside and he probably wants to go for a swim with the dog. The water is just below
45、them and he is probably wondering why he has to take this stupid picture all dressed up on a Sunday.I notice that the color of my cabin was quite different in 1900 and it was much smaller. The color was green,with white railings(栏杆)around the porch and steps leading down to the patio(院子). That is wh
46、ere the picture of this Smart Family was taken. The family appears rather stiff in the photo but I am sure that they had a good laugh after the Sunday dinner was served.The second larger photograph is of my own family about 1997. It is also in black and white. We didnt wear andy older clothers but u
47、sed our own clothes. The tree in the background has grown to enormous heights and is still standing. The steps leading down to Mousam Lake have cracked and are in awful need of repair. Believe it or bot,we still own the old wooden table and all of the rocking chairs owned by the Smart Family. I did
48、a search of the Smart Family and they were originally from Portsmouth(朴茨茅斯）. At least five other families owned my cottage before my father bought it in 1950 for three thousand dollars. The cottage comes with thirteen acres of land that I still own along with my seven brothers and sisters. It was pa
49、ssed on to me when my mother died. We have formed the Camp Fund to pay the taxes and preserve our legacy. It is a beautiful cabin on a prime spot on Mousam Lake. I was not here when this photo was taken and it hangs in the livingroom of the cabin. Many vistors comment on it and think it is quite amazing to have a house for so long. The hitory of the house is interesting to view from photographs. Around the table are my brothere Bob just wearing a casual shirt and shorts(smilling), Annie w
